World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk |
- Covid live: South Korea marks deadliest day of pandemic; Australia reintroduces mask mandates
- Asia’s factory workers at the sharp end of the west’s supply chain crisis
- Outcry as Hong Kong University memorial to Tiananmen Square victims is removed
- Taste the TV: Japan invents lickable screen to imitate food flavours
- ‘I heard a meow’: Kentucky man finds his cat unscathed in rubble nine days after tornado
- Intel faces backlash in China after banning products and labour from Xinjiang
- Eric Clapton to waive legal costs against woman who attempted to sell single bootlegged CD
- James Franco admits sleeping with students and says he had sex addiction
- Capitol rioters hit with severe sentences and sharp reprimands from judges
- Republicans woo Joe Manchin as senator clashes with Democrats
- Cat burglar: New Zealand pet steals bong, bag of white powder and lacy underwear
- China locks down 13 million people in Xi’an after detecting 127 Covid cases
- New Zealand ends 2021 with one of world’s best Covid outcomes – but it wasn’t all good news
- ‘Nothing’s been good enough’: Biden addresses US Covid testing shortage before holidays
- WHO boss: western countries’ Covid booster drives likely to prolong pandemic
- Kate Winslet: ‘I feel way cooler as a fortysomething actress than I ever imagined’
- Climate change is happening now: Meet the people on the front lines - video
- Nord Stream 2: how Putin’s pipeline paralysed the west
- Escape your comfort zone! How to face your fears - and improve your health, wealth and happiness
- My winter of love: Scrolling through sperm banks wasn’t sexy – but it was surprisingly intimate
- Spider-Man: No Way Home: Strange blunders, Spider-splicing and sizzling supervillains – discuss with spoilers
- ‘We need a new commons’: how city life can offer us the vital power of connection
- Northern Ireland and Wales to bring in tough Omicron restrictions
- Israeli archaeologists find treasure trove among Mediterranean shipwrecks
- Mandatory Covid jabs in Malawi ‘violate human rights’, say civil society groups
- ‘An act of rebellion’: the young farmers revolutionizing Puerto Rico’s agriculture
- St Basil’s bosses ordered to give evidence at inquest despite incrimination argument
- ‘A breakthrough, not a breakdown’: one woman’s quest to transform mental health care in India
- Saving Roe v Wade is not just a US battle but one for women across the Americas | Mariana Prandini Assis
- ‘The need is still there’: last young refugees arrive in UK as family reunion route closes
- Calls for femicide to become separate crime in Greece mount as two more women killed
- From Grand Theft Auto to world peace: can a video game help to change the world?
- Settled French territory or powder keg: what next for New Caledonia after failed bid for independence? | Hamish McDonald
- UK government’s wait for Omicron evidence is a high-stakes gamble
- Miss Sweden and Bugs Bunny add up to a bad day in court for Ghislaine Maxwell
- Tiananmen massacre statue removed from Hong Kong university – video
- 'Not my time to die': Madagascan minister on surviving 12-hour swim after crash – video
- 'We cannot boost our way out of the pandemic': WHO head on global vaccine inequality – video
- MPs throw punches in Ghana parliament over payment tax – video
- Freezing fog and winter solstice: Tuesday’s best photos
- 'An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled': WHO urges rethink of holiday events – video
- 'We won't hesitate': Boris Johnson says government can't rule out new Covid restrictions – video
| Covid live: South Korea marks deadliest day of pandemic; Australia reintroduces mask mandates Posted: 23 Dec 2021 02:48 AM PST South Korea reports record 109 deaths from Covid in one day; Australia revives mask-wearing indoors, capacity limits and QR code check-ins
The premier of Australia's most populous state of NSW, Dominic Perrottet, addressed the media on Thursday to confirm masks will be mandated for inside areas and density limits would also be imposed. As of midnight tonight, we will be requiring that masks are worn in indoor settings. We are encouraging people, particularly over the holiday period, if you can work from home, please work from home. In addition to that, we're encouraging people not to mingle and when you're out and out at a restaurant or cafe and a pub or a club, please where possible don't mingle. Continue reading... |
