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

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


Coronavirus: 41 more people, including British honeymooner, test positive on cruise ship – latest news

Posted: 07 Feb 2020 02:51 AM PST

Total infections pass 30,000 as Wuhan whistleblower doctor dies and North Korea confirms first case of virus

Chinese researchers said the pangolin, an endangered mammal illegally trafficked for its scales and meat, is a potential intermediate host for the coronavirus.

Donald Trump has praised China's response to the coronavirus outbreak, saying President Xi Jinping "strongly leads what will be a very successful operation".

....he will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone. Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!

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Credit Suisse chief Tidjane Thiam ousted after spying scandal

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 11:30 PM PST

The 57-year-old loses boardroom battle and Thomas Gottstein will replace him

The Credit Suisse chief executive, Tidjane Thiam, has been ousted after losing a boardroom battle that escalated after a spying scandal engulfed the Swiss bank last year.

The bank's board announced on Friday that it had "unanimously accepted" the 57-year-old's resignation and that Thomas Gottstein, the head of Credit Suisse's home business in Switzerland, will take over as chief executive. The board also gave its full support to the chairman, Urs Rohner, to complete his term until April 2021.

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‘It was all bullshit’: Donald Trump delivers mocking, vitriolic speech after acquittal

Posted: 07 Feb 2020 12:14 AM PST

President turned speech into a screed against investigations into his administration and railed against Democrats

Donald Trump delivered a triumphalist, mocking, vitriolic and vulgar speech in the White House on Thursday afternoon in celebration of the acquittal at his impeachment trial the night before in the US Senate.

In ebullient mood, the US president held up the front page of the Washington Post with the headline "Trump acquitted" and said: "I went through hell, unfairly, I did nothing wrong." Then he asked for the newspaper to be framed.

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Antarctica logs hottest temperature on record with a reading of 18.3C

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 11:59 PM PST

A new record set so soon after the previous record of 17.5C in March 2015 is a sign warming in Antarctica is happening much faster than global average

Antarctica has logged its hottest temperature on record, with an Argentinian research station thermometer reading 18.3C, beating the previous record by 0.8C.

The reading, taken at Esperanza on the northern tip of the continent's peninsula, beats Antarctica's previous record of 17.5C, set in March 2015.

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Shamima Begum loses first stage of appeal against citizenship removal

Posted: 07 Feb 2020 02:59 AM PST

Former schoolgirl who went to Syria to join Islamic State had citizenship revoked a year ago

Shamima Begum, the woman who left Britain as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State in Syria, has lost the initial stage of her appeal against the Home Office's move to revoke her citizenship and prevent her from returning to London.

A judgment by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) found against Begum, now 20, on three grounds, including that she had not been improperly deprived of her citizenship.

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Qassim al-Rimi: US forces killed al-Qaida leader in Yemen, Trump confirms

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 06:09 PM PST

Al-Rimi had claimed responsibility for a shooting at a Florida naval base, where a Saudi aviation trainee killed three American sailors

Donald Trump confirmed on Thursday that a counter-terrorism operation in Yemen killed Qassim al-Rimi, an al-Qaida leader who claimed responsibility for last year's deadly shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola, where a Saudi aviation trainee killed three American sailors.

Unconfirmed reports of his death, including indicative tweets from the president, have been circulating since 31 January, but the neither the Department of Defense nor the CIA had issued official confirmation.

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Israeli airstrikes in Syria 'force passenger jet into emergency landing'

Posted: 07 Feb 2020 02:30 AM PST

Civilian aircraft carrying 172 passengers diverted from Damascus airport to Russian airbase

A Syrian passenger plane was forced to make an emergency landing at a Russian-controlled airbase in Syria during Israeli airstrikes on Damascus earlier this week, the Russian defence ministry said.

An Airbus A-320 carrying 172 passengers from Tehran was diverted from Damascus airport in the early hours of Thursday to nearby Khmeimim airbase after Syrian air defences nearly hit it during an attempt to repulse the alleged Israeli attack, according to Russian state news agency RIA.

