Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, Maria Kolesnikova and Veronika Tsepkalo challenge president’s 25-year rule
Three women are spearheading a maverick opposition campaign for next month’s presidential election in Belarus, transforming the country’s politics as they attempt to unseat Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled for 25 years.
At their head is Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a reluctant candidate who has grown increasingly confident in her challenge to Lukashenko.
Continue reading...A car drove through a crowd and a person was shot in the Denver suburb of Aurora on Saturday during demonstrations against racial injustice.
The Aurora police department said on Twitter that protesters were walking on Interstate 225 when a vehicle drove through them, and a protester fired a weapon, wounding at least one person who was taken to a hospital in stable condition
Continue reading...More than 160,000 people have died but from Mexico to Brazil, social networks are awash with quack cures and conspiracies
For months Gustavo Andrade has been battling to convince his parishioners to take Covid-19 seriously.
Related: Desperate Bolivians seek out toxic bleach falsely touted as Covid-19 cure
Continue reading...Debate on long-awaited bill that would punish discrimination and hate crimes towards LGBT people opens on Monday
For 15 years, Marco and his boyfriend had lived together fairly peacefully in a town outside Rome. Then, in early June, a neighbour started harassing them.
“It began quite lightly, with him being provocative whenever we met in the street,” the 38-year-old said. “Then he came to our home and forced his way in, calling us ‘dirty faggots’. My boyfriend managed to get rid of him but he returned with a baton and threw himself against the door, repeating the same insults and threatening to set us alight when we were asleep.”
Continue reading...WHO says 1m cases reported per week for last five weeks; Florida’s infections overtake New York’s; North Korea holds emergency meeting after suspected Covid-19 case reported
Twenty-one new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed at a caravan park in England.
The local county council fears the number of cases at the site in Shropshire , which is in the town of Craven Arms, will continue to rise before infection control measures start to take effect.
President Donald Trump has announced his itinerary for next month amid the pandemic.
Because of my strong focus on the China Virus, including scheduled meetings on Vaccines, our economy and much else, I won’t be able to be in New York to throw out the opening pitch for the @Yankees on August 15th. We will make it later in the season!
Continue reading...Opinium poll for the Observer also reveals 47% of public think Putin’s government affected UK’s 2019 general election
Almost half the British public believes the Russian government interfered in the EU referendum and last year’s general election, according to a poll. The latest Opinium poll for the Observer found that 49% of voters think there was Russian interference in the Brexit referendum, with 23% disagreeing. Some 47% believed Russia interfered in the December general election.
The poll findings come after the long-awaited publication of the report into Russian interference by parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee last week. It found that the government had not attempted to investigate potential Russian interference in the referendum. It said the UK had “badly underestimated” the Russian threat.
Continue reading...On another night of confrontation with federal agents, activists said their message was in danger of being forgotten
Teal Lindseth surveyed the sea of mothers she was about to lead into the firing line.
“I look at this crowd and I don’t see many black people,” lamented the 21-year-old African American activist. “Oregon is white as hell. Whitewashed.”
Continue reading...UK’s high infection rate and centralised NHS have enabled Recovery team to help victims across the world
It has been a startling week for those following Britain’s response to the pandemic. Roundly derided for the lateness of its lockdown and its bungled testing programmes, the UK was the unexpected recipient of a sudden bout of lavish praise for its scientists’ efforts to combat the d isease.
“The Brits are on course to save the world,” wrote leading US economist Tyler Cowen in Bloomberg Opinion, while the journal Science quoted leading international scientists who have heaped praise on British researchers’ anti-Covid work.
Continue reading...New violence between Armenia and Azerbaijan has provoked anger and boycotts throughout the two countries’ diasporas
When Saribek Gevorkyan heard reports that Food City, a vast food distribution centre owned by entrepreneurs from Azerbaijan, had suddenly blocked Armenian farmers and turned away 50 truckloads of fresh apricots, he took action. He offered space for free in his own shopping centre to the farmers, helping to host a fruit rescue mission that its organisers have dubbed “Operation Apricot”.
“We told our friends that in the Russian Federation nobody can close their doors to us Armenians,” boomed Gevorkyan, the owner of the Shelkovy Put (“Silk Way”) shopping centre. “The Russian Federation is open for everyone to come here, make money, and sell goods.”
Continue reading...‘Provocative test of a weapon-like projectile’ from Russian satellite shows peaceful use of space is under threat, says defence secretary
Britain will boost its ability to handle threats posed by Russia and China in space as part of a foreign, security and defence policy review, the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said.
“This week we have been reminded of the threat Russia poses to our national security with the provocative test of a weapon-like projectile from a satellite threatening the peaceful use of space,” Wallace wrote in the Sunday Telegraph, adding that China also posed a threat.
Continue reading...Move causes consternation in country that went into one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns before the UK
The British government’s decision to pull Spain from the list of safe countries and require returning holidaymakers to self-isolate for a fortnight will come as a heavy blow to Spain’s lucrative and vital tourist sector.
The country, which relies on tourism for 12% of its GDP, was already expecting a bleak post-Covid summer.
