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 live news: UK health secretary 'cannot rule out' England-wide restrictions as France reports 7,379 new cases

Posted: 29 Aug 2020 02:40 AM PDT

Demonstration against coronavirus curbs gets go-ahead for German capital; Australian state sees 18 deaths and 94 cases; India sets new daily record with more than 77,000 cases. Follow all the updates live

Hello everyone. My name is Sarah Marsh and I am a news reporter for the Guardian. I am bringing you the latest updates on coronavirus from the UK and beyond. Please do keep in touch while I work today if you have any news tips, comments or insights to share. You can get in touch via any of the channels below. Thanks so much in advance.

Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com

Azerbaijan has extended some coronavirus lockdown restrictions, including the closure of its borders, until 31 Sept after a further rise in the number of infections, the government said on Saturday.

Azerbaijan, which recorded a daily increase of coronavirus cases of between 130 and 180 in the past several weeks, will reopen museums and exhibition halls from 1 September, the government said.

But shopping malls will remain closed and public transport will be limited, while the ban on travelling between the regions remains in place, the government said.

Azerbaijan introduced measures to stem the coronavirus on 24 March and has extended them several times.

The South Caucasus country of about 10 million people had registered 35,986 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus and 527 deaths as of Saturday.

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France records 'exponential' increase in Covid-19 cases

Posted: 29 Aug 2020 02:14 AM PDT

Figure of 7,379 infections is highest number of new cases in 24 hours since height of epidemic at end of March

France has suffered an "exponential" increase in Covid-19 cases with 7,379 new infections in 24 hours, according to the country's public health authority.

The number of new cases has been growing steadily throughout August, but jumped from 6,111 positive tests on Thursday and 5,429 on Wednesday.

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New York's not dead, but pandemic has laid bare deep-seated problems

Posted: 29 Aug 2020 12:00 AM PDT

Jerry Seinfeld got into a spat about the Big Apple with a fellow millionaire but for others racial and class inequalities give debate about the city's health a very different look

Shabazz Stuart was one year old when the TV sitcom Seinfeld first went on air, and seven when the much-loved show about nothing broadcast its final episode. He's only ever known it as one of those late-night repeats that are fun to watch when you're at a loose end.

But this week there was no avoiding Seinfeld, or at least its creator and lead actor Jerry Seinfeld who roared back into the public eye with an opinion piece headlined "So You Think New York Is 'Dead'". The comedian was responding to a provocative post on LinkedIn by James Altucher, a hedge-fund manager who owns an Upper West Side standup comedy club where Seinfeld occasionally appears.

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'I'm going round in circles': parents in England still undecided about return to school

Posted: 29 Aug 2020 12:00 AM PDT

As government guidance continues to change over mask-wearing in schools, many are anxious about the risk to families

Eva Harratt, 13, would love to go to the park to meet her friends but it is forbidden because she lives in Oldham, the town in Greater Manchester facing restrictions due to a rise in Covid-19 cases. And yet, in five days, she is expected to return to her 1,370-pupil school and sit in classes of 30.

She likes school, misses her friends and wants to go back, but her mother is in the most vulnerable category because of an autoimmune disease. "Returning to school, I feel, is just not an option for me. They don't appear to have given much thought to families with shielding members, or how that may affect them. Personally, I would prefer for things to go back to normal as soon as possible, but in the current situation, it is just not plausible for me," says Eva.

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Chadwick Boseman: Black Panther star dies of cancer aged 43

Posted: 29 Aug 2020 02:09 AM PDT

The actor died at his home in Los Angeles after being diagnosed with colon cancer four years ago

Actor Chadwick Boseman, who played black icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown before finding fame as the regal Black Panther in the Marvel cinematic universe, has died of cancer, his representative said. He was 43.

Boseman died at his home in the Los Angeles area with his wife and family by his side, his publicist Nicki Fioravante said on Friday.

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'No social distancing': US college towns close bars as Covid-19 cases surge

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 06:39 PM PDT

Rise in campus infections from Missouri to Utah, and Alabama to Iowa forces local authorities to close bars and mandate masks

College towns across the United States have reimposed shutdowns after a spike in campus cases of coronavirus caused by students partying in large numbers on their return for the new academic year.

Despite waves of schools and businesses around the country being cleared to reopen, Columbia, Missouri joined cities in Alabama, Utah and Iowa in reimposing restrictions to deal with a surge of infections.

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Michelle Obama: 'I'm just devastated by the shootings in Kenosha'

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 04:07 PM PDT

The former first lady condemned the shooting of Jacob Blake by police as well as killings of Wisconsin protesters

Michelle Obama said she was "devastated" by the shootings in Kenosha, Wisconsin, this week and is "exhausted and frustrated" at the trauma of Black and brown people in the US.

In a lengthy statement released on Friday, the former first lady condemned the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Wisconsin man shot seven times in the back by police in front of his children, as well as the shooting of three protesters by an alleged 17-year-old rightwing militant in the protests that followed.