| Asia’s factory workers at the sharp end of the west’s supply chain crisis Posted: 22 Dec 2021 09:00 PM PST Migrant workers ate and slept in factories swarming with Covid, sealed off from outside world For weeks, Hoang Thi Quynh* worked and slept inside a garment factory in Tien Giang province, in southern Vietnam. She would start her shift at 7.15am and then, after a day spent sewing sportswear garments, enter an empty hall of the factory complex and settle down for the night. Each worker had a tent, set one or two metres apart, containing a foil mat, pillow, blanket and a box to store their belongings. No workers were permitted to meet anyone from outside the factory; even speaking to a visitor over the gates was forbidden. Continue reading... |
| Outcry as Hong Kong University memorial to Tiananmen Square victims is removed Posted: 22 Dec 2021 09:10 PM PST Site of the Pillar of Shame at the city's oldest university is under guard after workmen dismantled statue Hong Kong's oldest university has removed a statue mourning those killed in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989 and posted guards at the site where it has stood for more than 20 years. The move prompted criticism of the university and the Hong Kong authorities, with academics and experts saying the removal of the sculpture was an attempt at "rewriting history". Continue reading... |
| Taste the TV: Japan invents lickable screen to imitate food flavours Posted: 23 Dec 2021 02:17 AM PST Prototype uses carousel of canisters to create flavour samples on hygienic film over flatscreen TV A Japanese professor has developed a prototype lickable TV screen that can imitate food flavours, another step towards creating a multisensory viewing experience. The device, called Taste the TV (TTTV), uses a carousel of 10 flavour canisters that spray in combination to create the taste of a particular food. The flavour sample then rolls on hygienic film over a flat TV screen for the viewer to try. Continue reading... |
| ‘I heard a meow’: Kentucky man finds his cat unscathed in rubble nine days after tornado Posted: 22 Dec 2021 03:17 PM PST Sonny 'Hoot' Gibson thought his mind was playing tricks when the sound emerged from his demolished office building Nine days after a tornado demolished his three-story office building in downtown Mayfield, Kentucky, Sonny "Hoot" Gibson was standing in the rubble when he thought he heard a faint meow. It instantly gave him hope that his office cat, Madix, who hadn't been seen since before the storms hit, was alive. Gibson said he had tried to find the black cat with yellow eyes who liked to greet customers of his rental business, but he had given up after a few days. Continue reading... |
| Intel faces backlash in China after banning products and labour from Xinjiang Posted: 22 Dec 2021 05:49 PM PST Chinese social media users call for boycott of US chip maker after it issues directive to suppliers over human rights concerns Intel, the US computer chip maker, is facing a backlash from China after telling its suppliers not to source products or labour from the region of Xinjiang. Intel said it had been "required to ensure that its supply chain does not use any labour or source goods or services" from Xinjiang in accordance with restrictions imposed by "multiple governments". Continue reading... |
| Eric Clapton to waive legal costs against woman who attempted to sell single bootlegged CD Posted: 22 Dec 2021 09:39 PM PST The artist's management have issued a clarifying statement after the singer attracted criticism over the David v Goliath win Eric Clapton has waived the legal costs that a German court ordered a 55-year-old woman to pay, over a single CD containing a bootleg copy of a 1980s concert she attempted to sell. The musician's management has also issued a clarifying statement in response to widespread social media criticism over Clapton's decision to take legal action in the first place, saying Clapton was not involved in the specifics of the case and she "is not the type of person Eric Clapton, or his record company, wish to target". Continue reading... |
| James Franco admits sleeping with students and says he had sex addiction Posted: 22 Dec 2021 04:22 PM PST Actor gives first extended comments about accusations that came nearly four years ago James Franco has acknowledged sleeping with students of an acting school he previously ran, saying he struggled with a sex addiction and has been working to improve his behavior in recent years. In excerpts from The Jess Cagle Podcast made public on Wednesday, Franco, 43, said that while teaching, he "did sleep with students, and that was wrong". He said he had not started the school to lure women for sexual purposes. Continue reading... |
