Category Archives: World News

Valeria Luiselli wins €100,000 Dublin literary award for Lost Children Archive

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Novel, which weaves together the stories of Mexican migrants with those of a US family on a road trip south, was picked for the prize by a Barcelona library

Earlier this year, a library in Barcelona submitted a nomination for its favourite book of the year: Mexican author Valeria Luiselli’s Lost Children Archive. On Thursday, thanks to Biblioteca Vila De Gràcia, Luiselli was named winner of the world’s richest prize for a novel published in English, the €100,000 (£86,000) Dublin literary award.

“It’s a beautiful, relatively small library in Barcelona who nominated me,” said Luiselli. “I’m going to kiss its rocks one day, because I probably won’t be able to kiss its librarians because of Covid.”

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Indian authors speak out over plan to reissue Narendra Modi exam book

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Pankaj Mishra and Arundhati Roy attack Penguin Random House India for putting out book by a prime minister they say has mishandled Covid and persecuted writers

Leading Indian authors Pankaj Mishra and Arundhati Roy have spoken out against Penguin Random House India’s decision to publish and promote a book by Narendra Modi during the country’s coronavirus crisis, with Mishra accusing PRH India of “enlist[ing] in a flailing politician’s propaganda campaign”.

In a letter published in the London Review of Books blog, Mishra wrote to the chief executive of PRH India, Gaurav Shrinagesh, after the publisher announced it would be reissuing Modi’s book Exam Warriors while, in Mishra’s words, “smoke from mass funeral pyres rose across India”. India suffered a world record one-day death toll from Covid-19 on Wednesday – 4,529 – with the overall figure believed to be much higher than the official death toll of 283,248.

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Britain in talks to waive Covid vaccine patents to improve global access to jabs

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Pressure growing for UK and others to follow Biden’s lead at WTO to avoid ‘moral and public health failure’

The UK government is in talks about a plan to waive Covid-19 vaccine patents to boost the production of shots in low and middle-income countries, the Guardian can reveal.

The discussions come amid growing calls for Britain and other European countries to follow the US in supporting the proposal put before the World Trade Organization (WTO).

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Ceuta influx highlights fragility of EU’s approach to migration

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Arrival of thousands of migrants in Spanish enclave is just latest example of issue that affects whole of ‘Fortress Europe’

On the outskirts of the Spanish city of Ceuta, a warehouse has been hastily transformed into a makeshift shelter for young people, their actions watched over by hired security. Days after joining an unprecedented influx of 8,000 migrants into Spain, the fate of these minors who arrived alone has become a thorny issue, stretching far beyond the north African enclave.

“It’s important to understand that we’re seeing children that are much younger than the usual – children of seven, eight, nine years old,” Spain’s minister for social rights, Ione Belarra told broadcaster RTVE on Wednesday. “Many of them didn’t understand the consequences of crossing the border and we’re finding that many of them want to return home.”

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‘People die in less than a week’: Covid wave catches Argentina off-guard

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Cases have risen from a daily total of about 5,000 in early March to a record 35,000 this week amid relaxed restrictions and a low vaccination rate

It is 1am, and intensive care doctor Vanina Edul is trying vainly to remember the names of all the Covid patients who have died on her watch.

The 47-year-old physician still remembers the first patient she saw die of Covid last year. “He was 60, and we were surprised because that was young for that long-ago time. We thought only old people died. How wrong we were,” she says.

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Putting economics over ethics is a dismal vaccination strategy – Bulgaria shows why | Luba Kassova

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Bulgaria focused on protecting the economy over saving older people from Covid. Ultimately, it will achieve neither

April will forever be in my memory as a month of painful unfairness: it is when I had my first Covid-19 vaccine in the UK and my unvaccinated father died of the virus in Bulgaria. I’m a middle-aged, healthy woman. My father was a vulnerable 85-year-old with underlying health conditions.

