84-year-old who was ousted last year boards plane for Turkey to receive medical treatment
Guinean ex-leader Alpha Conde boarded a plane for Turkey on Saturday after the junta that toppled him authorised his travel abroad for medical treatment, officials said.
The 84-year-old Conte, who was ousted last year, has been allowed to travel out of respect for his ?€?dignity and integrity?€? and for ?€?humanitarian reasons?€?, the junta?€?s governing body said.
Case in child in Tete province follows detection of similar strain in Malawi in February, officials say
Mozambique has identified its first case of wild polio in three decades following the genetic sequencing of a similar strain of the childhood disease in Malawi earlier this year.
Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization?€?s regional director for Africa, said the detection of the new case was ?€?greatly concerning?€? and that it demonstrated ?€?how dangerous this virus is and how quickly it can spread?€?.
The South African government sent Anton Hammerl?€?s passport to his widow in 2016 but has refused to say how it came to have it
The widow of a British-based photographer who was murdered by Col Gaddafi?€?s forces in Libya in 2011 has accused South Africa of withholding crucial information about her husband?€?s death that could help in efforts to locate his body.
Anton Hammerl was killed in an incident in May 2011 that saw other journalists, including James Foley - who was later kidnapped and beheaded by Islamic State in Syria - taken prisoner.
Those fleeing combat were internally displaced 14.4m times, with biggest toll in sub-Saharan Africa, report reveals
Conflict and violence forced people from their homes a record number of times last year, a report has found, with sub-Saharan Africa bearing the brunt of mass internal displacement caused by ?€?huge spikes?€? in fighting.
People fleeing violence were internally displaced 14.4m times in 2021, an increase of 4.6m on 2020, according to figures published by the Norwegian Refugee Council?€?s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).
Building work is quiet, for now, on £200m project that pits different visions of South Africa?€?s future against one another
Smoke curls into the air, a drum beats, the dance begins, a chant is raised. Ten metres away, cars howl past on a busy road, drivers unaware of the sacred ritual taking place in the centre of a bustling South African city.
Francisco Mackenzie, a chief of the Cochoqua community of the Khoi people, talks of ancient beliefs and battles five centuries ago, against invaders from overseas. He points to the iconic skyline of Table Mountain, and then to a nearby building site.
Phénéas Munyarugarama is second person wanted for their involvement in 1994 mass killings to die
One of the last five fugitives wanted for his role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Phénéas Munyarugarama, died in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002, UN prosecutors have announced.
Munyarugarama, a local army commander, ?€?died of natural causes?€? and was buried in Kankwala, in the eastern DRC, the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) announced in The Hague.
The British government is under pressure to impose sanctions on Alexander Lebedev after Canada targeted the former KGB agent in a fresh wave of restrictions against Vladimir Putin?€?s regime.
The billionaire Russian businessman, who little more than a decade ago bought the UK?€?s Evening Standard and Independent newspapers, was named in Ottawa?€?s latest sanctions announced on Friday.
Analysis: Another week of extremes with peaks pushing 40C in Spain and a rare subtropical cyclone in Uruguay and Brazil
Unseasonably high temperatures have been affecting both Iberia and France over recent days. Temperatures have been about 10-15C above average thanks to a southerly flow of very warm and dry air from north Africa.
On 17 May, temperatures across much of Spain, as well as southern and central France, widely exceeded 30C. A top temperature of 35.5C was recorded in the southern Spanish province of Huelva, with a provisional high of 32.9C recorded in the French commune of Montélimar. La Hague near the Channel hit 26.6C, beating the May record for this location set 100 years ago.
Stanley in Falkland Islands also becomes city after contest marking Queen?€?s platinum jubilee year
Doncaster, Milton Keynes and Stanley in the Falkland Islands have been awarded city status, approved by the Queen, in a competition being held as part of the platinum jubilee celebrations, the Cabinet Office has announced.
