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

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


World Bank announces $12bn plan for poor countries to buy Covid vaccines

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 01:00 PM PDT

Initiative aims to ensure low-income countries are not frozen out by rich nations

The World Bank has announced plans for a $12bn (£9.3bn) initiative that will allow poor countries to purchase Covid-19 vaccines to treat up to 2 billion people as soon as effective drugs become available.

In an attempt to ensure that low-income countries are not frozen out by wealthy nations, the organisation is asking its key rich-nation shareholders to back a scheme that will disburse cash over the next 12 to 18 months.

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UK coronavirus news: Johnson warned 'rule of law' at risk if MPs don't get more of a say over Covid rules

Posted: 30 Sep 2020 03:45 AM PDT

Live updates: prime minister under pressure from MPs ahead of debate on extending emergency powers in the Coronavirus Act

Five staff members and one patient have tested positive with Covid-19 at the cardiac unit of Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.

The Belfast Trust which runs hospitals in the city confirmed the outbreak today.

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Walt Disney sheds 28,000 jobs at theme parks as pandemic bites

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 03:06 PM PDT

  • Company blames limited attendance at reopened parks
  • Disney posted $4.72bn loss in second quarter

Walt Disney announced it was laying off 28,000 employees from its theme park business on Tuesday, the latest company to announce huge jobs cuts in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The entertainment company blamed limited attendance at the theme parks it has reopened and the continuing closure of others for the "difficult decision".

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Panama's trans community failed by gendered lockdown measures – report

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 10:30 PM PDT

LSE finds country's sex-segregated distancing rules may have reproduced inequalities and injustices for trans people

Each day when Pau González wakes and looks at his phone, he feels as if he is running a call centre. As the founder of the activist group Hombres Trans Panama, he has been inundated by members of the transgender community seeking advice on how to navigate Panama's sex-segregated social distancing laws. Some callers have been cautioned or abused by police. Others report feeling suicidal and scared to go out.

In April, Panama announced one of the most aggressive Covid-19 policies in Latin America – dictated which days its citizens could go out according to their sex as stated on their national identification cards.

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Donald Trump plunges debate into chaos as he repeatedly talks over Joe Biden

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 11:11 PM PDT

President refuses to denounce white supremacist violence as candidates throw insults and tempers flare

The first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden deteriorated into an ugly display of contempt on Tuesday night, as the president relentlessly interrupted and attacked his Democratic rival during clashes over the coronavirus pandemic, race, the economy and the future of the supreme court.

Over the course of an extraordinarily combative and chaotic 90-minute performance, a fitting coda to what has been one of the nastiest presidential campaigns in recent memory, Trump interjected so frequently that Biden at one point lost his patience and snapped: "Will you shut up, man? This is so unpresidential."

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Trump ensures first presidential debate is national humiliation | Analysis

Posted: 30 Sep 2020 12:19 AM PDT

Analysis: Only one man looked remotely presidential on the debate stage in Cleveland, Ohio, and it was not the incumbent

Cry, the beloved country. Donald Trump ensured Tuesday's first US presidential debate was the worst in American history, a national humiliation. The rest of the world – and future historians – will presumably look at it and weep.

More likely than not, according to opinion polls, his opponent Joe Biden will win the November election and bring the republic back from the brink. If Trump is re-elected, however, this dark, horrifying, unwatchable fever dream will surely be the first line of America's obituary.

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'We want our son back': families of detained Hong Kong activists left in the dark

Posted: 30 Sep 2020 03:16 AM PDT

The 'Hong Kong 12' - arrested for allegedly trying to flee to Taiwan - have become the latest flashpoint for protesters

The family of a Hong Kong activist detained in China after allegedly attempting to flee to Taiwan by speedboat say they have had no communication from him and are relying on a piece of paper from Chinese authorities as confirmation of his whereabouts.

Andy Li was among 12 people caught by Chinese coastguards on 23 August. He had been arrested earlier that month under Hong Kong's newly introduced national security law, after which the authorities had confiscated his passport before releasing him on bail.

