Category Archives: World News

Pakistani government accused of ‘sabotaging’ rights watchdog

Posted on by

Islamabad high court orders government to fill vacant post at head of National Commission for Human Rights

The prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, and his government have been accused of trying to “sabotage” the country’s independent human rights watchdog to prevent accountability for mounting abuses and oppression.

Legislators, activists and lawyers told the Guardian that Khan’s government “punished” and immobilised Pakistan’s National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) over reports that it had produced into human rights abuses and torture carried out by the military, which plays a powerful role in running the country.

Continue reading...

Refugees flee Myanmar for Thailand after airstrikes – video

Posted on by

Refugees fleeing Myanmar are attempting to reach Thailand by boat following airstrikes by Myanmar’s military on parts of the country predominantly populated by ethnic Karen people. 

Thailand's prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, said ‘we don't want to have an exodus and evacuations into our territory but we will observe human rights too'

Continue reading...

Mystery brain disorder baffles Canadian doctors

Posted on by

Spasms, memory loss and hallucinations among symptoms of 43 patients in Acadian region of New Brunswick province

Doctors in Canada are concerned they could be dealing with a previously unknown brain disease amid a string of cases involving memory loss, hallucinations and muscle atrophy.

Politicians in the province of New Brunswick have demanded answers, but with so few cases, experts say there are far more questions than answers and have urged the public not to panic.

Continue reading...

Green investing ‘is definitely not going to work’, says ex-BlackRock executive

Posted on by

Tariq Fancy once oversaw the start of the biggest effort to turn Wall Street ‘green’ – but now believes the climate crisis can never be solved by today’s free markets

From his desk in midtown Manhattan Tariq Fancy once oversaw the beginning of arguably the biggest, most ambitious, effort ever to turn Wall Street “green”. Now, as environmentally friendly investing grows at an exponential rate, Fancy has come to a stark conclusion: “This is definitely not going to work.”

As the former chief investment officer for sustainable investing at BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, Fancy was charged with embedding environmental, social and governance (ESG) corporate policies across the investment giant’s portfolio.

Continue reading...

Hilarious, literal, preciously simple: Big Boat Stuck in the Suez Canal was the narrative we needed | Ben Jenkins

Posted on by

Finally, a global news event that we weren’t screaming at each other on Twitter about – and which was simple enough to explain to a child

As the Ever Given was freed from the Suez Canal on Monday — just under a week after it jammed itself in there like a husky gentleman in a waterslide — the prevailing attitude online was not one of relief or celebration.

The hashtag #putitback started trending as people, with varying degrees of sincerity, immediately became nostalgic for the time when the whole world’s attention was fixed on huge oaf of a boat gunking up 200km of canal.

Continue reading...

Osinbajo defies expectations as Nigeria’s vice-president

Posted on by

Analysis: Buhari’s deputy wants to create jobs, feed pupils and cut red tape. Is he too high-profile for his critics?

The role of vice-president is one that John Adams, the first person in the US to hold the position, called “the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived”.

Nigeria’s Patience Jonathan captured the situation in her sarcastic response to a journalist who asked about her husband, Goodluck Jonathan, when he was vice-president. She said: “He is in his office reading newspapers.”

Continue reading...

Pike river mine families accept end of mission to find victims ‘with heartbreak’

Posted on by

Government says it will no longer fund risky mission to retrieve 29 bodies from site of New Zealand’s worst mining disaster

Families of the men who died in one of New Zealand’s worst mining disasters have expressed their heartbreak that the government has ended funding to re-enter the mine, leaving the remains of their loved ones trapped inside.

Twenty-nine men were killed when an explosion ripped through the Pike river mine on the west coast in November 2010. Their bodies have not been recovered, and remain in the mine.

Continue reading...

Canada suspends use of AstraZeneca Covid vaccine for those under 55

Posted on by

Immunisation panel says there is ‘substantial uncertainty about the benefit’ of the vaccine given risk of rare type of blood clot

Canada on Monday suspended the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for people under 55 following concerns it might be linked to rare blood clots.

The pause was recommended by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization for safety reasons. The Canadian provinces, which administer health in the country, announced the suspension on Monday.

Continue reading...

Global treaty needed to protect states from pandemics, say world leaders

Posted on by

Joint letter signed by Boris Johnson, Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel and others warns ‘nobody is safe until everyone is safe’

The world needs a global treaty for pandemics to protect states in the wake of Covid-19, akin to the settlement forged after the second world war, Boris Johnson and other world leaders have urged.

In a joint article published in newspapers across the world, leaders including the UK prime minister, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, warn that a future global pandemic is an inevitability and that Covid has served as “a stark and painful reminder that nobody is safe until everyone is safe”.

Continue reading...

