Category Archives: World News

Anti-corruption campaigner wins Guatemala presidential election

Posted on by

Bernado Arévalo’s surprise victory comes at time of growing concern for state of democracy in Central America

Central America’s democratic downswing has received a powerful correction after the centrist anti-corruption crusader Bernardo Arévalo was elected president of Guatemala – a result almost inconceivable just a few weeks ago.

Alongside El Salvador and Nicaragua, Guatemala was one of several Central American countries to have suffered a troubling authoritarian slide in recent years with judges and prosecutors forced into exile and a leading journalist thrown in jail.

Continue reading...

Zero-degree line at record height above Switzerland as heat and fire hit Europe

Posted on by

Weather ballon climbs to 5,300 metres before temperature falls to 0C amid late summer heatwave

A Swiss weather balloon had to climb to an unprecedented 5,300 metres (17,400ft) before the temperature fell to 0C (32F), meteorologists have said, as a late summer heatwave and wildfires continue to pummel swathes of continental Europe.

A man was found dead in a blaze raging north of Athens on Monday as the Greek government warned of an “extreme” risk of fire across the country, while more than half of mainland France was placed under an amber heat alert.

Continue reading...

Nerves build as India moon mission prepares to make first successful south pole landing

Posted on by

Chandrayaan-3 moves into prelanding orbit amid failure of Russian mission

As it was announced that Russia’s first lunar mission in 47 years had crashed on to the moon, India’s own mission, the Chandrayaan-3 lander, moved into prelanding orbit.

News on Sunday of the Russian failure was met with excitement and nervousness in India: excitement that India was now poised to win the race to become the first country to land a craft on the moon’s south pole; nervousness that its mission could also go horribly wrong at the last moment.

Continue reading...

Murder of Black community activist, 72, in Brazil prompts calls for action

Posted on by

Maria Bernadete Pacífico, whose son was shot dead in 2017, killed by gunmen at her home in Bahia

Human rights organisations in Brazil are clamouring for justice following the murder of a Black community activist who had been receiving threats.

Maria Bernadete Pacífico, a community and religious leader in the Pitanga dos Palmares quilombo – an Afro-Brazilian settlement of descendants of escaped slaves in the north-east state of Bahia – was killed on Thursday evening.

Continue reading...

North Korea abruptly cancels first post-Covid international commercial flight

Posted on by

Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang cancelled two hours after its scheduled arrival in Beijing

North Korea’s national airline’s first commercial flight since it largely closed itself off from the world in early 2020 in response to the Covid pandemic has been abruptly cancelled.

Journalists gathered on Monday at Beijing’s Capital international airport to await Air Koryo flight JS151 from Pyongyang, due to arrive at 9.50am.

Continue reading...

Weather tracker: tropical storm makes landfall in California for first time in 84 years

Posted on by

Storm Hilary expected to cause severe flooding, as other parts of US and Mexico put under extreme heat warnings

For the first time in 84 years, a tropical storm has made landfall in California. Tropical Storm Hilary, with maximum sustained wind gusts of 130mph (210km/h) and a central air pressure of 943mb, advanced towards the Baja California peninsula this weekend as a category 4 hurricane, before arriving as a tropical storm in southern California late on Sunday. The last time a tropical storm made landfall in southern California was in 1939, when it flooded Los Angeles and killed nearly 100 people.

Hilary triggered California’s first ever tropical storm warning, extending from the Mexican border to just north of Los Angeles amid rainfall totals estimated to have reached 70-150mm (3-6in) across southern California. This amount of rainfall is expected to cause life-threatening flooding, and would amount to more than a year’s worth of rain across parts of California and Nevada.

Continue reading...

China cuts key interest rate amid economic slowdown

Posted on by

Central bank reduces one-year loan prime rate but surprises analysts by leaving five-year rate unchanged

China’s central bank has cut one of its key lending rates but left another unchanged, surprising economists who had expected more forceful action to support economic growth amid widespread concerns over its path.