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Coronavirus live news: Belgium's death toll passes 10,000; Ukraine and Slovakia record daily case highs

Posted: 30 Sep 2020 03:39 AM PDT

Belgium records 14 new deaths, taking toll to 10,001; Ukraine registers record 4,027 cases; Slovakia reports 567 new cases

Oxford University is to trial the world's best-selling prescription medicine, adalimumab, as a treatment for Covid-19 patients, in the latest effort to repurpose existing drugs as potential coronavirus therapies.

Adalimumab, sold by AbbVie under the brand name Humira, is a type of anti-inflammatory known as an anti-tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drug.

India's longest spell of clean air on record came to an end this month as New Delhi, the world's most polluted capital city, recorded a significant deterioration in air quality, partly due to crop waste burning by farmers.

Up until September, New Delhi and its satellite cities, which last year accounted for half of the dozen most-polluted cities worldwide, had enjoyed respite due to the strict nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

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Britain offers EU fishing concession as part of Brexit sweetener

Posted: 30 Sep 2020 01:25 AM PDT

Three-year transition period for European fishing fleets among proposals in negotiating paper

Britain has offered a three-year transition period for European fishing fleets to allow them to prepare for the post-Brexit changes as part of an 11th-hour deal sweetener.

The catches of EU fishermen would be "phased down" between 2021 and 2024 to offer time for European coastal communities to adapt to the changes.

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Geneva to raise minimum wage to £3,500 a month

Posted: 30 Sep 2020 02:54 AM PDT

Voters back increase amid reports of growing poverty linked to Covid-19 pandemic

Geneva is to raise its minimum wage to almost £3,500 a month, reported to be the highest in the world, after locals approved the measure in a surprise vote result sparked by reports of growing coronavirus-linked poverty in the Swiss city.

The canton's 500,000 voters passed the increase proposed by local unions and leftwing parties, after twice rejecting it in 2011 and 2014.

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Jacinda Ardern admits cannabis use in heated New Zealand debate

Posted: 30 Sep 2020 03:14 AM PDT

Labour prime minister faces National leader Judith Collins in televised election clash

The prime minister of New Zealand has admitted she has used cannabis in the most robust and animated leaders' debate of the election campaign so far.

The Labour leader and incumbent prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, met the National party leader, Judith Collins, in the TV3 studios in Auckland, in a one-and-half-hour debate moderated by Patrick Gower.

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Nagorno-Karabakh: UN urges ceasefire as Azerbaijan and Armenia dismiss talks

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 10:27 PM PDT

Armenian prime minister says he regards aggression by Azerbaijan as an 'existential threat'

The UN security council has called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to immediately halt the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh and urgently resume talks without preconditions as the conflict threatened to escalate beyond the region.

On Tuesday night, the UN's most powerful body strongly condemned the use of force and backed secretary general Antonio Guterres' call to stop the fighting, deescalate tensions, and resume talks "without delay".

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40% of world’s plant species at risk of extinction

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 04:01 PM PDT

Race against time to save plants and fungi that underpin life on Earth, global data shows

Two in five of the world's plant species are at risk of extinction as a result of the destruction of the natural world, according to an international report.

Plants and fungi underpin life on Earth, but the scientists said they were now in a race against time to find and identify species before they were lost.

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Shell to cut up to 9,000 jobs as Covid-19 accelerates green drive

Posted: 30 Sep 2020 03:00 AM PDT

Anglo-Dutch oil firm expects to save up to $2.5bn a year through restructuring plan

Royal Dutch Shell plans to cut up to 9,000 jobs in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, up to 10% of its workforce, as part of a major corporate overhaul to keep pace with the global transition to clean energy.

The Anglo-Dutch oil company, which employed 83,000 workers at the end of last year, expects to save up to $2.5bn (£1.95bn) a year from the cost-cutting plan that includes shedding between 7,000 and 9,000 employees before the end of 2022.

