Campaigners say ministers must change course as millions face famine in Africa and the Ukraine war threatens to disrupt global food supplies
Ministers have been accused of choosing the ?€?worst moment in history?€? to slash the foreign aid budget, as provisional figures showed that UK overseas humanitarian funding was cut by more than half last year.
MPs and charity campaigners say the aid budget urgently needs to be increased to cope with the Ukraine conflict and the risk of famine in Africa. Up to 23 million people face acute hunger in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia due to drought.
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.
Landmark ruling follows case of three young Indigenous Mexicans detained and abused on suspicion of being Guatemalan migrants
Mexican immigration agents can no longer conduct stop and search operations on buses and highways after the country?€?s supreme court ruled that such checks are racist, discriminatory and therefore unconstitutional.
The landmark ruling, handed down in Mexico City on Wednesday, found in favour of three young Indigenous Mexicans who were detained and abused by immigration (INM) officials in 2015 during a US-backed crackdown.
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.
Advocates and detainees say a woman?€?s body was found at Villawood detention centre on Sunday morning.
The New Zealand woman was found dead about 10.45am, shortly after a room search had been conducted by Serco officers. She is believed to have killed herself.
Shanghai has reopened a small part of the world?€?s longest subway system after some lines had been closed for almost two months, as the city paves the way for a more complete lifting of its Covid-19 lockdown next week.
With most residents not allowed to leave their homes and restrictions tightening in parts of China?€?s most populous city, commuters early on Sunday needed strong reasons to travel.
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.
PM Scott Morrison has been dumped by electorate fed up with inaction on emissions and eager for change
When Scott Morrison won Australia?€?s federal election in 2019, it seemed like the country would never emerge from the climate wars that had begun a decade earlier.
Morrison had taken the prime ministership late in 2018 after conservatives in the ruling Liberal-National Coalition deposed Malcolm Turnbull, in part, for his attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Australia?€?s energy sector.
The Liberals flirted with turning the ABC coverage on blast on the big screen, but when Antony Green observed that he couldn?€?t see the Liberals winning more than 70 seats, suddenly the feed was cut in favour of soft aimless jazz, pervasive elevator music the soundtrack to attenuated disappointment.
The independent candidate who defied a national swing towards Labor by defeating Kristina Keneally in the formerly safe seat of Fowler in Sydney?€?s south-west says the party was punished for its ?€?arrogance?€? in parachuting the former NSW premier into the seat.
As vote counting continued on Sunday, the party?€?s abject showing in Fowler marked a stunning outlier to the national result.
A seismic shift occurred in Australian politics this weekend, with the Coalition government swept from power by the Labor opposition and a wave of independents and Greens MPs.
But it wasn?€?t all serious business. Here are a few of the lighter moments from the climax of the election campaign you might have missed.
Australia?€?s prime minister-elect, Anthony Albanese, looks increasingly likely to form a majority government, with the party inching ahead in 78 seats across the country, as the Liberal party descends into turmoil following Saturday?€?s election rout.
As counting continued on Sunday, Labor leader Albanese took part in briefings with senior public sector officials to prepare him for Tuesday?€?s meeting of the quadrilateral security dialogue in Tokyo, which he will attend with the incoming foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong.
Russia?€?s state gas company, Gazprom, said it has halted gas exports to Finland. The country refused Moscow?€?s demands to pay in roubles for Russian gas after western countries imposed sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.
In addition to the humanitarian catastrophe created by the (Russian) occupiers and collaborators, the city is on the verge of an outbreak of infectious diseases, he said on the messaging app Telegram.
Digital wizardry and academic sleuthing have helped recreate a cultural treasure severely damaged in the conflict in 1922
In June 1922, the opening battle of Ireland?€?s civil war destroyed one of Europe?€?s great archives in a historic calamity that reduced seven centuries of documents and manuscripts to ash and dust.
Once the envy of scholars around the world, the Public Record Office at the Four Courts in Dublin, was a repository of documents dating from medieval times, and packed into a six-storey building by the River Liffey. It was obliterated when troops of the fledgling Irish state bombarded former comrades who were hunkered down at the site as part of a rebellion by hardline republicans against peace with Britain.
It is a 10-minute drive from Serhi Belyaev?€?s house in the village of Tsyrkuny to his fiancee?€?s home in Kharkiv, Ukraine?€?s second city. A quick spin west on Soborna Street, over the E40 motorway on to the Lesia Serduika highway, and you are there. That was, until the war came.
It took just hours for Russian forces to sweep into Belyaev?€?s village on 24 February, as they advanced on Kharkiv, the closest major Ukrainian city to the Russian border.
The German capital?€?s liberal reputation has been derailed by clashes between subcontracted ticket inspectors and black people
A Berlin metro ticket controller squeezes through a throng of old-school punks, mariachi band members and burly men in leather chaps, all while jauntily humming Is?€? mir egal, ?€?It?€?s all the same to me?€?.
The 2015 viral ad, featuring Turkish-German Neukölln rapper Kazim Akboga, was a great marketing success for the German capital?€?s public transport company, BVG: if you ride on our metros, trams and buses, it said, you can be whoever you want to be - as long as you remember to buy a ticket.
Thousands of lives were saved by activists who have now been put on trial in Sicily on trafficking charges
The crew of the Iuventa rescue ship has been credited with saving 14,000 lives in the Mediterranean Sea. Yet far from being feted for their life-saving work, four of the rescuers appeared in court in Italy this weekend on charges carrying a possible 20-year jail sentence.
