Category Archives: World News

Khashoggi: statement clarifying US stance on Saudi Arabia due on Monday

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Biden’s announcement comes after Saudi exiles express shock over lack of sanctions against Mohammed bin Salman over killing of journalist

President Joe Biden said on Saturday that the US would make an announcement on Saudi Arabia on Monday, following an intelligence report that found that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had approved the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018.

Saudi dissidents have expressed anger and disbelief that while the US has officially confirmed the long-suspected view that Prince Mohammed “approved” the killing of the journalist, he will escape punishment. A declassified intelligence assessment released on Friday concluded that the heir to the throne “approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi”.

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Germany set to give AstraZeneca jab to older people

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Regulator concedes process had ‘somehow gone wrong’ and could soon approve vaccine

Germany could soon authorise the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for seniors after the head of the country’s vaccination committee said his body’s advice to give the Oxford-developed vaccine only to those under 65 had “somehow gone wrong”.

Unlike the European Medicines Agency or Britain’s MHRA, Germany’s Standing Committee on Vaccination (Stiko) last month recommended against the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on seniors, citing a lack of conclusive trial data to prove its efficacy in that age group.

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Oprah with Meghan and Harry: masterstroke or disaster?

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The Sussexes are the latest in a line of celebrities to try to rebuild their image by talking to the chatshow queen

You could have forgiven the British royal family for giving primetime, tell-all interviews a wide berth for the foreseeable. The evisceration of Prince Andrew by the BBC’s Emily Maitlis in 2019 managed to achieve the near-impossible: making the Duke of York appear more dubious and less sympathetic.

But if we have learned one thing about the Sussexes, Harry and Meghan, it’s that they are intent on doing pretty much the opposite of what the other royals want them to do. So next Sunday, 7 March, a 90-minute special, Oprah with Meghan and Harry, will air on the US network CBS. There is also understood to be a bidding war between UK broadcasters – though not the BBC – for the interview, which, it is promised, will be “intimate” and “wide-ranging”.

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Myanmar police fire teargas and rubber bullets in violent crackdown on protesters – video

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A woman has reportedly been shot and killed as police in Myanmar escalated a violent crackdown on anti-coup protesters, firing teargas and rubber bullets and detaining dozens of people. Protesters who attempted to gather for peaceful rallies on Saturday were met with an aggressive response by security forces in the two biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay, and in the central town of Monywa, where a woman was shot dead, according to local media reports.

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Golden Trump statue turning heads at CPAC was made in … Mexico

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Artist Tommy Zegan reveals figure was constructed in country the former president has assailed and demonized

A golden statue of Donald Trump that has caused a stir at the annual US gathering of conservatives was made in Mexico – a country the former president frequently demonized.

Related: Mitch McConnell says he'd 'absolutely' support Trump as 2024 nominee

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Archaeologists find unique ceremonial vehicle near Pompeii

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Well-preserved iron, bronze and tin carriage discovery is ‘without precedent in Italy’

Archaeologists have unearthed a unique Roman ceremonial carriage from a villa just outside Pompeii, the city buried in a volcanic eruption in 79 AD.

The almost perfectly preserved four-wheeled carriage, made of iron, bronze and tin, was found near the stables of an ancient villa at Civita Giuliana, about 700 metres north of the walls of ancient Pompeii and close to where the remains of three horses were unearthed in 2018, including one still in its harness.

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Coronavirus live news: Captain Tom Moore funeral takes place; Auckland to go into lockdown for seven days

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Rishi Sunak warns of risk to economy; Joe Biden tells US ‘now is not the time to relax - follow all the day’s news as it happens

Attendees have been asked to stand while a verse from the war poem For the Fallen were read at Captain Tom Moore’s funeral.

The bugler is now playing The Last Post.

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Parents of 112 children separated at US-Mexico border contacted, court hears

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Figures were provided as part of lawsuit brought by ACLU which in 2018 ended family separations under Trump policy

The parents of 112 children separated at the US-Mexico border by Donald Trump’s administration have been contacted since January, lawyers told a court on Friday, as the judge expressed optimism about reunification efforts now being the responsibility of Joe Biden’s administration.

