Category Archives: World News

Belarus deports Swedish journalist amid media crackdown

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Paul Hansen one of 50 reporters, including BBC Moscow’s Steve Rosenberg, detained by police

A Swedish photojournalist has been deported from Belarus, amid a crackdown on local and foreign media and ahead of further mass protests planned for this weekend against the president, Alexander Lukashenko.

Paul Hansen was given 24 hours to leave the country and banned from Belarus for five years. He was one of 50 reporters rounded up by riot police on Thursday and taken into custody, ostensibly so their documents could be checked.

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‘We’re not taking it any more’: Jacob Blake’s family lead Washington rally – video

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The family of Wisconsin shooting victim Jacob Blake condemned racism and demanded criminal justice reform as they spoke in front of thousands at the Commitment March in Washington DC. Earlier this week Blake was shot multiple times in the back by police, leaving him paralysed. The protest, announced in early June following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, marked the anniversary of the demonstration at which Martin Luther King gave his historic 'I Have a Dream' speech.

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Armed robbers take £8m after attack on security van in Lyon

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Loomis chief executive calls robbery ‘an audacious attack, right in the city centre’

Robbers in the southeastern French city of Lyon have stolen €9m (£8m) in an armed attack on an armoured security vehicle.

It is believed to be the biggest cash heist in France since notorious robber Toni Musulin in 2009 made off with €11.6m, most of which was subsequently recovered.

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Ecuadorian man and woman become world’s oldest married couple

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Julio Mora, 110, and Waldramina Quinteros, 104, a combined nearly 215 years, received Guinness certification in mid-August

Julio Mora slipped away from his parents to secretly marry Waldramina Quinteros one February day. Both families disapproved.

Seventy-nine years later, they’re still together – he is 110 years of age, and she is 104, both lucid and both in good health, though relatives say they’re a little depressed because they miss their big family get-togethers due to the pandemic.

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Pacific’s fight against Covid-19 hamstrung by lack of clean water

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Access to clean, safe drinking water across the Pacific is the lowest of any region in the world, raising fears for the rapid spread of coronavirus

Papua New Guinea’s battle against a climbing rate of Covid-19 infections is being hampered by the most basic of shortages – access to clean water –public health experts have warned.

Case numbers have jumped from just 11 cases two months ago to 424 on Friday, with four deaths. And efforts to contain escalating case numbers throughout the archipelago, and to prevent outbreaks across the Pacific region, are being hamstrung because thousands cannot access clean water for hand-washing and cleaning, the region’s key development agency says.

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House Democrats launch contempt proceedings against Mike Pompeo

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Committee says secretary of state has refused to comply with subpoenas for documents connected to Ukraine scandal

Congressional Democrats have launched contempt proceedings against Mike Pompeo for his refusal to comply with subpoenas for documents connected to the Ukraine scandal that led to Donald Trump’s impeachment.

The move is the culmination of a long-running struggle over Congress’s authority to conduct oversight of government agencies. The secretary of state, who was a fierce advocate of congressional rights when he was a Republican representative from Kansas, has ignored a string of demands for documentation from the Democrat-controlled House foreign affairs committee (HFAC).

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Outcry in Iran at nine-year sentence for man who beheaded daughter

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Mother of 14-year-old victim expresses fury at lenient sentence as critics say Iranian law unfairly favours men

An Iranian man who beheaded his 14-year-old daughter has been sentenced to only nine years in jail, in a case that has sparked outrage at the way Iranian law appears to enshrine supposed male rights over women’s lives.

Rana Dashti, the mother of 14-year-old Romina Ashrafi, expressed fury at the lenient sentence in an interview with the Iranian Labor news agency (Ilna) on Friday and said the court’s ruling had “caused fear and panic for me and my family”.

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Barnier ‘flabbergasted’ at UK attempt to reopen Brexit specialty food debate

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Bloc sources say Britain is trying to water down EU geographical protections

The UK government has renewed its attempt to reopen the chapter of the Brexit divorce treaty protecting specialty food and drink, such as Parma ham, roquefort cheese and champagne, in a move that left the EU chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, “a little bit flabbergasted”.

The British proposal on protected status for food and drink was included in a draft free-trade agreement handed to Barnier by his opposite number, David Frost, last week, according to two EU sources.

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Protesters try to drown out Donald Trump’s acceptance speech on last day of RNC – video highlights

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Donald Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday, as protesters outside the White House did their best to drown out his speech. Here are highlights of the last night of the 2020 Republican national convention

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Reopening schools: how different countries are tackling Covid dilemma

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As schools in England prepare to reopen, we examine the situation around the world

As schools in England and Wales get set to reopen amid continued controversy over safe conditions, attention has focused on potential evidence of coronavirus transmission in the classroom and on the experiences of other countries.

Research on the ability of children of different ages to catch and transmit the virus is contradictory, and differences in education systems and social conventions make comparisons difficult.

