Category Archives: World News

Family of woman who died from Covid after giving birth sues Brazilian state

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Exclusive: Lidiane Vieira Frazão, a black woman from Rio, was repeatedly denied appropriate treatment as President Bolsonaro downplayed the pandemic, lawsuit says

In the early weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic, Lidiane Vieira Frazão, 35, was expecting her second child but, even at 40 weeks pregnant, she was unable to obtain a doctor’s note to start her maternity leave.

Her job as a funeral agent – at times handling the bodies of people who had died from the virus – was on the long list of “essential services” that could not be suspended during lockdown, according to a decree issued by Brazil’s then-president, Jair Bolsonaro.

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New Zealand PM to meet Xi Jinping as former leaders warn against becoming an ‘adversary’ of China

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Christopher Luxon’s visit to Beijing comes as former NZ PMs warn the country must not become part of defence arrangements ‘explicitly aimed at China’

New Zealand’s prime minister will meet Xi Jinping on a formal visit to China next week, his office has confirmed, a week after an open letter signed by some of his predecessors warned against positioning New Zealand as an “adversary” of its biggest trading partner.

Christopher Luxon is scheduled to travel to Shanghai and Beijing, before going to Europe. His office said he will meet Xi and China’s premier, Li Qiang, for a visit focused on trade, but which would also discuss “the comprehensive bilateral relationship and key regional and global issues”.

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Brazil to auction oil exploration rights months before hosting Cop30

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Sale covering 56,000 square miles set to go ahead despite opposition from Indigenous and environmental groups

The Brazilian government is preparing to stage an oil exploration auction months before it hosts the Cop30 UN climate summit, despite opposition from environmental campaigners and Indigenous communities worried about the environmental and climate impacts of the plans.

Brazil’s oil sector regulator, ANP, will auction the exploration rights to 172 oil and gas blocks spanning 56,000 square miles (146,000 sq km), an area more than twice the size of Scotland, most of it offshore.

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Credit Suisse was ‘warned’ about Greensill three years before firm collapsed

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Anonymous messages questioned judgment of senior managers in dealing with Greensill, says Swiss regulator

Bosses at Credit Suisse were warned against dealing with the Australian financier Lex Greensill’s eponymous company three years before the collapse of his Greensill Capital, which once employed the former UK prime minister David Cameron as an adviser.

The “character judgment” of senior Credit Suisse managers was challenged in anonymous messages they received as early as 2018, which raised concerns over the Swiss bank’s dealings with Greensill, according to a report by the Swiss regulator Finma, released under a London court order after a request by the Guardian and other media.

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South African woman’s murder prompts anger at country’s high level of femicide

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Olorato Mongale, allegedly killed by man she went on date with, is latest victim of violence against women

A wave of anger and frustration has gripped South Africa after the murder of 30-year-old Olorato Mongale, allegedly by a man she went on a date with. It is the latest in a series of high-profile cases of violence against women and children in the country.

Friends of Mongale, a former journalist who had been studying for a master’s degree in ICT policy, raised the alarm when she stopped checking in with them while on a date in Johannesburg on 25 May. Her body was found that day.

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Blasts heard in Tehran as Israel defence minister announces strikes on Iran – live

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Explosions heard in capital Tehran as Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, says counter attack is expected

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has addressed the nation, saying the IDF had targted Iran’s leading nuclear scientists working on the Iranian bomb.

He said that Iran’s main enrichment facility in Natanz had been targeted.

This operation will continue for as many days as it takes … We are at a decisive moment in Israel’s history.

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Israel’s Iran threat is familiar, but it is unlikely to attack without US backing

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Israel has threatened to destroy Tehran’s nuclear programme before, ultimately holding back in absence of Washington’s support

The withdrawal of non-essential US personnel from parts of the Middle East and the anonymously sourced US reports in the past 24 hours that Israel is on the brink of an all-out attack on Iran are all deeply alarming, but they are also familiar.

