Category Archives: World News

Brexit: Boris Johnson says talks in ‘serious situation’ after call with EU chief

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PM says no deal is ‘very likely’ after speaking to Ursula von der Leyen

Boris Johnson claimed the Brexit talks were in a “serious situation” after a call with Ursula von der Leyen, even as the EU’s chief negotiator raised hopes of a weekend Brexit agreement by persuading the European parliament to delay its deal deadline to Sunday.

In a statement released after a short stock-take telephone call on Thursday evening with the European commission president, the prime minister repeated his suggestion that it was “very likely” that an agreement would not be reached, with fisheries the standout issue.

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King of Sweden blasts country’s ‘failed’ coronavirus response

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Criticism of anti-lockdown stance comes as hospitals struggle to cope with surge in cases

The king of Sweden has said the country has failed in its response to Covid-19, as hospitals in the Stockholm region warned they were struggling to cope with a surge in cases and polls showed public confidence in the authorities had plunged to a new low.

“The people of Sweden have suffered tremendously in difficult conditions,” King Carl XVI Gustaf told the state broadcaster, SVT, in an end-of-year interview. “I think we have failed. We have a large number who have died, and that is terrible.”

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Alibaba offered clients facial recognition to identify Uighur people, report reveals

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Software could be used to identify videos filmed and uploaded by Uighur person, says IPVM

The Chinese tech company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd offered facial recognition software to clients which can identify the face of a Uighur person, according to a report.

The US-based surveillance industry research firm IPVM said on Thursday it had found the detection technology in Alibaba’s Cloud Shield service, which offers content moderation for websites.

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US FDA declares genetically modified pork ‘safe to eat’

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Developer says it plans to focus on using pig organs for human transplant rather than selling for meat

Genetically modified (GM) pigs have been approved for food and medical use in the US, drawing mixed reactions. The pigs are only the second GM animal to be approved for food after GM salmon in 2015.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week approved the GM pigs, which have been engineered to eliminate alpha-gal, a sugar found in pigs that can cause allergic reactions.

The FDA said it was the first time it had approved a GM animal for human food and medical use.

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‘We rise by lifting others’: outstanding women of Zimbabwe – in pictures

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In a year that Zimbabwe should have been celebrating its 40th anniversary of independence, the country has battled drought, protests and food insecurity. In response, photographer Hannah Mentz created a project showing the talents and achievements of 40 Zimbabweans, including leading women in their field

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Unlike Trump, Europe’s far-right leaders haven’t been damaged by the pandemic | Cas Mudde and Jakub Wondreys

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A study of 31 countries shows other rightwing populists have not been ‘exposed’ by Covid-19 in the way the US president was

By now it is almost received wisdom that “populists” (often used as a euphemism for “the far right”) have ignored the threat of Covid-19, that populists have been the electoral victims of the pandemic, and that the pandemic has exposed the political incompetence of populists in government.

Most of this speculation is based on one or two individual cases, most notably the US president, Donald Trump. But he is the exception rather than the rule. In a recent comparative study of far-right parties in the European Union, we found that none of those three assumptions holds up to scrutiny. In fact, there has been significant variety in far-right responses to the pandemic.

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How does a pregnant woman get to hospital when there’s no road? By stretcher …

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Women from the mountains of Uttarakhand in India have been guaranteed palanquins so that they can reach vital transport

Narendra Kumar is going to become a father in early January. His wife, Kavita, became pregnant two months after they got married in February and since then he has been worrying about getting her to hospital when the time comes.

It’s a steep three-kilometre walk along a narrow, unpaved mountain path through oak and rhododendron forests from their village of Gwalakot to the main road where they could pick up a car or ambulance to ferry them to hospital in Nainital.

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Life has got worse since Arab spring, say people across Middle East

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Exclusive: Guardian-YouGov poll suggests majority in nine countries across the Arab world feel inequality has increased

A majority in nine countries across the Arab world feel they are living in significantly more unequal societies today than before the Arab spring, an era of uprisings, civil wars and unsteady progress towards self-determination that commenced a decade ago, according to a Guardian-YouGov poll.

Pluralities in almost every country agreed their living conditions had deteriorated since 2010, when the self-immolation of Tunisian fruit seller Mohamed Bouazizi is credited with kicking off mass demonstrations and revolutions that spread across the region. Reverberations of that moment continued into 2019 with the overthrow of Sudan’s former dictator Omar al-Bashir and large protest movements in Lebanon, Algeria and Iraq.

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Deep US institutional secrets may have been exposed in hack blamed on Russia

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Intrigue surrounds what may have been exposed, from nuclear secrets to Covid vaccine data to next-generation weapons systems

Some of America’s most deeply held institutional secrets may have been stolen in a large hacking operation being blamed on elite Russian government operatives.

Intrigue surrounds what may have been exposed, from nuclear secrets to Covid-19 vaccine data to next-generation weapons systems.

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Pete Buttigieg says he feels ‘eyes of history’ on him as first LGBTQ+ cabinet pick – video

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Pete Buttigieg thanked Joe Biden as he was formally announced as his nominee for transportation secretary. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana and Democratic presidential candidate, will be the first openly LGBTQ+ cabinet member in American history to be confirmed into post by the Senate, assuming he wins confirmation.

