Category Archives: World News

Canada publishers urge Ottawa to stop Meta from blocking users’ news access

Posted on by

Dust-up began after law passed requiring social media companies to compensate news publishers for posting their content

A group of Canadian news publishers and broadcasters has called on the country’s competition regulator to stop Meta from blocking access to news as the federal government and technology companies clash over revenue and content sharing.

News Media Canada, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and CBC/Radio‐Canada warned on Tuesday that Meta’s decision to bar Canadians from viewing news on Facebook and Instagram amounted to “anticompetitive conduct” and violates a provision of a federal law.

Continue reading...

Storm Hans causes havoc in Norway with heaviest rain in 25 years forecast

Posted on by

Landslides, a stranded town and two deaths so far reported as extreme weather sweeps across south of the country

A powerful storm has brought destruction to Norway, causing landslides and leaving an entire town stranded, as meteorologists warned of the strongest rainfall in a quarter of a century.

The storm – named Storm Hans – has killed two people, ripped off roofs and caused widespread disruption across northern Europe in a summer that started with wildfires across much of the region.

Continue reading...

Chinese economy slips into deflation as recovery falters and demand slows

Posted on by

Consumer price inflation data shows prices fell by 0.3% year on year in July

China’s economy has fallen into deflation after consumer prices fell year on year last month for the first time in more than two years, official data shows, as slowing domestic spending weighs on the country’s post-Covid economic recovery.

The consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, fell 0.3% in July, the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS) said, having flatlined in June. A survey of analysts had anticipated a 0.4% year-on-year decline.

Continue reading...

French research centre behind controversial Covid paper found to have used questionable ethics processes

Posted on by

Institution used concerning approval procedures for hundreds of studies, review says

A major French research centre that produced one of the most widely cited and controversial research papers of the Covid-19 pandemic has been found by an international research team to have used questionable and concerning ethics approval processes across hundreds of studies.

The Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée Infection, or IHU, is a large clinical research centre in the south of France. It was founded by Prof Didier Raoult, who was also director of the centre until August 2022, when he stood down ahead of the release of findings from a government audit that found the institute conducted trials “likely to constitute offences or serious breaches of health or research regulations”.

Continue reading...

Thailand king’s estranged son makes surprise return after 27 years

Posted on by

Reappearance of Vacharaesorn Vivacharawongse raises questions over succession

The estranged second son of Thailand’s king has returned to Bangkok for the first time in almost three decades, in an unannounced visit that surprised many and raised questions about the succession plan.

Footage of Vacharaesorn Vivacharawongse making what appeared to be a low-key arrival at Suvarnabhumi airport on Sunday, and visiting sites in the capital, was shared widely on social media.

Continue reading...

Imran Khan barred from politics for five years by Pakistan election commission

Posted on by

Former prime minister appealing against conviction and three-year jail term for corruption in high court

Imran Khan, Pakistan’s former prime minister, has been barred from politics for five years by the country’s election commission after his conviction on corruption charges, local media reported.

Several local TV news channels said the election commission of Pakistan issued the notification on Tuesday in line with the guilty ruling.

Continue reading...

Uganda’s president under attack over closure of UN human rights office

Posted on by

Forced closure described as ‘a huge blow’ to human rights as country fosters hostile environment for activists, journalists and LGBTQ+ people

Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has come under attack from campaigners and activists for forcing the closure of the UN human rights office in the country.

The head office in the capital, Kampala, closed at the weekend. Two field offices, in Gulu and Moroto, had already ceased operating over the summer, after the government’s decision not to renew a host agreement allowing the agency to operate.

Continue reading...

China-Philippines dispute could escalate into superpower conflict, say analysts

Posted on by

Expert warns of ‘significant escalatory potential’ after Chinese coastguards used water cannon on Philippine boat

A territorial dispute between China and the US-aligned Philippines is at increasingly high risk of escalating into a conflict involving the two superpowers, analysts have said, after Chinese coastguards used a water cannon on a Philippine boat.

Global concern about China’s naval activities is growing as the country expands and modernises its military, and shows increasing aggression in its claims over the South China Sea and Taiwan. Joint drills with Russia – during which a flotilla sailed near Alaska this weekend – have also heightened concern over military coordination between Beijing and Moscow.

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war: Kyiv claims to have foiled Russian hacking of armed forces combat system – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage here

Suspilne has this news roundup for the morning in Ukraine, gathering together casualty figures from across the country. It reports:

It is now known that nine people were wounded as a result of yesterday’s attack on Kruglyakivka in Kharkiv region, among them two rescuers and two policemen. Two other people died.

In the last 24 hours, Russian troops shelled Kherson oblast 68 times. In Kherson, residential areas and a “point of invincibility” were targeted. One person died, thirteen were injured.

Continue reading...

Ukraine creates database of art linked to sanctions-hit Russians

Posted on by

Corruption agency hopes portal will ‘make it difficult for Russian oligarchs to sell such assets’

From Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi to Andy Warhol’s Four Marilyns, it amounts to an art collection that could grace any gallery in the world.

But rather than being the highlights of a blockbuster exhibition at a major gallery, these are just some of the 300, and counting, pieces known to have been recently owned by Russian nationals under western sanctions that have been entered into a searchable database set up by Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP).

