Swatch pulls ‘slanted eye’ ad after backlash in China
Internet users heavily criticised the “slanted eye” gesture made by the Asian male model as racist. View image in fullscreen The Swatch advert. A Weibo user with more than 1 million followers accused the company of “racism against Chinese” and suggested it should be punished by regulators. “The brand’s image has collapsed. The Italian luxury fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana was criticised in 2018 after it posted promotional videos showing a Chinese model awkwardly using chopsticks to eat Italian food.
Source:The Guardian
August 18, 2025 15:08 UTC
Dan Ndoye’s journey from ‘little lion’ to Nottingham Forest’s new main man
It is a nugget that epitomises his down-to-earth character, which radiates as he discusses his £35m move to Nottingham Forest this summer. Photograph: DeFodi Images/Getty ImagesThose who have shared his journey speak of an authentic, upbeat character who is almost always smiling. I know it’s an ambitious club, and I’m ambitious as well. He concedes he may need to adapt to the intensity of the Premier League but his English needs little work. “To bring European football to the City Ground will be something special … I’m proud to be part of this journey.”
Source:The Guardian
August 17, 2025 23:34 UTC
Greenpeace activists install giant Anish Kapoor artwork onto active Shell platform – video
Greenpeace climbers attached a new work, titled Butchered, by the renowned artist Anish Kapoor on to a Shell platform in the North Sea – the world’s first artwork to be installed on an active offshore gas site. After securing a 12-metre x 8-metre canvas to the structure, the activists hoisted a high-pressure hose 16 metres above sea level. They then pumped 1,000 litres of blood-red liquid that seeped into the fabric, creating a vast crimson stain. The work is a stark visualisation of the wound inflicted on humanity and the Earth by the fossil fuel industry, and aims to represent the collective grief and pain over what has been lost, as well as a call for reparation
Source:The Guardian
August 14, 2025 14:57 UTC
Don’t believe the hype about nuclear weapons
All the more surprising, then, that she overlooks some of the more promising steps towards nuclear disarmament. In particular, momentum is building behind the UN treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons, which came into force in 2021 and is now supported by nearly half the countries in the world. Recent polling from More in Common suggests that young people believe nuclear conflict is the greatest threat to Britain. After all, Vladimir Putin could launch a nuclear attack on Ukraine, which has no nuclear umbrella. Nuclear weapons kill people and may destroy the planet – they do not end war.
Source:The Guardian
August 13, 2025 23:16 UTC
The Swiss lived in splendid isolation for years. Trump’s tariffs have shattered that complacency | Joseph de Weck
That glass was shattered last week when Donald Trump announced 39% tariffs on Swiss exports. If Trump maintains the tariffs, sales to the US “will be effectively annihilated”, said Switzerland’s industry lobbying group. The rightwing Swiss business minister, Guy Parmelin, announced a furlough programme to shield the economy from “mass layoffs”. Trump’s tariff shock has provoked a major identity crisis in a country that has grown rich on exports, and done so in splendid isolation from world politics. Trump’s golf-cart style of governing ought to see him fit right in to the Swiss country club.
Source:The Guardian
August 13, 2025 22:21 UTC
Gold futures jump to record high after US tariffs on cast bars
The price of gold futures have soared to a record high after it emerged that the US would put tariffs on imports of 1kg bars in a further trade blow to Switzerland, which dominates the world’s refining industry. It later emerged that US customs had decided that certain imports of gold bars that had been in a tariff-exempt category should also be covered by the 39% rate. It said the imposition of tariffs on gold cast products “makes it economically unviable to export them to the US”. after newsletter promotionWith about 70% of the world market, Switzerland dominates the trade of turning gold from mines and other sources into gold bars. According to reports, gold bars were in such demand in the US in May after Trump’s announcement of sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs the previous month that Costco capped how many gold bars could be bought in a day.
Source:The Guardian
August 08, 2025 15:30 UTC
Conditions for Zelenskyy meeting are nowhere near met, says Putin – as it happened
From 1d ago 13.18 BST Putin says he could meet Zelenskyy under 'certain conditions' that are 'far' from being met And just like that, Interfax is reporting the latest comments from Russian president Vladimir Putin, quoted as saying that “on the whole” he has nothing against meeting Zelenskyy. He added, however, that “certain conditions should be created” for such a meeting, and the current situation was “far” from satisfactory, Reuters reported. He also said, just as expected, that the United Arab Emirates could host his meeting with Trump, potentially as early as next week (11:48). Mind you: he made these comments just after meeting with sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the UAE. Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for direct discussions with Putin, with either Trump or the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as a mediator.
