World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

‘A complete shock’: the rightwing contrarian leading the California recall race
Police say Melbourne anti-lockdown protest ‘most violent in nearly 20 years’
Banking chiefs head for the hills in bid to leave cheap money behind
Hurricane Henri: Long Island and southern New England brace for impact
Israeli aircraft strike Hamas sites in Gaza as hostilities escalate
Greece plans to name heatwaves in the same way as storms
Trump stages Alabama rally as state struggles with Covid surge
At least eight dead and dozens missing in Tennessee floods
‘Racist and flat out wrong’: Texas Republican blames Black Americans for Covid surge
Attack of the giant rodents or class war? Argentina’s rich riled by new neighbors
New Zealand reports 21 new Covid cases as Delta outbreak grows
Coronavirus live news: UK public to be offered antibody tests for first time
Rev Jesse Jackson in hospital with Covid-19
The Wuhan lab leak theory is more about politics than science
Constant craving: how digital media turned us all into dopamine addicts
I act like a petulant child when I’m with my busy, uninterested mum
After 200 years, the Spanish Inquisition still exacts its toll | Torsten Bell
‘From dark art to dark science’: the evolution of digital gerrymandering
The Turning Point review – how Charles Dickens built Bleak House
Our Own Worst Enemy review: a caustic diagnosis of America after Trump
Bid to save River Tyne swing bridge that just won’t swing
Excommunicated Spanish ‘witch’ village turns curse into tourist cash
Ghani’s hasty departure leaves anger and bitterness in its wake
From solar power in Africa to UK tomatoes – the eco-schemes to turn your cash green
Hurricanes, floods, freezes: the Louisiana city battling Covid amid chaos
Cuba’s health system buckles under strain of overwhelming Covid surge
‘A disgrace’: Australian government rejects visas for more than 100 former embassy staff in Afghanistan
Taliban offer restraint ... but all the signs suggest that it’s only for show
‘Don’t go down without a fight’: Texas Democrats’ effort to block voting restrictions sputters
Greek minister defends wall on border with Turkey during Afghan crisis – video
The revolt against liberalism: what’s driving Poland and Hungary’s nativist turn? – podcast

‘A complete shock’: the rightwing contrarian leading the California recall race

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 10:00 PM PDT

Larry Elder doesn't believe in gun control or the gender pay gap. He has risen to the top of the Republican field in the recall election for governor

Larry Elder is a confounding frontrunner in the Republican race to replace Gavin Newsom as California governor.

Police say Melbourne anti-lockdown protest ‘most violent in nearly 20 years’

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 08:02 PM PDT

Saturday's rally was the first time police used non-lethal weapons during a lockdown protest, with at least nine officers ending up in hospital

An anti-lockdown protest held in Melbourne on Saturday was one of the most violent the city has seen in 20 years, Victoria's top police officer says.

Chief commissioner Shane Patton said his officers had no choice but to use non-lethal weapons to defend themselves from an angry mob that came armed and appeared intent on attacking them.

Banking chiefs head for the hills in bid to leave cheap money behind

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 04:05 PM PDT

At the Jackson Hole bankers' summit this week, the talk will be of ending quantitative easing – and this time it will be serious

It is credited with preventing the worst global recession since at least the second world war from turning into something far worse. But after the injection of trillions of dollars into financial markets to cushion the blow from Covid-19, the era of quantitative easing could be coming to an end.

This week, attention will turn to the gathering of central bank chiefs in Jackson Hole for clues about how the US Federal Reserve plans to bring its vast QE bond-buying programme to an eventual halt after more than a year of emergency stimulus.

Hurricane Henri: Long Island and southern New England brace for impact

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 02:25 PM PDT

Forecasters predict landfall in New York or Connecticut
New England has not been hit by hurricane since 1991

Hurricane Henri remained on course early Sunday to crash into a long stretch of the north-east coastline of the US, as millions on New York's Long Island and in southern New England braced for flooding, toppled trees and extended power outages.

