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- Senior ICC judges authorise Afghanistan war crimes inquiry
- Putin and Erdoğan in last-ditch talks to secure Syria ceasefire
- Coronavirus could be as bad for airlines as financial crisis, as Flybe fails – business live
- Pressure on Elizabeth Warren after Bloomberg drops out of Democrat race - live updates
- Nine out of 10 people found to be biased against women
- Brazilians call for boycotts of major companies that support Bolsonaro
- One in five Europeans exposed to harmful noise pollution – study
- Johnson pushed to disclose when he heard Patel bullying claims
- UNAids chief vows to act after tribunal upholds staff harassment complaints
- US-China media row deepens as Beijing hints at revenge over curbs on state media
- Prince's dagger returned to Indonesia after 45 years lost in Dutch archive
- Fever dreams: did author Dean Koontz really predict coronavirus?
- Forget the ‘red wall’, Labour can win by appealing to a new demographic | Alex Niven
- The humanitarian crisis in Turkey shines a light on Europe’s failures | Elif Shafak
- Analysis shows climate finance not reaching most vulnerable
- Drought-breaking rain brings joy to some Australian towns, but many dams still await relief
- Save the Children chief resists calls to quit after damning watchdog inquiry
- After the Christchurch shooting politicians promised tolerance. It didn’t last | Morgan Godfery
- British public demands more information on coronavirus cases
- A world without handshakes is a vision of real intimacy
- Here’s why Greece’s economic ‘recovery’ has been good news for no one but the rich | Yanis Varoufakis
- Brawl erupts in Turkish parliament over military involvement in Syria – video
- Mike Bloomberg endorses Joe Biden in bid to 'defeat Donald Trump' – video
- Footshakes and elbow bumps: new coronavirus greetings – video
- Coronavirus: doctors and nurses in Iran filmed dancing in bid to boost morale – video
- Mike Bloomberg: four issues that hindered his presidential hopes – video
- How to stop the spread of coronavirus – video explainer
| Senior ICC judges authorise Afghanistan war crimes inquiry Posted: 05 Mar 2020 02:04 AM PST Decision overturns earlier rejection of request to examine actions of US soldiers Senior judges at the international criminal court have authorised an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, overturning an earlier rejection of the inquiry. The ruling by the ICC's appeals chamber in The Hague is likely to infuriate the Trump administration, which has condemned the request from the court's chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, to examine the actions of US soldiers in Afghanistan. Continue reading... |
| Putin and Erdoğan in last-ditch talks to secure Syria ceasefire Posted: 05 Mar 2020 01:54 AM PST Russian and Turkish leaders will try to hammer out yet another deal to stabilise Idlib A summit between the leaders of Turkey and Russia on Thursday may be the last chance to work out a deal that avoids further calamity in north-west Syria. Faced with increasing military losses in Idlib province and a potential wave of people fleeing the fighting, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is eager for a ceasefire – and Vladimir Putin is ready to bargain. Continue reading... |
| Coronavirus could be as bad for airlines as financial crisis, as Flybe fails – business live Posted: 05 Mar 2020 03:37 AM PST IATA warns Covid-19 will cost airlines up to $113bn in revenue this year, as regional airline Flybe collapses, and experts fear others will follow
In parliament, transport minister Kelly Tolhurst is giving a statement on Flybe's collapse. She says the government has been working "tirelessly" with Flybe's owners since January (when the firm nearly collapsed). Unfortunately, in a competitive market, companies do fail, and it is not the role of government to prop them up.
