Category Archives: World News

Cali is the cockpit of chaos as Colombia protests threaten to spiral out of control

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The presence of armed civilians attacking protesters has added a worrying dimension to a wave of unrest that has claimed 47 lives

On a recent evening, Andrés pulled on his gas mask and helmet and headed for the barricades at the entrance to his rundown neighbourhood in Cali, a city which has become the center of Colombia’s anti-government protests.

But as he approached the roadblock of rocks, rubble and barbed wire, he saw a motorcycle speeding towards him. In an attempt to turn the vehicle back, another demonstrator shone a laser pen in the driver’s eyes.

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Jerusalem seethes as the rockets begin on day of rising tension

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A series of events come together to inflame an already volatile situation in the holy city

It was strikingly clear that the most dangerous moment in Jerusalem’s worst unrest for years would arrive on Monday. After weeks of mounting anger, a series of provocative events were all set to spiral together at once, creating a tinderbox situation that world powers warned needed delicate handling.

The European Union had called on authorities to “act urgently to de-escalate the current tensions in Jerusalem” while the US said the Israeli government should “pursue appropriate measures to ensure calm”.

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Top Russian doctor at Navalny clinic found after disappearance

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Alexander Murakhovsky speaks to press three days after going missing while on holiday in a Siberian forest

The former chief physician of the hospital where the Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny was first treated for novichok poisoning has been found alive days after disappearing into a Siberian forest.

Alexander Murakhovsky emerged from a forest in the Omsk region on Monday three days after vanishing while on holiday, abandoning an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) miles from a hunting lodge where he was staying with friends.

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More than 2,000 migrants arrive on Italian island in 24 hours

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Hundreds of asylum seekers forced to sleep outside as Lampedusa reception centre reaches capacity

More than 2,000 people have arrived on Lampedusa in 24 hours as people smugglers took advantage of calm seas to launch at least 20 boats, pushing the reception centre on the tiny Italian island to its limit.

Hundreds of asylum seekers, mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, Pakistan and Syria, were forced to sleep on the dock after the centre rapidly surpassed its capacity. Hundreds more were being transferred to an unused passenger ferry offshore for quarantine until they can be tested for Covid-19. Another commercial passenger ship was being dispatched to Lampedusa to take on more.

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India: dozens of suspected Covid victims wash up on Ganges River banks

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Locals believe bodies were dumped in river because cremation sites are overwhelmed

Dozens of bodies believed to be Covid-19 victims have washed up on the banks of the Ganges River in northern India as the pandemic spreads into India’s vast rural hinterland, overwhelming local health facilities as well as crematoriums and cemeteries.

Local official Ashok Kumar said that about 40 corpses washed up in Buxar district near the border between Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, two of India’s poorest states.

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China tourist left clinging to 100m-high bridge after glass panels smash

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Man rescued after sudden gusts shattered panels on bridge in Longjing city

A man was left stranded on a glass-bottomed suspension bridge in north-eastern China after sudden gale-force winds shattered the transparent panels around him.

The man was on the 100-metre-high bridge at Piyan Mountain in Longjing city, when it was hit by sudden strong weather, the local tourism department said.

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Smartphone is now ‘the place where we live’, anthropologists say

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A UCL study has found people around the world feel the same about their devices as they do about their homes

Smartphone users have become “human snails carrying our homes in our pockets”, with a tendency to ignore friends and family in favour of their device, according to a landmark study.

A team of anthropologists from UCL spent more than a year documenting smartphone use in nine countries around the world, from Ireland to Cameroon, and found that far from being trivial toys, people felt the same way about their devices as they did about their homes.

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‘We thank your government for our full pockets’ – Calais smugglers speak

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As the UK pours millions into security measures, migrants say the gangs who control the Channel just get more powerful

“Sorry, my battery’s low because I drained it watching YouTube tutorials on how to assemble dinghies,” Abuzar says. He is speaking on a video call from the abandoned shed in Calais he calls home. “I want to join my brother for asylum in the UK, but I have to work for smugglers because I don’t have enough money to pay for the crossing.

“They hide boat parts on the beaches for me to assemble at night, but I’m so scared– – if I mess it up, children could drown on the boat.”

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Welcome to Semuliki: on the trail of the ADF’s Islamist militants | photo essay

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Photojournalist Hugh Kinsella Cunningham has been embedded with Congolese soldiers in the DRC’s ‘triangle of death’. The elusive insurgents they are hunting have pledged allegiance to Islamic State

At the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, in a vast territory that ranges from the lofty Rwenzori mountains to the lush rainforest of the Semliki valley, one of the world’s most active militant groups is responsible for the massacre of hundreds of civilians.

The ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) was originally an opposition rebel group from Uganda rooted in a radical agenda of religious militancy. Taking advantage of the regional power vacuum, the group fled to Beni territory in neighbouring DRC to find shelter from the Ugandan army.

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New Zealand stabbing: four injured in attack at Dunedin supermarket

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Prime minister Jacinda Ardern said there was no evidence the attack at a Countdown store was an incident of domestic terrorism

Four people have been injured, three critically, after a stabbing attack at a supermarket in the New Zealand city of Dunedin.

Police said a suspect had been arrested and taken into custody after the incident at a Countdown supermarket on Monday afternoon. Two supermarket staff members were among those injured.

