Category Archives: World News

EU proposes new rules to protect LGBTQ+ people amid ‘worrying trends’

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Proposals follow creation of ‘LGBT-free zones’ in Poland and Hungary’s proposed ban on adoption

Brussels has put itself on a collision course with the Polish and Hungarian governments after proposing to criminalise hate speech against LGBTQ+ people under EU law and secure recognition of same-sex partnerships across the bloc’s borders.

Věra Jourová, a European commissioner, said the measures followed new “worrying trends”, with the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights reporting that 43% of LGBT people had declared feeling discriminated against in 2019, compared with 37% in 2012.

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Eight international peacekeepers killed in Sinai helicopter crash

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Six Americans, one Czech and one French citizen killed and only survivor in critical state

A helicopter carrying members of a multinational peacekeeping force has crashed near Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, killing six Americans, a Czech and a French citizen.

The US-led Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) said in a statement that all but one of the nine people onboard were killed when the aircraft went down “during a routine operation”.

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More than 110 migrants die in Mediterranean in three days

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Bodies of 74 people wash up on beach in western Libya as baby boy dies on rescue boat

Four shipwrecks in the space of three days have claimed the lives of more than 110 people in the Mediterranean, including at least 70 people whose bodies have washed up on the beach of al-Khums, in western Libya.

According to the UN migration agency (IOM), that boat was reported to be carrying more than 120 people, including women and children. Forty-seven survivors had been brought to shore by the coastguard and fishermen, while the bodies of at least 74 people were floating near the water’s edge on Thursday.

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Turkmenistan leader reveals golden monument to favourite dog breed – video

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Turkmenistan's leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, solemnly inaugurated a monument for his favourite breed of dog, the nationally revered alabai.

The gold-leaf six-metre statue of the central Asian shepherd dog is the centrepiece of a busy roundabout in the country's capital, Ashgabat.

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Scientist behind BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine says it can end pandemic

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Exclusive: BioNTech’s CEO Uğur Şahin says he is confident vaccine can ‘bash the virus over the head’

The scientist behind the first Covid-19 vaccine to clear interim clinical trials says he is confident his product can “bash the virus over the head” and put an end to the pandemic that has held the world hostage in 2020.

The German company BioNTech and the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced via a press release on Monday that their jointly developed vaccine candidate had outperformed expectations in the crucial phase 3 trials, proving 90% effective in stopping people from falling ill.

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Trudeau: UK’s lack of negotiating practice could delay Canada trade deal

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Britain may lack ‘bandwidth to move forward’ as Brexit transition nears end, say PM

Canada could easily negotiate a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK, Justin Trudeau has said, but he warned that talks could be delayed because British negotiators are so out of practice.

Speaking at an online event hosted by the Financial Times, the Canadian prime minister said he remained upbeat about the prospect of a trade deal between the two countries before the end of the year.

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Alcoholic anaesthetist jailed for killing Briton during caesarean birth in France

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Helga Wauters imprisoned for three years and banned from practising after death of Xynthia Hawke

An alcoholic anaesthetist who botched an emergency caesarean operation leaving a young British mother dead has been sentenced to three years in prison and banned from practising medicine.

Helga Wauters, 51, was found guilty of manslaughter after pushing a breathing tube into 28-year-old Xynthia Hawke’s oesophagus instead of her windpipe. Even after Hawke cried out in pain, vomited, turned blue and went into cardiac arrest, the anaesthetist, who admitted she had an alcohol problem and had been drinking since early morning on the day of the operation, failed to react.

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Dutch police arrest man over Saudi embassy shooting

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No injuries after shots fired at building in The Hague day after attack on WW1 event in Jeddah

Dutch police have arrested a man after multiple shots were fired at the Saudi embassy in The Hague, causing damage but no injuries.

The incident occurred the day after a bomb exploded at a first world war commemoration attended by foreign diplomats in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

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From Burna Boy to Beyoncé: how black culture is embracing its African roots – video

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In recent years, Africans on the continent and in the diaspora have become leading voices in black culture – in music, film, fashion, social media, comedy and even our memes. When Grace Shutti was growing up, black culture usually referred to African Americans. But from Beyoncé's visual album, Black is King, to Marvel's Black Panther and musician Diddy executive producing the Nigerian pop star Burna Boy's album, the shift to embrace African art has been seismic. Grace investigates how this came about

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French professor faces disciplinary case over hydroxychloroquine claims

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Didier Raoult stands accused of touting drug as a coronavirus treatment without evidence

A French professor who touts the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment – without evidence, scientists say – will appear before a disciplinary panel charged with ethics breaches, an order of doctors has said.