European stock markets have fallen sharply this morning, as fears of a global downturn rise again. The FTSE 100 index has dropped by over 1.5%, wiping out Wednesday's recovery, as shares continue to whip-saw around. Continue reading... |
| Pressure on Elizabeth Warren after Bloomberg drops out of Democrat race - live updates Posted: 05 Mar 2020 03:35 AM PST With Bloomberg's departure, pressure is on third-placed Elizabeth Warren whose White House hopes have dwindled
Less than a week ago, the conventional wisdom among American pundits and pollsters was that the democratic socialist Bernie Sanders was cruising toward the Democratic presidential nomination. Then came Super Tuesday. Joe Biden won critical states such as Texas, Virginia and North Carolina, and finished first in Massachusetts and Minnesota, where a week ago he was projected to finish fifth. Now much of the talking-head consensus is shifting toward proclaiming Biden the favorite. Do the people who pronounce on politics really know any more about what's going on than the random loudmouth in the pub or coffee shop? Director of political studies at the Niskanen Center Geoffrey Kabaservice writes for us, asking if there are more shocks ahead in the primary race. Related: Super Tuesday results surprised pundits. Do more shocks await us? | Geoffrey Kabaservice
You feel that Donald Trump will be slightly disappointed that Mike Bloomberg has dropped out of the race this early. He certainly seemed to enjoy needling the billionaire on Twitter. Here's a reminder of the speech Bloomberg gave to announce that he was now backing Joe Biden Related: How Elizabeth Warren destroyed Mike Bloomberg's campaign in 60 seconds Continue reading... |
| Nine out of 10 people found to be biased against women Posted: 04 Mar 2020 09:01 PM PST Analysis of 75 countries reveals 'shocking' scale of global women's rights backlash Almost 90% of people are biased against women, according to a new index that highlights the "shocking" extent of the global backlash towards gender equality. Despite progress in closing the equality gap, 91% of men and 86% of women hold at least one bias against women in relation to politics, economics, education, violence or reproductive rights. Continue reading... |
| Brazilians call for boycotts of major companies that support Bolsonaro Posted: 05 Mar 2020 02:30 AM PST Boycotts follow plans for demonstration against Brazil's Democratic institutions, which have been backed by businesses Brazilians appalled by Jair Bolsonaro's bigotry and authoritarianism are calling for boycotts of major companies whose founders or owners support the far-right president. Bolsonaro has often attacked LBGT people, indigenous people, and journalists, and expressed admiration for military dictatorship, but the immediate trigger for the boycotts was a planned demonstration against the country's Democratic institutions, which has been backed by some business leaders – and the president himself. Continue reading... |
| One in five Europeans exposed to harmful noise pollution – study Posted: 04 Mar 2020 10:00 PM PST Estimated 113 million people across continent affected by road noise at unhealthy levels One in five Europeans is exposed to harmful levels of noise pollution, and this number is set to rise in the next decade, with road traffic the biggest culprit, a new study has shown. Excessive noise can cause physical and mental illness, and is associated with higher levels of heart disease, stress and sleeplessness. About 12,000 premature deaths are caused by noise in Europe each year, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA), while noise contributes to about 48,000 cases of ischaemic heart disease. Continue reading... |
| Johnson pushed to disclose when he heard Patel bullying claims Posted: 04 Mar 2020 12:56 PM PST Westminster sources claim the Conservative party was warned about a bullying allegation Boris Johnson is under pressure to disclose when he first heard claims of bullying by Priti Patel as new details emerged of her alleged behaviour towards staff in three government departments. The prime minister brushed over Jeremy Corbyn's repeated questions on Wednesday, asking how much he knew about the allegations when he appointed Patel as home secretary last summer. Several sources claim the Cabinet Office was told about her alleged intimidation of staff in 2017. Continue reading... |
| UNAids chief vows to act after tribunal upholds staff harassment complaints Posted: 04 Mar 2020 11:00 PM PST Winnie Byanyima pledges to stamp out abuse after International Labour Organization rules that agency breached duty of care The head of UNAids said the agency would "take stock, learn and become a stronger and better organisation" after a tribunal ruled that it had failed in its duty to deal adequately with complaints of staff harassment. In an email to staff, Winnie Byanyima, who promised to stamp out abusive behaviour when she took over the agency in November, said losing a case at the International Labour Organization tribunal – the highest internal court of appeal – was "very significant". Continue reading... |
