Category Archives: World News

Russia to pull back troops from Crimea and Ukraine border

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Defence minister announces decision after military buildup led to fears of possible invasion

Russia has said it will recall many of its troops from Crimea and the border regions of Ukraine, rolling back an aggressive military buildup that had sparked fears that Moscow was preparing an invasion force.

The decision, announced by the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, came after video on social media and satellite imagery last month revealed a buildup of tanks, artillery, fighter jets and even short-range ballistic missiles massing 150 miles from Ukraine. US officials called it the largest muster of Russian military power along the border since the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

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International Booker prize shortlist led by books ‘pushing the boundaries’ of fiction

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Writers including Maria Stepanova and Éric Vuillard are up for the £50,000 prize, with the judges swaying for essays and autofiction over ‘good, straightforward, old-fashioned novels’

From Maria Stepanova’s family memoir to a historical essay by Éric Vuillard, this year’s shortlist for the International Booker prize for translated fiction is highlighting works that “are really pushing the boundaries” of fiction and nonfiction.

The International Booker goes to “the finest fiction from around the world” that has been translated into English. Six books are now in the running for the £50,000 award, which is split equally between author and translator, all of them displaying “an extraordinary amount of ingenuity and originality”, said chair of judges Lucy Hughes-Hallett.

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Rausings targeted in protest against Berlin bookshop eviction

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Sigrid Rausing denies financial interest in building, as court orders booksellers Kisch & Co to vacate Kreuzberg premises

A UK-based Swedish multibillionaire family known for their philanthropic donations to literature, libraries and other arts, have become the target of angry protests in Berlin over the eviction of a community bookshop from a counter-culture neighbourhood.

The bookseller Kisch & Co, which has operated for the last 24 years from a historic building on one of the main thoroughfares in the Kreuzberg district of Germany’s capital, was told on Thursday by a criminal court to vacate its premises.

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‘It was a torture chamber’: Ugandans abducted in vicious crackdown

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Exclusive: victims and relatives describe suffering as repression intensifies under Yoweri Museveni

Hundreds of ordinary people suspected of supporting opposition politicians in Uganda have been snatched off the streets by security services in the worst wave of repression in the east African country for decades.

Many suffered systematic torture, detention in harsh conditions in often secret prisons and the denial of access to relatives or lawyers. The abductions, which were described in detail to the Guardian by survivors and relatives of victims, have led the UK and the US to express concern through diplomatic channels.

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Protests across Malawi as mobile phone charges soar

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Mobiles are now a luxury in world’s fifth most costly place for data as cooking oil tax adds to rising prices

Hundreds of people have taken to Malawi’s streets to protest against rising mobile call and data charges.

There were demonstrations in Lilongwe, the capital, in the city of Blantyre, and in the southern district of Mulanje on Wednesday.

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Revealed: big shortfall in Covax Covid vaccine-sharing scheme

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Only a fifth of Oxford/AstraZeneca doses expected by May delivered as export bans, hoarding and supply shortages bite

The global vaccine-sharing initiative Covax has so far delivered about one in five of the Oxford/AstraZeneca doses it estimated would arrive in countries by May, according to a Guardian analysis, starkly illustrating the cost of export bans, hoarding and supply shortages for a scheme that represents a key lifeline for many in the developing world.

The organisations that run Covax had predicted countries would receive fewer vaccines than expected after the Indian government restricted exports from its largest manufacturer in response to a catastrophic second wave there, but the figures reveal the shortfall to be severe, leaving many governments scrambling to secure doses elsewhere.

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Growing pains: Zimbabwe’s female tobacco farmers struggle to compete

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At the mercy of international markets and denied access to mainstream finance, the enterprising growers face a precarious existence

Moreen Tanhara waits patiently for officials to inspect her tobacco. The 49-year-old has travelled nearly 100 miles (150km) overnight in an old lorry to reach Tobacco Sales Floor, an auction house in Harare. Tanhara sits quietly on one of the fragrant sacks she has brought from Guruve, a farming area north of Zimbabwe’s capital, while on the auction floor workers prepare tobacco leaves for the first sales of the season.

Related: Zimbabwe urged to take action against child labour on tobacco farms

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The Gambia becomes second African state to end trachoma

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Health workers spent years targeting agonising and blinding eye disease, which was rife in rural areas

The Gambia has become the second country in Africa to eliminate trachoma, one of the leading causes of blindness.

The achievement, announced by the World Health Organization on Tuesday, came after decades of work on the disease, which has damaged the sight of about 1.9 million people worldwide. Ghana was the first country in Africa to eliminate the disease in 2018.

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Compete, confront, cooperate: climate summit test for Biden’s China watchwords

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Analysis: Xi Jinping is likely to push back against US claim to global leadership, but both know their interests overlap on tackling environment

Observers of the US and China this week may ponder whether a joint call to tackle the climate crisis marks a positive change in their fraught relationship, as the two leaders meet for the first time since Joe Biden was sworn into office.

After four years of Donald Trump, the bilateral relationship has reached its lowest ebb since formal ties were established in January 1979. In both capitals, fear of a “new cold war” is on the rise. Many highlight growing competition, and the opposing nature of the two countries’ political systems.

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Covid-19: India’s response to second wave is warning to other countries

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Analysis: India’s surveillance of the virus missed its real prevalence earlier this year

The blindspots in India’s response to its second, devastating wave of coronavirus infections serve as a stark warning to other countries.

