Selasa, 19 Oktober 2021

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

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


Trump files lawsuit to block release of Capitol attack records

Posted: 19 Oct 2021 01:38 AM PDT

Ex-president challenges Biden's decision to waive executive privilege that protects White House communications

Donald Trump has sought to block the release of documents related to the Capitol attack on 6 January to a House committee investigating the incident, challenging Joe Biden's initial decision to waive executive privilege.

In a federal lawsuit, the former president said the committee's request in August was "almost limitless in scope" and sought many records that were not connected to the siege.

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North Korea has fired ballistic missile into sea, says South

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 10:34 PM PDT

Launch, possibly from a submarine, comes as US, South Korean and Japanese spy chiefs meet for talks in Seoul

North Korea launched a ballistic missile – possibly from a submarine – into the Sea of Japan, South Korea's military has said, in the latest in a series of tests by Pyongyang over recent weeks.

One ballistic missile was launched about 10:17am local time from the vicinity of Sinpo, South Korea's joint chiefs of staff said, where North Korea keeps submarines as well as equipment for test firing submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

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Earth’s demise could rid galaxy of meaning, warns Brian Cox ahead of Cop26

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 10:01 PM PDT

Unique events that led to civilisation mean its demise could 'eliminate meaning in galaxy for ever'

Humans might be the only intelligent beings in our galaxy, so destroying our civilisation could be a galactic disaster, Prof Brian Cox has warned leaders in the run-up to Cop26.

Speaking at the launch of his new BBC Two series Universe, the physicist and presenter said that having spoken to the scientists around the world advising the show, he thought that humans and sentient life on Earth "might be a remarkable, naturally occurring phenomenon" and that was something that "world leaders might need to know".

Universe starts on BBC2 on 27 October

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DUP hits out at prosecution of army veteran who died from Covid

Posted: 19 Oct 2021 02:13 AM PDT

Dennis Hutchings was three days into trial for 1974 Troubles killing when he died from virus on Monday

Serious questions need to be raised about the prosecution of an 80-year-old army veteran over a fatal shooting during Northern Ireland's troubles, the Democratic Unionist party leader has said, following the death of the former soldier from Covid on Monday evening.

Dennis Hutchings, who had denied killing 27-year-old John Pat Cunningham in 1974, was three days into his trial in Belfast when he contracted the virus. He had kidney disease and was on dialysis.

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Joe Biden leads tributes to ‘dear friend’ and ‘patriot’ Colin Powell

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 10:54 AM PDT

Political leaders from Tony Blair to Dick Cheney praise the former soldier and diplomat in the wake of his death from Covid

Tributes poured in for former Republican secretary of state Colin Powell after the announcement of his death on Monday morning at the age of 84.

Leading praise from the US and around the world, Joe Biden hailed "a dear friend and patriot of unmatched honor and dignity" on behalf of himself and the first lady, Jill Biden.

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Chinese effort to gather ‘micro clues’ on Uyghurs laid bare in report

Posted: 19 Oct 2021 03:02 AM PDT

Authorities using predictive policing and human surveillance on Muslims in Xinjiang, thinktank says

Authorities in the Chinese region of Xinjiang are using predictive policing and human surveillance to gather "micro clues" about Uyghurs and empower neighbourhood informants to ensure compliance at every level of society, according to a report.

The research by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) thinktank detailed Xinjiang authorities' expansive use of grassroots committees, integrated with China's extensive surveillance technology, to police their Uyghur neighbours' movements – and emotions.

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PM urged to enact ‘David’s law’ against social media abuse after Amess’s death

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 11:59 AM PDT

Calls for crackdown on threats to public figures and an end to online anonymity

Boris Johnson is facing calls to enact "David's law" to crack down on social media abuse of public figures and end online anonymity in the wake of the killing of Sir David Amess.

Dozens of MPs paid tribute in the House of Commons on Monday to the veteran Conservative backbencher who was stabbed to death on Friday, shedding tears, sharing uproarious anecdotes and venting anger over his death.