| Capitol rioters hit with severe sentences and sharp reprimands from judges Posted: 23 Dec 2021 02:00 AM PST Some of the longest sentences have gone to rioters charged with 'assaulting a police officer with a dangerous weapon' Judges across the US have been handing down stiff sentences and hard words in recent weeks for extremist supporters of Donald Trump who took part in the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol. Since a federal judge sentenced Jacob Chansley, the US Capitol rioter nicknamed the "QAnon shaman" for his horned headdress, to 41 months in prison last month, more US judges have been delivering strict sentences to defendants charged over their roles in the attacks earlier this year. Continue reading... |
| Republicans woo Joe Manchin as senator clashes with Democrats Posted: 22 Dec 2021 01:57 PM PST Centrist senator has rejected the idea of joining GOP but has indicated openness to being an independent For many Democrats, Joe Manchin has become an unshakeable problem. The centrist senator is at odds with other Democrats on everything from filibuster reform to climate policy, and he recently announced his opposition to the Build Back Better Act, the lynchpin of Joe Biden's legislative agenda. But Republicans think Manchin now represents an opportunity to boost their numbers. Continue reading... |
| Cat burglar: New Zealand pet steals bong, bag of white powder and lacy underwear Posted: 22 Dec 2021 07:16 PM PST Keith the cat is known locally for making off with everything from live eels to tradesmen's boots A New Zealand cat with a reputation as a talented thief has taken his habit to new lows by bringing home drugs and a pair of lacy black knickers, according to his owners. Keith's crime wave started three years ago, when he began stealing bras from nearby clothes lines and bringing home live eels from the local Heathcote river in Christchurch. Continue reading... |
| China locks down 13 million people in Xi’an after detecting 127 Covid cases Posted: 22 Dec 2021 09:03 PM PST Snap lockdown, which prompted panic in the city, comes little over a month before Beijing is set to host the Winter Olympics Up to 13 million people have been placed into lockdown in the city of Xi'an in China, as authorities move to clamp down on the community spread of Covid-19 after 127 infections were found in a second round of mass testing. The snap lockdown on Thursday comes little over a month before Beijing is set to host the Winter Olympics. Continue reading... |
| New Zealand ends 2021 with one of world’s best Covid outcomes – but it wasn’t all good news Posted: 22 Dec 2021 10:02 PM PST Few cases and high vaccination rates, but these successes have come at a cost As the Covid-19 pandemic hurtles towards its second anniversary, New Zealand will emerge from 2021 with some of the best health outcomes in the world, despite confronting its toughest few pandemic months. This year New Zealand experienced its longest lockdown, its highest daily case numbers (222 in mid-November), more hospitalisations than in 2020 and a pivot away from the government's ambitious elimination approach to one of strict virus control. But it can now boast a 90% double vaccination for the eligible population and one of the lowest per capita death rates, while its cases in the current outbreak are trending downwards. Continue reading... |
| ‘Nothing’s been good enough’: Biden addresses US Covid testing shortage before holidays Posted: 22 Dec 2021 05:13 PM PST President tells ABC that country is in better position than last Christmas but is struggling with testing Pressed about US testing shortages amid the omicron surge, Biden conceded in an interview that "nothing's been good enough". In an interview with ABC's David Muir on Wednesday, the president signaled that the country was in a better shape now than last Christmas but said he wished he had ordered free at-home tests earlier than this week. A surging demand for tests, driven by the new variant and the winter holidays, has led to long lines and shortages around the country. Continue reading... |
| WHO boss: western countries’ Covid booster drives likely to prolong pandemic Posted: 22 Dec 2021 09:27 AM PST Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says there will be enough vaccines for world's adults – if they are not hoarded The world will have enough doses of Covid vaccines early next year to inoculate all of the global adult population – if western countries do not hoard those vaccines to use in blanket booster programmes, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday there would be sufficient vaccine supplies in global circulation in the first quarter of 2022. Continue reading... |
