Experts warn that global heating is exacerbating inherent dangers of high altitude mountaineering
Avalanches in the Himalayas are causing an increasing number of deaths and threatening the safety of climbers, research suggests.
While high-altitude mountaineering comes with an inherent avalanche risk, global heating is exacerbating the danger during the climbing season in the Himalayan mountain range, experts warn.
Continue reading...Joseph Biggs, who played leading role on January 6, gets 17 years in prison and former chapter leader Zachary Rehl 15 years
Two former leaders of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group have each been sentenced to more than a decade in prison for spearheading an attack on the US Capitol to try to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election.
The 17-year prison term for Joseph Biggs, a Proud Boys organizer, and 15-year sentence for Zachary Rehl, a leader of the group, were the second and third longest sentences handed down yet over the 6 January 2021 attack.
Continue reading...Warrant issued in investigation into smuggling of antiquities looted from Turkey and trafficked through US
A headless bronze statue believed to depict the Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius has been seized from the Cleveland Museum of Art by New York authorities investigating antiquities looted from Turkey.
A warrant signed by a judge in Manhattan on 14 August ordered the seizure of the statue, which the museum acquired in 1986 and had been a highlight of its collection of ancient Roman art.
Continue reading...Category 3 storm causes extensive flooding in south-east US, while heavy rain and winds also hit France and Italy
Hurricane Idalia struck northern Florida on Wednesday, bringing damaging winds and torrential rain. It made landfall near Keaton Beach on Florida’s Big Bend during the morning as a high-end category 3 hurricane, bringing sustained winds speeds near 125mph (200km/h) and a storm surge of 16ft along Florida’s north-west coastline.
Due to very warm sea surface temperatures, the storm strengthened rapidly over the Gulf of Mexico to category 4 status, before weakening to category 3 as it made landfall. It brought extensive flooding as it passed through and damaged power lines, leaving thousands without electricity.
Continue reading...The photographer Gideon Mendel travelled to Rhodes a month after the fires as part of his Burning World project. He sought to document the impact on lives and landscapes
July 2023 was the hottest month ever recorded, and Rhodes in Greece was one of many places that faced scorching temperatures and wildfires. There were no human casualties but the fire ravaged about 135,000 hectares of forest and vegetation, burned more than 50,000 olive trees and many domestic animals, destroyed about 50 homes and led to the mass evacuation of tourists from the area.
I travelled to the region a month after the fires, making new work for my Burning World project. I choose not to document the flames but rather seek out their aftermath, the traces left behind on lives and landscapes.
The Ekaterini hotel in Kiotari, south Rhodes
Continue reading...Billionaire Leon Cooperman, who backed Giuliani’s 2008 White House bid, says he won’t help with legal fees – and he’s not alone
As he attempts to meet mounting legal fees incurred in large part through his work for Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani will reportedly not get “a nickel” from one billionaire who backed his campaign for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination – or, apparently, much from many others previously big donors.
“I wouldn’t give him a nickel,” the investor Leon Cooperman told CNBC. “I’m very negative on Donald Trump. It’s an American tragedy. [Rudy] was ‘America’s mayor’. He did a great job. And like everybody else who gets involved with Trump, it turns to shit.”
Continue reading...Election comes as minister faces a corruption investigation and voters express frustration with the electoral process
Singaporeans will select a new president on Friday, a vote that will measure public mood at a time when the ruling party, which has been in power for more than six decades, is reeling from a spate of uncommon political scandals.
The vote comes as a senior government minister is under investigation by the country’s anti-graft agency, and after the resignation of two senior lawmakers over an affair.
Continue reading...Manufacturer of much of the western equipment used against Russian invasion says it aims to produce artillery
The British defence company BAE Systems is setting up a local entity in Ukraine and has signed deals with its government to help ramp up its supply of weapons and equipment.
BAE said it would work directly with Kyiv to explore potential partners for a plan to ultimately produce 105mm light artillery guns in Ukraine and to better understand Ukraine’s requirements.
Continue reading...New Delhi municipal council has also deployed ‘30 to 40 people’ to make monkey sounds to create the impression that the animals are alive
Lifesize cutouts of langurs have sprung up in several parts of New Delhi over the last few days as officials look to prevent the smaller rhesus monkeys from disrupting the G20 summit that will take place next week.
Rhesus monkeys are a menace in many areas in India’s national capital, running across busy roads without warning – putting both themselves and motorists at risk – and often attacking unsuspecting pedestrians or residents.
