Category Archives: World News

‘The system is rigged’: Seun Kuti on reviving Fela’s political party

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The musician and youngest son of the Afrobeat legend has been galvanised to act after police brutality in Nigeria

“For 60 years nothing has really been solved in this country,” Seun Kuti says. “Healthcare, education, electricity, transportation, welfare – nothing has been accomplished.”

Galvanised by the brutality meted out by Nigerian police against protesters in October last year, the 37-year-old Grammy-nominated musician and youngest son of the Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti resurrected his father’s socialist political party, the Movement of the People. Against a backdrop of widespread and mounting frustration over how Nigeria is run, he hopes the MOP can be a vehicle for change in 2021.

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French ex-PM Édouard Balladur goes on trial over alleged kickbacks

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Politician, 91, accused of financing failed 1995 presidential campaign with illegal kickbacks in ‘Karachi affair’

Former French prime minister Édouard Balladur will go on trial on Tuesday accused of financing his failed 1995 presidential campaign with illegal kickbacks from international arms deals.

The 91-year-old rightwing politician is the latest high-ranking French politician to find himself in the dock over the so-called Karachi affair that has poisoned the country’s political life for more than 25 years.

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Java’s ring of fire rumbles on: Indonesian volcanoes erupt – in pictures

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Volcanoes in Java continue to show worrying signs, with authorities closely monitoring seismic activity as they spew lava and ash many kilometres into the atmosphere.

At 3,676 metres (12,060 feet), Mount Semeru in East Java is one of the highest volcanoes in Indonesia. Mount Merapi in central Java is a 2,929-metre (9,610-foot) active volcano with a hiking trail to its summit and a surrounding national park. Both continue to trouble authorities.

On 16 January 2021, the Semeru volcano observatory issued a notice for aviation warning of an ash cloud moving to the north-east with an ash cloud top at around 5,676 metres (18,163 feet) above sea level, but it may be higher than what can be observed clearly.

Here’s a look at this month’s eruptions

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Global Covid report: Biden camp rejects Trump changes to travel restrictions

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Incoming US administration criticises move to remove entry bans as independent panel criticises WHO for not declaring emergency until 30 January

The Trump and Biden camps have clashed over future Covid travel restrictions with less than two days to go before the handover of power in Washington. It comes as an independent panel said Chinese officials could have applied public health measures more forcefully a year ago, and criticised the World Health Organization (WHO) for delays in declaring an international emergency.

In the US, a political row is brewing after Donald Trump announced he would rescind Covid entry bans on most non-US citizens arriving from Brazil and much of Europe, including the UK, effective 26 January, two officials briefed on the matter told Reuters.

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Pink seesaws across US-Mexico border named Design of the Year 2020

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Creators say they hope the work encourages people to build bridges between communities

A collection of bright pink seesaws that allowed people to interact over the US-Mexico border has won the prestigious Design of the Year award, with its creators saying they hoped the work encourages people to build bridges between communities.

The Teeter Totter Wall, which bridged across El Paso in Texas and Ciudad Juárez in Mexico during a 40-minute session, was described as not only feeling “symbolically important” but also highlighting “the possibility of things” by the judging panel.

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Trump to hold early morning sendoff ceremony on Biden inauguration day

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Outgoing president has issued invites for event taking place in Maryland at 8am on Wednesday

Donald Trump is planning an early morning sendoff event for himself at a military airfield in Maryland on Wednesday several hours before his successor, Joe Biden, is inaugurated as the 46th US president at the Capitol in Washington DC.

For his last presidential ceremony, Trump reportedly wants an ostentatious military parade and an official armed forces farewell as the commander-in-chief, as well as a large crowd of supporters, selected backers and current and former officials in his administration and their guests at a huge red-carpet affair.

