Court orders Coahuila to remove sanctions for abortion from criminal code, clearing a path to decriminalisation across MexicoMexico’s supreme court has struck down a state abortion law, ruling that criminal penalties for terminating pregnancies are unconstitutional, in a decision which advocates say provides a path to decriminalisation across the country.In a unanimous 10-0 ruling, the top court ordered the northern state of Coahuila to remove sanctions for abortion from its criminal code – with several justices arguing the prohibitions on voluntarily interrupting a pregnancy violated women’s rights to control their own bodies. Continue reading...
Two armed robbers are in custody after a police chase, with a hunt under way for remaining suspectsA group of thieves have struck the Bulgari store on the Place Vendôme in Paris, making off with about €10m (£8.6m) in jewellery. They then led police on a high-speed chase during which two of the suspects were captured, sources have told AFP.Three individuals, wearing sharp suits and armed with guns, robbed the recently revamped boutique on the Place Vendôme in central Paris, where the Ritz hotel is located, shortly before midday on Tuesday, police said. Continue reading...
Thousands rallied in the capital behind the far-right populist but polls suggest his presidency is coming off the rails ahead of next year’s electionsAndré Meneses made a gun sign with his hands to convey what he thought should happen to those who opposed Jair Bolsonaro’s project for Brazil.Related: Bolsonaro supporters clash with police before major rally in Brasília Continue reading...
by Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent on (#5P8TY)
One London officer is alleged not to have passed on medical information about Richard OkorogheyeTwo Metropolitan police officers have been placed under investigation for alleged errors made when Richard Okorogheye went missing, a fortnight before he was found dead in Epping Forest.The 19-year-old, who had sickle cell anaemia, went missing from his west London home in March with his concerned family raising the alarm with police. One officer is alleged not to have passed on potentially important medical information about Okorogheye’s vulnerabilities. Continue reading...
by Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul and Akhtar Mohammad on (#5P8JM)
Country will once again be officially known as an Islamic emirate, as at least two people killed in protestsThe Taliban have announced an all-male caretaker government including an interior minister wanted by the FBI, on a day when at least two people were killed by violent policing of street protests against the new authorities.The leadership unveiled on Tuesday is drawn entirely from Taliban ranks, despite promises of an inclusive cabinet, and many of its senior figures are on UN sanctions lists, which is likely to complicate the group’s search for international recognition. Continue reading...
Now 19 years old, the woman was accidentally switched with another baby in a hospital in La RiojaA woman is seeking €3m (£2.5m) in damages from a regional health department in northern Spain after it emerged that she and another baby were accidentally handed to the wrong families hours after they were born almost two decades ago.The maternity ward mix-up, which health authorities in the La Rioja region have attributed to “human error”, came to light by chance after a DNA test. Continue reading...
Survey from Mission Australia and Black Dog Institute indicates an increase in young people dealing with mental health issuesDuring Sydney’s lockdown last year, David Zhang started noticing a difference in himself.“I was having some panic attacks, which was completely new to me, and kind of reaching new levels,” he said. “That’s when I was like, ‘Hey, I should probably check in with someone.’” Continue reading...
by Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent on (#5P82X)
Force fined £100,000 over incident in which woman lay undiscovered for three days after crash was reportedPolice Scotland has apologised after being fined £100,000 for admitting that its failings “materially contributed” to the death of a woman who lay seriously injured next to her deceased boyfriend in their crashed car for three days after the incident was first reported to the police.The force on Tuesday pleaded guilty to health and safety failings after the deaths of John Yuill, 28, and Lamara Bell, 25, who died after their car crashed off the M9 near Stirling in July 2015. The fine was handed down at the high court in Edinburgh. Continue reading...
US reviewers have lauded the film, but complain it is too difficult to understand and needs subtitlesKenneth Branagh’s new autobiographical film, Belfast, is tipped for Oscar glory, but his home town will not be happy if it’s in the foreign language category.Hollywood reviewers who have lauded the film’s storytelling and acting complain the Northern Ireland accents are difficult to understand and require subtitles. Continue reading...
by Guardian reporter in Yangon and Rebecca Ratcliffe on (#5P8F1)
Acting president of self-declared government calls on civilian armed groups to target military that seized power in February coupMyanmar’s self-declared parallel government, which was set up by pro-democracy politicians, has announced a “defensive war” against the junta, calling for civilian armed groups to target the military and its assets.Duwa Lashi La, the acting president of the National Unity Government (NUG), said Tuesday marked the beginning of a nationwide revolt. He warned people to avoid unnecessary travel and stock up on essentials. Continue reading...