| Kate Winslet: ‘I feel way cooler as a fortysomething actress than I ever imagined’ Posted: 23 Dec 2021 12:00 AM PST The star of one of 2021's biggest TV hits, Mare of Easttown, talks about weepy reunions with Leonardo DiCaprio, binging Ted Lasso and middle-aged women taking over our screens Kate Winslet will be ready in a sec. "I'm just going to put some more eyedrops on my stye," she says. Blame her intense crime drama Mare of Easttown, one of the TV hits of the pandemic. "It was quite a stressful job, and about nine weeks in I got three styes in my left eye, the third of which turned into a solid little marble and had to be cut out. But I pushed on. On with the show!" In it, she plays DS Mare Sheehan, who is raising her grandson, coping with her son's suicide, and trying to solve the murder of a young mother in a working-class Philadelphia suburb. All without makeup: Mare is more likely to reach for a Cheeto topped with a squirt of spray cheese than anything in the Max Factor range. "The discussion about how Mare looked blew my mind," says Winslet. The 46-year-old actor is speaking by phone from the West Sussex home she shares with her husband, Ned Abel Smith, and their seven-year-old son Bear, as well as her two children from previous marriages: 21-year-old Mia by her first husband, Jim Threapleton, and 17-year-old Joe by her second, the director Sam Mendes. "People were asking, 'Did she gain weight? Didn't she look frumpy? Wasn't that brave of her?' But why should that be brave? I suppose because it's not how leading actresses are represented. Maybe Mare will be the tipping point, and we're going to stop scrutinising women on screen quite so much." Continue reading... |
| Climate change is happening now: Meet the people on the front lines - video Posted: 23 Dec 2021 01:22 AM PST The Guardian and Observer's 2021 charity appeal is fighting for climate justice. In this video, we meet some of those on the climate frontline, and the charities helping them. This year we are supporting four charities - Global Greengrants Fund UK, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Environmental Justice Foundation, and Practical Action - that fight to protect the rights and livelihoods of communities hit by extreme weather events caused by the climate emergency. Continue reading... |
| Nord Stream 2: how Putin’s pipeline paralysed the west Posted: 22 Dec 2021 09:00 PM PST Gazprom's $11bn project to deliver gas from Russia to Germany seems impossible to abandon and impossible to carry forward The saga of Nord Stream 2, the gas pipeline between Russia and Germany running along the Baltic seabed, has been stuck so long it has been likened to a suitcase at an airport without a handle – impossible to abandon, and impossible to carry forward. Most of the original cast of characters – Jean-Claude Juncker, Angela Merkel, Matteo Renzi, David Cameron, Petro Poroshenko – have left the political stage. Only one politician has survived the entire story: Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, and the master of divide and rule. First announced in 2015, the $11bn (£8.3bn) pipeline owned by Russia's state-backed energy giant Gazprom has been built to carry gas from western Siberia, doubling the existing capacity of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline and keeping 26m German homes warm at an affordable price. Continue reading... |
| Escape your comfort zone! How to face your fears - and improve your health, wealth and happiness Posted: 23 Dec 2021 01:00 AM PST Is there something great you have always wanted to do, but fear has held you back? Make 2022 the year you go for it The "comfort zone" is a reliable place of retreat, especially in times of stress – living through a global pandemic, for instance. But psychologists have long ƒextolled the benefits of stepping outsideit, too. The clinical psychologist Roberta Babb advises regularly reviewing how well it is serving you. The comfort zone can, she says, become a prison or a trap, particularly if you are there because of fear and avoidance. Babb says people can be "mentally, emotionally, physically, socially, occupationally" stimulated by facing their fears or trying something uncomfortable. "Adaptation and stimulation are important parts of our wellbeing, and a huge part of our capacity to be resilient. We can get stagnant, and it is about growing and finding different ways to be, which then allows us to have a different life experience." Continue reading... |
