The development marks an important step in addressing the continent’s reliance on imported treatments and vaccines
The first Moroccan-produced tests to diagnose breast cancer and leukaemia will become commercially available within months, cutting costs and waiting times for patients in the country and across Africa.
Most of the diagnostic kits for cancer and other diseases in Africa are expensive imports from outside the continent, usually from Europe and the US.
Continue reading...Data from the health commission for central Henan suggests 88 million people in the province may have had the virus
Almost 90% of people in China’s third most populous province have now been infected with Covid-19, a top local official has said, as the country battles an unprecedented surge in cases.
Kan Quancheng, director of the health commission for central Henan province, told a press conference that “as of January 6, 2023, the province’s Covid infection rate is 89%”.
Continue reading...Election results elsewhere have boosted Nicolás Maduro but humanitarian crisis is far from over
As Venezuela crumbled and its people began to starve, pastor Jesús Campo founded a sanctuary for hunger-stricken refugees across the border in Brazil. He called it Vila Esperança – the Village of Hope. More than 7 million Venezuelans have fled their country’s economic meltdown in recent years and scores of them found shelter in his ramshackle shantytown in the border town of Pacaraima, cobbling huts together from recycled wood, scrap metal and mud.
But a decade after Vila Esperança was born on a hilltop near the frontier, Campo sees cause for optimism once again – this time back in his decaying homeland. “Little by little, our country is rising up,” the 76-year-old preacher said one recent morning as he sat in a shack built from black plastic and branches.
Continue reading...President tours scene of riot and orders federal government to take control of policing in capital Brasília as extremists refuse to accept his presidency
Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has toured the wreckage of his presidential palace after an extraordinary day of political violence in the capital, Brasília, saw thousands of far-right extremists run riot through the country’s democratic institutions in a failed attempt to overthrow his week-old government.
The massed attack by supporters of the ex-president Jair Bolsonaro was a stunning security breach that was immediately compared to the 6 January invasion of the US Capitol by followers of Donald Trump in 2021.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed. You can read our full story on the day’s events below:
Hi, I’m the Guardian’s world news liveblogger, Helen Sullivan, and I’ll be taking on this live coverage of the protests in Brazil for the next while.
If you see anything you think we may have missed, or have other questions or comments, the easiest way to get in touch is on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Continue reading...Moscow’s claim of killing 600 Ukrainian troops rejected by Kyiv; Ukrainian forces holding positions in Bakhmut under heavy attack, says Zelenskiy
Ukrainian forces are repelling constant attacks on Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region and holding their positions in nearby Soledar in arduous conditions, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said. The Ukrainian president said in his Sunday night video address: “Bakhmut is holding on despite everything. And even though most of the town has been destroyed by Russian strikes, our soldiers are repelling constant Russian attempts to advance. Soledar is holding on, even though there is even greater destruction and things are very difficult.”
Russia has claimed to have killed more than 600 Ukrainian troops in a “retaliatory strike” in the eastern town of Kramatorsk, but Ukraine’s armed forces rejected the claim. The mayor of the town, near the frontline city of Bakhmut, said there had been no deaths from strikes over the weekend, while a witness told Reuters on Sunday that buildings had been damaged but not destroyed and there were no obvious signs of casualties. The Russian claim seems suspicious for several reasons.
Zelenskiy denounced what he said was Russia’s failure to observe a 36-hour ceasefire it had declared for Orthodox Christmas by launching attacks on Ukrainian cities.
At least two people were killed during fighting in eastern Ukraine, officials said. Donetsk’s governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said one person was killed in strikes on Bakhmut and eight others in the region were wounded, Associated Press reported. Kyrylenko also said rocket attacks on Kramatorsk and Konstantynivka.
Russia and Belarus have expanded their joint military training exercises in Belarus, the country’s defence TV channel said on Sunday, as concern grows that Moscow is pressuring its closest ally to join the war in Ukraine. The two countries added weapons, soldiers and specialised equipment to the exercises, Reuters reported.