The eight winners of the 2022 Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours competition, also included Bangor in Northern Ireland, Colchester in England, Douglas on the Isle of Man, Dunfermline in Scotland and Wrexham in Wales.
Bangor (pop 61,000) in Northern Ireland was a key site for allied forces during the second world war, with supreme commander Dwight D Eisenhower giving a speech to 30,000 assembled troops there shortly before ships left for Normandy and the D-day invasion. The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh visited Bangor Castle in 1961 before lunch at the Royal Ulster Yacht Club in the run-up to Prince Philip racing in the regatta. Previously, Edward VII had visited in 1903.
Colchester (pop 122,000) is Britain?€?s first recorded settlement and its first capital, and for the past 165 years has been a garrison town. Firstsite, its contemporary art gallery, was named Art Fund museum of the year in 2021.
Doncaster (population 110,000) highlighted that its ?€?community spirit and resilience was demonstrated during the Doncaster floods in 2019 as the community rallied to provide relief?€?. Originally a Roman settlement, it is home to the St Leger, founded in 1776 and the oldest classic horse race in the world, regularly attended by royals since George IV. It has made three previous attempts for city status.
Douglas (pop 27,000) has links to the royal family through the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, which originated there, with George IV as first patron, and the Queen patron today. Its cultural highlights include the annual Manx Music Festival, dating from 1892, and the Isle of Man Film Festival, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
Dunfermline?€?s (pop 56,000) most famous son is probably Andrew Carnegie, whose steel and industry helped build the US, and whose philanthropy started the world?€?s public library system, according to Dunfermline?€?s bid. Its royal links stretch back to the reign of Malcolm III, king of Scotland from 1058-1093, when he set up his court there.
Milton Keynes (pop 223,000), a new town started in the Queen?€?s reign, is described in its bid as ?€?the pinnacle of the national postwar planning movement?€?. Today it has 27 conservation areas, 50 scheduled monuments, 1,100 listed building and 270 pieces of public art.
Stanley, in the Falklands, (pop 2,100) has been regularly visited by members of the royal family, including Prince William, who spent six weeks based there as a search and rescue helicopter pilot. This year marks 40 years since the Falklands conflict.
Wrexham (pop 42,500) boasts the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, a Unesco world heritage site described as a ?€?masterpiece of creative genius?€?. It is also home to Wrexham Football Club, established in 1864 and said to be the third oldest in the UK and with the world?€?s oldest international ground. In the past decade, Wrexham has become one of the fastest-growing retail centres in the UK.
Move brings Ottawa into line with intelligence allies that have excluded Chinese tech firms from cutting-edge phone networks
Canada says it will ban Huawei and ZTE from the country?€?s 5G network, a move that puts it in line with intelligence-sharing allies, but risks further chilling relations with China.
The federal government made the announcement on Thursday afternoon after signalling for months it intended to block China?€?s flagship telecommunications companies from accessing 5G networks in Canada.
Conservative Jason Kenney, Alberta premier, leaves province?€?s top job after barely surviving a leadership review
The abrupt resignation of Alberta?€?s premier has shocked the western province and raised questions about the ideological direction of Canada?€?s conservative movement amid a surge in far-right and populist influences.
Jason Kenney announced late on Wednesday that he was leaving the province?€?s top job after barely surviving a leadership review. A slim majority of party members - 51.4% - had voted in favour of keeping him in power but Kenney said that support wasn?€?t enough to justify remaining head of the governing United Conservatives.
US president willing to meet Kim Jong-un, while Seoul says deployment of US ?€?strategic assets?€? was discussed
Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, have said they are considering expanding joint military exercises in response to the ?€?threat?€? posed by North Korea, a move that is expected to enrage the regime as speculation builds that it could conduct a nuclear test.
