Category Archives: World News

Nova Scotia gunman was paranoid survivalist – but not informer, say police

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Gabriel Wortman frantically stockpiled supplies amid coronavirus fears but had no ‘special relationship’ with RCMP

Police in Canada believe the gunman behind the country’s worst-ever mass shooting was a “paranoid survivalist” who frantically stockpiled supplies as fears grew over the looming coronavirus pandemic.

Gabriel Wortman killed 22 people across the province of Nova Scotia in the 13-hour shooting spree that started on 18 April. Wortman, who was dressed in a police uniform, was eventually shot dead by officers after a standoff outside a gas station.

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François Fillon found guilty of embezzling public funds

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Former French prime minister and wife Penelope given jail sentences over fake jobs scandal

The former French prime minister François Fillon and his Welsh wife, Penelope, were sentenced to jail on Monday for embezzling public funds as part of a “fake jobs” scandal.

A court found the couple guilty of fraud after a trial heard he had paid her and two of the couple’s children about €1m for non-existent jobs as his parliamentary assistants.

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China sterilising ethnic minority women in Xinjiang, report says

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Uighurs are among those facing involuntary contraception or threats over birth quotas

Chinese authorities are carrying out forced sterilisations of women in an apparent campaign to curb the growth of ethnic minority populations in the western Xinjiang region, according to research published on Monday.

The report, based on a combination of official regional data, policy documents and interviews with ethnic minority women, has prompted an international group of lawmakers to call for a United Nations investigation into China’s policies in the region.

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Talks may lead to end of blockade of Libyan oilfields

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Oil money could be split between banks in different regions, opening way for ceasefire

Forces loyal to the Libyan warlord Gen Khalifa Haftar may be willing to end their blockade of the country’s oilfields, opening the way for a ceasefire, as a result of talks between the UN, US, France and Egypt.

Under a deal under discussion for the past two weeks, the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) – one of the few institutions that has avoided a split between the country’s east and west – would restart production and exports, but the oil revenue would not be sent immediately to the Tripoli-based Central Bank of Libya, which Haftar’s eastern faction has accused of failing to hand over its fair share.

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Iran issues arrest warrant for Donald Trump over Qassem Suleimani killing

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The leader of the Quds Force was killed in a drone strike in Iraq on 3 January

Iran has issued an arrest warrant for Donald Trump and 35 others over the killing of top general Qassem Suleimani and has asked Interpol for help, Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr said on Monday.

The US killed Suleimani with a drone strike in Iraq on 3 January, accusing him of masterminding attacks by Iranian-aligned militias on US forces across the middle east. The move caused unease in Europe, but the US claims that Suleimani’s death has weakened Iran’s grip on Iraq.

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Cooking up a solution to Uganda’s deforestation crisis with mud stoves

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Badru Kyewalyanga’s home-produced cooking devices use less wood and mean villagers are breathing cleaner air

People are “constantly cutting down trees”, says Badru Kyewalyanga, as he squelches his bare feet into a thick paste of mud in Mukono, central Uganda. “But they have nowhere else to get firewood. The deforestation rate here is very high.”

With only 10% of Uganda’s rural population connected to the electrical grid, there is little option but to burn wood, leading to one of the worst deforestation rates in the world. Every year, 2.6% of the country’s forests are cut down for fuel, agriculture, and to make way for population growth. If things stay as they are, Uganda will lose all its forest cover in less than 25 years, the country’s National Environment Management Authority says.

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Balcony churches: Kenyans find new ways to worship in lockdown

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With no date set for religious buildings to reopen, an innovative priest brings his own brand of musical service to apartment complexes

The children hang over the balcony railings on Sunday morning, parents clutching on to their coat collars to keep them from tumbling over. In the parking lot below, a four-person band test microphones and practise harmonies.

A moment later, the group break into an upbeat chorus, filling the Mirema apartment complex in Nairobi with music: “I’m happy today, so happy. In Jesus’s name, I’m happy.”

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Coronavirus live news: global deaths pass 500,000 as ‘window closing’ in US on chance to curb Covid-19

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California governor closes bars in several counties; half a million confined in Beijing; cases worldwide top 10m; Follow the latest updates

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce massive spending plans Monday to boost Britain’s coronavirus-hit economy, as pressure grows on the government over its handling of the crisis.

Johnson’s new package of measures is intended to meet the unprecedented challenge the pandemic has posed to the economy, and restore the government’s standing.

Beijing’s city government reported seven new Covid-19 cases for 28 June, down from 14 a day earlier as the Chinese capital seeks to contain an outbreak.

The city also reported one new asymptomatic case, a patient who has the coronavirus but is not exhibiting symptoms, compared with three such cases a day earlier.

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Coronavirus live news: pandemic is ‘not even close to being over’, warns WHO chief

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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says pandemic is ‘speeding up’; India records 19,459 new cases; Iran records highest daily death toll; China’s military approves vaccine for use on its soldiers

Social distancing simply isn’t possible for the 1 million Rohingya refugees who live in Cox’s Bazar refugee camp, in southeastern Bangladesh.

Families live in close quarters inside flimsy bamboo shacks, using communal toilets and water facilities. Sometimes the most basic items, such as soap, are lacking.

Related: Cox's Bazar refugee camps: where social distancing is impossible

The US is to join with other major powers including China, India and the EU in formulating plans for a global green recovery from the coronavirus crisis, in the only major international summit on the climate emergency this year.

The idea of a green recovery to prevent a dangerous rebound in greenhouse gas emissions to above pre-Covid-19 levels has been gathering steam, but few governments have yet committed to plans.

