Category Archives: World News

Uganda’s parliament passes mostly unchanged anti-LGBTQ bill

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Bill retains harshest measures of legislation adopted in March, including death penalty for certain same-sex acts

Uganda’s parliament has passed a mostly unchanged version of one of the world’s strictest anti-LGBTQ+ bills after President Yoweri Museveni asked that certain provisions from the original legislation be toned down.

Despite four amendments, the bill retains most of the harshest measures of the legislation adopted in March. Those include the death penalty for certain same-sex acts and a 20-year sentence for “promoting” homosexuality, which activists say could criminalise any advocacy for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer citizens.

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China ‘barring thousands of citizens and foreigners from leaving country’

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Analysis of Chinese court records shows eightfold increase in cases mentioning exit bans between 2016 and 2022

China is increasingly barring people, including foreign executives, from leaving the country, according to a report and research.

Scores of Chinese nationals and foreigners have been ensnared by exit bans, according to the report from the rights group Safeguard Defenders, while a Reuters analysis has found an apparent surge in court cases involving such bans in recent years.

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Ukraine vows not to give up on defending Bakhmut as it prepares for counteroffensive – as it happened

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Commander of Ukraine ground forces underlines importance Kyiv attaches to holding Bakhmut as preparations continue for a counterattack. This live blog is closed

Reuters has a quick snap to say that all parties in the Black Sea grain initiative will meet for talks on Wednesday, according to a senior Ukrainian source.

The deal is, according to Russia’s timetable, due to expire on 18 May. The Kremlin has been lukewarm about the prospect of it being extended, arguing that restrictions on Russia’s banking and insurance sector have damaged the country’s own agricultural exports.

Our state has already proven that it can win. We have proven that we can liberate our land from the occupier. All those who ensure the de-occupation have proven that, together with the blue and yellow flag, normal life returns for every person and every family. Our goal is to return this life to the whole of Ukraine, to all those areas that are still temporarily under occupation.

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Another Hollywood writers’ strike is going ahead. Here’s what you need to know

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The Writers Guild of America have announced a strike will begin tomorrow, after talks broke down with major studios and streamers

Hollywood’s writers are going out on strike for the first time in more than 15 years.

The Writers Guild of America announced on Monday night that its 11,500 members will stop working on Tuesday afternoon, after negotiations between the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), a group representing most major studios and streaming services, broke down.

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Hollywood film and TV writers begin rare strike: ‘The dream should pay a living wage’

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Writers Guild of America calls first work stoppage in 15 years as industry grapples with streaming boom

Hollywood productions have ground to a halt after thousands of film and television writers went on strike following the breakdown of last-minute pay talks with major studios.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) called its first stoppage in 15 years after failing to reach an agreement on higher pay, pitting its 11,500 screenwriters against old-guard companies, such as Universal, Paramount and Walt Disney, as well as tech newcomers, such as Netflix, Amazon and Apple.

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Pneumonia vaccine delays kill thousands needlessly in Africa

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Access to PCV jabs in South Sudan, Somalia, Guinea and Chad ‘could save 40,000 children a year’

Delays in rolling out a vaccine against childhood pneumonia in four of the world’s poorest countries have been blamed for thousands of unnecessary deaths.

South Sudan, Somalia, Guinea and Chad are four of the last African nations without the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), one of the most powerful tools against pneumonia in children.

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Many Europeans want climate action – but less so if it changes their lifestyle, shows poll

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Exclusive: YouGov survey in seven countries tested backing for government and individual action on crisis

Many Europeans are alarmed by the climate crisis and would willingly take personal steps and back government policies to help combat it, a survey suggests – but the more a measure would change their lifestyle, the less they support it.

The seven-country YouGov survey tested backing for state-level climate action, such as banning single-use plastics and scrapping fossil-fuel cars, and individual initiatives including buying only secondhand clothes and giving up meat and dairy products.

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Europe warily eyes security implications of a protracted conflict in Sudan

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Long dispute creates unwanted uncertainties as increased migration and outside actors enter the conflict

Fears remain that Sudan – riven by fighting between the Sudanese army and its paramilitary rival, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – could plunge into a protracted crisis, prompting a humanitarian disaster with broad geopolitical implications.

A string of failed or divided states already exist on Europe’s peripheries, a crescent of instability that stretches from the African Sahel, Libya, through to Yemen, Syria, and north into Ukraine, three countries where extended wars have been raging.

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‘They don’t know how they are viewed here’: Russians in Georgia revive old tension

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Russians in Tbilisi often arrive unaware of historical sensitivities and simmering hostility

As midnight approached on a recent Saturday evening in Tbilisi, the animated chatter and joyous shouting on the city’s central Rustaveli Avenue was almost all taking place in Russian.

A married couple from Rostov-on-Don headed home from dinner; passing them, a group of friends from St Petersburg were off for a late drink with some acquaintances from Moscow.

