World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

0 komentar

World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk


Soros-backed campaign to push for new Brexit vote within a year

Posted: 29 May 2018 09:37 AM PDT

Billionaire says holding fresh referendum soon could save UK from 'immense damage'

A campaign to secure a second Brexit referendum within a year and save the UK from "immense damage" is to be launched in days, the philanthropist and financier George Soros has announced.

The billionaire founder of the Open Society Foundation said the prospect of the UK's prolonged divorce from Brussels could help persuade the British public by a "convincing margin" that EU membership was in their interests.

Continue reading...

Russian journalist and Kremlin critic Arkady Babchenko shot dead in Kiev

Posted: 29 May 2018 03:34 PM PDT

Murder thought related to prominent journalist's work, following threats that caused him to leave Russia in 2017

A dissident Russian journalist has been shot at his apartment in Kiev in a high-profile murder that police said may have been tied to his reporting.

Arkady Babchenko, a veteran Russian war correspondent, was shot three times in the back as he left his apartment to buy bread. He was found bleeding by his wife. Babchenko, 41, died in the ambulance to the hospital, a government official said.

Continue reading...

Varadkar: Northern Irish women may be able to have abortions in republic

Posted: 29 May 2018 10:30 AM PDT

Irish PM says he cannot see why women would be barred from travelling for procedures

Women from Northern Ireland may be able to have abortions in the Republic of Ireland once new laws are introduced there, the Irish prime minister has said.

Leo Varadkar said he could not see why women would be barred from crossing the border for such procedures when they are already allowed access to healthcare in the Irish Republic.

Continue reading...

Belgium shooting: man kills passerby and two police officers in Liège

Posted: 29 May 2018 11:31 AM PDT

Terrorism inquiry into attack by prisoner on day release who was later shot dead by police

Belgian investigators have opened a terrorism inquiry after a prisoner on day release shot dead two police officers and a passerby in the centre of Liège before being killed in a shootout.

The man, named as Benjamin Herman, 31, approached the two female officers from behind and repeatedly slashed at them with a boxcutter, or Stanley knife, as they were checking parking meters on Tuesday morning.

Continue reading...

Weinstein lawyers fear 'bad PR' could taint jury in sexual assault trial

Posted: 29 May 2018 03:44 PM PDT

Prosecutors reportedly plan to call as many of Weinstein's accusers to testify as possible

A lawyer for Harvey Weinstein has expressed concern that potential jurors could be tainted by the wave of bad publicity about the former film producer, who has been arrested and is facing sexual criminal charges involving two women.

Weinstein's attorney Benjamin Brafman, who met behind closed doors with prosecutors and a New York judge on Tuesday morning, said he'd told the judge he was worried about the impact of bad PR on potential jurors following his client's arrest last week. But he also warned he was limited in what he could say publicly because a transcript of the meeting was sealed.

Continue reading...

Brazil trucker strike leads to premature slaughter of millions of chickens

Posted: 29 May 2018 03:48 PM PDT

  • Strike over fuel prices paralyzes major exporter
  • Disruption of feed prompts farmers to slaughter chickens early

Striking truckers in Brazil have disrupted supplies and exports from one of the world's agricultural powerhouses, triggering the premature slaughter of millions of chickens as feed failed to reach farmers.

The strike over high fuel prices has paralyzed Brazil, the top global exporter of soybeans, sugar, coffee and chicken. Industrial action could spread to the country's oil sector on Wednesday, when workers plan to start a 72-hour strike.

Continue reading...

Italy at risk of new financial crisis in wake of coalition's collapse

Posted: 29 May 2018 04:14 PM PDT

Shares in New York and Asia fall sharply as investors and EU politicians take fright at strengthening mood against euro

Italy risks careening into a new financial crisis after the Bank of Italy said the country's leaders could not "disregard" financial constraints and its commitments to Brussels.

Markets around the world were also shaken with the Dow Jones industrial average in New York falling almost 400 points, or 1.58% on Tuesday as investors shifted money into the safe haven of US bonds, putting pressure on bank shares.

Continue reading...

Skeleton unearthed of man crushed by huge rock in Vesuvius eruption

Posted: 29 May 2018 11:59 AM PDT

Block of stone violently thrown up by volcanic cloud fell on to victim, Pompeii archaeologists say

Officials at the Pompeii archaeological site have announced the discovery of the skeleton of a man crushed by an enormous stone while trying to flee the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Pompeii officials on Tuesday released a photograph showing the skeleton protruding from beneath a large block of stone that may have been a door jamb which had been "violently thrown by the volcanic cloud".

Continue reading...