Speaking in Seoul on the second day of his visit to South Korea, Biden said he was willing to meet North Korea?€?s leader, Kim Jong-un, but only if he was ?€?sincere and serious?€? about dismantling his nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
Exclusive: Politicians accuse China of organising a ?€?Potemkin-style tour?€? for Michelle Bachelet
A group of 40 politicians from 18 countries have told the UN high commissioner for human rights that she risks causing lasting damage to the credibility of her office if she goes ahead with a visit to China?€?s Xinjiang region next week.
Michelle Bachelet is scheduled to visit Kashgar and Ürümqi in Xinjiang during her trip, which starts on Monday. Human rights organisations say China has forced an estimated 1 million or more people into internment camps and prisons in the region. The US and a number of other western countries have described China?€?s treatment of the Uyghur minority living there as genocidal, a charge Beijing calls the ?€?lie of the century?€?.
Unnamed team member reportedly got into dispute with South Korean citizen outside hotel where Biden is expected to stay
Joe Biden?€?s visit to South Korea and Japan has got off to a bad start with two Secret Service agents set to be sent home after one was accused of drunkenly assaulting a South Korean the day before the president arrived in Seoul, officials said.
Earlier reports said a member of his advance security detail was arrested for allegedly assaulting a South Korean citizen in Seoul.
Covid lockdowns in host country frustrate scientists as no date in sight for key UN conservation conference after two years of delays
China has been urged to name a date for a key UN nature summit this year, amid growing frustration with Beijing and concerns among experts that we are ?€?sleepwalking through this cataclysmic climate extinction?€?.
After two years of delays, governments had been scheduled to meet in Kunming, China, for Cop15 in late April to negotiate this decade?€?s targets to halt and reverse the rampant destruction of ecosystems and wildlife crucial to human civilisation. It had been hoped the summit would be a ?€?Paris moment?€? for biodiversity, with China holding the presidency for a major UN environmental agreement for the first time.
Experts have questioned North Korea?€?s claim that it is achieving ?€?good results?€? in its battle against a Covid-19 outbreak, as the number of people with symptoms of the virus surpassed 2 million.
The regime reported 263,370 new fever cases on Friday and two deaths, taking the total caseload to 2.24 million, including 65 deaths, according to state news agency KCNA.
Undiplomatic remarks from Jean-Yves Le Drian follow war of words between nations over abandoned submarine deal
France?€?s outgoing foreign affairs minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, has undiplomatically welcomed the election defeat of Australia?€?s conservative government after a war of words last year over an abandoned submarine deal between the two countries.
Australia scrapped the purchase worth up to A$90bn (£50bn) last September in favour of a security pact with the US and the UK.
I?€?m a fairly big footy fan, but not sure how much all these analogies mean to the rest of voters (and I believe kicking into the wind can actually be an advantage in rugby union sometimes?)
On Weekend Today, Scott Morrison managed to turn a question about whether he has BBQ sauce on his democracy sausage into a stump speech about jobkeeper and co-funding the hospital system during the pandemic. We can?€?t fault him - those are more important issues than what he was asked.
With many supporters still bearing the scars of the 2019 election loss, it was only when the Western Australian results streamed in that they dared to dream
It was only around the time the pyramid of Albo ale cans was built - red cylinders piled four rows high - that Labor supporters started daring to believe they?€?d gotten home.
Nine years in the wilderness of opposition and three crushing defeats had put up a wall of doubt among Labor faithful that they could pull this off. Three years of what many in the camp called ?€?PTSD?€? from the 2019 election was taken down, brick by brick as the ABC?€?s Antony Green called another seat for Labor, or another loss for the Liberals.
While election night coverage was mostly focused on the House of Representatives, there has been a significant shift to the left, potentially setting up a progressive Senate majority, unlike the deadlock experienced by the first Rudd government.
Labor and the Greens hold only 35 seats in the outgoing Senate, meaning they need to win four more for the Greens to hold the sole balance of power. Labor will want to avoid the deadlock experience from 2008 to 2011, when Labor needed the Greens, Nick Xenophon and Family First senator Steve Fielding to pass legislation. This deadlock led the Rudd government to instead work with the opposition on climate legislation, among other issues, and thus opened up the space for Tony Abbott to wreck the government?€?s agenda.
