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

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


Jeremy Corbyn to meet Theresa May for Brexit talks

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 02:06 AM PST

Labour leader to argue for customs union, single-market ties and workers' rights

Jeremy Corbyn is expected to meet Theresa May to discuss Brexit, with 58 days remaining until the UK leaves the EU.

The meeting later on Wednesday was confirmed that morning by Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, although the time is yet to be finalised. It comes two weeks after Corbyn rejected the prime minister's invitation on the grounds that she should first rule out a no-deal Brexit.

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French police weapons under scrutiny after gilets jaunes injuries

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 11:18 PM PST

Government facing calls to ban riot police's use of explosives

The French government is under growing pressure to review police use of explosive weapons against civilians after serious injuries were reported during gilets jaunes street demonstrations, including people alleged to have lost eyes and to have had their hands and feet mutilated.

France's legal advisory body, the council of state, will on Wednesday examine an urgent request by the French Human Rights League and the CGT trade union to ban police from using a form of rubber-bullet launcher in which ball-shaped projectiles are shot out of specialised handheld launchers. France's rights ombudsman has long warned they are dangerous and carry "disproportionate risk".

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Polar vortex blasts US with life-threatening cold

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 11:08 AM PST

Warming shelters open in midwest as Chicago area sees temperatures drop to -50F (-46C), with snow possible in southern states

A blast of arctic-chilled air from the polar vortex brought dangerous, record-setting cold to a wide swath of the eastern US on Tuesday, stretching from the Dakotas through Maine, with snow expected as far south as Alabama and Georgia.

Cities in the midwest opened warming shelters as temperatures plummeted well below zero degrees Fahrenheit (-17.8C) . Regional governments closed hundreds of schools and airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights, including many to Atlanta days before the Super Bowl.

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Historian berates billionaires at Davos over tax avoidance

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 09:04 PM PST

Rutger Bregman tells panel that the real issue is the rich not paying their fair share

A discussion panel at the Davos World Economic Forum has become a sensation after a Dutch historian took billionaires to task for not paying taxes.

In a video shared tens of thousands of times, Rutger Bregman, author of the book Utopia for Realists, bemoans the failure of attendees at the recent gathering in Switzerland to address the key issue in the battle for greater equality: the failure of rich people to pay their fair share of taxes.

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Venezuela court freezes Juan Guaidó's bank accounts and imposes travel ban

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 04:15 PM PST

Crisis deepens as attorney general orders investigation into Guaidó for alleged role in 'crimes that threaten the constitutional order'

Venezuela's supreme court has imposed a travel ban and financial restrictions on self-declared interim president Juan Guaidó, including freezing his bank accounts.

On Tuesday, the political crisis deepened as the country's attorney general ordered an investigation into the opposition leader, who last week declared himself interim president in a rare challenge to the incumbent, Nicolás Maduro.

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Huawei's Meng Wanzhou appears in court on eve of US China trade talks

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 06:19 PM PST

Extradition case in Canada drags on as Donald Trump prepares to meet Beijing's top trade envoy in Washington

The chief financial officer of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, has made her first appearance in a Canadian court in more than a month, part of a high-stakes dispute that threatens to cast a pall over this week's US-China trade talks.

Meng, the daughter of the Chinese telecoms company's founder, attended the hearing in British Columbia supreme court on Tuesday, just two days before Donald Trump and Chinese vice premier Liu He are scheduled to meet in Washington.

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Toxic smog forces Bangkok to close hundreds of schools

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 10:44 PM PST

Thai capital has been shrouded in murky haze for weeks, forcing residents to don masks and sparking criticism of government

Toxic smog forced Bangkok authorities to issue an unprecedented order to shut nearly 450 schools on Wednesday as authorities struggled to manage a pollution crisis that has stirred widespread concern.

The Thai capital has been shrouded in murky haze for weeks, forcing residents to don masks and sparking social media criticism of the uneven response by the government.

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Intelligence chief contradicts Trump on North Korea and Iran

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 11:03 AM PST

In a statement to the Senate, Daniel Coats said North Korea is unlikely to give up its nuclear weapons

The head of US intelligence has said that North Korea is "unlikely to give up" its nuclear weapons because its leadership sees them as "critical to regime survival" – in comments which contrasted sharply with Donald Trump's own assessment.

Daniel Coats, the director of national intelligence, made his assessment in a written statement on "worldwide threats" to the Senate on Tuesday, which was noteworthy for the many ways it differed from the rhetoric favoured by the president and his top aides.

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Apple reports first decline in revenues and profits in over a decade

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 02:29 PM PST

Company blames iPhone sales and a downturn in China for reduced revenue, a day after it scrambled to fix FaceTime glitch

Apple reported its first decline in revenues and profits in over a decade on Tuesday.

