Category Archives: World News

Canadian professor threatened to fail student caught up in Myanmar coup

Posted on by

York University apologises after academic dismissed request for exam deferral from student where internet had been shut down

College instructors are all too familiar with the frantic, sometimes implausible excuses that students offer to get out of taking an exam.

But a university in Canada has been forced to take action after a professor threatened to fail a student who requested an extension because they were in Myanmar, where the military government was shutting down the country’s internet.

Continue reading...

‘It’s the way she owns her body’: how Megan Thee Stallion rode to Grammys glory

Posted on by

Last week’s triple triumph capped the glorious rise of a rapper who has inspired a generation of women with her confidence and sublime talent

In 2014, a then-unknown Megan Thee Stallion tweeted: “I need a team [because] I promise this rap shit gone take off for me.”

That promise has been fulfilled in quite spectacular fashion. The 26-year-old, born Megan Jovon Ruth Pete, is now one of the world’s most famous and respected rap stars, with her three Grammy awards at last weekend’s ceremony marking the peak of her career thus far.

Continue reading...

FBI releases new video in hunt for dangerous suspects from Capitol attack – video

Posted on by

Warning: some viewers may find the following footage distressing

The FBI has released new footage of the deadly 6 January US Capitol insurrection as it seeks to identify 10 suspects involved in what the agency says were 'some of the most violent attacks on officers'. Law enforcement are still pursuing more than 100 suspects from the attack, and the 10 suspects highlighted this week are considered among the most dangerous still at large

Continue reading...

Threat of no-deal Brexit remains, peers say, as EU relations sour

Posted on by

Exclusive: Lords committee chair highlights concern EU parliament may delay trade deal ratification

The Brexit deal signed in December has been thrown into jeopardy because of the recent breakdown of relations with the EU, an influential House of Lords committee is warning.

The European Union committee says “the threat of no deal remains”, with the European parliament now declining to set a date for its vote on the trade agreement sealed on Christmas Eve.

Continue reading...

‘We are in pain’: Asian American lawmaker Grace Meng makes powerful speech – video

Posted on by

The Asian American lawmaker Grace Meng called out the violence and discrimination against her community at a hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday. 'Our community is bleeding. We are in pain. And for the last year, we’ve been screaming out for help,' she  said. She told a panel the rising tide of anti-Asian bigotry was fuelled in part by rhetoric from Donald Trump and his allies, who have referred to Covid-19 as the 'China virus' and 'kung flu' 

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: Paris prepares for new lockdown at midnight; German hospitals ‘could be overwhelmed’

Posted on by

French PM announces limited lockdown for Paris and other regions; German health authorities warn of ‘exponential’ rise in cases

Vaccinations with the AstraZeneca jab in France can resume with immediate effect, the national authority for health announced on Friday.

However, the agency recommended the jab be only given to people aged 55 and older for the time being.

The new coronavirus variant first discovered in the UK, known to be highly contagious, makes up more than 60% of cases in Poland and will soon reach 80%, a Polish health ministry spokesman said on Friday.

Poland is grappling with the third wave of the pandemic and has seen a sharp recent spike in cases driven by the variant originating in the UK, Reuters reports.

Continue reading...

Tanzania’s first female leader urges unity after Covid sceptic Magufuli dies

Posted on by

Samia Suluhu Hassan faces task of healing east African country polarised during predecessor’s presidency

Tanzania’s new president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, has said the country should unite and avoid pointing fingers after the death of John Magufuli, her Covid-19 sceptic predecessor.

Wearing a red hijab, she took her oath of office on the Qur’an in a ceremony at State House in the east African country’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam. She is the first female head of state in the country of 58 million.

Continue reading...

Drowned land: hunger stalks South Sudan’s flooded villages

Posted on by

Two years of torrential rains have left 1.6m people in Jonglei province without crops and with their homes flooded. But, with extraordinary resilience, people in Old Fangak are working together to rebuild their lives.

  • by Susan Martinez, photography by Peter Caton for Action Against Hunger

After the unprecedented floods last summer, the people of Old Fangak, a small town in northern South Sudan, should be planting now. But the flood water has not receded, the people are still marooned and now they are facing severe hunger.

Unusually heavy rains began last July, and the White Nile burst its banks, destroyed all the crops and encroached on farms and villages, affecting Jonglei and other states, leaving people to scramble for a few strips of dry land.

Continue reading...

‘Things are desperate’: Brazil’s Covid intensive care units are almost all at capacity

Posted on by

The country’s sceptic president and his allies continue to downplay the coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 287,000

Brazil’s healthcare system has been plunged into the most severe crisis in its history, with doctors overwhelmed and patients dying while they wait for intensive care beds as the country’s Covid-sceptic president, Jair Bolsonaro, continued to spurn calls for a lockdown that would save lives.

As the daily number of infections and deaths soared to new heights this week, researchers from Brazil’s leading healthcare institute, Fiocruz, said South America’s biggest country faced an unparalleled “catastrophe”.

Continue reading...

Myanmar security forces kill eight anti-coup protesters, say local media reports

Posted on by

Deaths would bring the total to 220 since 1 February coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar security forces opened fire on demonstrators against a military coup in the central town of Aungban on Friday, killing eight people, according to a local news outlet.

Seven people were killed in the town and one wounded person died after being taken to hospital in the nearby town of Kalaw, the Myanmar Now news portal said, citing Aungban’s funerary service.

Continue reading...

