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

0 komentar

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


William and Kate: what matters is better future for people of Commonwealth

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 08:39 AM PDT

Royal couple say they are 'committed to service', which is not 'telling people what to do', at end of Caribbean tour

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have insisted they are interested only in a "better future" for the Commonwealth, not in who leads it, at the end of their tour of the Caribbean.

William said foreign tours were an "opportunity to reflect" and he and his wife were committed to "serving and supporting" the people of the Commonwealth, not "telling them what to do", in a statement published on the couple's Twitter account.

Continue reading...

Chile: students force closure of Santiago schools over sexual harassment and violence

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 04:00 AM PDT

Unesco report finds that Covid school closures have made girls more vulnerable to gender-based violence

Student strikes have forced a string of school closures across Chile's capital amid growing anger over sexist and violent behaviour only weeks after the country returned to in-person classes after two years of Covid-19 lockdowns.

"The demand is to stop the harassment," said Javiera, 17, who was one of hundreds of girls to join protests outside the prestigious Santiago Lastarria school, after male students were found swapping intimate photos of their female classmates on Instagram. "We are demanding justice for victims, and for schools to stop protecting abusers."

Continue reading...

‘A striking work of nature’: the search for a rare flower in the Philippines jungle

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 08:07 AM PDT

Chris Thorogood had to venture deep into the Luzon rainforest to set eyes on the extraordinary Rafflesia banaoana

It was after travelling 6,600 miles and battling through the tropical assault course of the Luzon rainforest that Chris Thorogood set his eyes upon the rare and extraordinary flower that ignited his childhood imagination 30 years ago.

Thorogood, 38, last month became the first westerner to see the Rafflesia banaoana – an otherworldly-looking red spotted species that spans half a metre across – in an experience that reduced him to tears.

Continue reading...

Putin wants ‘Korean scenario’ for Ukraine, says intelligence chief

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 07:28 AM PDT

Ukrainian general says Moscow unable to 'swallow' country but faces guerrilla warfare if it tries to divide it

Vladimir Putin wants to split Ukraine into two, emulating the post-war division between North and South Korea, the invaded country's military intelligence chief has said.

Gen Kyrylo Budanov, who predicted Russia's invasion as far back as November, said Moscow had been unable to "swallow" the country but faced guerrilla warfare should it seek to split it.

Continue reading...

Coalition unveils $17.9bn pre-election cash splash on road and rail projects

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 09:30 AM PDT

Largest new spending is $3.1bn for Melbourne Intermodal Terminal with package also allocating $140m for a regional road safety program

The Morrison government will use Tuesday's budget to unveil a multi-billion dollar national infrastructure spend that includes projects in key marginal seats, with $17.9bn in new money to be spent over the next decade.

The pre-election cash splash on road and rail also includes projects for regional Australia that had been secured in negotiations with the Nationals, including $140m for a regional road safety program and $678m for the Outback Way, announced by deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce last month in the key NT marginal seat of Lingiari.

Continue reading...

Property developers fight NSW bid to make houses more energy-efficient and climate-resilient

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 09:30 AM PDT

Environmentalists call changes 'everything you could ever dream about' but industry says they 'undermine the economics of delivering housing'

Property developers in New South Wales are fighting against the introduction of a wide-ranging planning policy aimed at ensuring houses are more energy-efficient and climate-resilient, which one environment group described as "everything you could ever dream about".

Public comment closed last month on the draft Design and Place state environmental planning policy, hailed late last year by the then planning minister Rob Stokes as "NSW's first comprehensive design policy". It would offer "an important opportunity to reshape the look and feel of the places we live in".

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Hillsong is facing catastrophe but the Houstons will be loath to give up control

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 09:30 AM PDT

Analysis: Founded almost 40 years ago in western Sydney, the global church has little choice but to launch an independent inquiry

Judgment Day has come for Hillsong – but not in the way its pastors promised.

To recap a damning week for the church, its founder and global senior pastor, Brian Houston, has resigned after an internal investigation found he had breached the church's code of conduct twice over the past decade by behaving inappropriately towards two women.

Continue reading...

Sydneysiders avoiding CBD after Covid ‘reset’ on working habits

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 09:30 AM PDT

Average weekday trips into city on public transport still down 55% compared with pre-pandemic levels

Public transport use continues to lag across Sydney and trips to city offices and entertainment venues remain low, with average daily weekday trips still down 55% on pre-pandemic levels.

