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

0 komentar

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


Russian court orders closure of country’s oldest human rights group

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 05:44 AM PST

Supreme court ruling on Memorial is watershed moment in Vladimir Putin's crackdown on independent thought

Russia's supreme court has ordered the closure of Memorial International, the country's oldest human rights group, in a watershed moment in Vladimir Putin's crackdown on independent thought.

The court ruled Memorial must be closed under Russia's controversial "foreign agent" legislation, which has targeted dozens of NGOs and media outlets seen as critical of the government.

Continue reading...

Israeli airstrike sets port of Latakia ablaze, says Syrian media

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 04:44 AM PST

Second attack on cargo hub this month reported to have caused 'significant material damage'

An Israeli airstrike hit Syria's Latakia port before dawn on Tuesday, sparking a fire that lit up the Mediterranean seafront in the second such attack on the cargo hub this month, Syrian state media reported.

Since the outbreak of Syria's civil war in 2011, Israel has routinely carried out airstrikes on its neighbour, mostly targeting Syrian government troops as well as allied Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters.

Continue reading...

Myanmar massacre: two Save the Children staff among dead

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 05:12 AM PST

Charity says the two men, both new fathers, were killed in massacre of more than 30 people blamed on junta troops

Save the Children has confirmed that two of its staff were killed in a Christmas Eve massacre blamed on junta troops that left the charred remains of dozens of people on a highway in eastern Myanmar.

Anti-junta fighters said they found more than 30 bodies, including women and children, on a highway in Kayah state where pro-democracy rebels have been fighting the military.

Continue reading...

Egyptian pharaoh’s mummified body gives up its secrets after 3,500 years

Posted: 27 Dec 2021 09:00 PM PST

Amenhotep I 'unwrapped' digitally by Cairo scientists, revealing details from his grave jewellery to his teeth

With his narrow chin, small nose and curly hair he physically resembles his father, said radiologist Sahar Saleem. Perhaps surprisingly for someone who lived about 3,500 years ago, he also has strikingly good teeth.

Saleem is talking about the mummified body of the pharaoh Amenhotep I, a warrior king who has been something of an enigma in that he is one of the few royal mummies not to be unwrapped in modern times.

Continue reading...

Gunman kills four people and injures officer in Denver area

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 04:45 AM PST

Suspect also died after being shot, but it was not immediately clear if police officers had shot him

A gunman killed four people and injured an officer in the Denver area, police said Monday.

The suspect also died, Lakewood police said. Officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect, KDVR reported.

Continue reading...

Campaigners force Shell to halt oil exploration on South African coast

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 05:20 AM PST

Court instructs company to stop tests along Wild Coast after concerns raised about wildlife and lack of consultation

Shell will be forced to halt oil exploration in vital whale breeding grounds along South Africa's eastern coastline after a local court blocked the controversial project.

The court order calls for an immediate halt to Shell's seismic tests which involve blasting sound waves through the relatively untouched Wild Coast marine environment, which is home to whales, dolphins and seals.

Continue reading...

Polish court revives ‘highly flawed’ hydroelectric dam plan for Vistula River

Posted: 27 Dec 2021 10:30 PM PST

Despite warnings that it would devastate rare wildlife habitats, the controversial project is back on the table

The construction of a €1bn (£850m) dam on the Vistula River is one step closer to getting the green light in Poland, despite warnings that it could devastate rare wildlife habitats.

The Vistula runs more than 620 miles from the Carpathian mountains, passing through major cities before flowing into the Baltic sea. The state-owned company Polish Waters intends to build a dam over the river's main channel at Siarzewo, north west of Warsaw, with the primary aim of creating hydroelectric power as well as flood protection, water management and navigation.

Continue reading...

Western US states hit by record freeze and heavy snow

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 03:56 AM PST

Severe weather brings record low temperatures in Seattle and huge snowfalls in California and Nevada

Severe weather sweeping parts of the US continues to bring record-breaking cold temperatures to the Pacific north-west and heavy snow to mountains in northern California and Nevada.