The Israeli government has approached the same precipice, of a war to destroy Tehran’s nuclear programme, several times in the past two decades, going as far as honing detailed plans and conducting practice air sorties.

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Spanish PM apologises to voters after MP resigns over corruption allegations

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Pressure grows for snap election as judge finds ‘firm evidence’ of Santos Cerdán’s possible role in kickbacks

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has apologised to voters but ruled out a snap election after a senior member of his Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) resigned hours after a supreme court judge found “firm evidence” of his possible involvement in taking kickbacks on public construction contracts.

Sánchez, who became prime minister in 2018 after using a motion of no confidence to turf the corruption-mired conservative People’s party (PP) out of government, is already contending with a series of graft investigations relating to his wife, his brother, his former transport minister, and one of that minister’s aides. All deny any wrongdoing. A former PSOE member was recently implicated in an alleged smear campaign against the Guardia Civil police unit investigating the corruption allegations.

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Syria asks women to dress modestly on beaches but says bikinis still allowed

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Women advised to cover up on public beaches, prompting concerns about freedoms under new government

Syria’s government has asked women to wear “burkinis” or more modest swimwear while visiting public beaches this summer, although it later clarified there will be no legal consequences for those who wear bikinis.

A government directive on Tuesday asked women to wear a “burkini or swimwear that covers more of the body”, and loose-fitting clothing when out of the water. The decree also asked men not to be shirtless when not swimming.

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Cuba’s students call for resignations and strikes after brutal internet price hike

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Students say rise in prices was trigger but underlying anger was communist government’s increasing reliance on USD

Having endured electricity blackouts, water shortages, transport failures and the spiralling cost of food, Cuba’s students appear to have finally lost patience with their government over a ferocious price hike for the country’s faltering internet.

Local chapters of Cuba’s Federation of University Students (FEU) have been calling for a slew of measures, including attendance strikes, explanations from ministers and even the resignation of their own organisation’s president.

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BYD launches cheapest UK model in bid to overtake Tesla as biggest electric carmaker

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Dolphin Surf will start at £18,650 – among the cheapest new vehicles on sale in Britain

The Chinese manufacturer BYD has launched its cheapest model in the UK, in the latest stage of its efforts to overtake Tesla as the world’s biggest electric carmaker.

The Dolphin Surf will start at £18,650, a price that puts it among the cheapest new vehicles on sale in Britain.

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Trump trade deal shows how vital China’s rare-earth metals are to US defense firms

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Draft agreement may reassure top US military suppliers after president’s tariffs flip-flopping threatened production

The draft trade agreement with China announced by Donald Trump on Wednesday would ease concerns from top US military suppliers about rare-earth metals and magnets that, if cut off permanently, could hobble production of everything from smart bombs to fighter jets to submarines and other weapons in the US arsenal.

While the deal has not yet been finalised, it may reassure major defense companies such as Lockheed Martin, the largest US user of samarium – a rare-earth metal used in military-grade magnets – whose supply is entirely controlled by China.

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Denmark votes for defence bill giving US access to its airbases

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New agreement would see cities such as Karup and Skrydstrup fall under US jurisdiction

Denmark has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new defence agreement giving the US sweeping powers on Danish soil, including “unhindered access” to its airbases.

The deal, which has been strongly criticised by politicians and human rights experts, means US soldiers in Denmark will remain under US jurisdiction. It gives US soldiers access to Danish airbases in three Danish cities – Karup, Skrydstrup and Aalborg – and grants American soldiers and military police powers over Danish civilians at these locations and outside them.

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UK yet to commit to Nato plan for rise in defence spending to 3.5% of GDP

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Nato chief Mark Rutte wants members to agree to plan at summit this month but UK remains cautious

Britain has still not committed to an increase in defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by the mid-2030s at this month’s Nato summit in line with a proposal from the alliance’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, defence sources said.