Marseille-based Didier Raoult stands accused by his peers of spreading false information about the benefits of the drug. His promotion of hydroxychloroquine was taken up by the US and Brazilian presidents, Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, who trumpeted its unproven benefits in a way critics say put people’s lives at risk.

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Swedish surge in Covid cases dashes immunity hopes

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Country has opted for light-touch, anti-lockdown approach since start of pandemic

New infections and hospital admissions have surged in Sweden as the country battles a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic that officials had hoped its light-touch, anti-lockdown approach would mitigate.

“We consider the situation extremely serious,” the director of health and medical care services for Stockholm, Björn Eriksson, told the state broadcaster SVT this week. “We can expect noticeably more people needing hospital care over the coming weeks.”

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‘Great expectations’: how world leaders reacted to Biden and Harris’s election win – video

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Most world leaders rushed to congratulate Joe Biden on his election on Twitter, and spoke of 'hope' and 'expectation' in later statements.

Biden’s key foreign policy priorities are cooperation in the fight against coronavirus, a commitment to rejoin the UN Paris climate agreement and, more broadly, to promise a change in tone toward traditional US allies. 

Russia and China are yet to congratulate the president-elect, as the outgoing president, Donald Trump, is yet to concede defeat

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Typhoon Vamco: torrential rains force evacuations in Philippines – video

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Torrential rains from Typhoon Vamco have lashed the Philippines' main Luzon Island, causing flooding and widespread damage.

People sought shelter on higher ground due to flash floods on Thursday, and have been asked to move to evacuation centres in the capital, Manila, despite fears of the spread of Covid-19.

Vamco is the 21st such storm to hit the Philippines this year, following close after Super typhoon Goni which devastated the east of the nation in early November

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Spike in yellow fever deaths prompts Nigeria to revive vaccination campaigns

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Resurgence of disease linked to factors including climate crisis and focus of health resources on Covid response

More than 70 people are feared to have died of yellow fever in Nigeria since September, as health authorities warn of a resurgence of the disease.

The country recorded 47 deaths from yellow fever throughout the whole of 2019.

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Dozens of Sudanese migrants held in Cairo after protests

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The killing of a 12-year-old boy sparked calls for justice and action to counter human rights violations of black African refugees in Egypt

Dozens of Sudanese refugees and migrants have been arrested after protests over the murder of a young boy in Cairo.

Amnesty International said about 70 people, including children, were arrested by Egyptian security forces after what it said were two peaceful protests on 29 October.

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Banks around world in joint pledge on ‘green recovery’ after Covid

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Climate finance goals declared but campaigners highlight omissions over fossil fuels and poor nations’ support

The world’s publicly financed development banks have pledged to tie together their efforts to rescue the global economy from the Covid-19 crisis and the climate emergency, using their financial muscle to assist a green recovery for poor countries.

But the banks stopped short of pledging an end to fossil fuel finance, and did not set out firm targets for how much funding they would devote to a green recovery in a declaration signed on Thursday by 450 development banks worldwide.

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Trump marks Veterans Day in first official appearance since Biden win – video

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Donald Trump stepped out of the White House for his first official appearance in six days as he laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to mark Veterans Day.

This was Trump's first outing, other than to play golf, since Joe Biden was declared president-elect over the weekend. Trump has declined to concede the election to Biden.

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US deports migrants who accuse detention center gynecologist of abuse

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Six former patients who complained about Dr Mahendra Amin, who has been accused of operating without consent, deported

The Trump administration is trying to deport several women who allege they were mistreated by a Georgia gynecologist at an immigration detention center, according to their lawyers.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has already deported six former patients who complained about Dr Mahendra Amin, who has been accused of operating on migrant women without their consent or performing procedures that were medically unnecessary and potentially endangered their ability to have children.

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‘We’re in power now’: Evo Morales makes gleeful return to town he fled

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Tens of thousands of supporters greet Bolivian ex-president during his triumphant return to Chimoré

Tens of thousands of jubilant followers have welcomed Evo Morales back to the coca-growing region from which he fled into exile exactly one year ago after what they branded a racist rightwing coup.

“Evo, Evo, Evo,” chanted the people who had travelled from all over Bolivia to witness their leader’s triumphant return home in the jungle-flanked town of Chimoré.

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