Israeli aircraft strike Hamas sites in Gaza as hostilities escalate

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 03:26 PM PDT

Cross-border gunfire earlier on Saturday seriously injured an Israeli soldier and wounded 41 Palestinians

Israeli aircraft struck Hamas sites in Gaza late on Saturday, the military said, in an escalation of hostilities after earlier cross-border gunfire seriously injured an Israeli soldier and wounded 41 Palestinians, including two critically.

The injuries came during a Gaza protest organised by the enclave's Islamist rulers, Hamas, and other factions in support of Jerusalem, where Palestinian clashes with Israeli police helped spark an 11-day Israel-Hamas conflict in May.

Greece plans to name heatwaves in the same way as storms

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 10:00 AM PDT

Personalising the 'silent killer' hot spells could raise awareness in time to avert loss of life and property, say scientists

Spurred on by this summer's record temperatures, Greek scientists have begun discussing the need to name and rank heatwaves, better known for their invisibility, before rampant wildfires made the realities of the climate crisis increasingly stark.

A preventative measure, the move would enable policymakers and affected populations to be more prepared for what are being described by experts as "silent killers."

Trump stages Alabama rally as state struggles with Covid surge

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 07:41 AM PDT

Ex-president backs Mo Brooks, who is running for Senate and sympathised with man who threatened to blow up US Capitol

Donald Trump was due to stage a rally in Alabama on Saturday night, in a city that has declared a Covid emergency and in support of a congressman who both backed Trump's attempt to overturn the election and this week sympathised with a man who threatened to blow up the US Capitol.

At least eight dead and dozens missing in Tennessee floods

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 10:43 PM PDT

Homes and roads washed away in middle Tennessee
Parts of state receive quarter of annual rainfall in a morning

Catastrophic flooding in middle Tennessee left at least 10 people dead and dozens missing as rains washed away homes and rural roads on Saturday.

Business owner Kansas Klein watched in horror from a bridge Saturday morning as cars and entire houses were swept down a road in Waverly, a town of about 4,500 people that Klein, 48, has called home for more than half his life.

‘Racist and flat out wrong’: Texas Republican blames Black Americans for Covid surge

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 06:48 AM PDT

Dan Patrick refuses to apologise for false claim while Texas experiences highest hospitalisation rates since January

Breakthroughs and booster shots: what you need to know

Dan Patrick, the Republican lieutenant governor of Texas, has refused to apologise for blaming rising Covid-19 hospitalisations and deaths on unvaccinated African Americans, comments one Black Houston official called "racist and flat out wrong".

Attack of the giant rodents or class war? Argentina’s rich riled by new neighbors

Posted: 22 Aug 2021 02:00 AM PDT

Hordes of capybaras have taken up residence at a gated community, sparking a debate on the environment and inequality

Nordelta is Argentina's most well-known gated community: an enclave of spacious homes for the rich amid a dreamy landscape of lakes and streams north of Buenos Aires.1

But environmentalists question its very existence because it is built on the wetlands of the Paraná, the second most important river in South America after the Amazon.

New Zealand reports 21 new Covid cases as Delta outbreak grows

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 09:27 PM PDT

The country, which was due to emerge from lockdown on Tuesday, now has 72 active cases

See all our coronavirus coverage

New Zealand recorded 21 new cases of Covid-19 on Sunday as the outbreak of the Delta variant continued to grow, bringing associated infections to 72, health officials said.

Of the 21 new cases, 20 were in Auckland, the largest city, and one in the capital, Wellington. Five people were in hospital but no one was in intensive care.

Coronavirus live news: UK public to be offered antibody tests for first time

Posted: 22 Aug 2021 02:02 AM PDT

Some people who test positive will be sent antibody tests in scheme to measure body's response to different variants

10.00am BST

Japan's top coronavirus adviser has asked the government to call on doctors who have not been treating Covid patients to help tackle the wave of rapidly rising infections.

"We hope they will be involved as much as possible. We want the state and local governments to make strong requests," Shigeru Omi said in televised comments, the Japan Times reports.