Doctors suggest Covid-19 could cause diabetes

Posted on by

More than 350 clinicians report suspicions of Covid-induced diabetes, both type 1 and type 2

A cohort of scientists from across the world believe that there is a growing body of evidence that Covid-19 can cause diabetes in some patients.

Prof Francesco Rubino, from King’s College London, is leading the call for a full investigation into a possible link between the two diseases. Having seen a rise in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes in people who have caught coronavirus, some doctors are even considering the possibility that the virus ‒ by disrupting sugar metabolism ‒ could be inducing an entirely new form of diabetes.

Continue reading...

Fight against tuberculosis set back 12 years by Covid pandemic, report finds

Posted on by

Number of people diagnosed and treated in worst-affected countries has fallen to 2008 levels as resources diverted

Twelve months of Covid-19 has reversed 12 years of global progress against tuberculosis, worse than previously estimated.

The pandemic has resulted in nearly a 25% decrease in diagnosis and treatment around the world, according to research published on Thursday by a coalition working to end TB.

Continue reading...

‘We choose good guys and bad guys’: beneath the myth of ‘model’ Rwanda

Posted on by

President Paul Kagame – long feted by leaders in the west – is accused of serial human rights abuses in expansive new book

A devastating new book will accuse Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame – long feted by his prominent international supporters as the model of visionary new African leadership – of being a serial human rights abuser, including for his role in a sustained campaign of assassinating his rivals in exile.

Written by Michela Wrong, the author who covered the Rwandan genocide in 1994, when more than 800,000 people – largely ethnic Tutsis as well as moderate Hutus – were killed by Hutu militias over 100 days, Do Not Disturb represents one of the most far-reaching historical revisions of Kagame and his regime.

Continue reading...

Mexico ambush: 13 state police killed in attack on convoy

Posted on by

Attacks on police have become routine as the country fights drug cartels and organised crime

Thirteen Mexican police officers and investigators have been killed in an ambush as they travelled through a rural region – marking the latest attack on law enforcement by brazen criminal groups.

Eight state police officers and five members of the state’s investigative police force died in the ambush in the municipality of Coatepec Harinas, 125km (78 miles) south-west of Mexico City in Mexico state on Thursday afternoon, according to officials.

Continue reading...

US and China publicly rebuke each other in first major talks of Biden era

Posted on by

Antony Blinken criticises China over Hong Kong and Xinjiang while his counterpart says US can no longer ‘speak to China from a position of strength’

The United States and China have publicly clashed during their first face-to-face high-level talks since Joe Biden took office, with one senior Chinese official urging the US to address “deep-seated” issues such as racism, and accusing his American counterparts of “condescension”.

Any hopes that the meeting, in Anchorage, would reset bilateral ties after years of tensions over trade, human rights and cybersecurity during Donald Trump’s presidency evaporated when the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, opened their meeting with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi and the state councillor Wang Yi.

Continue reading...

Oscars 2021 ceremony will be in-person and Zoom-free, producers say

Posted on by

Academy Awards producers have insisted video-link will ‘not be an option’ for attendees in the wake of ratings slumps for other recent major awards shows

The Oscars ceremony in April will be an intimate, in-person gathering, held without Zoom and limited to nominees, presenters and their guests, the producers said on Thursday.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, events to hand out the highest honours in the film industry will held at both the Union Station in downtown Los Angeles and the traditional home of the Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Continue reading...

‘Takes one to know one’: Putin hits back after Joe Biden ‘killer’ accusation – video

Posted on by

Russian president Vladimir Putin shrugged off accusations from Joe Biden that he was a 'killer', saying: 'It takes one to know one.' Putin then said he wished Biden health 'without any irony or joke'. Biden made his comment after an assessment by US intelligence agencies that Moscow was continuing to meddle in American democracy and had tried to help Donald Trump win last year’s US election.

Continue reading...

Joe Biden says US will hit 100m vaccines ‘weeks ahead of schedule’ – video

Posted on by

Joe Biden said the US will have successfully administered 100m vaccine doses by 19 March – his 58th day in office. ‘That’s weeks ahead of schedule, and even with the setbacks we faced during the winter storms,’ he said. Upon taking office, Biden set his administration the target of reaching the number in his first 100 days.

Continue reading...

Sun investigator says he illegally obtained information about Meghan

Posted on by

Dan Hanks claims he compiled 90-page report about actor early in her relationship with Prince Harry

A private investigator employed by the Sun has said he illegally accessed the Duchess of Sussex’s private information shortly after she met Prince Harry.

Dan Hanks, who lives in Los Angeles, told the website Byline Investigates that he compiled a 90-page report on the future member of the royal family in October 2016, shortly after the tabloid newspaper first became aware of her relationship with the prince.

Continue reading...

Biden says US to meet goal of vaccinating 100m Americans by Friday – live

Posted on by

Illinois and Maryland recently announced that within the next two months, all adults will be eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, joining at least seven other states who said they can open up eligibility in March and April.

Illinois governor JB Pritzker said today that all residents 16 and older will be eligible to receive the vaccine starting 12 April. Meanwhile, Maryland’s governor, Larry Hogan, said on Tuesday that all adults should be eligible by 27 April.

The Senate just confirmed William Burns to be director of the CIA. Burns is the former deputy secretary of state in the Obama administration and has held multiple roles within the State Department.

While Burns’ nomination received widespread support from Democrats and Republicans, senator Ted Cruz had temporarily blocked what would have been a quick confirmation as Cruz was hoping to send a message to Biden over the Russia-Germany natural gas Nord Stream 2 pipelines, a controversial energy project that critics fear will give more political power to Russia.

Continue reading...