Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Bloc’s stance apparently taken as challenge to Boris Johnson’s threat to walk out on talks
Downing Street reacted in dismay as Emmanuel Macron led EU leaders in warning Boris Johnson that he must swallow the bloc’s conditions, in what appeared to be taken as a direct challenge to the British prime minister’s threat to walk out on the talks.
At a summit in Brussels, the EU proposed a further “two to three weeks” of negotiations but Europe’s heads of state and government offered Johnson little succour, demanding that he alone needed to “make the necessary moves to make an agreement possible”.
At least 10 are dead and dozens injured in street demonstrations demanding an end to widespread abuses by security forces
Nigeria’s army has warned it could step in against “subversive elements and troublemakers” as the protests against police brutality that have erupted throughout the country over the past week continue.
Thousands of mainly young people have taken to the streets to protest against the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad, commonly known asSars, long accused of unlawful killings and abuse, and against wider police brutality. At least 10 people have died and dozens injured in the demonstrations, which have been met with force by police units.
Authorities’ attack on LGBT community turns on men who use surrogacy who are assumed to be gay
Several gay men have fled Russia after officials said that they would arrest people “of non-traditional sexual orientation” who had had children through surrogacy. The announcement formed the authorities’ latest attack on the LGBT community.
Surrogacy is legal in Russia but has increasingly been attacked by conservative lawmakers and the Orthodox church. Police arrested a number of top fertility doctors this year and have accused them of “child trafficking” in an ongoing case.
Daily coronavirus deaths in Europe could reach four or five times their April peak within months without effective countermeasures, the World Health Organization has said, as nine more countries reported record numbers of new infections.
Dr Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe, said on Thursday that Europe had recorded its highest weekly number of new Covid-19 cases as the virus again spread rapidly across the continent.
The murder of the Maltese anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 plunged the country into turmoil. Guardian journalist Juliette Garside, who has been investigating Caruana Galizia's death, speaks with Matthew Caruana Galizia about his mother, his family's quest for justice, and how tragedy may be uniting the country over political divides
Military run down after cold war but Russian activity in Baltic Sea forces hasty rearmament
Sweden will increase military spending by about 40% in the next five years and double the number of people conscripted into its armed forces as it aims to strengthen its defence amid growing tensions with Russia, the government has said.
The country, which is not a member of Nato but enjoys close ties with the alliance, ran down its military forces after the cold war to save money.
Online giants felt forced to take unprecedented action as they struggle with role during divisive presidential battle
Mere hours after the publication of a controversial New York Post article critical of Joe Biden, both Twitter and Facebook took unprecedented action to restrict distribution of the post.
Facebook, a company spokesman revealed, had immediately begun to “reduce its distribution on our platform”, altering how the company’s recommendation algorithm would normally react to such a viral story in order to buy its third-party fact checkers time to come to a conclusion about its veracity.
Brazilian senator Chico Rodrigues is caught with notes during a search of his home
Jair Bolsonaro’s efforts to portray himself as an anti-corruption crusader have suffered another blow after police reportedly seized a wad of banknotes from between the clenched buttocks of one of his allies.
Chico Rodrigues, the Brazilian president’s deputy leader in the senate, was reportedly caught with the concealed bundle on Wednesday during a police search of his home. The raid was part of an operation against the suspected misappropriation of public funds for fighting Covid-19.
French police have searched the homes and offices of French officials including the former prime minister as part of an investigation into the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Current and former ministers have been targeted by at least 90 formal legal complaints from civic groups and members of the public over their response to the health emergency.
Judith Collins has the look of a defeated woman as Labour heads to likely victory
Long time no see. Jacinda Ardern left it late, but turned up at last night’s fourth and final debate of the election campaign as the prime minister. Ghostly versions of herself made weird, kind of shifty appearances in the previous three debates. God she was terrible, an anxious mess, uptight, easily thrown, unable to say anything memorable or with much conviction. She got better or at least less terrible as the debates dragged on and last night, back at the TVNZ studios where the series began, she was in the ascendant. She looked like she knew what she was doing. She looked like herself.
Who was the person sitting beside her in the mauve lights of the studio, though? Someone who only had a faint resemblance to the National leader, Judith Collins, someone who looked like she had the fight taken out of her and had nothing left to give. God, it was sad to witness. It’s a lie that it’s lonely at the top. It’s a lot lonelier at the bottom, and that’s where Collins seems right now at the end of a campaign that has turned into a nightmare, with the prospect of a sound thrashing on Saturday.