9.51am BST

Along with many other industries, ice-cream sellers made huge losses in 2020. From social media to eating competitions, Ellie Violet Bramley takes a look at some of the creative ideas UK ice-cream parlours and vans have been coming up with to helping to raise their fortunes:

Rev Jesse Jackson in hospital with Covid-19

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 06:06 PM PDT

Civil rights leader, who is vaccinated, being monitored along with his wife by doctors in Chicago

The Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader and two-time presidential candidate, and his wife have been hospitalised after testing positive for Covid-19, according to a statement.

He and his wife, 77, were being treated at Northwestern memorial hospital in Chicago, said his nonprofit Rainbow/Push Coalition. Jesse Jackson, 79, is vaccinated against the virus and received his first dose in January during a publicised event as he urged others to do so as soon as possible.

The Wuhan lab leak theory is more about politics than science

Posted: 22 Aug 2021 01:30 AM PDT

Whatever this week's Biden review finds, the cause of the pandemic lies in the destruction of animal habitats

If Joe Biden's security staff are up to the mark, a new report on the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic will be placed on the president's desk this week. His team was given 90 days in May to review the virus's origins after several US scientists indicated they were no longer certain about the source of Sars-CoV-2.

It will be intriguing to learn how Biden's team answers the critically important questions that still surround the origins of Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Did it emerge because of natural viral spillovers from bats to another animal and then into humans? Or did it leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology? And, if so, had it been enhanced to make it especially virulent?

Constant craving: how digital media turned us all into dopamine addicts

Posted: 22 Aug 2021 01:00 AM PDT

According to addiction expert Dr Anna Lembke, our smartphones are making us dopamine junkies, with each swipe, like and tweet feeding our habit. So how do we beat our digital dependency?

Dr Anna Lembke, a world-leading expert on addiction, is concerned about my "phone problem". During our interview I confess, in passing, to having an unhealthy attachment to my iPhone, checking it every few minutes like a compulsive tic (sound familiar?) Lembke is having none of it. She wants me to abstain from using it for at least 24 hours by locking it in a drawer and going out. The first 12 hours will be filled with anxiety and Fomo, but as time unfolds, I'll experience a sense of "real freedom", will gain insight into my relationship with my digital companion and will "resolve to get back to using it a little differently", she says, speaking with a soothing yet firm tone.

I'd do well to heed her advice. As the chief of Stanford University's dual diagnosis addiction clinic (which caters to people with more than one disorder), Lembke has spent the past 25-plus years treating patients addicted to everything from heroin, gambling and sex to video games, Botox and ice baths. The bespectacled 53-year-old psychiatrist has written an influential book about the prescription-drug epidemic, delivered Ted Talks on America's opioid crisis and appeared as a talking head in the 2020 Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma to discuss the drug that is social media. She's a whiz on why we get hooked on things – and how we can enjoy pleasurable things in healthier doses.

I act like a petulant child when I’m with my busy, uninterested mum

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 10:00 PM PDT

It's all too easy to return to the roles we used to inhabit, but try and see the situation from your mother's point of view

The question I am a 43-year-old woman. I have a happy marriage and amazing kids. During lockdown my 76-year-old mother, who is a widow, has coped well, launching herself into reading, gardening and clearing out stuff in the house, with never a word of self-pity.

Now that things have opened up and we can visit again, the distance requires that we stay over. My problem is that, on returning to my childhood home, I revert to being a teenager.

After 200 years, the Spanish Inquisition still exacts its toll | Torsten Bell

Posted: 22 Aug 2021 02:00 AM PDT

Regions worst hit by the religious persecution are substantially economically worse off than areas that escaped

History isn't just of historical interest – it matters for understanding economies today. That's the lesson of a growing body of research demonstrating the very long shadow cast by events.

A new paper on the Spanish Inquisition proves the point. The Inquisition lasted from the late 15th century to the early 19th century. Its aim was to root out heresy and its methods were the denunciation of suspects followed by torture and executions. The researchers examined how active the Inquisition was in local areas by considering the number of trials and reveal its lasting effect: areas with little or no Inquisition activity have around 8% (€1,450) higher average incomes than those that had lots of persecution.