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Shinzo Abe resigns as Japanese prime minister due to ill-health – video

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Japan's longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has announced his resignation, citing ill-health. His departure marks the end of an unusual era of stability in which the Japanese leader struck up strong ties with the US president, Donald Trump, even as Abe's ultra-nationalism riled the Koreas and China. Although he pulled Japan out of recession, the economy has been battered anew by the coronavirus pandemic

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It’s tempting to think only charities can end abuse in aid. But we need state backup | Frances Longley

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The UK government has gone quiet on global safeguarding. The new FCDO must work with NGOs to hold abusers accountable

When stories of sexual abuse, harassment and exploitation in the aid sector surfaced in February 2018, a firestorm of blame and recrimination broke out across British NGOs. Household names were vilified, and the secretary of state for international development publicly declared that we had lost our moral compass.

Stories from victims and survivors were horrific and needed to be heard. NGOs were ashamed that abuse was still happening on our watch. We apologised, made promises of improvement and change. We came together as a sector and rapidly acted. Policies, processes and training were improved across hundreds of organisations and thousands of staff around the globe.

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New Zealand stock exchange disrupted by fourth ‘offshore’ cyber attack

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Intelligence cyber crime agencies called in to help after chaotic week of distributed denial of service attacks

The New Zealand government has activated national security systems after the nation’s stock exchange was disrupted by cyber attacks for a fourth day.

There was no clarity on who was behind the “offshore” attacks, but the failure to stop them has raised questions about New Zealand’s security systems, experts said.

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Japan PM Shinzo Abe set to announce resignation amid health concerns – report

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Surprise development comes after Japanese officials were unable to quash speculation following two recent hospital visits by the prime minister

Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is set to announce his resignation later on Friday, according to public broadcaster NHK, amid growing concerns about his health after he made two hospital visits in the space of a week.

Officials from the governing Liberal Democratic party (LDP) had earlier attempted to quash speculation that Abe may be unable to serve out his term, which was due to end in September 2021, as rumours swirled around the state of his health.

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Hurricane Laura brings 150mph winds to Louisiana with more ‘catastrophic conditions’ to come

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Six fatalities recorded in Louisiana, including a teen girl who died after a tree fell on her home and a man who died of carbon monoxide poisoning

Hurricane Laura, the most powerful hurricane to strike the US this year, moved across Louisiana on a northerly path on Thursday, after threatening an “unsurvivable storm surge” on the coast and tropical force weather as far as Tennessee.

The storm slammed into western Louisiana overnight with gusts of up to 150mph and could cause “catastrophic conditions”, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Not until 11 hours after landfall did it finally weaken.

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Venezuela using coronavirus as cover to crack down on dissent, report claims

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Human Rights Watch says it has found a ‘very, very disturbing’ pattern of intimidation and persecution of government critics

Venezuelan security forces are using the coronavirus pandemic as cover to wage a disturbing “full force” campaign against dissenters, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.

The New York-based human rights group said that dozens of journalists, health professionals, human rights lawyers and government opponents had been arbitrarily detained and prosecuted since President Nicolás Maduro declared a Covid-19 state of emergency in mid-March.

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Twelve arrested at sea while trying to flee to Taiwan from Hong Kong

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Chinese coastguard stopped a speedboat on Sunday suspected of an illegal border crossing

More than 10 Hong Kong residents, including an activist charged under the city’s punitive national security law, have been detained by China’s coastguard while trying to flee to Taiwan, according to reports.

China’s coastguard released a statement on Weibo saying that on Sunday at 9am, authorities in Guangdong tracked down a speedboat suspected of an illegal border crossing. The notice, posted on Wednesday evening, said more than 10 people had been arrested including two suspects surnamed Li and Tang.

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Boss vows to tackle misconduct claims at UN Green Climate Fund

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Yannick Glemarec responds to FT report of 40 complaints including racism and sexism

The head of the UN’s climate finance body has pledged to tackle complaints of misconduct at the organisation “as a matter of urgency”, after such claims against unidentified staff members were published.

Yannick Glemarec, the executive director of the Green Climate Fund, told the Guardian: “We need to continue working on building the culture of the organisation. Trust is key for our organisation.”

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Banksy funds refugee rescue boat operating in Mediterranean

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Exclusive: UK artist finances bright pink motor yacht that set sail in secrecy to avoid being intercepted by authorities

The British street artist Banksy has financed a boat to rescue refugees attempting to reach Europe from north Africa, the Guardian can reveal.

The vessel, named Louise Michel after a French feminist anarchist, set off in secrecy on 18 August from the Spanish seaport of Burriana, near Valencia, and is now in the central Mediterranean where on Thursday it rescued 89 people in distress, including 14 women and four children.

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Treble Dutch: £13m old master painting stolen for a third time

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Two Laughing Boys by Frans Hals seized in overnight raid at museum

It’s nothing to smile about for lovers of Dutch art. Police have reported that Two Laughing Boyswith a Mug of Beer, by the old master Frans Hals, has been stolen for a third time.

The Golden Age work, painted in 1626-7, was snatched from a small museum in the town of Leerdam, near the city of Utrecht, early on Wednesday morning.

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