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A Palestinian American woman whose 6-year-old son was killed in a Chicago suburb in what police called a hate crime has asked the public to “pray for peace” as she recovers from her injuries, Associated Press reports.
Hanaan Shahin thanked authorities, doctors and others and remembered her son Wadea Al-Fayoume as an intelligent and funny child who cared about the planet and liked to join her in prayers.
Continue reading...António Guterres had said Hamas attacks had been in context of ‘years of suffocating occupation’ but denied ‘justifying acts of terror’
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, was locked in a bitter row with Israel on Wednesday, saying he was shocked that the Israeli government had misrepresented remarks he had made to the UN to suggest he had justified the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October.
Israel has called for his resignation, accusing him of a blood libel and announcing that it was withdrawing travel visas for UN officials, including the UN humanitarian coordinator, Martin Griffiths.
Continue reading...Xi Jinping says whether or not two countries can find right way of getting along is crucial to the world
The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, has said China is willing to cooperate with the US as both sides manage their differences and work together to respond to global challenges, raising hopes of a meeting between Xi and the US president, Joe Biden, this year.
In a letter delivered at an annual dinner of the National Committee on US-China Relations in New York, Xi said whether or not the US and China could establish the “right” way of getting along would be crucial to the world, according to state media.
Continue reading...Unctad outlines conditions last year, with unemployment rate of 45% one of highest in world
Israel’s blockade hollowed out Gaza’s economy and left 80% of its inhabitants dependent on international aid even before the current crisis erupted, the UN has said.
In a report outlining conditions in the Palestinian territory last year, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) said two-thirds of Gaza’s population was living in poverty, while its unemployment rate of 45% was one of the highest in the world.
Continue reading...In 2020, 350 elephants mysteriously died in Botswana, with a further 35 dying in similar circumstances in Zimbabwe. Now scientists think they may have found the reason why
In May and June 2020, the death of 350 elephants in Botswana’s Okavango delta baffled conservationists and sparked global speculation about what had caused it. Elephants of all ages and both sexes were affected, with many walking in circles before dying suddenly, collapsing on their faces. Two months later, 35 more elephants died in north-western Zimbabwe.
At the time, the deaths in Botswana were attributed to an unspecified cyanobacterial toxin, government officials said, and no further details were published.
Continue reading...Judges reject requirement for trans people to remove reproductive organs for state-recognised gender change
Japan’s top court has ruled that a legal clause requiring people to undergo sterilisation surgery if they want to legally change their gender is unconstitutional.
Several international organisations including the European court of human rights, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and UN had said the requirement was discriminatory and infringed on human rights.
Continue reading...Hurricane Otis is forecast to make landfall near the Mexican resort of Acapulco, with the US National Hurricane Center warning of ‘nightmare scenario’
Hurricane Otis strengthened from a tropical storm to a dangerous Category 5 hurricane in a matter of hours on Tuesday as it approached Mexico’s southern Pacific coast, with the president urging residents to seek shelter.
The storm was forecast to make landfall near the resort of Acapulco early on Wednesday and the US National Hurricane Center warned it will cause catastrophic damage.
Continue reading...China’s Tsingtao beer reportedly experiences a consumer backlash in South Korea after video of a worker appearing to urinate into a beer tank goes viral
Restaurants and consumers in South Korea have quickly lost their taste for Tsingtao beer, according to media reports, after a video that appeared to show a brewery worker urinating into a tank at one of the firm’s plants in China went viral.
The clip, which has been viewed tens of millions of times on social media since it appeared last Thursday, shows a man wearing a helmet and blue uniform clambering over the side of a high-walled container and apparently relieving himself over its contents.
Continue reading...A 17-year-old with a passion for robotics has produced a cheaper utensil that uses sensors to cancel out hand tremors
The motivation for his invention came to Aarrav Anil last year when he saw his uncle Arjun, who has Parkinson’s disease, struggle to eat. Some food spilled out of his mouth, the rest splattered on his clothes. Arjun attempted to keep his dignity but the frustration forced the retired civil servant, who is in his 70s, to give up and call his helper to feed him.