IT security group SecurityScorecard evaluated and ranked all US states and territories on their overall cybersecurity posture between September and early October, examining state election-related websites, along with network security, information leaks, endpoint security and other cybersecurity issues.
The company awarded 75 percent of all states and territories a “C” rating or below, including traditional swing states such as Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and Ohio. Of these, 35 percent were awarded a “D” or below, with North Dakota, Puerto Rico and American Samoa awarded the lowest scores.
Scores of private firms, consultants and non-governmental organizations have provided software, equipment, training and information to law enforcement agencies in a burgeoning profit-making industry, according to documents from the so-called Blueleaks information dump.
The documents show how private actors – from major corporations to small-scale contractors – have aided police in militarizing their operations, expanding their surveillance capacities, and pursuing the so-called “war on drugs”.
Bloc targeting six Russians, including FSB chief, over ‘assassination attempt’ on opposition figure
The EU has announced sanctions against members of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, including the head of Russia’s domestic spy agency, over the poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny.
The EU said it had agreed sanctions against six people believed to have been involved in the “assassination attempt” against Putin’s most vocal critic.
The voices of Cathy Ang, John Cho and Sandra Oh star in this K-poppy, trippy fantasy about a girl who builds a rocket and flies to the moon
Watch your back, Disney; here comes Netflix in Hollywood studio mode, flexing its ambition with an animated family fantasy adventure about a sunny, 13-year-old girl called Fei Fei who flies to the moon in a homemade rocket. It’s a film for the globalised 21st century (and presumably Netflix’s global audience): a Chinese story directed by an American – the veteran Disney animator Glen Keane – and voiced in English by actors of (mostly) east Asian heritage.
Cathy Ang is Fei Fei, who is horrified when her dad (John Cho) brings home a new girlfriend (Sandra Oh) four years after her mum’s death. Fei Fei is a true believer in the mythical goddess Chang’e, who is said to languish on the moon, pining for her mortal lover. Our heroine reasons that if she can prove Chang’e and eternal love really do exist, her dad will have to chuck his girlfriend and devote himself to the memory of her mumThus, as a science whizz, she builds a spaceship. It’s a contrived plot but Keane’s character design is beautifully expressive, adding real emotional force – Fei Fei’s face scrunched in anguish when she realises her dad plans to remarry is very touching.
Sooronbai Jeenbekov announces resignation as turmoil in wake of disputed election continues
Kyrgyzstan’s president, Sooronbai Jeenbekov, has announced his resignation in an attempt to end the turmoil engulfing the central Asian nation after a disputed parliamentary election.
Jeenbekov, who had faced calls to step down from protesters and political opponents, said in a statement released by his office that holding on to power wasn’t “worth the integrity of our country and harmony in society”.
Police say bride’s brother threw oil and slipped on it; interior minister demands investigation
An Israeli wedding in a settlement outside Jerusalem ended with a bloody fight and sobbing guests after police stormed in to break it up, accusing the family of breaking coronavirus lockdown rules.
Footage of police dragging the bride’s brother out a house, blood streaming down his face as he is escorted past a white cloth table set with flowers, has led to outrage in the government, and an investigation has been opened.
Nearly a third of coronavirus infections in newborn babies are picked up in the womb or from the mother during labour, a review of reported cases has found.
While Covid-19 is rare in newborns, doctors have been keen to understand the potential risks that babies face should tests reveal they have the infection soon after birth.
Leader says she will resign if not re-elected but polls show Labour 15 points ahead
Jacinda Ardern has dominated the final leaders’ debate before New Zealand goes to the polls on Saturday, appearing confident and prime ministerial as she took on a subdued Judith Collins.
In a surprise admission, Ardern said if she was not re-elected, she would resign as Labour leader.
Voluntary action of companies including Tesco and Princes aims to put pressure on regulatory body to tackle overfishing
British supermarkets and brands, including Tesco, the Co-op and Princes, are stepping up action to cut yellowfin tuna catches in the Indian Ocean, amid warnings the stock is in a “critical” state.
The effort, by companies reliant on healthy fish stocks, represents a counterintuitive effort to force regulators to act, rather than the other way around.