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Lese-Ansicht

The cursed cruise: how the dream of never-ending luxury at sea became a nightmare

The MV Odyssey was billed as the ultimate escape from Donald Trump. Instead, the oil shock caused by his war has left passengers unceremoniously dumped in Cambodia

The idea was a never-ending retirement at sea, a continuous voyage around the globe. The promise to the passengers of the MV Odyssey cruise ship – many approaching the autumn of their lives – was that on the open seas they could cut loose from the troubles of the world. But the world had other ideas.

The end came in an announcement as stark as it was brief: they had seven hours to get off. They were going no further than Cambodia.

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© Illustration: Anaïs Mims/Getty

© Illustration: Anaïs Mims/Getty

© Illustration: Anaïs Mims/Getty

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Cambodian police and soldiers helped guard abusive scam compounds, Amnesty alleges

Survivors tell rights group that serving officers who worked as guards administered electric shocks and beatings

Cambodian police and military officers worked as private security guards in scam compounds where thousands were forced to work in the online fraud industry, according to a report by Amnesty International.

The global rights group alleged they worked for security companies as part of a system that enabled slavery and rape in the compounds, with some guards using electric batons to keep people trapped.

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© Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

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Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi ‘sounds strong’ but is isolated, son says

Kim Aris tells the Guardian chance to speak with detained Nobel laureate was ‘public relations’ move from military leaders

Myanmar’s former democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi appears to be in good physical and mental health but is living in near-complete isolation, her son has said after the first call with his 81-year-old mother in more than five years.

“She still sounds certainly all there mentally, and physically she sounds strong,” Kim Aris said. “I don’t think she has anybody outside of the military or the police around her, so essentially she’s been held in solitary confinement from what I gather.”

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© Photograph: Tian Macleod Ji/AP

© Photograph: Tian Macleod Ji/AP

© Photograph: Tian Macleod Ji/AP

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Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi seen in rare photos after receiving gift from King Charles

Critics said images of detained former leader were a stunt by the military to end country’s diplomatic isolation

Myanmar has delivered presents from Britain’s ​King Charles to Aung San Suu Kyi, releasing rare photos of the imprisoned former leader in what critics said was a stunt by the country’s military to end diplomatic isolation.

A presidential spokesperson said on social media that home ministry officials handed over two gardening books on soil, “along with one sealed envelope and a sealed diplomatic pouch”, from King Charles, who is known to have an interest in planting and the environment.

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© Photograph: Myanmar President Spokesperson Office/AP

© Photograph: Myanmar President Spokesperson Office/AP

© Photograph: Myanmar President Spokesperson Office/AP

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Amelia Earhart researchers leave remote atoll empty-handed after ‘plane debris’ found to be a clump of trees

Expedition was drawn to Nikumaroro after spotting what was described as a metallic glint in waters off uninhabited island

A US expedition that voyaged to a remote Pacific island in the hope of solving the mystery of what happened to pioneering pilot Amelia Earhart has said an object they suspected to be her plane was a clump of washed-up trees.

“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find that smoking gun,” said Steve Schultz of Purdue University, standing on the sand in front of a blue lagoon on the atoll of Nikumaroro, about halfway between Australia and Hawaii.

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© Photograph: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

© Photograph: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

© Photograph: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

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World Bank says ‘small AI’ could transform developing countries

Bank’s chief knowledge officer says the tech could speed up economic development from centuries to decades

The World Bank is urging developing countries to kickstart the creation of “small AI” models, which can run on a mobile phone with low connectivity, to reap the full benefits of artificial intelligence.

While Silicon Valley big tech firms are focused on ever more sophisticated consumer products, Paschal Donohoe, the World Bank’s chief knowledge officer, said AI could also accelerate development for emerging economies – but only if it was adapted to local needs.

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© Photograph: ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy

© Photograph: ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy

© Photograph: ZUMA Press, Inc./Alamy

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‘Countries are defying gravity’: how much longer can global economy resist chaos?

Sky-high oil prices and geopolitical turmoil have made less of a dent than feared … just don’t bank on it to last

Inside the vast, glass-walled Queen Sirikit conference centre in Bangkok, the air-conditioned atmosphere was calm as policymakers from more than 100 countries gathered this week for the International Monetary Fund’s annual meeting – and contemplated the surprising strength of the global economy.

A small army of smiling, uniformed Thai staff were on hand to explain the baffling geography of the heavily guarded building, where lunch options were as cosmopolitan as the delegates – including, improbably, a Burger King.

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© Photograph: Matt Hunt/Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Matt Hunt/Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Matt Hunt/Anadolu/Getty Images

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Healey backs pro-growth case for Heathrow third runway after Burnham ducks issue

Chancellor says government will study responses to public consultation, with airports being ‘big part of jobs and growth’

John Healey has said there is a pro-growth case for going ahead with a third runway at Heathrow despite the prime minister declining to back it.

Healey’s predecessor as chancellor, Rachel Reeves, put approval of the long-planned runway at the heart of her “growth speech” last year, saying it would “make Britain the world’s best-connected place to do business”.

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© Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

© Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

© Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

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Bank of England and IMF bosses warn of cyber threat to trust in financial system

Kristalina Georgieva says online fraud could lead people to opt out of system and turn to ‘shoeboxes under their bed’

The heads of the Bank of England and the International Monetary Fund have issued a stark warning that rising cyber-attacks risk undermining trust in the financial system.