‘From dark art to dark science’: the evolution of digital gerrymandering

Posted: 22 Aug 2021 01:00 AM PDT

It's easier than ever to carve US electoral districts to one party's benefit – but it's also easier to expose the practice

The first time Kim Brace drew electoral district maps for the state of Illinois, more than 40 years ago, things moved slowly.

He and his colleagues hung maps of the state on the walls in the office of the speaker of the state house of representatives. Someone would climb a ladder, moving different blocks of people into different districts while another took notes below. In the evenings, they would go to the largest bank in Springfield and use a mainframe computer to generate a daily report. Over the course of the four-month legislative session, Brace was able to draw about 10 possibilities for electoral maps.

The Turning Point review – how Charles Dickens built Bleak House

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 11:00 PM PDT

Robert Douglas-Fairhurst gives us a wonderful study of Dickens's life in 1851, a momentous year for the novelist and Britain as a whole

The problem with most biographies is that they tend to have only two pace settings. There is the plod of the episodic, one-thing-after-another accounting; parallel to that is the gallop that makes years vanish in pages. Momentum may build, and it may stall, depending on the life being investigated, but that dual speed is the halter that biographical writing struggles to break from.

Robert Douglas-Fairhurst isn't an innovator in restricting his scope to a specific time-frame – Alethea Hayter's 1965 book A Sultry Month set the standard – but he is surely the first to compass the life of Charles Dickens this way. The year 1851 was momentous both in the writer's personal circumstances and in the life of the nation and bouncing ideas between the two enables Douglas-Fairhurst to set his own narrative rhythm, at once irresistible and ominous. The Turning Point sees Dickens as a product of his age, "a living embodiment of its energy and ambition", and identifies the book he was preparing to write, Bleak House, not only as the "greatest fictional experiment of his career" but as a signpost to the future of the novel itself. Typical of this book's magpie eclecticism is that it notes "turning point" as a phrase gaining currency in mid-Victorian English.

Our Own Worst Enemy review: a caustic diagnosis of America after Trump

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 11:00 PM PDT

Tom Nichols quotes Abraham Lincoln – on how American democracy can only be brought down from within

Liberal democracy is under attack from within. Institutional trust erodes. Fewer than one in six Americans believe democracy is working well, nearly half think democracy isn't functioning properly, and 38% say democracy is simply doing meh. Atomization, bowling alone and nihilism have converged at the ballot box.

Bid to save River Tyne swing bridge that just won’t swing

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 10:15 PM PDT

Despite £1m spent on the 1876 landmark, last week's big relaunch in Newcastle was a failure

On 17 July 1876, the world's largest swinging bridge – a marvel of hydraulic engineering – opened for the first time, allowing access to the upper reaches of the River Tyne.

Since that day, the Newcastle Swing Bridge, designed by William Armstrong, one of the greatest names in British engineering, has opened on about 300,000 occasions for the passage of about half-a-million vessels.

Excommunicated Spanish ‘witch’ village turns curse into tourist cash

Posted: 22 Aug 2021 02:15 AM PDT

Embracing its strange past is a blessing for Trasmoz as thousands flock to its witchcraft attractions

Tucked into the foothills of northern Spain, the village of Trasmoz attracts thousands of tourists each year. For many, the allure is not its half-ruined castle nor stunning mountain backdrop but rather a curious quirk of history: Trasmoz is Spain's only excommunicated and cursed village.

"So far, being excommunicated and cursed hasn't been bad for us," said Lola Ruiz Diaz, one of the 47 or so people who live all year round in Trasmoz, some 50 miles north-west of Zaragoza. "It's turned out to be a point in our favour."

Ghani’s hasty departure leaves anger and bitterness in its wake

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 10:00 PM PDT

The chaos that followed the president's exit has created its own suffering – and may leave a much longer legacy of pain

By the middle of last week, Kabul's capitulation to the Taliban was perhaps inevitable – but the horror and chaos of the last few days were not.

As the militants swept across Afghanistan, seizing towns then major cities, their negotiators in Qatar offered a deal that would have ushered in a pause in fighting, with a two-week transition period to a new government, the Wall Street Journal reported.

