Category Archives: World News

Mexico authorities attempt to identify 19 charred corpses found near US border

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Authorities found the bodies late on Saturday in burning vehicles left beside a dirt road outside the town of Camargo

Mexican authorities are attempting to identify 19 charred corpses which were found near a town across the Rio Grande from Texas, in an area that has seen violent territorial disputes between organized crime groups in recent years.

Authorities found the bodies late on Saturday in two burning vehicles which had been left beside a dirt road outside the town of Camargo. All the victims had been shot, but shells were not found at the site, leading investigators to believe they were killed somewhere else.

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Xi Jinping warns of ‘new cold war’ if US keeps up protectionism

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In virtual address to World Economic Forum, Chinese president calls for multilateral approach to crisis

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has sent out a warning to Joe Biden that he risks a new cold war if he continues with the protectionist policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump.

In an address to the virtual World Economic Forum event, Xi called for a multilateral approach to solving the economic crisis caused by Covid-19 and said the pandemic should not be used as an excuse to reverse globalisation in favour of “decoupling and seclusion”.

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US watchdog to investigate whether officials made ‘improper attempts’ to alter election result – live

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Here’s more on South Africa and coronavirus travel restrictions in relation to the US.

The White House confirmed Joe Biden is signing an order today imposing a ban on most non-US citizens entering the country who have recently been in South Africa, starting on Saturday.

The Treasury Department is taking steps to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, as was planned in the Obama administration.

Psaki says the Treasury Department is taking steps to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, as was planned in the Obama administration.

NEW: White House says Treasury Dept. is "taking steps to resume efforts" to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.

Press Sec. Psaki says the Biden admin. is "exploring ways to speed up that effort." pic.twitter.com/c4bARsGf1Z

Related: She Came to Slay: Tubman biography looks beyond Underground Railroad

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Chinese vessels detained by Vanuatu, accused of fishing illegally

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Crew on two vessels face further investigation in Pacific nation, a month after similar incident in Palau

Two Chinese fishing vessels have been detained by Vanuatu authorities amid allegations they were fishing illegally in the Pacific nation’s territorial waters.

This is the first time that Chinese vessels have been accused of illegal fishing activities in Vanuatu’s territory, but their confinement comes just a month after Palau detained a Chinese-flagged vessel reportedly illegally harvesting sea cucumber, or beche-de-mer, in the western Pacific state’s territorial waters.

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Mexico president rebuked for careless response to Covid after testing positive

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Andrés Manuel López Obrador tests positive day after saying crisis nearing the end and ‘little lights’ at end of tunnel could be seen

Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, declared at the weekend that his country was nearing the end of the coronavirus crisis, telling supporters that “little lights” at the end of the tunnel could already be seen.

The next day he tested positive for Covid-19, throwing the country into tumult – and prompting fresh criticisms of his cavalier response to a disease that has killed nearly 150,000 citizens.

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EU threatens to block Covid vaccine exports amid AstraZeneca shortfall

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Bloc may receive only half of purchased 100m doses in first quarter of the year

The EU has threatened to block exports of coronavirus vaccines to countries outside the bloc, after AstraZeneca was accused of failing to give a satisfactory explanation for a huge shortfall of promised doses to member states.

The pharmaceutical company’s new distribution plans were said to be “unacceptable” after it “surprisingly” informed the European commission on Friday that there would be significant shortfalls on the original schedule.

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Brussels warns Britain against downgrading EU ambassador’s status

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Denying mission full privileges under the Vienna convention risks poisoning diplomatic ties, No 10 told

Downing Street has been warned by Brussels that downgrading the status of the EU’s ambassador to the UK will poison diplomatic relations for years to come.

The UK has so far declined to grant the bloc’s representative, João Vale de Almeida, and his 25-strong mission the privileges and immunities afforded to diplomats under the Vienna convention.

