Animal welfare campaigners hail decision as ‘historic victory’ after years of pressure at home and abroad
South Korea’s parliament has voted to ban the production and sale of dog meat, in a decision campaigners hailed as a “historic victory” for animal welfare.
The country’s national assembly voted overwhelmingly to ban the breeding, butchery, distribution and sale of dogs for their meat on Tuesday, after years of pressure at home and abroad.
Continue reading...Exclusive: First months of conflict produced more planet-warming gases than 20 climate-vulnerable nations do in a year, study shows
The climate costs of war and militaries can no longer be ignored
The planet-warming emissions generated during the first two months of the war in Gaza were greater than the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, new research reveals.
The vast majority (99%) of the 281,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2 equivalent) estimated to have been generated in the first 60 days following the 7 October Hamas attack can be attributed to Israel’s aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis by researchers in the UK and US.
Continue reading...Two Siamang gibbons rescued from the illegal pet trade have been rehabilitated in a new Indonesian centre
The forest chorus of South Sumatra in Indonesia has some of its finest singers back: a pair of rare Siamang gibbons, rescued from the illegal pet trade, have been released into the wild.
Siamang gibbons (Symphalangus syndactylus) are known for their distinctive large throat sacs. But their powerful, haunting voices, used for communication and marking territory, are a blessing and a curse.
Continue reading...After being elected to Valencia’s regional assembly, Galcerán says she wants to be seen as a person, not for her disability
For decades she battled to ensure that people with intellectual disabilities were part of the conversation. The extent of the progress she had made, however, was laid bare recently when Mar Galcerán became Spain’s first parliamentarian with Down’s syndrome.
“It’s unprecedented,” the 45-year-old told the Guardian. “Society is starting to see that people with Down’s syndrome have a lot to contribute. But it’s a very long road.”
Continue reading...Arctic Ice argues its rare, pure product can be part of Greenland’s green transition and greater independence
Frozen daiquiri anyone? Drinking a cocktail on top of a Dubai skyscraper may seem decadent enough, but a Greenland entrepreneur wants to add ancient glacier ice scooped from the fjords to the glass, for the ultimate international thrill.
Arctic Ice harvests ice from the fjords of Greenland, and then ships them to the United Arab Emirates to sell to exclusive bars. Using glacial ice in drinks is a common practice in Greenland, and, over the years, several entrepreneurs have unsuccessfully attempted to export it. Its co-founder Malik V Rasmussen said the ice, which has been compressed over millennia, is completely without bubbles and melts more slowly than regular ice. It is also purer than the frozen mineral water usually used in Dubai’s ice cubes.
Continue reading...Wenheng Zhao, 26, pleaded guilty in October to passing sensitive military information to Chinese intelligence officer
A US navy petty officer who pleaded guilty to providing sensitive military information to a Chinese intelligence officer was sentenced to more than two years in prison on Monday, the US justice department said.
Wenheng Zhao, 26, and another US sailor, Jinchao Wei, were arrested in August on suspicion of spying for China.
Continue reading...Action on Armed Violence says 33,846 were killed or wounded by airstrikes, bombs or artillery, the most it has recorded
More civilians were recorded as being killed or injured by airstrikes, bombs or artillery during 2023 than in any other year for more than a decade due to the high number of casualties from the three-month war in Gaza, an annual study has said.
Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), a monitoring group, said 33,846 non-combatants had been killed or wounded during 2023, an increase of 62% on last year, and the largest amount it had counted since it began its annual survey in 2010.
Continue reading...US secretary of state poised for meetings with leaders who have so far proved resistant to pressure from Washington
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has landed in Israel for potentially difficult meetings with Israeli leaders and officials who have repeatedly proved resistant to pressure from Washington over their conduct of the war against Hamas.
Blinken flew late on Monday night from the Saudi oasis town of AlUla where he held talks with the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, on a Middle East tour aimed at reaching a consensus on Gaza’s future.
Continue reading...Brazilian leaders mark first anniversary of insurrection in Brasília that saw Bolsonaristas attempt to topple new government
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has hailed the “victory of democracy over authoritarianism”, one year on from the 8 January insurrection in Brasília in which supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings in an attempt to topple the newly inaugurated leftist government.
Several hundred people gathered in the seat of Congress in Brasília on Monday afternoon for an event marking the first anniversary of what many see as the Brazilian version of the 6 January Capitol attack in the US. Leaders representing the three branches of government took to the stage under a screen emblazoned with the words “Democracy Unshaken” to celebrate the resilience of Brazilian democracy and unequivocally condemn the actions of the violent mob that rampaged through the capital a year ago after refusing to accept their leader’s electoral defeat.
Continue reading...Trial under way in New York despite Wayne LaPierre announcing on Friday that he is stepping down as lobby group’s chief executive
A civil trial that will lift the lid on decades of alleged financial mismanagement and corruption by senior officials of the National Rifle Association (NRA) got under way in New York on Monday, with opening statements expected later in the day.