Continue reading...

Thousands of scouts evacuated from world jamboree in South Korea as storm nears

Posted on by

Government deploys 1,000 buses to move young people but insists programmes will continue elsewhere

Tens of thousands of scouts began arriving at university dormitories, training centres and hotels around Seoul and other inland cities on Tuesday afternoon as the South Korean government evacuated attenders at the World Scout Jamboree before a tropical storm.

More than 1,000 buses are being deployed to move 37,000 scouts – mostly teenagers visiting from 156 countries – from the site in the south-western county of Buan.

Continue reading...

Junta leaders in Niger refuse to let top US official meet ousted president

Posted on by

Victoria Nuland said commanders rejected calls to restore democracy and blocked her from meeting Mohamed Bazoum, who is under house arrest

Junta leaders in Niger have refused to let a senior US official meet the West African country’s ousted president and rejected her calls to restore democracy after last month’s coup.

Victoria Nuland, the US acting deputy secretary of state, described “frank and difficult” talks during a two-hour meeting in the Nigerien capital, Niamey, on Monday, as the rebellious commanders again refused to give in to international pressure to stand down.

Continue reading...

Tensions rise as Belarus begins military drills near Poland and Lithuania

Posted on by

Leaders of the two Nato countries say they expect provocations from their neighbouring Russian ally and Wagner fighters

Belarus has begun military exercises near its border with Poland and Lithuania, as tensions heighten with the two Nato members over Russia-linked Wagner mercenaries who moved to Belarus after their short-lived mutiny in Russia.

Both Poland and Lithuania have increased border security since thousands of Wagner fighters arrived in Russia-allied Belarus under a deal that ended their armed rebellion in late June and allowed them and their leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to avoid criminal charges.

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war live: Ukraine detains informer accused of helping Russia plot attack on Zelenskiy, says security service

Posted on by

SBU security service says detained woman was gathering intelligence on Ukrainian president’s itinerary as he visited Mykolaiv region

Denis Pushilin, the Russian-imposed leader in occupied Donetsk, has said that travel by road in the region is safe, despite Ukrainian attacks on key bridges.

“At the moment, there are no queues, the situation is fully controlled, it is safe to move through the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic along the land corridor, relatively, as far as possible, quickly and comfortably,” Tass reports he said on Russian television.

Continue reading...

Eritrean festival canceled by Toronto following outbreaks of violence

Posted on by

Clashes were latest in string of global skirmishes that have drawn scrutiny to human rights abuses in Eritrea

A weekend of Eritrean cultural festivities in Toronto was canceled by city officials following outbreaks of violence and demonstrations by oponents of the Eritrean government.

Clashes between attendees and protestors left nine people in hospital and were the latest in a string of global skirmishes that have drawn fresh attention to human rights abuses in Eritrea and tensions between diaspora populations.

Continue reading...

‘The trauma is ongoing’: Canadian First Nation flees wildfire for second time in two years

Posted on by

Lytton First Nation in British Columbia ordered to evacuate on Friday as out-of-control wildfire just 328 yards from reserve land

Members of a First Nation in British Columbia have once again been advised to flee their homes to escape record-setting wildfires, just two years after the community in western Canada was devastated in an earlier blaze.

Residents of the Lytton First Nation were ordered to evacuate late on Friday. By Sunday, the out-of-control Stein Mountain fire was just 300 meters (328 yards) from reserve land, burning its way down a steep slope that has stymied firefighting efforts, the community’s chief, Niakia Hanna, told Reuters.

Continue reading...

Moscow targets Kharkiv region in effort to regain ground from Ukrainians

Posted on by

Russia seeks to exploit situation as Kyiv’s counteroffensive concentrates on south and east of country

Russian forces claimed to have pushed the frontline back two miles in the north-east region of Kharkiv as a minister in Kyiv said the Kremlin was trying to take back the oblast almost a year after it was famously liberated by Ukrainian forces.

In the latest strikes on the border region, including the bombing of villages near the city of Kupiansk, two people were said to have been killed and three wounded, while a woman was reported to have died in an attack in Kherson in southern Ukraine.

Continue reading...

Italian official rebuked for proclaiming innocence of Bologna terrorists

Posted on by

Marcello De Angelis, a communications chief for the Lazio region, said he knew the trio were not involved in the 1980 explosion

A senior regional official in Italy who used to be a member of a neofascist group has sparked anger after attempting to clear the names of three people convicted of one of the country’s worst terrorist attacks.

Marcello De Angelis, the communications chief of the Lazio region, made the remarks days after Italy marked the 43rd anniversary of the bombing of Bologna train station, in which 85 people were killed and more than 200 were injured.

Continue reading...

Nigerian fans at home laud battle against odds in Women’s World Cup

Posted on by

Despite narrow defeat to England, team’s efforts in Australia win praise after what some saw as a lack of official backing

Nigerian football fans in the Lagos suburb of Shomolu had nothing but praise for their team after their narrow defeat on penalties to England in the Women’s World Cup on Monday.

The suburb, home to much of the country’s printing industry, is usually a hive of industrial activity, but many of its presses fell silent on Monday morning as workers gathered in groups around televisions to watch the Super Falcons take on the European champions in Brisbane.

Continue reading...