From solar power in Africa to UK tomatoes – the eco-schemes to turn your cash green

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 04:00 AM PDT

Savings rates are low but some green investments can pay up to 8% interest a year

Environmentally conscious consumers fed up with low savings rates are being targeted by a variety of green investments paying up to 8% interest a year.

However, those thinking about signing up need to be prepared to accept some risk to their cash. This is a lot riskier than a bank or building society savings account.

Hurricanes, floods, freezes: the Louisiana city battling Covid amid chaos

Posted: 22 Aug 2021 02:00 AM PDT

Lake Charles has withstood four federally declared disasters in less than a year all while responding to the fourth wave of coronavirus

About a foot of drywall is cut out near the floor in parts of the regional health department building in the city of Lake Charles, south-west Louisiana. The roof is leaking in one room and blue painter's tape marks the walls that are still holding water. The agency attempts to conduct business as usual, despite missing pieces.

The same can be said for people in the community, who have withstood four federally declared disasters in less than a year. Hurricane Laura – which made landfall as a Category 4 storm in August 2020 – dealt the first blow. Six weeks later, Hurricane Delta hit. A freeze this February followed by torrential rain in May destroyed more homes.

Cuba’s health system buckles under strain of overwhelming Covid surge

Posted: 22 Aug 2021 02:15 AM PDT

A lack of medical supplies is crippling the Covid response, amid an economic crisis sparked by the pandemic and US sanctions

Julia, a community doctor in Havana, was drafted to the intensive care unit soon after Covid-19 first reached Cuba.

Last week, her cousin died from the virus. This week, she also tested positive amid a surge in cases which has pushed the island's vaunted health service to its limits and prompted rare public criticism from Cuban doctors.

‘A disgrace’: Australian government rejects visas for more than 100 former embassy staff in Afghanistan

Posted: 22 Aug 2021 01:05 AM PDT

One security guard says he worked at the embassy in Kabul for a decade but the government has 'turned its back' on him

More than 100 former Australian embassy staffers have been rejected for visas to Australia, despite many working there until the day it closed.

Speaking from Kabul on Sunday, one security guard rejected for a visa for at-risk Afghan employees said he received the email from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Saturday, four months after he applied.

Taliban offer restraint ... but all the signs suggest that it’s only for show

Posted: 22 Aug 2021 12:00 AM PDT

The regime's attempts to appear tolerant will not reassure those with a long memory

The first time the Taliban took Kabul, 25 years ago they tortured and killed former President Mohammad Najibullah, dragged his body behind a truck through the streets, then hung it from a lamp-post.

Last week, with Kabul surrounded and a second victory almost inevitable, the Taliban ordered their troops to hold back from entering the city, to ensure a peaceful transfer of power. When they did march in, it was to a soundtrack of their commanders offering an "amnesty" for anyone who had opposed them over the last two decades.

‘Don’t go down without a fight’: Texas Democrats’ effort to block voting restrictions sputters

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 03:26 AM PDT

Some Texas Democrats dismayed their colleagues returned to make a quorum, but others hope their protest has drawn attention to voting rights

A last-ditch effort to stall Texas Republicans from passing sweeping voting legislation effectively ended on Thursday evening after enough Democrats returned to the state capitol in Austin to allow lawmakers to proceed on legislation.

Greek minister defends wall on border with Turkey during Afghan crisis – video

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 09:42 AM PDT

After Greece finished building a 40km fence along its natural border with Turkey, the minister for citizen protection, Michalis Chrisochoidis, defended the move, saying the country could not wait for EU decisions.

Amid concerns that the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan could lead to increased refugee flows to Europe, the EU border agency, Frontex, is helping Greece to secure its land and sea borders as well as using new detecting technology

Greece extends border wall to deter Afghans trying to reach Europe

The revolt against liberalism: what’s driving Poland and Hungary’s nativist turn? – podcast

Posted: 21 Aug 2021 04:00 AM PDT

For the hardline conservatives ruling Poland and Hungary, the transition from communism to liberal democracy was a mirage. They fervently believe a more decisive break with the past is needed to achieve national liberation. By Nicholas Mulder

Aneka Info

Minggu, 22 Agustus 2021

World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

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