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

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

Government quietly drops 1.3m Covid tests from England tally

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 10:00 PM PDT

Exclusive: Double counting raises fresh questions about accuracy of testing figures

The government has quietly removed 1.3m coronavirus tests from its data because of double counting, raising fresh questions about the accuracy of the testing figures.

In the government's daily coronavirus update on Wednesday, it announced it had lowered the figure for "tests made available" by about 10% and discontinued the metric.

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'We're at a critical moment': Spain sees coronavirus cases surge again

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 09:00 PM PDT

One of Europe's deadliest outbreaks appeared under control in May but Spain's convivial culture may be aiding new infections

Applause and cheers rang out in May as Spain shut down its largest makeshift hospital – hastily erected in Madrid's convention centre – in what was seen as a symbolic turning point in one of Europe's deadliest battles with Covid-19.

Less than four months later, Spain's military has again been dispatched to build a field hospital, this time in the north-eastern city of Zaragoza, as the country grapples with one of the highest rates of infection in western Europe.

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Lagos's poor lament Covid fallout: 'we don't see the virus, we see suffering'

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 10:00 PM PDT

Lockdown has tipped many working-class Nigerians from struggle to crisis

Drawing open the curtains in Alapere, Lagos, unveils a sea of shanty roofs and watery-coloured housing blocks. "We don't see any virus but we see suffering," says Juliana Chokpa, a 38-year-old cleaner.

This working-class Lagos community has been reeling from job losses, a collapse in informal services, and rising food and transport costs. The pandemic, Chokpa says, has wrought a swift descent from struggle into crisis.

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Second time unlucky: Covid restrictions derail Japan PM's holiday - again

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 10:41 PM PDT

Shinzo Abe had planned to visit family during O-bon holiday but political rival Tokyo mayor calls on capital's residents to stay home

Millions of people who have been forced to cancel holidays due to the coronavirus outbreak might struggle to sympathise, but Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is among those forced to forego his summer break – and he has a political rival to blame.

Abe, who has been criticised for his handling of a recent rise in Covid-19 infections, was reportedly due to return to his constituency in Yamaguchi prefecture this week as Japan began several days of public holidays.

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Coronavirus live news: France hits back at UK quarantine; New Zealand extends Auckland lockdown

Posted: 14 Aug 2020 03:02 AM PDT

France and Spain report highest post-lockdown cases; New Zealand outbreak spreads; Australia records youngest coronavirus death

In Germany, almost four times as many people than previously reported had coronavirus in a town that had one of the country's earliest outbreak, new research suggests.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases said it had tested 2,203 people in the town of Kupferzell in southern Germany, where a church concert lead to a coronavirus outbreak in early March.

Experts have welcomed the extension of lockdown restrictions in New Zealand's biggest city, Auckland, saying prime minister Jacinda Ardern had little choice but to clamp down on the virus amid signs that it is spreading wider than previously thought.

Ardern announced a few hours ago that 29 new cases had been identified linked to the previous cluster of four in the south of Auckland. This means Auckland will remain at Level 3 lockdown – with public venues such as museums and gyms closed – and wider New Zealand at Level 2 for a further 12 days, until midnight on 26 August.

The good news is that the community cases found so far are all likely linked to the same cluster and there is no evidence yet of multiple clusters. But it's almost certain there are more cases still to be found, so the government really had no option other than to extend the restrictions.

The incubation period of the virus can be up to 12 days, so people who were infected before the restrictions came into effect may not develop symptoms until towards the end of this two week period. That means we need this extra time to have confidence that we have found all the cases that are out there.

There is a clear signal that case numbers are likely to continue to rise, and that the index case is still not confirmed.

However, the public health work to contain the cluster outbreak does not need this information to be effective. However, people will want to find the source of the outbreak if they possibly can, and that will also add to a sense of agency and control over the outbreak for the community.

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As he struggles in the polls, Trump reaches for the racist playbook again

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 09:29 PM PDT

The US president began his political career with the 'birtherism' lie about Obama. He's doing the same once more

"Mr President," a reporter asked on Thursday. "After three and a half years, do you regret, at all, all the lying you've done to the American people?"

A disbelieving Trump asked: "All the what?"

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Iran and Turkey denounce UAE over deal with Israel

Posted: 14 Aug 2020 02:08 AM PDT

Tehran says deal to establish full diplomatic ties is 'dagger in the backs of the Palestinian people'

Iran and Turkey have accused the United Arab Emirates of abandoning the Palestinians, a day after the Gulf state announced it would become the third Arab country to establish full diplomatic ties with Israel.