Source:The Guardian
August 07, 2025 22:39 UTC
More than 200 lobbyists at UN’s plastic treaty talks will limit progress, campaigners warn
More than 200 industry lobbyists are attending the UN’s meeting to hammer out a global plastics treaty, raising fears that moves to prevent runaway plastic production may be undermined. “Fossil fuel companies are central to plastic production, as over 99% of plastics are derived from chemicals sourced from fossil fuels,” said Ximena Banegas, Ciel’s global plastics and petrochemicals campaigner. The numbers of lobbyists attending the talks has been rising steadily since the process started in 2022, alongside deepening rifts between nations. Photograph: James Wakibia/SOPA Images/ShutterstockOn the one hand is a cohort of more than 100 nations that say they want an ambitious treaty including, among other things, global targets to reduce plastic production. Ciel’s analysis shows several lobbyists appear on government delegations from where they can actively sculpt the treaty text.
Source:The Guardian
August 07, 2025 22:10 UTC
The Guardian view on plastic pollution: global action is desperately needed to deal with this scourge | Editorial
Yet global production of plastics is on course to triple to more than a billion tonnes a year by 2060, after increasing by more than 200 times over the past 75 years. This gloomy backdrop should inject a sense of urgency into UN-convened talks in Switzerland this week, aimed at agreeing a binding global plastics treaty. There are already signs that in Geneva the US plans to align itself with fellow fossil-fuel producers in resisting any attempt to agree to a reduction in virgin plastic production. But plastic production also contributes more than 3% of annual global greenhouse emissions. A cap on global production is desperately needed, though achieving that in Geneva looks like a tall order.
Source:The Guardian
August 05, 2025 22:30 UTC
Gaza before and after: new video shows extent of Israel's destruction – video
Footage taken by the Guardian's international correspondent, Lorenzo Tondo, shows the extent of the destruction of Gaza. The Guardian traveled on a Jordanian plane delivering aid as starvation worsens in the territory
Source:The Guardian
August 05, 2025 22:27 UTC
‘The forest had gone’: the storm that moved a mountain
In Locarno, Switzerland, on the northern shore of Lake Maggiore, lies the mouth of the Maggia river. Inside the marquee, Rotanzi jumped on to a table to address the crowd. Barely five metres from the end of the marquee, where the forest had stood, there was a void. Inside the marquee, Foresti sensed that something strange was happening. “At the end of the marquee, the forest had gone,” said Foresti.
Source:The Guardian
August 05, 2025 07:19 UTC
Israeli forces kill at least 27 in Gaza as Ben-Gvir makes provocative al-Aqsa visit – video report
Palestinian officials have reported that at least 27 people were killed by Israeli forces as they tried to get food from distribution centres in Gaza on Sunday. At least 1,400 people have been killed while seeking aid since 27 May, the UN said. The killings occurred as the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, led prayers at al-Aqsa mosque, Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site
Source:The Guardian
August 05, 2025 00:53 UTC
Swiss president under fire after Trump call leads to US tariffs shock
The cabinet said after an emergency meeting it would improve its offer to Trump. Swiss officials rejected reports that the 39% rate was imposed because of the call between Trump and Keller-Sutter, the finance minister and current president under the country’s rotating system. Trump made it clear from the very beginning that he had a completely different point of view, that 10% tariffs were not enough,” the source told Reuters. “Faced with Trump, Keller-Sutter was surely too naive,” was the headline in the tabloid Blick, while 24 Heures said what should have been her “masterpiece” ended up as “the heaviest defeat of her political career”. The business minister said Trump was focused on the US trade deficit with Switzerland, which was Sfr38.5bn (£35.8bn) last year.
Source:The Guardian
August 04, 2025 14:36 UTC
Switzerland's Gold Refining Industry: Key to the Country's Trade Balances and Trump's Tariff Talks.
Switzerland is in crisis mode as it tries to avoid a 39% tariff imposed by the US. The government held emergency talks to draft a plan, and Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter is willing to travel to Washington if a solution is in sight. The US cited a trade deficit of 38 billion dollars as the reason for the tariff, which Switzerland disputes as "absurd." Switzerland is in crisis mode as it grapples with a 39% tariff imposed by the United States. The government has convened emergency talks to draft a response, with Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter ready to travel to Washington if a solution emerges.
Source:The Guardian
August 04, 2025 12:22 UTC
Friendship at 13,000 feet: how climbing in the Swiss Alps is bringing refugees together
Photograph: Simon StraetkerEsfandiary arrived in Switzerland four years ago, initially crossing the mountains from Iran into Turkey on foot. Soon after reaching Switzerland, Esfandiary joined Peaks4All, a Geneva-based non-profit that supports refugee integration through mountaineering. Photograph: Simon StraetkerLysenko arrived in Geneva in the summer of 2022, just months after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. View image in fullscreen Peaks4All founder Clémence Delloye leads two participants over a tricky section. Photograph: Simon StraetkerIn Europe, including in Switzerland, many refugees say they face challenges integrating, especially as politics in many countries have shifted further to the right.
Source:The Guardian
August 03, 2025 22:35 UTC