| My winter of love: Scrolling through sperm banks wasn’t sexy – but it was surprisingly intimate Posted: 22 Dec 2021 10:00 PM PST Donor profiles sparked long conversations about the values we wanted for our child. The guys who wanted to 'spread their genes'? Definitely out Surrounded by glittering Christmas lights, in between sips of red wine, my friend made me a very decent proposal. "My sperm," he said. "You can have it if you like." We'd been catching up over festive drinks and the topic of kids came up, as it does when you are in your 30s. My partner – now wife – and I had started thinking about having a family, I'd told my friend. We had two wombs and a bunch of eggs; we just needed to figure out the rest of the baby-making equation. So he offered to sort that bit out for us, no strings (or body appendages) attached. My wife and I thought about that offer a lot over the next few months. No offence to heterosexuals (some of my best friends are straight), but I don't envy you most of the time. However, I am jealous of the fertile straight couples who don't have to do anything more complicated than jump into bed when they decide they want kids. Instead of getting undressed, my wife and I went online. We researched, researched, researched. Should we go for a known donor such as my friend? Or would it be better to go to a sperm bank? Continue reading... |
| Posted: 23 Dec 2021 01:26 AM PST What was the sorcerer thinking? Has Sony marked its turf? And where does Green Goblin rank among the great villains? When is a movie that's only good, rather than great, the best thing you've seen all year? When it's a fan event on the scale of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which unites everyone who ever loved the big-screen franchise (going back to 2002's Spider-Man) for a gorgeously nostalgic feelgood romp. This is the climax to Jon Watts' "Home" trilogy, following the excellent Spider-Man: Homecoming and its 2019 sequel Far From Home. But while it nicely rounds off the character arc of Tom Holland's Peter Parker, it also restores a sense of wellbeing to the Sony-owned Spider-flicks that came before it, and may just turn out to be the future. So what did we learn from our latest trip into Spider-Man's rapidly expanding world? Continue reading... |
| ‘We need a new commons’: how city life can offer us the vital power of connection Posted: 22 Dec 2021 10:00 PM PST The pandemic has seen borders close and divisions widened. But in almost all aspects of life, humanity will only thrive by coming together During the pandemic, the nations of the world set about energetically strengthening borders around themselves, and within themselves, as states restricted entry. During the early lockdowns, according to the UNHCR, 168 of the world's 195 countries partially or entirely closed their borders. This hit refugees particularly hard. "Movement is vital for people who are in flight," said Filippo Grandi, the head of UNHCR. "They save their lives, by running." The virus knows no borders; it is the ultimate globalist. Covid-19 put an end to the idea that the 19th-century European nation state is the political arrangement we should all aspire to. The nation state is an outdated concept, and ill serves the present emergency. The rich countries have frozen immigration. But when people can't move, they also can't earn. Global remittances – money sent back to their families by people working abroad – which amount to four times all the foreign aid given by the rich countries to the poor ones – have gone down two years in a row. Poor countries will be poorer. Continue reading... |
| Northern Ireland and Wales to bring in tough Omicron restrictions Posted: 22 Dec 2021 11:24 AM PST Devolved nations to reintroduce rule of six for hospitality venues and other measures from Boxing Day Wales and Northern Ireland have announced stringent restrictions that will come into force from Boxing Day, including the return of the rule of six for hospitality venues, in an effort to curb the spread of the Omicron variant. The first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, accused Boris Johnson of being in a "state of paralysis," over Omicron as he set out a package of strict measures he said would put his country at "alert level two". Continue reading... |
| Israeli archaeologists find treasure trove among Mediterranean shipwrecks Posted: 22 Dec 2021 09:45 AM PST Hundreds of Roman and medieval coins and artefacts uncovered near ancient city of Caesarea Archaeologists in Israel have discovered the remnants of two shipwrecks off the Mediterranean coast, replete with a sunken trove of hundreds Roman and medieval silver coins. The finds made near the ancient city of Caesarea were dated to the Roman and Mamluk periods, about 1,700 and 600 years ago, archaeologists said. They include hundreds of Roman silver and bronze coins dating to the mid-third century, as well as more than 500 silver coins from the middle ages found amid the sediment. Continue reading... |
