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

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


Spread of coronavirus outside China could be tip of iceberg, says WHO

Posted: 10 Feb 2020 02:00 AM PST

While cases outside China remain low, World Health Organization chief warns it could accelerate

Confirmed cases of coronavirus transmitted by people who have never travelled to China could be the "tip of the iceberg", the head of the World Health Organization has warned.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus's remarks come as China attempted to return to normal life, with people going back to work on Monday after an extended lunar new year break.

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Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to quit as CDU leader amid far-right 'firewall' row

Posted: 10 Feb 2020 01:03 AM PST

Successor to Angela Merkel also says she won't run for chancellorship of Germany

Angela Merkel's designated successor has announced she is not planning to run for the German chancellorship at the next federal election and plans to step down as leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), German media reported on Monday morning.

The surprise announcement comes in the middle of a major row over the centre-right party's "firewall" against the far-right, in which CDU delegates in eastern Germany have defied the party headquarter's ban on cooperating with the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).

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Parasite makes Oscars history as first foreign language film to win best picture

Posted: 09 Feb 2020 08:26 PM PST

South Korean satire directed by Bong Joon-ho sweeps top prize after also winning best director, international film and original screenplay

After an awards season marked by its predictability, the Oscars delivered a spectacular final-reel twist on Sunday evening, naming capitalist satire Parasite best picture.

Bong Joon-ho's comedy-drama about an impoverished family who infiltrate the household of a wealthier one is the first film not in the English language to take the top prize. It also took best director, best original screenplay and best international film.

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Sinn Féin to try to form ruling coalition after Irish election success

Posted: 09 Feb 2020 11:22 AM PST

Party disrupts Ireland's centrist tradition by taking almost a quarter of votes

Sinn Féin will try to form a government in Ireland after apparently winning more votes than any other party in Saturday's general election – a historic result that upended the political system.

The party leader, Mary Lou McDonald, told cheering supporters on Sunday that a "revolution" had occurred and she would try to form a ruling coalition with other parties. "This is no longer a two-party system," she said.

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Critic accidentally destroys $20,000 artwork at Mexico fair

Posted: 09 Feb 2020 04:41 PM PST

Avelina Lésper said it was almost as if Gabriel Rico's piece knew how much she disliked it

An art critic has destroyed a contemporary piece at Mexico's premiere art fair, sparking a debate about what constitutes art.

Critic Avelina Lésper said she accidentally shattered the installation on Saturday at the Zona Maco art fair in Mexico City when she placed an empty soda can near it to express her disdain for the piece: a sheet of glass with a stone, soccer ball and other random objects suspended inside.

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Fires and floods: maps of Europe predict scale of climate catastrophe

Posted: 09 Feb 2020 10:00 PM PST

Without urgent action, rising sea levels by end of century could leave cities under water

A series of detailed maps have laid bare the scale of possible forest fires, floods, droughts and deluges that Europe could face by the end of the century without urgent action to adapt to and confront global heating.

An average one-metre rise in sea levels by the end of the century – without any flood prevention action – would mean 90% of the surface of Hull would be under water, according to the European Environment Agency.

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Rain deluge in eastern Australia set to extinguish NSW bushfires this week

Posted: 10 Feb 2020 12:11 AM PST

Torrential rain over three days has already put out one megablaze, the Gospers Mountain fire

A deluge of rain and wild weather could extinguish all remaining fires in New South Wales by the end of the week, the Rural Fire Service hopes.

Torrential rain over three days in the state, which has been ravaged by bushfires and endured a prolonged period of drought, has already extinguished one megablaze, with the Gospers Mountain fire that has burned for months in the Hawkesbury declared out on Monday.

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Philippines moves to strip biggest media group of its franchise

Posted: 10 Feb 2020 01:40 AM PST

Campaigners say move against ABS-CBN is another attack on the press by Rodrigo Duterte

Government lawyers in the Philippines have moved to strip the nation's biggest media group of its franchise in what campaigners say is another attack on press freedom under the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte.