How the right is defending Roseanne Barr's racist tweets

Posted: 29 May 2018 03:55 PM PDT

Shortly after ABC canceled the show, rightwing commentators were engaged in false equivalences and 'mental gymnastics'

At least you can say the Roseanne reboot lasted longer than most members of the Trump administration. Only a couple of months after the premiere aired to one of the biggest TV audiences in years, the revived sitcom has been cancelled, following racist tweets by its eponymous star.

Related: Roseanne cancelled: ABC scraps sitcom after star's 'abhorrent' tweets

Continue reading...

Mexican campaigns awash with dirty money, pre-election report finds

Posted: 29 May 2018 12:41 PM PDT

Anti-graft group says that for every peso reported to election officials, 15 goes unreported

For every peso spent by Mexican parties on campaigning and reported to electoral authorities, another 15 pesos goes unreported, according to a new study showing that the country's political campaigns are awash in cash from dubious sources.

The report, published on Tuesday by the anti-graft group Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, comes four week's before the country's presidential elections. The left-leaning populist, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, leads polls for the 1 July election by double digits.

Continue reading...

Puerto Rico: Thousands more died from hurricane than official toll, study finds

Posted: 29 May 2018 10:18 AM PDT

Estimate of 4,600 deaths in sharp conflict with official toll of 64, and researchers say new evaluation may be an underestimate, too

The landfall of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last September led to the death of thousands on the island, according to a new study – in sharp conflict with the official government death toll of 64.

The report in the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that as many as 4,600 "excess deaths" occurred in the aftermath of the storm due to failures of medical and other critical infrastructure, and described the official number as "a substantial underestimate".

Continue reading...

Starbucks closes more than 8,000 US cafes for racial bias training

Posted: 29 May 2018 12:06 PM PDT

Company shuts coffee shops early to put in place training for 175,000 employees – but says 'isn't a solution, it's a first step'

More than 8,000 Starbucks coffee shops in the US closed their doors for racial bias training on Tuesday, in what the company said "isn't a solution, it's a first step" as it sought to rebuild its damaged reputation.

Related: Coffee shop racism; where America's racial divisions are exposed

Continue reading...

Paris 'Spider-Man' joins fire brigade after citizenship fast-tracked

Posted: 29 May 2018 09:15 AM PDT

Mamoudou Gassama granted legal status and signs up for €600-a-month internship

Mamoudou Gassama, the 22-year-old Malian hailed as a hero in France for saving a child hanging from a balcony, has been granted legal immigration status and has joined the French fire brigade.

Gassama has been celebrated in France and Mali after a video went viral showing him scaling several storeys of a Paris building to save a four-year-old boy who had already dropped one floor and was dangling from a balcony railing by his fingertips.

Continue reading...

Roseanne cancelled: ABC scraps sitcom after star's 'abhorrent' tweets

Posted: 30 May 2018 01:33 AM PDT

Network pulls Barr's revived show and condemns racist tweets towards ex-Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett

Roseanne Barr's revived sitcom has been cancelled after she posted a racist and Islamophobic tweet that attacked former Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett.

The sitcom star falsely alleged that Jarrett, who was born in Iran to American parents, has connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, and compared her to an ape. Barr wrote: "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj," using Jarrett's initials.

Continue reading...

'We’ve lost all hope': the investment scandal wrecking Russian lives

Posted: 29 May 2018 11:15 PM PDT

For years, thousands of Russians have been paying mortgages on homes that remain alarmingly unfinished. The 'defrauded co-investors' have found a voice – but will the Kremlin listen?

Among the red banners and copies of Trudovaya Rossiya (Working Russia) being passed around at a Communist party rally in Moscow, you could see a new kind of uniform: orange shirts bearing the slogan "Defrauded Co-Investor".

"We've lost all hope," says Valery Ryabkov, who is wearing one of the shirts. "We've gone to the Kremlin. We've gone to the mayor. Nothing happens. We get the same run-around everywhere."

Continue reading...

Is Russia killing stray dogs ahead of the World Cup?

Posted: 29 May 2018 03:00 AM PDT

After the mass culls before the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, animal rights activists in the World Cup cities of Sochi and Yekaterinburg fear history could be repeating itself

Earlier this year, Russia's deputy prime minister, Vitaly Mutko, met with animal rights activist to discuss their fears that stray dogs would be exterminated ahead of the football World Cup. Mutko pledged to stop all cruelty, and said he had ordered the construction of shelters for stray animals.

But activists allege dog killings have continued and that Mutko's words are meaningless as city governments are not compelled to follow recommendations made at a federal level.

Continue reading...

