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

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


Trump charged with impeachment count as FBI warns of armed protests

Posted: 12 Jan 2021 12:17 AM PST

  • Trump set to become the first president to be impeached twice
  • Pelosi: Trump a 'deranged, unhinged, dangerous president'
  • US politics – live coverage

Donald Trump is facing a historic second impeachment after Democrats in the House of Representatives formally charged him with one count of "incitement of insurrection" over the Capitol Hill riot.

Related: Melania Trump pays tribute to dead of Capitol attack but casts herself as victim

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Israel is a non-democratic apartheid regime, says rights group

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 07:00 PM PST

Embassy spokesperson rejects 'false claims' in report that alleges policies perpetuate supremacy of Jews over Palestinians

Israel is not a democracy but an "apartheid regime" that enforces Jewish supremacy over all the land it controls, a leading domestic rights group has alleged in a position paper bound to provoke fierce controversy.

"One organising principle lies at the base of a wide array of Israeli policies: advancing and perpetuating the supremacy of one group – Jews – over another – Palestinians," said B'Tselem, an organisation that documents human rights violations.

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Coronavirus live news: China locks down Langfang city; Malaysia declares state of emergency

Posted: 12 Jan 2021 02:00 AM PST

China introduces new curbs in areas surrounding Beijing; Malaysia state of emergency comes one day before strict lockdown

I am running the global live feed from London today. Please contact me while I work today to share any comments or news tips.

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

Egypt is reopening its airspace to Qatari flights and allowing the resumption of flights between the two countries, aviation sources and state media said on Tuesday.

The decision follows moves by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt to end a boycott in which they severed diplomatic, trade and travel ties with Qatar in 2017.

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Report to reveal scale of abuse at Ireland's mother and baby homes

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 07:00 PM PST

Results of investigation expected to tell how 9,000 children died in 18 institutions between 1922 and 1998

The grim history of a network of religious institutions in Ireland that abused and shamed unmarried mothers and their children for much of the 20th century is to be laid bare.

A judicial commission of investigation into Ireland's mother and baby homes has documented shocking death rates and callousness in institutions that doubled as orphanages and adoption agencies.

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Hong Kong arrests: Carrie Lam accuses west of hypocrisy, citing US Capitol riot

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 10:07 PM PST

City's leader accuses foreign critics of double standards when they condemn rioters in the US but support pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong

Hong Kong's leader has defended the unprecedented mass arrest of opposition figures last week, and accused western powers of hypocrisy for condemning the siege on the US Capitol after supporting pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

At a weekly press briefing in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Carrie Lam was asked about the coordinated police raids last Wednesday, when 55 opposition figures were arrested on suspicion of breaching the national security law by holding unofficial primaries ahead of the since-postponed Hong Kong election. The raids were the latest use of the national security law against the pro-democracy movement.

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Baby sharks emerge from egg cases earlier and weaker in oceans warmed by climate crisis

Posted: 12 Jan 2021 01:00 AM PST

Weaker sharks are less effective hunters, which can upset the balance of the ecosystem, say authors of study into impacts of hotter oceans

Baby sharks will emerge from their egg cases earlier and weaker as water temperatures rise, according to a new study that examined the impact of warming oceans on embryos.

About 40% of all shark species lay eggs, and the researchers found that one species unique to the Great Barrier Reef spent up to 25 days less in their egg cases under temperatures expected by the end of the century.

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Twitter suspends 70,000 accounts sharing QAnon content

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 09:06 PM PST

The network said it acted after 'violent events in Washington' when a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol

Twitter has said it has suspended more than 70,000 accounts since Friday that were primarily dedicated to sharing QAnon content as the social media site continued to crack down on content after supporters of Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol.

"Given the violent events in Washington DC, and increased risk of harm, we began permanently suspending thousands of accounts that were primarily dedicated to sharing QAnon content on Friday afternoon," Twitter said in a blog late on Monday.

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Lisa Montgomery: US judge grants another stay of execution

Posted: 12 Jan 2021 01:15 AM PST

First federal execution of woman in 67 years halted as judge cites need to determine her mental competence

A judge has granted another stay in what was slated to be the US government's first execution of a female inmate in nearly seven decades.

Judge Patrick Hanlon granted the stay late on Monday, citing the need to determine Lisa Montgomery's mental competence, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

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Facebook targets 'stop the steal' content and says Trump ban may be permanent

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 06:52 PM PST

Company places limits on phrase behind false election claims as Sheryl Sandberg says she's 'glad' president was blocked

Facebook is cracking down on content using the phrase "stop the steal", the rallying cry of Donald Trump supporters who claim without evidence that there was voter fraud in the 2020 elections.