Continue reading...Johnny Depp’s in-person court case ‘galling’; Germany may introduce compulsory testing; funeral fees rise in Great Britain
This from my colleague Sam Jones in Madrid:
A spokeswoman for the Spanish government declined to comment on the reported quarantine measures, instead referring the Guardian to comments made on Friday by the foreign minister, Arancha González Laya.
Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has said that people returning to any part of the UK from Spain will have to quarantine from midnight.
“Spain will be removed from the list of countries exempt from quarantine requirements due to an increased number of cases of coronavirus (Covid-19) in the last few days,” Scotland’s government said in a statement.
Having reviewed the latest data earlier today, @scotgov is also reimposing 14 day quarantine for travellers returning from Spain. This reinforces the point that these matters are subject to change at short notice & so my advice is to be cautious about non essential foreign travel https://t.co/9xSnyFCv77
Continue reading...
Among real storms blowing around the US today, hurricanes are approaching Texas and Hawaii while a tropical storm heads for the Caribbean. The Associated Press is keeping watch here.
Among other kinds of storm, the kinds that blow themselves out on Twitter, the billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and his partner, the musician Grimes, appear to have had a public argument about pronouns.
Related: Explain it to me quickly: did Elon Musk and Grimes really name their baby X Æ A-12?
Miami Dade county has now recorded more than 100,000 cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. According to the Miami Herald, there were 3,424 new cases reported on Saturday. The county’s population is around 2.7 million.
Continue reading...Despite a prompt lockdown, the veteran leader is seen to have lost control of the crisis
For Benjamin Netanyahu it wasn’t a bad spring this year, considering the previous 12 months.
The prime minister managed, somehow, to continue his treasured run as Israel’s longest-serving leader, despite a scandalous corruption indictment, three national elections that almost ousted him, and a menacing party primary. Having been sworn back into power – his fifth term – in May, the 70-year-old politician won global praise for a swift lockdown, with Israel cited as a textbook example of how to handle a pandemic.
Continue reading...170 of 178 MPs back motion against Hassan Ali Khaire for failing to move towards democratic elections
Somalia’s parliament removed the prime minister, Hassan Ali Khaire, from his post in a vote of no confidence on Saturday for failing to pave the way towards fully democratic elections, the speaker said.
A whopping 170 of parliament’s 178 MPs backed the no-confidence motion, and Khaire’s ouster was immediately endorsed by the president, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, who had appointed him as prime minister in February 2017.
Continue reading...Hotels and restaurants are turning away US guests, citing high Covid-19 rates and lax quarantine. Some fear this will backfire
Ireland has long greeted American tourists with open arms and the Irish salutation céad míle fáilte, literally, “a hundred thousand welcomes”.
An especially warm welcome awaits visitors who are big spenders and descendants of the diaspora.
Continue reading...On 1 March, photographer Jon Tonks left New Zealand on a Pacific cruise. Twenty eight days later, the boat docked in San Diego, amid a pandemic. What happened in between?
The cruise ship MS Maasdam left New Zealand on the evening of 1 March, steaming out of Auckland’s Waitemata harbour into the Hauraki Gulf, where it headed north. The route was to San Diego via Fiji, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Hawaii. On board the Holland America Line ship were around 1,200 passengers, including Americans, Britons, Canadians, Australians and French holidaymakers. The 542 crew included Dutch, Americans, Germans, Venezuelans and Filipinos. There were also a handful of entertainers and guest lecturers along for the ride, including Jon Tonks, a portrait photographer from Bath, who ended up with a portrait of a cruise that didn’t go to plan.
Covid-19 was certainly a thing at the beginning of March, but it was still considered mainly a China thing. The Maasdam wouldn’t be going anywhere near China. Questionnaires were handed to passengers, about symptoms and where they’d been before, but then they were good to go. Still, Tonks says that friends had joked before he left: “Good luck on your corona cruise.”
Continue reading...Door forced open after consular staff move out to heckling by anti-communist protesters
A group of men who appeared to be American officials were seen forcing open a back door of the Chinese consulate in Houston as a US closure order took effect at 4pm on Friday.
Related: US-China tensions escalate after closure of Houston consulate
Continue reading...Australia says China’s claims to disputed islands are ‘invalid’ and are not consistent with UN convention on law of the sea
Australia has declared “there is no legal basis” to China’s territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea, marking an escalation of recent tensions with Beijing and bringing Canberra further in line with Washington.
The declaration, made in a submission to the United Nations on Thursday, comes after the United States hardened its position earlier this month, accusing Beijing of a “completely unlawful … campaign of bullying” to control the sea.
Continue reading...Footage of Niagara Falls tour boats highlights the stark differences in physical distancing between Canadian and US-managed companies.
Canadian tour company Hornblower Niagara Cruises's ships can carry up to 700 people but Ontario’s strict rules to prevent the spread of coronavirus have permitted them to carry only six passengers at a time.
In contrast, the US-owned Maid of the Mist boats, which usually carry around 500 people, are operating at 50% capacity