The sight of his uncle’s tremors shaking the spoon so violently inspired Aarrav, 17, from Bengaluru, south India, to turn to robotics. He locked himself in his room with microcontrollers, sensors, motors, and a 3D printer. What emerged was a prototype of a smart spoon that is now undergoing trials at the RV College of Physiotherapy in Bengaluru.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Poll shows young people willing to make big lifestyle changes but baulk at smaller gestures
They are willing to have smaller families, stop using cars and – albeit in smaller numbers – go vegan for the planet, but abandoning single-use plastics and growing a few more plants could be a step too far.
Across Europe, according to a seven-country survey, it seems young people are more willing than older generations to make big lifestyle changes that would help combat the climate crisis – but are less convinced by smaller gestures.
Continue reading...In an interview with the Guardian, Jacov Milatović says Brussels has an opportunity to renew its commitment to enlargement
The EU can demonstrate its renewed commitment to the principle of enlargement by admitting its longest standing applicant, Montenegro, within five years, the country’s newly elected president has said.
“Our membership would be a story about more than Montenegro. It would show to accession countries that the path of reform pays off,” Jakov Milatović said in an interview with the Guardian.
Continue reading...Volodymyr Zelenskiy says it is a ‘question of time’ before Ukraine regains control over Crimea; Russian forces continue pounding eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, vowed to maintain military pressure on Russian-occupied Crimea. “We have not yet gained full fire control over Crimea and surrounding waters, but we will,” Zelenskiy told a meeting of the Crimea Platform, a diplomatic initiative he launched in 2021. “This is a question of time.”
Russian forces continued to pound the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials are quoted as saying. Heavy losses forced Russia to switch to air attacks instead of ground advances, they claimed.
Two civilians have been killed in an artillery strike on a village near Kupiansk, Kharkiv’s regional governor, Oleh Synehub, has said. Russian forces have reportedly been attacking further north in the area of Kupiansk – a town initially seized by Russia after the invasion but recaptured by Ukraine last year.
Russian has claimed successful artillery and air strikes near Bakhmut - a town to the north-east captured by Russian forces in May after months of battles. Reuters says it could not independently verify accounts of battlefield activity on either side.
Australia says it’s sending a 3D metal printer and anti-drone systems to Ukraine as part of a A$20m ($12.8m )military assistance package. Prime minister Anthony Albanese is quoted as saying “Australia remains steadfast in supporting Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion”. It takes the country’s total aid to about A$910m ($582m) since Russia invaded. It is understood the Australian Prime Minister will discuss the Ukraine confclit with Joe Biden during his state visit to the US.
Moldova blocked access to more than 20 Russian media websites on Tuesday, saying they had been used as part of an information war against the country. A decree published online by Moldova’s Intelligence and Security Service listed 22 Russian news resources to be blocked, including prominent ones such as Russia Today, NTV, Ren TV, state media holding VGTRK and others. The Russian foreign ministry is quoted as saying the move is a “hostile step” aimed at denying Moldovans access to alternative news sources. Moldova restricted TV broadcasts of Russia-produced news, analytical and military-related content in June 2022 following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Joe Biden’s request for Ukraine aid remains in limbo, as US House Republicans continue to struggle to elect a speaker.
Ukraine has set up a joint defence venture with German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall AG to service and repair western weapons sent to help Kyiv against Russia’s full-scale invasion, officials said.
Ukraine expects Germany to provide it with an additional €1.4bn to enhance its air defences and help it get through a second winter at war with Russia, Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said.
The EU is on track towards its goal of ending its reliance on Russian fossil fuels within this decade, the European Commission said.