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Helen Reddy, Australian singer of feminist anthem I Am Woman, dies aged 78

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 07:48 PM PDT

The singer, whose career was celebrated in the 2019 biopic of the same name, had been diagnosed with dementia several years ago

Helen Reddy, the Australian singer best known for her anthemic 1972 hit I Am Woman, has died at 78.

Reddy had been diagnosed with dementia in 2015 and had been living in a Los Angeles nursing home for professional entertainers.

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How the chaos of the first debate was received at three very different watch parties

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 10:26 PM PDT

The reality of the coronavirus pandemic was never far off as Americans gathered to watch the first presidential debate of 2020

The first US presidential debate of the 2020 campaign cycle was an experience most American voters had never witnessed before: a bitter and divisive spectacle on a night in which the reality of the coronavirus pandemic was never far off.

At a debate watch party for Donald Trump supporters at Glory Days, a bar in Seal Beach near Los Angeles, servers, but few patrons, were wearing masks. The crowd cheered whenever the president landed a line they liked, but stayed mostly quiet during the section of the debate when Biden made his case for why Trump had failed the country during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Bloody Sunday families reject decision to charge only one soldier

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 10:29 AM PDT

Relatives of some of the 14 people killed to challenge ruling by Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service

The families of those who died in the 1972 Bloody Sunday killings in Derry are to challenge a legal decision not to prosecute any more former soldiers in connection with the shootings.

Relatives expressed dismay after a review by the Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service (PPS), published on Tuesday, confirmed that only one former member of the Parachute Regiment, known as Soldier F, should face charges.

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Covid winter: share your stories of embracing outdoor life

Posted: 30 Sep 2020 03:25 AM PDT

Our video team wants to hear how European communities have embraced socialising outside – way before Covid restrictions came into place

For many, physical distancing while socialising has been easier in the summer. But as winter approaches in western Europe and coronavirus restrictions get tighter in some countries, many people are trying to work out how to continue seeing friends and family from a distance.

It could be looking to the Norwegian concept of friluftsliv for inspiration – meaning to embrace the outdoors. Or stocking up on outdoor heaters and fire pits as people have done in the UK.

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Terminal Sud review – powerful dispatch from a civil war

Posted: 30 Sep 2020 03:00 AM PDT

Ramzy Bedia is captivating as a charismatic doctor in this French-Algerian drama about a country descending into chaos

French-Algerian film-maker Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche sends us a dispatch from a civil war with Terminal Sud, an intriguing, somewhat abstract drama about a country descending into chaos. The facts on the ground here seem to tally with the Algerian civil war of the 90s, the so called "black decade" that claimed more than 100,000 lives. But the film was mostly shot in southern France, and Ameur-Zaïmeche doesn't hide contemporary details such as mobiles and new-model SUVs. He has said in interviews that the point is to make it universal: this could happen any time, anywhere. The approach isn't entirely convincing, and the unfocused sense of time and place is a bit distracting and frustrating at times. But there is real power to many of the scenes.

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Presidential debate live: Donald Trump tries to steamroll Joe Biden in chaotic clash

Posted: 30 Sep 2020 03:37 AM PDT

Kathleen Hunter at Bloomberg has this morning described last night as a "mud-wrestling match". She writes:

Refusing to give any ground, the president at times flustered Biden – whom he has for months sought to paint as senile — with unrelenting attacks on his family and policies. Trump, 74, made assertions — on election integrity, his income taxes, a potential coronavirus vaccine and other topics — that don't stand up to fact-checking.

The question now is whether the exchange will be more civil when the candidates meet on 15 October for their second debate and whether – with large portions of the electorate already having either decided on their pick or cast their ballot — the sessions even matter much.

Reuters report what sounds like a testy reply from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in his daily conference call with reporters this morning.