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'Massive relief': torrential rain douses bushfires across parts of Australia

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 10:14 PM PST

Fire service chief Shane Fitzsimmons says days of rain is helping dampen fire grounds – but now floods are the new threat

Torrential rain in New South Wales has reduced the number of active fires in the state by a third, from more than 60 down to 42, but parts of the east coast now face a new threat from flooding, with Sydney facing one of its wettest three-day periods in years.

The commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service, Shane Fitzsimmons, said on Friday there had been a "dramatic shift" in the hot, dry and windy conditions that have driven the unprecedented fire season for months.

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Iowa caucus remains too close to call with 100% of precincts reporting

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 07:22 PM PST

DNC chair Tom Perez calls for 'immediate recanvass' of tally as Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders vie for victory

Pete Buttigieg expressed confidence over the Iowa caucus results on Thursday after days of chaotic vote tallying, even as the head of the Democratic National Party called on the state to "recanvass" the votes.

Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders have remained neck-and-neck for most of the week, and the Associated Press declared on Thursday evening that the race was still too close to call.

With 100% of precincts reporting, the pair were locked in a virtual tie. Buttigieg, leading by just 1.5 state delegate equivalents, had an advantage of about .1 percentage points.

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Bloomberg campaign plagiarized passages of its policy plans, report finds

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 07:44 PM PST

  • Several plans copied material from news outlets and other groups, according to the Intercept
  • Campaign said it has 'added citations'

Michael Bloomberg's presidential campaign lifted portions of its policy plans from news outlets, not-for-profit organizations and policy groups, in some cases plagiarizing passages verbatim, according to the Intercept.

At least eight plans or fact sheets put out by the Bloomberg campaign copied material from news outlets including CNN, Time, and CBS, and organizations including the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the American Medical Association, without attribution.

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No need to fly flag on Prince Andrew's birthday, councils told

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 07:05 PM PST

Raising flag would be 'inappropriate' after prince stepped back from public duties over Epstein scandal, says MP

The British government has changed the policy of flying flags on royal birthdays, with local authorities no longer required to raise the Union Flag for Prince Andrew.

Officials earlier said they were considering how the policy applied "in changing circumstances, such as when members of the royal family step back from their duties", according to a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

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Swag, charm and birthday party invites: how to win an Oscar in 2020

Posted: 07 Feb 2020 02:00 AM PST

When a star gets their hands on a golden statuette on Sunday, it will be the results of meticulous planning, relentless charm – and millions of dollars. (Oh, and acting, too)

Buried in the endearingly manic jumble of thoughts and dedications in Olivia Colman's dumbfounded Oscar acceptance speech last year – the one sealed as a classic by its panicked shoutout to Lady Gaga at the very end – was a telling thank-you that went largely overlooked. "And to Bryna," Colman said, "who made me do things that I said 'no' to, but she was right." It underlined the fact that Colman's surprise victory over the frontrunner, Glenn Close, was not just a happy stroke of luck, but the result of a long and expertly calculated campaign.

The Bryna in question was Bryna Rifkin, the Hollywood publicist extraordinaire and dab hand at steering stars through the almost six-month marathon of "awards season", from the essential autumn trio of buzz-building autumn festivals (Venice, Telluride, Toronto) to Oscars night. Rifkin's client list is elite: in addition to Colman, she has in recent years carried the likes of Marion Cotillard, Ruth Negga, Willem Dafoe and Michael Shannon to against-the-odds Oscars recognition. All would have been put on a rigorous circuit of interviews, roundtables, talkshow spots and dressy appearances at umpteen precursor events and lesser award ceremonies – the very things a perennially working and not especially attention-seeking character actor such as Colman might have "said 'no' to", only to be persuaded by a determined PR team that visibility is the key to victory.

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US customs dismantled 'impossible to replace' instrument, Mali musician says

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 01:25 PM PST

  • Harp-like kora arrived in pieces in Paris with note from TSA
  • 'Would US customs have dared to dismantle a Stradivarius?'

