Jean-Michel Blanquer’s comments follow protests over high school dress codes for female students
France’s education minister has sparked a sexism row after demanding high school pupils dress in “republican style” for classes.
Jean-Michel Blanquer’s comments came a week after a protest by girls at French high schools about being hauled in front of headteachers or turned away from lessons because they were wearing mini skirts, low-cut or crop tops deemed “provocative”.
Continue reading...The climate crisis and Covid-19 are crying out for international cooperation, writes the prime minister of Bangladesh
One-third of my country was underwater last month. The heaviest rains in almost a decade began and have still not abated. More than 1.5 million Bangladeshis are displaced; tens of thousands of hectares of paddy fields have been washed away. Millions of my compatriots will need food aid this year.
Calamities, alas, never strike alone. The floods, which come in the wake of widespread destruction caused by Cyclone Amphan in May, are making it more difficult to contain the coronavirus. More than 2.4 million people had already been moved from the destructive path of the storm without delivering them into the even greater danger of Covid-19. Yet while the infection and death rates have been contained, concerns remain until a foolproof safeguard is acquired. Economic lockdowns have hit our textile industry and exports and forced hundreds of thousands of our international migrant workers to return home, with the vast majority remaining unemployed.
Continue reading...Democrats’ hopes of keeping seat empty fade as two key Republican senators signal support for moving quickly
Donald Trump has raced to cement a conservative majority on the US supreme court before the presidential election on 3 November, and Democrats’ hopes of keeping the seat empty have faded as two Republican senators signalled their support for moving quickly.
The president said on Monday he would name his third supreme court nominee on Friday or Saturday, following memorials for Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the liberal justice who died aged 87 on Friday.
Continue reading...Larger economies have been flexible and creative coping with Covid’s impact – the same mindset needs to be applied to helping poorer countries
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts Africa will suffer its worst recession since the 1970s. For the first time since the 1990s, extreme poverty will increase. The annual death toll from HIV, tuberculosis and malaria is set to double. We also fear a near doubling in the number of people facing starvation. Many girls out of school will never go back. Life expectancy will fall.
All this will fuel grievances, and in their wake conflict, instability and refugee flows, all giving succour to extremist groups and terrorists. The consequences will reach far and last long. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and G20 nations will feel the blowback just as some start to see light at the end of the Covid tunnel.
Continue reading...Simulation using world’s fastest supercomputer casts doubt on effectiveness in preventing spread of coronavirus
Plastic face shields are almost totally ineffective at trapping respiratory aerosols, according to modelling in Japan, casting doubt on their effectiveness in preventing the spread of coronavirus.
A simulation using Fugaku, the world’s fastest supercomputer, found that almost 100% of airborne droplets of less than 5 micrometres in size escaped through plastic visors of the kind often used by people working in service industries.
Continue reading...The worst parts of UN events will be on display, the endless speechifying first among them, but none of what normally makes the general assembly indispensable
It has been billed as the world’s worst Zoom meeting, but the United Nations’ 75th general assembly could be even worse than that.
It is called the “general debate” but, unlike a Zoom meeting, there will be no discussion – just a week-long procession of pre-recorded video messages from the world’s leaders, stating their positions, very much with their domestic audience in mind. They were supposed to have sent their videos at the end of last week. As of Monday, only half had been turned in.
Continue reading...Former real estate mogul was investigated after criticising Xi Jinping over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic
China has sentenced an influential former property executive and critic of President Xi Jinping to 18 years in prison for corruption.
Ren Zhiqiang, the former chairman of Huayuan, a state-owned real estate group, was also fined 4.2m yuan, Beijing No. 2 Intermediate Court said on its website on Tuesday.
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Hello! Kari Paul here in California taking over for the next few hours. Stay tuned for updates.
That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague. Kari Paul, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
Continue reading...Large protests against the veteran Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, continued with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets of the capital, Minsk, for the sixth weekend in a row.
The demonstrations began when Lukashenko secured a sixth term after claiming victory in an election that has had its legitimacy called into question.
The leader of the main opposition party, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, was in Brussels on Monday to push the European Union to agree on sanctions against officials accused of election-rigging in Belarus but the EU failed to reach unanimity on the decision despite not recognising Lukashenko's legitimacy.
As violent arrests of protesters continue in Belarus, anonymous hackers leaked the personal data of 1,000 police officers in retaliation.
Baimadajie Angwang’s job was to ‘locate potential intelligence sources’ and ‘identify potential threats’, court papers say
A New York City police officer has been charged with spying on Tibetan immigrants in the United States as an “intelligence asset” for the Chinese government.