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Covid linked to risk of mental illness and brain disorder, study suggests

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One in eight people who get coronavirus also have first psychiatric or neurological illness within six months, research finds

One in eight people who have had Covid-19 are diagnosed with their first psychiatric or neurological illness within six months of testing positive for the virus, a new analysis suggests, adding heft to an emerging body of evidence that stresses the toll of the virus on mental health and brain disorders cannot be ignored.

The analysis – which is still to be peer-reviewed – also found that those figures rose to one in three when patients with a previous history of psychiatric or neurological illnesses were included.

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Chile court overturns convictions for 1982 murder of former president Frei

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  • Judges rule Eduardo Frei Montalva ‘not a victim of homicide’
  • Doctor and driver among six convicted in Pinochet-era death

Chile’s appeals court has overturned the convictions of six people for the murder of the former president, Eduardo Frei Montalva, in the 1980s during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship.

The ex-president’s doctors, his chauffeur, an army officer and a former intelligence agent were sentenced to between three and 10 years in jail in January 2019 for the poisoning of 71-year-old Frei in a Santiago clinic in 1982.

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Forbes drops Bermuda trip for entrepreneurs to escape Covid ‘gloom’

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Invitation for people on magazine’s ‘30 under 30’ list is dropped hours after Guardian inquiry

A place on one of Forbes’s “30 under 30” lists has long been a marker of status and potential for a group the magazine has proclaimed as the US and Canada’s “brashest entrepreneurs”.

In a time of global crisis, they were offered an additional reward this week: a month-long trip to a five star hotel and beach club in Bermuda, “one of the most desirable destinations in the world”, to escape from the “monotony and gloom” of the coronavirus pandemic.

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California lifts its statewide Covid stay-at-home orders

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Announcement comes after months of a surge in cases and as the governor is sued for restrictions on outdoor dining

California lifted its stay-at-home order statewide Monday after four-week projections showed intensive care unit capacity to be above 15% in beleaguered regions for the first time in weeks.

The announcement follows months of a relentless case surge that exhausted the healthcare system statewide and made California the first US state to record 3m Covid-19 infections. It also comes as more than 50 wine country-based restaurants and wineries have filed a lawsuit against Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, over the state’s restrictions on outdoor dining.

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Ugandan security forces withdraw from Bobi Wine’s house

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Judge ruled on Monday that house arrest of presidential challenger was illegal

Security forces in Uganda have withdrawn from around the home of presidential challenger Bobi Wine, complying with a ruling by a judge on Monday that rebuked authorities for holding the candidate under house arrest for 11 days.

Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, has been unable to leave his home since 14 January, when Ugandans voted in an election in which the 38-year-old reggae star turned politician was the main challenger to 76-year-old Yoweri Museveni.

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Mural in Madrid that celebrates women pitched into Spain’s culture wars

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Far-right Vox party leads efforts to erase 60-metre artwork it claims contains ‘political message’

A mural in Madrid celebrating a diverse array of women from Nina Simone and Rosa Parks to Frida Kahlo and the Red Army sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko has become the latest front in Spain’s culture war after the far-right Vox party led efforts to have it removed because of its “political message”.

The 60-metre (197ft) mural, which bears the slogan “Your ability doesn’t depend on your gender”, was commissioned by the local council in the Ciudad Lineal neighbourhood and painted on the wall outside a sports centre in 2018.

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Indian troops brawl with Chinese counterparts on border

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Clash in Sikkim happened days before talks aimed at ending tensions in Ladakh border dispute

Indian and Chinese soldiers were injured in another violent clash along the Himalayan border last week, as tensions between the two nuclear powers showed no signs of abating.

According to reports, Indian and Chinese troops came to physical blows on Wednesday along the high-altitude border in north Sikkim, a small Indian state, situated between India and Bhutan, which has been a flashpoint of India-China conflict for decades.

