South Korea to evacuate scout jamboree as typhoon looms

Site has been plagued by issues including heatwave that left hundreds ill last week

All participants at this year’s World Scout Jamboree in South Korea will be evacuated from the campsite before the scheduled end date of 12 August due to a typhoon that is expected to make landfall over the Korean peninsula in the coming days, in the latest blow to the event.

The World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) said it had received confirmation from the South Korean government that, due to the expected impact of Typhoon Khanun, an early departure would be planned for all participants at the global youth event in the south-western county of Buan.

Continue reading...

‘I shout from the rooftops I exist’: Brazilians identifying as Indigenous up by 90% in 12 years

A growing number of Brazilians are reclaiming their Indigenous identity, after years of fighting for rights

When a census taker came knocking on Vahnessa de Oliveira Ferreira’s door in Rio de Janeiro in 2010 and asked her how she identified racially, she replied “mixed”. Twelve years later, when asked the same question for Brazil’s 2022 census, she had changed her answer to “Indigenous”.

“Indigenous people learned to justify themselves [as mixed-race] because for a long time, being Indigenous was synonymous with being lazy, a good-for-nothing, a savage,” said Ferreira, a tour guide and social educator who now proudly identifies as a trans Indigenous woman.

Continue reading...

Kuwait bans hit Australian horror film Talk to Me over casting of trans actor Zoe Terakes

Terakes, who plays a character whose gender is never mentioned in the film, called the decision ‘targeted and dehumanising’

The hit Australian horror film Talk To Me has been banned from screening in Kuwait, reportedly solely over the casting of non-binary trans actor Zoe Terakes, who plays a character whose gender identity is never mentioned in the film.

The Hollywood Reporter first reported on the decision, which they confirmed was based entirely on the presence of Terakes, an Australian actor who identifies as non-binary and trans-masculine. A rising star who has appeared in Wentworth and Nine Perfect Strangers, they are also the first trans actor to be cast in a Marvel TV series, with a role in the upcoming superhero show Ironheart. The Guardian has confirmed the decision independently.

Continue reading...

Saudi Aramco’s quarterly profits drop nearly 40% but it still rakes in $30bn

Decline in crude oil prices and less refining income trims revenues inflated in 2022 by Russian invasion of Ukraine

The world’s biggest oil firm, Saudi Aramco, has announced a near-40% fall in profits after a decline in crude oil prices and weakening margins in refining and chemicals.

The company, which is 90% owned by the Saudi state, said in a statement to the market that profits were $30.1bn for the months of April to June, down 38% from $48.4bn in the second quarter of last year.

Continue reading...

UK Scouts says £1m cost of relocating jamboree will affect its work for years

Head of Scout Association says event in South Korea had been poorly organised even before threat of Typhoon Khanun

The £1m cost of relocating the 4,500-strong UK contingent at the World Scout Jamboree in South Korea will affect the work of the Scout Association for as much as five years, the organisation’s boss has said.

Matt Hyde, the UK Scouts chief executive, said the association had been forced to dip into its reserves after the event’s organisers decided to clear the campsite five days early because of an incoming typhoon that is expected to make landfall over the Korean peninsula in the coming days.

Continue reading...

Democrat calls on Biden to stop ‘racists’ in Israeli government from ‘land grab’

Senator Chris Van Hollen says president should reassess military aid to Israel in light of extreme rightward tilt of government

A leading Democratic senator has called on Joe Biden to “get more personally engaged” in stopping “racists” in the Israeli government from a land grab in the occupied territories and committing “gross violations” of Palestinian rights or risk damage to the US’s credibility.

After a visit to Israel and the West Bank last month, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland told the Guardian in an interview that the US president should begin by reassessing the US’s huge military aid to Israel to prevent it from being used to facilitate annexation of the West Bank and oppression of the Palestinians, including the army’s complicity in escalating settler violence against the Arab civilian population.

Continue reading...

