Police arrived as shots were being fired; suspect taken to hospital after being shot by officers
Four people, including a child, have been killed and a fifth person injured in a shooting at a southern California office building, with the suspected shooter wounded by police.
It happened at around 5.30pm on Wednesday at a two-storey office building in Orange, south of Los Angeles.
Continue reading...Accusations of violence, denied by all five people, could result in 16-20 years’ jail under laws that protect royal family
Prosecutors in Thailand have indicted five pro-democracy activists on charges of attempting to harm the queen during a street demonstration in October last year, in which some protesters shouted slogans critical of the monarchy.
Queen Suthida, the wife of King Maha Vajiralongkorn, was not in any evident danger in the incident, which occurred when a limousine carrying the queen and the king’s son, Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti, passed through a small crowd of protesters mixed with supporters of the royal family.
Continue reading...Authorities reportedly investigating if Republican congressman, 38, violated sex trafficking laws and had inappropriate relationship
The prominent Republican congressman Matt Gaetz’s reported relationship with a 17-year-old girl remained under scrutiny on Wednesday, despite his insistence in an appearance on Fox News that the allegation was “verifiably false”.
Related: Hunter Biden calls Trump 'vile' in new book and denies Ukraine allegations
Continue reading...Opposition leaders demand impeachment for what they say is president’s illegal attempt to co-opt the country’s armed forces
Prominent leaders of Brazil’s opposition have called for president Jair Bolsonaro to be immediately removed from office to prevent his “coup-mongering, authoritarian delusions” becoming a reality.
“We cannot be bystanders to this barbarism,” congressman Marcelo Freixo said on Wednesday as parliamentarians demanded Bolsonaro’s impeachment for what they called his illegal attempt to co-opt the armed forces.
Continue reading...Europe’s medicines agency says no risk factors identified; two state premiers say time for discussion is over and lockdown needed
A court in Belgium has ordered the government to either lift all coronavirus measures within 30 days or frame them properly in law, after a case brought by a human rights organisation challenged the use of ministerial decrees to implement them.
A night-time curfew and a ban on non-essential travel are among the restrictions currently in place in Belgium. The court in the capital, Brussels, said the state would have to pay fines of €5,000 (£4,256) a day if it fails to abide by the ruling.
We believe that in view of the restrictions on fundamental freedoms imposed to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, a debate in parliament was essential.
While restrictions on these rights and freedoms may of course be made, given the importance of the issues at stake and the need to protect the rights to life and health of individuals, they must be fair and proportionate.
Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he will be vaccinated against Covid next week, according to Reuters.
“The doctors recommended that I get vaccinated,” he said during his regular morning news conference, without disclosing which day he planned to receive the shot.
Continue reading...Freed protesters and a journalist detained by the junta describe beatings and squalid conditions
Released from detention in Myanmar, protesters and journalists have described beatings, squalid conditions and cruelty under the military dictatorship that is opposed by most of the population.
Hnin, 23, was arrested along with 400 other young people in a haze of stun grenades and teargas in the commercial capital Yangon on 3 March for protesting against the military coup.
Continue reading...The president has stacked his government with military men. Now that blurring of institutional lines may backfire
It is not surprising that the government of Jair Bolsonaro is in crisis. Setting aside his ruinous response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the radically reactionary leader of the largest country in Latin America has never displayed the ability or desire to use political means to benefit anyone but those closest to him. Still, the scale and rapidity of the upheaval this week has raised concerns that Brazilians may soon confront a full-blown political meltdown on top of the public health disaster that has been unfolding for several months.
On Monday, Ernesto Araújo, the foreign minister, resigned. His tenure had been marked by brash self-righteous rhetoric delivered without a glimmer of grace or confidence. Indeed, Araújo became known for masking his palpable insecurity with long, confusing references to Latin and Greek antiquity. Aráujo embraced conspiracy theories and far-right ideas that endeared him to the constellation of far-right governments that emerged around the world in recent years, particularly the Trump administration in Washington, but failed to deliver many tangible results for the Brazilian people (this is why two years ago I called Araújo “the worst diplomat in the world”).
Continue reading...European commission’s latest move in long-running dispute draws defiant response from Warsaw
The European commission has said it is taking Poland to the bloc’s highest court over a legal change it alleges undermines judges’ independence and prevents them applying EU law, drawing an instant and defiant response from Warsaw.
In the latest salvo in a longstanding dispute over respect for the rule of law, Brussels said on Wednesday it was also asking the European court of justice (ECJ) to make an interim order suspending Poland’s 2019 law until its final judgment is delivered.
Continue reading...Police say Brandon Elliot, who was previously convicted of killing his mother, faces assault charges for attacking 65-year-old woman
The suspect wanted in an attack of an Asian American woman near New York City’s Times Square has been arrested and charged with felony assault as a hate crime, police said early Wednesday.
The arrest comes after the man was seen on video kicking and stomping the woman on Monday.
Continue reading...Ruling that face masks must be worn on beaches comes amid fears of fourth Covid wave
The Spanish tourist industry has reacted with dismay to the government’s decree that face masks must be worn in all outdoor spaces, including beaches and swimming pools, even when it is possible to maintain social distancing.
“We’re going through hell with thousands of jobs and businesses threatened and now they want to turn the beaches into open-air field hospitals,” José Luis Zoreda, vice-president of Exceltur, the umbrella organisation that represents Spain’s tourism industry, told El País newspaper.
