Backed by Annie Lennox and Susan Sarandon, Daly had appeared on state-leaning media in China and Russia
Clare Daly, Ireland’s outspoken and controversial Dublin MEP candidate, has lost her seat despite celebrity endorsements from Annie Lennox, Susan Sarandon and other prominent figures.
The leftwing candidate was eliminated on Tuesday after falling behind rivals in the Dublin constituency on the 17th count.
Continue reading...Biochemist found cholesterol-lowering compound in 1973 and the drugs have prolonged millions of lives
The scientist whose work led to the creation of statins, a chemical that prevents heart attacks and strokes, has died aged 90.
Akira Endo found the first cholesterol-lowering compound in 1973 in a lab in Tokyo. The Japanese biochemist was said to have been inspired by Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin in 1928, which lead him to study mould or fungi in order to develop medicines.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president appeals in Berlin for funding to repair and rebuild energy infrastructure and for defence
The Ukrainian president and his allies have used a major conference in Berlin to lobby international business for support in the country’s reconstruction and recovery efforts even as it continues to be bombarded by Russia.
Speaking at the Ukraine recovery conference, hosted by the German government, at which the topic of Ukraine’s survival was centre stage, Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Europe’s peace was also at stake if his country was not able to protect and rebuild itself as it stood up to Russia.
Continue reading...More ‘grave violations’ committed in occupied territories and Israel than anywhere else in world, report says
More grave violations against children were committed in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel than anywhere else in the world last year, according to a UN report due to be published this week.
The report on children and armed conflict, which has been seen by the Guardian, verified more cases of war crimes against children in the occupied territories and Israel than anywhere else, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Somalia, Nigeria and Sudan.
Continue reading...Conservationists criticise ‘disappointing’ and ‘dangerous’ move to allow harpooning of fin whales after curbs last year
Iceland has granted a licence to Europe’s last whaling company to kill more than 100 animals this year, despite hopes the practice might have been halted after concerns about cruelty led to a temporary suspension last year.
Animal rights groups described the news as “deeply disappointing” and “dangerous”.
Continue reading...Masoud Pezeshkian must convince disillusioned voters that he represents chance for credible change
The one reformist candidate in Iran’s presidential election, a 69-year-old doctor who raised his three children alone after his wife died in a car accident, faces an uphill but not impossible battle to convince a disenchanted Iranian electorate that he represents a chance for credible change.
Masoud Pezeshkian, an MP for 20 years, was given clearance to stand by the 12-strong Guardian Council on Sunday and has until 28 June to reach the second round of the elections called after president Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash. No reformist was allowed to stand in the presidential election three years ago.
Continue reading...Since 2021, the overall number of deaths, including of civilians, has risen to the highest level in three decades, Peace Research Institute Oslo reports
Deaths from civil conflicts and battles across the world over the past three years have risen to the highest level in three decades, according to a new report.
Research by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (Prio) showed that while the number of battlefield deaths fell compared with the previous two years, since 2021 the overall number of conflict-related deaths, including of civilians, has risen to the highest level in 30 years.
Continue reading...Ministers have rejected calls to suspend arms exports to Israel despite claims they break international humanitarian law
The UK has issued more than 100 arms export licences to Israel between the Hamas attack on 7 October and 31 May, according to government figures.
Thirty-seven of the 108 licences were described as military and 63 as non-military, but this might include telecommunications equipment for use by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). A further eight open licences were granted.
Continue reading...Wreckage of plane carrying Chilima and former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri found after weather warnings, says President Chakwera
Malawi’s vice-president, Saulos Chilima, and nine other people have been killed in a plane crash, the country’s president, Lazarus Chakwera, said in a live televised address.
The wreckage of the military plane carrying Chilima and the former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri to a funeral of an ex-minister on Monday was found on a hillside in the Chikangawa forest, a mountainous area in the north of the country.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Guardian investigation shows white powder trail linking hundreds of vulnerable African minors with ruthless gangs
Hundreds of unaccompanied child migrants across Europe are being forced to work as soldiers for increasingly powerful drug cartels to meet the continent’s soaring appetite for cocaine, a Guardian investigation has found.
EU police forces have warned of industrial-scale exploitation of African children by cocaine networks operating in western Europe in cities including Paris and Brussels as they seek to expand Europe’s £10bn cocaine market.
Continue reading...Lord Sumption, who last week quit territory’s top court, speaks out on ‘paranoid atmosphere’ under Chinese rule
A British judge has described the “paranoid atmosphere” in Hong Kong as he explained his decision to step down from the territory’s top court.