West African leaders to meet after Niger junta defies deadline

Ecowas to hold talks on Thursday as west African country ignores demands to reinstate ousted president

The West African bloc Ecowas will meet on Thursday to discuss the coup in Niger, as cracks appeared in its unity and the military junta in Niamey refused to cave in to international pressure to stand down.

The announcement that the Economic Community of West African States would gather in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, came hours after the coup leaders ignored a deadline to reinstate the ousted president after the power grab on 26 July – a move the bloc had earlier warned could lead it to authorise a military intervention.

Continue reading...

New vaccine research centre to help scientists prepare for ‘disease X’

Facility in Porton Down, Wiltshire will allow vaccines to be developed for future pandemic pathogens

Ministers have opened a new vaccine research centre in the UK where scientists will work on preparing for “disease X”, the next potential pandemic pathogen.

The state-of-the-art Vaccine Development and Evaluation Centre is based at the UK Health and Security Agency’s (UKHSA) Porton Down campus in Wiltshire.

Continue reading...

Sinéad O’Connor tribute appears in Ireland as funeral plans announced

Installation appears on hillside overlooking seaside town of Bray, where singer is to be buried

A fleeting installation honouring Sinéad O’Connor has been unveiled on a hillside overlooking the Irish seaside town of Bray, where she is to be buried on Tuesday.

A message in 30ft-tall letters spelling out “ÉIRE ♡ SINÉAD” that was visible from the air appeared on Sunday outside the County Wicklow town, south of Dublin, that was her home for 15 years.

Continue reading...

Bodies of woman and toddler found after migrant boats sink off Lampedusa

Italian coastguard says two bodies recovered, amid reports of at least 30 people missing from two vessels that sailed from Tunisia

The bodies of a woman and toddler were recovered by the Italian coastguard after two shipwrecks overnight off the southern island of Lampedusa.

Fifty-seven people were rescued and more than 30 were believed to be missing as of Sunday afternoon in what was described as “more tragic news” regarding those making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean in search of refuge in Europe.

Continue reading...

Swedish mountain lodge closes as stomach bug spreads among hikers

Guests told to leave STF Kebnekaise mountain station and nearby campers evacuated from country’s highest peak

A popular lodge on Sweden’s highest peak has been forced to temporarily close after a stomach bug rapidly spread among hikers.

STF Kebnekaise mountain station, which lies at the foot of the 2,096m Kebnekaise massif, had quarantined several guests who had caught the bug in recent days but decided to take a more drastic measure after it was also detected in hikers camping in the area.

Continue reading...

Dozens die in train crash in southern Pakistan after 10 carriages derail

Thirty people reported dead and more than 90 injured after Rawalpindi-bound express overturns

A train has derailed in southern Pakistan, killing 30 people and injuring more than 90.

Ten carriages of a Rawalpindi-bound train derailed and some overturned near the Pakistani town of Nawabshah on Sunday, trapping many passengers, said senior railway officer Mahmoodur Rehman Lakho. Officials said rescue operations had been completed by early evening.

Continue reading...

Fears grow Pakistani government will delay general election due this year

Law minister claims new census needed for vote but supporters of Imran Khan, who is facing jail, believe his popularity is a factor

Concerns are mounting in Pakistan that a general election due later this year could be delayed after the government announced that the vote could take place only after a new census was completed and new constituency boundaries drawn.

The announcement from the nation’s law minister that it could take four months to complete the process came on the same day that the former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested after a court sentenced him to three years in prison for “corrupt practices”, involving the sale of state gifts, and disqualified him from politics.

Continue reading...

Niger: thousands gather for rally to cheer generals who led coup

Supporters wave Niger and Russia flags as Ecowas deadline for military to cede power approaches

Thousands of coup supporters in Niger gathered on Sunday for a rally to cheer on the generals claiming power, as a deadline set by the west African bloc for the military to relinquish control or face possible armed intervention was due to elapse.

The Ecowas bloc, chaired by regional military powerhouse and Niger’s neighbour Nigeria, had given the troops that toppled President Mohamed Bazoum on 26 July a week to return him to power.

