Five reported killed and numerous others injured after FlixBus carrying 55 people overturned on A9 motorway
Multiple people were killed and more injured in a coach crash on a motorway near the eastern German city of Leipzig on Wednesday, police said.
“Several people were fatally injured in the serious accident on the A9 motorway. There are numerous casualties,” said Saxony police in a statement on X.
Continue reading...Lawmakers overwhelmingly vote to make country the first in south-east Asia to recognise same-sex unions
Lawmakers in Thailand’s lower house of parliament have overwhelmingly approved a marriage equality bill that would make the country the first in south-east Asia to legalise equal rights for marriage partners of any gender.
Four hundred of 415 lawmakers present voted for the bill on Wednesday and footage from inside parliament showed people standing and applauding afterwards.
Continue reading...African nurse leaders say poorer nations face severe shortages despite rules intended to stop wealthy countries poaching staff
The UK and other wealthy countries have been accused of adopting a “new form of colonialism” in recruiting huge numbers of nurses from poorer nations to fill their own staffing gaps.
International nursing leaders said the trend was leading to worse patient care in developing nations, which were not properly compensated for the loss of experienced healthcare staff.
Continue reading...Fears of a new migration route grow as more than 800 people land on Gavdos, population fewer than 70, in a few months
Even by the standards of small Greek islands, Gavdos is tiny. In a population of fewer than 70 people, there are just two families with four children. The rest “are all old people mostly living alone”, its mayor, Lilian Stefanaki, explains.
It is a micro-world that in the depths of winter is served by a single school, a bakery, two mini-markets and four kafeneia cum tavernas. The remote island – separated from the coast of Crete by frequently unpredictable waters in the Libyan Sea – is watched over by Efsevios Daskalakis, who for much of the year is its sole police officer.
Continue reading...Ministers under growing pressure to act amid signs Israel intends to ignore UN ceasefire resolution
Parliamentary pressure is building on the UK government to ban arms sales to Israel, amid signs that Israel intends to ignore the UN security council resolution passed this week calling on all sides to commit to a ceasefire.
A letter signed by more than 130 parliamentarians to the foreign secretary, David Cameron, highlights action taken by other countries, most recently Canada, which last week announced it would halt all arms exports to Israel.
Continue reading...Oji Holdings said it would stop making children’s nappies in September amid a sharp decline in demand. Japan has a rapidly ageing society
A nappy manufacturer in Japan is to stop making the products for babies and instead raise production of adult diapers, in a reflection of the country’s rapidly ageing society.
Oji Holdings, which specialises in paper products, said it would stop making children’s nappies in September amid a sharp decline in demand. The firm has seen sales drop from a peak of about 700m in 2001 to 400m today.
Continue reading...Wes Moore says rescuers have deployed air, land, and sea methods to help search for survivors
Pete Buttigieg, the secretary of transportation, said he’s spoken with Maryland and Baltimore officials.
“Rescue efforts remain underway and drivers in the Baltimore area should follow local responder guidance on detours and response,” he said.
Continue reading...Mayor says rescue efforts continuing after cargo vessel hit Francis Scott Key Bridge, sending vehicles into the water
A frantic search-and-rescue effort continued on Tuesday hours after a major bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, snapped and collapsed when a container ship collided with it in the early morning, sending a number of vehicles into the water.
Baltimore fire department officials said at least six construction workers were still missing, after reports that a 948ft Singapore-flagged container ship leaving port on its way to Sri Lanka had crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Continue reading...Trump Media & Technology trading on Nasdaq under ‘DJT’ ticker, using Trump’s initials and closing up 15% after first day of trading
The firm behind Donald Trump’s Truth Social went public on Tuesday at a price that values the minnow social network at close to $8bn.
Shares in Digital World Acquisition, the shell company with which Trump’s social media business has merged, have been surging since the turn of the year.
Continue reading...Companies accused of facilitating gun trafficking and and of being responsible for bloodshed that their guns contribute to in Mexico
A trial court in Arizona has ruled that the Mexican government may proceed in its trailblazing lawsuit against five US gun dealers, who stand accused of facilitating gun trafficking across the border into Mexico.
Mexico argues that the companies’ marketing campaigns and distribution practices mean that they are legally responsible for the bloodshed that their guns contribute to.