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Revealed: auditors raised minimum-wage red flags at Boohoo factories

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 06:46 AM PDT

Exclusive: Third-party reports set out allegations at 18 Leicester suppliers

The fast-fashion retailer Boohoo has been selling clothes made by at least 18 factories in Leicester that audits say have failed to prove they pay the minimum wage to workers, a Guardian investigation has found.

Third-party audit reports produced over the past four years make claims of "critical" issues over record-keeping and working hours at the time they were written, suggesting that in parts of the supply chain workers may be paid as little as £3-£4 an hour.

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Rivals plan Fox News-style opinionated TV station in UK

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 10:00 PM PDT

Groups pitching to perceived desire for alternative output as trust in BBC falls

Rival efforts are under way to launch a Fox News-style opinionated current affairs TV station in Britain to counter the BBC.

One group is promising a news channel "distinctly different from the out-of-touch incumbents" and has already been awarded a licence to broadcast by the media regulator, Ofcom, under the name "GB News". Its founder has said the BBC is a "disgrace" that "is bad for Britain on so many levels" and "needs to be broken up".

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Banksy-funded boat nears 'state of emergency' as it shelters 200 people

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 02:57 PM PDT

Crew of Louise Michel, who rescued 89 migrants on Thursday, say European authorities ignoring them

A rescue boat financed by the British street artist Banksy is close to declaring a "state of emergency" after the crew helped 130 migrants and are now safeguarding over 200 people off Libya's coast, while the European authorities ignore their request for help.

The vessel, named Louise Michel after a French feminist anarchist, set off in secrecy on 18 August from the Spanish seaport of Burriana, near Valencia, and is now in the central Mediterranean, where, on Thursday, it rescued 89 people including 14 women and four children.

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Barnier 'flabbergasted' at UK attempt to reopen Brexit specialty food debate

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 06:58 AM PDT

Bloc sources say Britain is trying to water down EU geographical protections

The UK government has renewed its attempt to reopen the chapter of the Brexit divorce treaty protecting specialty food and drink, such as Parma ham, roquefort cheese and champagne, in a move that left the EU chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, "a little bit flabbergasted".

The British proposal on protected status for food and drink was included in a draft free-trade agreement handed to Barnier by his opposite number, David Frost, last week, according to two EU sources.

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National Trust sacking education officers 'will hit worst-off children'

Posted: 29 Aug 2020 12:00 AM PDT

Volunteers accuse charity of excluding deprived and minority ethnic schoolchildren

Volunteers are accusing the National Trust of excluding deprived and minority ethnic schoolchildren from enjoying nature and visiting its properties with the planned sacking of the charity's education officers.

The number of protests and petitions are growing over the trust's controversial "reset" involving the proposed loss of 1,200 jobs, including its learning staff, as the charity plans to stop providing any curriculum-based content or learning activities for schools.

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Far-right activists filmed hassling asylum seekers in hotels

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 10:03 AM PDT

One video shows members of Britain First entering hotel and banging on bedroom doors

Anger is mounting over a series of videos posted by far-right organisations in which activists enter hotels where asylum seekers are being held, knock on their doors to interrogate them and accuse them of wasting taxpayers' money.

A video by Britain First, circulated widely on social media, shows a group of far-right activists entering a hotel in Bromsgrove, near Birmingham, and banging on bedroom doors, demanding to know what country the asylum seekers are from.

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Outcry in Iran at nine-year sentence for man who beheaded daughter

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 10:31 AM PDT

Mother of 14-year-old victim expresses fury at lenient sentence as critics say Iranian law unfairly favours men

An Iranian man who beheaded his 14-year-old daughter has been sentenced to only nine years in jail, in a case that has sparked outrage at the way Iranian law appears to enshrine supposed male rights over women's lives.

Rana Dashti, the mother of 14-year-old Romina Ashrafi, expressed fury at the lenient sentence in an interview with the Iranian Labor news agency (Ilna) on Friday and said the court's ruling had "caused fear and panic for me and my family".

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Neuralink: Elon Musk unveils pig he claims has computer implant in brain

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 06:25 PM PDT

Billionare entrepreneur presented animal during a livestream event to recruit workers for his neuroscience startup

The tech entrepreneur Elon Musk on Friday showed off a pig whose brain he says has been implanted with a small computer.

"We have a healthy and happy pig, initially shy but obviously high energy and, you know, kind of loving life, and she's had the implant for two months," Musk said of Gertrude, the pig.

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Caitlin Moran: 'Every few years, I reread How To Be A Woman and marvel at what I got wrong'

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 11:00 PM PDT

When the author wrote her 2011 bestseller, she assumed she was through the hard bit. Ten years later, she's still learning

One day, back in 2011, I was on the train going into central London, when a big group of 14-year-old girls ran up to me, like a gang of giggling meerkats, shouting, "Are you – are you CAITLIN MORAN? You wrote How To Be A Woman? Oh, my God! We learned about masturbation from that! Dude, it's amazing! We've all started doing it now! We've formed a gang! At school! It's called wank club! And we come in every morning and say how many times we did it last night – and then high five each other! In the playground! Shouting Wank Club! Can we shake your hand?"