I have a pile of letters from the NHS that arrived for my father since January, inviting him to get a vaccination in London, the city he left for his native Bulgaria six months before. With sadness and disquiet, I wonder why Bulgaria did not protect my father in his old age while the UK’s NHS has made every endeavour to do so. Why have I been protected in my middle age while about 90% of Bulgarians over 80 have not?

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Climate disasters ‘caused more internal displacement than war’ in 2020

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Refugee organisation says 30m new displacements last year were due to floods, storms or wildfires

Intense storms and flooding triggered three times more displacements than violent conflicts did last year, as the number of people internally displaced worldwide hit the highest level on record.

There were at least 55 million internally displaced people (IDPs) by the end of last year, according to figures published by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).

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Stench of death pervades rural India as Ganges swells with Covid victims

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Stigma and cost of wood leave families with no choice but to immerse their dead in river

There was a time before when the Ganges was “swollen with dead bodies”.

In 1918, when the great flu pandemic swept through India and killed an estimated 18 million people, the water of this river – upon which so many lives depended – was filled with the stench of death.

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South Korea’s balancing act will test Biden’s plan to get tough with China

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Analysis: Seoul’s navigation of geopolitical landscape in east Asia hints at limits of united front with US

When the South Korean president goes to Washington DC on Friday, his discussions with Joe Biden about China will test the limits of the US president’s rhetoric to “work with [its] allies to hold China accountable”. It will also exhibit the dilemma faced by middle-sized powers such as South Korea.

The White House spokesperson, Jen Psaki, said last month that Moon Jae-in’s visit “will highlight the ironclad alliance between the United States and [South Korea], and the broad and deep ties between our governments, people and economies”.

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Coronavirus live news: France begins cautious return to normality; EU to allow fully vaccinated visitors

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India passes US for record daily deaths; Greece pins hopes for recovery on upgraded airports

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UK government ministers are considering diluting plans for “freedom day” in England on 21 June and delaying the end of all social distancing rules, as new figures showed another sharp increase in the Covid variant first detected in India.

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, said no announcement would be made until 14 June on whether all restrictions will be lifted a week later, as planned.

Related: Ministers consider diluting plan to relax Covid rules as India variant surges

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Pelosi condemns Republicans for opposing January 6 commission: ‘They’re afraid of the truth’ – live

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The House voted 252-175 to establish a commission investigating the 6 January attack on the US Capitol. Among those who voted in favor of establishing the commission were 35 Republicans.

John Katko, the Republican ranking member of the House homeland security committee helped write the bill to establish the commission, had urged his fellow Republicans to support the proposal.

Republicans in Congress are rebelling against the mask requirement on the House chamber, which remains in place due to Covid-19 safety concerns from Democrats, who hold the majority.

During votes on Tuesday, several Republican lawmakers refused to wear masks as they stood in the chamber and encouraged other members to join them.

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Idaho teacher disarmed school shooter and hugged her until help arrived

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Krista Gneiting said she was trying to help one of the students who had been shot when she saw the girl holding the gun

When a student opened fire at an Idaho middle school, teacher Krista Gneiting directed children to safety, rushed to help a wounded victim and then calmly disarmed the sixth-grade shooter, hugging and consoling the girl until police arrived.

Parents credited the math teacher’s display of compassion with saving lives. While two students and the school custodian were shot in the incident on 6 May, all three survived, and the gunfire was over within minutes.

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US calls on Israel to ‘de-escalate’ Gaza violence in push for ceasefire

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Joe Biden takes tougher line in phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu, but Israel and Hamas deny truce is imminent

Joe Biden has told Benjamin Netanyahu that he expects “a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire” between Israel and militants in Gaza, in a notable toughening of the US president’s language on the conflict.

The White House said that in a phone call on Wednesday, “the two leaders had a detailed discussion on the state of events in Gaza, Israel’s progress in degrading the capabilities of Hamas and other terrorist elements, and ongoing diplomatic efforts by regional governments and the United States.”