Thousands of ethnic Koreans left Japan for North Korea decades ago lured by promise of a better lifeA Japanese court has summoned North Korea’s leader to face demands for compensation by several ethnic Korean residents of Japan who say they suffered human rights abuses in North Korea after joining a resettlement programme there that described the country as a “paradise on Earth”, a lawyer and plaintiff have said.Kim Jong-un is not expected to appear in court for the hearing on 14 October, but the judge’s decision to summon him was a rare instance in which a foreign leader was not granted sovereign immunity, said Kenji Fukuda, a lawyer representing the five plaintiffs. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Political correspondent on (#5P86C)
Government says plan will ensure polls remain secure while critics argue it is unfair and undemocraticThe elections bill, which will be debated in the Commons for the first time on Tuesday, is, according to the government, an ambitious and timely set of plans to ensure elections remain fair and secure. To critics, it is undemocratic and intended to rig elections in favour of the Conservatives. So what does the bill set out? Continue reading...
Film colourisation experts have remastered footage of the last-known surviving Tasmanian tiger. The original footage was shot by Australian zoologist David Fleay in 1933 on black-and-white film. The National Film and Sound Archive scanned the original 35mm black-and-white negative into 4K and then colourisation experts in France matched the colour through drawings, sketches and paintings as well as pelts held in museum collections► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube
Figures based on reported number of US airstrikes highlight the human cost of the 20-year ‘war on terror’US drone and airstrikes have killed at least 22,000 civilians – and perhaps as many as 48,000 – since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, according to new analysis published by the civilian harm monitoring group Airwars.The analysis, based on the US military’s own assertion that it has conducted almost 100,000 airstrikes since 2001, represents an attempt to estimate the number of civilian deaths across the multiple conflicts that have comprised aspects of the “war on terror”. Continue reading...
The author of the ground-breaking book Gender Trouble says we should not be surprised when the category of women expands to include trans womenIt’s been 31 years since the release of Gender Trouble. What were you aiming to achieve with the book?It was meant to be a critique of heterosexual assumptions within feminism, but it turned out to be more about gender categories. For instance, what it means to be a woman does not remain the same from decade to decade. The category of woman can and does change, and we need it to be that way. Politically, securing greater freedoms for women requires that we rethink the category of “women” to include those new possibilities. The historical meaning of gender can change as its norms are re-enacted, refused or recreated. Continue reading...
Minister’s comments come as PM prepares to announce rise in NI contributions to fund social careA UK government minister has said he is “not comfortable with breaking any manifesto promises” as the prime minister prepares to announce an increase in national insurance contributions to fund health and social care and limit a rise in the state pension.Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccine deployment minister, was defending plans to fund an overhaul of social care and tackle the NHS backlog, which have attracted criticism from Conservative frontbenchers, former chancellors and the party’s so-called “red wall” MPs. Continue reading...
US puppeteer behind Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock honoured with plaque at former Hampstead homeJim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, has been honoured with a blue plaque at his former London home.The US puppeteer, acclaimed for his work on Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock and director of The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, lived at 50 Downshire Hill in Hampstead from 1979. Continue reading...
The actor was best known for his role as Omar Little in the HBO series, and also starred in Boardwalk EmpireThe actor Michael K Williams, best known for his role as Omar Little in The Wire, has died at the age of 54.Confirming his death to the Hollywood Reporter, Williams’s representative said that it was “with deep sorrow that the family announces the passing of Emmy-nominated actor Michael Kenneth Williams. They ask for your privacy while grieving this unsurmountable loss.” Continue reading...
Firms accused of ‘rounding up workers like animals’ for compulsory vaccination as country acts to stop spread of virusThousands of workers in Zimbabwe have been told they will face the sack if they refuse to be vaccinated with one of the Covid-19 jabs, according to the country’s biggest worker’s union.The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), an amalgamation of 35 labour unions representing 189,000 people, has accused employers of infringing workers’ rights, saying there is no law providing for compulsory vaccinations. It has taken the government and six companies to court for ordering employees to have the vaccine, arguing that the companies are “taking the law into their own hands” by forcing the issue. Continue reading...