The world’s second-largest economy is in the midst of a slowdown, and has slipped into deflation with prices falling year on year as slowing domestic spending weighs on the country’s post-Covid economic recovery.

Continue reading...

Ally of former leftist Ecuador president to face tycoon’s son in runoff election

Posted on by

Luisa González, who has pledged to revive Rafael Correa’s social programmes, to run against Daniel Noboa in October

A protege of Ecuador’s former leftist president Rafael Correa will face the son of one of the country’s richest men in a runoff presidential vote in October, after first-round voting on Sunday failed to produce an outright winner.

With more than three-quarters of ballots counted, Luisa González, who has promised to revive Correa’s social programmes, was tallying just over 33% support, while Daniel Noboa, the son of the prominent banana businessman and former presidential candidate Álavaro Noboa, was on 24%.

Continue reading...

Japan’s armed forces covered up sexual and other harassment, report shows

Posted on by

Most of the 1,325 cases in the self-defence forces were not reported because victims feared retribution, say experts

Japan’s military has covered up cases of sexual and other forms of harassment among members of the self-defence forces (SDF) and refused to take allegations seriously, according to a report that sheds light on widespread abuse in the armed forces.

A panel of experts formed in response to a high-profile case in 2022 said it was aware of 1,325 cases of harassment targeting women and men, adding that more than 60% of victims had not reported them.

Continue reading...

‘Fired on like rain’: Saudi border guards accused of mass killings of Ethiopians

Posted on by

Report by Human Rights Watch details alleged attacks using explosive weapons and small arms on Saudi Arabia-Yemen border

Saudi border guards have been accused of killing hundreds of Ethiopians using small arms and explosive weapons in a targeted campaign that rights advocates suggest may amount to a crime against humanity.

The shocking claims are made in a detailed investigation by Human Rights Watch, which interviewed dozens of Ethiopian people who said they were attacked by border guards while they tried to cross into Saudi Arabia from Yemen.

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war live: Netherlands and Denmark to supply F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, Dutch PM says

Posted on by

Pledge comes a few days after US approved the possible delivery of the fighter jets

Former Kherson region residents struggling for money are taking advantage of a Russian scheme offering free housing, the Kyiv Post reports.

A scheme set up by the Kremlin last autumn provides housing vouchers to Ukrainians in occupied territories who are willing to accept Russian passports.

Russia’s Kursk and Rostov regions, both of which border Ukraine, reported drone strikes while Russia’s defence ministry said it had jammed a Ukrainian drone in the Moscow region, forcing it to crash in an unpopulated area.

Russia’s aviation watchdog said it had briefly halted flights to the city’s Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports in response.

Continue reading...

Netherlands and Denmark to donate up to 61 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine

Posted on by

Danish PM says country will provide 19 in stages when pilot training is completed as Dutch counterpart pledges up to 42 planes

The Netherlands and Denmark have announced they will donate up to 61 F-16 fighter jets between them to Ukraine once pilot training has been satisfactorily completed, as Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited both countries after months of entreaties to bolster the Ukrainian air force.

Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said her country would provide 19 jets – “hopefully” six around new year, eight more next year and the remaining five in 2025. “Please take this donation as a token of Denmark’s unwavering support for your country’s fight for freedom,” Frederiksen said.

Continue reading...

‘I’m so happy as a woman and as a Spaniard’: World Cup joy in Madrid

Posted on by

Jubilation at victory over England will take a while to sink in – and there are hopes it will bring lasting change

By mid-afternoon on Sunday, the August-quiet, sun-fried streets around Madrid’s WiZink Center had begun to fill with red strips, dazed and happy faces, and the inevitable chorus of horns from the capital’s jubilant motorists. Spain had done it. But the fact they had done it was going to take a while to sink in.

Among the hundreds of people milling about outside the sporting arena and concert venue – where giant screens had shown the World Cup triumph of the Spanish women’s team to 6,000 people – were Laura Luengo, her wife, Tamara Rodríguez, and their young son, Álvaro.