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UK forms green investment partnership with Bill Gates – business live

Posted: 19 Oct 2021 03:12 AM PDT

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

The Global Investment Summit is under way at the Science Museum in London.

There's a live feed at the top of this blog.

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Heathrow passenger charges could rise by up to 56% by 2023

Posted: 19 Oct 2021 02:29 AM PDT

Airport allowed to increase cost added to tickets but CAA halts plan to nearly double it

Heathrow will be allowed to raise significantly its landing charges from next summer, the aviation regulator has announced, although it has ruled out the near-doubling of charges proposed by the airport.

Airlines reacted with dismay at the Civil Aviation Authority's proposals, which could allow the UK's biggest airport to increase charges by up to 56% by 2023 as it seeks to recoup losses from the pandemic.

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KLF assert justified and ancient copyright claim to block documentary

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 10:00 PM PDT

Duo's music publisher attempts to prevent release of unauthorised film Who Killed the KLF?

When the KLF released their first album, it used so many unauthorised samples of copyrighted music that ABBA threatened legal action, forcing the duo to withdraw the record from sale and dump unsold copies of 1987: What the Fuck is Going On? in the North Sea.

Three decades later the pair – AKA the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, or more plainly Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty – find themselves on the other side of an increasingly fraught copyright battle over who should be allowed to use their music.

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New Zealand reports record Covid cases as experts sound warning over health system

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 09:11 PM PDT

Health officials have been unable to link more than half of the cases, possibly indicating further undetected spread in the community

New Zealand has hit its highest daily case number since the pandemic began. 94 new Covid-19 infections announced on Tuesday, as experts warned that cases would probably keep rising, and sustained high numbers could quickly push the health system to capacity.

Prime minister Jacinda Ardern said the rise in Covid cases was "incredibly hard," and urged people to get vaccinated and to continue following the rules.

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Covid news live: Bulgaria, Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, Russia all experiencing Covid surges

Posted: 19 Oct 2021 03:02 AM PDT

Ukraine and Russia set new record death tolls, Poland and Czech Republic seeing highest caseloads since spring

The Czech Republic is embroiled in a political crisis with the ill-health of far-right president Miloš Zeman coinciding with a general election, and it is also seeing rising Covid numbers.

Robert Muller reports from Prague for Reuters that the Czech Republic detected 2,521 new cases of Covid yesterday, the highest daily tally since late April.

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Pandemic has spurred engagement in online extremism, say experts

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 10:00 PM PDT

Terror content just one of 'cocktail of harms' that are subject to growing online engagement, report finds

Eighteen months of global lockdowns have led to growing engagement in a toxic online cocktail of extremist material ranging from terrorist content to conspiracy theories and disinformation, experts warn.

Jacob Davey from the Institute of Strategic Dialogue (ISD) said studies had already shown "there has been a proliferation of harmful and troubling activity online" during the pandemic, with an impact that is impossible to predict.

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Valneva Covid vaccine could be as effective as Oxford jab, study suggests

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 08:30 AM PDT

Vaccine produced by French company uses inactivated Sars-CoV-2 virus and can be stored in fridge

A coronavirus jab based on traditional vaccine technology might be as effective as the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, data suggests, offering new hope for global vaccination efforts.

Vaccines currently approved for use in the UK deliver instructions for producing the coronavirus "spike" protein to cells in order, which triggers an immune response. However, the jab produced by the French pharmaceutical company Valneva involves delivering the whole – but inactivated – Sars-CoV-2 virus.

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Meditation, vodka and vinegar: can the morning routines of the rich and famous make me a better person?

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 10:00 PM PDT

I am not empowered or optimised by my current morning routine. I am a bleary-eyed doom-scroller. So I spent a month ditching my phone, exercising, journalling and embracing the dawn, to find out what really works

Are morning people better than night owls? I was delighted to discover that they are not. The "morning morality effect" – the notion that our capacity to resist lying and cheating dwindles through the day – applies only to larks, research shows; nighthawks behave better in the evenings.