Industrial fishing of the tiny crustacea in a dietary supplements gold rush is threatening the very base of the food chain• This article was produced with the Environmental Reporting Collective, whose full report is part of the Oceans Inc collaborative investigative series on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishingIt’s a costly expedition, through some of the roughest seas in the world, to reach the Antarctic peninsula. A journey through Drake Passage to Subarea 48.1 faces treacherous weather, where waves can reach 12 metres (40ft) high.And yet it is a risk that 14 vessels considered worth taking last year alone, as countries increasingly venture into the Antarctic to catch a species with great value to the billion-dollar health supplement industry: krill. Continue reading...
She is back on the big screen as an assassin, is reportedly the highest-paid female actor of colour ever for a TV drama – and is moving into producing. She discusses fairness, film-making and why acting is still her first loveEven via a video call, from an anonymous-looking office in New York, against a backdrop of stacked cardboard boxes, Angela Bassett exudes glamour. Dressed down in a sleeveless white top, her hair long and dead straight, she still looks like a million dollars. But it is more Bassett’s irrepressibly expressive personality that leaps out of the screen. She is too self-deprecating and quick to laugh to be hammy, but even out of character she speaks as if she is delivering a monologue: clear and authoritative, with dramatic emphases on certain words, her face and hands in constant motion.When I ask if there are any roles left she would like to play, she says: “I used to say I wanted to play a queen, because I thought it would be really good for audiences to see a Black queen on their screens, you know, for people who grew up looking at queens not looking too much like me.” Continue reading...
Last year, three cryptocurrency enthusiasts bought a cruise ship. They named it the Satoshi, and dreamed of starting a floating libertarian utopia. It didn’t work outOn the evening of 7 December 2010, in a hushed San Francisco auditorium, former Google engineer Patri Friedman sketched out the future of humanity. The event was hosted by the Thiel Foundation, established four years earlier by the arch-libertarian PayPal founder Peter Thiel to “defend and promote freedom in all its dimensions”. From behind a large lectern, Friedman – grandson of Milton Friedman, one of the most influential free-market economists of the last century – laid out his plan. He wanted to transform how and where we live, to abandon life on land and all our decrepit assumptions about the nature of society. He wanted, quite simply, to start a new city in the middle of the ocean.Friedman called it seasteading: “Homesteading the high seas,” a phrase borrowed from Wayne Gramlich, a software engineer with whom he’d founded the Seasteading Institute in 2008, helped by a $500,000 donation from Thiel. In a four-minute vision-dump, Friedman explained his rationale. Why, he asked, in one of the most advanced countries in the world, were they still using systems of government from 1787? (“If you drove a car from 1787, it would be a horse,” he pointed out.) Government, he believed, needed an upgrade, like a software update for a phone. “Let’s think of government as an industry, where countries are firms and citizens are customers!” he declared. Continue reading...
Prosecution of Julian Hessenthaler will deter whistleblowing and risks infringing press freedoms, says groupThe “excessive” criminal prosecution of a security consultant whose “Ibizagate” video brought down Austria’s government will deter whistleblowers and risks infringing fundamental press and information freedoms, rights groups have said.In an open letter, 15 Austrian and international organisations said the trial of Julian Hessenthaler, which is due to start on Wednesday, was based on “partially constructed accusations used to discredit and apprehend” him. Continue reading...
Dual US and Russian national Gene Bunin has documented the plight of Muslim minorities in China’s western regionsA prominent campaigner who has documented the plight of Muslim minorities in China’s Xinjiang region says he has barred from entering neighbouring Kazakhstan.Gene Bunin, a dual US and Russian national, is best known as the founder of the Xinjiang Victims Database, which contains entries for nearly 25,000 people incarcerated, detained or unaccounted for in Xinjiang. Continue reading...
Businesses reassess presence in territory amid curbs on movement and doubts about legal system’s reliability, with many building up offices in SingaporeInternational companies are being forced to reconsider their future in Hong Kong as China’s crackdown on civil liberties and the freedom of media and tech companies continues to gather pace, according to leading business figures in the region.With businesses already facing restrictions because of the pandemic, the introduction of the national security law last year and the government shutdown of the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper have sparked its biggest-ever exodus of people and rocked confidence in a city once synonymous with vibrant economic activity. Continue reading...