Iran's foreign ministry denounced the Washington-brokered deal as an act of "strategic stupidity from Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv" and said it was a "dagger … unjustly struck by the UAE in the backs of the Palestinian people and all Muslims".

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Belarus pledges to release all protesters as evidence of beatings mounts

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 09:54 PM PDT

EU set to discuss possible sanctions against Minsk as Russia says protests a 'clear attempt at outside interference'

Belarus's deputy interior minister has pledged to release all protesters by Friday morning, as evidence about beatings and mistreatment by police inside detention centres grew.

On Thursday night Alexander Barsukov told reporters outside the Okrestina detention centre in the capital, Minsk: "We will release everyone by 6am."

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Beirut blast: dozens of historic buildings in Lebanon capital at risk of collapse

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 05:42 PM PDT

Unesco vows to lead global effort to rescue culture and heritage of Beirut as FBI joins inquiry to investigate cause of massive port blast

About 60 historic buildings in Beirut are at risk of collapse following last week's devastating port explosion, Lebanese officials have warned, as the UN's cultural agency vowed to lead the international campaign for the recovery and restoration of Beirut's heritage.

At least 8,000 buildings, many concentrated in the historic quarters of Gemayzeh and Mar Mikhael, were affected, said Sarkis Khoury, director general of antiquities at Lebanon's Ministry of Culture, according to Unesco. Among them are some 640 historic buildings, approximately 60 of which were at risk of collapse, he said.

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A star is reborn: dust cloud blamed for dimming of Betelgeuse

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 09:31 PM PDT

Mystery had enthralled skywatchers since the star began to lose luminosity last October – with some suggesting it could explode

The sudden dimming of one of the Milky Way's brightest stars, Betelgeuse, could be due to a dust cloud spewing up from its surface, astronomers have said.

The mystery has enthralled skywatchers since the star – part of the Orion constellation – began to lose luminosity last October, with some experts suggesting it could herald its explosion into a supernova.

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'Soulmates': Michael Cohen describes his life as Trump's fixer in new book

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 05:57 PM PDT

Book by president's former lawyer will be released in September after justice department gag order to stop publication was dropped

A teaser for Michael Cohen's book about his time as Donald Trump's lawyer and fixer and his fall from grace was released on Thursday, after the US justice department had issued a gag order to stop the book's publication that was later dropped.

The book, entitled Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J Trump, is slated to be released sometime in September, ahead of the presidential election in November.

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Apple and Google remove Fortnite video game from app stores

Posted: 14 Aug 2020 12:16 AM PDT

Move over payment guideline violations prompts maker Epic Games to take legal action

Apple and Google have removed the enormously popular video game Fortnite from their app stores for violating their in-app payment guidelines, prompting the maker, Epic Games, to take legal action challenging the tech giants' iron grip over the industry.

Its removal from Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store came after Fortnite circumvented the companies' in-app payment system and hefty fees, encouraging users to pay the gaming company directly.

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'We’re living like it’s not happening': Michelle Obama opens up about menopause

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 05:16 PM PDT

The former first lady used her podcast to also draw attention to other issues affecting women such as weight, ageing and image

Michelle Obama made a point of breaking taboos about women's health in the latest episode of her new podcast, talking about going through menopause in the workplace, weight, ageing and image.

In a conversation with Sharon Malone, a longtime friend and Washington DC-based obstetrician and gynecologist, the former first lady shared a story about having a hot flash while on Marine One, the presidential helicopter, before an event with then-president Barack Obama.

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Calais mayor tells Boris Johnson to 'calm down' over migrant crossings

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 04:38 PM PDT

Natacha Bouchart tells PM sending Navy ships into French waters is 'a declaration of maritime war'

The mayor of the French port city of Calais has told Boris Johnson to "calm down" and change strategy in dealing with migrants crossing from France.

"I consider Boris Johnson's pronouncements to be a provocation," said Natacha Bouchart, mayor of the town that is a main embarkation point for the small, overcrowded migrant boats seeking to cross the Channel this summer.

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'Do you regret all your lying?' White House reporter's question startles Trump

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 07:27 PM PDT

SV Dáte takes the president to task for repeated untruths but is quickly cut off

SV Dáte had waited five long years to ask Donald Trump one question: "Mr President, after three and a half years [of Trump's presidency], do you regret at all, all the lying you've done to the American people?"

Confronted with Dáte's question at Thursday's White House briefing, Trump responded with a question of his own. "All the what?" he said.