Morning people do, however, have a reputation for getting stuff done. Early rising is associated with energy, optimisation and efficiency; it is a foundational principle of all manner of self-help and self-actualisation programmes. "If you look at many of the most productive people in the world, they'll have one thing in common: they were early risers," says one wide-eyed zealot in the trailer for the motivational guru Hal Elrod's film about his "miracle morning", as Oprah Winfrey, Mahatma Gandhi and Albert Einstein flash past. Elrod's Savers routine – silence, affirmations, visualisation, exercise, reading, scribing – is a classic of the genre, but he is only one of many urging us to seize the day super-early.

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How we met: ‘By the time I called, she was dating other people’

Posted: 19 Oct 2021 03:00 AM PDT

When Randy Sue first saw a picture of Courtney on a friend's wall, she jokingly called him her future husband. They finally met three years later, married and now live in Houston, Texas

Randy Sue was studying at college in Texas in the spring of 1966 when she went to visit a friend in Raymondville, near the Mexican border. "I spotted a picture of a handsome man on the wall and asked who it was. My friend told me it was her brother, Courtney, who was in Germany with the army," she says. Randy Sue joked to her friend's mother that she was going to be her daughter-in-law. "She hugged me and said she'd been praying for me," she laughs.

But when Courtney received a letter from his sister telling him she had met "his future wife", he was less than impressed. "I was 5,000 miles away and definitely didn't want my sister telling me what to do," he says. In 1968, he returned to Texas and found a job at a company that made office equipment. His sister continued her matchmaking attempts. "She kept telling each of us that the other one really wanted to meet up," says Randy Sue. "But I'd just seen it as a joke."

Want to share your story? Tell us a little about yourself, your partner and how you got together by filling in the form here.

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Colin Powell: the man who might have been America’s first Black president

Posted: 19 Oct 2021 02:00 AM PDT

The ex-general seriously considered running in 1995 but later felt himself increasingly out of step with the Republican party

Colin Powell wrote a speech in November 1995 announcing a run for US president. He wrote another speech announcing a decision not to run.

When he faced reporters in a hotel in Alexandria, Virginia, Powell delivered the second speech.

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Unfreezing the ice age: the truth about humanity’s deep past

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 10:00 PM PDT

Archaeological discoveries are shattering scholars' long-held beliefs about how the earliest humans organised their societies – and hint at possibilities for our own

In some ways, accounts of "human origins" play a similar role for us today as myth did for ancient Greeks or Polynesians. This is not to cast aspersions on the scientific rigour or value of these accounts. It is simply to observe that the two fulfil somewhat similar functions. If we think on a scale of, say, the last 3m years, there actually was a time when someone, after all, did have to light a fire, cook a meal or perform a marriage ceremony for the first time. We know these things happened. Still, we really don't know how. It is very difficult to resist the temptation to make up stories about what might have happened: stories which necessarily reflect our own fears, desires, obsessions and concerns. As a result, such distant times can become a vast canvas for the working out of our collective fantasies.

Let's take just one example. Back in the 1980s, there was a great deal of buzz about a "mitochondrial Eve", the putative common ancestor of our entire species. Granted, no one was claiming to have actually found the physical remains of such an ancestor, but DNA sequencing demonstrated that such an Eve must have existed, perhaps as recently as 120,000 years ago. And while no one imagined we'd ever find Eve herself, the discovery of a variety of other fossil skulls rescued from the Great Rift Valley in east Africa seemed to provide a suggestion as to what Eve might have looked like and where she might have lived. While scientists continued debating the ins and outs, popular magazines were soon carrying stories about a modern counterpart to the Garden of Eden, the original incubator of humanity, the savanna-womb that gave life to us all.