Large swings in WA meant the Liberals lost Hasluck, Swan, Pearce and Tangney and will have just five seats - down from 10 - after the election
It wasn?€?t quite the bloodbath the Liberal party suffered in Western Australia?€?s state election in 2021, but a huge 11% swing to Labor has proved crucial to the Coalition?€?s federal election defeat.
The ?€?red wave?€? in the west was the biggest swing nationally and could deliver Labor a parliamentary majority.
Anthony Albanese will be Australia?€?s next prime minister, leaving the Coalition in disarray after it lost more than a dozen seats to Labor and independents in an election that has transformed the country?€?s political landscape.
Declaring victory shortly before midnight on Saturday, Albanese thanked voters for the ?€?extraordinary honour?€? of becoming the nation?€?s 31st prime minister, and said he would work in government to bring Australians together.
I am now handing over the blog to my colleague Geneva Abdul in London. Thanks for following along
Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik has told European Council President Charles Michel that Bosnia needs to maintain neutrality and will not join EU sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
The lights dimmed, a hush came over the auditorium and the orchestra struck up the first notes of the overture. This ritual has taken place thousands of times at Kyiv?€?s grand opera house over the past century, but the performance on Saturday afternoon was something out of the ordinary.
In a city that over the past three months became used to wailing air-raid sirens and the thuds of artillery from the suburbs, the audience was instead treated to the frothy melodies of Rossini?€?s The Barber of Seville.
Ukraine has suggested that it is willing to resume talks with Russia as Moscow claimed to have taken full control of the besieged city of Mariupol - its biggest prize since it invaded Ukraine in February.
Speaking to a television channel on Saturday, Ukraine?€?s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that ?€?discussions between Ukraineand Russia will undoubtedly take place?€?.
?€?Extraordinarily hot?€? in central and southern areas, say meteorologists, with forecast of 40C in Andalucía
Parts of Spain are experiencing their hottest May since records began, as a mass of hot, dry air blows in from Africa, bringing with it dusty skies and temperatures of more than 40C (104F).
Spain?€?s state meteorological agency, Aemet, has warned of a weekend heatwave of an ?€?extraordinary intensity?€?, with temperatures between 10C and 15C above the seasonal average and more akin to high summer than mid-May.
Hungarian talkshow host who has called Jews ?€?stinking excrement?€? and Roma ?€?animals?€? addresses rightwing conference
A notorious Hungarian racist who has called Jews ?€?stinking excrement?€?, referred to Roma as ?€?animals?€? and used racial epithets to describe Black people, was a featured speaker at a major gathering of US Republicans in Budapest.
Zsolt Bayer took the stage at the second day of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Hungary, a convention that also featured speeches from Donald Trump, Fox News host Tucker Carlson, and Trump?€?s former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
Military police say they are satisfied with assurances of Israeli troops over death of US-Palestinian despite international demands
Israel will not launch a criminal investigation into the killing of the US-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh, which Palestinian officials and witnesses have blamed on Israeli soldiers.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces claimed that because Abu Aqleh was killed in an ?€?active combat situation?€?, an immediate criminal investigation would not be launched, although an ?€?operational inquiry?€? would continue.
Analysis: By demanding extradition of alleged PKK members, Turkish president could have one eye on elections
After initial hesitation about the seriousness of Turkey?€?s objections, its president, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, has doubled down on his threat to veto Finland?€?s and Sweden?€?s applications for membership of Nato, saying there is no point in either country sending delegations to Ankara to persuade him otherwise.
On Wednesday, he also extended his demands from the two he outlined on Monday to 10, leading to claims that he is using blackmail.
