Exclusive: YouGov survey indicates loss of support among people in Britain for Israel’s war in Gaza
A majority of voters in Britain back a ban on arms sales to Israel, according to a YouGov poll.
One of the first up-to-date assessments of whether Israel is losing public support in key allied states, the research also suggests most people believe the Israeli government is violating human rights in Gaza.
Continue reading...Exclusive: More than 600 prominent lawyers sign letter that calls for end to exports as a ‘measure to prevent’ genocide
Three former supreme court justices, including the court’s former president Lady Hale, are among more than 600 lawyers, academics and retired senior judges warning that the UK government is breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel.
In a letter to the prime minister, the signatories, who also include former court of appeal judges and more than 60 KCs, say that the present situation in Gaza is “catastrophic” and that given the international court of justice (ICJ) finding that there is a plausible risk of genocide being committed, the UK is legally obliged to act to prevent it.
Continue reading...Emmerson Mnangagwa says country needs $2bn of aid as severe dry spell caused by El Niño afflicts southern Africa
Zimbabwe has declared a national disaster over a drought caused by the climate event known as El Niño and President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said the country needs $2bn in aid to help millions of people who are going hungry.
The severe dry spell is wreaking havoc across southern Africa.
Continue reading...Founder of charity that lost seven people hits out at IDF as friendly governments decry drone attack
Israel is facing mounting international pressure to justify its conduct in the war in Gaza as the bodies of six foreign aid workers killed in a drone attack were repatriated to their families.
Seven members of World Central Kitchen (WCK) were killed when a drone repeatedly hit their convoy of three cars, which were clearly identified as belonging to the charity, after it left an aid warehouse in the central town of Deir al-Balah on Monday night.
Continue reading...Justin Trudeau says allegations ‘extremely troubling’ after officers arrested First Nations men and confiscated their boots and phones
Two First Nations fishermen have said they were forced to walk shoeless for hours in the dark and cold after Canadian federal officers seized their boots and phones.
The prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said the allegations were “extremely troubling” amid mounting anger over the treatment of the Mi’kmaw fishermen, whose ordeal has prompted comparisons with the notorious “starlight tours” in which the police routinely abandoned Indigenous people in the bitter cold.
Continue reading...Footage showing former president spent two nights apparently hiding from potential arrest at mission was leaked to media
The Hungarian embassy in Brasília has reportedly fired two Brazilian employees after the leaking of security footage that revealed how Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro had spent two nights “hiding” inside the mission.
According to the network CNN Brasil, the sackings were punishment for the embarrassing leak to the New York Times which prompted a political outcry in Brazil and calls for Bolsonaro’s arrest.
Continue reading...The deaths of seven aid workers add credence to allegations by observers that commanders on the ground in Gaza may ‘do as they please’
The killing of seven foreign aid workers by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza has once again raised serious questions about the IDF’s opaque and highly permissive rules of engagement, whether those rules are enforced, and how willing it is to investigate breaches.
Put simply, rules of engagement define how and in what circumstances it is permissible to use force, including lethal violence, during operations, and at what potential risk to civilians.
Continue reading...High court members allege ISI put cameras in their bedrooms and tortured a relative to make them hear an appeal against ex-PM
Claims by senior Pakistani judges that the intelligence agencies put pressure on them in cases involving the former prime minister Imran Khan have reached the country’s supreme court, following the publication of an unprecedented letter that has created a storm in Pakistan.
The letter from the six high court judges alleged the abduction of family members, torture, installation of cameras in their bedrooms and threats from the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI).
Continue reading...A 12-year-old boy is alleged to have killed a fellow pupil and seriously injured two others at Viertola school in Vantaa
A 12-year-old boy suspected of shooting and killing a classmate and wounding two girls of the same age at a school in Finland said he had been motivated by bullying, police have said, as flags flew at half-mast across the country.
Finland was in mourning after the 12-year-old was alleged to have arrived at Viertola school in Vantaa, a city north of the capital, Helsinki, armed with a handgun on Tuesday morning.
Continue reading...President of amnesty commission investigating crimes of 1964-85 regime makes first-ever apology to Indigenous leader
Brazil has issued its first-ever apology for the torture and persecution of Indigenous people during the military dictatorship, including the incarceration of victims in an infamous detention centre known as an “Indigenous concentration camp”.
The apology was made on Tuesday by an amnesty commission attached to the human rights ministry that is tasked with investigating the crimes of the 1964-85 regime.
Continue reading...German’s appointment to head Convention on Biological Diversity follows global failure to meet any targets on protecting ecosystems
The next UN biodiversity chief will be Astrid Schomaker, an EU civil servant who will be entrusted with helping the world confront the ongoing catastrophic loss of nature.
