Democratic Republic of the Congo hard-hit by virus, with death toll on continent above 1,450 since 2022
The African Union’s health watchdog has declared a public health emergency over the growing mpox outbreak on the continent, saying the move is a “clarion call for action”.
The outbreak has swept through several African countries, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the virus formerly called monkeypox was first discovered in humans in 1970.
Continue reading...William Suff, convicted of 12 murders in 1995, admits killing Cathy Small, then aged 19, after police find genetic link
The long-unsolved 1986 killing of a young southern California woman has been linked to a convicted serial killer who admitted the crime, authorities said on Tuesday.
DNA from the killing of Cathy Small, 19, matched William Suff, who was sentenced to death after being convicted in 1995 of 12 murders that occurred in Riverside county from 1989 to 1991, said Lt Patricia Thomas of Los Angeles county sheriff’s department.
Continue reading...Court to sentence Thomas Kwoyelo for 44 offences committed during militia’s 20-year rebellion and reign of terror
A former commander in the feared Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been convicted of crimes against humanity after the first such war crimes trial in Uganda.
Thomas Kwoyelo, who faced 78 counts related to crimes committed during the LRA’s bloody two-decade rebellion, had been waiting for years behind bars for a verdict in the landmark case.
Continue reading...Tomoya Obokata’s report finds power imbalances and discriminatory practice exploits workers from global south
Canada’s reliance on temporary foreign workers is “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery”, a UN special rapporteur has warned, amid growing calls to overhaul the controversial program.
The damning report from the UN investigator Tomoya Obokata found that deep power imbalances and discriminatory practice in Canada cuts costs for companies but exploits against workers from the global south.
Continue reading...Body of Kris Maharaj, who died in Florida prison hospital despite judge finding him innocent, will be taken to UK by his wife for burial
During the 38 years Kris Maharaj spent incarcerated in Florida prisons insisting he was innocent of murder, his wife, Marita, dreamed of a life together back in Britain.
This week they will finally be reunited on home soil but not in the way she had hoped.
Continue reading...Confused messaging from leaders as Kremlin attempts to play down significance of events
Russian authorities are scrambling to bring the situation in Kursk under control, a week after Ukrainian forces launched a surprise attack in the region that has left a swathe of Russian territory under Kyiv’s control.
Russia used missiles, drones and airstrikes on Tuesday in an attempt to claw back territory, with one senior commander claiming Kyiv’s advance was over, even as the evacuation of residents from border areas continued.
Continue reading...US territory shutters schools and opens shelters as storm is forecast to also near Virgin Islands and become hurricane
Tropical Storm Ernesto battered the north-east Caribbean on Tuesday as it took aim at Puerto Rico, where officials shuttered schools, opened shelters and helped move dozens of the US territory’s endangered parrots into hurricane-proof rooms.
Ernesto is expected to become a hurricane early on Wednesday, prompting forecasters to issue a hurricane watch for the US and British Virgin Islands as well as the tiny Puerto Rican islands of Vieques and Culebra.
Continue reading...Arezoo Badri was shot as police attempted to pull her over in the northern city of Noor
A woman is reported to have been left paralysed after being shot by Iranian police who were attempting to stop her car over alleged violations of Iran’s draconian hijab laws.
According to human rights groups and sources inside Iran, Arezoo Badri was driving home in the northern city of Noor on 22 July when the police attempted to pull her over after her car was identified as being on an impoundment list.
Continue reading...Tehran blames the country for killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iranian capital
Iran has rejected western calls not to retaliate against Israel for the killing in Tehran of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, late last month.
“Such demands lack political logic, are entirely contrary to the principles and rules of international law, and represent an excessive request,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanani, said.
Continue reading...Human rights investigators say ‘escalating’ crackdown has seen 23 deaths and over 100 children and teens detained
United Nations human rights investigators have urged Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, to halt the “fierce repression” being perpetrated by his security forces after last month’s allegedly stolen presidential election.
In a statement published two weeks after the 28 July vote, the UN’s fact-finding mission to Venezuela condemned Maduro’s “escalating” crackdown, during which more than 100 children and teens have been detained. The UN investigators said they had recorded 23 deaths, the vast majority caused by gunfire and nearly all young men.
Continue reading...Tom Perriello condemns tactics of Rapid Support Forces and Sudanese military before peace talks in Geneva
The US special envoy for Sudan has accused the two factions in the country’s civil war of “cowardice” before crucial peace talks that are due to start on Wednesday.
Tom Perriello told the Guardian that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese military “lacked courage and honour” because of their continued use of starvation as a weapon.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed
Greece’s opposition wasted little time Tuesday lambasting prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ centre right government for what has been described as a lacklustre response to the inferno.
Stefanos Kasselakis, who heads the main opposition Syriza party, said that he had only witnessed three water-bombing aircraft in action – and not the 35 that officials had cited – when he visited the operational headquarters of the civil protection ministry.
I will say yet again that from the eruption of the fire on Sunday the time that it took to respond by air was five minutes and with fire engines seven minutes.
The reality is this: that despite the speed of the operational response – the new dogma that in combination with the technical support of drones has been enforced with the hundreds of fires confronted this summer – when extreme conditions prevail the problem becomes insurmountable.
