The Chilean film-maker, whose films starred Florence Pugh, Julianne Moore and Rachel Weisz, died at his home in Santiago
Chilean film-maker Sebastián Lelio has died at the age of 52.
He was best known for the Oscar-winning trans drama A Fantastic Woman and his English-language films included Gloria Bell and The Wonder.
Continue reading...Separate actions also take place outside fence and across Europe in backlash against impact of AI boom
Activists have stormed the site of a Microsoft datacentre being built in Amsterdam, as the backlash to the social and environmental harms of the AI boom spreads across Europe.
Protesters from Geef Tegengas, a Dutch direct action group, clashed with police while breaking into a construction site at Westpoort, Amsterdam, where some members climbed a crane, lit flares and tied helium balloons to equipment.
Continue reading...Regulator’s initial ruling says algorithm ‘can be harmful’ and led young and vulnerable viewers ‘down rabbit holes they can’t easily escape’
TikTok has been charged by the European Commission with failing to protect users’ mental health by exposing them to a relentless stream of content that risks worsening eating disorders and anxiety in a case that strikes at its business model.
Issuing a preliminary ruling on Friday, the EU regulator said TikTok’s algorithm “can be harmful” and was leading young and vulnerable users “down rabbit holes they cannot easily escape from”.
Continue reading...Far-right politician addresses Conservative Political Action Conference and makes unsubstantiated claims about election fraud
Flávio Bolsonaro, the far-right politician who lost Brazil’s presidential election last month, has insisted his defeat is not “the end for Brazil” as he battles to maintain political relevance after fleeing to the US.
Bolsonaro absconded early last week shortly after losing the 25 October election to the leftwing incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by more than 4m votes.
Continue reading...Former liberation movement’s share of national vote almost 14 percentage points below 2021 result
The African National Congress is on course to suffer a bruising defeat in South Africa’s local elections, with the once dominant party of Nelson Mandela falling to under a third of the vote nationally with more than 80% of ballots counted.
Wednesday’s fragmented vote marks another stage in the decline of the ANC, which has led national governments since the end of white minority apartheid rule in 1994. High unemployment, crime, corruption and poor local service delivery have all contributed to voters turning away from the party.
Continue reading...YouGov survey finds support for tree planting and emissions taxes but opposition to air travel and fuel levies
Europeans believe human-made climate change is real, a survey has shown, with most feeling action must be taken soon – as long as they do not have to sacrifice too much to achieve it.
The YouGov poll of six European countries showed between 69% (Germany) and 80% (France) of respondents believed the climate was changing, with few (1%-4%) denying it and 14-20% believing it was changing, but not as a result of human activity.
Continue reading...Asian and European markets follow US tech rout with many analysts predicting more waves of selling to come
European and Asian stock markets fell sharply on Friday after the Democrats’ decisive victory in the midterms triggered a rout in US tech stocks a day earlier.
A sell-off on Wall Street on Thursday was followed by sharp falls in Asian stock markets on Friday. The investor sentiment then reached London, where the market was, at one stage, poised for its worst day since March.
Continue reading...President seeks to make Oval Office a national monument to ensure designs are not ‘ripped down by stupid people’
Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Thursday that he says will prevent future administrations from changing his design of the Oval Office and Cabinet Room, spaces which he declared as national monuments that should be preserved.
In the days since his party suffered historic defeats in the midterm elections, the president has seemingly turned his attention to the many renovation projects he has begun across the nation’s capital. Sitting behind the Resolute Desk on Thursday, Trump declared the Oval Office a “national monument”.
Continue reading...Unusual instance of three states administering the death penalty on the same day previously happened in 2010
Alabama, Florida and Indiana all carried out executions on Thursday in an unusual instance of three states administering the death penalty on the same day.
In a record-tying 19th execution of the year, Florida executed Jesse Guardado via a three-drug lethal injection. Guardado had pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing a 75-year-old woman inside her Walton county home in 2004 before stealing her jewelry box, $80 and other valuables to buy drugs. The woman had helped him get a job and housing.
Continue reading...Doctor who was helping response to outbreak in Africa taken to specialist isolation unit at Royal Free hospital
A British doctor who tested positive for Ebola while working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has returned to the UK for specialist treatment.
The patient, whose identity is unknown, was transported home on a medical evacuation flight, the Department of Health and Social Care said on Thursday. They are now being cared for in a specialised high-level isolation unit at the Royal Free hospital in Hampstead, north London.
Democrat’s move prevents these people from executions under future governors, after Christa Pike’s failed execution
Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, has commuted the death sentences of more than 500 people on the state’s death row on Thursday, a move that ensures they can never be executed under future administrations.