?€?It feels like a never-ending nightmare,?€? campaigner Kathrin Schmidt told the Observer ahead of a preliminary hearing on Saturday in a court in the Sicilian coastal town of Trapani. ?€?Everybody knows the pictures and videos of these already unseaworthy, but then overcrowded rubber boats?€? Stating that there is no necessity to rescue these people is a crime in itself.?€?
Unit of young and old volunteer fighters guard network of trenches built since February invasion
Ukrainian forces have built a new line of defences along the country?€?s previously unfortified northern border with Belarus amid signs of another attack.
Russian forces invaded Ukraine through the Belarusian border in February when they tried to capture the capital, Kyiv.
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.
Dressed in red and blue, ?€?Spidey?€? is a fixture at protests against the military regime - and the subject of a new Guardian documentary
Violence and arrests will not deter Sudan?€?s young activists from resisting the military who ?€?stole our revolution?€?, says one man who faces down the teargas and bullets in a blue and red superhero costume.
Featured in a new Guardian documentary, ?€?the ?€?Spider-Man?€? of Sudan?€?, who cannot be named for his safety, has become a symbol of protests that began in October. Dressed in his increasingly frayed suit and mask he and other demonstrators confront teargas canisters, water cannon and often live bullets.
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.?€?
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.
Research into costs of proposed Suffolk power station could further inflame debate over UK nuclear power
The proposed Sizewell C nuclear power station could cost UK taxpayers more than double government estimates and take an extra five years to build, according to research.
Ministers will decide in July whether to approve the development of the Suffolk power station proposed by the French developer EDF. The business department has estimated the government-backed scheme will add an extra £1 a month to household bills to aid construction costs.
Minister asked repeatedly for details on PM?€?s meeting with senior civil servant ahead of Partygate report
The UK education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, has repeatedly refused to say who organised a meeting between Boris Johnson and top civil servant Sue Gray, as Westminster awaits her report into lockdown parties in Downing Street.
It has emerged that the pair met, with both sides - No 10 and Gray?€?s team - denying they called the meeting.
Tayshan Hayden-Smith started gardening in a plot under a concrete flyover in west London. Now he?€?s at the top of his game
The concrete space underneath the Westway, an elevated dual carriageway that cuts across the Victorian terraces of west London, is not a hospitable place for plants - nor for people, some would say. But it is nevertheless at the heart of the community that calls itself North Kensington. Between the Westway?€?s shadow and another dominant structure, the shrouded Grenfell Tower, sits a narrow slice of a garden.
Lanterns hang from a tree, halfway down a path of bark chips leading to a welcoming bench. With planting that is green and tall, the little haven is so immersing that even the loud hum of overhead traffic is easily forgotten. The community green space owes its existence to Tayshan Hayden-Smith, a 19-year-old at the time of the Grenfell fire, who in its aftermath was gripped by an impulse to start planting things. He found a piece of wasteland and with no prior experience began to explore the two-way nurturing process of gardening. A promising footballer of mixed race, he was acutely embarrassed at the idea of being seen with a plant; he would duck out of sight when friends went past. ?€?I felt so at home in the garden, but so out of place,?€? he says.
Classic images and unpublished shots by photographer Gered Mankowitz join treasure trove of pictures set for radical image makeover
British photographer Gered Mankowitz has an archive that spans 60 years, capturing an extraordinary array of stars that include Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Slade, Elton John and Kate Bush. Now, he hopes that vast treasure trove will be given a new lease of life after selling the lot to a company that plans to use digital technology to turn the images, among other things, into three-dimensional works of art.
Mankowitz is the latest high-profile photographer to sell the rights to his images, after a similar move by well-known musicians: Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen are among many who have sold their recording and songwriting rights for large amounts of money.
Residents of former PM?€?s hometown continue to have mixed feelings about sculpture after egging
It may have been a week since the residents of Grantham were surprised by the appearance of a long-anticipated statue of Margaret Thatcher, but the dust is showing no signs of settling just yet.
After an arduous four-year process, the £300,000 statue was quietly placed on its 10ft plinth last Sunday morning when few people were around, and was egged within hours.
Many have been paying thousands of dollars in interest alone, with their principal debt hardly affected despite monthly payments
In 2001, Karen Herrera of Minnesota took advice from a Sallie Mae representative to consolidate her student loan debt with her husband?€?s. They both worked in the public sector, but due to their type of loans, they did not qualify for public service forgiveness. Herrera lost her job in 2009 due to the economic recession, and though the couple filed for bankruptcy, their student loan debts remained.
Herrera and her husband have continued to make monthly payments throughout the pandemic, as their loans through the Federal Family Education Loan Program were not eligible for the pause on payments.
Trio will receive college degrees but will not be commissioned ?€?as long as they remain unvaccinated?€?, spokesperson says
For refusing to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, three US air force academy cadets won?€?t be commissioned as military officers, though they will receive college degrees, a spokesperson for the school said Saturday.
Academy spokesperson Dean Miller said in a statement that the three cadets in question won?€?t be commissioned as air force officers ?€?as long as they remain unvaccinated,?€? though they would get their bachelor?€?s of science degrees. The military branch had not decided yet whether to require the trio to reimburse the US for education costs in lieu of service, Miller said.
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.
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!