Tuesday: NSW prepares for 2,000 Covid cases a day and a surge in patients who will require intensive care. Plus: Indigenous photographers update historical photographs of First Nations peopleGood morning. New South Wales hospitals could be overwhelmed with Covid patients within weeks, while hardline border closures continue to cause headaches for those trying to travel between states for medical treatment.New Covid modelling suggests NSW could be faced with 2,000 cases a day and a surge in hospitalisations. Sydney’s intensive care units are expected to become overwhelmed by November, with the government drawing up plans to place overflow ICU beds in operating theatres and abandon existing nurse to patient ratios by that time. So how will the hospitals cope? Guardian Australia has examined the Burnet Institute projections for how the state’s healthcare system would respond to pressure in coming weeks and to answer some pressing questions. Faced with soaring Covid case numbers, NSW Health has urged single people to stay in, watch Netflix and chill ... alone. Authorities tweeted a graphic featuring the peach emoji to remind those on dating apps that leaving the house for a one-night stand was not counted under “compassionate grounds”. Continue reading...
Followers arrive in Brasília and São Paulo in hope of staging show of support for beleaguered Brazilian presidentThousands of diehard Jair Bolsonaro followers have converged on Brazil’s political and economic capitals hoping to stage a colossal show of support for their beleaguered president amid mounting fears over the future of Brazilian democracy and of possible skirmishes with the government’s opponents.The rightwing nationalist, who recently warned Brazil could face a political “rupture”, is expected to address packed independence day rallies in Brasília and São Paulo on Tuesday in what observers say is an increasingly weak politician’s attempt to project strength. Continue reading...
by Aubrey Allegretti, Daniel Boffey and Lisa O'Carrol on (#5P7JF)
Government source says UK wants to ‘create space for talks to happen without deadlines looming’Plans for post-Brexit checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland have been suspended indefinitely by the UK after negotiations with the EU reached a stalemate.Grace periods designed to ease the transition into new trading arrangements and checks on the island of Ireland have twice been extended as part of diplomatic wrangling labelled “the sausage wars”. Continue reading...
The final instalment in Venezuelan director Lorenzo Vigas’s trilogy about fathers and sons takes on social issues as well as emotional onesTeenage Hatzin is on his way home with his father’s remains in a box when he looks out the window and sees a familiar face on the street. He jumps off the bus and the man turns around. If the box contains Esteban, then who’s this guy, Mario? And if Mario is his father, then who the hell’s in the box?Rest assured that these questions will be addressed and responded to during the course of La Caja, the closing part of Venezuelan writer-director Lorenzo Vigas’s acclaimed trilogy about the fraught, shifting relationship between fathers and sons. Vigas’s last instalment, From Afar, took the top prize here in Venice back in 2015, although since then the jury has swung towards bigger and splashier fare. La Caja – a tale of physical and spiritual deserts – may be too modest and stolid to trouble the scoreboard this year. But it has important things to say and by and large says them well. Continue reading...
As the Bolsonaro government stokes divisions, the art festival offers a pointedly diverse and inclusive programme, including sculptures by the late dub reggae legendWhen fire devastated the National Museum in Brazil in 2018, one of the few objects to be found intact among the smouldering ruins was the St Luisa meteorite. While the Rio de Janeiro museum is still being rebuilt, the black rock, around a metre in length, is the star exhibit of the São Paulo Biennial, which opened at the weekend.The exhibition, now in its 70th year, is the second oldest of its kind. After the Venice Biennale, it is regarded as one of the most important events in the art world calendar. Continue reading...
Almost 2m ‘tap-ins’ were made across the capital’s tube and bus services before 10am on MondayLondon Underground had its busiest morning since before the first coronavirus lockdown in 2020, although journeys to school may have played a bigger role than work commutes in the surge in transport use in the capital.Rush hour journeys on the tube were up 17% from last Tuesday, while buses saw 39% more passengers, according to Transport for London figures for the period to 10am on Friday. Continue reading...