Continue reading...

Ecuadorians vote for new president in election marred by candidate’s murder

Posted on by

Security is high since the murder of Fernando Villavicencio as candidates hope to overturn crime rates and a struggling economy

Ecuadorians are voting to choose a new president they hope will lead the country out of a wave of violence and economic troubles, after a campaign darkened by bloodshed.

Candidates have pledged to fight sharp increases in crime, which the current government blames on drug gangs, and improve the struggling economy, whose woes have caused a rise in unemployment and migration.

Continue reading...

Tenerife wildfire ‘started deliberately’ as blazes in Greece force evacuations

Posted on by

Canary Islands regional president opens inquiry into fire, while people flee from four Greek villages

An out-of-control wildfire on Tenerife that has forced thousands to flee was started deliberately, authorities have said, as four more villages in Greece were evacuated in the face of another advancing blaze and more than half of mainland France was on extreme heat alert.

As much of southern Europe continues to roast after July was named the world’s hottest month on record, the Canary Islands regional president, Fernando Clavijo, said on Sunday that police had confirmed the blaze raging on the Spanish island since Tuesday had been lit intentionally, and had opened three separate lines of inquiry.

Continue reading...

Row over restaurant ‘wealth screening’ boils over in French resort of St-Tropez

Posted on by

Mayor threatens sanctions over reported practices of large minimum spends and selecting diners by size of previous bills

The mayor of St-Tropez has threatened “racketeering” restaurateurs in the Med’s most famous – and overpriced – former fishing village with sanctions after reports that some are selecting diners by the size of previous bills and are setting minimum spends.

“These accusations are extremely shocking to me because they are unfortunately true,” Sylvie Siri told local media, adding that she “and the entire council are totally opposed to such despicable practices”, which were “ruining the town’s image”.

Continue reading...

Pence won’t say if criminal conviction should rule Trump out as president

Posted on by

Former vice-president who once voted to expel felon from Congress says American people should decide

Donald Trump’s former vice-president, Mike Pence, refused to say Trump should be barred from returning to the White House if he is convicted on any of 91 criminal charges against him.

“I think that he’s to be left to the American people,” Pence told ABC’s This Week, on Sunday. “Let’s have the former president have his day in court. Let’s maintain a presumption of innocence.”

Continue reading...

Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft crashes into the moon

Posted on by

Craft spun into ‘unpredictable’ orbit before planned touchdown could take place, Russia’s state space corporation says

Russia’s first moon mission in 47 years has failed after its Luna-25 spacecraft spun out of control and crashed into the moon, dealing a significant setback to the embattled Russian space programme’s attempt to revive its Soviet-era prestige.

The state space corporation Roscosmos said it had lost contact with the craft at 1157 GMT on Saturday after a problem as the craft was shunted into pre-landing orbit. A soft landing had been planned for Monday.

Continue reading...

Indian writer says Amazon Prime series character seems to be based on her

Posted on by

Yashica Dutt accuses makers of Made in Heaven of failing to acknowledge her contribution to story of bride from low caste

An Amazon Prime series on Indian wedding planners has been accused of failing to acknowledge the contribution of a Dalit journalist who says that the main character appears to be based on her own life, as recounted in a book she wrote.

Yashica Dutt, 37, has been based in New York for a few years but grew up in India amid the daily contempt to which people who belong to her caste are subjected.

Continue reading...

Prince William faces criticism for not attending Women’s World Cup final

Posted on by

Decision not to fly to Australia has been questioned by those who say Lionesses deserved top-level support

The Prince of Wales may have cheered on the Lionesses from afar, but has faced criticism from some quarters at home over his reluctance to get on a plane to support the England team in person.

William was absent from Stadium Australia on Sunday despite being president of the Football Association, and is understood to have made the decision not to go because of the long flight involved for such a short period of time.

Continue reading...