Meeting of EU leaders this month will instead focus on post-Covid recovery and China relations
Boris Johnson’s hopes of a Brexit deal have been dealt a fresh blow as Brussels ruled out EU leaders intervening in the troubled negotiations at a summit this month.
According to EU diplomats, both the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, and Downing Street have lobbied for 27 heads of state and government to seize control of the talks given the current impasse.
Continue reading...Critics say Abbott’s views on women and homosexuality and the climate crisis make him unfit for role
Boris Johnson has appointed Tony Abbott as an official UK trade adviser, defying widespread condemnation of the former Australian prime minister’s record of misogyny and homophobia and his views on the climate emergency.
Abbott, whose consideration for the role prompted criticism from opposition parties, charities and LGBT and environmental activists, is among nine external advisers appointed to the Board of Trade. The board, revived by Theresa May, is intended to help shape post-Brexit trade policy.
Continue reading...Chinese government threatened woman when she resisted in move to suppress Muslim minority birth rates
A teacher coerced into giving classes in Xinjiang internment camps has described her forced sterilisation at the age of 50, under a government campaign to suppress birth rates of women from Muslim minorities.
Qelbinur Sidik said the crackdown swept up not just women likely to fall pregnant, but those well beyond normal childbearing ages. Messages she got from local authorities said women aged 19 to 59 were expected to have intrauterine devices (IUDs) fitted or undergo sterilisation.
Continue reading...Khalifa Haftar challenged in Virginia by relatives of military leader’s alleged victims
A $50m damages claim lodged in a court in Virginia alleges that the Libyan warlord General Khalifa Haftar, who holds US citizenship, is guilty of war crimes including starvation sieges that forced families to eat grass and tree bark to survive.
The claim against Haftar by two relatives of his alleged victims is an attempt to make him answerable somewhere for the crimes he is accused of perpetrating as head of the Libyan National Army, the major military force in the east of the country, which since 2014 has been in conflict with the Tripoli-based government in the west.
Continue reading...Widespread vaccinations against Covid-19 are not expected until the middle of next year, according to the World Health Organization, which has stressed the importance of rigorous checks on their effectiveness and safety.
'This phase 3 must take longer because we need to see how truly protective the vaccine is and we also need to see how safe it is,' said spokeswoman Margaret Harris, referring to vaccine clinical trials
Continue reading...Greek government suggests need for ‘closed and controlled’ structures but NGOs fear virus is pretext for increased restrictions
The first recorded coronavirus case in Moria refugee camp on Lesbos, where just under 13,000 people are living in a space designed for 3,000, has led to fears that the government will use the pandemic as a pretext to create closed camps.
Notis Mitarachi, the minister for migration, told local news that the coronavirus situation demonstrated the need for “closed and controlled” structures. The migration ministry also released a statement on Thursday, which said that plans to create closed structures on the islands of Lesbos and Chios were progressing.
Continue reading...Nato has condemned the poisoning of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny with the nerve agent novichok as a 'disrespect for human life' and 'breach of international norms'.
Russia had serious questions to answer about the case, the secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said after reaching a unanimous agreement with Nato ambassadors
Continue reading...India cases top 80,000 for second day in a row; Asia Pacific shares suffer heavy losses; Israel to impose partial lockdown
US president Donald Trump slammed House speaker Nancy Pelosi after the Democrat was filmed at an indoor hair salon with her face covering around her neck. Trump, a longtime critic of Pelosi, pounced on the opportunity to attack her over the incident.
“I’ll tell you what, she must have treated that beauty salon owner pretty badly. She uses the salon and the salon turned her in?” he said. “So I just put out that if she was set up, then she shouldn’t be leading the House of Representatives. I want the salon owner to lead the House of Representatives”:
A groundbreaking new comedy sketch show based on women’s sex lives during lockdown, starring Aimee Lou Wood and Miriam Margolyes, is designed to “claim the stage” for women, its co-creator, Joanna Scanlan, says.
Sex Lives, believed to be the first interactive comedy backed by the BBC’s commercial wing, BBC Studios, documents stories submitted anonymously by women and has proved a hit online.
Related: Women's sex lives in lockdown prove online comedy hit
Continue reading...‘We need to see how safe it is,’ WHO stresses; Cuba welcomes first plane of tourists in months; Italy reports biggest rise since 2 May
Smoking appears to increase the genetic contribution to Covid-19 infections, a small study suggested.
The new coronavirus enters the body by hijacking proteins on the surface of healthy cells, in particular a protein called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).
Liberia’s president George Weah has sacked the country’s top health official over his handling of coronavirus testing in the impoverished West African state.
Mososka Fallah, director general of the Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL), was removed from his post for “breaches in the health and administrative protocols that guide the issuance of Covid-19 test results,” Weah’s office said in a statement.
