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

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


Russia and key allies vow to stand by Maduro in Venezuela crisis

Posted: 24 Jan 2019 12:42 AM PST

Attempts to force Venezuela's president from power are illegal, says Russian senator

Venezuela's opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, has declared himself interim president and has won the backing of the US, the EU and most of the regional bloc called the Lima Group – but a number of key allies remained steadfast in support of president Nicolás Maduro.

Russia, a major Venezuelan ally, considers attempts to force Maduro from power to be illegal, Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, was quoted as saying on Thursday by the Interfax news agency.

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Adelaide breaks its all-time heat record, hitting 46.6C, in extreme Australia heatwave

Posted: 24 Jan 2019 01:51 AM PST

Seventeen records broken in South Australia amid animal culls and mass fish deaths in other parts of the country

Temperature records have tumbled across South Australia, with the city of Adelaide experiencing its hottest day on record, as the second heatwave in as many weeks hit southern parts of Australia.

Adelaide hit 46.6C on Thursday afternoon, the hottest temperature recording in any Australian state capital city since records began 80 years ago.

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Trump says he won't deliver State of the Union address until shutdown is over

Posted: 23 Jan 2019 10:05 PM PST

No venue can compete with 'history and tradition', says president, after Nancy Pelosi blocks him from making speech in House chamber

Donald Trump has said he will wait until the government shutdown is over before giving his State of the Union address because nowhere could compete with the "history and tradition" of the House chamber.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi told the president earlier on Wednesday that she would block him from delivering the speech in the House chamber until the government has reopened.

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Diana Athill, writer and editor, dies aged 101

Posted: 24 Jan 2019 12:36 AM PST

Centenarian writer and editor won acclaim for 'nannying' authors such as Margaret Atwood and VS Naipaul, and for the sharp insights of her own books

Writer and editor Diana Athill, whose clear eye on life and literature inspired authors and readers alike, has died after a short illness aged 101. The news was confirmed by the publisher Granta.

Athill combined a glittering career in publishing, where she worked with writers including Philip Roth, Margaret Atwood, Jean Rhys and VS Naipaul, with award-winning success as an author herself, turning her flinty gaze on love, work and approaching death in memoirs including Instead of a Letter, Stet and the Costa biography prize-winning Somewhere Towards the End.

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Airbus brands UK government handling of Brexit 'a disgrace'

Posted: 24 Jan 2019 01:49 AM PST

CEO pleads for people not to ignore Brexiters' 'madness' and warns no deal would prompt 'very harmful decisions'

Airbus has branded the UK government's handling of Brexit a "disgrace" and warned the aerospace firm could pull out of the UK if the country crashes out of the EU without a deal.

In a video message released on Thursday, Tom Enders, the chief executive, warned that if there was a no-deal Brexit, Airbus would have to make "potentially very harmful decisions for the UK".

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Scotland's former first minister Alex Salmond arrested and charged

Posted: 24 Jan 2019 02:19 AM PST

Salmond has been under investigation over sexual harassment allegations

Alex Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland, has been arrested and charged by police.

It is understood Salmond was arrested and charged on Wednesday night. It is not yet clear what charges he faces or when he will appear in court.

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Coalition of major companies trial reusable packaging for online orders

Posted: 24 Jan 2019 02:00 AM PST

Under Loop scheme, durable containers will be delivered instead of single-use packaging

Several of the world's biggest consumer goods companies are is to trial a new scheme of refillable and returnable containers for some of its leading brands in place of their current plastic packaging, which could significantly reduce waste.

Under the Loop scheme, customers can make online orders for goods, such as shampoo, washing powder and mouthwash, that normally come in single-use plastic packaging. They will be delivered instead in durable, refillable containers that can be collected from the doorstep and cleaned for reuse.

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Anti-vaxxers targeting parents of new babies on social media – report

Posted: 24 Jan 2019 01:21 AM PST

Charity says half of parents of small children have seen negative or misleading claims

Half of all parents with small children have been exposed to misinformation about vaccines on social media, according to a new report that finds the most common reason not to vaccinate is the fear of side-effects.

Related: Is the anti-vaccine movement putting lives at risk? Podcast

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European court to rule on Amanda Knox's remaining conviction

Posted: 23 Jan 2019 09:00 PM PST

American appealing conviction for malicious accusation over Meredith Kercher's death

European judges will on Thursday decide whether Amanda Knox's last remaining conviction over the 2007 death of her British flatmate Meredith Kercher in the Italian city of Perugia should be overturned.