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2023 Met Gala: pearls, pregnancy reveals and a giant cat celebrate Karl Lagerfeld – as it happened

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All the coverage from fashion’s biggest night at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This year’s theme was Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty. This blog is now closed

And Anna Wintor – Met Gala mastermind – has arrived, arm-in-arm with British actor Bill Nighy (not the science guy).

Speaking of Lagerfeld’s cat …

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At least 108 police injured and 291 held in May Day protests in cities across France

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Teargas fired amid clashes as unions turn traditional marches into anti-government protest against pension reform

French police fired teargas and clashed with demonstrators in Paris and other cities on Monday after trade unions transformed their traditional Labour Day marches into anti-government demonstrations against the rise in the retirement age.

At least 108 police were wounded and 291 people detained across France as violence erupted in several cities on the sidelines of the main union-led marches, the interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said. In Paris, 25 police were injured and 111 people were detained. One police officer suffered serious burns to his hands and face after being hit by a petrol bomb, he said.

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Liverpool predicted to get £40m Eurovision boost in visitor spending

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Extra 100,000 visitors expected amid £1bn lift for UK hospitality in May helped by coronation, bank holidays and Eurovision

Liverpool is likely to receive a £40m boost as tens of thousands of Eurovision fans descend on the city to celebrate the annual song contest next week.

Liverpool, which saw off Glasgow to be chosen as host after last year’s winners, Ukraine, were unable to hold the event amid Russia’s invasion, is expecting an influx of visitors.

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Brazil’s battle to reclaim Yanomami lands from illegal miners turns deadly

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Fatalities underline dangers in government efforts to evict thousands of miners who have devastated Indigenous territory

Brazil’s battle to reclaim its largest Indigenous territory from tens of thousands of illegal miners has taken a deadly turn after at least five people were reportedly killed during 36 hours of violence in the Amazon’s sprawling Yanomami territory.

The bloodshed began on Saturday afternoon when masked illegal miners allegedly launched an attack on a Yanomami village called Uxiu.

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Medics in Sudan warn of crisis as health system near collapse

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Critical shortages of basic goods including water, and bodies piling in streets creating ‘environmental catastrophe’

Sudanese medics have described seeing piles of bodies in the streets of the capital, Khartoum, people drinking polluted water, and doctors working under bombardments as the battle between the country’s two warring generals continues despite a threadbare ceasefire.

Intense explosions and shelling were audible in Omdurman, Khartoum’s twin city across the Nile, on Monday and there were reports of further explosions and clashes in the Bahri and Kafouri districts of Khartoum North. In the south of Khartoum, residents reported that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fired anti-aircraft missiles in response to bombardments by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

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Chilly willy: photo of phallic iceberg off Canadian coast prompts merriment

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Photographer Ken Pretty from the town of Dildo spotted an unusual ice formation at sea – an avalanche of risque puns ensued

It was a calm spring day when Canadian photographer Ken Pretty spotted an interestingly shaped 30ft iceberg off Newfoundland’s east coast.

As he flew his drone overhead, Pretty, who hails from the town of Dildo, realized the hulk of ice bore a distinct resemblance to a characteristic part of the male human anatomy.

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May Day deal ends strike for 120,000 Canadian federal workers

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Country’s largest public sector strike in history ends with most set to return but over 35,000 revenue agency workers still negotiating

Canada’s government struck an agreement with 120,000 federal workers on Monday, effectively ending the country’s largest public sector strike in history, which had crippled services from passport renewals to immigration.

While most strikers are set to return to work after almost two weeks of deadlock, more than 35,000 revenue agency workers who also went on strike on 19 April are still negotiating, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) union said.

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US and Philippine presidents meet amid China’s ‘aggressive tactics’

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Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Joe Biden are expected to discuss the security situation in the South China Sea

The president of the Philippines is meeting his US counterpart in Washington as the two countries draw closer together against what they say is growing aggression and harassment by China.

Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Joe Biden will meet in the Oval Office on Monday during the Philippine president’s four-day US tour. They are expected to discuss the security situation, with the US hoping to strengthen longstanding ties between the two nations as it battles Beijing for influence in Asia.

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Māori punk band’s tour of Wales puts spotlight on indigenous languages

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New Zealand group Half/Time to perform alongside artists who sing in Cymraeg as part of musical cultural exchange

They will bring heavy riffs, pounding drums and lyrics delivered with a growl – but a punk band from New Zealand arriving in Wales this week is also hoping to spark important conversations about what it means to create pop songs in “minority” languages.

The band Half/Time, which perform in Māori as well as English, is to appear alongside artists and groups who sing in Cymraeg as part of a cultural exchange organised by the universities of Cardiff and Waikato in the south Island of New Zealand.

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Bangladesh media in fear after PM’s ‘people’s enemy’ attack

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Even stories on cost of living leave journalists facing assault, threats and arrest under Digital Security Act

Four weeks ago, a reporter in Bangladesh was hauled from his office, badly beaten – and then thrown from the roof of his building, leaving him with fractures in his back, three broken ribs and a machete wound on his head.

The journalist, Ayub Meahzi, believes he was targeted for reporting on alleged local government ties to a criminal group.

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