Continue reading...African Union suspends Gabon’s membership after General Brice Oligui Nguema and followers threw out re-elected president Ali Bongo
The general who overthrew Gabon’s 55-year Bongo dynasty will be sworn in on Monday as transitional president, the army has said, while the African Union’s peace and security council has decided to “immediately suspend” Gabon after the military coup this week.
Gabon’s opposition, meanwhile, has called for its candidate to be recognised as the winner of weekend elections.
Continue reading...Japan has learned key lessons from the 1923 earthquake that killed 105,000 people, but rapid growth of the capital has raised the stakes
The earthquake that struck the Tokyo region two minutes before noon on 1 September 1923 was so powerful that it destroyed the central weather bureau’s seismometers.
Over almost two days, fires triggered by household gas burners, chemicals and overhead wires raged through the wooden buildings of eastern Tokyo’s low-lying shitamachi neighbourhoods.
Continue reading...Investigation into deaths of Vincent Hong and Timothy Saville ‘let down’ by Greek authorities, says coroner
The families of two men from Yorkshire who died on a scuba diving trip in Greece have been told they may never find out exactly what happened to their loved ones.
A Hull coroner has said it is not possible to determine what caused the deaths of Dr Vincent Hong, a consultant cardiothoracic anaesthetist, and Timothy Saville, a Huddersfield businessman, who died within three days of each other on the same trip.
Continue reading...Blaze at five-storey block puts spotlight on dangerous state of ‘hijacked’ city buildings occupied by vulnerable residents
Survivors of a fire that ripped through a building in Johannesburg described jumping out of windows to escape the flames, as questions were raised about the dilapidated and dangerous state of the informal dwellings housing poor economic migrants in the city.
The death toll rose to 74 on Thursday afternoon after the blaze that took hold shortly after midnight. Dozens more people were being treated for injuries in hospitals around the city. Twelve of those killed were children, the Gauteng health department said.
Continue reading...Indian opposition leader brandishes Guardian article on alleged financial violations by Adani family
Rahul Gandhi has said India’s “global reputation is on the line” and demanded that the prime minister, Narendra Modi, opens a parliamentary investigation after the Guardian revealed years of alleged financial violations by the politically connected Adani family.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, the most prominent figure in India’s opposition Congress party held aloft a copy of the Guardian article detailing how Adani family associates had appeared to use opaque offshore funds to secretly invest hundreds of millions of dollars into shares of their own Adani Group companies, one of the most powerful conglomerates in India.
Continue reading...Canadian government issues warning after numerous discriminatory laws passed in Republican-controlled states
LGBTQ+ citizens are at risk when traveling to the US due to numerous discriminatory laws passed at state level, the Canadian government has warned.
“Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons. Check relevant state and local laws,” the government’s website reads.
Continue reading...Conservation officers believe animal was shot and dragged into Squamish River in British Columbia
Conservation officers in Canada are asking the public for help after the body of a grizzly bear was discovered floating in a British Columbia river.
This week, the province’s conservation service said it was investigating the illegal killing of the bear, after remains were discovered near the town of Squamish.
Continue reading...Fintech company still made second-quarter operating loss of £62m as calls grow for sector to be regulated
Klarna, a buy now, pay later firm, has reported a profitable month for the first time in three years.
The Swedish company, which allows shoppers to defer and split the cost of items but has been accused of tipping people into debt, has struggled to make money in recent years amid rising bad debts and weak consumer confidence.
Continue reading...Researchers used genetic analysis to identify species that cannot be distinguished by appearance alone
Seven new leaf insect species, known as “walking leaves”, have been discovered.
The insects exhibit a sophisticated “twigs and leaf-like” camouflage allowing them to blend into their surroundings without detection, posing a challenge to both predators and researchers.
Continue reading...Seven children among dozens dead after blaze tears through building in South Africa’s largest city
At least 73 people, including seven children, have died in a fire in a multi-storey building in the centre of Johannesburg, South Africa’s biggest city, emergency services have said.
In one of the country’s worst such tragedies in living memory, emergency management services said a further 43 people had been injured in the blaze, which broke out early on Thursday.
Continue reading...Three more soldiers and a Palestinian also injured at checkpoint amid wave of violence
A Palestinian driver has slammed his truck into soldiers at a busy checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, killing one of them before being shot dead, Israeli authorities have said, the latest bloodshed in a relentless cycle of violence to roil the region.
The violence came a day after Israeli police shot and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy who stabbed a man in a Jerusalem light-rail station and after Palestinian militants detonated a bomb near a convoy of Israeli troops escorting Jewish worshippers to a holy site in the West Bank, wounding four Israeli troops.
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