Continue reading...

US dispatches warships after China and Russia send naval patrol near Alaska

Combined naval patrol appeared to be largest such flotilla to approach US territory and ‘highly provocative’, expert says

The US dispatched four navy warships as well as a reconnaissance airplane after multiple Chinese and Russian military vessels carried out a joint naval patrol near Alaska last week.

The combined naval patrol, which the Wall Street Journal first reported, appeared to be the largest such flotilla to approach US territory, according to experts that spoke to the outlet.

Continue reading...

Russia-Ukraine war: Three dead in overnight shelling across Ukraine – as it happened

Kyiv says 70 drones, cruise and hypersonic missile were used in attacks by Russia

Japan’s prime minister has hit out at Russian threats to use nuclear weapons as the country marked the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima today.

Around 140,000 people died in Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 and 74,000 in Nagasaki three days later, when the US dropped atomic bombs on the two Japanese cities days before the end of World War II.

Japan, as the only nation to have suffered atomic bombings in war, will continue efforts towards a nuclear-free world. The path towards it is becoming increasingly difficult because of deepening divisions in the international community over nuclear disarmament and Russia’s nuclear threat.

Given this situation, it is all the more important to bring back international momentum towards realisation of a nuclear-free world. Devastation brought to Hiroshima and Nagasaki by nuclear weapons can never be repeated.

There is a real risk that the government’s general licence – or ‘free pass’ – for the legal sector encourages UK lawyers to adopt a ‘business as usual’ approach and keep profiting from working for clients sanctioned in relation to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Continue reading...

Four killed in Russian strikes on Ukraine that destroyed blood transfusion centre

Multi-wave overnight attack said to be in retaliation for successful strikes against Russian naval vessels

A multi-wave overnight assault on Ukraine said to be in retaliation for successful strikes against Russian naval vessels killed four people and destroyed a blood transfusion centre even as the country’s air defences shot down 30 out of the 40 cruise missiles and tens of Shahed drones.

Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the regional military administration in the eastern Kharkiv oblast, said that along with two fatalities in his region, four people had been injured, while Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned a “guided air bomb” strike against a medical facility as a war crime of “beasts”.

Continue reading...

UK must stop funding detention of children in Syria, says David Davis

Ex-cabinet minister calls on foreign secretary to reveal how many British minors are being held in camps

The UK must urgently end its policy of funding the illegal detention of children in north-east Syria, and disclose how many British minors are being held in camps run by Syrian Kurds on behalf of the west, the former cabinet minister David Davis has said in a letter to the foreign secretary, James Cleverly.

The letter comes after it was revealed that Yusuf Zahab, a 19-year-old Australian citizen locked up in Syria since he was 14 and presumed killed in a July 2022 Islamic State (IS) attack on a prison in the city of Hasakah, may be alive after all. A year-old video of him speaking and dated after the IS attack was released on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Ukraine replaces Soviet symbol on Motherland monument in Kyiv

National trident has replaced the Soviet Union’s hammer and sickle on the shield of 62-metre tall monument

Ukraine’s national trident was installed on a monument depicting the Motherland in Kyiv on Sunday, replacing Soviet symbols in one of the most visible examples of breaking away from the past and Moscow’s influence.

The monument, a 62-metre tall (200ft) steel statue of a female warrior, was built in 1981 on top of a hill on the right bank of the Dnipro River. Gazing sternly east, the figure holds a sword in her right hand and a shield in her left.

Continue reading...

China ‘backs further Ukraine peace talks’ after Saudi Arabia summit

Senior officials from about 40 countries met in Jeddah in attempt to draft key principles on ending war

China is said to be in support of a third round of talks to find a framework for peace in Ukraine after a meeting of senior officials from about 40 countries in Saudi Arabia over the weekend.

The two-day summit in Jeddah was the second of its kind, after a similar forum in Copenhagen earlier this summer, and aims to draft key principles on how to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Continue reading...