Emergency warming shelters were opened throughout Oregon and western Washington as temperatures plunged into the teens (below zero in centigrade) and forecasters said an Arctic blast would last for several days.

Continue reading...

India bans Mother Teresa charity from receiving funds from abroad

Posted: 27 Dec 2021 11:01 PM PST

Licence application of Missionaries of Charity is rejected on Christmas day amid a wave of anti-Christian sentiment

The Indian government has blocked Mother Teresa's charity from receiving funds from abroad, just days after it faced a police investigation for "hurting religious sentiments of Hindus" amid rising intolerance towards Christians in India.

The Missionaries of Charity, which was started by Mother Teresa in 1950 and runs a network of shelters across India led by nuns to help the poor, was denied the licence to continue to receive funds from abroad, cutting the charity off from vital resources.

Continue reading...

Britney Spears reveals conservatorship has left her scared of music business

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 04:15 AM PST

Singer also says not releasing new music is a way of hitting back at those who took advantage of her

Britney Spears has said the years she spent under conservatorship have left her scared of the entertainment industry.

The singer revealed her reasons for not being ready to return to the music business after her conservatorship was terminated in November in an Instagram post.

Continue reading...

Omicron is ‘not the same disease’ as earlier Covid waves, says UK scientist

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 02:29 AM PST

Sir John Bell says disease 'appears less severe' as other scientists criticise lack of new restrictions in England

Omicron is "not the same disease we were seeing a year ago" and high Covid death rates in the UK are "now history", a leading immunologist has said.

Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University and the government's life sciences adviser, said that although hospital admissions had increased in recent weeks as Omicron spreads through the population, the disease "appears to be less severe and many people spend a relatively short time in hospital". Fewer patients were needing high-flow oxygen and the average length of stay was down to three days, he said.

Continue reading...

CDC: people who test positive for Covid with no symptoms should isolate just five days

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 06:08 AM PST

US health authorities half recommended isolation time and say asymptomatic people should wear a mask for another five days

US health authorities have halved, to five days, the recommended isolation time for Americans with asymptomatic Covid.

The US is facing a huge surge in Covid cases, fueled by the Omicron variant, which contributed to travel chaos over Christmas and stoked worries about damage to the economy and education.

Continue reading...

Covid pills are ‘very promising’ – but what are the challenges in using them?

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 06:40 AM PST

Paxlovid and molnupiravir were authorized by the US FDA last week, but supplies of Paxlovid are limited while molnupiravir is less effective than hoped

An effective and widely available treatment for Covid would be a major breakthrough for managing the pandemic, but two antivirals recently authorized in the US come with some significant caveats, including low supply and use only among those at high risk for severe illness and death.

Paxlovid from Pfizer and molnupiravir from Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics were authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week. The pills could be a game-changer for the most vulnerable, because they can be taken at home twice a day for five days to prevent hospitalization and death. For those considered at high risk of serious illness, Paxlovid was found to be 89% effective when taken within the first three days of symptoms and 88% effective in the first five days.

Continue reading...

‘Not if … but when’: Sinn Féin on path to power in Ireland

Posted: 27 Dec 2021 09:00 PM PST

The party is riding high in polls and could complete a seismic shift in Irish politics in three years' time

Just 30 years ago the IRA was bombing Downing Street, launching three mortar bombs at No 10 while John Major presided over a cabinet meeting.

In 2021, Sinn Féin, the political party associated with the IRA for much of the Troubles, has moved into pole position to lead the Irish government in what could be the biggest shake-up of the state's politics since its foundation 100 years ago.

Continue reading...

From downward spiral to dream job: my 18 months of tumult and transformation

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 04:00 AM PST

My life seemed to fall apart in 2020. But having nothing to lose meant I was free to pursue my passion

Continue reading...