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The climate science behind flooding: why is it getting worse? – video explainer

Posted: 19 Oct 2021 01:29 AM PDT

The Guardian's environment editor, Damian Carrington, examines exactly how the climate crisis is fuelling devastating floods – and what we can do to help protect ourselves and our planet

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My favourite overlooked Black writer – by Bernardine Evaristo, Margaret Atwood and more

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 10:00 PM PDT

From the memoirs of a slave to the story of Britain's first Black headteacher, leading writers including Malorie Blackman and David Olusoga choose the Black authors who fired their imaginations

Think "classic literature" and plenty of white authors probably spring to mind: Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Hardy, Woolf, Fitzgerald. Harper Lee, who wrote about race, is a favourite of many – but Black authors themselves are vastly under-represented. Students might get the chance to study Toni Morrison or James Baldwin, but what about the rest of Black literature's vast history? Reports last year revealed that it was possible for pupils to complete their GCSEs and leave school without having studied a single novel or play by a non-white author. Only in 2019 did the UK's most prestigious award for fiction, the Booker prize, first go to a Black British author: Bernardine Evaristo (who shared it).

In June 2020, the Black Writers' Guild was formed, its aim being to create "a sustainable, profitable, fair and equal ecosystem for Black literary talent in British publishing". And for Black History Month this year, the British Library has produced a timeline of Black literature in Britain, to celebrate its rich history from the 1550 publication of A Geographical Historie of Africa by John Leo Africanus to such current innovative writers as debbie tucker green and Caleb Femi.

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Adults and children still in hospital after ‘harrowing’ gas explosion in Ayrshire

Posted: 19 Oct 2021 02:44 AM PDT

Residents injured as house destroyed and neighbours warned they may not be able to return home for 10 days

Two adults and two children remain in hospital after an explosion ripped through homes on a South Ayrshire council estate, destroying one terraced house and severely damaging others.

A local councillor confirmed that gas caused the blast in the Kincaidston area shortly after 7pm on Monday evening. The explosion was heard for miles around. Chris Cullen, a South Ayrshire councillor, said that if gas from the affected properties could be capped, other residents may not be able to return to their homes for up to 10 days.

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Editor of German tabloid Bild sacked after sexual misconduct claims

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 11:10 AM PDT

Julian Reichelt departs after reports that he promoted an employee he had an affair with

The editor of Germany's biggest tabloid has been relieved of his duties as its publisher faced allegations that it tried to cover up the full findings of an investigation into sexual misconduct and bullying within its own offices.

Media giant Axel Springer SE, the largest media publishing firm in Europe, recently expanded its global portfolio by acquiring the US political news website Politico for more than $1bn, inviting closer scrutiny of its workplace culture on the other side of the Atlantic.

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Diver uncovers ancient crusader sword from Israeli seabed – video

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 08:30 PM PDT

A sword believed to have belonged to a crusader who sailed to the Holy Land almost a millennium ago has been recovered from the Mediterranean seabed thanks to a sharp-eyed amateur diver. Though encrusted with marine organisms, the metre-long blade, hilt and handle became noticeable after undercurrents apparently shifted sands that had concealed it. The location, a natural cove near the port city of Haifa, suggested it had served as a shelter for seafarers, said Yaakov Sharvit, director of the authority's marine archaeology unit. The sword, believed to be about 900 years old, will be put on display after it is cleaned and restored

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‘I have accepted my fate’: the hidden abuse in Uganda’s LGBT community – in pictures

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 11:00 PM PDT

In a country where gay sex is against the law, it can be almost impossible for the LGBT community to access services tackling domestic violence – and during the pandemic, lockdowns saw abuse soar

All photos by DeLovie Kwagala

* Names have been changed. Since these interviews took place all the subjects have ceased living with their abusers and are finding ways to heal

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Price for drug that reverses opioid overdoses soars amid record deaths

Posted: 19 Oct 2021 02:00 AM PDT

Pfizer manufacturing problems leave nonprofits paying exorbitant prices for dwindling supplies of life-saving naloxone

As the United States faces an unprecedented surge in opioid overdoses, harm reduction groups are seeing shortages in naloxone, a usually affordable and easy-to-use medication that reverses overdoses and has been credited with saving many lives.

But it's not because of a lack of supply; there's actually plenty of naloxone out there. Instead, the dangerous shortage of naloxone is all about soaring prices.