Jonathan Sumption, along with another British judge, Lawrence Collins, last week resigned from Hong Kong’s court of final appeal (CFA).
Continue reading...President speaks of ‘heartbreaking situation’ after aircraft carrying Saulos Chilima and nine others goes missing in bad weather
Soldiers are searching mountainous forests in northern Malawi after an aircraft carrying vice-president Saulos Chilima and nine others went missing on Monday.
The plane carrying Chilima, former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri and eight others left the capital, Lilongwe, at 9.17am and had been expected to land 45 minutes later at Mzuzu international airport, about 370km (230 miles) to the north.
Continue reading...FBI chief condemns Peltier, 79, who denies killing agents on Pine Ridge reservation in 1975, as ‘remorseless killer’
Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist who has served nearly 50 years in prison for the killing of two FBI agents, was due to have his first parole hearing since 2009 on Monday, his lawyer said.
Peltier, 79, has maintained that he did not kill the FBI special agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams in 1975 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Advocates, including figures such as the late Nelson Mandela and a former prosecutor and judge involved in his case, have long said he should be freed because of what they call legal irregularities in his trial.
Continue reading...Only Russia abstains in vote on plan calling for hostage and prisoner swap in six-week ceasefire leading to wider deal
The UN security council has adopted a resolution calling for Hamas to agree to a three-phase hostage-for-ceasefire proposal outlined by Joe Biden, the first time the body has endorsed a comprehensive peace deal to end the Gaza war.
A Hamas statement said the group welcomed the resolution, though it was not immediately clear if that meant the leadership in Gaza accepted the ceasefire plan.
Continue reading...Man shot in chest by officer while attempting to flee police who had forced speeding vehicle to stop
French police are questioning an officer after the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old man as he fled an attempted control of a vehicle for speeding, prosecutors said.
It was the latest incidence of alleged police violence against suspects that has prompted protests in recent years by critics citing heavy-handed tactics, in particular against people from ethnic minorities.
Continue reading...Police investigating after packages worth nearly 55lb (25kg) discovered on Dauphin Island, south of Mobile
Nearly 55lb (25kg) of what appears to be cocaine recently washed up on the shores of Alabama, local police said.
The police department in the community of Dauphin Island made the discovery, saying the recovered amount was worth about $450,000. Officers then contacted the Mobile county sheriff’s office, which also has jurisdiction in the area and is investigating the situation.
Continue reading...Beverley McLachlin’s decision comes after British judge Lord Sumption quit court of final appeal, condemning ‘impossible political environment’
A former chief justice of Canada’s supreme court has announced she is stepping down from Hong Kong’s court of final appeal – the latest in a string of departures amid concerns about judicial independence from China.
Beverley McLachlin, 80, said she would be leaving the territory’s top court when her term ends next month to spend more time with her family, but that she still held “confidence in the members of the court, their independence and their determination to uphold the rule of law”.
Continue reading...In L’Aisne, where the National Rally won over 50% of votes in the European elections, there is unease about the snap election
“Everyone is in total shock,” said Baptiste Lopata, a radiologist, sitting in his trade union office in the small northern French town of Soissons. “Now we’ve all got to mobilise against the far right.”
When Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, far-right National Rally (RN) won a historic victory in the European elections on Sunday night, its highest scores were here, in the north-eastern département of l’Aisne, where it won over 50%, and even 60% in some rural villages, compared with a 31% score nationwide.
Continue reading...President may slow the seemingly unstoppable far-right rise, but find himself trapped in a splintered parliament
Two years into his second term and with three more still to run, Emmanuel Macron’s ratings are not what anyone would call great: 65% disapproval, 34% approval. Since losing his absolute majority in the assemblée nationale in 2022, he has struggled.
Parliament has been increasingly paralysed, with the government relying on ad hoc deals with increasingly reluctant opposition parties or despised constitutional tools to pass unpopular legislation.
Continue reading...Seven Przewalski’s horses, the only truly wild species of the animal in the world, flown to central Asian country from zoos in Europe
A group of the world’s last wild horses have returned to their native Kazakhstan after an absence of about 200 years. The seven horses, four mares from Berlin and a stallion and two other mares from Prague, were flown to the central Asian country on a Czech air force transport plane.
The wild horses, known as Przewalski’s horses, once roamed the vast steppe grasslands of central Asia, where horses are believed to have been first domesticated about 5,500 years ago.
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