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Katy Perry: 'I've done a lot of falling flat on my face'

Posted: 14 Aug 2020 02:00 AM PDT

Nine months pregnant with an album due at the same time as the baby, the star once known for her unfiltered goofiness has evolved. She talks depression, cancel culture – and her return to pure pop

Via a webcam into her Los Angeles home, Katy Perry slowly descends into frame, nine months pregnant with her first child. She looks like the Virgin Mary via Warhol in a voluminous azure dress and a matching pearl-studded headband. "The conception was not virginal, I'll tell you that," she says with trademark cartoonish verve. All that's visible of her house is a lustrous brown curtain, the stage for her recent promo activities. She estimates that this is her 70th interview about her fifth album, Smile. (Going by the banal, grin-and-bear-it US radio interviews, she has the patience of a saint if not the impregnation tactics.) Baby and record were neck-and-neck until production delays bumped the latter to 28 August: the girl she and fiance Orlando Bloom have nicknamed "Kicky Perry" comes first.

The pandemic only slightly skewed her plans: Perry, 35, always intended to release the album, have a baby and skip touring, resenting the suggestion that she should have to choose. That said, it has helped that every pop star is working from home. "It's not like I was some witch with a spell: I'm gonna do it this way so you're gonna do it this way," she says with mock glee. "But yes, I probably don't have as much Fomo as I would have if the world hadn't shifted." Last night she was filming a video until 2am, her last big commitment: "There is definitely a groundedness of: 'Here's the music, enjoy, love ya, I'm out!'"

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Coronavirus: Wales poised to ease rules on household bubbles

Posted: 14 Aug 2020 12:56 AM PDT

Up to four households will be able to gather from 22 August if conditions remain stable

People in Wales will be able to see more of their families and friends under plans to further ease coronavirus restrictions.

Mark Drakeford, the first minister, said that should conditions remain stable over the next week then from 22 August, up to four households will be able to join together to form a single extended household.

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Travel shares plunge as France is added to UK Covid quarantine list

Posted: 14 Aug 2020 01:32 AM PDT

The British Airways owner, IAG, and struggling tourism group Tui are among the fallers

Shares in UK and French travel, hotel and airline companies have taken a hammering after the government's decision to take France off the safe-country list and impose a two-week quarantine on travellers.

With France, the second-most-popular destination for British travellers – joining Spain, the most popular – on the UK government's quarantine list, rattled investors sent shares tumbling across a broad range of companies with any involvement in the travel and hospitality sectors.

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With total control, President Déby is Chad's greatest threat to stability

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 11:00 PM PDT

'President for life' knows he is protected by France while Chadians die of hunger

Once a year, there is a ranking of the conditions of the world's nations. It's like a country's report card, with health, education and living standards as key indicators. The UN's Human Development Index tells citizens – and campaigners like me – how well or badly a country is doing.

Since 1990, the year Idriss Déby seized power, ousting his mentor Hissène Habré in a bloody war, Chad – a landlocked former French colony that separates the Sahara in the north from the savannah in the south – has consistently ranked at the bottom of the index, fluctuating between 160 and 187 (out of 189).

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Millions in US face losing water supply as coronavirus moratoriums end

Posted: 14 Aug 2020 03:00 AM PDT

Water shutoffs threaten basic anti-viral hygiene as debts mount amid the pandemic's economic fallout

Millions of families in America risk losing running water over unpaid bills as moratoriums on shutoffs expire across the country despite record levels of unemployment and mounting fatalities from the coronavirus pandemic.

Running water had been guaranteed to about two-thirds of Americans as hundreds of utilities suspended disconnections amid warnings from public health experts that good hygiene, particularly hand-washing, was crucial to curtailing the devastating spread of the coronavirus.

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China's billion dollar pig plan met with loathing by Argentinians

Posted: 14 Aug 2020 12:00 AM PDT

Chinese investment in Argentina's hog industry would boost exports, but environmentalists fear risk of pandemic

A government-sponsored plan to turbocharge Argentina's hog industry with Chinese capital is generating unprecedented resistance among its supposed beneficiaries – the Argentinian general public.

Nearly 400,000 people have signed petitions opposing the move. "We never had such a huge response before," said environmental lawyer Enrique Viale, one of the group who banded together last month to challenge the government's initiative. His petition currently has 200,000 signatures; another on change.org has almost 120,000 additional signatures, and three separate petitions on the same platform have clocked up another 55,000 between them.

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Ruby Princess inquiry finds NSW Health made 'serious' errors allowing cruise to disembark

Posted: 14 Aug 2020 02:35 AM PDT

Commissioner Bret Walker finds Australian Border Force did 'not play any part in the mishap'

The Ruby Princess inquiry has declined to make any recommendations against NSW Health, despite finding it made multiple "serious", "inexplicable" and "basic" errors when allowing the cruise ship to disembark in Sydney in March.