Duterte has repeatedly pledged to stop the broadcast operations of ABS-CBN and expressed anger over its reporting during the 2016 presidential election campaign.

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UK weather: thousands without electricity as Storm Ciara batters Britain

Posted: 09 Feb 2020 11:26 PM PST

Travel disruption set to continue with more strong winds, snow and ice in the north

More than 20,000 homes have spent the night without power as the UK continued to reel from Storm Ciara.

As of 5am on Monday, UK Power Networks reported more than 18,500 properties across the east and south-east of England were still without power while Western Power Distribution said more than 2,800 homes were left in the dark.

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Facebook and Twitter reject Pelosi's request to remove edited Trump video

Posted: 09 Feb 2020 08:59 AM PST

President posted video of House speaker tearing State of the Union address interspersed with clips of Trump lauding honorees

Facebook and Twitter have refused House speaker Nancy Pelosi's request to remove a video posted by Donald Trump that was misleadingly edited to show her repeatedly tearing a paper copy of his State of the Union address while he was honoring a Tuskegee Airman and other attendees.

"The American people know that the President has no qualms about lying to them – but it is a shame to see Twitter and Facebook, sources of news for millions, do the same," Drew Hammill, Pelosi's chief of staff, said on Twitter. "The latest fake video of Speaker Pelosi is deliberately designed to mislead and lie to the American people, and every day that these platforms refuse to take it down is another reminder that they care more about their shareholders' interests than the public's interests."

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Calls to save Radio New Zealand classical music station reach crescendo

Posted: 09 Feb 2020 10:10 PM PST

Plans to cut Radio New Zealand Concert and replace it with a youth station meet resistance from die-hard fans

Radio New Zealand Concert, the staid classical music arm of Radio New Zealand, does not usually create headlines. But the hackles of classical music lovers across the nation have been raised after the public broadcaster announced it was cutting much of the station to make way for programmes targeted at a younger audience.

The ensuing furore has sparked disputes on social media about whether classical music is elitist or only for the elderly and prompted the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, to wade in.

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‘Overwhelming and terrifying’: the rise of climate anxiety

Posted: 09 Feb 2020 10:16 PM PST

Experts concerned young people's mental health particularly hit by reality of the climate crisis

Over the past few weeks Clover Hogan has found herself crying during the day and waking up at night gripped by panic. The 20-year-old, who now lives in London, grew up in Queensland, Australia, cheekbyjowl with the country's wildlife, fishing frogs out of the toilet and dodging snakes hanging from the ceiling.

The bushfires ravaging her homeland over the past few weeks have taken their toll. "I've found myself bursting into tears … just seeing the absolutely harrowing images of what's happening in Australia – it is overwhelming and terrifying."

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Minister defends Jamaica deportation flight decision

Posted: 10 Feb 2020 01:39 AM PST

Rishi Sunak approves move despite last-minute legal challenges by people due to be on board

The government has defended its decision to push ahead with an imminent deportation flight to Jamaica despite last-minute legal challenges by people due to be on board, and concerns that Windrush citizens could be among those removed.

More than 100 cross-party MPs and peers have signed a letter to Boris Johnson calling for the flight to be postponed pending recommendations from a review into Windrush, while Labour said there was a worry British nationals could be involved.

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Ireland election: latest results

Posted: 10 Feb 2020 01:18 AM PST

Second-preference votes are now being counted in Ireland's general election. After first-preference votes, Sinn Féin has a commanding lead in vote share and seats, breaking the country's traditional Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil duopoly.

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Militia strike gold to cast a shadow over Sudan's hopes of prosperity

Posted: 09 Feb 2020 11:00 PM PST

Supported by wealthy foreign backers, a feared paramilitary outfit controls Sudan's most lucrative industry, complicating the country's path to democracy

Ornate, heavy necklaces gleam on stands above stacks of thick filigree bangles in the windows of Khartoum's gold market. The gold is Sudanese, dug from the rich mines that span the country.

Shop owner Bashir Abdulay hands over a palm-sized lump of pure gold with two small bore holes as he explains how the prized metal goes from mine deposit, through middlemen, to Khartoum.