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Colombia found responsible for 2000 kidnap and torture of journalist

Posted: 19 Oct 2021 03:00 AM PDT

Inter-American court of human rights rules Colombia was 'internationally responsible' for violation of Jineth Bedoya's rights

The Colombian state has been found responsible for the kidnap, torture and rape of a prominent journalist who was abducted while reporting on her country's civil war, in a landmark ruling from the inter-American court of human rights.

Jineth Bedoya, who has been pursuing justice for over 21 years and now campaigns against sexual violence, was recognised by the court on Monday as having suffered "grave verbal, physical and sexual aggressions" for which the state was responsible. Before now, only three of her attackers had faced justice, receiving sentences in Colombian courts in 2019.

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‘She would never leave the tent’: mother of Cleo Smith speaks of disappearance from WA campsite

Posted: 19 Oct 2021 01:59 AM PDT

Ellie Smith says she woke to find her four-year-old daughter and her sleeping bag missing from their campsite near Carnarvon

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The mother of Cleo Smith says she woke to find the tent open and her daughter missing, along with her sleeping bag, on the morning the four-year-old vanished from a popular Western Australian campsite.

Ellie Smith said she had barely slept since her daughter's disappearance and called for Cleo's safe return after the search entered its fourth day.

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Afghanistan to restart polio vaccination programme with Taliban support

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 10:01 PM PDT

The WHO and Unicef campaign will restart after three years, and the hardliners say they will assist and allow frontline female staff

Afghanistan will restart nationwide polio vaccinations after more than three years, as the new Taliban government agreed to assist the campaign and to allow women to participate as frontline workers, the UN said on Monday.

The World Health Organization and Unicef said the vaccination drive would begin on 8 November with Taliban support.

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Colin Powell’s UN speech: a decisive moment in undermining US credibility

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 10:42 AM PDT

Analysis: His security council presentation didn't directly lead to the Iraq invasion – but it was a turning point in US-UN relations

Colin Powell will be most remembered for the act he most regretted, his 2003 presentation to the UN security council laying out US evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, which turned out not to exist.

It did not directly lead to the Iraq invasion because George W Bush was going to invade anyway, and the presentation did not succeed in its goal of persuading the council to pass a second resolution backing military action against Iraq.

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Colin Powell, former US secretary of state, dies aged 84 – video obituary

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 12:44 PM PDT

Colin Powell, the first Black US secretary of state, has died at the age of 84 from Covid complications. Powell was a retired four-star general who served as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in the early 1990s, before joining the George W Bush administration as secretary of state. Before the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, Powell made the case to the United Nations security council that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had biological weapons and was developing nuclear weapons. He later said that this represented 'a blot' that will 'always be a part of my record'. Although he was a Republican, in 2008 he endorsed Barack Obama for president. In the years that followed, he felt increasingly detached from the party, ultimately leaving it in the wake of the 6 January insurrection on the Capitol

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Colin Powell discusses the most important element of leadership in 2011 speech – video

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 07:56 AM PDT

Colin Powell, the former US secretary of state who played a pivotal role in attempting to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq, has died from complications from Covid-19 aged 84, it was announced on Monday. He was fully vaccinated. 

After his time in government, Powell remained a hugely influential commentator on US politics and public life. During a 2011 speech, he spoke about what he considered the most important element of leadership

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Colin Powell – a life in pictures

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 06:45 AM PDT

Colin Powell, the former US secretary of state, has died from complications from Covid-19 aged 84, it was announced on Monday. Powell, a retired four-star general, was a key figure in the buildup to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and served as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in the early 1990s

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India: floodwaters sweep away house in Kerala – video

Posted: 18 Oct 2021 01:46 AM PDT

Social media footage shows floodwaters sweeping a house away in Kerala after heavy rains that began to intensify on Friday. At least 25 people have died in floods and landslides triggered by the rains in south-west India, officials said on Sunday, as rescuers searched for survivors and the military flew in emergency supplies

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