| Mandatory Covid jabs in Malawi ‘violate human rights’, say civil society groups Posted: 22 Dec 2021 11:01 PM PST Measure aimed at frontline workers to reduce spread of Omicron variant may increase unrest in country with low vaccine take-up, critics warn Civil rights groups in Malawi have cautioned the government on its decision to make the Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for frontline workers. From January, it will be compulsory for public sector workers, including healthcare staff, police and teachers, as well as journalists, to be vaccinated, after an announcement by Malawi's health minister, Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda, last week. Continue reading... |
| ‘An act of rebellion’: the young farmers revolutionizing Puerto Rico’s agriculture Posted: 23 Dec 2021 02:30 AM PST The island imports 85% of its food but three farms are part of the agroecology movement seeking food sovereignty and climate solutions Puerto Rico was once a thriving agricultural hub thanks to its tropical climate, rich biodiversity, and sustainable farming traditions. Today, less than 2% of the workforce is employed in agriculture and tens of thousands of acres of arable land sit idle. Meanwhile 85% of the food eaten in Puerto Rico is imported, grocery prices are among the highest in the US and last year two in five people experienced food insecurity. "Unemployment is brutal, prices are brutal, migration from the island is brutal," said Denise Santos, who runs Puerto Rico's food bank. It involves a set of farming principles and practices that can be adapted to any ecosystem, microclimate and culture – a way of life practiced for thousands of years by indigenous people and peasant farmers. Farmers often integrate crops, livestock and trees (agroforestry) in order to maximize ecological conditions, such as a fruit orchard that aids water retention and provides shade for crops and grazing animals who in turn fertilize the earth to improve the yield. Crop rotation and crop cover are fundamental to this holistic approach, that takes into consideration the well-being of the Earth, those who produce the food as well as the local communities who eat it. Like in nature, every part of every ecosystem – which includes the farmers – help and depend on each other in some way. Contrast this to intensive industrialized farming which guzzles water, depletes the soil and burns fossil fuels (for fertilizers and powering machinery) to control the environment for genetically identical monocrop production. Advocates say agroecology offers locally driven solutions to a myriad of interconnected crises including food insecurity, biodiversity loss, environmental degradation and global heating. Agroecology is a social and political movement seeking to influence public policies so that sustainable farming benefits from government support (tax breaks, subsidies, and bailouts) currently propping up the dominant industrial agriculture system which is a major cause of biodiversity loss and accounts for more than a quarter of global greenhouse gases. Continue reading... |
| St Basil’s bosses ordered to give evidence at inquest despite incrimination argument Posted: 23 Dec 2021 02:30 AM PST Operators of Melbourne Covid-ravaged nursing home will have to give evidence despite claim it could incriminate them The operators of a Melbourne nursing home ravaged by a Covid-19 outbreak will have to give evidence to an inquest despite their argument it would be a "dress rehearsal" in any potential future prosecution. Kon Kontis and Vicky Kos last week faced the Victorian Coroners Court and formally requested to be excused from testifying at the inquest into the fatal outbreak at St Basil's Home for the Aged on the grounds they may incriminate themselves. Continue reading... |
| ‘A breakthrough, not a breakdown’: one woman’s quest to transform mental health care in India Posted: 23 Dec 2021 02:00 AM PST Psychologist Ratnaboli Ray's recovery from a mental health crisis inspired her to fight for women suffering in 'abysmal' conditions in West Bengal's state institutions
Ratnaboli Ray regards one of the lowest points of her life as a breakthrough. After years in an arranged marriage in which she felt stifled and trapped, her mental health took a catastrophic turn in 1997, when she was in her mid-30s. "I was feeling very caged, I was not able to express myself," she says, from her home in West Bengal, India. She describes the psychological symptoms as like a pressure cooker bursting. "I used to get angry, have weeping spells. I was neglectful of my young son." Continue reading... |