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'Not a sip of water in the house’: living with HIV in a drought – in pictures

Posted: 10 Feb 2020 01:00 AM PST

Three years of water shortages in Eswatini have disproportionately affected the HIV-positive community. The founder of a local support group in Lubombo is empowering others to look after themselves

  • All photographs by Nyani Quarmyne, WaterAid
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Sheldon Adelson to donate $100m to Trump and Republicans, fundraisers say

Posted: 10 Feb 2020 01:00 AM PST

Billionaire casino magnate, a staunchly pro-Israel conservative, expected to give to Super Pacs and 'dark money' groups

The billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson, an ardent pro-Israel conservative, is expected to donate at least $100m to boost Donald Trump's 2020 re-election efforts and Republican congressional candidates this fall, say three Republican fundraisers familiar with Adelson's initial plans.

Adelson's hefty checks are expected to be written to several Super Pacs – political groups that have to disclose their donors – as well as "dark money" not-for-profit organizations that can keep their donors secret, say the fundraisers.

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Jamaican-born deportees mount last-minute challenges against Home Office

Posted: 09 Feb 2020 10:00 PM PST

Up to 50 people are due to be forcibly returned to Jamaica on a flight leaving this week

Dozens of Jamaicans in the UK are mounting last-minute legal challenges to try to halt their deportation on a Home Office charter flight scheduled for Tuesday.

Up to 50 people are due to be put on the flight, which is only the second the Home Office has chartered to Jamaica since the Windrush scandal broke. A group legal action and a flurry of individual legal actions are under way.

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Coronavirus: UK declares 'serious and imminent threat' to public health – latest news

Posted: 10 Feb 2020 02:10 AM PST

Declaration gives UK government additional powers as death toll inside China jumps to 908 with more than 40,000 infections

One of the four new confirmed cases from Brighton — one of the three men — is a doctor who was part of the group that were skiing in the resort near Chamonix with the man who is at the centre of this outbreak, the Guardian understands.

Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, has confirmed the four new cases of coronavirus in England. The new cases have brought the total number of cases in the UK to eight.

He said in a statement:

Four further patients in England have tested positive for novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in the UK to eight. The new cases are all known contacts of a previously confirmed UK case, and the virus was passed on in France.

Experts at Public Health England continue to work hard tracing patient contacts from the UK cases. They successfully identified these individuals and ensured the appropriate support was provided.

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Most of George Calombaris's restaurant empire goes into voluntary administration

Posted: 10 Feb 2020 01:18 AM PST

Move follows underpayment scandal that resulted in staff being back-paid almost $8m in wages and superannuation

Celebrity chef George Calombaris has put much of his restaurant empire into voluntary administration.

Advisory and investment firm KordaMentha has been appointed as administrators of 22 companies in the Made Establishment Group, which KordaMentha says operates 12 restaurants and food venues in Melbourne.

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Tired of a two-party system, Irish voters have made Sinn Féin mainstream

Posted: 09 Feb 2020 06:28 AM PST

Issues such as high rents and homelessness fuelled party's 22.3% exit poll result

Sinn Féin's breakthrough in Ireland's general election was decades in the making, but not even Sinn Féin saw it coming.

Once a revolutionary party associated with guns and balaclavas, a toxic brand, it slowly edged from the fringe into the mainstream, inch by inch, and then on Saturday made a giant leap.

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Lisbon's outdoor art gallery – in pictures

Posted: 09 Feb 2020 11:00 PM PST

Street art has transformed Quinta do Mocho, an area once plagued by crime and unemployment

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Thailand shopping mall shooting: what we know so far – video report

Posted: 09 Feb 2020 05:26 AM PST

A soldier shot dead 26 people and injured at least 52 before he was killed by police at a Thai shopping mall. Eight people were held hostage by the gunman in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima, according to sources quoted by Reuters. Dozens more were trapped for hours on Saturday night as police attempted to regain control of the seven-floor building

• Rogue soldier shot dead after Thai shopping mall massacre

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