Category Archives: World News

Thailand’s prime minister may lift emergency measures

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Prayuth Chan-ocha seeks to end conflict but protesters give him deadline to resign

Thailand’s prime minister has said he may lift severe emergency measures that were imposed last week to halt months of pro-democracy protests but which have instead sparked even bigger, nationwide rallies against his government and the monarchy.

Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former army general who first came to power in the 2014 coup, said he was moving to de-escalate the situation, adding that the country “must now step back from the edge of the slippery slope that can easily slide to chaos”.

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Samuel Paty posthumously awarded French Légion d’Honneur

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Two pupils among seven people facing terror charges over teacher’s killing

The French teacher decapitated while returning home last week has been posthumously awarded the Légion d’honneur, hours after France’s anti-terrorism prosecutor said the killer had paid two pupils from the school to identify his victim.

At a private ceremony in the main amphitheatre of the Sorbonne university on Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron bestowed the country’s highest honour on the family of Samuel Paty, 47, who was killed on Friday after showing his class two cartoons of the prophet Muhammad as part of a discussion on free speech.

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Pope Francis backs same-sex civil unions

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Pontiff’s endorsement likely to further enrage his conservative opponents in Catholic church

Pope Francis has given his most explicit support to same-sex civil unions in a move that is likely to further enrage his conservative opponents in the Catholic church.

His comments came in an interview in a documentary film, Francesco, which premiered at the Rome film festival on Wednesday.

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Brexit talks to resume after Michel Barnier speech breaks impasse

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EU’s chief negotiator meets Downing Street’s threshold for resumption of troubled talks

The Brexit talks will resume on Thursday, with negotiators tasked with working through weekends in pursuit of a deal in the remaining few weeks, after Michel Barnier met the prime minister’s demands for re-engagement.

The impasse was broken after the EU’s chief negotiator made public his intention to “seek the necessary compromises on both sides”, telling the European parliament that he believed an agreement was “within reach” and that he was willing to work “day and night”.

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Saudi women’s summit accused of ‘whitewashing’ record on rights

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Sister of jailed activist, Loujain al-Hathloul, says attendees legitimise regime that silences women

The sister of a jailed Saudi activist has criticised a G20-linked women’s summit hosted by Riyadh this week as a disturbing attempt to whitewash the country’s dismal record on women’s rights.

Loujain al-Hathloul has been in prison for more than two years without trial after campaigning for an end to Saudi Arabia’s ban on women driving and its system of male guardianship, which effectively relegates women to the status of second-class citizens, requiring permission from male relatives for many life decisions.

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Police brutality is just tip of the iceberg for protesters in Nigeria

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Police violence prompted latest protests but anger at the government is growing

The signs held up by protesters have been clear. “We have no leaders,” said one. “The power of the youth is stronger than you that is in power,” ran another. A third read: “Nigeria bleeds.”

This last statement has been all too true over the last 24 hours. At least seven people are thought to have been killed when soldiers opened fire on a protest site in an upscale part of Lagos, the commercial and cultural centre of Africa’s most populous nation.

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Rudy Giuliani faces questions after compromising scene in new Borat film

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Trump’s personal attorney has indiscreet encounter with actor playing Borat’s daughter in hotel room during pandemic

The reputation of Rudy Giuliani could be set for a further blow with the release of highly embarrassing footage in Sacha Baron Cohen’s follow-up to Borat.

In the film, released on Friday, the former New York mayor and current personal attorney to Donald Trump is seen reaching into his trousers and apparently touching his genitals while reclining on a bed in the presence of the actor playing Borat’s daughter, who is posing as a TV journalist.

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Berlin police appeal for witnesses after museum artefacts vandalised

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Police fail to identify culprit via video footage and say motive for attack remains unclear

Police in Berlin have appealed for witnesses to help identify a mystery attacker who vandalised dozens of ancient artefacts and artworks at four galleries in the German capital.

Details of extensive damage to 63 objects emerged only this week, after police failed to identify a culprit via surveillance camera footage and started to contact visitors who had booked tickets to the Pergamon Museum, the Museum for Islamic Art, the Neues Museum and the Alte Nationalgalerie on 3 October.

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Greta Thunberg accuses MEPs of ‘surrender on climate and environment’

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European parliament votes to continue payments to farmers with no green conditions attached

Greta Thunberg, the Swedish school strike pioneer and environmental activist, has accused MEPs of surrendering on the climate and environment by voting in favour of a watered-down reform of the EU’s common agricultural policy.

The European parliament voted late on Wednesday in favour of proposals put forward by the main political groups that will continue 60% of the current direct payments to farmers with weak or non-existent green conditions attached.

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Coronavirus live news: Spain exceeds 1m cases; Lazio region imposes curfew

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Spain is first western European country to pass milestone; Rome among latest to bring in curfew; German health minister has Covid-19

Four US states reported a record one-day increase in Covid-19 deaths on Wednesday including Wisconsin, a hotly contested state in the 3 November election, as infections keep rising across the Midwest and beyond.

Coronavirus deaths hit daily records in Iowa, Minnesota, Montana and Wisconsin, according to a Reuters analysis. Wisconsin also reported a record daily increase in new cases together with Illinois and Ohio, the analysis showed.

The US is likely to have enough safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines available to inoculate the most vulnerable Americans by the end of 2020, health and human services secretary Alex Azar said.

The US government is “cautiously optimistic” that one or two vaccines, likely from Pfizer or Moderna, will be available by the end of the year and can begin to be distributed to Americans, officials said during a news conference.

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Obama stumps for Biden in Philadelphia as polls show Trump trailing in state – live

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Meanwhile, it seems Trump supporters in North Carolina were asked to avoid QAnon clothing.

