Rights activists say marriage of Maya Gurung, a transgender woman, and Surendra Pandey is ‘historic day’
An LGBTQ+ couple in Nepal have said they want to “scream to the world that we are husband and wife at last” after becoming the first in south Asia to have their marriage legally recognised.
Maya Gurung, 38, a transgender woman, and Surendra Pandey, 27, were given a legal certificate in Nepal’s Lamjung district on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Tears and joy as 17 Thai nationals who were seized in Hamas attacks on Israel land in Bangkok
Pornsawan Pinakalo’s three great aunts would not have missed his return for the world. Kularb Pinakalo’s knees couldn’t quite get her up to the room in Bangkok airport where her nephew was meeting other family members for the first time since being taken hostage in Gaza. But after travelling for four hours by van to the Thai capital, the 63-year-old was ready and waiting for him to emerge in the arrivals hall, alongside 84-year-old Nangnoi Pattataysan and Noi Prakobkan, 82.
“I just want to give him a hug,” Kularb said. She was so overwhelmed that she could hardly think of what to say to him, she added.
Continue reading...Human rights activists say supreme court’s vague wording provides wide scope for persecution
Russia’s supreme court has outlawed what it called an “international LGBT public movement” as extremist, in a landmark ruling that representatives of gay and transgender people warn will lead to arrests and prosecutions of the already repressed LGBTQ+ community.
The ruling in effect outlaws LGBTQ+ activism in a country growing increasingly conservative since the start of the war in Ukraine. The “extremist” label could mean that gay, lesbian, transgender or queer people living in Russia could receive lengthy prison sentences if deemed by the authorities to be part of the so called “international LGBT public movement”.
Continue reading...New report says disease-carrying mosquitoes thrive in rising temperatures, leading to transmission in hitherto unaffected areas
The climate crisis poses a major threat to the fight against malaria, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), with evidence suggesting extreme weather events and rising temperatures have already led to spikes in cases.
Mosquitoes, the carriers of the disease, thrive in warm, damp and humid conditions, which are increasing with global heating.
Continue reading...Two men, reportedly brothers from East Jerusalem, shot dead at scene after attack that killed three people
Hamas has claimed responsibility for a deadly gun attack at a busy bus stop in west Jerusalem in which three Israelis were killed, prompting the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to pledge to eliminate the Palestinian group whenever the hostage release halts.
The shooting overshadowed negotiations aimed at extending the existing truce in Gaza, but despite the attack, Egypt and Qatar remained hopeful of securing a two-day extension in return for the release of another 20 hostages and a further 60 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Continue reading...Matthew Hedges, tortured in UAE in 2018, tells reporters and activists to take clean phones and watch who they deal with
Journalists and campaigners attending the Cop28 climate conference in Dubai should “not be naive” and take steps to protect their physical and digital security, a British academic who was tortured in the summit’s host country has warned.
Matthew Hedges, who was detained in the United Arab Emirates for seven months in 2018, advised reporters and activists to take new, clean phones, think carefully about who they deal with and how and where they protest.
Continue reading...Anthony Hurndall, whose son was shot by the IDF in 2003, has called on governments to challenge Israeli claims about deaths of women and children
Western governments are “actively encourag[ing] the killing of women and children” in Gaza, because they are not willing to challenge Israeli accounts of the war there, the father of a British peace activist killed by an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) sniper has warned.
Anthony Hurndall’s son, Tom Hurndall, was shot in the head in April 2003 in Rafah, while he was helping Palestinian children.
Continue reading...Family of Paul Rusesabagina, who campaigned to have him freed from jail, say country’s justice system is a ‘tool to oppress people’
The Rwandan legal system is incapable of protecting refugees sent from the UK, according to the daughters of Paul Rusesabagina, the man who inspired the Oscar-nominated movie Hotel Rwanda.
Carine and Anaïse Kanimba campaigned for more than two years to secure the release of their father, who was freed from a Kigali jail after three years of incarceration earlier this year, and they have detailed first-hand knowledge of the true nature of the Rwandan legal system.
Continue reading...Cop28 hears poorest nations spend at least 12 times as much to service debts than on tackling global heating
The fight against the climate emergency is being hampered by a debt crisis that involves the world’s poorest countries paying more than 12 times as much to their creditors as they are spending on measures to tackle the impact of global heating, a campaign group has warned.
As the Cop28 meeting opened in the United Arab Emirates, Development Finance International (DFI) said a new round of comprehensive and deep debt cancellation was needed to free up much-needed investment in climate emergency adaptation.
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China’s government has released a position paper on the Israel-Hamas conflict. The country this month took the chair of the UN security council, and the position paper’s release coincided with an address to the council by China’s foreign minister Wang Yi.
The five point proposal reiterated much of China’s ongoing position on the conflict, which is that a two-state solution remains the answer, and again called for an immediate ceasefire, and an end to the fighting. It said humanitarian corridors had to be safe and unimpeded, and expansion of the conflict must be prevented.