Speaking on a panel about online fraud at the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok, the governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, pointed to alarming headlines about self-replicating AI agents hijacking personal devices, and the French supermarket hack that heated fridges up to 50C.

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© Photograph: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA

© Photograph: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA

© Photograph: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA

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Global financial system is failing developing countries, says Ed Miliband

UK foreign secretary will call for World Bank and others to help governments trapped by hefty borrowing costs

The foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, will claim the global financial system is failing developing countries, as he calls for a “new deal” for governments struggling under the burden of debt.

Promising to throw the UK’s diplomatic weight behind urgent reform, he will evoke the example of the Gleneagles summit under the last Labour government in 2005 – the culmination of the Make Poverty History campaign.

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© Photograph: Radek Pietruszka/EPA

© Photograph: Radek Pietruszka/EPA

© Photograph: Radek Pietruszka/EPA

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An eerie trip inside Thailand’s oldest amusement park, deserted after flooding

Siam Amazing Park was forced to close after rising water damaged rides and left parts of the park inaccessible

With its mouth agape, the giant lion’s head is frozen in a roar. No water rushes down the log flume that descends from its heights, while at ground level, the vast amusement park stands empty of noise and activity except for leaves blowing in a light breeze.

Welcome to Siam Amazing Park, billed as the longest-running amusement park in south-east Asia, and certainly in Thailand. Up to a million people rush in every year for thrills on rides like the Boomerang, an orange rollercoaster that loop-the-loops at 80km/h (50mph), or to splash around under the tropical sun in one of the world’s largest wave pools.

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© Photograph: Chanakarn Laosarakham/The Guardian

© Photograph: Chanakarn Laosarakham/The Guardian

© Photograph: Chanakarn Laosarakham/The Guardian

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Threat of AI share crash puts world financial stability at risk, says IMF

High valuations and debt put sector in danger, while fund also warns on government borrowing and cyber-attacks

The threat of an AI share price crash rippling out across global markets is putting world financial stability at risk, the International Monetary fund has warned.

In its twice-yearly Global Financial Stability Report, the IMF highlighted the sky-high valuations for AI companies along with their increasing debt pile as one reason that risks in the system are “elevated”.

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© Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters

© Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters

© Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters

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IMF warns global economy ‘could soon test the limits of resilience’

World Economic Outlook says states’ oil stocks are low and budgets are overstretched, as it upgrades UK GDP growth forecast for 2026

The global economy “could soon test the limits of resilience”, as emergency oil stocks run low and government budgets become overstretched, the International Monetary Fund has warned.

In its twice-yearly World Economic Outlook, the IMF said global growth had withstood the Middle East conflict better than feared over the past six months.

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© Photograph: Tannen Maury/EPA-EFE

© Photograph: Tannen Maury/EPA-EFE

© Photograph: Tannen Maury/EPA-EFE

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Indonesia looks to mosque loudspeakers to double as earthquake warning systems

A five-year trial is assessing whether the loudspeakers used to broadcast the call to prayer can help to warn hard-to-reach territories

Scientists working on an early warning system in earthquake-prone Indonesia have taken the spiritual path to designing a network of alarms that will reach even the remotest communities: they hope to use mosques to save lives.

A five-year trial is assessing whether the ubiquitous loudspeakers used to broadcast the call to prayer can double up as warning klaxons for earthquakes.

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© Photograph: Mohd Rasfan/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Mohd Rasfan/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Mohd Rasfan/AFP/Getty Images

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Indonesia accused of ‘gross negligence’ in wildfires lawsuit as haze tests region

NGOs in Indonesian Borneo file class action lawsuit calling for government to better manage annual fires and

The Indonesian government has been accused of “gross negligence” in a class action lawsuit over its handling of wildfires that have cloaked large parts of South-east Asia in a toxic haze, shuttered schools and caused a spike in respiratory illnesses.

The lawsuit, filed by indigenous and civil society groups in the Indonesian part of Borneo, named President Prabowo Subianto and the governor of West Kalimantan among 10 defendants. The case seeks comprehensive recovery and rehabilitation measures that would include covering the healthcare costs of residents.

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© Photograph: DITO/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: DITO/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: DITO/AFP/Getty Images

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Satellite images show attack jets at Chinese military facility in Laos

New ‘support and training centre’ prompts concern in region but China says it is ‘not directed at any third party’

Satellite images show attack jets stationed at a new Chinese military facility in Laos, which opened last week and gives Beijing’s air force its first foothold in mainland south-east Asia.

Images provided by the commercial satellite provider Vantor show eight light attack aircraft positioned at Ban Keun airport alongside what appear to be more than a dozen military vehicles lined up in rows.

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© Photograph: Vantor/Reuters

© Photograph: Vantor/Reuters

© Photograph: Vantor/Reuters

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Balletic hits and bicycle kicks: Teqball comes of age at the Asian Games

Invented a little over a decade ago in Hungary, teqball is a combination of football and ping pong

In Bangkok’s Sports Science Centre, Jutatip Kuntatong is airborne, executing a gravity-defying bicycle kick that slams the ball on to the curved table with a force that echoes throughout the gym.

She is preparing to represent Thailand at the Asian Games, which start on Saturday, but six years ago she had never even heard of teqball, the sport of which she is now the world champion.

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© Photograph: Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

© Photograph: Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

© Photograph: Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images

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