Gay, black and HIV positive: America's hidden epidemic – video

Posted: 29 May 2018 04:19 AM PDT

If you are a black, gay man in America, your risk of contracting HIV is one in two. Leah Green travels to Atlanta, Georgia, which has the largest gay and black community in the country. She finds out how stigma, education and structural racism continue to feed into this startling statistic

*Contains strong language

Continue reading...

Grenfell inquiry: final day of tributes - live updates

Posted: 30 May 2018 02:22 AM PDT

The commemorative hearings section of the inquiry into the fire which killed 72 people concludes with tributes to the six remaining victims

The commemoration to Bernard is being given by his sister Bernadette. In a breaking voice, she introduces members of her family on the stage including her partner Michael, her sister Jackie, her daughters and granddaughters.

She begins:

My brother ...meant different things to the different people in his life ...but to me he was my Ray, a brother I admired for his strength, his kindness, his patience and above all, his belief that good would always prevail over evil.

My brother was...my rock, my go-to person in times of trouble...We shared a deep love, respect and understanding for each other, coupled with an unbreakable bond.

Proceedings have begun. The first tribute will be to 63-year-old Raymond 'Moses' Bernard, who lived on the top floor of the tower. Bernard Richmond QC says there are a number of "trigger warnings" today, including in the video commemoration to Bernard, which features pictures of the burnt out tower.

Continue reading...

European markets edgy on Italian political turmoil - business live

Posted: 30 May 2018 02:22 AM PDT

Wall Street and Asia fall sharply as investors fear new elections could bring further uncertainty to Italy

The dip in the eurozone sentiment figures shows that even before the Italian turmoil, confidence was not really recovering, says Bert Colijn, senior eurozone economist at ING Bank:

Much like fidget spinners, euphoria about Eurozone growth and politics is definitely something that stayed in 2017. A few months ago, the sky was the limit for Eurozone sentiment, but now even stabilisation seems like a good result, as analysts expected worse.

Given that the survey does not account for the Italian turmoil, it's safe to say that moderating growth continues to be the message of 2018. While a few one-offs impacted the disappointing first quarter growth rate of 0.4%, it seems that there is some more permanence to the slower growth than initially expected even though Eurozone fundamentals remain strong with labour market strength and a favourable investment environment.

Economic confidence in the eurozone dipped slightly in May, according the European Commission.

The economic sentiment index slipped by 0.2 points to 112.5 in the eurozone, but edged up 0.4 points to 112.8 in the wider EU. Consumer confidence in the eurozone was down from 0.3 to 0.2. The commission said:

Virtually unchanged consumer confidence (-0.1) was the result of a marked decrease in consumers' assessment of the future general economic situation, which was counterbalanced by a strong increase in their savings expectations. Views on households' future financial situation and unemployment remained broadly stable.

Continue reading...

Hamas says armed groups agree to Gaza ceasefire if Israel reciprocates

Posted: 30 May 2018 12:06 AM PDT

Tense calm along Israel-Gaza border after Hamas calls truce following flare-up of fighting

Hamas has said Palestinian armed groups in Gaza have agreed to a ceasefire as long as Israel also halts hostilities, after the most intense flare-up of fighting since the war in 2014.

Following dozens of rocket and mortar launches at Israel throughout Tuesday and overnight, and Israeli tank and airstrikes in Gaza, there were no reports of violence more than two hours after the announcement of a truce by Hamas on Wednesday.

Continue reading...

Killings escalate as anglophone crisis flares in Cameroon | Peter Zongo

Posted: 30 May 2018 02:18 AM PDT

As rebel groups combat the clampdown on activists, civilians are being caught in the crossfire, with reports of many killed and tens of thousands forced from their homes

An hour and a half's drive from Bamenda, in Cameroon's north-west, is Belo, a village largely abandoned except for a military checkpoint manned by drunken soldiers.

In the middle of the road is a burnt motorcycle. A little further on, a corpse is sprawled – someone has tried to cover it with a few handfuls of grass.

Continue reading...

Mexico will pay for border wall and 'enjoy it', says Trump – video

Posted: 30 May 2018 12:20 AM PDT

Speaking at a rally in Nashville, Tennessee, the US president criticises Mexico for not helping to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States and repeats his campaign promise that the country will pay for a wall to be built along the US-Mexico border 

Continue reading...

Brazil faces calls for return to military dictatorship amid truckers' strike

Posted: 30 May 2018 12:30 AM PDT

Days into shutdown that began over fuel prices, some protesters call for military intervention 'to put the house in order'

Hundreds of truckers and their supporters had gathered at a gas station on a highway near São Paulo, for a rally in support of a nationwide protest that has brought South America's biggest economy to its knees.

