From ‘peace’ deals to gutting aid, the US president has had a major impact on the region
Donald Trump has cast himself as an isolationist president focused on Americans. However, in one major foreign policy issue, Israel and Palestine, the US leader has possibly made more of an impact than any of his predecessors.
Continue reading...Amid ongoing unrest, judge calls for establishment of independent complaints system
The Hong Kong government breached its bill of rights on protection from torture and cruel treatments by failing to provide an independent mechanism for complaints about police, the region’s high court has ruled.
The finding comes as a report by international experts who quit a Hong Kong police brutality inquiry last year said officers’ crowd-control tactics had radicalised protesters and worsened perceptions of the force’s legitimacy.
Continue reading...Comments prompt concern that this could include the use of lese-majesty that bans criticism of the monarchy
The Thai prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, has threatened to use “all laws, all articles” to take action against pro-democracy protesters, prompting fears that the kingdom’s harsh lese-majesty law could be used against individuals.
The law shields Thailand’s powerful royal family from criticism with one of the world’s strictest defamation criteria, under which anyone who “defames, insults or threatens the king, queen, heir-apparent or regent” can face up to 15 years on each charge.
Continue reading...Refugees on the move as federal troops confront TPLF in Tigray and ethnic tensions escalate
International aid workers who have left Ethiopia’s Tigray region in recent days have described a chaotic and dynamic situation with large numbers on the move to avoid fighting, choking roads already full of military vehicles.
Federal troops are involved in a massive offensive aimed at removing the Tigray People’s Liberation Front from power in the northern region, and intensifying rhetoric from both sides has reinforced fears of a long and bloody conflict.
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The US coronavirus death toll has now surpassed 250,029, representing a higher death toll than any other country in the world.
According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, x number Americans have now died of coronavirus, more than eight months after the start of the pandemic.
Walmart, McDonald’s and Uber are among the companies that have the most employees on food stamps and Medicaid, according to a report from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The GAO looked into the matter at the behest of Bernie Sanders. “These giant corporations pay starvation wages – wages so low their workers have to rely on Medicaid and food stamps,” Sanders said, pointing to several fast food and other companies whose workers have to rely on benefits because they do not make enough money to survive.
These giant corporations pay starvation wages—wages so low their workers have to rely on Medicaid and food stamps to survive:
Walmart
McDonald’s
Dollar Tree
Uber
Burger King
FedEx
Wendy's
This is what a rigged economy is about. We need a $15 living wage and Medicare for All. https://t.co/GFzfK9ERae
The United States has seen more than 250,000 deaths due to the coronavirus pandemic as a new swathe of data was released that pushed the stricken country over the grim landmark on Wednesday.
Latest figures from Johns Hopkins University showed that the number of people killed by Covid-19 is now 250,029.
Continue reading...Michael Ryan, the head of the World Health Organization’s emergencies programme, has said that while vaccines are effective tools, they are not the lone solution to ending the coronavirus pandemic.
‘Some people think that vaccines will be, in a sense, the solution, the unicorn we’ve all been chasing,’ he said during a virtual briefing in Geneva on Wednesday, warning other measures such as social distancing needed to be maintained.
It comes after positive efficacy results from late-stage trials of two potential Covid-19 vaccines
Low-cost airline to continue reduced flight schedule and shares will still be traded in Oslo
Low-cost airline Norwegian Air has filed for bankruptcy protection in Ireland, becoming the biggest casualty of the coronavirus pandemic in the aviation sector to date.
The troubled carrier has asked an Irish court to carry out a process of examinership. This should protect the group’s assets while it tries to slash debt levels and find new funding as part of a restructuring. It is expected to take as long as five months.
Continue reading...Donald Trump was condemned by opponents on Wednesday for firing the senior official who disputed his baseless claims of election fraud, as the president pressed on with his increasingly desperate battle to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.
Related: Biden to consult with frontline workers as US approaches 250,000 coronavirus deaths – live
Continue reading...Building sprayed with paint and water pistols to protest against police use of tear gas and water cannon
At least 10,000 pro-democracy protesters marched on Thailand’s police headquarters on Wednesday, spraying it with paint and water pistols, a day after violent clashes in which six people were shot and dozens more injured.
Protest leaders condemned the police for using chemical-laced water cannon and teargas against them, chanting “slaves of tyranny” and “our taxes”, and pelting paint at their compound. Some sprayed toy water guns to protest against the police response.
Continue reading...Denmark has already launched a nationwide cull of its farmed mink herd after concerns for vaccine efficacy
Seven countries are now reporting mink-related Sars-CoV-2 mutations in humans, according to new scientific analysis.