Latin patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa told reporters that Friday?€?s incident, broadcast around the world, was a ?€?disproportionate use of force?€? against a large crowd of people waving Palestinian flags as they proceeded from the hospital to a nearby Catholic church in Jerusalem?€?s Old City. The attack drew worldwide condemnation and added to the shock and outrage over the death of Abu Akleh, who was killed during an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) operation in the occupied West Bank.
American remains loyal to PGA Tour, which he helped found
Nicklaus offers advice to under-fire Phil Mickelson
Greg Norman was not the first choice to be the face of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series, whose Saudi Arabian organizers pursued and preferred Jack Nicklaus, according to the 73-time PGA Tour winner.
?€?I was offered something in excess of $100m by the Saudis, to do the job probably similar to the one that Greg is doing,?€? Nicklaus said in a story with Fire Pit Collective. ?€?I turned it down. Once verbally, once in writing. I said, ?€?Guys, I have to stay with the PGA Tour. I helped start the PGA Tour.?€??€?
Omar Abu al-Ouf?€?s father, mother, brother and sister were all killed in the attack on their apartment building last May
Omar Abu al-Ouf is revising for his final school exams, hoping to do well enough to pursue his dream of becoming an engineer, but it?€?s difficult for the 17-year-old to focus. His mind constantly drifts to his family, all of whom died last year when an Israeli airstrike destroyed their apartment building in a middle-class neighbourhood of Gaza city.
?€?It?€?s like he goes somewhere else,?€? said his grandmother, Manar, in the living room of the boy?€?s uncle?€?s house, where he now lives. ?€?His whole family is gone, for nothing.?€?
Low expectations that ballot for parliamentary seats will see breakthrough in dislodging entrenched ruling elite
Voters in Lebanon have gone to the polls in the first national election since a disastrous economic collapse and an explosion that wrecked the Beirut waterfront in 2020, amid low expectations that the leaders they hold responsible will face a serious challenge to their stranglehold on the country.
A number of civil society candidates lined up against an entrenched ruling elite with pledges to change a political landscape in which feudal lords and their networks have enriched themselves since the end of the civil war.
Shireen Mazari?€?s daughter tweeted that her mother was beaten and taken away by police near her Islamabad home on Saturday
Pakistan?€?s former human rights minister was arrested on Saturday in the capital over a decades-old land grabbing allegation, her daughter and another former minister said.
The ban on wheat exports highlights the effect a rapidly warming planet has on food security - and livelihoods
It was his buffaloes that he was first worried about. As temperatures in the small village of Baras, deep in the Indian state of Punjab, began to soar to unseasonably hot levels in April, farmer Hardeep Singh Uppal noticed that his two buffaloes, essential for his family?€?s livelihood, became feverish and unwell.
A few weeks later and the buffaloes now seem fine, flicking their tails leisurely as an icy breeze blows down from an air conditioning unit, a luxury that once sat in Uppal?€?s parents house but now has been installed in an otherwise run-down cowshed, running all day at great expense. ?€?The vet told me I need to keep them cool in this heatwave otherwise they will die so this is the only way,?€? said Uppal.
Forty-two hunger strikers are part of group of 89 Sri Lankans whose boat was intercepted in Indian Ocean by UK military
Dozens of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees who have been detained for more than seven months in a military base on an overseas territory claimed by Britain have gone on hunger strike in despair at their plight.
The 42 hunger strikers are part of a group of 89 Sri Lankans, including 20 children, whose boat was intercepted and escorted to Diego Garcia in the middle of the Indian Ocean by the British military after running into distress while apparently headed to Canada from India in October.
Economists fear Sri Lanka could be first of several, with IMF in talks with Egypt, Tunisia and Pakistan
Sri Lanka has defaulted on its debts for the first time in its history as it struggles with an economic and political crisis triggered by global shock waves from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
An inflation rate spiralling towards 40%, shortages of food, fuel and medicines and rolling power blackouts have led to nationwide protests and a plunging currency, with the government short of the foreign currency reserves it needed to pay for imports.