‘Good anti-sinking capacity, lifejacket optional’: journey of a ‘refugee boat’

Posted: 27 Dec 2021 11:00 PM PST

From a factory in China to an English beach, rubber dinghies are acquired by people-smugglers to transport desperate people


Against the backdrop of Dunkirk's busy port with its cranes and smoke, a collapsed, grey rubber dinghy lies on the shore, abandoned and washed in by the tide.

It is one of the many haunting signs of the thousands of desperate people who have attempted to cross the Channel from northern France.

Continue reading...

From economic miracle to mirage – will China’s GDP ever overtake the US?

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 06:13 AM PST

Issues of governance, rising debt, Covid and property market turmoil will delay Beijing's quest to become the global economy's No1

"The east is rising, the west is declining", according to the narrative propagated by the Chinese Communist party (CCP). Many outside China take its "inevitable rise" as read. On the way to becoming a "modern socialist country" by 2035, and rich, powerful, and dominant by 2049, the centenary of the People's Republic, China wants to claim bragging rights as its GDP surpasses the United States, and project its power based on its expanding economic heft.

There is, however, a critical flaw in this narrative. China's economy may fail to overtake the US as it succumbs to the proverbial middle-income trap. This is where the relative development progress of countries in relation to richer nations stalls, and is normally characterised by difficult economic adjustment and often by unpredictable political consequences.

Historically, China's growth miracle has been remarkable. In the 30 years to 1990. The money GDP (the market value of goods and services produced in an economy) for China and the US in American dollar terms grew more or less in tandem at just over 6% and 8% per annum, respectively. . But in the next three decades, China's GDP growth doubled to over 13%, while America's halved to 4.5%. That pushed China's GDP up from 5% of American GDP to 66%.

Yet, China's growth spurt is now over, and the huge disparity in GDP growth has been eliminated. In the last few quarters, China's GDP has been growing at half the rate of the US. Although that discrepancy is probably unsustainable, America's $9tn GDP margin over China means that comparable rates of GDP growth in the future will sustain and even widen the margin. A Japanese thinktank has recently extended the date when it expects China to overtake the US, from 2029 to 2033. Deferrals like this are now a feature, and there will be more.


The issue though is less about the maths and more about why China is at a turning point.
Remember we have been here before. In the 1930s, Germany was going to dominate Europe, if not the world. In the 1960s and the 1980s, the Soviet Union – which had already stolen a march on the US in space technology – and later Japan, which was the rising economic force on the planet, would within 10 to 20 years overtake America to become the dominant economic and technological power.

History was not kind to the consensus. There is a serial tendency going back to the 1920s to underestimate the self-rectifying capacity of American institutions and enterprise. Equally, the Soviet Union and Japan both pursued similar development models, based around distortions that emphasised unsustainably and excessively high savings, high investment, and eventually high debt. Their development models cracked with spectacular consequences attributable to chronic failures of institutions and governance.

China is our 21st-century version of this phenomenon. Its investment rate is a good 10 percentage points of GDP higher than it was at the peak in the USSR and Japan, and strongly associated with misallocation and inefficiency of capital, and widespread debt servicing problems.

Its zero-Covid policy could keep barriers in place between China and the world economy until 2023 or even beyond, but this aside, a protracted slowing in trend growth, exacerbated by over-indebtedness and the tipping point now in real estate, as illustrated by the crumbling development giant Evergrande, is already underway. China's $60tn real estate sector is four times GDP and accounts for a quarter to a third of annual growth. It faces years of awkward adjustment, not least as developers cut debt, the first-time buyer age cohort contracts, and probably as real estate prices decline.

China's economic structure, moreover, is unbalanced. It has income per head that is the equivalent of Mexico, but consumption per head that is no higher than Peru. Consumer spending accounts for about 37% of GDP, little higher than it was in 2010, and much lower than in 2000. Productivity growth, closely associated with liberalising reform, has stalled.

Continue reading...

Escape your comfort zone: I am terrified of driving – but behind the wheel I find new confidence

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 01:00 AM PST

After one too many rainy nights waiting for the bus, I decide to face my ultimate fear. Can I learn to drive, despite a disastrous attempt in my teens?