"Well, if your wrists aren't already too tired – then, yes," I said.

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Belarus deports Swedish journalist amid media crackdown

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 02:44 PM PDT

Paul Hansen one of 50 reporters, including BBC Moscow's Steve Rosenberg, detained by police

A Swedish photojournalist has been deported from Belarus, amid a crackdown on local and foreign media and ahead of further mass protests planned for this weekend against the president, Alexander Lukashenko.

Paul Hansen was given 24 hours to leave the country and banned from Belarus for five years. He was one of 50 reporters rounded up by riot police on Thursday and taken into custody, ostensibly so their documents could be checked.

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Sexual assault, forced labor, wage theft: garment workers in Jordan suffer for US brands

Posted: 29 Aug 2020 12:00 AM PDT

Activist groups work towards improving labor conditions in textile factories but abolishing the industry's 'norms' is an uphill battle

Mehedi Mehedi, a 36-year-old Bangladeshi garment worker who had spent 14 years working in Jordan, left the country forever last December. It was not an easy decision to make: Mehedi had met his wife in Jordan, he had no guarantees of finding a job back in Bangladesh, and he was desperate to work in order to support his chronically ill father.

In Jordan, Mehedi had been working for a subcontracting factory that supplies apparel to brands like Ralph Lauren, Under Armour, and American Eagle. But after spending his last six months without regular pay, he had reached a breaking point.

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'DemExit': virtual convention aims to create US leftwing alternative

Posted: 29 Aug 2020 01:00 AM PDT

The Movement for a People's Party believes Democrats and Republicans will always choose profits over people, and 12,000 have signed up to hear more

Joe Biden's acceptance speech at the virtual Democratic national convention made one reference to "middle class" and one to "working families". It never mentioned the word "poverty".

Related: Biden feared 'ideological jihad' from Sanders after primary win

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Ecuadorian man and woman become world's oldest married couple

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 01:46 PM PDT

Julio Mora, 110, and Waldramina Quinteros, 104, a combined nearly 215 years, received Guinness certification in mid-August

Julio Mora slipped away from his parents to secretly marry Waldramina Quinteros one February day. Both families disapproved.

Seventy-nine years later, they're still together – he is 110 years of age, and she is 104, both lucid and both in good health, though relatives say they're a little depressed because they miss their big family get-togethers due to the pandemic.

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Pacific's fight against Covid-19 hamstrung by lack of clean water

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 01:00 PM PDT

Access to clean, safe drinking water across the Pacific is the lowest of any region in the world, raising fears for the rapid spread of coronavirus

Papua New Guinea's battle against a climbing rate of Covid-19 infections is being hampered by the most basic of shortages – access to clean water –public health experts have warned.

Case numbers have jumped from just 11 cases two months ago to 424 on Friday, with four deaths. And efforts to contain escalating case numbers throughout the archipelago, and to prevent outbreaks across the Pacific region, are being hamstrung because thousands cannot access clean water for hand-washing and cleaning, the region's key development agency says.

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Victoria's new coronavirus cases fall to lowest rate in two months as 18 more die from Covid-19

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 11:45 PM PDT

Premier Daniel Andrews says it is 'too early' to allow people who live alone to visit other households

The number of new Covid-19 cases in Victoria has dropped below 100 for the first time since 5 July but the state has recorded another 18 deaths, 16 of those linked to aged care outbreaks.

The premier, Daniel Andrews, said while announcing the 94 new cases that the downward trend was promising but cases would need to drop to "the lowest number we can get" before restrictions were eased.

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'We're not taking it any more': Jacob Blake's family lead Washington rally – video

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 02:42 PM PDT

The family of Wisconsin shooting victim Jacob Blake condemned racism and demanded criminal justice reform as they spoke in front of thousands at the Commitment March in Washington DC. Earlier this week Blake was shot multiple times in the back by police, leaving him paralysed. The protest, announced in early June following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, marked the anniversary of the demonstration at which Martin Luther King gave his historic 'I Have a Dream' speech.

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'Say her name': Rand Paul confronted by protesters over after Republican convention – video

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 11:12 AM PDT

A group of angry protesters has confronted senator Rand Paul near the White House in Washington DC. As Rand walked through the crowd with his wife, demonstrators chanted 'say her name', in reference to Breonna Taylor, a black woman from Kentucky who was shot dead by police in May. After the incident, Paul tweeted to say that he had been 'attacked by an angry mob of over 100'.

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Protesters try to drown out Donald Trump's acceptance speech on last day of RNC – video highlights

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 05:30 AM PDT

Shinzo Abe resigns as Japanese prime minister due to ill-health – video

Posted: 28 Aug 2020 02:54 AM PDT

Japan's longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has announced his resignation, citing ill-health. His departure marks the end of an unusual era of stability in which the Japanese leader struck up strong ties with the US president, Donald Trump, even as Abe's ultra-nationalism riled the Koreas and China. Although he pulled Japan out of recession, the economy has been battered anew by the coronavirus pandemic

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