Category Archives: World News

Diehard Bolsonaro fans greet far-right ex-president on return to Brazil

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Son says Jair Bolsonaro will lead opposition after return from self-imposed exile in US

Three months after he left Brazil to avoid passing the presidential sash to his leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the former president Jair Bolsonaro has flown back to the South American country hoping to prove his political career is far from over.

The far-right radical flew to the US on the eve of Lula’s 1 January inauguration and watched the historic transition of power from a rented villa near Disney World in Florida. It was from Florida, too, that Bolsonaro watched the 8 January assault on Brazil’s democratic institutions perpetrated by hardcore supporters seemingly bent on overthrowing Lula’s new government.

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Pope Francis could be discharged from hospital ‘in next few days’

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Doctors say 86-year-old has shown marked improvement and has been treated for bronchitis

Pope Francis has had a marked improvement in his health and could be discharged from hospital “in the next few days”, doctors treating the 86-year-old said on Thursday.

The pontiff was taken to Gemelli hospital in Rome on Wednesday afternoon after complaining of breathing difficulties and chest pain in recent days.

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Brazil may sue VW amid claims firm used ‘slave labour’ under military rule

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Prosecutors seek compensation for workers kept on cattle ranch owned by German carmaker during dictatorship from 1973 to 1987

Brazil is threatening to take the German carmaker Volkswagen to court over allegations that it used slave labour on a vast ranch in the Amazon, after talks on compensating workers ended without agreement.

Public prosecutors in Brazil are seeking compensation for men who they say were forced to work in “humiliating and degrading” conditions, with no clean water or sanitation, on the Fazenda Vale do Rio Cristalino cattle ranch, which was owned by the company in the northern Pará state, between 1973 and 1987.

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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to bribery charges

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Bankman-Fried, 31, has already pleaded not guilty to eight counts over collapse of cryptocurrency exchange last year

The FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty on Thursday to new US criminal charges, which include conspiring to violate campaign finance laws and bribe Chinese authorities.

Bankman-Fried, 31, had earlier pleaded not guilty to eight counts of fraud and conspiracy for allegedly stealing billions in FTX customer funds to plug losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research.

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Tunisian morgue overflows as more people attempt risky sea crossing

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Migrant crackdown is prompting increasing number of people from sub-Saharan Africa to board boats

On a recent afternoon in the Tunisian coastal city of Sfax, as shoppers hurried around a market buying food and drink for that evening’s iftar meal, a small group of men from sub-Saharan Africa gathered near a stall selling phone accessories.

One of them, Joseph, had made a two-week journey to the city from Cameroon eight months ago. His plan, like thousands before him fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East in the hope of a better life, had been to board a boat from near Sfax and cross the Mediterranean to Europe.

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Europe must reassess its relations with China, says EU chief

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Ursula von der Leyen calls for ‘clear-eyed picture’ of risks as she prepares for Beijing trip

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has called on Europe to reassess its diplomatic and economic relations with China before a visit to Beijing next week with the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

Europe needed to have “a clear-eyed picture on what the risks are”, she said in a wide-ranging speech in Brussels, noting that EU-China relations had become “more distant and more difficult” in recent years as China moved into “a new era of security and control” and ramped up “policies of disinformation and economic and trade coercion”.

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Oscar Pistorius could be freed within weeks after serving half his sentence

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Parole board in South Africa to decide if Paralympian who murdered his girlfriend can leave jail

Oscar Pistorius, the South African Paralympian convicted of murder, could leave prison within weeks if a parole board decides on Friday to release him halfway through a 13-year sentence for killing his girlfriend.

The parole hearing will take place in a prison in the administrative capital of Pretoria and the decision is likely to be the final chapter in a harrowing story that attracted worldwide attention.

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Russia-Ukraine war: US ‘deeply concerned’ by Russia’s arrest of American journalist – as it happened

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Dymtro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, has tweeted to criticise the fact that Russia will take over chairing the UN security council on 1 April. He writes:

Russian UN security council presidency on 1 April is a bad joke. Russia has usurped its seat; it is waging a colonial war; its leader is a war criminal wanted by the ICC for kidnapping children. The world can’t be a safe place with Russia at UNSC.

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Russia arrests Wall Street Journal reporter on espionage charges

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Evan Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in prison after allegedly ‘collecting classified information’

Russia’s top security agency has said a reporter for the Wall Street Journal has been arrested on espionage charges.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday that Evan Gershkovich had been detained in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg while allegedly trying to obtain classified information.

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Russian man whose daughter drew anti-war pictures is detained after fleeing

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Alexei Moskalyov had been jailed for two years after investigation triggered by 13-year-old’s drawings

A Russian man who fled house arrest after being sentenced to two years in prison for discrediting Russia in social media posts, following an investigation prompted by his daughter’s anti-war drawings, has been arrested, his lawyer said.

“He has been detained, yes,” Dmitry Zakhvatov told Reuters, without providing more details.

Alexei Moskalyov was sentenced to two years in prison as punishment for his criticism of Kremlin policies in social media posts. Police investigated him after his 13-year-old daughter, Maria, refused to participate in a patriotic class at her school and made drawings showing rockets being fired at a family standing under a Ukrainian flag and another that said “Glory to Ukraine!”