Though Rutte visited Downing Street on Monday and expressed confidence afterwards that countries would sign up, senior insiders said Britain was dragging its heels.

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Funds to tackle Europe’s forest fires poorly targeted, says EU watchdog

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Report raises concerns that money allocated to combat fires not reaching areas where it could make biggest difference

European funds to prevent forest fires have been poorly targeted and sometimes distributed in a hurry, according to a report from the EU’s spending watchdog.

The number of forest fires in EU countries has increased dramatically over the last two decades as the climate crisis fuels ever bigger conflagrations. An area twice the size of Luxembourg has been consumed by flames in an average recent year, killing people, destroying homes and wildlife and sending megatonnes of planet-heating emissions into the air.

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Hong Kong police tell people not to download ‘secessionist’ mobile game

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Players face possible arrest for downloading Taiwan-developed Reversed Front: Bonfire, which lets them ‘overthrow the communist regime’

Hong Kong police have warned people against downloading a Taiwan-developed mobile game which they say is “secessionist” and could lead to arrest.

The game, Reversed Front: Bonfire, allows users to “pledge allegiance” to various groups linked to locations that have been major flashpoints or targets for China including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet, Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Manchuria, in order to “overthrow the communist regime” known as the “People’s Republic”.

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LA protests: LAPD says it has made ‘mass arrests’ after mayor issued curfew for downtown – live

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Mayor Karen Bass issues curfew for one square mile area in downtown, beginning at 8pm local time on Tuesday until 6am local time on Wednesday

Governor Greg Abbott has pledged to deploy National Guard troops across his state of Texas, becoming the first governor to do so as protests against Trump’s immigration raids spread throughout the United States.

Abbott said on X that the Texas National Guard will “use every tool & strategy to help law enforcement maintain order”.

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LA police announce ‘mass arrests’ as Newsom intensifies criticism of Trump | First Thing

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Protesters defy overnight curfew as California governor issues searing rebuke of administration. Plus, who is behind the hedonistic party palaces of New York’s Fire Island?

Good morning.

Los Angeles police have announced they are making “mass arrests” in the city’s downtown area, as people gathered in defiance of an overnight curfew imposed after days of protests against Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and military deployment.

What has Newsom said? Trump’s decision to deploy the national guard in LA was “a brazen abuse of power”, that has “inflamed a combustible situation”, Newsom said in a searing rebuke of the administration.

What about Trump? In an address to troops at the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina yesterday, Trump spread conspiracy theories, maligned California’s Democratic leaders and misleadingly portrayed protesters as part of a “foreign invasion”.

Were they really armed by Israel? Yes. Israeli defence officials acknowledged last week that they had been arming the group, with the aim of undermining Hamas. Aid workers said the group had a long history of looting from UN trucks.

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Otters posing for selfies in Japanese cafes may be linked to illegal trade, experts warn

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The DNA of rare small-clawed otters in captivity in Japan has been matched to wild populations in poaching hotspots in Thailand

Posing for selfies on the laps of excited visitors, the otters of Tokyo’s animal cafes have learned to play their part in their online stardom. In thousands of social media videos, the aquatic mammals wriggle through the outstretched hands of adoring customers who reward their attention with food.

But the booming demand has raised major concerns among conservationists, with a study published in the journal Conservation Science and Practice linking the small-clawed otters in animal cafes in Japanese cities with wild populations in poaching hotspots in Thailand.

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Competition watchdog to investigate Evri merger with DHL’s UK parcel arm

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CMA to decide whether deal will substantially lessen competition in delivery market

The UK’s competition watchdog has announced an investigation into the proposed merger of the delivery company Evri with DHL’s UK e-commerce business, a deal set to create one of the biggest parcel couriers in Britain.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Wednesday it was investigating Evri’s purchase of DHL eCommerce UK, as well as the parent company DHL Group’s acquisition of a minority stake in Evri.

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