The Democrat’s mass commutation at the end of his term has converted all of the state’s death sentences to life without the possibility of parole, the largest clearing of any US death row in modern history.
Continue reading...Santiago Peña’s rightwing administration had authorised Ueno Bank to drastically expand operations before collapse
Paraguay’s rightwing president, Santiago Peña, resigned on Thursday after a political and financial crisis collapsed the South American country’s banking system in recent days.
At the centre of the crisis is Ueno Bank, which in just a few years under Peña went from an obscure digital bank to one of the country’s largest lenders, claiming to have about 60% of Paraguay’s adult population as customers.
Continue reading...President calls on all parties to help avoid new election after Netanyahu and Eisenkot blocs fell short of majority
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, was due to meet Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief political rival, Gadi Eisenkot, on Thursday with less than a week left before he decides which of the two men should first try to form a government.
A bitterly contested election last month, seen by many observers as one of the most consequential for Israel in many decades, ended with neither Netanyahu nor Eisenkot, a former military general and chief of staff, securing a clear pathway to power.
Continue reading...Philippine official says there are ‘signs that point to Thomas Markle Jr’s involvement in crime’, but he’s not yet being treated as a suspect
The Duchess of Sussex’s estranged half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, has been named as a “person of interest” in the Philippine authorities’ inquiry into child sexual abuse image allegations made against her father, Thomas Markle Sr.
The country’s interior and local government secretary, Jonvic Remulla, told a press conference in Manila there were “signs that point that the son is involved in the crime as well”.
Continue reading...Hundreds of thousands demonstrate over cost of living and cuts to public services as 70,000 police officers deployed
Hundreds of thousands of people have marched in cities across France in the latest round of street demonstrations, as trade unions put pressure on the government with a general strike over the cost of living and cuts to public services.
Striking teachers, hospital staff and rail workers joined high school and university students in largely peaceful demonstrations in Paris and other cities on Thursday amid a high police presence of 70,000 officers.
Continue reading...British College of Aesthetic Medicine launches checklist as part of ‘vet it before you get it’ campaign
Cosmetic tourism is often sold as a package of sun, sea and surgery, but experts have said travelling overseas for procedures can end in infections, disfigurement and death.
Nora Nugent, a consultant plastic surgeon and former president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said travelling to countries such as Turkey for surgery came with myriad risks – and not just on the operating table.
Continue reading...Dismissals follow Houthi victories and pressure from southern Yemenis for more power
The UN-recognised government of Yemen has shaken up its political and military leadership in an attempt to regain territory lost to the Houthis in September and lift the four-week siege of Taiz, the country’s third largest city.
A counteroffensive launched on 5 October and aimed at liberating the entire country from Houthi control has failed amid fighting that has left thousands dead on both sides. The air superiority of the government’s ally Saudi Arabia – which has had to fend off near-daily Houthi attacks on its airports and military bases – has not translated into progress on the ground.
Continue reading...Older voters praised for helping tip balance in leftwing president’s favour against far-right Flávio Bolsonaro in runoff
It had been nearly a decade since Celia de Oliveira Soares last voted, and months since the 101-year-old great-grandmother last left her home.
But on 25 October, when Brazil held what many considered its most important presidential election in decades, relatives helped Soares into a wheelchair and drove her to a nearby school to make sure the far-right candidate, Flávio Bolsonaro, did not prevail.
Continue reading...The tech billionaire set spending record as he poured $446m into campaigns for failed Republican candidates
Elon Musk set a record for election spending this year after pouring nearly half a billion dollars into backing Republicans in the US midterm elections. It turned out to be a poor investment.
The SpaceX and Tesla CEO contributed at least $446m to Republican-aligned Super Pacs and groups over the course of the elections, specifically targeting several key Senate races in an effort to help the Trump administration retain Republican control of Congress. He outdid his own 2024 spending of nearly $290m. Yet as Democrats swept to power across the country on Tuesday night, it became clear that Musk would get nearly nothing in return for his hundreds of millions in spending.
Continue reading...Government bond yields fall while initial fears ease over impact of election results on world’s biggest economy
US stocks have surged as investors digest the Democrats’ victories in the midterm elections, lifted by hopes that Donald Trump’s turbulent policymaking would be restrained and shaking off initial fears about the impact on growth in the world’s largest economy.
The Dow Jones rose 2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the benchmark S&P 500 gained more than 1% each, turning around overnight falls in US stock futures after the news that the Democratic party won control of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
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