| Posted: 22 Dec 2021 01:30 AM PST US conservatives' campaign to undermine the landmark ruling threatens progress in reproductive freedom in Latin America As the US supreme court prepares to decide a case that could deny women the right to abortion in much of the US, Latin American activists like me are holding our collective breaths. The continent has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, in spite of recent progressive reforms in the past decade in countries including Uruguay and Argentina. Continue reading... |
| ‘The need is still there’: last young refugees arrive in UK as family reunion route closes Posted: 21 Dec 2021 10:30 PM PST Activists lament that a safe, legal way into Britain has closed with Brexit, when stranded children need it as much as ever 'When I was a child in Afghanistan I loved to watch my uncle play chess. Now I have joined the local club here." Samir is grinning as he talks about settling into life on England's south coast. "I'm very happy here, just being with my family, going for walks to look at the Christmas lights. It's really beautiful." After arriving in Greece alone two years ago, when he was just 16, and spending many months homeless and terrified in the port city of Patras, Samir recently made a journey that most refugees can only dream about. He said goodbye to the friends he had made in a camp for unaccompanied minors – other teenagers from Somalia, Iraq and Palestine – and travelled safely and legally to join his father and sister in the UK. Continue reading... |
| Calls for femicide to become separate crime in Greece mount as two more women killed Posted: 21 Dec 2021 03:47 AM PST 'It has to be recognised as a term and as a crime', says government opposition, after unprecedented number of women murdered by partners The Greek government has come under growing pressure to introduce femicide as an offence in the country's penal code amid outrage over the growing and unprecedented number of women being brutally murdered by their partners. Two women were murdered by their husbands within five days last week, bringing the death toll to 17 since January, according to state-run television. Both men allegedly told police that they had killed their wives out of fear that they would leave them. Continue reading... |
| From Grand Theft Auto to world peace: can a video game help to change the world? Posted: 21 Dec 2021 02:30 AM PST Lual Mayen turned his family's escape from civil war in South Sudan into a powerful gaming experience – that will have real-life benefits for refugees It was while fleeing the civil war in South Sudan that Lual Mayen's mother gave birth to him 28 years ago. She had four children in tow and was near to the border with Uganda, in a town called Aswa. The journey was difficult; Mayen's two sisters died on the way and he became sick. No one thought he would survive. "I can't imagine what she had to go through. There was no food, no water, nothing," says Mayen. "I remember she said she was not the only woman who gave birth on the way. Other women abandoned their children because they didn't want them to suffer. But my mother thought: "He is a gift for me, I have to keep him."' Continue reading... |
| Posted: 22 Dec 2021 12:00 PM PST While French politicians are hailing the result of the referendum as 'final', indigenous Kanaks say their future is anything but settled In the wake of the third New Caledonian referendum on independence from France, French president Emmanuel Macron declared that "France is more beautiful because New Caledonia decided to stay." The vote in the 12 December referendum – supposedly the finale of a 30-year process of preparation and consultation – was an overwhelming 96.5% against independence. Continue reading... |
| UK government’s wait for Omicron evidence is a high-stakes gamble Posted: 21 Dec 2021 11:09 AM PST Analysis: 'incontrovertible evidence' is a tall order and in the meantime the NHS risks being overwhelmed At a long and difficult cabinet meeting on Monday, hawkish ministers demanded "incontrovertible evidence" that Omicron risks overwhelming the NHS to justify the cost of taking action, while on Tuesday Boris Johnson confirmed his view that there is insufficient evidence to justify new measures – yet. While some clarity on the hospitalisation rate associated with the new variant should be available within a day or two, scientists have warned that getting the evidence ministers want may be "a tall order". So why is it so hard to work out, and what does that mean for decision-making? Continue reading... |