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Australian acting PM's 'all lives matter' comment labelled 'beyond disgusting'

Posted: 12 Jan 2021 01:25 AM PST

Greens accuse Coalition government of trying to win votes from a 'rabble of far-right nationalists, racists and conspiracy theorists' after Michael McCormack's remarks

Australia's acting prime minister, Michael McCormack, has been criticised for "beyond disgusting" comments, after he stated that "all lives matter" when defending previous comments comparing the deadly US Capitol siege to Black Lives Matter protests.

Rejecting calls from Amnesty International to retract the comparison, McCormack referred to lives lost in violence associated with Black Lives Matter protests in the US, telling reporters on Tuesday: "I appreciate there are a lot of people out there who are being a bit bleeding heart about this, and who are confecting outrage, but they should know that those lives matter too. All lives matter."

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New Zealand records seventh-hottest year, with extreme weather more likely

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 06:15 PM PST

It has been nearly four years since New Zealand experienced a month with below-average temperatures, researchers say

New Zealand recorded its seventh-hottest year on record in 2020, and marked nearly four years since it experienced a month with below-average temperatures.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) has been collecting New Zealand's temperature records since the early 1900s, and said on Tuesday that above-average temperatures were becoming increasingly common.

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WHO's Covid mission to Wuhan: 'It's not about finding China guilty'

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 09:00 PM PST

Scientists express caution about what they may find and the political sensitivity around investigation

When the scientists on the World Health Organization's mission to research the origins of Covid-19 touch down in China as expected on Thursday at the beginning of their investigation they are clear what they will – and what they will not – be doing.

They intend to visit Wuhan, the site of the first major outbreak of Covid-19, and talk to Chinese scientists who have been studying the same issue. They will want to see if there are unexamined samples from unexplained respiratory illnesses, and they will want to examine ways in which the virus might have jumped the species barrier to humans.

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Egypt denies 'oxygen crisis' as Covid-19 ward videos allege shortage

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 11:15 PM PST

Amid rising infection rates, authorities suppress efforts to discuss levels of vital supplies, as relatives' claims fuel concerns

Filming on his phone inside Egypt's Hussainiya hospital, Ahmed Mamdouh pans around the ward to show beds occupied by motionless bodies. "All the people are dead," he says. Mamdouh's own relative had just died, for which he blames a lack of medical oxygen.

In another video, a screaming woman at Zeftah hospital in Gharbiyeh governorate demands nurses help resuscitate a relative. In a third, a man in Damanhour, in the Nile delta, gasps for air, glassy-eyed as he holds an oxygen mask in his hand. "There is a lack of oxygen," he says, extending an invitation for local health minister to come and witness the problem. "Join us, minister."

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'Reckless' Christmas easing of rules blamed for Ireland Covid surge

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 11:01 AM PST

Country has world's highest rate of infection with critics blaming socialising over festive period

Ireland emerged from a six-week lockdown in early December with the European Union's lowest coronavirus infection rate.

It eased restrictions in belief it could contain a rise in the virus over Christmas unlike, say, Germany and the UK, countries that had more than four times the level of infection. Then all hell broke loose.

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Gorillas at San Diego Zoo test positive for Covid in apparent first

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 02:14 PM PST

Gorillas are thought to have been infected by wildlife worker in what is believed to be first outbreak among captive primates

Several gorillas at the San Diego zoo safari park have tested positive for coronavirus, with some experiencing symptoms, in what is believed to be the first outbreak among such primates in captivity.

The park's executive director, Lisa Peterson, told the Associated Press on Monday that eight gorillas who live together at the park are believed to have the virus and several have been coughing. Gavin Newsom, California's governor, confirmed at his Monday news briefing that at least two gorillas had tested positive while three were symptomatic.

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How I survived a Chinese 're-education' camp for Uighurs

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 10:00 PM PST

After 10 years living in France, I returned to China to sign some papers and I was locked up. For the next two years, I was systematically dehumanised, humiliated and brainwashed

The man on the phone said he worked for the oil company, "In accounting, actually". His voice was unfamiliar to me. At first, I couldn't make sense of what he was calling about. It was November 2016, and I had been on unpaid leave from the company since I left China and moved to France 10 years earlier. There was static on the line; I had a hard time hearing him.

"You must come back to Karamay to sign documents concerning your forthcoming retirement, Madame Haitiwaji," he said. Karamay was the city in the western Chinese province of Xinjiang where I'd worked for the oil company for more than 20 years.

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Bridgerton author Julia Quinn: 'I've been dinged by the accuracy police – but it's fantasy!'