| US-China media row deepens as Beijing hints at revenge over curbs on state media Posted: 04 Mar 2020 10:08 PM PST Official news agency protests against Washington's cap on US-based Chinese nationals working for state-owned outlets China has hinted at retaliation against the US for its decision to slash the number of Chinese state media staff allowed in the country, escalating a diplomatic feud over the treatment of journalists in both nations. State news agency Xinhua issued a statement on Wednesday protesting Washington's announcement this week that it would cap the number of US-based Chinese nationals working for five state-owned media outlets. The move came after China expelled three Wall Street Journal reporters. Continue reading... |
| Prince's dagger returned to Indonesia after 45 years lost in Dutch archive Posted: 05 Mar 2020 03:38 AM PST Discovery of secret memos led to two-year search for 19th-century cultural treasure Forty-five years after the Netherlands promised its return, a gold-inlaid dagger surrendered by a "rebel prince" after his failed 1830 uprising against Dutch rule in Indonesia has been handed back to Jakarta. The kris, a dagger with a waved blade, was among a number of Prince Diponegoro's belongings that the Netherlands' vowed in 1975 to return, only for the priceless cultural treasure to go missing. Continue reading... |
| Fever dreams: did author Dean Koontz really predict coronavirus? Posted: 05 Mar 2020 02:00 AM PST From 'Wuhan-400', the deadly virus invented by Dean Koontz in 1981, to the plague unleashed in Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, novelists have long been fascinated by pandemics According to an online conspiracy theory, the American author Dean Koontz predicted the coronavirus outbreak in 1981. His novel The Eyes of Darkness made reference to a killer virus called "Wuhan-400" – eerily predicting the Chinese city where Covid-19 would emerge. But the similarities end there: Wuhan-400 is described as having a "kill‑rate" of 100%, developed in labs outside the city as the "perfect" biological weapon. An account with more similarities, also credited by some as predicting coronavirus, is found in the 2011 film Contagion, about a global pandemic that jumps from animals to humans and spreads arbitrarily around the globe. But when it comes to our suffering, we want something more than arbitrariness. We want it to mean something. This is evident in our stories about illness and disease, from contemporary science fiction all the way back to Homer's Iliad. Even malign actors are more reassuring than blind happenstance. Angry gods are better than no gods at all. Continue reading... |
| Forget the ‘red wall’, Labour can win by appealing to a new demographic | Alex Niven Posted: 05 Mar 2020 02:53 AM PST The next leader should focus on building support among young people, families and precarious workers around urban centres The candidate who secures the mandate of the Labour membership in April will require humility and subtlety. Humility, because the size of the Tory majority is formidable; subtlety, because the electorate is changing in ways that suggest there is no easy path to revive Labour's vote share. To win the most seats at the next election, let alone form a majority government, the new leader will need to engineer a breakthrough in several parts of the country simultaneously, from politically ambivalent Cornwall to the new SNP strongholds in Scotland. Along the way, of course, large chunks of support will need to be clawed back in the so-called "red wall" areas of the post-industrial north and Midlands, which turned so decisively blue in 2019. Continue reading... |
| The humanitarian crisis in Turkey shines a light on Europe’s failures | Elif Shafak Posted: 05 Mar 2020 02:30 AM PST Turkey was once on course to join the EU. The desperate refugees trapped on its border reflect a broken relationship To understand Europe, we need to look more carefully at its borders. Too often, the debates on the future of Europe focus on a few leading nations and overlook the periphery. Yet the fate of the continent is deeply and inevitably connected with what's happening along its fringes. And there is no bordering country that has as complex and confusing a relationship with Europe as Turkey – it was, after all, the Ottoman empire that was first referred to as "the sick man of Europe". Related: Migration: EU praises Greece as 'shield' after Turkey opens border Continue reading... |