Commissioner Bret Walker SC argued in his final report, released on Friday, that it was "unhelpful to make recommendations to experts that in truth amount to no more than 'do your job'".

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'Peace where rights aren’t trampled': Afghan women's demands ahead of Taliban talks

Posted: 12 Aug 2020 11:15 PM PDT

With negotiations set to begin, women have been sharing their 'red lines' on the progress they refuse to see negotiated

Farahnaz Forotan was three when the Taliban had arrived in Kabul. It was 1996. "I have this memory of a snowy day, I was sitting on my mother's lap, in a minibus, and she was crying. I didn't understand why she was crying," Forotan says. It was the day her family became refugees.

"It was the civil war, and we had to leave our home and country to live in Iran – alive, but living in pain and facing discrimination," she says.

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Foe of a foe – the shared interests that make UAE a 'friend' of Israel

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 12:29 PM PDT

Common ground rests on a 'peace plan' aided by splintered Arab solidarity over Palestine

The peace deal that few saw coming had been gathering steam in plain sight. Even before the election of Donald Trump, Israel and the UAE had been inching closer, drawn together by three factors – enmity with Iran, a loathing of the Muslim Brotherhood, and a mutual belief that the agreed formula for peace with Palestinians was no longer working.

More than anything else, combating Iran became the conduit for the two sides. The adage of a foe of a foe becoming a friend has rarely been more apt. Tehran's determination to acquire a nuclear weapon, its extensive reach into the Arab world, potential to shut off the Strait of Hormuz, and Shia Islamic revolutionary zeal, provided enough common ground for both sides to sharply deepen intelligence links to strategic levels over the past four years.

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Jacinda Ardern extends Auckland coronavirus lockdown by 12 days – video

Posted: 14 Aug 2020 01:47 AM PDT

New Zealand has reported 13 new cases of coronavirus, with two cases emerging from Auckland where the country's outbreak began. The two cases occurred in the Waikato town of Tokoroa, 125 miles south of New Zealand's biggest city, and were linked to the Auckland outbreak, bringing the number of cases in the cluster to 29. One person is being treated in hospital.

The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said Auckland would remain in lockdown for an additional 12 days as health workers try to contain the 'perimeter' of the outbreak, the source of which remains a mystery. She said a North Island-wide lockdown was not being considered

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The underwater future of the Maldives – in pictures

Posted: 14 Aug 2020 01:00 AM PDT

By 2100 the island nation could be submerged. As a representation of the looming future Giulia Piermartiri and Edoardo Delille projected tourists' photos onto residents' homes in a series for Festivals Images Vevey

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Reporter asks Trump: 'Do you regret all your lying?' – video

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 11:35 PM PDT

The Huffington Post's White House correspondent, SV Dáte, broke from the usual question and answer protocol at President Trump's press briefings, posing a simple, yet cutting question: 'Mr President, after three-and-a-half years, do you regret at all, all the lying you've done to the American people?' Trump initially responded with his own question, 'All the what?', before ignoring Dáte and moving on to the next question

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Joe Biden and Kamala Harris call for nationwide mask mandate – video

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:43 PM PDT

Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden on Thursday called on all governors to mandate mask wearing to slow the spread of the coronavirus that has killed more than 165,000 people in the United States. In his second day on the campaign trail with former rival and now running mate Kamala Harris by his side, Biden made the call for a nationwide mandate on masks after a virtual meeting with public health advisers in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.

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Israel-UAE deal: Israelis and Palestinians react to historic agreement – video

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:26 PM PDT

Israel and the United Arab Emirates announced an agreement on Thursday that will lead to a full normalisation of diplomatic relations between the two states, a move that reshapes the order of Middle East politics from the Palestinian issue to Iran. However, cracks in the deal became quickly apparent, with Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying there was 'no change' to his annexation plans, while the UAE insisted that it 'immediately stops annexation'. The agreement was rejected by Palestinians, with some calling it a conspiracy

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Israel and UAE agree to 'historical peace agreement', says Donald Trump – video

Posted: 13 Aug 2020 10:05 AM PDT

Donald Trump has said the United Arab Emirates and Israel have agreed to establish full diplomatic ties as part of a deal to halt the annexation of occupied land sought by the Palestinians for their future state. 

Officials from the three countries called the accord 'historic' and a breakthrough toward peace. But Palestinian leaders, apparently taken by surprise, denounced it as a 'stab in the back' to their cause. The US say the agreement, to be known as the Abraham Accords, is the first of its kind since Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994. It also gives Trump a foreign policy success as he seeks re-election in November. However, cracks in the deal have became quickly apparent after its announcement on Thursday, with Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying there was 'no change' to his annexation plans, while the UAE insisted that it 'immediately stops annexation'

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