Weak iPhone sales and a downturn in China reduced the tech company's revenue by 4.5% to $84.3bn in the three months ending 29 December compared with the same period last year. Profits fell slightly to $19.97bn.

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Indonesia to let UN workers into West Papua as violence continues

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 06:12 PM PST

UNHCHR wants access after Indonesian military crackdown in response to guerrilla attack

Indonesia has agreed in principle to allow the UN office of the human rights commissioner into West Papua amid continuing violence in the region.

The long-running low-level insurgency violently escalated late last year, after West Papuan guerrillas attacked a construction site in Nduga, killing at least 17 people they claimed were Indonesian military but who Jakarta insists were civilian workers.

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‘I'd like to offer you a holiday’: Richard E Grant's childhood letter to Barbra Streisand

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 05:53 PM PST

Singer responds after actor and superfan shared letter and posed outside her house

Richard E Grant has shared a letter he wrote to Barbra Streisand when he was 14 years old, in which he invited her to stay with him and his family in Swaziland for two weeks, and promising "not many people will know who you are, so no chance of being mobbed".

The actor shared the letter on Twitter this morning, after taking a photograph outside her home. ("Asked Security for permission, and he replied, 'It's a public road, but thanks for asking'," he Tweeted. "My wife is very understanding!")

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Chinese city seeks young blood: how ageing Nanjing lures new talent

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 11:30 PM PST

The next 15 megacities #12: The ancient capital of China is pulling out all the stops in a bid to defuse its ticking demographic timebomb

Tan Jingquan is exactly the kind of person the ancient Chinese city of Nanjing wants to attract. The 38-year-old had been searching rival cities for possible sites for his biotech startup for years – until the Nanjing government finally made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

"I visited and explored opportunities in nearly a dozen cities," recalls Tan, a native of Wuhan in central China. "It turned out Nanjing has the best combination of policy incentives and market potential for small startups."

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The white stuff: why Britain can’t get enough cocaine

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 10:00 PM PST

Britain snorts more of the drug than almost anywhere in Europe, more young people are taking it and deaths are rising. Why?

The moment Dan (not his real name) realised he had a problem with cocaine, he had been off work for a week, sick with flu. His phone buzzed. It was his cocaine dealer, calling to check he was OK. When Dan, one of his favoured customers, hadn't been in touch to buy the cocaine he usually took several times a week, the dealer knew something was wrong.

"I don't like thinking about that," Dan says, shaking his head as we sit in a London pub. Now 36, Dan estimates he has spent £25,000 on cocaine. Lines in the pub on a Friday night after work. Lines on a Wednesday evening at a friend's house while earnestly discussing 90s hip-hop. Lines at house parties, weddings, birthday parties and for no reason at all, other than that cocaine – the white powder that makes no one a better version of themselves, but that many of us continue to do anyway – is everywhere and freely available.

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UK weather: runways shut as snow covers northern England

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 02:07 AM PST

Manchester and Liverpool airports close runways as snow and ice forecast across the country

Runways at two of the UK's busiest airports have been closed as snow brought widespread disruption to swathes of northern England and Wales.

Britain is expected to have significant snowfall this week, with temperatures forecast to plunge to negative double figures.

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Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay says no deal remains an option, despite MPs voting to reject it – Politics live

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 02:42 AM PST

As Theresa May girds herself for renewed talks with the EU about changing the Irish backstop, follow all the news and reaction with our live blog

Mujtaba Rehman, a former European commission official who produces well-informed Brexit analysis for the Eurasia Group consultancy, sent out his latest take this morning. He thinks there is little chance of Theresa May getting the change to the backstop she wants. Here is an excerpt.

There is, however, little prospect of May winning the "significant and legally-binding change" to the backstop she has vowed to seek, as the strong reaction from the EU has already shown. This is especially as European council President Donald Tusk is extremely cautious. The strength of his language suggests this was a very carefully co-ordinated, considered and pre-negotiated statement, which carries the full weight of the council, particularly its more important members.

The EU's unwillingness to reopen the withdrawal agreement—a hardening of its position from just a few weeks ago—is not simply because it has serious reservations about May's strategy (is the problem really the backstop?) and her credibility as their interlocutor (can she deliver parliament?)

"I still think you're way too low on your no-deal probability", the senior official concludes, referring to our articulated 10% no-deal odds. Any mismatch between the length of the extension the UK wants and the one the EU will offer "is one sure route to an accidental Brexit."

Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, will speak to Theresa May tonight about Brexit, a spokesman for Tusk has announced.