Ask to comment on the US election, Peskov said that Russia, like many other nations in the world, is closely following the campaign, adding: "But we do not want to make any statements as this could be viewed as an attempt to intervene. Russia has never, is not and is not going to intervene in US domestic affairs."

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Venezuela shortages prompt wave of protests across country

Posted: 30 Sep 2020 02:00 AM PDT

  • More than 100 protests erupt in 17 of 23 states
  • Fuel, electricity, water and household goods in short supply

A wave of demonstrations has erupted across Venezuela as angry citizens flout lockdown restrictions to demand an end to worsening shortages of everything from electricity and water to fuel and household supplies.

Since Sunday, more than 100 protests have broken out in at least 17 of the country's 23 states, sometimes resulting in skirmishes with riot police.

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Crown Resorts director says junket operators suspended while possible criminal links reviewed

Posted: 30 Sep 2020 03:24 AM PDT

Guy Jalland tells a NSW inquiry the company has paused its dealings with 100-odd partners who bring high rollers from Asia

A New South Wales inquiry into Crown Resorts and its casino licence has heard that Crown has suspended dealings with the 100-odd junket operators who bring high rollers from Asia and is conducting reviews of possible criminal links.

Director Guy Jalland agreed that the pause had been mainly prompted by Covid-19 and travel restrictions and that Crown had not notified the junket partners they were suspended and under review.

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How Covid sowed the seeds of food security in Johannesburg

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 11:45 PM PDT

During South Africa's strict lockdown, groups of activists decided to distribute parcels of vegetables as wells as seedlings and gardening materials as well as to hundreds of vulnerable households

Photographs by Miora Rajaonary

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Forget notions of coronavirus as a great equaliser – women are yet again the hardest hit | Helen Pankhurst

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 11:15 PM PDT

Just like every emergency, Covid-19 is racist, ageist, classist and sexist. The world response to the pandemic must reflect this

In the early days of coronavirus, there was a view that a global pandemic would act as a great equaliser. "A virus doesn't discriminate," they said. "We're all in this together." It didn't take long for such a credulous perspective to vanish.

Just like every emergency, every disaster, Covid-19 absolutely does discriminate. It's ageist, it's racist, it's classist and it's worst of all for those with pre-existing health conditions or disabilities.

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America is in pain. The presidential debate offered no help | Moira Donegan

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 10:41 PM PDT

Donald Trump spent the evening whining in a circus of vanity, lies, and hostility

With more than 200,000 Americans dead from Covid-19, the economy in tatters, the west on fire, schools shuttered, police brutality against Black people still rampant, and millions of Americans grieving, scared, and unable to recognize their lives, the first of three presidential debates on Tuesday night came at a time of pain, desperation, and anxiety for the American people. The debate itself reflected absolutely none of this anxiety. It was a display of vulgarity and egotism that insulted the Americans it was purportedly meant to persuade.

It was a slap in the face to the Americans whose lives will be shaped by the actions of the next president

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Protests and Covid leave Hong Kong stuck in recession

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 07:00 PM PDT

Political unrest hit tourism and retail, and coronavirus response has delayed recovery

Hong Kong's economy was already in recession when the pandemic hit in January. Six months of running battles between pro-democracy campaigners and local government had deterred many of the visitors who fuel the lucrative tourism industry, while the threat of violence on the streets and closures of shops had sent retail sales down nearly a quarter on the previous year.

With much of Asia shut down by coronavirus restrictions during the winter months, there was little expectation of a recovery until the spring, when the level of infections fell to almost zero across mainland China and most of the rest of the region, and the measures could be eased.

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Why Joe Biden is better than Donald Trump for the US economy | Nouriel Roubini

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 10:46 AM PDT

It's a myth that Republicans handle the economy better – US recessions almost always occur under the GOP

Joe Biden has consistently held a wide polling lead over US President Donald Trump ahead of November's election. But, despite Trump's botched response to the Covid-19 pandemic – a failure that has left the economy far weaker than it otherwise would have been – he has maintained a marginal edge on the question of which candidate would be better for the US economy. Thanks to Trump, a country with just 4% of the world's population now accounts for more than 20% of total Covid-19 deaths – an utterly shameful outcome, given America's advanced (albeit expensive) healthcare system.