One person was killed from the attack on the Starobesheve power plant in Novyi Svit, Russia’s state news agency Tass said on Sunday. The thermal power plant was one of two – in part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region controlled by Russian forces – damaged in a rocket attack by the Ukrainian army, Moscow-installed officials said.
Demands for a special tribunal to investigate Russia for a “crime of aggression” against Ukraine have been backed by senior UK politicians from across the political divide in a move to show Vladimir Putin and his generals that they will be held to account.
The Russian government extended support to a legislative amendment that would classify maps that dispute the country’s official “territorial integrity” as punishable extremist materials, Reuters reported the state-owned Tass news agency as saying on Sunday.
About 50 Ukrainian soldiers who were released from Russian detention on Sunday as part of a prisoner swap posed for a photo on their release.
Continue reading...Joe Biden says situation in Brazil is ‘outrageous’ as presidents across South America denounce ‘assault on democracy’
Joe Biden said the situation in Brazil was “outrageous” after supporters of the former president Jair Bolsonaro invaded the country’s congress, presidential palace and supreme court on Sunday, with some senior US lawmakers calling for the far-right figure to be extradited from the US.
Biden’s words of condemnation were echoed by world leaders across the globe, including some of Brazil’s closest neighbours.
Continue reading...Weapons, soldiers and equipment added to exercises, as concern grows Minsk is being pressured to join war
Russia and Belarus have expanded their joint military training exercises in Belarus, the country’s defence TV channel said on Sunday, as concern grows that Moscow is pressuring its closest ally to join the war in Ukraine.
The two countries added weapons, soldiers and specialised equipment to the exercises and were doing drills drawing on Russian experience in Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Continue reading...Russian attacks reported in at least seven Ukraine regions despite Putin’s ceasefire pledge; shelling reportedly damages power plants in Moscow-controlled region
One person was killed as a result of the attack on the Starobesheve power plant in Novyi Svit, Russia’s state Tass news agency said on Sunday.
The thermal power plant was one of two in part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region that is controlled by Russian forces that were damaged in a rocket attack by the Ukrainian army, Moscow-installed officials said.
The body of one dead woman was extracted from under the rubble at the plant.
The tasks set by the president (Putin) for the special military operation will still be fulfilled.
And there definitely will be a victory.
Continue reading...Riad Malki says permit rescinded, after hardline government announced series of punitive measures against Palestinians
The Palestinian foreign minister says Israel has revoked his travel permit, after the hardline Israeli government announced a series of punitive steps against the Palestinians days ago.
Riad Malki said in a statement that he was returning from the Brazilian president’s inauguration when he was informed that Israel had rescinded his travel permit, which allows top Palestinian officials to travel easily in and out of the occupied West Bank, unlike ordinary Palestinians.
Continue reading...Exclusive: 182 experts say only debt cancellation offers chance of recovery but private investors are playing hardball
Some of the world’s most powerful hedge funds and other investors are holding up vital help for crisis-hit Sri Lanka by their hardline stance in debt-relief negotiations after the Asian country’s $51bn (£42bn) default last year, according to 182 economists and development experts from around the world.
In a statement released to the Guardian on Sunday, the group said extensive debt cancellation was needed to give the economy a chance of recovery and that Sri Lanka would be a test case of the willingness of the international community to tackle a looming global debt crisis.
Continue reading...Boy taken into custody after wounding of teacher, whose condition is said to be showing signs of improvement
The shooting of a teacher in the city of Newport News in Virginia by a six-year-old student should be a red flag for the US, the city’s mayor has said, as the teacher’s condition showed signs of improvement.
The mayor, Phillip Jones, said the condition of the teacher, identified by local media as Abby Zwerner, was “trending in a positive direction” in hospital.
Continue reading...Denny Kellington performed CPR on stricken Bills safety who collapsed after making a tackle against Cincinnati last week
As Buffalo Bills football player Damar Hamlin reportedly progresses “remarkably” in his recovery from suffering a cardiac arrest during a game last week, a trainer who rushed to his aid after he collapsed and had a hand in resuscitating him has drawn praise as a “real hero” from supporters of the stricken athlete.
