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

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


Global coronavirus report: WHO sees record daily rise in cases around world

Posted: 13 Sep 2020 09:34 PM PDT

India reports more than 94,000 new cases; Israel the first to reimpose national lockdown; encouraging signs in Australian state of Victoria

The World Health Organization reported a record one-day increase in global coronavirus cases on Sunday, with the total rising by 307,930 in 24 hours.

The biggest increases were from India, the United States and Brazil, according to the agency's website. Deaths rose by 5,537 to a total of 917,417.

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Coronavirus: 86% of doctors in England expect second wave within six months

Posted: 14 Sep 2020 12:08 AM PDT

BMA survey also found 90% thought test-and-trace failures were a risk factor

Almost 86% of doctors in England say they expect a second peak of coronavirus in the next six months, according to a new survey, as concern continues to grow over a recent rise in cases.

On Friday, new results from a population-based study suggested the R number for England is now at 1.7, with infections doubling every 7.7 days. While the prevalence of the disease remains lower than it was in the spring, an R value above 1 means cases could grow exponentially.

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Coronavirus pandemic fuelling plant poaching in Philippines

Posted: 14 Sep 2020 01:16 AM PDT

Gardening craze has led to endangered species being dug up from mountains and forests

Officials in the Philippines say the coronavirus pandemic is fuelling a new problem: a surge in plant poaching.

The country's lockdown earlier this year, one of the strictest in the world, helped drive demand for greenery among Filipinos who were longing for nature. Though restrictions have eased, the craze for gardening has continued, and officials say sellers are digging up endangered species in the mountains and forests.

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Guam boy, 10, dies as Covid outbreak threatens country's health system

Posted: 13 Sep 2020 10:48 PM PDT

Of island's nearly 1,900 cases, 70% were diagnosed in August and September, with one in 10 tests positive

A 10-year-old boy has become Covid-19's latest fatality on Guam, as the island struggles to rein in an outbreak that threatens to overwhelm its public health system.

The boy, who had underlying health conditions, died on Sunday night at the US Naval Hospital, 10 days after contracting the virus. He is the 26th person to die from Covid on Guam.

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Yoshihide Suga to be Japan's prime minister after winning party vote

Posted: 13 Sep 2020 11:36 PM PDT

Liberal Democratic party MPs vote to appoint Shinzo Abe loyalist as party leader

Yoshihide Suga is poised to become Japan's prime minister after he was comfortably elected to lead the ruling party following the resignation of Shinzo Abe.

Liberal Democratic party (LDP) MPs from both houses of parliament and representatives from prefectural party chapters voted overwhelmingly for Suga, with the Abe loyalist emerging from the poll on Monday with 377 of the 534 votes, well ahead of Fumio Kishida, a former foreign minister, with 89 votes, and Shigeru Ishiba, a former defence minister, with 68.

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David Cameron joins ex-PMs warning against Boris Johnson's Brexit bill

Posted: 14 Sep 2020 02:16 AM PDT

Ex-attorney general Geoffrey Cox says breaking international law risks damaging UK's standing

David Cameron has become the third former Conservative prime minister to express disquiet about Boris Johnson's proposal to breach international law by unilaterally redrafting part of the Brexit deal with the EU, saying he had "misgivings" about the idea.

In comments on Monday, before MPs began debating the internal market bill that sets out the plans, Cameron said: "Passing an act of parliament and then going on to break an international treaty obligation is the very, very last thing you should contemplate.

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Coronavirus live news: WHO reports record new global cases; Israel first country to reimpose national lockdown

Posted: 14 Sep 2020 03:09 AM PDT

WHO records more than 307,000 cases in 24 hours to Sunday; Victoria, Australia sees lowest case rise in nearly three months

The Busan International Film Festival, Asia's biggest gathering of its kind, will be reduced to a fraction of its usual scale with several sections moved online because of the pandemic, organisers said on Monday.

The event normally sees a host of stars and industry figures from across Asia and further afield, including some from Hollywood, descend on the South Korean port city for 10 days of critical consideration and financial deal-making.