Continue reading...We are raiding the Audio Long Reads archives and bringing you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.
This week: In a special tribute to Martin Woollacott, the Guardian’s former foreign correspondent and foreign editor, who has died at the age of 81, Alan Rusbridger reflects on his fondest memories of Martin and how this ‘giant of journalism’ should be remembered.
From 2015: North Vietnamese troops who marched into the capital on 30 April 1975. It marked the most crushing defeat in US military history. Four decades after he reported on these events for the Guardian, Martin Woollacott reflects upon what it meant for the future of both nations
NGOs and experts quoted in film say it contains ‘misleading’ claims, erroneous statistics and out-of-context interviews
A Netflix documentary about the impact of commercial fishing has attracted celebrity endorsements and plaudits from fans with its damning picture of the harm the industry does to ocean life. But NGOs, sustainability labels and experts quoted in Seaspiracy have accused the film-makers of making “misleading claims”, using out-of-context interviews and erroneous statistics.
Seaspiracy, made by the team behind the award-winning 2014 film Cowspiracy, which was backed by Leonardo DiCaprio, pours doubt on the idea of sustainable fishing, shines a spotlight on the aquaculture industry and introduces the notion of “blood shrimp”, seafood tainted with slave labour and human rights abuses.
Continue reading...In a nine-month investigation by the Guardian and Consumer Reports we found forever chemicals, arsenic and lead in samples taken across the US
In Connecticut, a condo had lead in its drinking water at levels more than double what the federal government deems acceptable. At a church in North Carolina, the water was contaminated with extremely high levels of potentially toxic PFAS chemicals ( a group of compounds found in hundreds of household products). The water flowing into a Texas home had both – and concerning amounts of arsenic too.
All three were among locations that had water tested as part of a nine-month investigation by Consumer Reports (CR) and the Guardian into the US’s drinking water.
Continue reading...German shepherd Major ‘nipped someone while on a walk’, according to first’s lady’s press secretary
Joe Biden’s dog Major has been involved in its second biting incident in a month, the White House has said.
The dog “nipped someone while on a walk” on Monday, according to Jill Biden’s press secretary, Michael LaRosa. The animal “is still adjusting to his new surroundings”, he said. The individual was seen by the White House medical unit “out of an abundance of caution” and returned to work without injury.
Continue reading...After coming out as a lesbian, aged 12, she suffered a horrendous attack at school. Now a successful actor, she is determined to help those wrestling with their identities
Ruby Rose spent much of her childhood travelling around Australia with her mother, an aspiring artist, trying to make ends meet. They were poor, but they were unstoppable, says Rose. Her mother had sold their TV, so there were no dreams of becoming the Hollywood action star she is now, nor the model, presenter, DJ, VJ and campaigner she has been over the years. When Rose was a child, she just wanted to write.
“I wanted to write a book for kids that were my age. I just wanted to have a way to communicate and speak to kids like me, who didn’t have someone,” she says, over Zoom. “I was just this kid who had no friends, who was super unpopular, got bullied and beaten up at school, and was like: ‘I’m going to be a famous writer.’”
Continue reading...Nearly 5,000 refugees holed up in small Colombian town of Arauquita, having fled intense and continuing battles
Lizeth Iturrieta, a journalist in the small town of La Victoria on Venezuela’s western border with Colombia, was woken by the rumble of armoured vehicles rolling past her home. Hours later the sounds of gunfire and explosions shook the walls, and she and her husband dived for cover.
“Out of nowhere we were in the middle of a war zone,” Iturrieta said in a video call from a refugee camp on the Colombian side of the frontier. “After a day of hiding at home in absolute silence, we ran for our lives to the boat to Colombia. We almost fell into the river in the panic.”
Continue reading...Japan’s famous cherry blossoms have reached their flowery peak in many places earlier this year than at any time since records began nearly 70 years ago, and experts say climate change is the probable cause
Continue reading...Bernardo Catchura spent a last desperate night seeking treatment in the healthcare system he had spent decades campaigning to improve. His wife is still unsure how he died
In their 15 years together, Maimuna Catchura had not known her husband to be ill. But one night in late January, 39-year-old lawyer, activist and musician Bernardo Catchura could not sleep, and complained of severe stomach pain.
The pain forced Catchura from his bed at his house in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau’s capital. That night he would navigate the country’s medical care maze, visiting pharmacies, clinics and hospitals. Before the night was through, he even considered crossing the border into Senegal to get help.
Continue reading...Economies are gearing up for return to fossil fuel use instead of forging green recovery, warns Fatih Birol
New energy policies are urgently needed to put countries on the path to net zero greenhouse gas emissions, the world’s leading energy economist has warned, as economies are rapidly gearing up for a return to fossil fuel use instead of forging a green recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Most of the world’s biggest economies now have long-term goals of reaching net zero by mid-century, but few have the policies required to meet those goals, said Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Continue reading...Moscow says leaders discussed possibility of shipments and joint production amid shortage of doses inside Europe
Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron discussed Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine and its use in Europe on a conference call on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Moscow’s statement said that among other subjects the Russian, German and French leaders discussed prospects for the registration of the vaccine in the EU and the possibility of shipments and joint production in EU nations. It did not say who raised the topic.
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