The death toll from the worst earthquake to hit Myanmar in a century is expected to surpass 3,000 on Wednesday, as humanitarian agencies urged other countries to ramp up aid ahead of the monsoon rains. Close to the epicentre, in the decimated cities of Mandalay and Sagaing, traumatised survivors slept in the street, with the … Read more
Neil Young has shared his concerns of being barred from the US after his European tour later this year, thanks to his outspoken critiques of Donald Trump. On Tuesday, on his website Neil Young Archives, the 79-year-old musician – who has dual Canadian-American citizenship – wrote of his fears after the recent spate of people … Read more
Former Costa Rican president and Nobel winner Óscar Arias said on Tuesday that the US had revoked his visa to enter the country, weeks after he criticized Donald Trump on social media saying he was behaving like “a Roman emperor”. Arias, 84, was president between 1986 and 1990 and again between 2006 and 2010. A … Read more
On Tuesday China’s military launched joint drills around Taiwan, sending ships, planes and some bizarre propaganda videos across the strait to both warn and punish Taiwan’s government over what Beijing calls “separatist activity”. The purported provocation was recent assertiveness by Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, who in February designated China a “foreign hostile force” and announced … Read more
Tony Blair’s thinktank has urged the UK to relax copyright laws in order to let artificial intelligence firms build new products, as it warned a tougher approach could strain the transatlantic relationship. The Tony Blair Institute said enforcing firm copyright measures would strain ties with the US, which is poised to announce tariffs on UK … Read more
A police officer who received a medal for bravery for his heroics during the Iranian embassy siege in London in 1980 has died aged 85. Trevor Lock and 24 of the hostages were freed after a six-day standoff between members of a dissident Iranian group and the SAS at the building in Kensington. He was … Read more
An 11-year-old girl who is missing after entering the River Thames in London on Monday has been named by police as Kaliyah Coa. Kaliyah, who had been playing during a school inset day, entered the water near Bargehouse Causeway near London City airport in east London. Emergency services were called at 1.23pm on Monday with … Read more
A Capitol Hill hearing held to explore supposed government censorship under Joe Biden was based on a “fiction”, a leading expert on countering online disinformation told members of Congress on Tuesday. Nina Jankowicz, head of the American Sunlight Project, a pro-democracy organization, went on the offensive at a House of Representatives foreign relations subcommittee meeting … Read more
Privacy campaigners have warned that voters’ personal data could be used to target them with political messaging under new laws. In a letter written to Chris Bryant, the data protection minister, and the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, campaigners said there was “potential for abuse of new powers” in the data protection legislation, which was … Read more
US state department officials have challenged Britain’s communications regulator over the impact on freedom of expression created by new online safety laws, the Guardian understands. A group of officials from the state department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) recently met with Ofcom in London. It is understood that they raised the issue … Read more