Continue reading...Former PM and others accused over actions of police who fired on protesters, killing shop owner crossing street
A court in Bangladesh has ordered an investigation into the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s alleged role in the death of a grocery shop owner in the capital, Dhaka, during last month’s student-led protests.
The case filed by Bangladeshi citizen Amir Hamza against Hasina and six others was accepted by Dhaka’s chief metropolitan magistrates court after a hearing, Hamza’s lawyer, Anwarul Islam, said. The magistrate Rajesh Chowdhury ordered police to investigate the case, Islam added.
Continue reading...Film-maker who directed films starring Li, Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh and later worked as a Hollywood fight coordinator, died during the Covid pandemic two years ago
Celebrated Hong Kong martial arts actor and director Corey Yuen died two years ago during the Covid pandemic, it has been reported.
The Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers confirmed Yuen’s death following a social media post by action star Jackie Chan naming Yuen (also known as Yuen Kwai) among a list of late disciples of China Drama Academy head Yu Jim-yuen, who died in 1997.
Continue reading...Spanish police make arrest after being notified that export licence had expired and work was found to be a copy
Spanish police have arrested a man whose alleged plan to sell a fake Leonardo da Vinci painting in Italy for €1.3m was thwarted when the work caught the eye of French customs officers.
Although the man had an export licence for the work, which was purported to be a Leonardo portrait of the Italian aristocrat and military commander Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, the licence had expired, prompting customs officers at the Modane border post to contact Spanish police.
Continue reading...Airstrikes have killed children born from IVF, while shelling of fertility clinic’s lab has shattered other families’ dreams
It took surgery and five years of IVF treatment for Amal to fall pregnant for the first and only time. That struggle against infertility lasted almost as long as her son Khaled’s short life. He was just seven years old when on 17 October an Israeli airstrike on Rafah, one of the first of the war, hit the family home.
Khaled was killed and Amal was plunged into a grief heightened by memories of her long battle to become a mother. Sometimes she struggles to keep going. “Death, in all its finality, seems less daunting than the relentless pain of living without Khaled,” she said. “He was the most precious thing in my life.”
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: As visitors overwhelm Venice, Barcelona and other famous cities, a model rewarding travellers for being more responsible could inspire other municipalities
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Good morning. Today we’re taking a little trip to Copenhagen to explore a new pilot initiative designed to reward tourists for “climate-friendly actions”. The CopenPay scheme has been designed to encourage visitors to act a bit more responsibly and think about their impact on the environment during trips to the Danish capital.
In return for small environmental actions – like cycling to attractions or fishing litter out of the canals – visitors have been rewarded with small gifts such as free ice-cream and museum tours.
Climate crisis | Hot weather inflamed by carbon pollution killed nearly 50,000 people in Europe last year, with the continent warming at a much faster rate than other parts of the world, research has found. Heat-related mortality was highest in Greece, with 393 deaths per million people.
Ukraine | Ukrainian forces have captured 1,000 sq km (386 square miles) of Russia’s bordering Kursk region, Kyiv’s top commander has claimed, as Vladimir Putin vowed a “worthy response” to the attack. 121,000 people have fled the region since the incursion began.
UK news | A shop security guard has described how he overpowered a knifeman as he stabbed an 11-year-old girl and her mother, 34, in a “horrific” and apparently random attack in London’s busy Leicester Square in front of shocked workers and tourists.
UK news | A “series of errors and misjudgments” in Valdo Calocane’s mental health care led to him being discharged, despite repeatedly not taking medication and showing signs of aggression, months before he killed three people in Nottingham, a report says. The Care Quality Commission warned of “systemic issues with community mental health care”.
Technology | Labour MPs have begun quitting X in alarm over the platform’s direction, with one saying Elon Musk had turned it into “a megaphone for foreign adversaries and far-right fringe groups”. Meanwhile, Donald Trump gave a rambling interview to Musk on the platform that was marred with technical issues initially preventing many users from watching the conversation.
Continue reading...Pair allegedly acted for wealthy Chinese woman who financed bogus Los Angeles raid to settle business dispute, US attorney’s office says
Two former soldiers based in Australia allegedly pretended to be law enforcement officials and threatened a Los Angeles businessman with violence and deportation unless he handed over almost US$37m, according to US court documents.
Matthew Phillip Hart, 41, a former member of the Australian military, and Max Samuel Bennett Turbett, 39, a former member of the British military and UK citizen who lives in Australia, were charged along with two other men on 1 August, the US attorney’s office said in a statement.
Continue reading...After a 45-minute delay, the former president ran through his greatest hits – and biggest lies – to a fawning Elon Musk
Donald Trump returned to the social media platform that skyrocketed his career for a live discussion with Elon Musk. The former president unleashed familiar rambling, vitriolic talking points to a sympathetic Musk.
Here are key takeaways from the event.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed. You can read our on that interview story here.
In addition to this live blogger, conservative commentator Glenn Beck is among those unable to listen to Donald Trump’s interview with Elon Musk:
The interview was supposed to start five minutes ago, but instead, all we are seeing is a gray box with the words “Details not available”.
Continue reading...