A criminal complaint filed on Monday in Brooklyn federal court accuses Baimadajie Angwang of working as an agent for the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It says he was secretly supervised by handlers from the Chinese consulate in New York.
Continue reading...Russian oligarch’s firms donated £74m to Elad, who are accused of trying to seize Palestinian neighbourhoods
Companies controlled by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich donated tens of millions of pounds to a highly controversial Israeli settler group accused of displacing Palestinian families from Jerusalem, according to leaked documents seen by BBC News Arabic.
The billionaire Russian oligarch, who was granted Israeli citizenship in 2018, has been an avid philanthropist in Israel, donating huge sums to research and development projects and investing in local firms.
Continue reading...Ex-PM says internal market bill could lead to a united Ireland and undermine trust in UK
Theresa May has launched a blistering attack on the government’s plan to give itself powers to renege on the special arrangements for Northern Ireland in the Brexit deal.
She described the plans as “reckless” and “irresponsible” and said they “risked the integrity of the United Kingdom”, as they would not only tarnish Britain’s reputation globally as an upholder of the law but could contribute to a reunited Ireland.
Continue reading...Party set to end 27 years of leftist rule and take its second regional presidency in elections
A candidate for the far-right Brothers of Italy looks set to end 27 years of leftwing rule in the eastern Marche region, and take the party’s second regional presidency.
The centre-left is likely to retain its stronghold of Tuscany, however, according to exit polls for key Italian regional elections.
Continue reading...Prince of Wales says threat posed by global heating will ‘dwarf the impact of the coronavirus pandemic’
Prince Charles has called for the world to put itself on a “warlike footing” to tackle the “comprehensive catastrophe” caused by the climate crisis and the loss of nature.
The threat posed by global heating and the degradation of biodiversity will “dwarf the impact of the coronavirus pandemic”, the Prince of Wales said.
Continue reading...The César-winning actor appeared in films by François Truffaut and Alain Resnais, and played religious figures in Of Gods and Men and The Name of the Rose
Michael Lonsdale, the French-British actor whose best known role was the villain Drax in Moonraker but who also appeared in a string of films by auteur directors such as François Truffaut, Jacques Rivette and Alain Resnais, has died aged 89. Lonsdale’s agent, Olivier Loiseau, confirmed to Agence France-Presse that the actor had died at his home in Paris.
Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson said in a statement: “He was an extraordinarily talented actor and a very dear friend. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this sad time.”
Continue reading... Covax plan will counter rising threat of ‘vaccine nationalism’, prioritising vulnerable healthcare systems and frontline workers
A coalition of 156 countries has agreed a “landmark” deal to enable the rapid and equitable global distribution of any new coronavirus vaccines to 3% of participating countries’ populations, to protect vulnerable healthcare systems, frontline health workers and those in social care settings.
The Covid-19 vaccine allocation plan – co-led by the World Health Organization and known as Covax – has been set up to ensure that the research, purchase and distribution of any new vaccine is shared equally between the world’s richest countries and those in the developing world.
Continue reading...Woman is also suspected of sending five similar poisoned envelopes to law enforcement agencies in Texas
A woman suspected of sending an envelope containing the poison ricin to the White House, has been arrested at the New York-Canada border and is also suspected of sending five similar poisoned envelopes to law enforcement agencies in Texas.
The letter was intercepted earlier this week before it reached the White House.
Continue reading...Russian opposition leader demands in blogpost clothes be returned as evidence
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has said in his first blogpost since emerging from a coma that western laboratories had found traces of novichok in and on his body and demanded that Moscow return his clothes.
Navalny, who is recovering in Berlin’s Charité hospital, fell critically ill during a flight from Siberia to Moscow and spent two days in hospital in Russia before being airlifted to Germany.
Continue reading...Prisoner under death sentence dug hole from cell in Jakarta into waste pipes to road outside
A Chinese drug trafficker facing a death sentence has escaped from jail on the outskirts of Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, by tunnelling through the sewers, police have said.
Cai Changpan, 37, who was convicted of methamphetamine smuggling, dug a hole from his cell at the prison in the Tangerang area into waste pipes and from there to a road outside, a Jakarta police spokesman, Yusri Yunus, said.
Continue reading...Spectators at Teatro Real say they were crammed into seats without space between them
A performance of Verdi’s A Masked Ball was abandoned in Madrid on Sunday night after audience members protested over the lack of social distancing measures – especially for those in cheaper seats.
One member of the audience at the Teatro Real opera house said there were rows of more than a dozen people without any gaps between them.
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