Two people died and others were injured in Russian shelling of Kherson, the local governor claimed.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, met the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, in Tehran earlier. Russia and Iran were firming up bilateral relations in a “trusting” atmosphere, Russia’s foreign ministry said early on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Secretary general’s comments spark fierce row and Israeli calls for resignation as 700 deaths are reported in a day and hospitals close for want of electricity
The United Nations’ secretary general has called for an immediate ceasefire to end “epic suffering” in the Gaza Strip after Israeli airstrikes reportedly killed more than 700 people in a single day and hospitals began to shut down for lack of fuel.
António Guterres said the bombardment and blockade of Gaza amounted to the “collective punishment of the Palestinian people” and violated international law, comments that sparked a fierce row with Israel.
Continue reading...Human faces and other figures believed to be up to 2,000 years old exposed as Brazil river level hits record low
Human faces and other figures etched in stone up to 2,000 years ago have been revealed on Amazon riverbanks as a historic drought in the Brazilian region has brought water levels to unprecedented lows.
The petroglyphs, which include animals and other natural forms, have been revealed on the shores of the Rio Negro, at an archeological site known as the Ponto das Lajes, or Place of Slabs.
Continue reading...Vatican did not say why Grzegorz Kaszak was resigning, but priest from his diocese faced criminal investigation
The pope has accepted the resignation of a Polish bishop whose diocese has been rocked by reports of a gay orgy involving a male sex worker in a priest’s apartment, as well as previous violent incidents involving his clergy.
The Vatican did not give a reason why Grzegorz Kaszak was resigning as head of the diocese of Sosnowiec, in south-western Poland. At 59, he is several years shy of the normal retirement age of 75.
Continue reading...This blog has now closed. You can follow the Guardian’s continuing live coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict here.
The US has advised Israel to hold off on a ground assault in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and is keeping Qatar – a broker with the Palestinian militants – apprised of those talks, sources have told Reuters.
Echoing reports in other media including the New York Times, the newswire reported:
After Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October and killed some 1,400 people, the United States stood by its ally and stressed that Israel has the right to defend itself. It has also publicly stressed that Israel will decide its own timetable for retaliation.
But the White House, Pentagon and State Department have now stepped up private appeals for caution in conversations with the Israelis, two sources familiar with discussions said, as Israel’s blockade of Gaza worsens a humanitarian crisis and the death toll from its bombardment of the enclave passes 5,000.
Continue reading...Trump’s former fixer testifies in ex-president’s civil fraud trial at Manhattan court
As the court breaks, here is a bit of background on the Trump-Cohen relationship:
In 2006, Cohen started working as Trump’s personal lawyer and served in that role for 10 years, according to The Hill.
Continue reading...Katrín Jakobsdóttir says she wants country to achieve full gender equality by 2030 as third of population attend event in capital
The prime minister of Iceland has said she wants to achieve full gender equality in her country by 2030 as she joined an estimated 100,000 women and non-binary people in an all-day strike, the biggest protest the country has ever seen.
Speaking outside her office before the start of a huge gathering in the centre of Reykjavík on Tuesday, Katrín Jakobsdóttir said the world was dragging its feet on gender equality but that Iceland was doing its best to deal with “huge issues” around the gender pay gap, gender-based violence and sexual harassment.
Continue reading...Up to 26 Republicans may sink Minnesota lawmaker Emmer’s chance to become next House speaker, reports say
Per the Hill, here’s a breakdown of the full vote totals from the first ballot:
As you can see, Tom Emmer received the most votes, but other candidates received more votes overall. It’s a secret ballot, so members don’t necessarily know each other’s choice, but we’ll see if Emmer picked up more support from other candidates in the second round of balloting.
Continue reading...Latest effort to free more than 200 people comes as Israeli military continues preparing for expected ground offensive
Israel’s military has dropped leaflets in Gaza, offering protection and a reward to Palestinians who contact them with information about hostages held by Hamas, in its latest effort to free more than 200 people seized during the terrorist attacks that killed 1,400 people on 7 October.
The move underlines the difficulties facing the Israeli government as it tries to reconcile its stated aim to “crush Hamas” with saving the lives of as many hostages as possible.
Continue reading...