Pursuant to the Charter of the United Nations, the Security Council shoulders primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, and should thus play an active and constructive role on the question of Palestine.
Any arrangement on the future of Gaza must respect the will and independent choice of the Palestinian people, and must not be imposed upon them.
Continue reading...With olives the largest single agricultural product on the West Bank, Palestinians say Israeli restrictions and settler violence are losing them $70m
Shaadi, Isa and Mahmud Saleh look out across the valley, bite their nails, wring their hands and worry. There is no work locally and travelling to find any is almost impossible because of restrictions imposed by Israel on the occupied West Bank after the 7 October attacks by Hamas that killed more than 1,200 people. The main road into their village has been almost entirely blocked. Their debts are mounting up.
“There has never been anything like this,” says Isa, 73. “Life is not normal.”
Continue reading...Tsai Ing-wen says economic, financial and political challenges overwhelm Xi Jinping’s government, with international pressure also a deterrent
Taiwan’s president has said China is unlikely to attempt an invasion any time soon because it is “overwhelmed” by domestic problems.
Tsai Ing-wen made the remarks in an interview at the New York Times Dealbook Summit.
Continue reading...The towering diplomat and Nobel prize winner shaped decades of US foreign policy but was seen by critics as a war criminal
Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state under Richard Nixon who became one of the most prominent and controversial figures of US foreign policy in the 20th century, has died. He was 100.
His consulting firm Kissinger Associates announced his death in a statement on Wednesday evening, but did not disclose a cause.
Continue reading...As the Cop28 climate summit begins in Dubai today, a secret Saudi Arabian plan to get poorer countries ‘hooked on its harmful products’ has emerged. Damian Carrington reports
Delegates from every country in the world are meeting today at the beginning of the Cop28 climate talks in Dubai, hosted by the United Arab Emirates. The scale of the challenge ahead of them is immense: phasing out the fossil fuels that power the global economy before a planetary tipping point is reached.
As the Guardian’s environment editor, Damian Carrington, tells Michael Safi this week, that task has got even tougher. It has emerged that Saudi Arabia is driving a huge global investment plan to create demand for its oil and gas in developing countries. Critics say the plan is designed to get countries “hooked on its harmful products”.
Continue reading...Four Thais were released late on Wednesday after two on Tuesday, having spent seven weeks in captivity
Thailand’s foreign minister has met Thai hostages in an emotional welcome after their release by Hamas from seven weeks of captivity, saying he hoped for freedom soon for the remaining hostages from his country.
Four Thai workers were released late on Wednesday, bringing the total released to 23.
Continue reading...New Zealand’s national icon is also one of its most vulnerable birds and conservationists believe it was absent from capital for generations
Two kiwi chicks have been born in the wild around Wellington for the first time in more than 100 years, one year after the national bird was reintroduced to New Zealand’s capital.
The fluffy and flightless kiwi is one of the most vulnerable birds in New Zealand and conservationists believe it has been absent from the capital for generations.
Continue reading...The report Our Land and Water looks at how waterways are polluted by four major contaminants in 650,000 river segments, 961 lakes and 419 estuaries
A new study of New Zealand’s freshwater quality has painted a sobering picture, showing that E coli is seeping through three-quarters of the land and into waterways at higher levels than national regulations allow.
The report, funded by the government-backed organisation Our Land and Water, looked at how rivers, lakes, and estuaries are polluted by four major contaminants, including E coli, a bacteria found in the intestines of many animals and humans that can cause serious illness.
Continue reading...Hiring from ‘red-list’ nations risks destabilising healthcare overseas, warns Royal College of Nursing
The NHS has been accused of “unethical” behaviour after it emerged that it has been recruiting record numbers of nurses and midwives from countries which have serious staffing shortages.
Bringing in staff from “red-list” countries risked destabilising those nations’ healthcare systems and breaching government guidelines, said hospital employers and the Royal College of Nursing.
Continue reading...Officials in the east African country are frustrated by delays in migrants arriving and negative attention scheme has engendered
The UK and Rwanda remain committed to their controversial migrant deportation deal, sources have said, after reports emerged that support in Kigali for the agreement had cooled because of the continual delays.
Westminster has already paid the Rwandan government more than £140m but nobody has been sent to the east African country yet. The first flight was scheduled for June 2022 but was cancelled after legal challenges.
Continue reading...Monique Olivier, 75, on trial for complicity in Michel Fourniret’s murder of Briton Joanna Parrish and two French victims
The former wife of French serial killer Michel Fourniret told police he beat British student Joanna Parrish unconscious before raping and strangling her and throwing her body in a river.
Monique Olivier, 75, is on trial for complicity in the kidnapping and murder of Parrish, 20, in 1990 and two other victims – Marie-Angèle Domèce, 19, in 1988 and nine-year-old Estelle Mouzin in 2003.
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