The president refused to disavow QAnon during an NBC town hall last week. “I don’t know about QAnon,” he insisted.

A Trump campaign worker ahead of the President’s rally in Gastonia, NC, is informing attendees as they arrive at the main entrance that they cannot wear any QAnon attire.

“No flags, no signs, no e-cigarettes, no clothing with obscenities, no QAnon attire...” w/ @carolelee pic.twitter.com/vnddhTewH1

Joe Biden is leading by an average of 5 points in Pennsylvania – but Trump won the state by less than one point in 2016.

Here’s how the candidates are polling in swing states:

Related: US election polls tracker: who is leading in the swing states?

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The Bolivian left’s election win is a positive sign, but it inherits a dire situation | Kevin Young

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The landslide vote for Luis Arce is reason for optimism, but Bolivia still requires major resources to contain Covid-19

On 18 October, the progressive candidate, Luis Arce, decisively won Bolivia’s presidential election, beating his nearest rival by about 20 points according to exit polls. His party, Movimiento al Socialismo (Mas), also apparently retained its majorities in both houses of congress.

It’s a remarkable turn of events. In November 2019 the Mas president, Evo Morales, was overthrown in a police-military coup that installed the rightwing evangelical Jeanine Áñez as president.

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Cat and mouse on the high seas: on the trail of China’s vast squid fleet

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Huge foreign fleets gather 400 miles off South America’s Pacific coast attracted by giant squid. Peru’s coastguard must defend its territorial waters amid rising tension

The ocean is as black as chipped obsidian, yet whichever way you look dozens of bright lights illuminate the water and the night sky. Nearly 400 nautical miles from the South American mainland, the crew of a Peruvian coastguard ship count more than 30 Chinese squid boats lighting up the sea like a city at night.

Some of the boats shine luminous green, others glow blinding white like an alien spacecraft in a movie. Rigged along each side of the ships, incandescent lamps attract giant squid near the surface, where they can be hauled from the ocean by long metal arms jutting over the water.

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Kenyan efforts to end FGM suffer blow with victims paraded in ‘open defiance’

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Almost 3,000 girls from the Kuria community have undergone female genital mutilation in recent weeks, despite crackdown

Kenya has seen a setback in its progress to eradicate female genital mutilation (FGM) after an open parade in defiance of the government clampdown on the practice took place this week.

Almost 2,800 girls from the Kuria community in south-western Kenya have undergone FGM, which involves the removal of the outer layers of female genitalia and sometimes the clitoris, in the past three weeks, say local activists.

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Croatian police accused of ‘sickening’ assaults on migrants on Balkans trail

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Testimony from asylum seekers alleging brutal border pushbacks, including sexual abuse, adds to calls for EU to investigate

People on the Balkans migrant trail have allegedly been whipped, robbed and, in one case, sexually abused by members of the Croatian police.

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has documented a series of brutal pushbacks on the Bosnia-Croatian border involving dozens of asylum seekers between 12 and 16 October.

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Even if Biden wins US election, time is running out to save Iran nuclear deal

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Events in the US are being watched closely as Iran’s presidential election looms in early 2021

Even if Joe Biden triumphs at the polls, Iran’s weakened government may only have a few months to negotiate a revived nuclear deal before facing its own electoral challenge by hardliners who oppose any engagement with the west.

The narrow window has prompted calls for Biden to offer a phased approach to rejoining the Iran nuclear deal abandoned by Donald Trump in 2018, in order to show progress before the Iranian presidential election.

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Berlin: vandalism of museum artefacts ‘linked to conspiracy theorists’

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Use of oily substance across three galleries reportedly related to claims they are centre of ‘global satanism’

At least 70 artworks and ancient artefacts across three galleries on Berlin’s museum island were vandalised with an oily substance earlier this month, German media has reported.

Objects including Egyptian sarcophagi, stone sculptures and 19th-century paintings held at the Pergamon Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie and the Neues Museum sustained visible damage during the attack on 3 October, according to reports in the weekly Die Zeit and broadcaster Deutschlandfunk on Tuesday.

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Nigeria: security forces in Lagos open fire on protesters fighting against police brutality – video

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Nigerian security forces have opened fire on hundreds of protesters in Lagos, as rallies against police brutality continued in defiance of a 24-hour curfew. Footage shared on social media shows shots being fired in the Lekki district of Africa's largest city. Demonstrators continued their protest against the notorious Sars police unit, now dissolved but long-accused of extra-judicial killings, torture and extortion. The government has adopted measures including judicial panels to investigate abuses and compensation for victims, and officials have called for protesters to suspend the demonstrations to give the government time to make good on its pledges

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Ghislaine Maxwell deposition should be unsealed quickly, judge rules

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Lawyers had argued that the transcripts should remain sealed in part to protect her right to a fair trial

Transcripts of interviews lawyers conducted with Ghislaine Maxwell involving her former boyfriend, the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, should be released as soon as possible, a New York judge ordered on Tuesday.

Related: Coronavirus economic relief deal beckons as Pelosi, Mnuchin resume talks - live

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Joe Biden criticises Donald Trump for renewed Fauci attack over Covid – US politics live

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It’s worth noting that Mitch McConnell said the Senate would consider a coronavirus relief bill “at some point” if a deal is reached between House speaker Nancy Pelosi and treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin.

That phrasing leaves it very unclear when the Senate would take up a coronavirus relief package if an agreement is reached.

Mitch McConnell said he would put a coronavirus relief bill on the Senate floor for a vote, if the White House and congressional Democrats can reach a deal on the package.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi and treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin are expected to discuss the negotiations again in about a half an hour, and Pelosi has said she is “optimistic” about reaching an agreement.

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