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Brexit: parliamentary recess from Thursday hits hopes for deal approval

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Move seen as political theatre as talks in Brussels continue, but may not preclude recall of MPs and peers

MPs and peers will begin their Christmas break on Thursday evening, the government has announced, amid waning hopes that a Brexit deal will be struck in time to be approved in parliament next week.

With talks on trade and security continuing in Brussels amid signs of progress and compromise, ministers had considered stipulating that parliament should sit on Monday and Tuesday to allow legislation implementing a deal to be passed rapidly.

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Trump’s Twitter account was hacked, Dutch ministry confirms

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Public prosecutor states Victor Gevers did access US president’s site but as ethical hacker faces no charges

Dutch prosecutors have confirmed that Donald Trump’s Twitter account was hacked in October despite denials from Washington and the company, but said the “ethical hacker” would not face charges.

The hacker, named as Victor Gevers, broke into Trump’s account @realDonaldTrump on 16 October by guessing the US president’s password, Dutch media reports said.

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Canadian cannabis firms Tilray and Aphria reveal £2.8bn merger

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All-share deal will create world’s largest weed company, as industry hopes for further liberalisation in US

Two of the leading players in Canada’s booming cannabis sector have announced merger plans that will create the world’s largest weed company, as the industry hopes for further liberalisation in the US under Joe Biden.

Tilray and Aphria announced an all-share deal giving the new entity a stock market value of C$4.8bn (£2.8bn), with the two companies’ combined revenues over the past 12 months amounting to an industry-leading £507m.

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Outing of FSB hit squad highlights Russia’s data security problem

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Analysis: trade in stolen data is a boon for investigators and a headache for Kremlin

In early 2019, the journalist Andrei Zakharov managed to buy his own phone and banking records in a groundbreaking investigation into Russia’s thriving markets in stolen personal data, in which law enforcement and telecoms employees can be contracted anonymously to dip into their systems and pull out sensitive details on anyone.

A year and a half later, investigators from Bellingcat and the Insider used some of the same tools and clever analysis to out a secret FSB team that had been tasked with killing Alexei Navalny using a novichok nerve agent.

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Charlie Hebdo trial: French court convicts 14 over 2015 terror attacks

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Defendants found guilty on range of charges from membership of criminal network to complicity in attacks

A court in France has convicted 14 people in relation to the January 2015 terror attacks in Paris on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket.

A total of 17 people were murdered across three days in a series of attacks that horrified the nation. All three assailants were killed in shootouts with the police, leaving only accomplices to face trial.

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Ghost boat laden with cocaine washes up in the Marshall Islands

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Abandoned vessel containing 649kg of drug washes up on a remote Pacific atoll after potentially years at sea

Police in the Marshall Islands have found the Pacific nation’s largest-ever haul of cocaine in an abandoned boat that washed up on a remote atoll after drifting on the high seas, potentially for years.

Attorney general Richard Hickson said the 5.5 metre (18ft) fibreglass vessel was found at Ailuk atoll last week with 649 kg (1,430lb ) of cocaine hidden in a compartment beneath the deck.

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Saudi prosecutor seeks maximum jail sentence for women’s rights activist

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Loujain al-Hathloul, one of kingdom’s most prominent human rights campaigners, may face 20 years behind bars

The state prosecutor’s office in Saudi Arabia is seeking the maximum possible jail sentence for the women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, raising the possibility that the campaigner could face 20 years behind bars after a verdict in her case is announced next week.

In a hearing on Wednesday at Saudi Arabia’s notorious terrorism court, the judge said he would deliver a verdict and possible sentencing in the case on Monday, said Hathloul’s sister Lina, who also shared a copy of the prosecution’s indictment with the Guardian.

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British American Tobacco wins approval to test Covid vaccine on humans

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Treatment grown on tobacco plants gets US backing for clinical study

British American Tobacco has moved a step closer to producing a vaccine for coronavirus using tobacco plants, as it won approval in the US to begin testing on humans.

The company behind cigarette brands including Lucky Strike, Rothmans and Benson & Hedges said the US Food & Drug Administration had given it clearance to begin a clinical study with adult volunteers.

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‘They march for freedom’: Belarus wins EU’s Sakharov prize – video

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The democratic opposition in Belarus, led by Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, has won this year’s Sakharov prize for freedom of thought, hosted by the EU.

Tikhanovskaya, who took on President Alexander Lukashenko in August after her husband and other prospective candidates were either jailed or forced to flee, urged the EU to act in solidarity with Belarus.

Thousands of Belarusians have defied beatings and arrests this year to demand the resignation of the country's authoritarian leader after he claimed victory in an election they say was rigged

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Wear masks when you see family for Christmas, WHO urges Europeans

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UN body also suggests gatherings should be ‘outside where possible’ to reduce Covid transmission risk

Europeans gathering for Christmas with their friends or families should try to celebrate outside or wear masks indoors in a well-ventilated space, according to an advisory issued by the World Health Organization.

The advice, posted by the UN health body’s European region on its website, covers a variety of issues relating to winter recreation and holidays, including whether to take a skiing break and seasonal celebrations.

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