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Bitcoin falls almost 30% after China crackdown

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Digital currency under pressure from payment crackdown and tweets from Elon Musk

The price of bitcoin fell by almost 30% on Wednesday, after a Chinese government crackdown on banks’ use of cryptocurrencies accelerated a long-predicted sell-off, in a day of chaotic trading.

The world’s largest digital currency tumbled to about $30,000 (£21,000) amid frenzied trading, a drop of more than 50% since it hit record highs of more than $64,000 in mid-April. However, by 10pm UK time, the bitcoin price had risen back to about $38,500, still down 11% on the day, according to Refinitiv data.

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The Guardian view on post-Brexit trade: only hard choices are left | Editorial

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Boris Johnson likes to pretend that free-trade deals are easy and have no downside. Talks with Australia are proving him wrong

There is agreement across the Conservative party that free trade is a good thing, in theory. Unity is harder to sustain over practical detail, as has become clear through negotiations on a deal with Australia.

The agreement has immense symbolic value. It would be the first substantial post-Brexit deal that was not a rollover of terms that were available under EU membership. The prime minister sees it as the enactment of his “global Britain” rhetoric. The government is determined to have such a trophy ready in time for next month’s G7 summit.

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How Australia’s vaccination ads compare with the rest of the world – video

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New Zealand has its metaphorical door to freedom, Singapore is leaning on disco, America has presidents and beer, while the UK is calling upon celebrity. As Covid-19 vaccination efforts continue around the globe, countries are using a range of communication methods, including humour and emotional connections to encourage people to get the jab. In contrast, Australia has chosen fear to scare people into what may happen if they contract Covid-19. In one ad, a young woman with oxygen tubes in her nose struggles for air. In another Australian campaign, Australians are urged to 'arm themselves' in a bland ad which has been accused of 'falling flat'

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DNA study sets out to establish true origins of Christopher Columbus

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Was the explorer from Italy, Spain, Portugal or elsewhere? Researchers hope to find out once and for all

Spanish researchers have launched a new attempt to finally settle the dispute over the true origins of Christopher Columbus after various theories have claimed the explorer hailed from Portugal or Spain, rather than Italy as most scholars agree.

“There is no doubt on our part [about his Italian origin], but we can provide objective data that can … close a series of existing theories,” said José Antonio Lorente, the lead scientist of the DNA study at the University of Granada.

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Spain accuses Morocco of ‘show of disrespect’ for EU in migrant row

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Madrid says lives of children are being deliberately put at risk in diplomatic dispute

The humanitarian crisis unleashed by the unprecedented influx of 8,000 migrants into Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta has laid bare Morocco’s disrespect for the European Union and willingness to risk the lives of children and babies in the diplomatic row, Spanish authorities have said.

After thousands of people, including an estimated 2,000 minors, crossed into Spain in 36 hours earlier this week, arrivals into Ceuta had all but halted on Wednesday as Morocco tightened control of the border. The diplomatic tensions between Madrid and Rabat, however, continued unabated.

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‘We booked straight away’: first Covid vaccine tourists arrive in San Marino

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Tiny European republic is offering two Sputnik V jabs as part of holiday package

The group of four friends from Latvia had driven 26 hours in a camper van to reach San Marino, where they became the first visitors to take advantage of the microstate’s Sputnik V Covid vaccine holiday package.

One person in the group, Armens, 48, was so happy to receive the Russian jab – available to non-residents who book accommodation in San Marino hotels – that he kept the empty vial as a souvenir after receiving his first dose on Tuesday.

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Turkey to ban plastic waste imports

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Greenpeace investigation revealed British recycling left to burn on beaches and roadsides

Turkey is banning the import of most plastic waste after an investigation revealed British recycling was left to burn or be dumped on beaches and roadsides.

Greenpeace visited 10 sites in the southern city of Adana in March. Investigators found waste including British supermarket packaging in waterways, on beaches and in illegal waste mountains.

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