The new figures were provided as part of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) which in 2018 ended family separations under Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy about unlawful border crossings and ordered the government to reunite families. On Friday, the government’s position in the case was represented publicly for the first time by Biden’s administration instead of Trump’s.

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Schoolchildren freed after abduction in northern Nigeria, governor says

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Students, teachers and family members released after gunmen stormed college in Kagara two weeks ago

Dozens of schoolchildren, teachers and their relatives have been freed after they were abducted by gunmen in central Nigeria 10 days ago, in one of a rising number of mass kidnaps and attacks that have beset the country.

Their release comes a day after 317 schoolgirls were abducted by gunmen in Zamfara, north-west Nigeria on Friday, sparking widespread dismay and some schools in northern Nigeria to shut.

Kidnappings for ransom and deadly attacks by armed groups known locally as bandits have soared across north and central Nigeria in recent years, with mass abductions endemic, and schools increasingly targeted.

Last week, 27 students, three staff and 12 members of their families were abducted by heavily armed gunmen dressed in military uniforms. The assailants overran the all-boys Government Science College (GSC) in Kagara Town, Niger state, killing at least one student.

“The abducted students, staff and relatives of Government Science College Kagara have regained their freedom and have been received by the Niger state government,” Abubakar Sani Bello, the Niger state governor, said in a tweet.

The government gave no details on how the children were released yet it is common for ransom to be paid to release abducted victims.

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New Zealand: Auckland to go into seven-day Covid lockdown

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Restrictions in country’s biggest city to be imposed after single Covid case of unknown origin was recorded

New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said the country’s biggest city, Auckland, will go into a seven-day lockdown from early morning on Sunday after a new local case of the coronavirus of unknown origin emerged.

It comes two weeks after Auckland’s nearly 2 million residents were plunged into a snap three-day lockdown when a family of three were diagnosed with the more transmissible UK variant of coronavirus.

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Myanmar police try to crush protests as envoy pleads with UN for action

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One woman reportedly shot dead as Kyaw Moe Tun says strongest possible action needed to end military coup

Police have cracked down on protesters in Myanmar to prevent opponents of military rule gathering and one woman has been killed, media reported, hours after the country’s ambassador to the United Nations pleaded for international action to restore democracy.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army seized power and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and much of her party leadership, alleging fraud in a November election her party won in a landslide.

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It’s time to face up to colourism | Candice Brathwaite

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As I grew up, the majority of black women I saw on TV were fair skinned. Those who looked like me were never cast as the lead

I’ve been building a profile as a writer and broadcaster long enough to know that there will be public storms. Some creep up on you, others you sense brewing, and some have been lingering in the background for a lifetime.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted on social media about having “lost out” on hosting a documentary to a lighter-skinned black woman. The subject of the documentary was maternal mortality in the UK, and the harrowing fact that black women are five times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. This is something I have campaigned on for several years, wrote about in my book I Am Not Your Baby Mother and experienced first-hand when I almost died a few days after the birth of my first child in 2013.

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House approves $1.9tn Covid aid bill despite minimum wage setback

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Relief bill represents Biden first big legislative win but wage hike proposal to be removed from Senate version

The US House of Representatives has passed Joe Biden’s $1.9tn coronavirus aid bill in his first major legislative victory.

Related: Criticism builds over Biden's failure to lift Trump sanctions on ICC prosecutors

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With VPNs and fancy dress, Myanmar youth fight ‘turning back of the clock’

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For a generation used to freedoms that have come with democracy, going back to military rule is unthinkable

In the searing afternoon sun, Myo, 21, stood in front of a police barricade near Yangon’s Sule Pagoda – one of just a handful of protesters to gather at the rallying point on Wednesday. He stood alone, a towel wrapped around his neck to soak up the sweat, and held a sign that read “humanity” in front of the officers.

“The military took away my future,” said the digital artist. “My work can no longer pay me. This country had barely started trying to develop and now it’s 2021. I don’t know what made them think they should stage a coup.”