Continue reading...Palestinian authorities say deaths resulted from attempts to recover crates that fell in water after parachutes went wrong
Twelve people drowned trying to get to aid dropped by plane off a Gaza beach, Palestinian health authorities have said, amid growing fears of famine nearly six months into Israel’s military campaign.
Video of the airdrop on Monday showed crowds of people running towards the beach, in Beit Lahiya in north Gaza, as crates with parachutes floated down, then people standing deep in water and bodies being pulled on to the sand.
Continue reading...Real Madrid star Vinícius Júnior’s tearful comments prompt questions over why racist fans can still act with impunity
Antiracism campaigners in Spain have called on the country’s institutions to do more to crack down on racism in football, after Real Madrid winger Vinícius Júnior laid bare the personal toll exacted by years of racist insults.
Breaking down in tears as he spoke of the systematic barrage of abuse he had faced at more than 10 Spanish grounds, the Brazilian player told reporters on Monday that the situation had “gotten worse” during his time on the pitch.
Continue reading...South American neighbours respond to blocking of Corina Yoris, who was favoured to beat strongman Nicolás Maduro in elections
A chorus of Latin American nations, including Brazil and Colombia, have voiced concern over the deteriorating political situation in Venezuela after the opposition politician best-positioned to challenge its strongman leader, Nicolás Maduro, in July’s presidential election was prevented from registering for the vote.
Corina Yoris, an 80-year-old philosopher, was little-known outside academic circles until last Friday, when she was catapulted on to the frontline of Venezuela’s long-running political crisis by being named as the substitute for María Corina Machado, a prominent opposition figure who had been banned from running in the election.
Continue reading...Beijing’s chargé d’affaires told that UK government will not tolerate ‘threatening’ cyber-attacks
Ministers summoned a senior Chinese diplomat to the Foreign Office on Tuesday after accusing Beijing-backed hackers of a cyber-attack on the British elections watchdog and a surveillance operation on politicians.
The department called in China’s chargé d’affaires and told him the UK would not tolerate “threatening” cyber-attacks.
Continue reading...Tone in parts of Israeli media borders on contempt, as prime minister’s growing friction with Biden linked to US abstention
The Israeli prime minister’s handling of relations with the Biden administration, which led the US on Monday to decline to veto a ceasefire resolution at the UN security council, has been greeted by sharp criticism by Israeli commentators.
After the US abstention, prominent columnists across the Israeli media condemned Benjamin Netanyahu’s growing friction with the US president, Joe Biden.
Continue reading...Parliamentary elections thought vulnerable to fake news will test social media firms and bloc’s new DSA laws
Social media firms including TikTok, X, Facebook and Instagram will be required to put an army of factcheckers and moderators in place with a collective knowledge of 24 EU languages amid fears that the European parliamentary elections will be a prime target for disinformation campaigns run by Russia and others including the far right.
The new rules flow from the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which regulates content on social media, and follows a public consultation with civil society and election observation groups in February.
Continue reading...Five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver killed while en route from Islamabad to dam construction site
Six people have been killed after a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a dam project in north-west Pakistan, in the third significant attack on Chinese interests in the country in a week.
The first two attacks targeted a Pakistani naval airbase and a strategic port used by China in the south-west province of Balochistan where Beijing is investing billions in infrastructure projects.
Continue reading...Ministers condemn allegedly racist remarks and say they knew about them only after signing deal
The Jamaican government has joined widespread condemnation of comments by the Conservative’s party’s biggest donor, Frank Hester, amid concerns about a contract it signed with his digital health company.
Earlier in March, the Guardian revealed that during a meeting in 2019 Hester had said Diane Abbott, Britain’s first black female MP, made you “want to hate all black women” and that she “should be shot”, remarks that are now subject of an investigation by West Yorkshire police.
Continue reading...Friday will mark one year since the journalist was arrested on espionage charges
A Russian court has extended by three months the pre-trial detention of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter arrested almost a year ago on suspicion of espionage while on a reporting trip in the city of Ekaterinburg.
Gershkovich, 32, became the first US journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the cold war when he was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on 29 March 2023.
Continue reading...Limited details have emerged about background of Muhammadsobir Fayzov and three other Tajik men accused of carrying out atrocity
Former colleagues and clients at the small barber shop where Muhammadsobir Fayzov once worked were stunned when they saw the news.
They knew the 19-year-old as a promising, hard-working stylist, and saw no signs that he and three other Tajik gunmen would be accused of committing last Friday’s bloodbath at a concert city hall in Moscow.
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