Government critics abducted, killed or arrested in run-up to vote as global monitor records internet blackout
Violent demonstrations broke out in Tanzania’s largest city, Dar es Salaam, as the country held an election on Wednesday.
Samia Suluhu Hassan, the president, is expected to strengthen her grip on the country against the backdrop of rapidly intensifying repression and the exclusion of opponents from the presidential contest.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Meteorologists have called it ‘a dire situation unfolding in slow motion’ – what will it leave behind?
Good morning. Hurricane Melissa, the strongest storm to hit Jamaica since records began in 1851, made landfall at about midday local time on Tuesday. With winds reaching 185mph and torrential rains, it knocked out power lines, cut off the internet, and demolished buildings; the death toll and extent of the damage are still unknown.
The storm has already hit Haiti and the Dominican Republic; though it was at one stage downgraded to a tropical storm, now it has strengthened again and is expected to arrive imminently in Cuba, where more than 700,000 people have been evacuated. “The reports that are coming in are catastrophic,” Jamaican energy and transport minister Daryl Vaz told Sky News. “Not very much survives a Category 5 hurricane, in terms of infrastructure.”
Economy | Rachel Reeves has said Britain can defy gloomy economic forecasts after the fiscal watchdog infuriated ministers by predicting a productivity downgrade would leave her with a £20bn gap to fill in her forthcoming budget.
Sudan | Ethnically motivated mass killings and other atrocities are being reported from El Fasher after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces took control of the city in Sudan’s western Darfur region over the weekend.
UK news | Downing Street has defended the prospect of paying more to house asylum seekers in disused barracks instead of hotels, arguing that quelling public disquiet was worth the extra cost. No 10 said that “communities don’t want asylum seekers housed in hotels, and neither does the government”.
Middle East | Israeli warplanes struck Gaza on Tuesday night, shortly after Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, ordered the military to carry out “powerful strikes” in Gaza, in the most serious test of the increasingly shaky US-brokered ceasefire.
Television | Prunella Scales, the actor best known for playing Sybil Fawlty in the classic comedy series Fawlty Towers, has died aged 93. Scales, who was married to fellow actor Timothy West, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2013.
Continue reading...High on agenda for the leaders of the US and China will be rare earths and tariffs, with a chance of a relationship reset
Ahead of Thursday’s long-awaited first meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping since the US president’s return to office, officials from both sides have been hammering out the contours of what a trade deal between Washington and Beijing might look like, an agreement that could bring an end to months of global economic chaos caused by the US-China trade war.
The two leaders have not met in person since 2019. Since then, the war in Ukraine and increasing concern in Washington about China’s technological advances, as well as longstanding issues about the imbalanced US-China trade relationship, have strained the bonds between the two superpowers.
Continue reading...Soyinka, 91, who recently compared US president to Idi Amin, says ‘I have no visa – I am banned’
The Trump administration has revoked the visa for Wole Soyinka, the acclaimed Nigerian Nobel prize-winning writer who has been critical of Trump since his first presidency, Soyinka revealed on Tuesday.
“I want to assure the consulate … that I’m very content with the revocation of my visa,” Soyinka, who won the 1986 Nobel prize for literature, told a news conference.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Data shows wealthiest 0.1% of the US burn carbon at 4,000 times the rate of the world’s poorest 10%
The US’s super-rich are burning through carbon emissions at 4,000 times the speed of the world’s poorest 10%, according to an analysis provided to the Guardian.
These billionaires and multimillionaires, who comprise the wealthiest 0.1% of the US population, are also running down our planet’s safe climate space at 183 times the rate of the global average.
Continue reading...BBC ‘deeply concerned’ for journalist’s wellbeing after Vietnamese police withhold their ID card and passport
Vietnamese authorities have barred a BBC journalist from leaving the country and subjected them to days of interrogation, in a press freedom case that comes to light during a high-profile visit by Vietnam’s leader to the UK.
The journalist, a Vietnamese citizen who lives and works in Thailand, had returned to their home country in August to renew their passport, according a source with knowledge of the situation.
Continue reading...Governor says city ‘at war’ after gunfights between troops and Red Command drug traffickers who reportedly used weaponised drones
At least 64 people have reportedly been killed in Rio’s worst-ever day of violence as more than 2,500 officers and special forces stormed an area of favelas near Rio’s international airport that is considered the headquarters of one of Brazil’s most powerful organised crime groups.
The predawn police raid – the deadliest in Rio’s history – sparked intense gunfights in and around Alemão and Penha favelas, which are home to an estimated 300,000 people.
Continue reading...Dania Alafranji, 16, still waiting on visa from Home Office despite being offered school place in Berkshire 18 months ago
A teenager from Gaza who has been denied an opportunity to attend school in Britain and be reunited with her mother has said she is “stuck in hell”, despite other European countries making exceptions for students from the region.
Dania Alafranji, 16, was accepted on to the Nsouli Scholars Programme to attend Reddam House school in Berkshire more than 18 months ago, but has yet to receive a visa that would allow her to escape the war in Gaza, with her family saying that they feel helpless and have been “going in circles” trying to get her to Britain.
Continue reading...Netanyahu accuses Hamas of ‘clear violation’ of ceasefire as far-right ministers call for resumption of war
Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Hamas of a “clear violation” of the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire, saying the militant group had returned body parts of a hostage whose remains Israeli troops had recovered two years before.
