Category Archives: World News

‘Once in a generation’ freeze for Christmas as bomb cyclone hits US

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Power outages leave more than 1.4 million homes and businesses in the dark, while thousands of US flights were canceled

The w​inter storm that forecasters dubbed Elliott intensified into a bomb cyclone near the Great Lakes on Friday, bringing high winds and blizzard conditions from the Northern Plains to western and upstate New York, along with life-threatening flooding, flash-freezing and travel chaos as it went.

More than 4,600 flights were canceled as of 3pm, on top of 2,700 cancellations Thursday, grounding tens of thousands of holiday travelers in airports with limited expectations of making further progress, according to FlightAware.

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Clashes in Paris after three people killed in shooting at Kurdish centre

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French media say a 69-year-old opened fire on group of people, and government says incident seemed to have been racially motivated

Clashes have erupted in Paris after three people were killed in a shooting at a Kurdish cultural centre that the French government said appeared to have been racially motivated.

French media reported that a 69-year-old man opened fire on a group of people at the Ahmet-Kaya centre on Rue d’Enghien in the 10th arrondissement on Friday morning. Shots were also fired at a hairdresser’s and a restaurant in the street. Three people have been wounded, one critically.

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Spanish police arrest New Zealander on FBI’s most wanted list

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Michael James Pratt, given life sentence in US for sexual assault and producing child sexual abuse images, was staying in Madrid

Spanish police have arrested one of the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives, who was staying at a hotel in Madrid under a false identity.

Michael James Pratt, a New Zealand citizen, had been sentenced to life in prison in the US for sexual exploitation and sexual assault, and producing child sexual abuse images.

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Thai police raid former Tesco clothing supplier at centre of sweatshop claims

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VK Garment factory in Mae Sot is subject of a UK lawsuit against the supermarket from 130 ex-workers

Thai police have raided a clothing factory previously used by Tesco that is the subject of a UK lawsuit over alleged sweatshop conditions.

The Guardian revealed earlier this week that Burmese workers who produced F&F jeans for Tesco in Thailand reported being trapped in, in effect, forced labour, working 99-hour weeks for illegally low pay in appalling conditions.

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Killing of artist brothers shatters Mexico City’s veneer of safety

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Grisly discovery rocks capital, an oasis of tentative calm in a country that saw more than 35,000 murders last year

The two brothers’ bodies were found in a cellar, bound hand and foot, their heads wrapped in packing tape. Their elderly uncle, who had also been murdered, lay nearby.

The grisly discovery, announced by authorities on Sunday, has rocked Mexico City, piercing the veneer of relative safety that has long characterised the capital, an oasis of tentative calm in a country awash with violence.

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Peru lawmakers propose bill to strip Indigenous people of protections

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Proposal to dismantle existing reserves for ‘uncontacted’ Indigenous groups quietly pushed amid ongoing political chaos

Amid the political chaos following the ousting of Peru’s President Pedro Castillo, lawmakers in the country’s congress are quietly trying to pass a bill into law that would strip “uncontacted” Indigenous people of protection and dismantle existing reserves created for them.

The bill proposes to modify a 2006 law protecting Indigenous peoples in “isolation” and “initial contact” – those living with little or no contact with the outside world – in order to halt the creation of new reserves and eliminate existing ones, of which there are seven in Peru’s Amazon.

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‘Serpent’ serial killer Charles Sobhraj freed from Nepalese prison

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French national suspected of murdering western backpackers on the hippie trail in 1970s and 80s

Charles Sobhraj, the French serial killer known as “the serpent” who targeted western backpackers on the hippie trail in the 1970s, has walked free from a jail in Nepal after he was given early release.

Sobhraj, 78, had been serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 2004 for the murder of an American tourist, Connie Jo Bronzich, in 1975. In 2014, Sobhraj was also convicted of killing her Canadian companion, Laurent Carrière.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Russia accused of demolishing Mariupol theatre ‘to hide war crimes’ – as it happened

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This live blog has now closed, you can read our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war here

In early 2022, the Ukrainian photojournalist Evgeny Maloletka was covering violence in Kazakhstan when his attention turned back home: there were several reports signalling that Russia was preparing an invasion.

He didn’t have to think twice: he knew he had to be back in his home country. By mid-January, he was already working on assignment for the Associated Press in the city of Kharkiv and the Donbas region, in eastern Ukraine, where there was a growing tension among Russian proxies.

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Taiwan may restrict Panadol sales to thwart bulk-buying for China

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Covid-19 situation across the strait, and concern at home sparked by Taiwan’s reopening for travel, have put strain on medicine supplies

Taiwan may restrict the bulk buying of pain relief medications as people stock up, with some planning to ship their purchases to China, where the worsened Covid-19 situation has put a strain on supplies.

Hsueh Jui-yuan, Taiwan’s minister of health and welfare, told lawmakers at a legislative committee hearing on Thursday that the health agency would first instruct pharmacies to advise customers not to snap up Panadol and related drugs.

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Fiji’s king-maker party votes to support opposition coalition and oust Frank Bainimarama

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‘We believe we have agreed on a way forward that benefits this country,’ party leader Viliame Gavoka told reporters after an internal party vote

Fiji’s Social Democratic Liberal party (Sodelpa) said on Friday that it would form a coalition with two other parties, a move that will dislodge the current prime minister, Frank Bainimarama, signalling an end to the former military leader’s 16 years in power.

