International News

Thousands of Russians attend rallies calling for Alexei Navalny’s release

Thousands of Russians have rallied in cities across the country in a last-ditch effort to secure the freedom of the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The demonstrations have shown the determination of Navalny’s core supporters, who called for “freedom for political prisoners!” at tense standoffs opposite riot police in helmets and body armour, who have vowed to break up the unsanctioned demonstrations. But early turnout in cities in the far east of the country and Siberia suggested the protests would not be larger than those of past months, as the Kremlin prepares to deliver a potentially lethal blow to Navalny’s political organisation nationwide by declaring it extremist.

Los Angeles could become largest US city to trial universal basic income

Los Angeles may soon become the largest city in the US to introduce a universal basic income (UBI) program, joining its neighbors to the north – including Stockton, Oakland and San Francisco – in offering some residents a monthly cash boost with no strings attached. The $24m LA program, introduced as part of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s budget proposal, released on Tuesday, would provide $1,000 a month to 2,000 families for a year if passed by the city council. Like most other UBI plans, those given the funds can use the money however they please.

 

Derek Chauvin found guilty of murder of George Floyd

Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder for killing George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes, a crime that prompted waves of protests in support of racial justice in the US and across the world. The jury swiftly and unanimously convicted Chauvin of all the charges he faced – second- and third-degree murder, and manslaughter – after concluding that the white former Minneapolis police officer killed the 46-year-old Black man in May through a criminal assault, by pinning him to the ground so he could not breathe.

 

Chad’s president Idriss Déby dies ‘on battlefield’, military says

Idriss Déby, the veteran president of Chad, has died, national radio in the central African state has said. A statement from the military said the 68-year-old ruler, in power for 30 years, had been killed “on the battlefield” after being injured fighting rebels but gave no further details. Déby last week won a sixth term in presidential elections. The poll prompted an invasion by a Libya-based rebel group called the Force for Change and Concord in Chad (Fact), which military officials had said was repulsed at the weekend.

MPs urge Cameron to make public Greensill lobbying texts to Sunak

An influential group of MPs has ordered David Cameron to release texts he sent to the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, as part of a parliamentary inquiry into the Greensill lobbying scandal. The Conservative-dominated Treasury select committee wrote to key figures in the scandal on Monday, asking for evidence that will help piece together the true impact of Cameron’s efforts to ensure the lender had access to emergency Covid loans and NHS staff records. Cameron, whose lobbying for Greensill prompted at least seven inquiries by parliamentary committees, the government and the civil service, has been told to provide a timeline and records of his contact with the Treasury and related agencies, and release the full texts he sent to the chancellor at the start of the pandemic last year.

 

Covid in Brazil: Hunger worsens in city slums

The queue snakes around the block and each day it gets longer: hungry residents of Heliopolis, São Paulo's largest favela, waiting in line for the handout that will keep them going until the next morning. They are given a bowl of pasta with meat and a portion of rice, two packets of biscuits and a carton of milk, shared between a whole household and usually their only meal of the day. Before the pandemic, 300 people would queue up here. Now it is over 1,000, and the charity that runs it has 650 others across São Paulo.

UK Labour Party will never govern unless it can appeal again to working class – report

Labour will never get back into government unless it can reinvent itself to appeal again to working-class voters, a major examination of the party’s future has warned, saying the problems go far beyond Brexit or Jeremy Corbyn’s time as leader. The conclusion comes in a collection of pieces written by Labour MPs representing once safe seats which are now at risk, among them several shadow ministers, including John Healey, the shadow defence minister, who edited the report.

 

Siena poll: A record number of New Yorkers view Cuomo unfavorably

More than half of New York voters view Gov. Andrew Cuomo unfavorably, according to a new Siena College Research Institute poll released Monday morning. It's the first time the governor's unfavorability rating has surpassed 50 percent in Siena's polling. The results come as the governor is under investigation by state Attorney General Tish James, who is looking into sexual harassment accusations and other matters, and as the state Assembly's Judiciary Committee is looking into possible impeachment proceedings. Only 40 percent of respondents say they view Cuomo favorably, while 52 percent view him unfavorably. 

European Super League a 'spit in the face of all football lovers', says Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin

The European Super League (ESL) is a "disgraceful, self-serving" plan and a "spit in the face of football lovers", says Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin. He also said players who play for teams involved in the closed league would be "banned from the World Cup and Euros". Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham are among 12 clubs who have agreed to join the proposed ESL. "We are all united against this nonsense of a project," said Ceferin.

Alexei Navalny moved to hospital as fears grow for life of Putin critic

Alexei Navalny has been transferred to a prison hospital as concerns have grown among supporters that the Russian opposition leader is dangerously ill and could die “at any minute”. Navalny’s transfer came after his doctors warned at the weekend showing that the Kremlin critic, who has been on hunger strike for nearly three weeks, was in danger of a heart attack or kidney failure. In a statement on Monday, Russia’s prisons service said a doctors’ committee had decided to transfer Navalny to an infirmary in another prison in the Vladimir region that “specialises in dynamic monitoring of similar patients”.