Under the terms of the ceasefire, which took effect on 10 October, Hamas is required to return the remains of all Israeli hostages as soon as possible. In exchange, Israel has agreed to hand over 15 Palestinian bodies for each Israeli. Hamas has yet to return 13 bodies.
Continue reading...Claimants seek compensation from RWE and Heidelberg Materials after extreme flooding destroyed harvests
A group of Pakistani farmers whose livelihoods were devastated by floods three years ago has fired the starting shot in legal action against two of Germany’s most polluting companies.
Lawyers acting for 43 men and women from the Sindh region sent the energy firm RWE and the cement producer Heidelberg formal letters before action on Tuesday warning of their intention to sue later this year.
Continue reading...Rights commission inquiry focused on south-east of country found drones targeted gathering points and critical infrastructure
A UN rights commission has concluded that Russia’s drone attacks on civilians in south-eastern Ukraine constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes.
In a report published this week, the commission said Russian forces, operating under a centralised command, had systematically used drones to “intentionally target civilians and civilian objects and cause harm and destruction”.
Continue reading...Noah Oppenheim responded to complaints from the Pentagon over the accuracy of the film’s depiction of the US’s defence systems
Warning: contains a spoiler for the plot of House of Dynamite
Noah Oppenheim, the writer of Kathryn Bigelow’s nuclear-missile thriller House of Dynamite has responded to complaints from the Pentagon over the accuracy of its depiction of the US’s defence systems, saying he “respectfully disagree[s]”.
In an internal memo dated 16 October obtained by Bloomberg, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) said: “The fictional interceptors in the movie miss their target and we understand this is intended to be a compelling part of the drama intended for the entertainment of the audience,” but results from real-world testing “tell a vastly different story.”
Continue reading...Sanae Takaichi says she will nominate Trump for peace prize as two leaders sign agreement on rare earths
Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has pledged to realise a “golden age” in relations with the US and to “fundamentally reinforce” her country’s defence posture at the start of a visit by Donald Trump.
The US president, who is in Japan on the second leg of a week-long tour of Asia, and Takaichi quickly signed an agreement laying out a framework to secure the mining and processing of rare earths and other minerals.
Continue reading...Recent plans submitted to UN by more than 60 countries would cut carbon by only 10%, a sixth of what is needed
Recently drafted climate plans from scores of countries fall drastically short of what is needed to stave off the worst effects of climate breakdown, analysis has shown.
More than 60 countries have so far submitted national plans on greenhouse gas emissions to the UN, setting out how they will curb carbon for the next decade.
Continue reading...Exclusive: two dossiers of material seen by the security council raise questions over export of British arms to the UAE, which has been accused of supplying weapons to paramilitary RSF group
British military equipment has been found on battlefields in Sudan, used by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group accused of genocide, according to documents seen by the UN security council.
UK-manufactured small-arms target systems and British-made engines for armoured personnel carriers have been recovered from combat sites in a conflict that has now caused the world’s biggest humanitarian catastrophe.
Continue reading...Lawsuit alleges congressional map illegally dilutes voting power of Black and Latino residents of Staten Island
A group of New Yorkers has filed a lawsuit against the state’s board of elections alleging that its congressional map unconstitutionally dilutes the voting power of Black and Latino residents of Staten Island.
The complaint, filed Monday, is another volley in the battle between Democrats and Republicans to redraw congressional districts in a way that favors their party in advance of the midterm elections.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Red Cross acts as ‘neutral intermediary’ to recover hostages’ remains in areas under Israeli control
The International Committee of the Red Cross has accompanied members of Hamas inside areas of Gaza still under the control of the Israeli military to facilitate the search for the bodies of Israeli hostages, as the Palestinian militant group delivered the remains of another captive.
Under the US-brokered ceasefire, which took effect on 10 October, Hamas is required to return the remains of all Israeli hostages as soon as possible. In exchange, Israel has agreed to hand over 15 Palestinian bodies for each Israeli.
Continue reading...Low turnout said to have made for most peaceful election in years, as 83-year-old accused of clampdown on dissent wins 89.77% of vote
Alassane Ouattara has been declared the winner of the presidential election in Ivory Coast by a landslide.
According to provisional results announced by the Independent Electoral Commission (CIE) on Monday evening, the 83-year-old won a fourth term as head of the west African country with 89.77% or 3.75m votes.
Continue reading...Trial is latest phase in legal battle against false claim that French first lady is a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux
Ten people have gone on trial in Paris charged with online harassment of Brigitte Macron – the latest phase of a legal battle on both sides of the Atlantic against the false claim that the French first lady is a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux.
The president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife filed a defamation lawsuit in the US at the end of July, in connection with a rumour amplified and repeated online that Brigitte Macron was born a man.
Continue reading...Climate scientists have long warned that warming oceans are making explosive storm development more common
The extraordinary intensification of Hurricane Melissa, set to be one of the strongest storms to ever hit Jamaica, is probably a symptom of the rapid heating of the world’s oceans, scientists have said.
Melissa was a tropical storm on Saturday, before exploding in strength to a category 4 hurricane early on Sunday. The storm’s winds escalated from 70mph to 140mph in just a day, one of the fastest intensifications on record in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Associated Press contributed reporting
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