World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk |
- 'We realised we can't stop this': locals flee inferno that smashed NSW village of Wingello
- UK could forfeit security council seat over Chagos Islands dispute
- Ayia Napa: where youngsters come ‘to do what they can’t do at home’
- French unions heading for showdown with Macron on pensions
- Carlos Ghosn's network of influence made it 'easy to flee' Japan, say prosecutors
- China accused of buying influence after Czech billionaire funds PR push
- Red meat plays vital role in diets, claims expert in fightback against veganism
- Man dies after being bitten by shark at Esperance in Western Australia
- Britons reach Africans’ annual carbon emissions in just two weeks
- Weinstein set to face his toughest legal challenge yet in New York trial
- After the fall: can Alexander Zverev bounce back to tennis stardom?
- Rebel alliance ready to put a halt to the ‘disneyfication’ of Edinburgh
- Trump vows to hit 52 sites 'very hard' if Iran retaliates for Suleimani killing
- The search for Eden: in pursuit of humanity’s origins
- US government agency website crashes amid panic over military draft
- Children among dozens confirmed dead in Cambodia building collapse
- Australia fires: NSW and Victoria bushfires crisis has 'months to go' as Morrison announces recovery effort – as it happened
- The pope’s apology could teach other public figures about being contrite
- Trump campaigns with patriotism after airstrike – but election is still far off
- 'Death to America': grief and fury as thousands mourn death of Qassem Suleimani – video report
- Qassem Suleimani: moment Iranian general killed by US strike reportedly caught on CCTV – video
- Thousands march in Baghdad funeral procession for Qassem Suleimani – video
| 'We realised we can't stop this': locals flee inferno that smashed NSW village of Wingello Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:21 AM PST Residents of sleepy southern highlands town recall a roaring wind, like a freight train, then seeing red sky and embers raining down When the sky turned an angry red and the wind roared like a freight train, David Bruggeman knew it was time to flee. Bruggeman's place was among the first in Wingello, a sleepy village in the southern highlands region of New South Wales, to meet the fire front that tore in from bushland to the south on Saturday night. Continue reading... |
| UK could forfeit security council seat over Chagos Islands dispute Posted: 04 Jan 2020 10:17 PM PST Defying the UN's highest court may put Britain's place at the international top table in jeopardy, warns former diplomat The UK could lose its permanent seat on the UN security council unless it resolves the future of the Chagos Islands, the archipelago in the Indian Ocean whose largest island, Diego Garcia, is a US military base. The shock claim is made by David Snoxell, a former British high commissioner to Mauritius from whom Britain purchased the islands in 1965. Continue reading... |
| Ayia Napa: where youngsters come ‘to do what they can’t do at home’ Posted: 04 Jan 2020 11:03 PM PST Locals close ranks amid the publicity over the rape case. But as the town faces boycott calls, some visitors still appreciate its charms The mood in Ayia Napa, out of season but in the news, is bleak. The few tourists in town seem to have largely come from sub-zero winter temperatures in Russia and eastern Europe and are impervious to the unrelenting grey drizzle, or the fact that very little is open for business. But calls last week to boycott the resort over the case of a British teenager who accused 12 Israeli men of raping her in July last year has shaken locals. They rely heavily on holiday trade to survive the cooler months when the town shuts down and empties. Related: UK teenager's conviction touches a nerve with angry Cypriot women Continue reading... |
| French unions heading for showdown with Macron on pensions Posted: 05 Jan 2020 02:04 AM PST As France returns from the Christmas break the month-long strikes look set to get even more disruptive The standoff between the French government and trades unions over pension reforms reaches a critical point this week with talks due to resume amid calls for further walkouts and mass protests. As the country returns to work on Monday after a two-week holiday, union leaders have called for a show of strength from workers in the public and private sectors and a blockade of refineries, threatening fuel shortages. Continue reading... |
| Carlos Ghosn's network of influence made it 'easy to flee' Japan, say prosecutors Posted: 04 Jan 2020 09:50 PM PST The businessman should have been kept in jail, prosecutors claim, because he had 'financial power and foreign bases' Carlos Ghosn should have been kept in jail because his network of connections made it "easy for him to flee" house arrest, prosecutors in Japan have said. In their first comments since the former Nissan chief's audacious escape from Japan to Lebanon, the prosecutors said his flight had vindicated their widely criticised decision to keep Ghosn in custody for much of the time after his arrest in 2018 on charges of financial irregularities. Continue reading... |