Hi. Caroline Davies here taking over the blog for the next few hours. You can get in touch on caroline.davies@theguardian.com

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Trump's first indoor rally since June defies Covid laws, attacks Biden

Posted: 13 Sep 2020 09:31 PM PDT

Nevada event in front of a mostly mask-less crowd breaches state's 50-person limit and Trump administration's coronavirus guidelines

In open defiance of state regulations and his own administration's pandemic health guidelines, President Donald Trump on Sunday hosted his first indoor rally since June, telling a packed, nearly mask-less Nevada crowd that the nation was making the last turn in defeating the virus.

Eager to project a sense of normalcy in imagery, Trump soaked up the raucous cheers inside the warehouse venue. Relatively few in the crowd wore masks, with one clear exception: those in the stands directly behind Trump, whose images would end up on TV, were mandated to wear face coverings.

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Russia local elections: Navalny allies win council seats as Putin's party claims victory

Posted: 13 Sep 2020 05:46 PM PDT

Associates of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny celebrate victory in Siberia where he was poisoned

Allies of poisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have said they have secured city council seats in Siberia as independent monitors condemned a reported "stream" of voting irregularities in regional polls.

In several dozen of the country's 85 regions, Russians voted for regional governors and lawmakers in regional and city legislatures as well as in several by-elections for national MPs.

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Belarus: embattled Lukashenko flies to Sochi for Putin talks

Posted: 14 Sep 2020 01:31 AM PDT

Meeting could be crucial in determining if Belarusian president can weather protests

The embattled Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, is due to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in talks that could be crucial in determining whether or not he survives an ongoing protest movement against him.

Lukashenko's plane took off from Minsk on Monday morning, and he is due in Sochi, the Black Sea resort where Putin has a residence, for talks in the afternoon. The visit comes a day after Lukashenko's riot police struggled to deal with another huge rally in Minsk and other cities, in which water cannon was used against protesters. On Monday morning, the country's interior ministry said 774 people had been detained on Sunday, including more than 500 in Minsk.

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Donald Trump heading to California for wildfires briefing as death toll rises – US politics live

Posted: 14 Sep 2020 03:00 AM PDT

Good morning, welcome to our live coverage of US politics for Monday. Here's a quick catch-up on where we are, and a look forward to what we might expect later in the day.

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European meat plants posing 'avoidable risk' of disease, inspectors say

Posted: 14 Sep 2020 02:24 AM PDT

Food safety officials deny claims that diseased or contaminated meat is being eaten by consumers

Consumers are being exposed to an "avoidable risk" of disease after a reduction of official controls in food inspections of pig and poultry carcasses across the EU, European meat inspectors have said.

Diseased meat is being eaten by consumers in the UK and EU, including pus from abscesses and tuberculosis lesions from pigs' heads, said the European Working Community for Food Inspection and Consumer Protection (EFWFC) this week. The EWFC represents EU meat inspectors.

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Zhenhua Data leak: personal details of millions around world gathered by China tech company

Posted: 13 Sep 2020 11:42 PM PDT

Cybersecurity experts concerned by possible intent behind use of big data to compile lists featuring everyone from low-key individuals to the royal family

The personal details of millions of people around the world have been swept up in a database compiled by a Chinese tech company with reported links to the country's military and intelligence networks, according to a trove of leaked data.

About 2.4 million people are included in the database, assembled mostly based on public open-source data such as social media profiles, analysts said. It was compiled by Zhenhua Data, based in the south-eastern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

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Investors that manage US$47tn demand world’s biggest polluters back plan for net-zero emissions

Posted: 13 Sep 2020 10:01 PM PDT

Climate Action 100+ group put 161 fossil fuel, mining, transport and other big-emitting companies on notice in latest campaign by shareholders

A group representing investors that collectively manage more than US$47tn in assets has demanded the world's biggest corporate polluters back strategies to reach net-zero emissions and promised to hold them to public account.

Climate Action 100+, an initiative supported by 518 institutional investor organisations across the globe, has written to 161 fossil fuel, mining, transport and other big-emitting companies to set 30 climate measures and targets against which they will be analysed in a report to be released early next year.

