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

Coronavirus outbreak: South Korea clusters drives huge jump in cases
Blue Brexit passports to be issued from next month
'Who is there to protect us?' Far-right murders in Hanau spark anger and fear
Iran elections: conservatives heading for large majority
Donald Trump Jr granted permit to hunt Alaska grizzly bear
Bernie Sanders has invested big in Nevada. Will it pay off?
California grad students risk losing their jobs amid months-long strike
Niger military operation 'kills 120 terrorists' after jihadist attacks
Justin Trudeau tells Canada protesters: 'The barricades need to come down'
Gerry Adams will be Sinn Féin negotiator, leaked brief reveals
Harvey Weinstein trial: jury appears to reach partial verdict
The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel – read the exclusive first extract
Heavy showers bring fresh flooding to parts of UK
Mike Bloomberg under fire for using 'snazzy ads' to mask weak climate plan
Unfree Speech by Joshua Wong review – a young life of protest in Hong Kong
Between two worlds: 'I want my future to be on country'
How the American dream died on the world's busiest border
Trump dismisses reports of Russian interference in 2020 election as 'disinformation' – video
Gloria Allred admits sending bus asking Prince Andrew to talk to FBI about Epstein – video
Coronavirus: 'Window of opportunity narrowing,' says WHO director – video
EU leaders express concern over filling €75bn Brexit shortfall – video
'You've ripped a hole in my heart': Grace Millane's mother speaks to court – video
Grace Millane's family will 'forever have a life sentence', say police – video

Coronavirus outbreak: South Korea clusters drives huge jump in cases

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 11:54 PM PST

Patients and staff at a hospital near Daegu account for bulk of 229 new cases as links to controversial 'sect' are investigated

South Korea has reported another huge jump in cases of coronavirus as the country fights to contain the spread of the deadly disease.

The number of infections has increased by 229 to 433, officials said on Saturday, with most of the cases linked to the city of Daegu and surrounding region two hours south of Seoul.

Blue Brexit passports to be issued from next month

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 10:00 PM PST

Redesign proves as divisive as EU referendum, with one former MP calling it 'ignorant'

Blue passports will be issued for the first time in almost three decades from next month to mark Britain's departure from the EU, the government has announced.

They will replace the standard-issue burgundy passports that were rolled out across EU countries from 1988.

'Who is there to protect us?' Far-right murders in Hanau spark anger and fear

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 08:25 AM PST

Many in traditionally diverse area believe security apparatus is not tackling far right with full strength

As the people of Hanau rallied together in the wake of a deadly and racist assault on its community, there were not just whispers filled with fear but also cries for help and shouts of anger.

"We are going through a very difficult time," said Hidir Karademir, 65, one of more than 5,000 who had gathered at the town's market square, just streets away from the shisha bar where a racist gunman took the lives of nine people.

Iran elections: conservatives heading for large majority

Posted: 22 Feb 2020 01:01 AM PST

Likely outcome reflects frustration at collapsing living standards and relations with the west

Iran's conservatives are heading for a large overall majority in the country's parliamentary elections, according to preliminary results, an outcome that reflects frustration with collapsing living standards and the apparent dead end of engagement with the west.

It means strong supporters of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will control all the main levers of power in Iran except for the presidency. The reformists, elected four years ago on a ticket of engagement with the west, had been the largest party in parliament but found many of their proposals blocked by other centres of power in Iran, notably the Guardian Council.

Donald Trump Jr granted permit to hunt Alaska grizzly bear

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 11:30 PM PST

The president's son is a keen hunter who has enjoyed several expeditions in Alaska and Canada

Donald Trump Jr has been granted the right to hunt a grizzly bear in north-western Alaska near the Bering Sea town of Nome, a state official says.

The son of US president Donald Trump was one of three people who applied for 27 spots for non-resident hunters targeting grizzlies in a designated region of north-western Alaska's Seward Peninsula, said Eddie Grasser, the wildlife conservation director for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Bernie Sanders has invested big in Nevada. Will it pay off?

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 06:04 PM PST

Polling suggests frontrunner is well ahead of his rivals, with 25% support in a state where he campaigned hard, and his latest rally had the air of a music festival

Bernie Sanders closed a crucial week in the 2020 Democratic primary by making his case to west coast voters, hoping to solidify his lead in the race with a win in Saturday's caucuses in Nevada.

His Friday night rally in Las Vegas looked and felt a bit like a music festival. Supporters waved cell phone lights in the air. Thousands screamed and clapped approval as Sanders, from an outdoor amphitheater backlit in blue, mentioned his signature policies.