New Covid vaccines needed globally within a year, say scientists

Posted on by

Survey of experts in relevant fields concludes that new variants could arise in countries with low vaccine coverage

The planet could have a year or less before first-generation Covid-19 vaccines are ineffective and modified formulations are needed, according to a survey of epidemiologists, virologists and infectious disease specialists.

Scientists have long stressed that a global vaccination effort is needed to satisfactorily neutralise the threat of Covid-19. This is due to the threat of variations of the virus – some more transmissible, deadly and less susceptible to vaccines – that are emerging and percolating.

Continue reading...

Regulators around the world monitor collapse of US hedge fund

Posted on by

Liquidation of Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management sparked a fire sale of more than $20bn assets

Financial regulators across the world are monitoring the collapse of the New York-based billionaire Bill Hwang’s personal hedge fund.

The sudden liquidation of Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management sparked a fire sale of more than $20bn assets that has left some of the world’s biggest investment banks nursing billions of dollars of losses.

Continue reading...

Chinese diplomat calls Justin Trudeau ‘running dog of US’ as tensions escalate

Posted on by

China and Canada have clashed repeatedly in recent months over Beijing’s treatment of its Uighur minority

A Chinese diplomat has dismissed Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau as a “boy” in a social media attack marking a new low in the fractured relationship between the two countries.

China and Canada have clashed repeatedly in recent months, and last week the two countries imposed sanctions on each other in a growing row over Beijing’s treatment of its Uighur minority.

Continue reading...

‘I’m scared’: CDC director urges action after US Covid surge – video

Posted on by

Rochelle Walensky, head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, urged public officials to spread the word about the seriousness of a fourth Covid-19 surge in the country.

The Biden administration and Walensky said Americans should continue to take precautions to prevent the spread of Covid-19

Continue reading...

The Suez boat saga enthralled the world – but not those with naviphobia

Posted on by

Stuck container ship triggered people with fear of ships and sea wreckage and megalophobia, the fear of large objects

When Grace Gibson was texted a picture of the giant container ship Ever Given stuck in the Suez canal, she clenched.

The image – of the gargantuan vessel wedged sideways into the canal – and the lone excavator working to free it – struck most as absurd. Against the massive underbelly of the ship, the equipment looked tiny. But for Gibson, a 26-year old Angeleno, it immediately evoked discomfort.

Continue reading...

Mozambique: dozens dead or missing in deadly attack – video

Posted on by

At least seven people are dead and up to 60 unaccounted for after an ambush by Islamist militants on a convoy in northern Mozambique on Friday. 

On Wednesday, the insurgents had targeted the northern town of Palma, where many foreign contractors work for a multibillion-dollar liquified natural gas project run by the French energy company Total, attacking local people and hotels sheltering foreign workers  

Continue reading...

Trapped in gloves, tangled in masks: Covid PPE killing animals, report finds

Posted on by

Mask and gloves protect people but harm animals from penguins to dogs when discarded, researchers say

The masks and gloves protecting people from coronavirus are proving a deadly threat to wildlife when thrown away, a report has found.

A fish trapped in the finger of a rubber glove in the Netherlands, a penguin in Brazil with a mask in its stomach and a fox in the UK entangled in a mask were among the victims.

Continue reading...

Isis claims deadly attack in northern Mozambique

Posted on by

Attack on port town of Palma has forced hundreds of people to flee amid fierce fighting

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an attack on a town in northern Mozambique last week that forced hundreds of foreign contractors to flee amid fierce fighting.

Local police and soldiers were reported to have secured control of most of Palma on Monday, after hundreds of Islamist insurgents who overran the small port last week withdrew to surrounding forests and fields leaving a trail of devastation.

Continue reading...

Suez canal ship freed and heading to lake for inspections – video

Posted on by

A vast container ship that had blocked the Suez canal in Egypt for almost a week has been completely refloated by salvage teams with the help of tides that swelled to their highest point with the full moon. Dredgers and excavators worked throughout the weekend to dislodge thousands of cubic metres of sand caked around the 400-metre-long Ever Given ship. Tugboats managed in the early hours of Monday first to move it, then pull it free. The vessel is being hauled to a lake where it will undergo technical inspections

Continue reading...

EU announces funding for five new refugee camps on Greek islands

Posted on by

Ylva Johansson’s visit Lesbos and Samos met with demonstrations from locals, as charities warn camps are ‘recipe for catastrophe’

The EU is to give Greece funding to build five new refuge camps on the Aegean islands.

Ylva Johansson, the EU home affairs commissioner, visited Lesbos and Samos on Monday to announce that the EU would provide €250m of funding (£213m) for five new structures on the islands of Lesbos, Samos, Chios, Kos and Leros.

A large crowd of demonstrators gathered outside the town hall on the waterfront in Mytilene, the capital of Lesbos, to protest against her visit. Some wrapped themselves in Greek flags and others held signs calling for European solidarity. One sign read: “No to European Guantánamos. Shame on you, Europe.” Another said: “No structures on the island, Europe take responsibility.”

Continue reading...