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Greek president praises Sofia Bekatorou for reporting alleged sexual assault

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  • Olympic sailing gold medallist alleges assault occurred in 1998
  • Katerina Sakellaropoulou praises athlete’s ‘brave revelation’

Greece’s president, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, has praised the Olympic sailing champion Sofia Bekatorou for dissolving a potential “conspiracy of silence” by reporting a historic allegation of sexual assault by a sports official.

Bekatorou, who won a gold medal at the Athens Games in 2004, told the Greek edition of Marie Claire last month that she suffered the assault in 1998, when she was 21. Sakellaropoulou met Bekatorou on Monday and said her courage offered hope to other women in her situation.

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Biden inauguration: Trump expected to issue flurry of pardons before leaving office – live

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Nearly a month after the presidential election, former attorney general Bill Barr told Donald Trump that his repeated claims of a stolen election were “bullshit,” according to a new report in Axios.

Per Axios, the exchange unfolded in the Oval Office, where Trump summoned Barr for a meeting after seeing a story by the Associated Press in which his attorney general told the agency there was evidence of widespread voter fraud in the presidential election.

Steve Dillingham, the director of the US census, is resigning effective on Wednesday, according to Talking Points Memo’s Tierney Sneed. That’s ahead of the end of Dillingham’s term and comes as he faces calls to resign.

Per Sneed:

Census Director Steve Dillingham will be stepping down on Jan. 20, cutting short by nearly a year the five-year director term, which was scheduled to expire on Dec 31.

Dillingham announced his resignation plans in an internal Census Bureau email obtained by TPM.

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FBI vets thousands of troops amid fears of insider attack on Biden inauguration

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  • Extra checks to prevent repeat of 6 January attack on Capitol
  • National guard plays down fears of extremism within ranks
  • US politics – live coverage

Thousands of military personnel guarding Joe Biden’s inauguration as US president on Wednesday are being vetted by the FBI amid fears of an insider attack.

Related: Texas woman who attacked Capitol says she was following Trump's orders

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Rebels aim to insert genocide amendment in UK-China trade bill

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UK court would determine whether China is committing genocide against Uighurs if measure passed

The government is struggling to contain a potential backbench rebellion over its China policy after the Conservative Muslim Forum, the International Bar Association (IBA), and the prime minister’s former envoy on freedom of religious belief backed a move to give the UK courts a say in determining whether countries are committing genocide.

The measure is due in the Commons on Tuesday when the trade bill returns from the Lords where a genocide amendment has been inserted. The amendment has been devised specifically in relation to allegations that China is committing genocide against Uighur people in Xinjiang province, a charge Beijing has repeatedly denied.

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Belarus axed as host of ice hockey tournament over ‘security concerns’

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Sponsors of IIHF championships had begun to drop out after violent government crackdown on protests

The international ice hockey federation (IIHF) has said it will not hold this summer’s world championship in Belarus, amid concerns that it would be a propaganda coup for the country’s hockey-mad dictator, Alexander Lukashenko.

In a statement, the federation said it had made the decision “in the face of the growing safety and security concerns related to both the rising political unrest and Covid-19”. Minsk and the Latvian capital, Riga, were due to co-host the tournament in May and June.

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British Virgin Islands’ governor launches inquiry into alleged corruption

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Gus Jaspert’s extraordinary step comes amid claims of a climate of fear in the UK overseas territory

Allegations of widespread political corruption, misuse of taxpayer’s money and a climate of fear in the British Virgin Islands have led its governor to take the extraordinary step of establishing an independent judge-led inquiry into the claims.

Gus Jaspert, the British-appointed BVI governor, with the personal backing of the UK prime minister, has established a commission of inquiry to investigate concerns over governance, including specific allegations that point to possible corruption and infiltration by serious organised criminal gangs. The six-month inquiry, to be led by Sir Gary Hickinbottom, follows the discovery by police in November of a haul of cocaine worth more than £190m.