California grad students risk losing their jobs amid months-long strike

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 07:23 PM PST

Fellow students and faculty across state march in solidarity amid call for better pay as cost of living soars

Across university campuses in California on Friday, students and faculty members marched, chanted and waved signs in support of the graduate students at the University of Santa Cruz who have been waging a months-long strike for a cost-of-living-adjustment amid soaring rents.

But despite that widespread support, many of those same Santa Cruz graduate students were readying themselves for the possibility of losing their teaching jobs and being forced to drop out of school.

Niger military operation 'kills 120 terrorists' after jihadist attacks

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 08:38 PM PST

Defence minister hails 'cooperation' in fight against militants after Nigerien and French forces' offensive in restive Tillaberi region

More than 100 "terrorists" have been killed in south-west Niger by local forces in a joint operation with French troops, the country's defence ministry said.

As of Thursday "120 terrorists have been neutralised" in the operation in the vast Tillaberi region near the border with Mali and Burkina Faso, the statement on Friday said, adding there had been no losses among Nigerien or French troops. Vehicles and bomb-making equipment were seized.

Justin Trudeau tells Canada protesters: 'The barricades need to come down'

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 03:24 PM PST

PM demands end to 'untenable and unacceptable' rail blockades erected in support of Indigenous activists fighting gas pipeline

Justin Trudeau has demanded that protesters lift railway blockades that have been erected across Canada in support of Indigenous activists who are fighting a natural gas pipeline.

"The situation as it currently stands is unacceptable and untenable," the prime minister said on Friday afternoon. "Canadians have been patient. Our government has been patient. But it has been two weeks, and the barricades need to come down now."

Gerry Adams will be Sinn Féin negotiator, leaked brief reveals

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 09:26 AM PST

Party challenged over IRA links as former leader quietly chosen to help form next government

Sinn Féin has included Gerry Adams on its negotiating team to form the next Irish government, fuelling renewed scrutiny over the party's links with the IRA.

A party briefing note leaked on Friday named Adams as a negotiator, raising questions as to why he was not on the published list. The disclosure came as political opponents piled pressure on Sinn Féin to renounce the IRA in advance of talks to form a coalition government.

Harvey Weinstein trial: jury appears to reach partial verdict

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 12:40 PM PST

Jury indicated that in three counts they have reached their decision, and will now break and return to deliberations on the other two counts on Monday

The jury at Harvey Weinstein's rape trial in New York appears to have reached a verdict on three of the five counts facing him, though they are deadlocked on the most serious charge – predatory sexual assault.

Shortly after the lunch break on Friday, the five men and seven women of the jury were called back into court having indicated that in three counts they have reached their decision. These are: the count that alleges the fallen movie mogul forced oral sex on a then Project Runway production assistant, Miriam Haley, in 2006 and two counts of rape in 2013 of a woman who the Guardian is not naming as her intentions on identification are unclear.

The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel – read the exclusive first extract

Posted: 22 Feb 2020 12:00 AM PST

The first chapter of the final volume of Mantel's award-winning Thomas Cromwell trilogy opens at the execution of Anne Boleyn

Hear Ben Miles read the audiobook

Once the queen's head is severed, he walks away. A sharp pang of appetite reminds him that it is time for a second breakfast, or perhaps an early dinner. The morning's circumstances are new and there are no rules to guide us. The witnesses, who have knelt for the passing of the soul, stand up and put on their hats. Under the hats, their faces are stunned.

Heavy showers bring fresh flooding to parts of UK

Posted: 22 Feb 2020 01:32 AM PST

Met Office says more belts of rain expected and warns of high winds and snow in Scotland

A third consecutive weekend of stormy weather has brought further flooding to already sodden communities.

With swathes of south Wales and northern and central England still trying to cope with the impact of storms Ciara and Dennis, heavy showers have hit parts of the UK with warnings of more to come.

Mike Bloomberg under fire for using 'snazzy ads' to mask weak climate plan

Posted: 22 Feb 2020 12:00 AM PST

Candidate has offered few details on how he would he achieve goals as climate plan lags behind Democratic rivals

Mike Bloomberg has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to environmental advocacy causes, but his campaign is coming under fire for a climate plan that lags far behind the other Democratic candidates for president.

In the latest televised Democratic presidential debate on Wednesday night, Bloomberg said he wouldn't "go to war with China" over its highest-in-the-world carbon emissions. He called fracked gas a "transition fuel", and said that "we want to go to all renewables, but that's still many years from now". But, he added: "The world is coming apart faster than any scientific study had predicted. We've just got to do something now."

Unfree Speech by Joshua Wong review – a young life of protest in Hong Kong

Posted: 22 Feb 2020 01:01 AM PST

A memoir and fervent call to arms from a key leader of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests, written with Jason Y Ng

Since June 2019 Hong Kong has been – first figuratively, then literally – on fire. What began as a "summer of discontent" has become a running street battle, marked by acts of violence by both police and protesters. In November, Hong Kong's university campuses were combat zones, bristling with makeshift barricades and petrol bombs; police responded with threats of using live ammunition.