Every morning, he delivers the German poll ratings to me. It has become clear that – apart from a zoo full of bonobos – nothing would make him happier than a win for the Social Democratic partyThe German elections fall on Mr Z’s birthday, and he’s decided that, as a gift to him, he would like the SPD to win. Neither of us knows a huge amount about German politics. I have some pretty good intel, from a podcast I made, that everyone standing is deeply disappointing, and nobody should win. My Mr, by contrast, has decided that Olaf Scholz represents real change. Every morning, he delivers the poll ratings. The party has gone from being 20 points behind to five points ahead. It is impossible to guess why this makes him so happy. I floated the idea that maybe he was divining some parallel uptick in Labour’s fortunes. But he said no, he just really wants to see the Social Democratic party surge to victory. From the heavy significance of his voice and eyebrows, I managed to pick up that it is my responsibility to deliver on this. “I’m not saying it’s impossible,” I said – I am, after all, totally abreast of the polls. “I’m just saying it’s impossible for me to make this happen.” “Don’t worry,” he said. “There’s something else I want.”The other thing he urgently wants is to see a zoo full of bonobos. There are only two, one in Antwerp and one in Twycross, and he’s prepared to compromise and stay local, but he’s not prepared to budge on the teenagers, who must accompany us and be in a good mood about it. He thinks I can make this fly by describing the matrilineal society of bonobos, and how well they model the community ideal, of pure pleasure and cooperation, when the females are in charge. I counter that we could also model this ideal, put me in charge, I’d leave the kids at home, and we could enjoy the zoo, just the two of us, and that would be a Perfect Day. He said that was droll, but it wasn’t what he wanted, and it was his birthday. Continue reading...
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s old-fashioned drama delivers big performances and intriguing plot twistsKiyoshi Kurosawa has probably long since got used to seeing the words “no relation” after his name; and this Japanese film-maker has in any case established his own distinctive, valuable presence in Asian cinema. Just two years ago, he released his complex drama To the Ends of the Earth, and now, working with Ryû Hamaguchi as co-writer, he has created this excellent wartime mystery thriller, which won the Silver Lion at last year’s Venice film festival: an old-fashioned drama replete with big performances and plot twists, double-cross and triple-cross. It’s like a three-quarter scale version of a Lean epic, a mid-level Zhivago or English Patient, but all the more intriguing for being relatively modest in scope.Yû Aoi is outstanding as Satoko, a movie actor in 1940 Kobe in Japan, married to Yûsaku (Issey Takahashi), a prosperous international trader whose liberal politics and contact with foreigners makes him frowned upon in increasingly nationalist Japan. Yûsaku is visited by his old schoolfriend Taiji (Masahiro Higashide), who is now in police uniform, and caught up in the new fascist enthusiasm. A gulf between the two is opening up, despite Taiji having not got over his erstwhile crush on Satoko. Something sinister is in the air, and when Yûsaku comes back from a business trip to Japanese-controlled Manchuria, he is stunned by evidence of war crimes carried out there by Japan’s Kwantung army. Disgusted by his country, he plans to pass on details to the international community and chiefly the Americans: Satoko realises that this makes her the wife of a spy and the question of her own personal and political loyalties, and her husband’s, are a tense enigma to the very end. Continue reading...
After building his own version of Middle-earth, Nicolas Gentile has thrown a ‘ring’ into Mount VesuviusNicolas Gentile, a 37-year-old Italian pastry chef, did not just want to pretend to be a hobbit – he wanted to live like one. First, he bought a piece of land in the countryside of Bucchianico, near the town of Chieti in Abruzzo, where he and his wife started building their personal Shire from JRR Tolkien’s fictional Middle-earth.Then, on 27 August, alongside a group of friends and Lord of the Rings fans dressed as an elf, a dwarf, a hobbit, a sorcerer and humans, he walked more than 120 miles (200km) from Chieti to Naples, crossing mountains and rivers, to throw the “One Ring”, a central plot element of The Lord of the Rings saga, into the volcano crater of Mount Vesuvius. Continue reading...
Storm wreaked havoc on offshore oil production platforms and onshore oil and gas processing plantsThe US Coast Guard on Monday said it was investigating nearly 350 reports of oil spills in and along the US Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Ida.Hurricane Ida’s 150 mile per hour winds wreaked havoc on offshore oil production platforms and onshore oil and gas processing plants. About 88% of the region’s offshore oil production remains shut and more than 100 platforms unoccupied after the storm made landfall 29 August . Continue reading...
From plummeting trade to drastic shortages of workers, needlessly leaving the single market has been disastrousIt was the big Brexit lie. No, not the £350m a week to spend on the NHS or the “bonfire” of red tape. The lie was that the shambles now enveloping British trade with Europe was an unavoidable price worth paying to leave the EU. That was rubbish.In order to further his chances of becoming Tory leader Boris Johnson made two commitments. One was to resign from the EU, the other was to depart Europe’s customs union and single market, aspects of which embrace other non-EU states such as Norway. The second decision was an almost casual gesture to make him look macho to the party’s hardline Brexiters. It was not put to referendum and was beyond stupid. Continue reading...
