Country’s new president to set out public security plans after murder of Alejandro Arcos Catalán in Chilpancingo
Mexico’s new government has been shaken by the murder of a city mayor who was attacked and beheaded days after taking office.
Alejandro Arcos Catalán was sworn in as the mayor of Chilpancingo, the capital of the southern state of Guerrero, on 30 September, a day before Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, took power herself.
Continue reading...Apollo Quiboloy is also wanted in US on charges of sex trafficking, including of children, and bulk cash smuggling
An influential Philippine pastor who is wanted by the FBI for sex trafficking children has registered to run in the senate election despite being in prison.
Apollo Quiboloy, who claims to be the “appointed son of God” and is an ally of the former president Rodrigo Duterte, was until recently one of the country’s most high-profile fugitives.
Continue reading...Christian Brückner found not guilty in Germany of three charges of aggravated rape and two of sexual abuse
The main suspect in the disappearance of the British toddler Madeleine McCann is likely to be released from prison next year after he was found not guilty of all charges in a separate rape and sexual abuse trial.
Christian Brückner, who is serving a seven-year sentence for rape, was acquitted by the district court in Braunschweig, northern Germany, of three separate charges of aggravated rape and two of sexual abuse of children in Portugal between 2000 and 2017.
Continue reading...Thousands of evacuees clog highways as storm projected to hit Tampa Bay on Wednesday restrengthens to category 5
Florida’s western coast was making emergency preparations on Tuesday for the impact of Hurricane Milton, with thousands of evacuees clogging highways, contending with fuel shortages, and the mayor of Tampa warning residents bluntly “you are going to die” if they stayed behind.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Milton would retain major hurricane status and “expand in size” as it approached Florida after passing the Mexican city of Mérida before swerving north towards the US.
Continue reading...Police forces in France, Italy and Spain join cold-case initiative after launch last year of Operation Identify Me
Police have expanded a cold-case campaign aimed at identifying dozens of women who were murdered or who died in suspicious circumstances across Europe, taking in three new countries and more than doubling the number of cases.
The international policing organisation Interpol said on Tuesday that forces from France, Italy and Spain had joined those in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, which last year launched Operation Identify Me to help name 22 female victims.
Continue reading...Thai conglomerate Central Group to co-own high-profile retailer with Saudi Public Investment Fund
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has bought a stake in the upmarket department store Selfridges in its latest move on a high-profile British asset.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) said it had signed a deal to buy a 40% stake in the loss-making retailer for an undisclosed sum.
Continue reading...Sanjay Roy charged with crime that prompted nationwide anger and protests over violence against women
A man has been charged in the high-profile case of a doctor’s rape and murder in a Kolkata hospital, a crime that prompted widespread anger and protests over the threat of sexual violence faced by women in India.
The suspect, Sanjay Roy, was arrested the day after the young doctor’s bloodied body was discovered on 9 August in a room at RG Kar hospital, where she had gone to rest after a 36-hour shift.
Continue reading...Questions raised about registration in Czech Republic of one of first models to reach continent
Tesla’s Cybertruck is too big and sharp for European roads, transport campaigners have warned, as questions are raised about the registration of one of the first of the electric pickup trucks to hit the continent.
There had been confusion about whether the Cybertruck could be driven in Europe, owing to strict road safety rules that ban sharp edges and require speed limiters on vehicles that weigh more than 3.5 tonnes when full. Tesla’s manual lists the angular steel vehicle as having a gross vehicle weight of 4 tonnes. (The equivalent of a standard family car, such as a Ford Focus, is 1.9 tonnes.)
Continue reading...Ten children reportedly among those killed during intense aerial campaigns last month
Myanmar’s military has launched some of its heaviest aerial campaigns since the 2021 coup in recent months, killing at least 26 people in a series of attacks in early September.
The military, which has repeatedly been accused of indiscriminate aerial bombardments, launched at least seven airstrikes in four days between 3 and 6 September. According to Unicef, 10 children were among those killed. A pregnant woman also lost her unborn child.
A camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in Pekhon township, southern Shan state, was one of the seven locations targeted. Daw Ohn Mar Khaing, a volunteer teacher at the camp, known as “Bangkok”, told the Guardian it was struck despite there being no fighting in the township, or opposition fighters nearby.
“We only have helpless women and children, who were displaced from the war in their villages,” she said.
Riyadh accused of killing hundreds of Ethiopian migrants, jailing women’s rights advocates and murdering critics
Saudi Arabia is on the brink of being elected on to the United Nation’s Human Rights Council, warn campaigners, in a move they say would undermine its ability to demand justice for rights violations and would feel like a “slap in the face” to the many victims of the Saudi regime.
While the Saudi Arabian government has attempted to present itself as a reformed country that has made progress on gender equality and human rights, its record on both has been fiercely criticised by activists.
