Ebo forest is home to hundreds of rare species including Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees
A Cameroonian government decree allowing logging in a forest that is home to some of the world’s most endangered species has sparked outrage among local communities and conservation groups.
The richly biodiverse Ebo forest is one of the last intact forests in central Africa and home to hundreds of rare flora and animal species.
Continue reading...Software hailed as a ‘game-changer’ in providing early warning for humanitarian relief efforts as virus fuels conflict
Coronavirus is predicted to push more than 1 million people from their homes across the Sahel, creating havoc in an already highly fragile region, according to new forecasting software.
Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria in west Africa are predicted to see displacement as a result of the increasing conflict, unemployment and human rights abuses brought on by fallout from the coronavirus, the analytical tool developed by the humanitarian group Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has found.
Continue reading...Joseph Wu tells visiting US health secretary Taiwan lives under constant threat of its freedoms being quashed by Beijing
China is trying to turn Taiwan into another Hong Kong, the island’s foreign minister warned on Tuesday as he met with a senior US official making a historic diplomatic trip.
A crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong has gathered pace since China imposed a sweeping security law on the financial hub in June, with opposition politicians disqualified and activists arrested.
Continue reading...US considers blocking infected citizens returning; Australian outbreak trends down; Singapore economy plunges 43%
Nearly five months to the day since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic, Covid-19 infections have passed 20 million cases. In acknowledging the milestone, the health body’s chief warned against despair, saying if the virus could be suppressed effectively, “we can safely open up societies”.
Global cases reached one million at the start of April. By 22 May, there were 5 million cases. That figure had doubled to 10 million cases by the end of June, and, seven weeks later, it had doubled again to 20 million infections.
Continue reading...Host Henry Deane remembers Belarus’s opposition leader arriving in Roscrea at the age of 12
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the woman who has been catapulted into political stardom in Belarus by her push to dislodge the man often referred to as Europe’s last dictator, may be an accidental challenger, standing in Sunday’s presidential election only because her opposition activist husband Sergei was arrested.
But a hint of the strength and resilience that has made her a courageous if unlikely opponent who has refused to accept Alexander Lukashenko’s claim to victory in a poll marred by vote-rigging may have been present at age of 12, when she arrived to spend a summer in rural Ireland.
Continue reading...Readers queued for hours to get a copy of the pro-democracy tabloid, as US secretary of state says China has ‘eviscerated Hong Kong’s freedoms’
Hong Kong’s Apple Daily tabloid has responded with defiance to the arrest of owner Jimmy Lai under a new national security law imposed by Beijing, promising to “fight on” in a front-page headline above an image of Lai being detained..
Readers queued from the early hours to get a copy of the pro-democracy paper a day after police raided its offices and took Lai into detention, the highest-profile arrest so far under the national security law.
Continue reading...It is a week since the devastating explosion rocked Beirut, killing more than 200 people. As shock turns to anger and the cabinet resigns, Bethan McKernan and Martin Chulov report on what comes next for the Lebanese people
The deadly explosion that ripped through Beirut last week has left more than 200 people dead, thousands injured and hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes. The blast happened in a summer of already simmering tension in Lebanon as an economic crisis has taken a devastating toll on the country.
The Guardian’s Martin Chulov, who is based in Beirut, describes the moment his apartment was rocked by the blast – and what he witnessed that day. He tells Mythili Rao the scenes were apocalyptic, and worsened the closer he walked to the site of the explosion at the city’s docks.
Continue reading...While the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic has so far spared the Pacific, its economies are in free-fall, the region’s chief diplomat warns
Beyond the health and economic crises of Covid-19, the global pandemic has the potential to cause political instability and undermine state security across the Pacific, the region’s chief diplomat has warned.
Dame Meg Taylor, secretary general of the Pacific Islands Forum, said the region’s economies were struggling with the virus-induced shocks, and a prolonged crisis could worsen existing problems of hunger, poor healthcare, and state fragility.
Continue reading...Lebanon's prime minister Hassan Diab has announced the resignation of his government after a powerful Beirut port explosion sparked public uproar against the country's leaders. Diab, in a televised speech, said the detonation of highly explosive material warehoused at the port in the capital for the last seven years was 'the result of endemic corruption'
Continue reading...PM Hassan Diab forced to exit, saying the corruption is ‘bigger than the state’
Lebanon’s besieged government has fallen, one week after a cataclysmic explosion destroyed Beirut port, with the country’s prime minister, Hassan Diab, claiming the disaster was the result of endemic corruption.
Diab announced the resignation of the government after more than a third of ministers quit their posts, forcing Diab himself to resign.