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How to make Bernie Sanders’ inauguration mittens

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Feel the Bern, not the cold, with your own pair of winter-proof hand warmers – here’s how to stitch them at home

While it was Michelle Obama’s hair that brought the glamour to Joe Biden’s inauguration day, it was Bernie Sanders’ mittens that delivered the memes. Sitting at the event in a winter coat and mittens, arms and legs crossed, he was the yin to the rest of the Capitol’s sharp-suited yang – and promptly Photoshopped into Edward Hopper paintings, scenes from Glee and the vice-presidential debate, replacing the fly atop Mike Pence’s head.

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How the Arab spring engulfed the Middle East – and changed the world

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An era of uprisings, nascent democracy and civil war in the Arab world started with protests in a small Tunisian city. The unrest grew to engulf the Middle East, shake authoritarian governments and unleash consequences that still shape the world a decade later

A decade ago this month, protests forced Tunisia’s authoritarian president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, to flee his country. It was a quick and relatively peaceful revolution, coming after decades of stagnant but entrenched regimes across the Arab world.

Few at the time understood the power of the images of unrest being broadcast online and into homes across the Middle East. Within weeks, other significant protest movements would emerge, and by the middle of 2011, leaders in Cairo, Tripoli, Sana’a, Damascus and elsewhere were under serious pressure or had been swept away by a tidal wave of peaceful demonstrations and armed resistance.

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‘The lockdown was political’: Chad under strain ahead of election

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Opposition cries foul as Covid restrictions cut off incomes and health care in country where two-thirds live in severe poverty

For Abdulgadir Sanousi the decision to lock down the capital of Chad was “a nightmare”. His work driving from N’Djamena to Moundou in the south four times a week dried up overnight. This month any work has involved bribing police to let him through the checkpoints at N’Djamena’s four main entry points.

“The situation is just a nightmare for us. We are faced with difficulties by the police. In order to deal with them you need to bribe them, if not they would confiscate your vehicle,” says 27-year-old Sanousi.

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‘Nowhere is safe’: Colombia confronts alarming surge in femicides

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Vice-president joins activists in calling for zero tolerance of ‘machismo’ that has left hundreds of women and girls dead

When authorities pulled the lifeless body of four-year-old María Ángel Molina out of a river in rural Colombia on 13 January, the South American country mourned what was the 14th documented case of femicide this year.

Her murderer, Juan Carlos Galvis, also kidnapped María’s sister, and later admitted to authorities that he committed the brutal crimes in order to punish the girls’ mother for seeing another man.

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Jon Bon Jovi on wealth, love and his ugly tussle with Trump: ‘It was seriously scarring’

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The big hair and bombast have long gone and the thoughtful singer-songwriter remains. He talks about politics, pain and meeting his wife of 40 years in history class

Jon Bon Jovi is singing Livin’ on a Prayer to me. No, this is not another crazy lockdown dream; it is actually happening.

“Tommy used to work on the docks …” he begins, strumming a guitar he produces out of nowhere, his still impressive bouffant (“I’m the only man in my field brave enough to let it go grey!”) bouncing in time to the music.

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Coronavirus live news: Moderna says vaccine works on UK and South African variants; Spain sees record rise in cases

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Spain saw 93,822 infections between Friday and Monday, and 767 deaths; Moderna confirms its jab works against new variants

The number of people hospitalised in France for Covid-19 rose by more than a 1,000 over the last two days, a trend unseen since November 16, and the number of patients in intensive care units for the disease exceeded 3,000 for the first time since December 9.

The country’s Covid-19 death toll was up by 445, at 73,494, the world’s seventh highest, versus a rise of 172 on Sunday. The seven-day moving average of new fatalities increased to 401, the highest since December 9.

The Serum Institute of India (SII) will supply Saudi Arabia with 3 million AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine doses priced at $5.25 each in about a week on behalf of the British drugmaker, its chief executive told Reuters on Monday.

SII has no immediate plans, however, to divert supplies to Europe, even though AstraZeneca has come under pressure from the EU to deliver more shots after announcing a big cut in shipments due to production problems at a Belgian factory.

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