“We believe we have agreed on a way forward that benefits this country,” party leader Viliame Gavoka said in a news conference after an internal party vote.

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The 17 findings in the January 6 committee’s final report

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Panel looking into storming of Capitol accuses Donald Trump of deliberately making false claims and plotting to overturn 2020 election results

The January 6 committee has released its 845-page report on the storming of the US Capitol. The congressional panel conducted more than 1,000 interviews and 10 public hearings before recommending criminal charges against former president Donald Trump.

Trump has said the report is “highly partisan”.

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Revealed: Libya aborted plan to hand Gaddafi spy chief to US at last minute

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Extradition of Abdullah al-Senussi over Lockerbie bombing would have closely followed that of Mohammed Abouagela Masud

The extradition to the US of Muammar Gaddafi’s most trusted and notorious aide was abruptly halted by Libya at the 11th hour this week for fear of public anger after the handover of another ex-senior Libyan intelligence operative, officials in Tripoli have told the Guardian.

Abdullah al-Senussi, a former intelligence chief and brother-in-law of Gaddafi, is blamed for a series of lethal bombings directed at western aviation as well as other targets.

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Taliban minister defends closing universities to women as global backlash grows

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Neda Mohammad Nadeem says ban was necessary to prevent mixing of genders as rare protests break out

The minister of higher education in Afghanistan’s Taliban government has defended his decision to ban women from universities – a decree that triggered a global backlash and protests inside the country.

Afghanistan’s Taliban-run administration announced earlier this week it had closed universities to women partly due to female students not adhering to its interpretation of the Islamic dress code and interaction between students of different genders.

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Greek MEP Eva Kaili to stay in custody after corruption charges, says court

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Kaili is one of four charged with corruption and money laundering in relation to Qatar and will go on trial in Belgium

Eva Kaili, the Greek member of the European parliament at the centre of a cash for influence scandal implicating Qatar, will remain in jail pending trial, a Belgian court has decided.

“In its order this morning, the pre-council chamber extended the pre-trial detention of EK by one month,” said a statement from the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office. If Kaili chooses to appeal against the decision within 24 hours, she will appear before a chamber at the Brussels court of appeal within 15 days.

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Spain’s El Gordo lottery dishes out Christmas joy with €2.5bn pot

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Unemployed mother of two is among winners as world’s biggest lottery hands out prizes of up to €325,000

A Gambian man who crossed from the Mediterranean by boat and an unemployed mother of two were among those rejoicing after the world’s biggest lottery sprayed money across Spain.

On Thursday, the country celebrated the Christmas lottery known as El Gordo, or the Fat One, which dished out €2.5bn (£2.2bn) in prize money.

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Brazil’s public services face ‘very real threat of collapse’, says Lula

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President-elect says transition team have found ‘simplest things not being done’ as result of Bolsonaro mismanagement

Public services in Brazil face a “very real threat of collapse” as a result of the mismanagement by the outgoing far-right government, and the incoming administration will have a “herculean task” in rebuilding damaged institutions, particularly in the fields of health, education and the environment, the country’s president-elect has said.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat the far-right incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, in a tightly fought election in October and is due to take power on 1 January.

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Russia-Ukraine war: Wagner Group accused of using North Korean weapons; Russian aircraft carrier ‘catches fire’ – as it happened

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US intelligence official tells Reuters news agency Russian mercenary group received arms shipment from North Korea

A Christmas tree at Sofia Square in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 21 December.

In homes and schools around Bosnia, young people this December have been preparing gift boxes they hope will put a smile on the faces of their peers living through war in Ukraine – as such presents did for many of their parents a generation ago.

Responding to an appeal launched by a small Sarajevo museum, hundreds of Bosnian children have been filling small boxes with warm clothes, toys, candies and other simple gifts to be delivered to the children of Ukraine in time for the New Year.

For parents and educators who are helping them select what to send, the experience has awakened rare happy memories from the time when they were on the receiving end of the kindness of strangers while growing up in constant fear of death.

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Senate on track to pass $1.7tn funding bill to avert US government shutdown

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Bill includes $45bn in military aid to Ukraine after lawmakers reached agreement on a final series of votes

The US Senate appeared back on track Thursday to pass a $1.7tn bill to finance federal agencies through September 2023 and provide roughly $45bn in military and economic assistance to Ukraine, after lawmakers reached agreement on a final series of votes.

The Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, announced an agreement to consider 15 amendments before voting on final passage. Most of the amendments would be subject to a 60-vote threshold to pass, generally dooming them to failure in the 50-50 Senate.

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Germany arrests intelligence agent accused of sharing secrets with Russia

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Federal intelligence service says man is suspected of treason for sharing state secrets this year

Germany arrested a foreign intelligence service agent on Wednesday on suspicion of sharing state secrets with Russia this year, raiding his home and workplace as well as that of another person.

“The accused is suspected of state treason,” the federal prosecutors’ office said in a statement. “In 2022, he shared information that he came by in the course of his work with a Russian intelligence agency. The content is considered a state secret.”

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