Continue reading...A tanker leaking tonnes of oil off the coast of the Indian Ocean island is breaking up, threatening ecological disaster
Continue reading...WHO says virus has shown no seasonal pattern and tells western Europe to react fast
Face masks have become compulsory in more than 100 Paris streets and tourist areas, Greece is “formally” in a second wave and new outbreaks are causing alarm in Italy and Spain as coronavirus infections continue to pick up again across Europe.
The Stockholm-based European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control called on member states that are seeing an increase in cases to reinstate control measures, warning of a “true resurgence” in several countries and a “risk of further escalation” across the continent.
Continue reading...Research suggests 50% greater risk for children whose mothers report using cannabis
Children born to mothers who report using cannabis during pregnancy have about a 50% greater risk of developing autism, research suggests.
While the team behind the work said more research was needed to unpick whether cannabis itself was behind the link, they said the results were concerning.
Continue reading...Change must come from within Lebanon, but Emmanuel Macron and others can help by ending their patronage of a disastrous regime
In the aftermath of the devastating Beirut port explosion last week, it is not just the role of the Lebanese political class that has come under scrutiny, but that of their international peers too. Sunday’s international donor conference led by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, raised €253m (£228m) in relief funds, but it also signalled an important change in rhetoric. For the first time, donors affirmed that relief funds would directly go to the Lebanese people, and that longer-term economic assistance would be dependent on Lebanon implementing structural reforms.
This affirmation came hot on the heels of growing international attention on rampant corruption among Lebanon’s ruling political class, which is widely blamed for the port explosion. It sends the message to Lebanon’s rulers that, while their country desperately needs foreign assistance to stand on its feet, no one can help Lebanon if it does not also help itself. But the communique issued following the conference glossed over the international community’s own role in sustaining Lebanon’s corrupt political class over a period of decades. At the aid conference, Macron said that Lebanon’s future is at stake. What donors need to recognise is that this future is a shared responsibility for them and Lebanon’s leaders alike.
Continue reading...Pro-democracy activists allege five British officers have taken part in brutal actions against protesters
Pro-democracy activists have launched a private prosecution in London against five British officers working for the Hong Kong police, alleging they have taken part in brutal actions against protesters.
The officers – who have not been named – occupy senior roles inside Hong Kong’s local police force. They are accused of torturing anti-government demonstrators, who have been protesting since June last year over an extradition bill and security law imposed by Beijing.
Continue reading...Experts compare situation with 1989 revolutions that toppled Europe’s communist regimes
For a man who has spent a quarter of a century building a political brand based on stability, there is no doubt that the events unfolding in Minsk will change politics in Belarus and the standing of its veteran leader Alexander Lukashenko forever.
What is not yet clear is whether the new political era that will follow the protests will be one of dynamic change and a new government, or one of a sustained and bloody crackdown.
Continue reading...Stranded oil tanker is breaking up, threatening even greater ecological devastation
People living in Mauritius have described the devastation caused by an oil spill from a stranded tanker and called for urgent international help to stop the ecological and economic damage overwhelming the island nation.
More than 1,000 tonnes of fuel has already seeped from the bulk carrier MV Wakashio into the sea off south-east Mauritius, polluting the coral reefs, white-sand beaches and pristine lagoons that attract tourists from around the world.
Continue reading...At least eight people dead after storm sparks flash floods on island of Evia
The body of a man missing after a storm sparked flash floods on the Greek island of Evia over the weekend has been recovered, Greece’s coastguard has said, bringing the death toll from the storm to eight.
Rescue crews had been searching for the 72-year-old since Sunday when he was reported missing after flooding swept away cars and sent residents of some villages scrambling to their roofs to await rescue.
Continue reading...The actor has said he is celebrating in quarantine and otherwise relatively unaffected, other than being ‘a little bit more tired than usual’
The actor Antonio Banderas has confirmed on Twitter that he is suffering from coronavirus. In a message posted on 10 August, his 60th birthday, the actor said he was forced to celebrate in quarantine but reassured followers that his health was largely unaffected.
Quiero contaros lo siguiente... pic.twitter.com/u579iBVLM0
Continue reading...Gruesome find halts work on restoring newly purchased complex in prestigious area
Work on restoring an abandoned €35m (£27m) mansion in one of the most prestigious areas of Paris has been suspended after the discovery of a corpse that had been decomposing in the basement for 30 years, local media have reported.
Minutes from Les Invalides and the French prime minister’s official residence, and backing onto the former home of Yves Saint Laurent, the vast but crumbling complex at 12 rue Oudinot in the heart of Paris had been empty for more than 30 years.
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