‘It was a vulnerable moment that turned into a moment of strength. It was basically me saying: I am never going to be hit by anyone ever again’Weak was written about an experience I’d had a few years earlier. I was dating a guy I shouldn’t have been going out with in the first place: he was older, he wanted to get married and all these things, but he didn’t ask me, he just decided. Back then, I was so meek and mild. My friends would say: “Your boyfriend is so controlling. You have to stick up for yourself.” Continue reading...
by Emmanuel Akinwotu West Africa correspondent on (#5P781)
International community condemns takeover but many in impoverished west African country welcome itGuinea’s president, Alpha Condé, is being held in military detention, according to an elite unit of the army who have led a coup condemned by the international community but welcomed by many in Guinea.The coup leader and head of the country’s special forces, Col Mamadi Doumbouya, announced in state broadcasts on Sunday that the country’s constitution had been suspended, the government dissolved and the borders closed, with a 24-hour curfew imposed. Continue reading...
Feisty teenager Sigga longs to move to California from her small hometown in Iceland. At least the scenery’s interestingHere’s yet another quirky indie film with a feisty teenager who longs to get as far away from her birthplace as possible. The setting is a small fishing town in Iceland, however, which lends an interesting international flavour to a movie where, curiously, all the Icelanders speak English to one another. This is because Sigga (Kristín Auður Sophusdóttir), the disaffected protagonist, is about to board a plane to Topanga, California, and so everyone must speak “Californian”. Alas, the script is just as thin as this bizarro excuse.Accompanied by a group of her best friends, one of whom always carries a canoe with him because, again, this is a quirky coming-of-age-film, Sigga’s numerous attempts to leave home are constantly thwarted by chance encounters. She randomly sits in a poetry class whose teacher is played by Judd Nelson, an entertaining nod to 1980s teen comedies, even though he is not given much to do. She also meets Nikki (Tom Maden), an aspiring poet who later proclaims his devotion to her before accidentally breaking Sigga’s leg. These haphazard incidents, however, only fuel Sigga’s desire to take off. Continue reading...
Apple Daily publisher Next Digital hopes move will allow payments to be made to creditors and former staffNext Digital, a Hong Kong media group known for its criticism of Beijing, has filed for liquidation, with its board of directors resigning to help facilitate the process.Owned by the jailed tycoon Jimmy Lai, the group was the publisher of Apple Daily, a popular pro-democracy newspaper that closed in June after its newsroom was raided by police investigating whether some articles breached a national security law introduced by China last year. Continue reading...
Our readers share their reactions to the return of the pop legends after four decadesRelated: Abba singles race to top of streaming charts in comeback triumph Continue reading...
Teacher and wife of the SDLP politician John Hume, she provided stalwart support to her husband as he played a key role in the Northern Ireland peace processPat Hume, who has died aged 83, was the highly regarded rock and anchor in the life of her Nobel peace laureate husband John. From the very early years of the Northern Ireland Troubles in the late 1960s to the peace process and the Good Friday agreement three decades later, Pat provided sanctuary, support and often vital advice to John as he worked determinedly for a peaceful compromise to the conflict.So respected was Pat that in 2004, when John stepped down from his seat in the European parliament, many of his colleagues inside the Social Democratic and Labour Party saw Pat as their salvation in the face of a post-ceasefire Sinn Féin surge. Continue reading...
by Helen Davidson in Taipei and Philip Oltermann in B on (#5P75J)
Angela Merkel ‘profoundly shaken’ by death of Jan Hecker, 54, one of her top foreign policy advisersGermany’s ambassador to China, Jan Hecker, has died suddenly at the age of 54, less than two weeks into his Beijing posting.Hecker was a former foreign policy adviser to the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. Continue reading...
Maria Kalesnikava, prominent opponent of country’s authoritarian leader, sentenced to 11 yearsA Belarusian court has sentenced the senior opposition leader Maria Kalesnikava to 11 years in prison, punishing one of the most prominent opponents of the country’s authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko.Kalesnikava, a leader of the opposition’s coordination council, was one of three women last year who united to lead an uprising in which tens of thousands of Belarusians took to the streets in the largest protests in the country’s modern history. Continue reading...
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