The European court of human rights will give its ruling over Knox's conviction for malicious accusation. The 31-year-old American is appealing on the grounds that she was denied an interpreter, assaulted by Italian police and subjected to psychological pressure while under arrest.

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America's most expensive home sells for $238m to hedge fund boss

Posted: 24 Jan 2019 12:01 AM PST

Penthouse is 34 times size of average Manhattan apartment: 'Hope he got a lot of bathrooms,' says homelessness advocate

The hedge fund founder Ken Griffin's new home offers a prestigious address on New York's Billionaire's Row, dreamy Central Park views and 34 times the square footage of a typical Manhattan apartment.

But the new penthouse's biggest wow factor is its price tag of roughly $238m, which has shattered all previous records to make it the most expensive home ever purchased in the US, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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Novichok attack board game 'Our Guys in Salisbury' on sale in Russia

Posted: 24 Jan 2019 01:54 AM PST

Makers of game that features figures in hazmat suits say it is reaction to western coverage

A Russian toymaker has released a board game called Our Guys in Salisbury, featuring the same cities in Europe visited by the GRU agents accused of carrying out last year's nerve agent attack.

Salisbury, the finish line in the game, is decorated with images of the city's cathedral and two figures in hazmat suits. They are taken from photographs of the police response to the poisoning of the former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia last March.

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'Please help me': refugee footballer Hakeem al-Araibi tells of his Thai jail ordeal

Posted: 23 Jan 2019 05:36 PM PST

Exclusive: In an interview with the Guardian he pleads for his release and says he fears torture and jail if extradited to Bahrain

Hakeem al-Araibi, the refugee footballer from Bahrain who was detained in Thailand while on his honeymoon, has said he is "losing hope" and believes he will be tortured again or even killed if he is deported to Bahrain.

Speaking to the Guardian from Bangkok Remand Prison, a visibly distressed Al-Araibi said he was "terrified " and that his fear was "getting worse every day". Al-Araibi was given asylum in Australia in 2017 after fleeing his home country where he was persecuted for his beliefs, tortured in prison and convicted on a trumped-up vandalism charge.

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Renault to name new bosses as Carlos Ghosn quits

Posted: 24 Jan 2019 02:15 AM PST

French carmaker's board meets to appoint new chair and a CEO to end Renault-Nissan leadership crisis

Renault's board was meeting on Thursday to appoint new leadership, after the chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn resigned.

The French government, Renault's biggest shareholder, confirmed the board was being asked to name outgoing Michelin boss Jean-Dominique Senard as chairman and Ghosn's deputy Thierry Bollore as chief executive.

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The Guardian view on Zimbabwe’s crackdown: Mugabe went, but the regime lives on | Editorial

Posted: 23 Jan 2019 10:30 AM PST

The ruthless crushing of protests shows how little has changed since Emmerson Mnangagwa took over

People do not always want to be proved right. Many Zimbabweans watching the brutal crackdown on protests this weekend were the same people who had celebrated Robert Mugabe's ousting in 2017. But they had tempered their optimism by warning that only very limited and superficial improvements were likely. They predicted that the successful coup would further embolden the military, and that putting in charge the feared security chief Emmerson Mnangagwa was a recipe for further repression. Irregularities at last year's election, and the violence used to suppress ensuing protests, made their case for them. Now reports of torture, indiscriminate beatings, live fire and arbitrary arrests have rammed it home. At least 12 people have been shot dead and hundreds have been arrested.

Even some sceptics had hoped the new president would at least alleviate economic woes. Instead, conditions have worsened. In December, inflation hit a 10-year high, officially reaching 42% (though one estimate put it at around 235%). The government then more than doubled fuel prices, triggering calls for a strike. Unions organising the protest urged participants to "stay away" from demonstrating for fear of state violence. But thousands took to the streets, looting and rioting broke out, and the state struck back viciously. Mr Mnangagwa was forced to return home just as he was supposed to be telling global leaders at Davos that Zimbabwe was open for business. The bloody repression, and internet shutdown, are unlikely to entice foreign investors.