Continue reading...British climber Fay Manners, who was stuck for three days, says: ‘There was a big, big, long sense of silence between us’
A British mountaineer and her American companion who were stranded in the Himalayas for three days without food have described the long silence between them after the bulk of their equipment plunged into a ravine.
Fay Manners, 37, and Michelle Dvorak, 31, had been climbing the Chaukhamba mountain in northern India, when they issued an SOS message on Thursday, with nothing further being heard from them.
Continue reading...A wave of abusive consumers has prompted authorities to introduce the country’s first ordinance to protect service industry employees
Japan is celebrated for its exceptional levels of customer service. But the behaviour of a growing number of customers and clients leaves a lot to be desired.
The rise of the abusive consumer has prompted authorities in Tokyo to introduce the country’s first ordinance – a locally approved regulation – to protect service industry staff from kasuhara – the Japanese abbreviated form of “customer harassment”.
Continue reading...Republican nominee says attack – ‘one of the darkest days in all history’ – would not have happened if he were president
Donald Trump marked the first anniversary of the 7 October Hamas terrorist attacks, which he called “one of the darkest days in all of history”, with a commemoration for victims and hostages at his golf resort in Miami on Monday night, but swiftly turned the event into an attack on Kamala Harris.
He also repeated a previous claim that the attack on Israel would never have happened if he was still in the White House.
Continue reading...A mechanic working at the LAM museum in Lisse assumed the artwork, entitled All The Good Times We Spent Together, was rubbish
A Dutch museum has recovered an artwork that looks like two empty beer cans after a staff member accidentally threw it in the rubbish bin thinking it was trash.
The work, entitled All The Good Times We Spent Together by French artist Alexandre Lavet, appears on first glance to be two discarded and dented beer tins.
Continue reading...News comes after Iron Gate dam was removed to let river near California-Oregon border return to natural flow
For the first time in more than a century, salmon are swimming freely along the Klamath River and its tributaries, just days after the largest dam removal project in US history was completed.
Researchers determined that Chinook salmon began migrating on 3 October into previously inaccessible habitat above the site of the former Iron Gate dam, one of four towering dams near the California-Oregon border that were demolished as part of a national movement to let rivers return to their natural flow and to restore ecosystems for fish and other wildlife.
Continue reading...Vice-president commits to ‘always’ support Israel’s defense as Biden condemns ‘vicious surge in antisemitism’ in US
US politicians on both sides of the aisle issued statements marking the anniversary of the 7 October attacks, with Kamala Harris paying tribute to the victims and calling, in their honor, to “never lose sight of the dream of peace, dignity, and security for all”.
Outside the vice-presidential residence, Harris, accompanied by her husband, spoke of the nearly 1,200 people, including 46 Americans, killed in Israel one year ago.
Continue reading...Kais Saied secured 90.7% of the vote in election on a turnout of just 27.7%, after detaining rival Ayachi Zammel
Tunisia’s president, Kais Saied, has secured a second five-year term with a landslide victory, although the election had one of the lowest turnouts in the north African country’s history.
The Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) declared on Monday evening that Saied had won 90.7% of the vote in Sunday’s election, on a turnout of 27.7%.
Continue reading...Linguistic body has relaxed rules on use of apostrophe to show possession, not traditionally correct in German
A relaxation of official rules around the correct use of apostrophes in German has not only irritated grammar sticklers but triggered existential fears around the pervasive influence of English.
Establishments that feature their owners’ names, with signs like “Rosi’s Bar” or “Kati’s Kiosk” are a common sight around German towns and cities, but strictly speaking they are wrong: unlike English, German does not traditionally use apostrophes to indicate the genitive case or possession. The correct spelling, therefore, would be “Rosis Bar”, “Katis Kiosk”, or, as in the title of a recent viral hit, Barbaras Rhabarberbar.
Continue reading...Many who last week couldn’t have got within 500 miles of Mauritius on a map now can’t bear it taking the archipelago
What a difference a week makes. Just last Wednesday, you could have put money on most MPs being totally clueless about the exact location of the Chagos Islands. Give them a map and many would have better luck being blindfolded.
Even a hint wouldn’t have made much difference. Are they east, west, south or north of Mauritius? To be in with a shout, you have to know where Mauritius is. And most MPs wouldn’t get within 500 miles. The Indian Ocean is bigger than you think. And don’t get them started on Diego Garcia. Surely he’s the younger brother of the titular character in the 1974 Sam Peckinpah film Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary says status quo not sustainable as Tory MPs accuse Labour of giving away key asset
David Lammy has hailed the decision to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius as a deal to save a strategically important UK-US military base, after accusations from opposition MPs that a key asset was being given away.
The government announced last week that it was going to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, ending years of bitter dispute over Britain’s last African colony, but the military base on Diego Garcia will remain under UK control.
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