| China accused of buying influence after Czech billionaire funds PR push Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:02 AM PST Prague security services say the regime poses major threat as loan firm launches propaganda campaign to burnish Beijing's image The Czech Republic's richest man is at the centre of a suspected foreign influence campaign by the Chinese government after one of his businesses financed an attempt to boost China's image in the central European country. In a development that has taken even seasoned sinologists aback, Home Credit – a domestic loans company owned by Petr Kellner that has lent an estimated £10bn to Chinese consumers – paid a PR firm to place articles in the local media giving a more positive picture of a country widely associated with political repression and human rights abuses. Continue reading... |
| Red meat plays vital role in diets, claims expert in fightback against veganism Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:58 AM PST As millions cut out animal products, farming conference hears that fruit and vegetables have been drained of nutrients Advocates of red meat will begin a fightback against the growth of veganism this week at the UK's biggest farming conference, with claims that eating lamb and beef is vital because some plants and fish are being drained of their nutrition. In a speech at the Oxford Farming Conference, Alice Stanton will tell ministers, farmers and environmentalists that key nutrients in some fruits, vegetables and grains have dropped by up to 50% over 50 years. Continue reading... |
| Man dies after being bitten by shark at Esperance in Western Australia Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:12 AM PST The diver is believed to have been bitten by a white shark near Cull Island in the Shire of Esperance A diver has died in Esperance in Western Australia after being attacked by a shark. The WA government confirmed the fatal attack about 1pm near Cull Island in the Shire of Esperance. Continue reading... |
| Britons reach Africans’ annual carbon emissions in just two weeks Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:42 AM PST Research for Oxfam shows inequality between footprints of people in UK and in countries including Rwanda, Ethiopia and Malawi The average British person will have emitted more carbon dioxide in the first two weeks of this year than a citizen of any one of seven African nations does in an entire year. This is the key finding of an Oxfam project, published on Sunday, which discovered that someone in the UK will take just five days to emit the same carbon as someone in Rwanda does in a year. Continue reading... |
| Weinstein set to face his toughest legal challenge yet in New York trial Posted: 04 Jan 2020 11:00 PM PST The trial, which begins 6 January, will include testimony from two alleged victims and Annabella Sciorra amid concerns he may not be ultimately held legally accountable Harvey Weinstein is set to face his toughest legal challenge yet – a criminal trial for rape and sexual assault that could send him to prison for the rest of his life. Only a handful of women will be allowed to testify at the trial in New York supreme court in Manhattan, which begins on 6 January. But watching from the sidelines will be scores of women who have alleged sexual misconduct and abuse at the hands of Weinstein. Continue reading... |
| After the fall: can Alexander Zverev bounce back to tennis stardom? Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:00 AM PST He had it all: talent, good looks and a chance to be the world No 1. But then Alexander Zverev's life went to pieces… The tennis player Alexander Zverev has blue eyes and shaggy blond hair and is 6ft 7in tall. His legs are stilts, and his face, journalists have pointed out, is that of an Abercrombie & Fitch model. Zverev actually has a modelling contract with Zegna, the Italian fashion brand, partly because he is a well-known tennis player, but also because he looks less like a tennis player and more like a luxury clothes horse. Zverev is 22. He joined the pro circuit in 2013, when he was 16. At the end of 2018, he was ranked the fourth best men's tennis player in the world, behind Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer – the big three – but ahead of younger challengers. He'd recently won the ATP Finals, in London, the so-called fifth grand slam, becoming the youngest player to win the tournament in a decade. As a kid he'd been the world junior No 1 and a junior grand slam champion. For years, fans had thought of him as tennis's crown prince – the prodigal heir. Both Nadal and Djokovic had hinted at Zverev becoming their eventual successor. Here, finally, after the failed attempts of other once up-and-coming players, was a talent poised to dethrone the game's elder greats. At the end of one 2018 tournament, Boris Becker announced: "A star has arrived." Continue reading... |