Continue reading...Dante Addug called his partner as water entered the Gulf Livestock 1 cargo ship but family has not heard from him since
The last time the captain of the Gulf Livestock 1 spoke to his partner, Typhoon Maysak was battering the ship and water was already flowing in. It was 8.30pm on Tuesday.
“He informed her that water had entered the ship. The last thing he said was he will go to the bridge to check the situation,” Maya Addug-Sanchez, the captain’s sister, told the Guardian. Addug’s family hasn’t heard from him since.
Continue reading...Five women affected by child marriage tell their stories – and of their struggles to protect others
Twelve million girls are married every year before they reach 18, according to UN estimates. And in its first set of global statistics on child marriage rates among boys, the UN found one in 30 young men were married as children.
Advances have been made, however. Ending child marriage by 2030 is a target in the UN’s set of sustainable development goals, and many countries have launched strategies to stop the practice. But progress is slow and likely to be badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic as closed schools and financial pressures take their toll on families. In April, the United Nations Population Fund predicted that an additional 13 million children could be married over the next decade because of disruption to programmes.
Continue reading...Liu Yifei, who stars as Chinese heroine, has voiced support for Hong Kong police during suppression of protests
Calls to boycott Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan have been reignited ahead of its release on Friday, with Thai pro-democracy activists joining those vowing to shun the film.
Controversy over Mulan erupted last year, when its star, Liu Yifei, voiced support for police in Hong Kong, who have been accused of using excessive force against protesters.
Continue reading...Major oil firms plan to grow plastic supply to counter impact of shift against fossil fuels
The war on plastic waste could scupper the oil industry’s multi-billion dollar bet that the world will continue to need more fossil fuels to help make the petrochemicals used in plastics, according to a new report.
Major oil companies, including Saudi Aramco and Royal Dutch Shell, plan to spend about $400bn (£300bn) to help grow the supply of virgin plastics by a quarter over the next five years, to compensate for the impact of electric vehicles and clean energy technologies on demand for fossil fuels.
Continue reading...Rescuers search for more than 40 crew from ship carrying 6,000 cattle that went down en route from New Zealand to China
A second survivor from a cargo ship carrying 6,000 cattle that capsized off southwest Japan has died after being pulled from the water unconscious on Friday.
The Japanese coast guard said the man had been unresponsive when he was found about 120 km (75 miles) north-northwest of Amami Oshima island and transferred to a hospital.
Continue reading...Move follows a visit by US defense secretary Mark Esper, who accused Beijing of ‘malign influence’ across the region
The western Pacific nation of Palau has urged the United States military to build bases on its territory – in the heart of a region where Washington is pushing back against growing Chinese influence.
US defense secretary Mark Esper visited the island nation last week as part of a Pacific tour, accusing Beijing of a “malign influence” and “ongoing destabilising activities” across the region.
Continue reading...Search renewed after pulsing signal that may be heartbeat heard under collapsed building
A pulsing signal has been detected from under the rubble of a building that collapsed in the Beirut port explosion last month, raising faint hopes that there may be a survivor there.
A sniffer dog belonging to a Chilean search and rescue team first detected something in rubble of a building that had previously been searched. The team then used audio equipment to listen for a possible heartbeat, and detected what could be a pulse of 18 to 19 beats per minute.
Continue reading...Russian president has used various tactics over the years to avoid voicing his critic’s name
Over the past two decades, Vladimir Putin has referred to Alexei Navalny as “a poor excuse for a politician” and “a certain political force”. He has called him “the character you mentioned” and “this gentleman”.
He has never in public called him Navalny.
Continue reading...Three girls and two boys aged between 18 months and eight years discovered in Solingen
The bodies of five children have been discovered in a flat in western Germany with their mother the main suspect in their killings, police have said.
The bodies were found on the third floor of a building in the city of Solingen by the children’s grandmother, who alerted emergency services at 1.45pm local time on Thursday.
Continue reading...Cases reach 3.85m as expert claims emphasis on recovery rates fuels public apathy
India reported a record daily rise of 83,883 coronavirus infections on Thursday, taking its total to 3.85 million cases, just as the country pushed ahead with attempting a return to normality and kickstarting its economy.
India now has the fastest growing Covid-19 infection rate in the world, and is only 100,000 cases behind Brazil, the second worst-affected country in the world. Experts are predicting that the south Asian nation will soon overtake Brazil (4 million) and then the US (6.1 million) to hold the dubious title of having the highest number of cases globally.
Continue reading...White House summit irritates EU diplomats, who say deal brokered by them is near
The leaders of Kosovo and Serbia will meet at the White House on Thursday and Friday, in an encounter that some see as a push for a diplomatic win for Donald Trump to brandish during his re-election campaign.
Kosovo’s prime minister, Avdullah Hoti, will meet with the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, in talks that Trump aides say will be primarily about economic issues between the two countries, but may pave the way to a broader deal.
Continue reading...