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Margaret Atwood wins Dayton literary peace prize

Posted: 14 Sep 2020 02:52 AM PDT

Handmaid's Tale author honoured for reminding readers that 'anything can happen anywhere given the right circumstances'

Margaret Atwood, whose sweeping body of work includes The Handmaid's Tale, a depiction of a nightmarish totalitarian future for the US, has won a lifetime achievement award that celebrates literature's power to foster peace, social justice and global understanding.

The Canadian writer will receive the Richard C Holbrooke distinguished achievement award, officials of the Dayton literary peace prize officials announced on Monday. The award is named for the late American diplomat who brokered the 1995 Bosnian peace accords reached in the Ohio city.

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Social media disinformation on US west coast blazes ‘spreading faster than fire'

Posted: 14 Sep 2020 03:00 AM PDT

Rumors find fertile ground in Oregon, a state already divided after months of protests – and are complicating emergency responses

Photojournalist Nathan Howard was on assignment for a picture agency south-east of the fire-menaced foothill town of Estacada, Oregon, on Thursday afternoon when a man angrily approached him on a rural roadside.

The man insisted the photographer was a looter, Howard said, and despite his repeated attempts to identify himself as a journalist, the man began yelling and became so agitated that "it was like his eyes were popping out of his head". The man eventually allowed Howard to get in his car and leave, but gave chase as Howard drove north.

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UK temperatures set to hit up to 30C in September heat

Posted: 13 Sep 2020 04:45 PM PDT

Hottest weather will be in the south but most of the country will see warmer days

The UK is set to experience temperatures of more than 30C this week, as summer heat returns.

The mercury will be highest in southern parts, but most of Britain will have a spell of warmer weather over the next few days, the Met Office has said.

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UK coronavirus live: report your neighbours to police if they're breaking rule of six, says policing minister

Posted: 14 Sep 2020 03:09 AM PDT

Kit Malthouse says people should 'absolutely' call non-emergency number if neighbours gather in groups of seven or more

The Welsh health minister has warned that a national lockdown could be a few weeks away unless people follow the new Covid-19 regulations.

On the day most people in Wales are obliged to wear masks when they go into shops and other public places, Vaughan Gething said the county was in a "parallel position to early February," adding: "We were in national lockdown in the third week of March."

We have a number of weeks to be able to get to a position where we can recover some of the ground with a return to effective social distancing, with a return to respecting the rules we have in place to save people's lives or we will be forced into greater local lockdowns and the potential for another national lockdown.

In an interview with Times Radio this morning Geoffrey Cox, the Conservative Brexiter and former attorney general, said that he had spoken to Boris Johnson before announcing his opposition to the internal market bill in an article in the Times (paywall) this morning. Cox told the station:

I have spoken to the prime minister. We've had long discussions and I know the prime minister is giving very careful thought to these things.

When the Queen's minister gives his word, on her behalf, it should be axiomatic that he will keep it, even if the consequences are unpalatable. By doing so he pledges the faith, honour and credit of this nation and it diminishes the standing and reputation of Britain in the world if it should be seen to be otherwise ...

If the powers that the House of Commons is asked today to confer on the government by assenting to the UK internal market bill are to be used to nullify those perfectly plain and foreseeable consequences, they would amount to nothing more or less than the unilateral abrogation of the treaty obligations to which we pledged our word less than 12 months ago, and which this parliament ratified in February.

It is unconscionable that this country, justly famous for its regard for the rule of law around the world, should act in such a way.

These include triggering the agreed independent arbitration procedure set out in the withdrawal agreement and, in extremis, these might legitimately extend to taking temporary and proportionate measures, where they are urgently necessary to protect the fundamental interests of the UK (in my view if, and only if, specifically approved at the time by the House of Commons,) for the period until that arbitration has concluded.

What ministers should not do, however provoked or frustrated they may feel, is to take or use powers permanently and unilaterally to rewrite portions of an agreement into which this country freely entered just a few months ago.