Malian musician Ballaké Sissoko has accused US border officials of breaking his "impossible to replace" musical instrument during a security check.

Sissoko plays the kora, a west African instrument whose 21 strings can sound similar to a harp. US border officials said they did not open the instrument case.

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Iowa caucus result: Buttigieg and Sanders both claim victory – US politics live news

Posted: 07 Feb 2020 02:52 AM PST

  • First race of the Democratic primary season still too close to call
  • 'I think we should move on to New Hampshire,' says Sanders
  • Help us cover the critical issues of 2020. Consider making a contribution

It's been a rollercoaster week in US politics, starting with the voting debacle in Iowa on Monday and carrying on through Donald Trump's divisive State of the Nation speech and his acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial. But who are the losers and winners from a dramatic few days for Republicans and Democrats?

Hmm, a GIF from that episode of The Simpsons where Lisa visits DC, witnesses political corruption and her faith in democracy is shattered. Own goal, Pompeo. https://t.co/xAx0v3yzaE

Donald Trump has been tweeting his support for his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as Beijing struggles to deal with the coronavirus (you can read the latest on that here).

China is reportedly worried about what the virus means for its ability to stick to the terms of its new trade agreements with the US, and some officials are apparently angry at Washington's travel restrictions and commerce secretary Wilbur Ross's comment that the outbreak "will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America".

Just had a long and very good conversation by phone with President Xi of China. He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus. He feels they are doing very well, even building hospitals in a matter of only days. Nothing is easy, but...

....he will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone. Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!

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Drought and hunger: why thousands of Guatemalans are fleeing north

Posted: 07 Feb 2020 12:00 AM PST

Threat of famine and the battle for dwindling natural resources increasingly being recognized as major reasons in the exodus

Martina García grinds just enough maize kernels to make a handful of tortillas which she serves to her children and grandson for breakfast with a sprinkling of salt.

García, 40, must ration the family's last few sacks of tiny corncobs after drought and prolonged heatwaves linked to the climate emergency devastated crops across Guatemala.

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Westpac knew anti-crime provisions were inadequate years ago, MPs told

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 11:27 PM PST

Labor senator reads out secret report in parliamentary inquiry over objections from bank

Westpac knew its ability to fight financial crime was inadequate two years before legal action in November in which authorities accused it of 23m breaches of the law that included allowing customers to pay for child exploitation in the Philippines, federal parliament has heard.

The bank's risk of breaching anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism finance (AML-CTF) laws was unacceptably high and the bank accepted it needed to improve its systems, the prudential regulator was told in a secret report delivered by accounting firm EY in 2017.

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The foxes, the young refugees and me: a unique bond – in pictures

Posted: 07 Feb 2020 01:00 AM PST

A nature photographer captured an unlikely friendship between children living in a disused army barracks in Berlin and local wildlife

  • All photographs by Jon A Juárez

It all started when I began working as a sports educator for refugee children living in the old military barracks in Spandau, Berlin. It was just a job in the beginning, but it slowly turned into much more. It changed my life.

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Tunisia to ban plastic bags in supermarkets and chemists

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 11:00 PM PST

Gradual phaseout will begin in March as part of government plan to outlaw all single-use bags by 2021

Tunisia has announced plans to stop its supermarkets and pharmacies from using single-use plastic bags from next month before phasing them out completely in 2021.

Plastic pollution has been a growing problem in the north African country in recent years, along with the challenges presented by its ancient industrial plants and barely managed household waste.

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Concerns coronavirus is going undetected in Indonesia

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 10:53 PM PST

World's fourth most populous country says it has no confirmed cases despite close links to China

There is growing concern that the new coronavirus may be going undetected in Indonesia, where officials have not confirmed a single case of infection in the country of 272 million people which has close links to China.

As of Thursday, Indonesia said it had no confirmed cases of the coronavirus, and that 238 people evacuated from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, had not shown symptoms or been tested.