| Rebel alliance ready to put a halt to the ‘disneyfication’ of Edinburgh Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:14 AM PST Some residents fear the city's public spaces are being sacrificed to tourism For 800 years or so the castle that keeps watch above Scotland's capital has borne witness to the bloody rise and fall of kingdoms and nations. Now, the war is one of ideas, with Edinburgh's eternal soul on the line. On one side is Underbelly, the London events company which claims to have taken Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations to another level. It is backed by a city council which has gleefully watched the numbers rise in those indexes that confer tourism superstardom: unique-users, profits and exposure. Continue reading... |
| Trump vows to hit 52 sites 'very hard' if Iran retaliates for Suleimani killing Posted: 05 Jan 2020 02:11 AM PST As general's body is returned to Iran, president says targets represent the 52 US hostages taken by Iran in 1979 Donald Trump has threatened to hit 52 Iranian sites "very hard" if Iran attacks Americans or US assets in retaliation for the drone strike that killed the Iranian military commander Qassem Suleimani and an Iraqi militia leader. The US president made the threat in a tweet hours before Suleimani's body arrived in Iran for burial and ramifications of the killings were reverberating across a nervous region, where many believe the aftermath could spark a new era of bloodletting and instability. Continue reading... |
| The search for Eden: in pursuit of humanity’s origins Posted: 04 Jan 2020 11:45 PM PST Our species, Homo sapiens, evolved in Africa over hundreds of thousands of years. Now we are beginning to understand how Underneath our skins, we are all Africans. That is the recent, simple conclusion of scientists studying the origins of our species. Genes, ancient stone tools and fossil bones – analysed over the past few decades – make it clear that men and women today are the direct descendants of hunter-gatherers who evolved somewhere in Africa and took over the continent before one group departed to conquer the rest of the world tens of thousands of years ago. Where exactly in Africa we first appeared has never been established, however. Some researchers have argued that the cradle of humankind lay in the east, in Ethiopia or Kenya. Others have put their money on South Africa. But most were sure it would only be a matter of time before our species' birthplace was pinpointed: perhaps on land covering a huge estuary that once groaned with fish or near a vast slice of savannah rich with game. It was here, in some Stone Age paradise, that our more primitive predecessors honed their intellectual and cultural skills and were transformed into Homo sapiens, a species of primate notable for its rounded skull, small face, prominent chin, advanced tools, high intelligence and sophisticated culture. Continue reading... |
| US government agency website crashes amid panic over military draft Posted: 04 Jan 2020 01:29 PM PST Selective Service System said on Twitter its website was receiving high traffic volume 'due to the spread of misinformation' In the aftermath of the US drone strike that killed the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad, the phrase "World War III" began trending on social media. More startlingly, a US government agency which registers young men for a potential military draft saw its website crash. Continue reading... |
| Children among dozens confirmed dead in Cambodia building collapse Posted: 04 Jan 2020 10:35 PM PST Cambodian PM says rescue operation over as death toll from the collapse of a hotel in Kep province reaches 36 The death toll from a building collapse in southern Cambodia has risen to 36, with hopes dwindling of finding any further survivors. Hundreds of soldiers and rescuers had worked through Saturday night using excavators, drills and power saws to clear concrete after a seven-storey hotel under construction in seaside Kep province crumbled to the ground on Friday. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:46 AM PST NSW RFS commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons says he was frustrated to learn of ADF deployment from the media. This blog is now closed • Scott Morrison promises aid package for areas ravaged by bushfires • 'We realised we can't stop this': locals flee inferno that smashed Wingello • Explainer: how effective is bushfire hazard reduction on Australia's fires?