Jaspert broke the news to the island on Monday after returning from the UK, where he was on leave. It was reported that he had been struggling with his communications systems in recent weeks, and complained to the premier, Andrew Fahie, but said nothing was done, forcing him to ring newsrooms individually.

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Vaccine inequity puts world on brink of ‘catastrophic moral failure’, says WHO chief – video

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The head of the World Health Organization has warned that as coronavirus vaccines are rolled out, the world faces a 'catastrophic moral failure' as richer countries administer the vaccine on a vast scale, while poor countries are left behind. 

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted that millions of doses had been given in higher-income countries while one of the world's poorest countries had administered only 25 doses

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Germany weighs up mandatory FFP2 masks in shops and on transport

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Respiratory masks already compulsory in Bavaria over fears of coronavirus mutations

Germany is weighing up following Austria and Bavaria’s lead in making it compulsory to wear full protective filter masks on public transport and in shops, as the country remains on high alert about the impact of possible coronavirus mutations.

The Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, announced on Sunday that wearing single-use filtering facepiece respirator, or FFP2, masks would become mandatory on public transport and in shops from 25 January, as the Alpine state moves to extend its national lockdown until 7 February.

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Canada police officers refuse questions over one-year-old’s shooting death

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Watchdog says none of the officers who opened fire on pickup truck in Ontario in November have spoken to investigators

Two months after a one-year old boy was killed in a police shooting in rural Ontario, the officers involved have still not spoken to investigators, according to a police watchdog.

Ontario’s special investigations unit (SIU) said that none of the officers who opened fire on a pickup truck on 27 November have agreed to interviews, adding that they had no legal obligation to do so.

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WHO: just 25 Covid vaccine doses administered in low-income countries

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Director-general warns of ‘catastrophic moral failure’ if richer countries hoard treatment

The world is on the edge of a “catastrophic moral failure” in the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines, with just 25 doses administered across all poor countries compared with 39m in wealthier ones, the head of the World Health Organization has said.

It was the sharpest warning so far from Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus about the dangers of vaccine hoarding since inoculations started being administered in 49 mostly high-income countries.

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Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro sends oxygen to tackle Brazil’s Covid crisis

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  • President orders convoy to border in politically charged gesture
  • Patients in Amazon city of Manaus reportedly ran out of oxygen

Venezuela’s strongman president, Nicolás Maduro, has sent an emergency shipment of oxygen to his country’s border with Brazil in a politically charged gesture he said was to help alleviate “Jair Bolsonaro’s public health disaster”.

In recent days the Brazilian state of Amazonas, which borders southern Venezuela, has been plunged into coronavirus chaos for the second time in under a year.

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Italian PM battles for coalition’s survival over Covid recovery plan

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Italia Viva party’s departure deprives Conte of majority, with crunch vote on Tuesday

Italy deserves a “cohesive government”, its prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, has said as he began the fight for his coalition’s survival.

Conte told the lower house of parliament on Monday that the political crisis triggered last week by the former prime minister Matteo Renzi was “unfounded” and risked severely damaging the country at a time when Italians were struggling with health and financial worries.

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How Biden era could kickstart coordinated approach to Russia

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Analysis: the west has been hampered by the fatal ambiguity of Trump’s US policy towards Moscow

Joe Biden’s accession to the US presidency has spawned a huge body of literature about his intentions towards China, but in his four years out of office Biden has in fact made Russia his primary focus in combatting authoritarianism.

Now, just days from coming into office, the arrest of the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny has suddenly presented him with a test case, which may also lead to friction with two of his closest allies: Germany and the UK.

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Sámi reindeer herders file lawsuit against Norway windfarm

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Indigenous communities say planned Øyfjellet turbines will interfere with migration paths

Indigenous reindeer herders are bringing a legal action against a proposed wind power project that would be one of the largest in Norway.

The Sámi herders from Nordland county are accusing the Øyfjellet windfarm constructors of breaking licensing agreements which stipulated that construction would not interfere with reindeer migration paths.

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