Related: US to join summit on global green recovery from Covid-19 crisis

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Dozens arrested during Hong Kong peaceful protest against national security laws

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Silent protest ends in scuffles with police as Beijing prepares to approve controversial legislation

Hong Kong police have arrested at least 53 people after scuffles erupted during a relatively peaceful protest against planned national security legislation to be implemented by the mainland Chinese government.

Armed riot police were present as a crowd of several hundred moved from Jordan to Mong Kok in the Kowloon district on Sunday, staging what was intended as a “silent protest” against the planned law.

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Poland election: Duda forced to second round, exit poll suggests

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Andrzej Duda, ally of rightwing PiS party, could face liberal Rafał Trzaskowski in presidential runoff

The incumbent Andrzej Duda won the most votes in Sunday’s Polish presidential election, but fell short of the 50% he would need to win without a second round of voting, an exit poll has suggested.

The Ipsos exit poll suggested that Duda, allied with Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, had received 41.8% of the vote, with second place going to the liberal mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, with 30.4%.

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Greens surge in French local elections as Anne Hidalgo holds Paris

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Socialist mayor retains capital, with Macron’s LREM losing out to the ecology party

France was swept by a green wave on Sunday as ecology candidates won a number of major victories in the country’s local elections.

Early results suggested the biggest winners of the delayed vote would be the green party, Europe Ecologie Les Verts (EELV), while the election delivered the predicted blow to Emmanuel Macron’s La République en Marche (LREM) party, which has failed to take root locally since it was founded four years ago.

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Top Brazil newspaper in pro-democracy drive as unease grows about Bolsonaro

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Folha de São Paulo urges people who support campaign to protect country’s political future to wear yellow

One of Brazil’s leading newspapers has launched a major pro-democracy campaign as unease grows about the threat many fear Jair Bolsonaro and his most militant supporters pose to the country’s political future.

Unveiling the initiative on Sunday, the Folha de São Paulo said systematic attacks from pro-Bolsonaro extremists were putting Brazilian democracy through its greatest “stress test” since the return of civilian rule in 1985.

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Hundreds of pride flags fill Spanish town after town hall removed one

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Villanueva de Algaidas reacts after complaints force council to take down its rainbow flag

The 8-metre long rainbow flag flew from the town hall for less than 48 hours. But after a trio of complaints led to its removal, residents in the southern Spanish town of Villanueva de Algaidas responded swiftly, plastering the town’s bars, buildings and balconies with more than 500 rainbow flags of their own.

Officials in the town of about 4,200 people had flown the flag at the town hall to mark pride month since 2018. This year was no exception, despite a recent supreme court ruling barring administrations in Spain from hanging unofficial flags on government buildings.

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French Revolution: remains discovered in walls of Paris monument

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Experts believe up to 500 people guillotined in period may be buried in Chapelle Expiatoire

Experts believe the remains of up to 500 people guillotined during the French Revolution may be buried in the walls of a listed monument in Paris.

The discovery blows apart the accepted historical account, which suggests the bodies of famous guillotinés, including Louis XV’s mistress Madame du Barry, Olympe de Gouges and Maximilien Robespierre, revolutionary architect of the Reign of Terror, were moved to the network of catacombs under the city.

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Joe Biden: Donald Trump presidency has been ‘a gift to Putin’ – video

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The Democrats' presidential nominee criticises Trump after reports the US president failed to act on intelligence briefings that Russia was offering bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing US troops. The story was first reported in the New York Times. 'If the Times report is true ... Donald Trump has continued his embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before Vladimir Putin,' Biden said.

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Coronavirus live news: US cases pass 2.5m as Australia considers new lockdown in Melbourne

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Cases approach 10m; new Covid-19 clusters across world spark fear of second wave; UK NHS will take four years to recover. Follow the latest updates

The UK needs to maintain “constant vigilance” as it eases out of lockdown, a former government chief scientific adviser has warned.

When outbreaks occur they typically occur in clusters and we’re seeing certain work environments, for example, food processing factories, as being fairly common places for those clusters to rise.

The common denominator is really being indoors, being crowded, being there for prolonged periods of time, noisy environments where people are coughing and shouting, and so there’s more droplet transmission.

The total number of people to die from Covid-19 in Russia has increased by 104 to 9,073, according to the country’s coronavirus response centre.

Russia on Sunday also reported 6,791 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 634,437.

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Everyone loses from Netanyahu’s territorial ambitions

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The land grab in the West Bank will damage the region, the international community and Israel itself

It was always about land. Arabs possessed it, Jews claimed it. Both believed they were in the right. Since the 1930s, when the flight from fascism in Europe trebled the Jewish population of Palestine to 33%, this elemental, foundational struggle has intensified inexorably – with Israelis gaining ground time after time. Now Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister and co-leader of a powerful 74% Jewish majority state, wants to finish the job.

Netanyahu’s plan is to annex large parts of the West Bank and the Jordan valley, but his starting date of 1 July may slip amid disagreements with the US and internally over its scope and pace. Last week, Jordan’s King Abdullah described annexation as “unacceptable” and threatened to slash diplomatic ties. Hamas militants in Gaza called the plan a “declaration of war”.

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If Donald Trump’s down, how dirty will he fight to win?

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Protest and pandemic are hurting the US president in the polls. His inability to gauge the national mood could be his undoing

Looked at objectively, it’s an odd choice. On 3 November, the American public, whose median age is around 38 and whose makeup is increasingly ethnically and racially diverse, will be asked to pick one of two elderly white men, each well into his 70s, to run the country for the next four years.

If one of the candidates was much younger – think Bill Clinton versus George HW Bush in 1992 – it might be a big deal. But since both Donald Trump and Joe Biden are relatively old, any negative impact will likely cancel itself out. If Biden wins, he will, at 78, be the oldest president ever to take office, breaking the previous record set by Trump who was a mere 70 in 2017.

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