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Clashes over Israeli settlements prompt fears for Monday’s Jerusalem Day march

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Reports seven were injured in Palestinian clashes with Israeli police on Sunday, despite now-delayed court ruling on East Jerusalem settlements

Israeli police faced off with Palestinian protesters in another full night of clashes in East Jerusalem, ahead of a planned parade by hardline Israeli nationalists through the Old City in an annual flag-waving march meant to cement Israeli claims to the contested area.

The Palestine Red Crescent reported seven injuries, including four hospitalisations, as officers in riot gear clashed with Palestinian demonstrators clashed in East Jerusalem. Confrontations continued until after dawn, when police stormed into the Old City’s al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, and fired stun grenades at worshippers, who lobbed stones.

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Taliban declares three-day Eid ceasefire as 11 killed in new bombing

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Bus attack comes after jihadist group denies atrocity at secondary school that killed at least 50 people

At least 11 people have been killed and dozens injured in the bombing of a bus in Afghanistan’s southern Zabul province.

The blast took place late on Sunday night, said Zabul’s provincial governor’s spokesman Gul Islam Sial, adding that 25 people were injured including women and children who were in critical condition.

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At least 1m people facing starvation as Madagascar’s drought worsens

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People eating termites and clay as UN says acute malnutrition has almost doubled this year in south

Madagascar’s worst drought in 40 years has left more than a million people facing a year of desperate food shortages.

The south of the island will produce less than half its usual harvest in the coming months because of low rains, prolonging a hunger crisis already affecting half the Grand Sud area’s population, the UN estimates.

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Anger as Chinese safari park kept leopard breakout from the public for nearly a week

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Three leopards from Hangzhou Safari Park were spotted by villagers on 1 May, but the park only reported the missing leopards on Saturday

A search for the last of three leopards that escaped from a safari park in eastern China was ongoing, authorities said Monday, as the park came under fire for concealing the breakout for nearly a week.

The three leopards from the Hangzhou Safari Park were spotted by villagers as early as 1 May, according to the state-owned Global Times newspaper. However, the safari park only reported the missing leopards and alerted the public on Saturday.

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‘The next decade will be all about heat’: can Athens head off climate crisis?

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Mayor overseeing a green regeneration in city where temperatures can already surpass 40C

Like every Athens mayor, Kostas Bakoyannis is acutely aware of the illustrious heritage of one of the world’s oldest cities. After all, he says, it is busts of Pericles and his mistress Aspasia that adorn the entrance of the neoclassical town hall. From the windows of his cavernous office, he can glimpse the Parthenon through the jumble of concrete buildings and antennas.

But Bakoyannis prefers to talk about the present, not least his plans for fountains, parks and trees – antidotes to the afflictions of more modern times.

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Body of arrested Myanmar poet Khet Thi returned to family with organs missing

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Wife says Khet Thi, whose poetry inspired resistance to junta, died after being taken for interrogation on Saturday

Myanmar poet Khet Thi, whose works declare resistance to the ruling junta, has died in detention and his body was returned with the organs removed, his family said.

A spokesperson for the junta did not answer calls to request comment on the death of Khet Thi, who had penned the line “They shoot in the head, but they don’t know the revolution is in the heart.” His Facebook page said he was 45.

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Covid live news: EU not renewing orders for AstraZeneca jabs after June; third of UK adults fully vaccinated

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Latest updates: pressure builds on Indian government to announce national lockdown; third of UK adults now fully vaccinated against Covid-19; Laos records first Covid death

The number of Covid-19 patients in French intensive care units fell below 5,000 for the first time since late March on Sunday, Reuters is reporting that health ministry data showed.

The number was down for a sixth day in a row at 4,971, against 5,005 the previous day, the ministry said.

The United States is closer to getting the coronavirus pandemic under control and health officials are focused on the next challenge: getting more Americans vaccinated, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said on Sunday, Reuters reports.

“I would say we are turning the corner,” Zients said in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union.”

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Afghans bury their dead after dozens of girls killed in school blasts

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Taliban deny responsibility after secondary school targeted in bloody attack in Kabul

Dozens of girls were buried on Sunday at a desolate hilltop cemetery in Kabul, a day after a secondary school was targeted in the bloodiest attack in Afghanistan in over a year.

A series of blasts outside the school during a peak holiday shopping period killed more than 50 people, mostly female students, and wounded more than 100 in Dasht-e-Barchi, a suburb of west Kabul populated mostly by Hazara Shias.

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Prince Michael of Kent’s army role questioned after claims he sold access to Kremlin

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Honorary position challenged by Labour after Queen’s cousin allegedly told reporters he could be hired for £10,000 a day to contact Putin’s team

Claims that the Queen’s cousin was willing to use his royal status to sell privileged access to Vladimir Putin’s regime have raised questions over whether he should keep his honorary position in the British army, according to Labour.

Prince Michael of Kent allegedly told undercover reporters posing as investors from South Korea that he could be hired for £10,000 a day to make “confidential” representations to the Russian president’s team.

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Israeli settlement ruling delayed as Jerusalem tensions run high

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More than 120 injured in continuing Palestinian protests over planned evictions in the Sheikh Jarrah area

Israel’s supreme court has delayed a deeply contentious decision on whether Palestinians can be evicted by force to make way for Jewish settlers, after hundreds of Palestinians were wounded in confrontations with the police in some of Jerusalem’s worst unrest in years.

A former Israeli defence official described the atmosphere as like a powder keg ready to explode at any time, after more clashes erupted outside the Old City overnight on Saturday.

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