It has been 10 years since I last stalled a car. I was 18 and drifting across several lanes of an A-road roundabout while my driving test examiner gripped his seat. It was my second attempt at taking the test and my brain had turned into sweaty spaghetti. As I casually cut in front of an HGV, the examiner gasped and demanded I take the next exit. I mirrored, signalled and manoeuvred, found a safe space to pull up, and promptly stalled metres from the curb.

I failed – of course I did – and didn't get back in the driver's seat in a hurry. I finished school and went to university, always deferring the prospect of booking another test. Years passed, priorities shifted, and even though I kept telling myself that driving is a scourge on the environment, a decade of scrounging lifts from my friends and family has taken its toll.

Continue reading...

Piers Morgan, Meghan and GB News: the TV controversies of the year

Posted: 27 Dec 2021 10:00 PM PST

From Morgan's on-set wobbly to Meghan's Oprah bombshell, TV prompted countless shocking moments this year. Here are the biggest

Yes, we have chosen the best television of the year. Yes, we've celebrated how great TV can be at its finest. But where were the prank calls? The flouncing presenters? It's time to turn our attention to the shocking, infuriating and stupid incidents that plotted the way through our television year. Here are the most controversial TV moments of 2021.

Continue reading...

Teenager charged in connection with deaths of West Lothian couple

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 04:28 AM PST

Man, 19, charged after Denis and Mary Fell were found dead at their house in Raeburn Rigg

A teenager has been charged in connection with the deaths of a couple at their home on Boxing Day.

Denis and Mary Fell, both aged 73, were found dead at their house in Raeburn Rigg, Livingston, West Lothian, at about 11.40pm on Sunday. A sudden death had earlier been reported at the property.

Continue reading...

Diego Maradona’s brother, Hugo, dies in Naples aged 52

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 06:39 AM PST

Younger brother of Argentine football legend died after suffering heart attack, says Napoli football club

Diego Maradona's younger brother, Hugo, has died in Naples at the age of 52 just a year after the death of the Argentine football legend, the Italian football club Napoli has confirmed.

"Hugo Maradona has died," Napoli said in a brief statement on Tuesday, confirming reports in the Italian press that the former footballer had suffered a heart attack.

Continue reading...

From criminal to ‘teacher’: the ex-gangster tackling crime in Nairobi

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 02:00 AM PST

One of the city's most wanted, Peter Wainaina was given a second chance and used it to turn his life around and help others find different path out of poverty

At the entrance of Kibagare, a slum in Nairobi's outskirts, boots of dead gangsters dangle from electricity wires that hover over ramshackle homes of wood and iron sheets.

With little state protection from crime, angry local people will often take the law into their own hands and beat an offender who is caught in the act, sometimes to death.

Continue reading...

Reporting on US gun violence in 2021 revealed how the toll is spread unequally

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 03:00 AM PST

Shootings, and the grief and trauma that follow, are concentrated in lower-income, mostly Black and Latino communities

When I ask parents, siblings and children what they want Guardian readers to know about their family member lost to gun violence, each one emphatically tells me their relative didn't deserve what happened to them. They tell me their loved ones adored animals, loved kids – that they were just special. The people I speak with, especially parents, want the world to know their sons and daughters weren't stereotypes.

This desire for posthumous exoneration isn't anything new, but the pleas sounded especially urgent in 2021.

Continue reading...

1887 time capsule apparently found under Robert E Lee statue pedestal – video

Posted: 28 Dec 2021 02:24 AM PST

A long-sought 1887 time capsule appears to have been found under a pedestal that once held a statue of the Confederate general Robert E Lee in Richmond, Virginia. Media reports described a capsule with dozens of artefacts, perhaps including a rare photo of Abraham Lincoln. Crews dismantling the pedestal found another time capsule earlier this month, but it did not contain the expected trove of objects. The statue was removed in September after protests against the police killing of George Floyd

Continue reading...


Posting Komentar