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Two US army Black Hawk helicopters crash on training mission in Kentucky

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Status of crew members not immediately known but Kentucky governor says deaths are expected

The governor of Kentucky has said deaths are expected after two US army Black Hawk helicopters crashed during a routine training mission over the state.

The status of the crew members was not immediately known, the US army’s Fort Campbell said in a statement to Reuters, without providing the number of people who were onboard.

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Australia passes most significant climate law in a decade amid concern over fossil fuel exports

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Deal between Labor government and Greens requires total emissions from big industrial sites to come down, not just be offset

Australia’s parliament has passed the country’s most significant emissions reduction legislation in more than a decade after the government won backing from Greens and independent MPs for a plan to deal with pollution from major industrial sites.

After weeks of closed-door negotiation, a deal was brokered between the Labor government and Greens, a minor party with 15 parliamentarians, that included legislating an explicit requirement that total emissions from major industrial facilities must come down, not just be offset.

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Egyptian army has turned Sinai schools into military bases, says rights group

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Exclusive: group says military is compromising children’s right to education with its campaign against militants

Egyptian forces have taken over 37 schools and transformed them into military bases while dozens more have been destroyed during a 10-year war with militants in Sinai, a rights group has found in an initial assessment.

In a months-long investigation shared with the Guardian before its official release, the UK-based Sinai Foundation for Human Rights (SFHR) accused the Egyptian armed forces of compromising the right to education of children during its campaign against militants in north Sinai.

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Britons have more confidence in EU than Westminster, poll finds

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Faith in bloc higher than that in UK parliament for first time in three decades of World Values Survey

People in Britain have more confidence in the EU than the UK parliament, reversing a state of affairs that has lasted for more than 30 years, research reveals.

Since the UK voted for Brexit, the proportion of people declaring confidence in parliament has slumped by 10 percentage points to 22% while there has been a seven percentage point rise in confidence in the Brussels-based bloc, to 39%. Confidence in the UK government also fell from 2017 to 2021.

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Afghan applying to resettle in UK asked to provide Taliban approval

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Despite MoD assurances, applicant and former British Council worker still being asked for Taliban-stamped papers

An Afghan who worked with the British Council and is applying to come to the UK has been told to retrieve documents from the Taliban or risk rejection, despite assurances earlier this month that such demands would end.

The Ministry of Defence apologised on 18 March after an investigation found that applicants to the Afghan relocations and assistance policy (Arap) scheme were required to provide birth and marriage certificates in English and bearing stamps from Afghan government departments.

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China renews threats as Taiwan president greeted by crowds in New York

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Tsai Ing-wen’s trip causing controversy in China, with the government labelling it a ‘provocation’

Chinese officials have warned of “serious” consequences if Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, meets the US House speaker next week, after Tsai arrived in New York to crowds of supporters and protesters.

Tsai is stopping in the US twice during her 10-day visit to Taiwan’s diplomatic allies Guatemala and Belize. Her itinerary has not been disclosed and none of the events were open to the public or media.

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Migrant deaths at Mexican detention centre investigated as suspected homicide

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Several arrest warrants requested after video emerges which appears to show guards leaving as fire engulfs a cell with migrants locked inside

The deaths of at least 39 migrants in a fire at a Mexican detention centre are being investigated as suspected homicides, a prosecutor has said, accusing those in charge of doing nothing to evacuate the victims.

Authorities faced mounting scrutiny of their handling of the disaster after video surveillance footage appeared to show guards leaving as flames engulfed a cell with migrants locked inside.

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Gwyneth Paltrow trial: plaintiff’s loss of joy claim at odds with his travel pictures

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Sanderson shown photos of himself on vacation after ski collision, and doctor suggested any concussion suffered was ‘very mild’

Gwyneth Paltrow’s attorneys called ski crash accuser Terry Sanderson back to the stand late on Wednesday in a final effort to eviscerate claims that he suffered an extensive brain injury that led to loss of joie de vivre and brain function as a result of the actress allegedly skiing into him on a Utah mountain slope.

Under an intense grilling, Sanderson was shown photographs, culled from Facebook, showing the retired eye doctor taking frequent holiday trips around the world after the ski collision, including floating down the Amazon, visiting the Netherlands three times, Morocco twice, Thailand and other destinations.

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Paris breathes easier as refuse workers’ strike called off and rubbish cleared

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City is cleaner, though not yet entirely clean, after three-week strike ends but union threatens more action

The smell of spring is in the air in Paris. It makes a change from the stench of overflowing bins that had hung over the French capital for the last three weeks after refuse collectors went on strike and up to 10,000 metric tonnes of festering rubbish piled up on the streets.

Hours after the CGT trade union announced it was suspending the industrial action and lifting a blockade of incinerators serving the city, much of the rubbish had gone.

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Russia-Ukraine war: object found near Nord Stream 2 ‘no safety risk’; Bakhmut battle has ‘badly damaged’ Wagner forces – as it happened

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Global commodities trader Cargill has told Russia’s agriculture ministry that it will stop exporting Russian grain from the start of the next exporting season, which begins on 1 July, the ministry said on Wednesday.

“The cessation of its export activities on the Russian market will not affect the volume of domestic grain shipments abroad. The company’s grain export assets will continue to operate regardless of who manages them,” the agriculture ministry said in a comment to Reuters.

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