| Miss Sweden and Bugs Bunny add up to a bad day in court for Ghislaine Maxwell Posted: 18 Dec 2021 10:07 AM PST The former socialite had nothing to say after the prosecution in her New York trial dispensed quickly with defence witnesses Defending a client charged with crimes modern society finds more terrible than murder, who might face the rest of her life in prison, Ghislaine Maxwell's defence in New York opened with a nice lady who hadn't seen anything, a travel agent who booked flights years after they mattered and a professor of BugsBunnyology – and none of them cut the mustard. At the end of the defence's first day, Maxwell was seen holding her hands up in despair at her fancy attorneys who have cost her, according to her own estimate, some $7m. Juries in US federal trials must be unanimous and there are legal grounds for knocking out some of the charges, but it looks bleak for Maxwell. Continue reading... |
| Tiananmen massacre statue removed from Hong Kong university – video Posted: 22 Dec 2021 04:02 PM PST A monument at a Hong Kong university that commemorated the 1989 Tiananmen Square killings was boarded up by workers. Drilling sounds and loud clanging could be heard coming from the boarded-up site, which was patrolled by guards, as workers barricaded the Pillar of Shame monument at the University of Hong Kong. The 8-metre-tall (26ft) Pillar of Shame, which depicts 50 torn and twisted bodies piled on top of each other, was created by Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt to symbolise those who lost their lives during the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Galschiøt said he believed the sculpture had been cut up into pieces, and that he was considering pursuing legal action to save it. Continue reading... |
| 'Not my time to die': Madagascan minister on surviving 12-hour swim after crash – video Posted: 22 Dec 2021 10:56 AM PST Serge Gelle, the country's secretary of state for police, reached land in the seaside town of Mahambo, having swum about 12 hours to shore after his helicopter crashed off Madagascar's north-east coast. 'It's not my time to die,' the 57-year-old said, lying exhausted in a deckchair in a video shared on social media Continue reading... |
| 'We cannot boost our way out of the pandemic': WHO head on global vaccine inequality – video Posted: 22 Dec 2021 09:31 AM PST The World Health Organization has said booster programmes are more likely to lengthen the pandemic rather than shorten it, as vaccine inequality means many countries have not yet hit their 40% vaccination target while wealthier nations move on to offer booster jabs. The WHO director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Covid would continue to mutate and spread through unvaccinated populations Continue reading... |
| MPs throw punches in Ghana parliament over payment tax – video Posted: 21 Dec 2021 08:40 AM PST MPs grappled with each other in a fight in Ghana's parliament during a proposed tax debate for electronic transactions on Monday. The 1.75% e-levy, which would include taxes on mobile money payments, has been challenged by the opposition for weeks, pushing the national budget announcement back. Members of parliament rushed to the front of the chamber and started fighting each other after deputy speaker Joseph Osei-Owusu suggested the tax be debated in an urgency procedure Continue reading... |
| Freezing fog and winter solstice: Tuesday’s best photos Posted: 21 Dec 2021 06:54 AM PST The Guardian's picture editors select photo highlights from around the world Continue reading... |
| 'An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled': WHO urges rethink of holiday events – video Posted: 20 Dec 2021 04:42 PM PST The World Health Organisation has sounded a new warning about the Omicron variant, arguing some events over the festive period should be postponed. 'All of us are sick of this pandemic,' said WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The fastest way to do this, he said, could mean potentially cancelling or delaying holiday events. 'An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled,' he said. The WHO says there's now consistent evidence that the Omicron strain is spreading faster than the Delta variant Continue reading... |
| 'We won't hesitate': Boris Johnson says government can't rule out new Covid restrictions – video Posted: 20 Dec 2021 10:31 AM PST The prime minister held off announcing new Covid restrictions following a meeting of the cabinet. He said that the decisions for and against further restrictions are 'finely balanced' but that the government 'won't hesitate to take action' to protect public health and the NHS. Asked about the photo from the garden at No 10 during the 2020 lockdown, Johnson said the people in it were working Continue reading... |
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