Category Archives: World News

Call centre staff to be monitored via webcam for home-working ‘infractions’

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Exclusive: Teleperformance, which employs 380,000 people, plans to use specialist webcams to watch staff

Thousands of staff at one of the world’s biggest call centre companies face being monitored by webcams to check whether they are eating, looking at their phones or leaving their desks while working from home, the Guardian has learned.

In a sign of potential battles ahead over the surveillance of remote staff after the pandemic, Teleperformance – which employs about 380,000 people in 34 countries and counts dozens of major UK companies and government departments among its clients – has told some staff that specialist webcams will be fitted to check for home-working “infractions”.

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France claims UK will struggle to source second Covid jabs

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EU will not be blackmailed over Oxford/AstraZeneca doses, says foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian

The war of words with the EU over vaccines has escalated as France’s foreign minister claimed Britain will struggle to source second Covid jabs but that Brussels would not be “blackmailed” into exporting doses to solve the problem.

Jean-Yves Le Drian, a close political ally of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, claimed that the UK’s success had been built on driving forward with first jabs without having secured the second doses necessary for full vaccination.

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How the Suez canal blockage can seriously dent world trade

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Analysis: 12% of global shipping uses the canal with any delays disrupting supply chains, fuelling shortages and hiking prices

World trade’s pre-eminent shortcut – the Suez Canal – is facing “massive” disruption which could cause cargo delays around the globe, shipping experts warned on Friday.

The narrow, 120-mile passage of water linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean allows ships of colossal proportions to navigate a relatively direct route from Asia to Europe, rather than taking a 3,500-mile diversion around Africa.

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Mexico bars candidate accused of rape from running on technical grounds

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Decision drew the wrath of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has defended candidate Félix Salgado

Mexico’s elections agency has withdrawn ballot registration for a ruling-party state candidate who was nominated despite accusations of rape against him – but the move was made on technical grounds and not because of the allegations.

The decision drew the wrath of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has defended candidate Félix Salgado and criticized women’s groups who objected to his candidacy.

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Dozens killed in train crash in southern Egypt, say authorities

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At least 32 people and 100 injured after collision between two trains in Sohag province

At least 32 people were killed and more than a hundred injured when two trains collided in southern Egypt. Authorities blamed a passenger activating the emergency brakes.

Two passenger cars flipped on their side from the force of the collision, the latest in a series of deadly accidents along Egypt’s troubled rail system, plagued by poor maintenance and management.

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Russian conservationists hail rare sighting of Amur leopard with cubs

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Sighting in Primorye region said to show success of fight against poachers and steps to boost species population

Russian conservationists have hailed a rare sighting of an Amur leopard mother with three cubs in the far-eastern region of Primorye as proof of the efficiency of the country’s efforts to boost the population of the endangered species.

Scientists in a Russian national park in Primorye on the border with China obtained the images using a remote camera trap. The video footage shows the feline family standing on top of a hill in the Land of the Leopard national park.

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French monks locked down with 2.8 tonnes of cheese pray for buyers

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Raw-milk product normally sold only to restaurants or visitors to Cîteaux Abbey is marketed online

A French monastery in the heart of Burgundy has launched an emergency online sale to get rid of thousands of its artisanal cheeses, which are languishing in its cellars as Covid-19 keeps buyers away.

The Cîteaux Abbey, just south of Dijon, birthplace of the Cistercian Catholic order, usually sells its raw-milk, semi-soft discs only to restaurants or visitors to its on-site shop. But a drop in demand since the coronavirus crisis erupted last year has left the abbey’s 19 Trappist monks with 4,000 cheeses too many, a 2.8-tonne problem.

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Diary of a Myanmar medic: ‘I learned to treat gunshot wounds on YouTube’

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A doctor who provides treatment to protesters injured by the military describes the daily violence and trauma of post-coup Myanmar

A doctor who provides treatment to protesters wounded by the army and police has described a week in the turmoil of the post-coup Myanmar.

When the military coup happened, I joined a group of medics providing treatment to protesters. Every day is a risky day for us. I may be captured, I may be shot dead. We don’t have bullet-proof vests. We have only a waistcoat and a stethoscope. Our ambulance has been shot at twice before; we just had to get out and run.

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Covid third wave may overrun Africa’s healthcare, warns WHO

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Leap of 50% in cases in three months and just 7m jabs across continent ‘infecting 11 health workers an hour’

Rising cases of coronavirus in Africa threaten to overrun fragile healthcare systems and test the continent’s much-touted resilience to the disease, according to the World Health Organization’s regional office for the continent.

The global health body stated that infections were on the rise in at least 12 countries in Africa including Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya and Guinea.

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‘Bangladesh has come a long way’: people of Dhaka on half a century of independence

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A rickshaw rider, a domestic worker, a student and a photographer on how their lives have changed

Habibur Rahman, 48, rickshaw rider

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The making of a megacity: how Dhaka transformed in 50 years of Bangladesh

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In the half century since independence, the capital has grown from peaceful town to economic hub. But does it live up to the dreams of those still flocking to work there?

On the banks of the Buriganga, Old Dhaka’s boatmen only ever rest a moment before making their return journey, endlessly ferrying passengers back and forth across the river.