Trips rose just 1% between February and March, despite the indoor mask mandate – which had been attributed as a leading cause of the sluggish return to offices – dropping more than a month ago.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Report into the gig economy finds women are earning 37% less than men

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 09:30 AM PDT

Men earn $2.67 per hour more than women on average, but 40% of workers don't know hourly rate

A new report commissioned by the Victorian government has found gender inequality is entrenched in the gig economy, with women earning up to 37% less than men.

The report, produced by a Queensland University of Technology research team and released on Monday, summarises Australian and global studies and found the gig economy can "both reproduce and exacerbate existing gender inequalities in work".

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning

Continue reading...

Russian soldiers raping and sexually assaulting women, says Ukraine MP

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 09:22 AM PDT

Maria Mezentseva said Ukraine will 'not be silent' about the attacks, which are considered war crimes

A Ukrainian MP has raised alarm about Russian soldiers raping and sexually assaulting women during its invasion, and said Ukraine would "not be silent" about the crimes.

In a TV interview, Maria Mezentseva referenced one case in Brovary, an eastern suburb of Kyiv, where a woman was raped in front of her child.

Continue reading...

Russia seizes Audemars Piguet watches in apparent retaliation for Swiss sanctions

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 08:59 AM PDT

Timepieces worth millions of dollars were taken by FSB agents in Moscow, according to a Swiss paper

Russian agents seized millions of dollars-worth of Audemars Piguet watches in Moscow in an apparent retaliation for Swiss sanctions banning luxury goods exports, Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag reported.

The watches, which can cost more than £700,000 apiece, were seized from the firm's local premises by special agents from Russia's FSB on Tuesday, the newspaper said. It cited people familiar with a confidential Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs memo written for members of parliament that apparently gave details of the raid.

Continue reading...

Biden’s Putin ad-lib should focus west on what its endgame should be

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 06:59 AM PDT

Analysis: Any unseating of Russia's president is that country's business, not that of the US president

At the end of what had been a largely flawless visit to Europe, during which he focused on the misery Vladimir Putin was imposing on Russia, Joe Biden closed his 27-minute speech on Saturday evening in Warsaw by conjuring up the image of a less popular US president – George W Bush – when he said: "For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power."

The US president has previously called Putin a killer, a pure thug, a war criminal and a butcher, but he had never advocated regime change, risking turning the war for the defence of Ukraine to a familiar one of American aggression.

Continue reading...

UN refugee agency accused over response to Ukraine war

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 06:58 AM PDT

Major humanitarian bodies appeared 'disoriented' by Russian invasion, says Ukraine's deputy PM

Leading Ukrainian politicians have accused the UN's refugee agency of being unprepared for the war and withdrawing staff from hotspots while the International Committee of the Red Cross was said to be "impotent" in protecting refugees.

Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine's deputy prime minister, said the major humanitarian organisations had appeared "disoriented" by the conflict. The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, claimed they had initially just watched "with concern over wine and coffee".

Continue reading...

Iran will never acquire nuclear weapons, US promises Israel

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 08:54 AM PDT

Antony Blnken seeks to reassure Israel and Gulf allies ahead of possible renewal of nuclear deal

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has sought to reassure Israel and its Gulf allies that Iran will never acquire atomic weapons, ahead of the possible renewal of the nuclear deal with Tehran.

"When it comes to the most important element, we see eye to eye," Blinken said at a news conference on Sunday with Israel's foreign minister, Yair Lapid. "We are both committed, both determined, that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon."

Continue reading...

Indians reluctant to denounce Russian ‘brothers’ over Ukraine

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 06:01 AM PDT

While street-level opinion is even-handed, commentators from right and left are converging on the war

At the bustling tea stands and roadside eateries of Delhi, European politics is not a regular topic of conversation. But with wall-to-wall coverage of the war in Ukraine on television and in the newspapers, petrol prices rising and pressure growing on the prime minister, Narendra Modi, to denounce Russia, Indians are starting to grapple with the consequences of the conflict 2,800 miles away.

Ram Agarwal, a shopkeeper, does not condone the loss of civilian life but nor can he bring himself to criticise Russia. He grew up in the 1950s and 60s when India and the Soviet Union were such close allies that Nikita Khrushchev coined the slogan "Hindi Rusi bhai bhai" (Indians and Russians are brothers).

Continue reading...