| Analysis shows climate finance not reaching most vulnerable Posted: 04 Mar 2020 04:01 PM PST Funding is intended to help countries protect their people from the climate breakdown People in some of the world's poorest countries are receiving as little as $1 each a year to help them cope with the impacts of the climate crisis, despite rich countries' promises to provide assistance. Climate finance is intended to help developing countries cut greenhouse gases and protect their people from the consequences of climate breakdown, and forms a core part of the Paris agreement. Rich countries pledged more than 10 years ago to provide £100bn a year to the poor by 2020, but it is not certain that these commitments are being met. Continue reading... |
| Drought-breaking rain brings joy to some Australian towns, but many dams still await relief Posted: 04 Mar 2020 11:05 PM PST Heavy rainfall across New South Wales and Queensland boosts rivers and allow farmers to plant crops for the first time in several seasons Heavy and widespread rain across three states is bringing joy to parched towns with some farming regions receiving "drought-breaking" rains. Further rainfall from ex-Tropical Cyclone Esther was delivering water into regional water storages and rivers, with farmers able to plant crops for the first time in several seasons. Continue reading... |
| Save the Children chief resists calls to quit after damning watchdog inquiry Posted: 04 Mar 2020 06:31 AM PST Charity Commission accuses organisation of mishandling sexual harassment allegations levelled at former senior staff The head of one of Britain's biggest charities resisted calls to resign on Wednesday after a damning inquiry into the organisation's handling of allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour against senior managers. A Charity Commission investigation into Save the Children's handling of claims against Justin Forsyth and Brendan Cox, respectively the charity's former chief executive and policy director, will be published on Thursday. Continue reading... |
| After the Christchurch shooting politicians promised tolerance. It didn’t last | Morgan Godfery Posted: 04 Mar 2020 10:20 PM PST Ahead of the first anniversary, New Zealand First's Shane Jones goes into election mode and stokes racial tensions Isn't it astonishing that, not even two weeks out from the Christchurch shooting's first anniversary, the senior cabinet minister Shane Jones – an MP for New Zealand First, a party you could arguably describe as our local Ukip branch – is basing his re-election campaign on stoking anti-immigrant racism. In a television sit-down last weekend the "retail politician" – Jones's words – went after the Indian community, blaming its students for "ruining" New Zealand universities and arguing the country was opening the doors too widely to immigrants from "New Delhi". He guaranteed that only New Zealand First would cut immigration. Labour, in Jones's telling, is too "PC" to make the necessary cuts, and National are apparently in the pocket of Johnny foreigner taking big-money donations from overseas contributors. They won't follow through either. Continue reading... |
| British public demands more information on coronavirus cases Posted: 04 Mar 2020 11:51 AM PST Announcing a plan to offer less data on the UK spread of the virus was probably not smart In South Korea, those worried about new coronavirus cases can trace the commute and daily movements of infected people before their diagnosis by logging on to an app. In China too, you can track new cases as they are confirmed in real time and find out whether you have been on a flight or in a train with somebody who was later diagnosed. In the UK, however, as confirmed cases jumped by 36 – the biggest surge so far – the Department of Health and Social Care announced on Twitter that it would no longer be tweeting their general locations, let alone their travelling habits, "due to the number of new cases". Instead, it planned to put out a regional breakdown once a week, it said. Continue reading... |
| A world without handshakes is a vision of real intimacy Posted: 04 Mar 2020 07:57 AM PST As rituals change to avoid the spread of coronavirus, it's time to look into people's souls instead On Sunday, at St Mary's church in Harbourne, Birmingham, Father John told us there would be a few changes during mass. Mindful of coronavirus – no respecter of nations or faiths – there would be no blessed chalice and the communion wafers would be placed only in our hands, not on our tongues. There had been no holy water to bless ourselves with on the way in. And Fr John assured us it should not be taken as rudeness when he didn't shake hands with each of us on the way out. I have never been one for the taking of the wafer directly on to the tongue; a bit old-school for me. But the ritual of the holy water – the four faint, soon-fading, watery marks on our foreheads and chests – have always kind of ached with meaning for me. But what really unsettled me was the plea not to shake hands during the sign of peace. Just