The Bills’ trainer, Denny Kellington, immediately went to Hamlin when the 24-year-old safety’s heart stopped beating properly after making a tackle during the first quarter of his team’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals on 2 January.
Continue reading...Woman recounts suffering on perilous journeys taken to escape oppression in Myanmar and squalid Bangladesh camps
Hatemon Nesa recalled hugging her young daughter tightly as the cramped, broken-down boat they were sitting on drifted aimlessly. They had set off on 25 November from the squalid Cox’s Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh, where they had lived since 2017, when a brutal crackdown by Myanmar’s military forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee over the border.
The 27-year-old, like many other Rohingya refugees, was hoping for a better life in Malaysia. But about 10 days into the journey the boat’s engine stopped working and food and water supplies began to run out.
Continue reading...Tirailleurs, featuring Lupin star Omar Sy, tells story of father and son during first world war
A new film featuring the Lupin star Omar Sy has highlighted the forgotten heroism of African riflemen from France’s former colonies who fought in the frontline trenches of the first world war.
Tirailleurs was released on Wednesday shortly after a row sparked by an interview the actor had given to Le Parisien in which he contrasted attitudes to conflicts in Europe and Africa.
Continue reading...Campaigners urge government to stop ‘cruel trade’ as documents show highly pathogenic agents entered the US with monkeys
US authorities are continuing to allow imports of long-tailed macaques from Cambodia, despite revelations that deadly pathogenic agents, including one deemed to be a bioterrorism risk, are entering the country with primates and recent charges of illegal trafficking of wild macaques falsely labeled as captive-bred into the US biomedical industry from Cambodia.
Animal rights campaigners are urging the US government to stop the “cruel trade”, saying it’s impossible to prove provenance and that the risk of disease is significant.
Continue reading...ACLU and Pen America back former Human Rights Watch chief Kenneth Roth and say decision ‘raises serious questions’
Leading civil rights organisations have condemned Harvard Kennedy School’s denial of a position to the former head of Human Rights Watch over the organisation’s criticism of Israel.
The American Civil Liberties Union called the refusal of a fellowship to Kenneth Roth “profoundly troubling”. PEN America, which advocates for freedom of expression, said the move “raises serous questions” about one of the US’s leading schools of government. Roth also received backing from other human rights activists.
Continue reading...Pressure grows on Putin as politicians and lawyers point to principles that led to Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals
Demands for a special tribunal to investigate Russia for a “crime of aggression” against Ukraine have been backed by senior UK politicians from across the political divide in a move to show Vladimir Putin and his generals that they will be held to account.
In a joint statement shared with the Observer, figures including the Labour leader Keir Starmer, the former Nato secretary general George Robertson, the former foreign secretary David Owen, and former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith say the tribunal should be set up to look into the “manifestly illegal war” on the same principles that guided the allies when they met in 1941 to lay the groundwork for the Nuremberg war crimes trials of Nazi leaders.
Continue reading...Vessel that sank with more than 200 transported people onboard is being used to humanise the story of slavery
In 2015, a delegation from the Smithsonian Institution travelled to Mozambique to inform the Makua people of a singular and long-overdue discovery. Two hundred and twenty-one years after it sank in treacherous waters off Cape Town, claiming the lives of 212 enslaved people, the wreck of the Portuguese slave ship the São José Paquete D’Africa had been found. When told the news, a Makua leader responded with a gesture that no one on the delegation will ever forget.
“One of the chiefs took a vessel we had, filled it with soil and asked us to bring that vessel back to the site of the slave ship so that, for the first time since the 18th century, his people could sleep in their own land,” says Lonnie Bunch, now the secretary of the Smithsonian.
Continue reading...Virus outbreaks tipped to worsen as mainland China opens to Hong Kong, ends quarantine for visitors and millions begin holiday-period travel
China has lifted quarantine requirements for inbound travellers, ending almost three years of self-imposed isolation even as the country battles a surge in Covid cases.
On Sunday, mainland China also opened its border to Hong Kong, dismantling the last pillars of a zero-Covid policy that had shielded people from the virus but also cut them off from the rest of the world.
Continue reading...