Daughter of David Haines to confront his alleged Islamic State kidnapper in US trial

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 08:51 AM PDT

Bethany Haines says she will plead with El Shafee Elsheikh to reveal where remains of her father and other western hostages lie

The daughter of a British man murdered by Islamic State will demand to know the whereabouts of his remains when one of his alleged kidnappers goes on trial in the US this week.

Bethany Haines, 24, will fly from her home in Perthshire, Scotland, to Virginia to confront El Shafee Elsheikh in person, nearly eight years after her father, David Haines, was killed.

Continue reading...

Government paid firm linked to Tory peer £122m for PPE bought for £46m

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 07:00 AM PDT

PPE Medpro, which is linked to Michelle Mone, appears to have made huge profit on 25m gowns that were never used by NHS

PPE the government bought for £122m from a company linked to the Tory peer Michelle Mone was purchased from the Chinese manufacturer for just £46m.

The extraordinary profits apparently made by PPE Medpro and its partners in the supply chain are revealed in documents leaked to the Guardian, including contracts and an inspection report for sterile surgical gowns supplied by the firm.

Continue reading...

Being male and on your phone are biggest dangers on Scottish mountains, says expert

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 07:00 AM PDT

Data covering seven-year period up to the start of 2019 shows that women accounted for only 10 of 114 fatalities

Being male, unable to look beyond your mobile phone and unfamiliar with the avalanche forecast: these are critical risk factors on Scotland's mountains, according to the country's foremost female climbing expert.

Heather Morning, who took up her post as chief instructor at Glenmore Lodge, Scotland's national outdoor training centre, earlier this month, is urging visitors to "think winter" this springtime, as Police Scotland revealed on Friday that mountain rescues are up 40% in recent weeks, with climbers misreading treacherous conditions on the peaks. Seven people have died on the hills this month alone.

Continue reading...

Stop charging migrant women for NHS maternity care, RCOG urges

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 06:18 AM PDT

Exclusive: Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says policy is harming health of pregnant women and babies

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has called for the immediate suspension of charging for NHS maternity care for migrant women because members say this government policy is harming the health of pregnant women and their babies.

The RCOG has urged the government to change its policies towards charging some migrant women for maternity care and to carry out an urgent review of how maternity care is provided to the group. It is the first time the health professionals' body has issued a position statement on this issue.

Continue reading...

Government to issue ‘much tougher guidelines’ on strip searches in schools

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 06:14 AM PDT

Zahawi reviews policy after 'hugely distressing' case of Child Q, searched by police without parental consent

The government will issue much tougher guidelines on strip searches of children in schools in the wake of the Child Q scandal, the education secretary has said.

Nadhim Zahawi said he found the case of the child – who was subjected to an intimate strip search by police officers in her school when she was 15 without parental consent and in the knowledge that she was menstruating – "hugely distressing".

Continue reading...

London mayor threatens legal action over minister’s veto on housing plan

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 06:09 AM PDT

TfL exploring options after transport secretary blocks planned development on tube station car park

The simmering row between London's political leaders and central government over transport funding is escalating on a fresh battleground: possible legal action over suburban station car parks.

London's mayor, Sadiq Khan, has urged the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, to rescind his decision to block a planned affordable housing development on a tube station car park.

Continue reading...

Chris Wallace: working at Fox News became ‘unsustainable’ after election

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 08:32 AM PDT

Journalist's new show begins on archrival CNN's streaming service after nearly 20 years with the right-leaning cable channel

Chris Wallace has said working at Fox News became "increasingly unsustainable" before he jumped ship to CNN last December after almost 20 years with the right-leaning cable channel.

His departure dealt a blow to Fox's news operation at a time when its opinion side had become preeminent. The veteran journalist's new show begins on archrival CNN's streaming service this week and the 74-year-old spoke to the New York Times.

Continue reading...

UK distances itself from Biden saying Putin ‘cannot remain in power’

Posted: 27 Mar 2022 03:48 AM PDT

Nadhim Zahawi said it was for the Russian people to decide Vladimir Putin's future

A UK cabinet minister has distanced the government from Joe Biden's call that Russia's Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power" amid criticism that the comment could bolster the Kremlin.

Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, said it was "for the Russian people to decide how they are governed" after the unscripted remark from Biden at a speech in Poland on Saturday, which the White House later said was not a call for regime change.

Continue reading...


Posting Komentar