The protests had an immediate trigger: a controversial bill proposed by the chief executive, Carrie Lam, that would permit extradition from HK to the People's Republic of China. Activists in HK fiercely opposed it because they feared it would break down a barrier between the legal systems of the PRC and HK, making it possible for the mainland – which has become increasingly politically repressive over the past seven years – to extradite political activists and dissidents into China's opaque and Communist party-dominated legal system. Keeping the two systems separate for at least 50 years was a keynote of basic law governing the return of HK to mainland China in 1997.

Between two worlds: 'I want my future to be on country'

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 11:00 AM PST

A new film tracks the life of one boy but is also the story of a generation of Indigenous children and their right to be educated in their language on country

"I want my school to be run by Aboriginal people.

I want adults to stop cruelling 10-year-old kids in jail.

How the American dream died on the world's busiest border

Posted: 20 Feb 2020 10:00 PM PST

It is a place where worlds converge, a vast melting pot of different peoples, all in search of a better life. Yet the US-Mexico border is also, increasingly, a focal point for human suffering

Milson, from Honduras, sits with his 14-year-old daughter, Loany, on the reedy riverbank beside the bridge connecting Matamoros, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, with downtown Brownsville, Texas, across the Rio Grande.

On the far reach – a few yards but another world away – is a vast tent (officially a "soft-sided facility") erected to cope with the sheer numbers seeking asylum in the US. In a few weeks' time, on the date stipulated on their "notice to appear" document, the people staying here will have their "credible fear interview" by video link.

Trump dismisses reports of Russian interference in 2020 election as 'disinformation' – video

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 01:22 PM PST

Donald Trump has dismissed reports of Russian interference in the 2020 presidential election to his benefit as 'disinformation' at a rally in Las Vegas the day before the democrats are due to hold the Nevada caucuses

Trump had previously cast doubt on the intelligence community's conclusion that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 election to help him beat Hillary Clinton

Mike Bloomberg's favorability falls 20 points in post-debate poll – live

Gloria Allred admits sending bus asking Prince Andrew to talk to FBI about Epstein – video

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 01:07 PM PST

US lawyer Gloria Allred, who is representing several of Jeffrey Epstein's accusers has admitted arranging an American-style school bus to drive through different parts of London, including past Buckingham Palace, with a message on the side asking Prince Andrew to speak with the FBI.

Andrew has so far failed to respond to FBI approaches in the ongoing investigation into Epstein and his abuse of underaged girls

School bus stunt urges Prince Andrew to talk to FBI about Jeffrey Epstein

Coronavirus: 'Window of opportunity narrowing,' says WHO director – video

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 12:01 PM PST

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, has expressed concerned over the 'narrowing window of opportunity' to tackle Covid-19, and has urged the international community not to squander it. With four new cases in Iran, concern has increased about the epidemic spreading across the Middle East, and the sharp devaluation of the Iranian rial means it will be hard for its government to throw the same resources at the epidemic as China has

Coronavirus: window of containment 'narrowing' after Iran deaths, WHO warns

EU leaders express concern over filling €75bn Brexit shortfall – video

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 10:35 AM PST

Leaders of EU countries have expressed concerns the union's long-term budget talks may not conclude in an agreement as politicians' positions have been miles apart on how to fill the €75b n (£63bn) hole left by Brexit.

The European council president, Charles Michel, came under criticism for aiming 'too high', with a proposed budget of 1.074% of the bloc's gross national income (€1.094tn)

EU leaders at odds over filling €75bn Brexit shortfall

'You've ripped a hole in my heart': Grace Millane's mother speaks to court – video

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 03:50 AM PST

The mother of the murdered British backpacker says she is tormented over 'the terror and pain she must have experienced at your hands'. Gillian Millane was speaking to a court via video link. Her daughter was killed in New Zealand in 2018.

A 28-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years for Millane's murder.

Grace Millane murder: man jailed for life for killing of UK backpacker

Grace Millane's family will 'forever have a life sentence', say police – video

Posted: 21 Feb 2020 02:08 AM PST

The New Zealand man found guilty of murdering the British backpacker Grace Millane has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.

Speaking outside the high court in Auckland after the sentencing, DI Scott Beard said the killer's sentencing ended a 'long and difficult period' for the Millane family, but that they were the ones who had been given the life sentence.

Millane, 22, from Essex, arrived in New Zealand in November 2018 as part of a round-the-world trip. She died by manual strangulation on 2 December during sex in the man's hotel room in central Auckland. The pair had met on the dating app Tinder.