The case against the gun rights group’s former chief executive Wayne LaPierre and other executives is progressing despite LaPierre’s resignation on Friday, and a pre-trial settlement by another of the four defendants, former chief of staff Joshua Powell.
Continue reading...Huge manhunt under way after Adolfo Macías of Los Choneros disappears from cell and guards taken hostage amid prison riots
Ecuador has declared a state of emergency after one of the country’s most dangerous criminals vanished from his cell and prison guards were overpowered and taken hostage amid riots at prisons across the country.
A huge manhunt was under way on Monday as thousands of soldiers and police searched for Adolfo Macías, alias Fito, the convicted leader of the powerful drug gang Los Choneros.
Continue reading...Second female prime minister of Fifth Republic resigns after days of speculation about reshuffle, with Le Pen party ahead in polls
France’s prime minister Élisabeth Borne has resigned after days of increasingly feverish speculation about an imminent government reshuffle.
Emmanuel Macron, who is seeking to give a new impetus to his second mandate before European parliament elections and the Paris Olympics this summer, said on Monday he thanked Borne “with all his heart” for her “exemplary work in the service of the nation”.
Continue reading...Hundreds of men shown making fascist salutes during gathering outside Italian Social Movement headquarters
Italian opposition leaders have called on Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing government to ban neofascist groups after a chilling video emerged of hundreds of men making fascist salutes during an event in Rome.
The crowd was gathered outside the former headquarters of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), a neofascist party founded after the second world war which eventually morphed into Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party.
Continue reading...Partial U-turn by Berlin fails to avert week-long nationwide action that government says could be co-opted by righwing extremists
German farmers blocked city centres, highways and motorway slip roads with tractors at the start of a week-long, nationwide protest over planned cuts to agricultural sector subsidies that the government said could be co-opted by rightwing extremists.
“We are exercising our basic right to inform society and the political class that Germany needs a competitive agricultural sector,” the president of the German farmers’ association, Joachim Rukwied, told Stern magazine on Monday.
Continue reading...Nino Frassica is under investigation after local people said they were accused of involvement in the disappearance of his pet Hiro
An Italian actor is being investigated by prosecutors for defamation, stalking and incitement to criminal activity after allegedly implicating his neighbours in the disappearance of his cat, amid a widespread search for the feline which has caused “turbulence” among the people of a small hilltop town.
The curious case of the missing cat began in September, when Nino Frassica, who lives in the Umbrian town of Spoleto when filming Don Matteo, a Rai TV series, announced the disappearance of Hiro in a post on Instagram.
Continue reading...Ousman Sonko is accused of supporting repressive policies and was arrested in Bern in 2017 after applying for asylum
A former Gambian minister has become the highest-ranking official to be tried in Europe under the principles of universal jurisdiction after his trial on charges of crimes against humanity opened in Switzerland.
Ousman Sonko, interior minister under the west African country’s ousted dictator Yahya Jammeh, was arrested in Bern in 2017 after applying for asylum in Switzerland.
Continue reading...James Hansen says limit will be passed ‘for all practical purposes’ by May though other experts predict that will happen in 2030s
The internationally agreed threshold to prevent the Earth from spiraling into a new superheated era will be “passed for all practical purposes” during 2024, the man known as the godfather of climate science has warned.
James Hansen, the former Nasa scientist credited for alerting the world to the dangers of climate change in the 1980s, said that global heating caused by the burning of fossil fuels, amplified by the naturally reoccurring El Niño climatic event, will by May push temperatures to as much as 1.7C (3F) above the average experienced before industrialization.
Continue reading...Farmers join railway staff and lorry drivers in threatening strike action in protests over issues including pay and cuts to agricultural subsidies. This live blog is closed
About 550 people protested near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin this morning, DPA reported.
Deutsche Bahn has asked a court to stop a planned strike this week, Die Welt reports.
Continue reading...Outfits that shone at Sunday’s event were more traditionally beautiful than the meme-bait of yore
Hollywood, the place that announces itself with enormous letters on a hillside, is about nothing if not spectacle.
So after a months’ long actors’ strike, if the stars had not pulled up to the Golden Globes red carpet in some noteworthy looks, it would have been time for some sartorial soul-searching. But, thankfully, at the Beverly Hilton on Sunday night, red-carpet fashion re-entered the atmosphere with a bang, making a bold comeback after its period of hibernation.
Continue reading...The new president’s rightwing supporters are targeting journalists and women’s rights activists – but the fight goes on
Female journalists who write about gender issues say they are having to deal with a toxic wave of threats against them in Argentina. Some are fighting back, others are lying low and one has gone into self-imposed exile for her safety.
“We are facing a witch-hunt from the ultra-right,” said the author, journalist and activist Luciana Peker, who recently left Argentina for an undisclosed location due to the weight of threats against her.
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