The presumption that Republicans are better than Democrats at economic stewardship is a longstanding myth that must be debunked. In our 1997 book, Political Cycles and the Macroeconomy, the late (and great) Alberto Alesina and I showed that Democratic administrations tend to preside over faster growth, lower unemployment and stronger stock markets than Republican presidents do.

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Why are Armenia and Azerbaijan fighting and what are the implications?

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 03:21 AM PDT

Tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh region have caused one of Europe's 'frozen conflicts' to erupt

Early on Sunday, Armenia announced it was declaring martial law, mobilising its army and ordering civilians to shelter. It claimed its neighbour Azerbaijan had launched a military operation inside a breakaway region called Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan said it attacked only in response to Armenian shelling.

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Biden and Trump trade insults in frenzied presidential debate – video highlights

Posted: 30 Sep 2020 01:41 AM PDT

The first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden deteriorated into an ugly display of contempt on Tuesday night, as the president relentlessly interrupted and attacked his Democratic rival during clashes over the coronavirus pandemic, racism, the economy, mail-in voting and the future of the supreme court

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'Resist until the end': On the ground with Apple Daily, Hong Kong's pro-democracy newspaper - video

Posted: 30 Sep 2020 12:58 AM PDT

We follow Oscar, a journalist at the tabloid, who in the shadow of China's controversial national security law continues to report on - now largely silenced - street protests. When the law came into force three months ago, Apple Daily was raided by police: journalists' desks were searched and its founder was taken away in handcuffs. But journalists at the paper are still working, fighting to tell the people of Hong Kong's story. 

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Biden tells Trump 'you are the worst president America has ever had' in battle over taxes – video

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 11:39 PM PDT

During the first presidential debate, Donald Trump was pressed on the New York Times story over his tax returns, which showed he paid only $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017. The president claimed he had paid "millions" in income taxes and said he would release his tax returns soon, which he has been saying since 2015. 

Joe Biden said Trump 'does take advantage of the tax code' and 'pays less tax than a schoolteacher'. Trump shrugged off the criticism, saying all business leaders do the same 'unless they are stupid'. The exchange escalated with Biden telling his rival: 'You are the worst president America has ever had'

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Oregon's firefighting prisoners – in pictures

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 11:00 PM PDT

Prisoners in Oregon have been helping professional firefighters combat the state's biggest wildfires in a century. They are part of a scheme that for seven decades has aimed to rehabilitate inmates by teaching them a trade, while providing extra boots on the ground during intense wildfire seasons

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Trump namechecks Proud Boys as he refuses to condemn white supremacists in debate – video

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 10:21 PM PDT

Donald Trump declined to condemn white supremacists and violent rightwing groups during a contentious first 2020 presidential debate in which the issue of anti-racism protests and civic unrest was one of the topics of discussion. Asked repeatedly by the moderator, Chris Wallace, to condemn the actions of white supremacists and other groups, such as militias or far-right organisations, Trump ignored the question and sought instead to criticise the actions of leftwing groups and activists

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US presidential debate moderator Chris Wallace struggles to contain Trump – video

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 09:40 PM PDT

Fox News host Chris Wallace, the moderator for the first 2020 US presidential debate, has faced criticism for struggling to rein in interruptions and outbursts from Donald Trump. Throughout the 90-minute broadcast on Tuesday night, the president continually broke the agreed rules of the debate, refused to stick to his own speaking time and steamrolled over both Wallace and Biden

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'Will you shut up, man?': Biden and Trump clash in first US presidential debate – video

Posted: 29 Sep 2020 08:26 PM PDT

After repeated interruptions from Donald Trump, Joe Biden asks: 'Will you shut up, man?' at the first presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio on Tuesday, as the two clashed over the supreme court.

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