They pick them up at the Sadarghat docks, the historical trading hub that helped build the city, and row them towards the sprawling suburbs that have crept across what used to be open farmland two decades ago.

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‘They can see us in the dark’: migrants grapple with hi-tech fortress EU

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A powerful battery of drones, thermal cameras and heartbeat detectors are being deployed to exclude asylum seekers

Khaled has been playing “the game” for a year now. A former law student, he left Afghanistan in 2018, driven by precarious economic circumstances and fear for his security, as the Taliban were increasingly targeting Kabul.

But when he reached Europe, he realised the chances at winning the game were stacked against him. Getting to Europe’s borders was easy compared with actually crossing into the EU, he says, and there were more than physical obstacles preventing him from getting to Germany, where his uncle and girlfriend live.

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Efforts to dislodge Ever Given in Suez canal continue – video

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Efforts to dislodge the stricken container ship blocking the Suez canal continue as fears mount that the operation could take weeks. The 400-metre-long Ever Given ran aground on Tuesday and has blocked traffic through one of the world's busiest shipping routes 

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‘Ugliest crime’: Outcry in Sudan over lack of justice for killing of teenage girl

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Death of Samah el-Hadi, allegedly shot by her father, has led to outpouring of women sharing own stories of domestic violence

Thousands of people have signed a petition urging the Sudanese government to take action against a man released without charge by police after his 13-year-old daughter was shot dead.

Samah el-Hadi was shot three times and run over by a car, reports said. Neighbours have taken to social media to blame her father, who was briefly questioned by the authorities but released after telling them Samah had taken her own life. No postmortem was carried out on the girl’s body.

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Diversify or risk unrest, oil producers warned in report

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As world shifts to green energy, Iraq and Nigeria among those vulnerable to ‘wave of instability’

Oil-dependent countries that are not preparing to adapt to the global shift away from fossil fuels risk their own stability, warns a new report.

Algeria, Iraq and Nigeria are the most vulnerable to “a slow-motion wave of political instability”, according to the risk analysts Verisk Maplecroft.

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Coronavirus live news: Germany adds France, Austria, Denmark and Czech Republic to high-risk travel list

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People arriving in Germany from countries on the list must provide a negative test no more than 48 hours old and quarantine for 10 days

UK prime minister Boris Johnson and US president Joe Biden have discussed the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine in a call on Friday, PA reports.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “The leaders discussed the fight against coronavirus and updated each other on their countries’ vaccine rollouts. The Prime Minister stressed that global access to vaccines will be key to defeating the pandemic.

“The Prime Minister and president agreed that combatting climate change will be a crucial component of building back better from the pandemic.”

Lebanon’s private sector helps speed up the country’s vaccination program by importing at least 1m doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccines to aid the reopening of businesses.

The first shipment of 50,000 doses of Sputnik V arrived on Friday, making the country one of the few nations whose private sector is boosting its Covid-19 rollout.

Jacques Sarraf, a Lebanese businessman and head of the Lebanese Russian Business Council, said he hopes the Russian vaccines help safely reopen businesses around the country.

“Our first target will be private companies, factories, banks, and this is important to reactivate institutions,” he told The Associated Press in an interview.

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New Zealand’s Catholic Church apologises to abuse victims at royal commission hearing

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Cardinal John Dew said he would offer ‘no excuses’ for the actions of bishops and congregational leaders

New Zealand’s Catholic Church has formally apologised to the survivors of abuse within the church and said its systems and culture must change.

Cardinal John Dew, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Wellington and Metropolitan of New Zealand, made the apology on Friday at the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care on behalf of the bishops and congregational leaders in New Zealand.

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China sanctions UK businesses, MPs and lawyers in Xinjiang row

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Former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith says he will wear the retaliation like a ‘badge of honour’

China has sanctioned organisations and individuals in the United Kingdom over what it called “lies and disinformation” about Xinjiang, after Britain imposed sanctions for human rights abuses in the western Chinese region.

The Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement that it sanctioned four entities and nine individuals, including the former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith and the Conservative party’s own Human Rights Commission.

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Gibraltar looks to post-Covid era as vaccine drive nears completion

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British overseas territory is positioning itself as real-time case study in relaxing restrictions

This month Gibraltar’s health minister snapped a photo from her first dinner out in months, showing two glasses of red wine sitting prominently on the table and a face mask cast off in the background. “Operation freedom begins,” tweeted Samantha Sacramento alongside the photo.

Operation Freedom, the name given to Gibraltar’s vaccination programme, is now closing in on its target: in the coming days the British overseas territory will become one of the first places in the world where every willing resident over the age of 16 has been fully vaccinated.

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Fighting rages in Mozambique close to Total’s gas project

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Islamist insurgents have attacked strategic port town of Palma, near gas operations on Afungi peninsula

Helicopter gunships have exchanged fire with Islamist insurgents as fighting raged for a second day around a strategic town in northern Mozambique.

The town of Palma was attacked earlier this week in a three-pronged assault by rebel fighters which was launched just hours after Total, the France-based oil and gas company, announced that it would resume work on its multibillion-dollar liquified natural gas project nearby.

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