Geoffrey is a man for whom respect for the Rule of Law (and it's defence) is paramount. His intervention cannot be overlooked, ignored or swatted away https://t.co/xegfmeBcVE

I remember hearing lots of colleagues saying at the time: 'if Geoffrey says it's no dice; I'm not playing'. Lots saying 'if Cox unhappy I'm not going for it'. As a committed Brexiter he should remain an important lightening rod https://t.co/dzzGC9RYQr

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Israeli government to impose second Covid-19 national lockdown

Posted: 13 Sep 2020 10:58 AM PDT

Three-week lockdown will make Israel the first country to reimpose such stringent restrictions on a national scale

Israel's government has decided to impose a lockdown lasting three weeks, the first country to reimpose such severe restrictions on a national scale, after a dramatic resurgence in coronavirus cases.

Fearing mass gatherings during a string of national holidays over the next month, the cabinet decided to shut down the country as of Friday, the Jewish new year, until 9 October.

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NSW Nationals leader John Barilaro to face no-confidence vote in parliament

Posted: 14 Sep 2020 02:35 AM PDT

Deputy premier likely to survive as party leader but scene set for Liberals to show their disapproval of his threats over koala protection

The New South Wales National party leader, John Barilaro, will face a vote of no-confidence when parliament resumes on Tuesday after the junior Coalition partner had a very public stoush with the Liberals over koala protections.

Barilaro appears likely to hang on to the Nationals leadership, and the job of deputy premier that comes with it, but when his party meets early in the day, Labor's no-confidence motion on the floor of the lower house could set the stage for some Liberal MPs to show their displeasure by not turning up for the vote.

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Just $5 per person a year could prevent future pandemic, says ex-WHO head

Posted: 13 Sep 2020 09:00 PM PDT

Cost would be billions, but represents a huge saving on $11tn response to Covid-19, estimates show

Spending $5 (£3.90) per person annually on global health security over the next five years could prevent a future "catastrophic" pandemic, according to a former head of the World Health Organization (WHO).

It would cost the world billions of dollars, but that amount would be a huge saving on the $11tn response to Covid-19, said Gro Harlem Brundtland, who, with other prominent international experts, sounded the alarm over the threat of a fast-spreading deadly pandemic last September.

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Just 50 days until a US election both sides see as an existential struggle

Posted: 14 Sep 2020 12:00 AM PDT

Joe Biden holds a steady lead in the polls but plenty of time remains for surprises and even the act of voting is controversial

The election to decide whether Donald Trump will serve a second term as president has already begun, with voters in North Carolina filling out absentee ballots, Minnesotans preparing to start early in-person voting on Friday and other states revving up their election machinery.

But for most Americans, today marks 50 days until election day, 3 November, when voters will take varying degrees of health risks – and face hurdles to voting of varying heights – to cast their ballots in person for Trump or his potential Democratic successor, Joe Biden.

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Hold Still - The UK Lockdown - in pictures

Posted: 13 Sep 2020 11:00 PM PDT

Hold Still is a digital exhibition hosted by the National Portrait Gallery. People of all ages, from across the UK, were invited to submit a photographic portrait which they had taken during lockdown. The project aimed to capture and document the spirit, the mood, the hopes, the fears and the feelings of the nation as we continued to deal with the coronavirus outbreak. The final 100 images include one by the Guardian's Sarah Lee

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Trump repeats claims he received 'Bay of Pigs Award', which doesn't exist – video

Posted: 13 Sep 2020 05:42 PM PDT

Donald Trump repeats claims he earlier made online, boasting of winning the 'Bay of Pigs Award' – an honour that doesn't exist. Trump twice visited a Bay of Pigs museum in Miami in 2016, where he received 'a hand-painted Brigade 2506 shield', which his campaign insisted was the award in question. Trump made the claims while courting Latino voters in Nevada, a state where he trails rival Joe Biden in polls, and one where the  president failed to overcome Hillary Clinton  during the 2016 campaign

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US wildfires: politicians condemn Trump for blaming 'forest management' – video

Posted: 13 Sep 2020 09:49 AM PDT

Politicians strongly criticised the US president for his response to the escalating wildfire crisis in the west coast after he claimed 'forest management' was the main culprit for the emergency.

The death toll from wildfires choking the west coast of the US continued to rise on Sunday as authorities said more bodies were likely to be found in the charred ruins of towns across several states

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