Schomaker has been a career official with the EU commission for 30 years. A surprise appointment, she will be tasked with corralling governments to make good on their commitments to protect life on Earth – something they have not done in more than 30 years since the UN biodiversity convention was created.
Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features
Continue reading...Tunnel under construction found near La Santé prison does not appear to be part of an escape plan, local official says
A mysterious tunnel under construction has been discovered near a prison in southern Paris during routine electrical works, although police sources said it did not appear to be part of an escape plan.
The discovery was made on Tuesday by a technician from Enedis, which manages the electricity distribution network in France, who was working “in a well for electrical connections” about 450 metres from La Santé prison, a police source said.
Continue reading...Poet who is curating country’s first Venice Biennale pavilion says ‘part of the heart’ of the country was looted and is being held in museums
An Ethiopian cultural surge – including a first national pavilion at the Venice Biennale and the rise of stars such as Ruth Negga and The Weeknd – is making the country’s calls for restitution of looted colonial-era artefacts harder to ignore, according to Lemn Sissay.
The poet and author, who is curating the country’s inaugural Biennale pavilion, where Tesfaye Urgessa’s work will be on show, said the event would be part of a significant cultural push from the east African country and its diaspora over the last two decades.
Continue reading...Israeli intelligence sources reveal use of ‘Lavender’ system in Gaza war and claim permission given to kill civilians in pursuit of low-ranking militants
The Israeli military’s bombing campaign in Gaza used a previously undisclosed AI-powered database that at one stage identified 37,000 potential targets based on their apparent links to Hamas, according to intelligence sources involved in the war.
In addition to talking about their use of the AI system, called Lavender, the intelligence sources claim that Israeli military officials permitted large numbers of Palestinian civilians to be killed, particularly during the early weeks and months of the conflict.
Continue reading...Shah Muhammad Rais was devastated when Taliban destroyed his shop, but now he is sending books to Afghanistan via the internet
Shah Muhammad Rais first opened his bookshop in the Afghan capital in 1974. By 2003, when his story was made famous by the bestselling book The Bookseller of Kabul, the business had collected about 100,000 books, in different languages, about literature, history and politics. The collection included works of fiction and nonfiction, with everything from richly illustrated children’s tales to dense academic tomes.
After the Taliban stormed Kabul in 2021, Rais fled to the UK, telling the Guardian last year that he feared the group would destroy his cherished business. His fears came true.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed. You can read our latest full report below:
People are trapped in collapsed buildings in Taiwan’s city of Hualien according to local media and the local government has suspended schools and classes in the region.
According to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration, the epicentre of the quake was 25km southeast of Hualien.
Based on tsunami wave models and early tide gauge records of the tsunami in the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, coastal areas in the Philippines fronting the Pacific Ocean are expected to experience high tsunami waves.
It is forecasted that the first tsunami waves will arrive between 08:33 AM to 10:33 AM, 03 Apr 2024 (PST). It may not be the largest and these waves may continue for hours.
Continue reading...Allies will plan for ‘greater Nato role in coordinating security assistance and training’, says Nato secretary general
They have become a familiar sight in the skies above parts of Russia: long-range enemy drones, buzzing their way to another target.
In the biggest Ukrainian onslaught inside Russian territory since Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion two years ago, Ukraine has in recent weeks carried out a series of attacks on Russian oil refineries and ports. On Tuesday, it hit a refinery and drone factory in the industrial region of Tatarstan - more than 800 miles from the border.
Allied support to Ukraine is a fraction of the resources needed for deterrence and defence of North Atlantic area and yet the successful defence of Ukraine greatly impacts the overall cost of Nato’s defence.
Serious long-term support of Ukraine requires predictable, equitable and robust allocation of resources.
Continue reading...Legislation adopted last year outraged LGBTQ+ community, rights activists, the UN and western nations
Uganda’s constitutional court has rejected a bid to overturn a controversial anti-gay law that is considered one of the toughest in the world.
“We decline to nullify the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 in its entirety, neither will we grant a permanent injunction against its enforcement,” Justice Richard Buteera, Uganda’s deputy chief justice and head of the court, said in the landmark ruling.
Continue reading...Lib Dems also call for action to suspend arms exports to Israel after seven aid workers killed in Gaza
Ministers are under pressure from Tory MPs and peers to stop arming Israel after seven humanitarian workers were killed by an airstrike in Gaza.
Four Conservatives told the Guardian on Wednesday that the UK should stop exporting arms to Israel after its strike, which killed three British aid workers.
Continue reading...PM demands ‘transparent investigation’ from Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as names emerge of three Britons killed in Gaza
Rishi Sunak has called for an urgent investigation into the deaths of three British aid workers working for the charity World Central Kitchen who were killed by an Israeli airstrike that hit an aid convoy in Gaza.
WSK confirmed that British victims John Chapman, 57, James “Jim” Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47, who were working for the charity’s security team, were among seven of its staff killed.
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