Time for a quick wrap up of what we've learned today.
The forest scientist Tom Fairman has just published a really interesting thread on the impact of recurring fire events on the snow gums in Victoria's alpine region. I loathe putting up another series of depressing fire maps - but after a chat with @jmorganecology, I made these showing the extensive fires that have occurred in the Victorian Alps since 2003, which have been added to this last few days. Another thread... Continue reading... |
| The pope’s apology could teach other public figures about being contrite Posted: 04 Jan 2020 09:04 AM PST Sorry doesn't have to be the hardest word, as Pope Francis proved after slapping the hand of a woman who grabbed him On New Year's Day, the Pope veered off script during his address to a packed St Peter's Square to apologise for his behaviour the previous night. Unsurprisingly, this did not involve the traditional end-of-December misdemeanour of drinking excessively and vomiting on a host's sofa. Instead, while greeting pilgrims at the Vatican on Tuesday evening, he slapped a woman's hand away after she grabbed him and yanked him towards her. He may have labelled the slap a "bad example" but, appropriately for a spiritual leader, the apology itself provided an immaculate blueprint for saying sorry. Why was it so laudable? First, it came swiftly. Less than 24 hours after the incident. There was no whiff of hoping the fuss (inevitably, the slap had sparked criticism on social media) would blow over, nor of waiting for advisers to conjure a glib, legally watertight statement. Second, it was unequivocal. "So many times we lose patience – even me, and I apologise for yesterday's bad example," were his words in full. They contained no attempt to excuse or diminish the wrongdoing. He merely acknowledged his human fallibility, which may have chimed with those who have recently watched Netflix's The Two Popes: the show offers an unsentimental portrait of how, in becoming pontiff, one is expected to have miraculously morphed from flawed human to spotless martyr. Continue reading... |
| Trump campaigns with patriotism after airstrike – but election is still far off Posted: 04 Jan 2020 06:01 AM PST Killing of Suleimani will help Trump among his supporters, but it could hurt him at the ballot box after promises of 'America first' "We have God on our side." They have long been some of the most chilling words in the English language. Perhaps never more so than when uttered by Donald Trump in a re-election campaign. The president made the claim at an Evangelicals for Trump rally at a megachurch in Miami on Friday night, a day after taking America to the brink of war with the killing in Baghdad of Qassem Suleimani, Iran's top general and potential future leader. Continue reading... |
| 'Death to America': grief and fury as thousands mourn death of Qassem Suleimani – video report Posted: 04 Jan 2020 11:11 AM PST Thousands have gathered across Iran and Iraq to mourn the death of Iran's top general, Qassem Suleimani, who was killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad. Mourners chanted 'death to America' and burned US flags as Iranian authorities vowed vengeance for Suleimani's death
|
| Qassem Suleimani: moment Iranian general killed by US strike reportedly caught on CCTV – video Posted: 04 Jan 2020 05:26 AM PST The Iraqi television channel Ahad TV has shared CCTV footage purporting to show the moment a US drone strike killed Iran's top general, Qassem Suleimani Continue reading... |
| Thousands march in Baghdad funeral procession for Qassem Suleimani – video Posted: 04 Jan 2020 03:14 AM PST Thousands of mourners have attended a funeral procession for Iran's top general, Qassem Suleimani, in Baghdad. His body, along with others killed in a US drone strike on Friday, were taken on a procession through the Iraqi capital before a public farewell in Tehran on Sunday. Marchers, many of them in tears, chanted 'death to America, death to Israel' Continue reading... |
| You are subscribed to email updates from World news | The Guardian. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
Posting Komentar