Female anchors post pictures of themselves being ?€?erased?€? on orders of virtue and vice ministry
Afghanistan?€?s Taliban rulers have ordered all female TV presenters to cover their faces on air, the country?€?s biggest media outlet has said.
The order came in a statement from the Taliban?€?s virtue and vice ministry, tasked with enforcing the group?€?s rulings, as well as from the information and culture ministry, the Tolo news channel tweeted on Thursday. The statement called the order ?€?final and non-negotiable?€?, the channel said.
Escalating tensions erupt into regime-backed violence against the minority group in the autonomous region of Gorno-Badakhshan
At least 25 people were killed on Wednesday by security forces in Tajikistan during a protest in the autonomous region of Gorno-Badakhshan (GBAO), where the Tajik regime has targeted the Pamiri ethnic minority.
The deaths mark an escalation of violence in the region. Conflict between the central government and the Pamiri has continued for decades, with the cultural and linguistic minority ethnic group suffering human rights abuses, as well as discrimination over jobs and housing.
Civil service head will carry the can, amid row over claims that No 10 tried to interfere with Sue Gray?€?s findings
Boris Johnson is expected to scapegoat the head of the civil service Simon Case this week in a desperate effort to save his own job, as both men face stinging criticism in a report into lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street.
The long-awaited findings of the senior mandarin Sue Gray will, according to several sources, lay particular blame on Case, the UK?€?s most senior civil servant, for allowing a drinking culture to develop in which rule-breaking parties became commonplace during lockdowns.
Grenfell United criticises Home Office papers outlining reason for retaining policy against inquiry recommendations
Bereaved relatives of the Grenfell Tower blaze have said they are ?€?enraged?€? by government plans to keep the controversial ?€?stay put?€? policy instead of adopting an inquiry recommendation.
Grenfell United has criticised new Home Office papers which outline its reasons for retaining the policy - meaning that residents of most buildings should wait for rescue services rather than leaving in the event of a fire.
Long waiting times and difficulty in accessing other NHS facilities drive a trebling in those leaving without completing care
More than one in five patients at some hospitals are leaving accident and emergency departments before completing treatment, and in some cases before being seen for assessment at all, with the rate across England trebling since before the pandemic.
Experts told the Observer that the increase was probably driven by a combination of long A&E waiting times and by difficulties accessing NHS facilities such as GPs, community health services and NHS 111.
With 40,000 RMT members voting, union warns of ?€?potentially biggest rail strike in modern history?€?
Contingency plans are being drawn up to try to keep passenger and freight trains running and prevent empty supermarket shelves after unions warned of ?€?potentially the biggest rail strike in modern history?€?.
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) is balloting 40,000 members on the industrial action, which network sources have reportedly said would create ?€?serious challenges?€? in keeping goods moving and supermarket shelves stocked.
A club night that ends at midnight is welcomed by those who - like the DJ - want a good time without partying all night long
Before Annie Macmanus - aka veteran DJ Annie Mac - started her four-hour set for her new night, Before Midnight, she wandered around the early arrivals saying hello. They all said the same thing: thank you. ?€?It?€?s like I?€?m doing some kind of a public service,?€? she says.
At Islington Assembly Hall in north London on Friday night, the gratitude was real - with the mixed crowd delighted to be raving hard by 9pm, before many clubs have even opened, and knowing they?€?d be on their merry way home just after midnight, when ?€?normal?€? clubbers are just getting started. Macmanus started the night, billed as ?€?clubbing for people who need sleep?€?, because, at 43 and with children to care for, she no longer wanted to play sets all night. The DJ - who during her 17 years as one of the biggest DJs at BBC Radio 1 always declared that ?€?raving is a state of mind?€? - also wanted to put on nights ?€?for anyone who just wants to go out and loves nightclubbing but hasn?€?t really felt like nightclubbing is a place for them any more.?€?