In retrospect it was clear that the figures for new infections that India was reporting in January and February were probably too good to be true, with a country of more than 1.3 billion people seeing its caseload drop from its first peak last year of over 100,000 cases a day to under 10,000.

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The creation of a Māori health authority is good news – but the devil will be in the details | Gabrielle Baker

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The critical questions of who is really in charge and who has the money still need to be answered

After decades of neglect, inequality, and outright racism in New Zealand’s health system, a shift toward indigenous sovereignty and tino rangatiratanga in healthcare is long overdue. The Māori Health Authority that the government announced this week seems like a step in the right direction. But the devil will be in the details, as we wait to see if this will produce true change, or just more window dressing.

The failure of the health and disability system to serve Māori has been apparent for decades. A visit to the Ministry of Health website will yield report after report documenting the seven-year life expectancy gap between Māori and non-Māori, higher rates of cancer and other preventable illness, worse outcomes in care, and a myriad of other inequities. Being able to describe Māori health inequities is necessary. But ultimately, it’s insufficient.

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Indonesian navy submarine goes missing with 53 people onboard

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Search operation under way after vessel disappears about 60 miles north of Bali

Indonesia’s navy is searching for a submarine that went missing north of the resort island of Bali with 53 people onboard.

The country’s military chief, Hadi Tjahjanto, said on Wednesday that the KRI Nanggala 402 was participating in a training exercise when it missed a scheduled reporting call. The vessel is believed to have disappeared in waters about 60 miles (95km) north of Bali, he said.

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Canada judge delays extradition hearings in win for Huawei executive

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Meng Wanzhou’s team had sought more time to review new documents after Hong Kong settlement with HSBC

A Canada judge has agreed to delay Meng Wanzhou’s US extradition hearings for three months, according to a ruling read in court on Wednesday, handing the Huawei chief financial officer’s defense team a win.

Meng, 49, was arrested at Vancouver international airport on charges of bank fraud in the US for allegedly misleading HSBC about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran, causing the bank to break US sanctions.

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Four killed in bomb explosion at Pakistan hotel hosting Chinese ambassador

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At least four dead and dozens wounded from blast in car park of luxury hotel in the city of Quetta

At least four people have been killed and a dozen others wounded when a powerful car bomb exploded at a top hotel hosting the Chinese ambassador in south-western Pakistan.

The blast took place in the car park of the Serena – a luxury hotel chain throughout Pakistan – in the city of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province where the military has been fighting a decade-long low level insurgency.

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Biden briefed on ‘tragic’ police killing of Ma’Khia Bryant, White House says

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  • Ma’Khia, 16, shot dead by police in Columbus on Tuesday
  • Protesters take to the streets to decry another police killing

Joe Biden was briefed on Wednesday on the “tragic” fatal police shooting of a 16-year-old Black girl in Columbus, Ohio, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced.

Related: Ohio county where girl, 16, was killed is state’s deadliest for police shootings

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Ireland will resist global corporate tax rate, says finance minister

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Paschal Donohoe says Dublin will not accept reforms that affect its ability to undercut its rivals

Ireland’s finance minister has signalled the country will resist attempts to rebalance the global tax system if they affect Dublin’s ability to undercut its rivals.

Under new tax proposals led by the US, Ireland could lose 20% of its tax revenues, according to Paschal Donohoe.

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India: officials scramble to stop oxygen tank leak that left 22 Covid-19 patients dead – video

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At least 22 patients have died in a western Indian hospital after their oxygen supply was interrupted. The leak was plugged by the fire service within 15 minutes, but there was disruption in the Zakir Hussain Hospital in Nashik, a city in Maharashtra state, that is the worst-hit by the latest surge in coronavirus cases in India. Television showed images of people with empty oxygen cylinders crowding refilling facilities as they scrambled to save stricken relatives in hospital.

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India reels from second Covid wave as families beg for supplies on social media

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Rapid glut of cases stretches supplies of beds in intensive care units, ventilators and oxygen

Hundred of Indians, including Delhi government administrators, have begged for help finding oxygen and other crucial medical supplies on social media as India reels from a devastating second wave of coronavirus, leading to caseloads growing by nearly 300,000 every day.

Faulty oxygen supplies at a western Indian hospital have killed more than 20 Covid-19 patients, adding to the country’s highest-ever daily death toll from the virus.

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Victorious over Covid, Australia and New Zealand grapple with vaccine rollout

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Australia’s glacially slow delivery of jabs derided as a ‘farce’, while in New Zealand only 4.5% of eligible people have been vaccinated

They were held up as Covid success stories, two countries at the bottom of the world that kept outbreaks under control and deaths low as the pandemic swept the rest of the globe.

Daily life in cities including Sydney and Auckland now feels largely back to pre-pandemic normal – restaurants are full, theatres are open, masks are scarce and offices are busy. A degree of international travel is also a reality thanks to the new “trans-Tasman travel bubble” – a two-way quarantine-free corridor between the neighbours.

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UK inquiry blames ‘pervasive racism’ for unequal commemoration of troops

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Exclusive: Commonwealth War Graves Commission expected to apologise for commemorating British empire’s black and Asian first world war dead ‘unequally’

Hundreds of thousands of predominantly black and Asian service personnel who died fighting for the British Empire have not been formally commemorated in the same way as their white comrades because of decisions underpinned by “pervasive racism”, an investigation has concluded.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is expected to issue a formal apology on Thursday after it discovered that at least 116,000 – but potentially up to 350,000 – predominantly African and Middle Eastern first world war casualties may not be commemorated by name, or at all.

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