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Yotam Ottolenghi: 'I don’t like to tell people what to eat'

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 09:00 PM PST

In conversation with Adam Liaw, the chef discusses cultural appropriation of food, sustainability and getting his kids to eat what he cooks

"Who owns the recipe?"

This was one of the questions Yotam Ottolenghi and Adam Liaw considered on Tuesday night. The chef and the cook, both bestselling authors, were in conversation as part of An Evening with Ottolenghi at the Sydney Opera House.

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New York state security: Manhattan's KGB Spy Museum – in pictures

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 02:26 AM PST

A museum in New York claims to be the only collection focusing on the KGB's espionage operations in the world. The newly opened exhibition hall, housed in a former warehouse on 14th Street, is home to 3,500 original period objects, which the designer of the museum, Julius Urbaitis, has gathered after 30 years of research around the world

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What next for Venezuela? The four most likely outcomes

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 09:00 PM PST

Will Maduro hang on to power? Will the standoff end in war? The embattled nation stands at a crossroads

Venezuela is in turmoil. Both Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó claim to be president – the latter until new elections can be held – and neither has any incentive to back down.

Maduro, who two weeks ago was sworn into his second term following disputed elections last year, has little public support, but he retains the backing of the military.

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Josh Frydenberg defends Coalition's climate record as he faces challenge in Kooyong

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 11:39 PM PST

Treasurer says climate change is real and Scott Morrison's government takes emissions reduction 'very seriously'

Josh Frydenberg has defended the Coalition's record on climate change and says he will work hard to earn the trust of his constituents in the face of a challenge from long-time Liberal and now independent Oliver Yates.

Yates, a former Macquarie banker and head of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, confirmed on Wednesday he would run in Kooyong at the coming federal election, declaring Frydenberg deserved to be challenged because of a lack of action on the environment.

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The miracle method for sustainable rice that scientists dismissed | John Vidal

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 11:00 PM PST

A technique developed by a Jesuit priest is producing bigger harvests – and reducing emissions of a crop responsible for 1.5% of greenhouse gases

The fragrant jasmine rice growing on the left side of Kreaougkra Junpeng's five-acre field stands nearly five feet tall.

Each plant has 15 or more tillers, or stalks, and the grains hang heavy from them. The Thai farmer says this will be his best-ever harvest in 30 years and he will reap it four weeks earlier than usual.

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Arrests made in Sicily over suspected sex trafficking of girls from Nigeria

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 03:06 AM PST

Authorities believe trafficking ring lured young women to Italy to force them into prostitution

Sicilian authorities have made a series of arrests after a suspected sex trafficking ring was believed to have forced at least 15 Nigerian girls into prostitution in Italy.

Among those arrested were two Nigerian women, Rita Ihama, 38, and Monica Onaigfohe, aged 20, who police believe organised the trafficking of the women from Libya to Italy. An Italian national, Giovanni Buscemi, was also arrested on suspicion of helping facilitate the trafficking and exploitation of the girls.

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Polar vortex: how cold will it be and what should the midwest expect?

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 08:21 AM PST

Though the region is familiar with bitter winters, record low temperatures may be threatening, forecasters warn

Record low temperatures are descending on the American midwest. The region is long familiar with bitter winters, but this is an exceptional cold snap that forecasters warn could be life-threatening. The extreme chill comes after a snowstorm that hit the area overnight on Monday.

Related: Americans' climate change concerns surge to record levels, poll shows

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Polar vortex: -46C temperatures turn Chicago River to ice – video report

Posted: 30 Jan 2019 01:19 AM PST

A blast of Arctic air from the polar vortex has caused temperatures to drop to as low as -46C (-50F) in Chicago. Cities in the midwest opened warming shelters as temperatures plummeted well below zero. The Illinois governor warned the weather 'poses a serious threat' to people's wellbeing. The polar vortex, a mass of freezing air, usually spins around the North Pole

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Howard Schultz called 'billionaire elite' by heckler in New York – video

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 08:45 AM PST

A day after the former Starbucks chief Howard Schultz said he might run independently for US president, a heckler at a book launch in Manhattan shouted at him: 'Don't help elect Trump.' Schultz has faced fierce criticism from Democrats who say his candidacy may help Donald Trump win re-election in 2020. 'Go back to Davos with the rest of the billionaire elite who think they know how to run the world,' the heckler added before being pulled aside by security

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Rescuers sift through toxic mud in search of Brazil dam victims – video report

Posted: 29 Jan 2019 03:29 AM PST

Rescue workers in Brazil waded through treacherous mud looking for bodies as pressure mounted on the mining company responsible for a dam that burst and spilled a flood of iron-ore waste

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