But among the slogans and Brazilian flags were signs not usually seen at strike demonstrations: slung from a nearby overpass were banners calling for "military intervention", a sign that this shutdown has taken on a political dimension all of its own.

Continue reading...

Japanese hunters kill 120 pregnant minke whales during summer months – report

Posted: 29 May 2018 10:24 PM PDT

Conservationists call for end of 'abhorrent' whaling programme, which Japan argues is conducted for scientific purposes

More than 120 pregnant whales were killed during Japan's annual "research" hunt in the Southern Ocean last summer, a new report has revealed.

Of the 333 minke whales caught during the controversial 12-week expedition, 181 were female – including 53 immature ones. Figures show that of the 128 mature female whales caught in the hunt, 122 were pregnant.

Continue reading...

Barnaby Joyce says he will return in mid-June – contradicting Nationals whip

Posted: 30 May 2018 02:11 AM PDT

MP says his electorate office will be open as usual during his period of medical leave

Sign up to receive the top stories every morning

Barnaby Joyce says he will return to parliament for the final sitting fortnight before the winter break, contradicting advice from the Nationals whip that he would take medical leave until the end of June.

Perhaps in response to speculation in Canberra that the beleaguered member for New England might be preparing to quit, Joyce took to social media to confirm his intentions for an early return to the capital, and to inform local constituents that his electorate office would function normally throughout his period of leave.

Continue reading...

Executed, disappeared, tortured: the risks of defending human rights – podcast

Posted: 29 May 2018 10:00 PM PDT

In the climate of fear following the murder of activist Berta Cáceres in Honduras, Lucy Lamble talks to Ana Paula Hernández about her work supporting campaigners who fight to protect native lands

According to the human rights organisation Front Line Defenders, 312 human rights activists were murdered in 2017. Of those killed, 212 were from Latin America.

One of the most infamous murders in this part of the world was that of Berta Cáceres, the Honduran environmental defender, allegedly murdered for her opposition to the building of a hydroelectric dam. In her work at the Fund for Global Human Rights, Ana Paula Hernández focuses on protecting those fighting for Cáceres' cause, and others campaigning across South America.

Continue reading...

Kim Yong-chol: the ultimate North Korean regime insider

Posted: 29 May 2018 05:11 PM PDT

The man sent to New York for talks with Mike Pompeo ahead of the June summit is a former DMZ border guard and spy

Kim Yong-chol, the septuagenarian former spy chief due to arrive in New York on Wednesday for talks with Mike Pompeo, is the ultimate North Korean regime insider.

Kim has been a border guard in the Korean demilitarised zone, a liaison officer with the United Nations, and a member of the team who held breakthrough negotiations with the South Koreans in the early 1990s. Over the past decade he was promoted to four-star general, and made head of the main North Korean intelligence service, known as the reconnaissance general bureau (RGB).

Continue reading...

Italy's Mr Scissors gives markets the jitters over fate of the eurozone | Larry Elliott

Posted: 29 May 2018 10:01 AM PDT

The choice of Carlo Cottarelli as Italy's caretaker prime minister is a massive political gamble

Carlo Cottarelli will not be Italy's first caretaker leader. Nor will he be the first technocrat to take over the reins of power in Rome. But he is the first to be handed the job by a supposedly apolitical president in defiance of the democratic will of the people as manifested in the support they gave for two populist parties in the recent March election.

Hence the turmoil in the financial markets that greeted the controversial decision by Italy's president – Sergio Mattarella – to invite Cottarelli to form a government. If the idea of appointing a safe pair of hands to be prime minister was to reassure jittery investors, the plan was not immediately successful. Italian bond yields – the interest rate paid on government borrowing – saw their biggest one-day jump since 1992.

Continue reading...

Smoke and fire: Tuesday's best photographs

Posted: 29 May 2018 08:24 AM PDT

Our picture editors choose the best images from the past 24 hours

Continue reading...

Gunman kills two police officers and passerby in Belgium – video report

Posted: 29 May 2018 06:47 AM PDT

A man has killed two police officers and a passerby in Liège in the east of Belgium. People ran for safety on Boulevard d'Avroy in the city centre before police shot dead the attacker. The country's national anti-terrorist crisis centre has said terrorism cannot be excluded as a motive 

Continue reading...

Shots and sirens heard in Belgian city of Liège – video

Posted: 29 May 2018 04:13 AM PDT

Amateur footage captures sound of sirens and then shots being fired in Liège. It has been reported that a gunman killed two police officers and a passerby before being shot dead in the city centre. The country's national anti-terrorist crisis centre has said terrorism cannot be excluded as a motive 

Continue reading...


Posting Komentar