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Trump says 'All options on table' as Venezuela crisis deepens

Posted: 24 Jan 2019 12:48 AM PST

  • Juan Guaidó stakes claim as 14 killed in two nights of protests
  • Defiant Maduro urges supporters to 'resist at all costs'

Venezuela's opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, has secured significant international support after declaring himself interim president in a bid to force out Nicolás Maduro as two nights of unrest gripped the country, leading to the deaths of 14 people.

Guaidó was quickly recognised by the US, Canada, Brazil, Colombia and other US allies in the Americas, while the European Union said the voice of the people "cannot be ignored".

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Venezuela crisis: what happens now after two men have claimed to be president?

Posted: 24 Jan 2019 12:22 AM PST

The US and other states rushed to recognise Juan Guaidó but the path to dislodging the country's leftwing leader is unclear

Venezuela's political crisis was turned on its head on Wednesday as a succession of world powers declared they were recognizing the opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the South American country's rightful interim president.

"The citizens of Venezuela have suffered for too long at the hands of the illegitimate Maduro regime," Donald Trump tweeted as he announced what some believe could prove a game-changing decision.

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Tiger poachers arrested by Thai police were part of Vietnamese gang

Posted: 23 Jan 2019 10:01 PM PST

Police investigating discovery of animal's remains warn of organised crime threat to Thailand's tiger population

Thai authorities investigating the discovery of the remains of a wild tiger in a taxi have warned that organised crime gangs are behind the capture and slaughter of Thailand's endangered tiger population.

Police, acting on a tip-off from a cab driver, arrested two men suspected of being members of a Vietnam-based syndicate involved in the trafficking of animal parts. The tiger was found in their luggage along with mobile phones containing photographs of the animal being killed.

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Omar al-Bashir launches media crackdown as Sudan protests continue

Posted: 23 Jan 2019 05:15 AM PST

Five journalists held at undisclosed locations and dozens more arrested and released, with media blackout expected to worsen

The government of Omar al-Bashir in Sudan has launched an "alarming" crackdown on journalists covering weeks of protests against the regime.

At least five reporters have been detained by the national intelligence security services and are being held at undisclosed locations. Dozens of others have been arrested and held before being released.

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How conservative media transformed the Covington Catholic students from pariahs to heroes

Posted: 23 Jan 2019 07:53 AM PST

Conservatives have realized they can construct a parallel reality and have it accepted

In just four days, teenager Nick Sandmann and his fellow students at Covington Catholic high school have gone from social media pariahs to conservative heroes.

On Tuesday night, Fox News hosts continued to feast on the controversy, which was sparked by a standoff between Covington Catholic high school students and a Native American veteran called Nathan Phillips. Footage show students wearing pro-Trump Maga hats taunting the Omaha tribe elder. The relentlessly repeated talking point — that there was a collective "rush to judgment" on the boys because they were Trump supporters – was used by conservative anchors Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham to attack mainstream media and left leaning social media users.

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Controversy over students mocking Native American strikes national chord

Posted: 23 Jan 2019 05:19 AM PST

Debate around the incident reverberated culturally and politically amplified by an aggressive entry into the argument by Trump

The spectacle of a crowd of white teens in pro-Trump caps mocking a Native American activist on the National Mall just days before Martin Luther King Jr day was perhaps not needed to demonstrate that America's social fabric is stretched thin.

The explosion of a media controversy around the incident was probably not necessary to drive participants in the ensuing debate into their usual partisan crouches.

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Venezuela protests as two leaders vie to be president – in pictures

Posted: 23 Jan 2019 05:33 PM PST

Venezuela has been thrown into turmoil after opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared himself the interim president, challenging president Nicolás Maduro. Guaidó has been recognised by the US, Canada, Brazil, Colombia and other US allies in the Americas, with Donald Trump warning that 'all options are on the table' if Maduro responded with force against the opposition

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Venezuelans take to streets as Juan Guaidó declares himself interim president – video

Posted: 23 Jan 2019 12:57 PM PST

Venezuela's opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, has won significant international support after declaring himself the country's interim president in a dramatic escalation of efforts to force out Nicolás Maduro, who has overseen the country's slide into authoritarianism and economic ruin

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Student in standoff with Native American defends his actions – video report

Posted: 23 Jan 2019 12:23 PM PST

The Kentucky high school student filmed in an apparent standoff with a Native American activist in Washington DC says he was 'not disrespectful' during the interaction, as a spokesman for Donald Trump said students from Covington high school may be invited to the White House

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