in case you have never had the pleasure, the sign of peace, in a Catholic mass, comes between the Lord's Prayer and the breaking of the bread. The priest invites us to "Offer each other the sign of peace". We then shake hands with those around us and say: "Peace be with you". Before I was a Catholic, this bit astounded me. I would go along to mass with one or more of my beery, footbally college mates, and then suddenly we would be wishing each other peace, which wasn't the kind of thing we ever wished each other in the general run of things. Nice. It has always been a highlight of mass for me, and not only because it is a sign that you are, er, nearer to the end of mass than the beginning. I love it for its simplicity. Who, of whatever faith or none, could possibly object to having peace wished upon them? Continue reading... |
| Posted: 04 Mar 2020 06:37 AM PST Buoyed by fire sales of public assets, a tiny minority of Greeks are thriving. Everyone else is mired in hopelessness Spring is already in the air across Greece. Even in the bleakest of times, nature's renaissance renders hope irrepressible. But this one is proving a cruel spring for a people caught up in a decade-old crisis yielding one ritual humiliation after another. Costas runs a small bookshop in my central Athens neighbourhood. Although jovial by constitution, he finds it difficult to hide the worry lines multiplying on his face. Fifteen years ago he put his flat up as collateral for a business loan to spruce up the bookshop. When the Greek debt crisis wreaked its havoc, it was impossible to service that loan. Continue reading... |
| Brawl erupts in Turkish parliament over military involvement in Syria – video Posted: 05 Mar 2020 02:34 AM PST A fight broke out in Turkey's parliament on Wednesday during tense discussions over the country's military involvement in north-west Syria. The clash started when Engin Özkoç of the opposition Republican People's party took the rostrum. During a news conference shortly before, Özkoç had called President Erdoğan 'dishonourable, ignoble, low and treacherous' and accused him of irresponsibility for sending troops into a conflict without air cover Continue reading... |
| Mike Bloomberg endorses Joe Biden in bid to 'defeat Donald Trump' – video Posted: 04 Mar 2020 01:38 PM PST The former New York mayor has endorsed Joe Biden after suspending his 2020 Democratic presidential campaign. Addressing his supporters, the billionaire candidate said he got into the race 'to defeat Donald Trump' and was leaving for the same reason. Bloomberg added: 'I've always believed that defeating Donald Trump starts with uniting behind the candidate with the best shot to do it. It is clear that candidate is my friend and a great American Joe Biden' Continue reading... |
| Footshakes and elbow bumps: new coronavirus greetings – video Posted: 04 Mar 2020 11:09 AM PST Coronavirus is changing social interaction as more and more people are thinking twice about handshakes, cheek kisses and hugs in the midst of the outbreak. People around the world are coming up with new and safer ways – from elbow bumps to footshakes – to greet each other Continue reading... |
| Coronavirus: doctors and nurses in Iran filmed dancing in bid to boost morale – video Posted: 04 Mar 2020 08:09 AM PST Footage has appeared on social media of Iranian health workers dancing and singing in an effort to keep morale up as the country faces the worst coronavirus outbreak outside China. About 8% of the Iranian parliament's MPs have tested positive for the coronavirus, officials have said, as the country announced plans to mobilise 300,000 soldiers and volunteers to fight the epidemic. 'Indecent' behaviour in public is banned in Iran, which means dancing can sometimes by punished under the country's religious laws Continue reading... |
| Mike Bloomberg: four issues that hindered his presidential hopes – video Posted: 04 Mar 2020 07:42 AM PST The billionaire Mike Bloomberg has suspended his Democratic presidential campaign after launching one of the most audacious political campaigns in modern times – pouring almost half a billion dollars of his vast fortune into creating the most expensive nomination bid in US history. The former mayor of New York has come under intense scrutiny and failed to seize the moderate lane from his rival Joe Biden: here's a look at the key issues that hurt his race to the White House Continue reading... |
| How to stop the spread of coronavirus – video explainer Posted: 04 Mar 2020 06:57 AM PST Covid-19, first seen last year in Wuhan, China, has infected tens of thousands of people and, as of Wednesday 4 March, killed more than 3,000 people globally. As the world faces soaring numbers of infections, the Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley, discusses what we can do to protect ourselves
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