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After Trump's acquittal: new revelations will continue to trickle in

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 06:21 AM PST

The hollowness of the president's acquittal after impeachment may be exposed as leaks and investigations soldier on

The Senate trial of Donald Trump has arrived at its preordained conclusion. The president has begun a victory lap to celebrate impunity and settle scores with a long list of enemies headed by Mitt Romney, while the Democrats return to their ill-starred primaries. But there are good reasons to believe that Ukraine, the reluctant focus of the impeachment battle, will continue to haunt US politics for some time to come.

Related: Trump tilts at Romney and Pelosi in first speech after impeachment acquittal – live

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Ardern is right, Waitangi Day is imperfect. But the flaws are intentional | Miriama Aoeke

Posted: 05 Feb 2020 05:00 AM PST

Our rage, protest and mamae are much easier to dismiss if the forum designated for such processes is not of our own making

This week, to mark Waitangi Day, the Guardian is publishing five pieces of commentary from Māori writers.

Bill English once said of Waitangi Day that New Zealanders were bored of the spectacle – the unnecessary controversy – and deserved a more positive national day. The language is deliberate in its exclusion of Māori as New Zealanders and dismissive of our mamae [pain]. Our anger is a bore and a buzzkill. He declined the opportunity to own those words at Waitangi in 2017, perhaps out of fear or contempt that he would be held accountable. We will never know – his party lost the election in September later that year.

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South Korean mass wedding defies virus fears – in pictures

Posted: 07 Feb 2020 12:35 AM PST

Thousands of couples – many in face masks – tied the knot in a mass Unification Church wedding on Friday, despite concerns in South Korea over the spread of the coronavirus outbreak

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'Dirty cops, leakers and liars': Trump on impeachment acquittal – video

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 12:08 PM PST

Donald Trump spoke in the White House to supporters and Republicans in what he called 'a celebration' on Thursday, after being acquitted of impeachment in the Senate. 

The senators found Trump not guilty of the first article of impeachment, abuse of power, by a 52-48 tally, and not guilty of the second article of impeachment, obstruction of Congress, by a 53-47 tally.

Trump said the Democrats that impeached him were 'vicious and mean' saying Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi were 'horrible' people

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'He's impeached forever': Nancy Pelosi on Trump's acquittal – video

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 11:03 AM PST

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Donald Trump would never get rid of the 'scar' of impeachment, in her first weekly press conference since Trump was acquitted by the Senate.

Pelosi also responded to Trump's comments at the National Prayer Breakfast, where he implicitly insulted Pelosi and Republican senator Mitt Romney

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Donald Trump alludes to Mitt Romney and Nancy Pelosi in speech after acquittal – video

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 09:00 AM PST

The US president referenced support for his impeachment from both Mitt Romney and the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, at the national prayer breakfast. He added: 'When they impeach you for nothing, then you are supposed to like them. It is not easy'

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Nancy Pelosi appears to prepare in advance to rip up Trump's speech – video

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 08:44 AM PST

The US House speaker seemed to make a small tear in some pages of the text of Donald Trump's State of the Nation address almost an hour before she dramatically ripped it up at the end of the president's speech on Tuesday night.

The Senate has acquitted Trump of charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress

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Coronavirus: Briton tells of life on quarantined cruise ship – video

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 05:22 AM PST

David Abel, a British passenger, has been sharing videos on social media of life in quarantine on a cruise ship off Japan.

Japan on Thursday confirmed another 10 infections among 3,700 passengers and crew stuck onboard the Diamond Princess, a cruise ship moored off the port of Yokohama, near Tokyo. Ten people tested positive for the illness on Wednesday

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'Don't do this again': Schumer and McConnell clash over Trump acquittal – video

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 03:21 AM PST

The US senators Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer both held press conferences after the Senate acquitted Donald Trump on two impeachment charges. Schumer, the Democratic Senate minority leader, said Americans knew that 'this was one of the largest cover-ups in the history of our nation', while McConnell, the Republican Senate majority leader, warned the House of Representatives: 'Don't do this again'

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