Tory MP says immediate increase in universal credit would provide ?€?shield?€? against cost of living crisis
The former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has called for benefits to be immediately brought in line with inflation to provide a ?€?shield?€? against the sting of mounting living costs.
He said rebates and discretionary funds represented ?€?a step in the wrong direction for tackling poverty?€?, arguing it would be better to uplift universal credit (UC) as it ?€?links benefits to work?€?.
Skull discovered in drought-depleted Minnesota River last summer to be returned to Native American officials
Native American officials will be given a partial skull discovered last summer by two kayakers in Minnesota after investigations determined it was about 8,000 years old.
The kayakers found the skull in the drought-depleted Minnesota River about 110 miles (180km) west of Minneapolis, Renville county sheriff Scott Hable said.
David Heymann says experts developing guidance for countries, as New York City resident tests positive for Orthopoxvirus
A senior adviser for the World Health Organization has said the monkeypox outbreak seems to be spreading through sexual contact, and warned that case numbers could spike over the summer months as people attend major summer gatherings and festivals.
David Heymann, chair of the WHO?€?s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential, led a meeting of the group on Friday ?€?because of the urgency of the situation?€?.
Temperatures between 20 and 30F above average in the mid-Atlantic and north-east, with Washington set to hit 96F (35.5C)
Dozens of states across the US began the weekend grappling with historically high spring temperatures, as a blistering heatwave that has scorched the country?€?s south and west moves east.
The early arrival of sweltering weather, before what?€?s expected to be another hot, dry summer, is forecast to break or tie roughly 130 heat records for this time of year, with temperatures between 20F and 30F above average in the mid-Atlantic and north-east.
Ultra conservative Salvatore Cordileone accuses pro-choice House speaker of failing to ?€?understand the grave evil she is perpetrating?€?
The Roman Catholic archbishop in Nancy Pelosi?€?s home town of San Francisco has banned her from receiving communion there over her staunch support of abortion rights, which she has strengthened as supreme court justices weigh finalizing a draft ruling outlawing the termination of pregnancies in more than half the county.
In a letter addressed to the US House speaker and posted on his Twitter account, ultra conservative Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone argued that Pelosi?€?s ?€?position on abortion has become only more extreme over the years, especially in the last few months,?€? and he had decided to block her from communion after she had ignored his requests to explain her stance to him.
Earthworm native to east Asia and known for its large appetite poses threat to forest ecosystems, scientists say
An invasive worm species known for its ?€?voracious appetite?€? and ability to jump a foot in the air is raising alarm in California, where scientists have expressed concerns about the threat the worms pose to forest ecosystems.
The Amynthas agrestis, also known as the Asian jumping worm, Alabama jumper or crazy snake worm, have been spotted in California in recent months. The earthworm is native to east Asia, particularly to Japan and the Korean peninsula. However, in recent years the worms made their way to North America via various landscape plants that have been imported from the region.
Georgia has obsessed the former president since losing it to Joe Biden - will his mega-Maga candidates come out on top?
Greg Bump will not vote for Governor Brian Kemp because ?€?he sold us out in the election?€?. Todd Allinger is backing Kemp because ?€?what he?€?s done for the state of Georgia has been really positive?€?. Teresa Richmond likes Kemp too but will ?€?probably?€? vote for his rival, David Perdue, because of Donald Trump?€?s endorsement.
The views of Republican voters in Sugar Hill in the far northern Atlanta suburbs indicate that nothing can be taken for granted in Tuesday?€?s primary elections in Georgia, a state that has arguably eclipsed neighboring Florida as the most pivotal battleground in American politics.
Large number of US citizens demonstrated against the war in Iraq (and the possible war in Iran) during this October weekend. Massive turnout in Boston and San Fransisco, and also in Chicago, LA and DC people took to the streets. The message was: NO more war in Iraq! NO to a war with Iran!