The mutations are identified as Covid-19 mink variants as they have repeatedly been found in mink and now in humans as well.
Uncertainty around the implications of the discovery of a Covid-19 mink variant in humans led Denmark, the world’s largest mink fur producer, to launch a nationwide cull earlier this month.
The cull was sparked by research from Denmark’s public health body, the Statens Serum Institut (SSI), which showed that a mink variant called C5 was harder for antibodies to neutralise and posed a potential threat to vaccine efficacy.
Security forces clash with supporters of Bobi Wine after he was held for breaching Covid-19 rules before rally
Security forces in Uganda have fought running battles with supporters of the popular Ugandan reggae singer and opposition presidential hopeful Bobi Wine after the 38-year-old was arrested for breaching Covid-19 regulations shortly before a rally.
Police arrested Wine, who is hoping to unseat Uganda’s long-time leader, Yoweri Museveni, in the eastern town of Luuka.
Continue reading...Decision seen as reward from Trump to Mexican counterpart for election support
A shock US decision to drop charges against a former Mexican defence minister accused of drug trafficking and money laundering has sparked celebration, consternation and bewilderment.
Gen Salvador Cienfuegos was arrested at Los Angeles airport last month and accused of being at the heart of a multimillion dollar conspiracy to smuggle huge shipments of drugs into the US.
Continue reading...Contrary to their dismissive framing as manufactured robots, South Korea’s BTS use social media, documentary and storytelling to make themselves into profoundly human stars
BTS’s leader RM looks up from under a black baseball cap, then stares back down at his hands. “Doing the promotional interviews, [I kept saying], ‘Music truly transcends every barrier.’ But even while I was saying it I questioned myself if I indeed believe it.”
It’s late September, and the rapper is confiding in over one million fans live from his Seoul studio. His “complex set of feelings” about the explosive, record-breaking success of Dynamite – the first fully English-language single from the South Korean megastars – is not the celebration you’d expect from a band that just topped the US Billboard Hot 100, the first K-pop act to do so. But this kind of frank, unfiltered conversation is exactly what their global “Army” fanbase love: BTS’s candid social media presence has included their fans in every step of their artistic journey, and, as they release new album Be this week, has made them the biggest pop group on the planet.
Continue reading...Iran uses advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges in underground plant in breach of 2015 nuclear agreement
Iran has admitted a further breach of the 2015 nuclear deal by firing up advanced uranium-enriching centrifuges installed at its underground plant at Natanz.
The finding was made by the UN nuclear weapons inspectorate, the International Atomic Energy Association, and confirmed by the Iranian ambassador to the IAEA.
Continue reading...FAA’s move comes after plane was grounded in March 2019 following two fatal crashes
US regulators have approved Boeing’s 737 Max to fly once more, 20 months after the manufacturer’s bestselling plane was grounded following two fatal crashes caused by design flaws.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rescinded an order that had grounded the aircraft, in a move that could allow the planes to fly again before the end of the year.
Continue reading...End of 11th outbreak is first time for nearly three years country has been free of Ebola
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has declared an end to its 11th Ebola outbreak, nearly six months after cases were reported.
The end of the outbreak in the western province of Équateur marks the first time that the vast central African nation has been Ebola-free in about two and a half years.
Continue reading...President’s daughter asked her ‘why would you tell me to read a book about poor people?’
Ivanka Trump shared her father’s craving for money and praise – and his apparent disdain for poor people – from a young age, according to a former schoolfriend who has written a tell-all essay.
Donald Trump’s daughter was obsessed with status and used to blame classmates for her infractions of school rules while projecting a refined persona, Lysandra Ohrstrom, who was a maid of honour at her wedding, claimed in Vanity Fair.
Continue reading...Organisation says money pledged is ‘not enough’ and warns of potential for huge number of child deaths
The UN has earmarked $100m (£75m) in emergency funding for seven countries deemed at risk of famine, warning that without immediate action the world could see “huge numbers of children dying on TV screens”.
The climate crisis, Covid-19, conflict and economic decline have created an “acute and grave crisis” in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen, where millions of people are facing emergency levels of food insecurity, UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told the Guardian.
Continue reading...Finding has implications for one-size-fits-all approach to vaccine development
Antibody levels against the virus that causes Covid-19 appear to fall faster in men than in women, a study suggests – a finding that could have implications for vaccine research.
Historically, medical research has often taken a one-size-fits-all approach, lumping women and men together despite growing evidence that the sexes differ in how they catch and fight disease. Covid-19 seems to be a case in point, with women more likely to be infected but men thought to be up to twice as likely to die from the virus.
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