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Lady Gaga’s bulldogs returned unharmed after kidnapping

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Dogs were dropped off at a police station in Los Angeles, while dog walker shot in the attack is recovering

Two French bulldogs belonging to Lady Gaga that were stolen at gunpoint earlier this week have been recovered unharmed, police in Los Angeles have said.

A woman brought the dogs to the LAPD’s Olympic community police station on Friday evening, said Jonathan Tippett, commanding officer of the robbery-homicide division.

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Prison director and gang leader among 25 killed in Haitian jailbreak

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Notorious gangster Arnel Joseph shot dead at police checkpoint after more than 400 inmates escape in country’s biggest breakout for 10 years

More than 400 inmates have escaped and 25 people have died in a prison breakout in Haiti, authorities say, making it the country’s largest and deadliest one in a decade. A prison director and a powerful gang leader were among those killed.

The breakout at Croix-des-Bouquets prison on the outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince on Thursday was believed to be an attempt to free gang leader Arnel Joseph, who had been Haiti’s most wanted fugitive until his 2019 arrest on charges including rape, kidnapping and murder.

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Named, shamed but unscathed: Saudi crown prince spared by US realpolitik

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Analysis: The US has sanctioned 76 people linked to Khashoggi’s murder, but not Mohammed bin Salman, future king of a strategic Middle East ally

Friday was the day that Joe Biden’s vaunted drive to put human rights back at the centre of US foreign policy slammed, as such drives usually do, into the brick wall of great power realpolitik.

As it had promised, the new administration obeyed the law laid down by Congress and ignored by its predecessor. It published an unclassified summary of the intelligence assessment that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, “approved” the murder and dismemberment of the Saudi reformer and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

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Lack of sanctions for crown prince shows weight Riyadh holds

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Analysis: decision not to penalise Saudi heir over Jamal Khashoggi shows kingdom still has influence

After two years of blanket cover from Donald Trump, a new US president has officially blamed Mohammed bin Salman for the most savage political slaying of modern times and brought the Saudi heir’s unchecked run with Washington to a humiliating halt.

Joe Biden’s confirmation that Prince Mohammed approved the butchering of Jamal Khashoggi bluntly ends the era of bromance between his predecessor and the kingdom’s de facto leader, and signals a very different relationship with a new administration.

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Brazil tops 251,000 Covid deaths as daily fatalities also set record

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  • 1,582 Brazilians die in a day amid slow vaccine rollout
  • President Jair Bolsonaro again discourages mask use

Brazil has passed two grim landmarks, as deaths from Covid-19 passed 251,000 and the country saw its highest daily toll since the coronavirus was first detected there one year ago.

A total of 1,582 Brazilians died from Covid-19 on Thursday as the country struggles with a slow vaccination rollout, new variants of the disease and an uncoordinated government response.

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Coronavirus live news: Greece extends lockdown to more areas; Johnson & Johnson jab ‘to get EU approval’

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Greece announced tighter measures as pandemic showed no signs of waning in the country; EMA expected to approve vaccine on 11 March

Honduras will begin receiving nearly 430,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine in March through the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global COVAX program for poor and middle-income countries, the Honduran health minister said on Friday.

Reuters reports:

Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez had asked the WHO to make the Central American nation a priority for Covid-19 vaccines, citing the devastating effects of two recent hurricanes that pummeled the already weak economy.

Eventually, the vaccines via COVAX are meant to inoculate nearly 2 million of the 9.5 million inhabitants in the small Central American country, where more than 4,000 people have died from COVID-19. The AstraZeneca vaccine requires two shots.

England’s deputy chief medical officer has told people “don’t wreck this now” as he warned there were “some worrying signs that people are relaxing” in the batlle against coronavirus at “exactly the wrong time”.

PA reports:

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam alerted people who have already been vaccinated to the dangers of “taking their foot off the brake” and being tempted to break Covid-19 rules.

He told a Downing Street briefing on Friday: “All the patients that I vaccinate [...] I say to them, ‘Remember, all the rules still apply to you and all of us until we’re in a much safer place’. It doesn’t change because you’ve had your first dose of vaccine.

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