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 10:00 PM PST

Her 'hot and crazy' novels about feisty women bedding rakish aristocrats have become a Netflix sensation. The writer talks about literary snobs, colour-conscious casting and the curse of Jane Austen

"People look down on romance novels," says Julia Quinn. "We're the ugly stepchild of the publishing industry – even though romance novels make so much money for publishers that they're able to take chances on poetry, literary fiction and other things that don't really make money."

This is why Quinn never dreamed that any of her novels – Regency romances in which smart, witty women fall for handsome titled men – would ever make the leap to TV. She was happy with her regular slot at the top of the bestseller lists, if a little irked at the way the genre is looked down on by more literary types. "I dream big, I do," says Quinn, speaking from her home in Seattle. "But nobody had ever done it, nobody had ever shown any signs of wanting to. And not just my books, but the genre as a whole. If somebody wanted to do a period piece, they wanted to do Jane Austen again."

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North Korea set for collision course with US as Kim Jong-un solidifies one-man rule

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 10:48 PM PST

Analysis: Congress gathering ends with Kim taking symbolic post of general secretary and a warning the US needs a fresh strategy

A rare meeting of North Korea's ruling party has ended with a symbolically important new title for the country's leader, Kim Jong-un, speculation about the future of his influential sister, and a shot across the bow of the incoming US president.

Less than two weeks before Joe Biden's inauguration, much of what Kim told the first congress of the ruling Workers' party for five years had a familiar ring to it.

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American girl behind the camera: the pioneering work of Ruth Orkin – in pictures

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 11:00 PM PST

A new auction marks 100 years since the birth of US photographer Ruth Orkin, who travelled the world making waves in an industry dominated by men

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Modern life is rubbish! The people whose homes are portals to the past

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 10:00 PM PST

What is it like to live in a time machine? Five people explain why they made their home into the perfect replica of an earlier era

Will future generations look at the interior design of the early 21st century in appreciation? Possibly not. We do not appear to have crafted many design classics, unless slab-like corner sofas in mud-grey velvet are Eames chairs in the making. Our feature walls are gaudy; our furniture cheaply made. Scarcely anything seems to be built to last, which is just as well, as the next Instagram-led interior design trend will be along soon enough.

But there are those who retreat from modern trends into the interiors of the past, drawn by the allure of original designs. We speak to five people whose homes are portals into the past.

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From BLM to LGBT+: why Sex and the City will need a 2020 rethink

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 08:25 AM PST

Back with a new name – and minus just one core cast member – the 90s classic show will have to update its race and sexual politics for a very different world

Sex and the City is back, with a new name – And Just Like That … – and a new cast, which is to say, the old cast, minus Samantha (Kim Cattrall). Anyone who is surprised to see them recovered from the bruising experience of the movie sequel just has too long a memory. Sex and the City 2 was more than 10 years ago. The statute of limitations on awful moments in culture has long since expired.

To revisit that film for a second, though, its flaw was neither the excruciating dialogue nor the amateurish, uncertain plot; rather, its gorging consumerism, the signature shoe-fetishism of the series applied to every known item that a woman could buy. It held up a mirror to 21st-century excess and nobody, but nobody, liked what they saw. One IMDb reviewer called it a "terrorist motivational tool". (In this it had a lot in common with the third volume of Fifty Shades of Grey; I have thoughts on that segue, from genuine lust to a sad, consumer simulacrum, as a metaphor for late capitalism, but I'm saving those for my PhD.) In the series itself, the shopping element was more of a running joke, a self-deprecating nod to the fact that intelligent, empowered, evolved women can still do really stupid things, such as spending their lunch money on earrings. There is no reason for the film to have stained the televisual side of the franchise.

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Marvin Rees, mayor of Bristol: 'Symbolic acts should be linked to change'

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 11:00 PM PST

The toppling of slave trader Edward Colston's statue provoked conversations on race – now policy change needs to happen too, says Bristol's mayor

Back in June, a group of Black Lives Matter protesters toppled the statue of Edward Colston from its plinth in Bristol and threw it off a quayside where the slave trader's ships used to dock.

More than six months on, the mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, describes it as an "iconic moment". But not a simple one. "I think we need to be careful with it," said Rees. "The danger is that iconic moments of great symbolic value occupy the space that should be filled by substantial action.

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'Loophole' will let UK continue to ship plastic waste to poorer countries

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 10:30 PM PST

Post-Brexit regulation doesn't match new EU rules to tackle ocean pollution, despite UK being Europe's largest plastic waste producer

The UK has been accused of failing to honour its promise to curb shipments of plastic waste to developing countries, after it emerged Britain's new post-Brexit regulations are less stringent than those imposed by the EU.

From 1 January, shipments of unsorted plastic waste from the EU to non-OECD countries were banned.

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Western Sahara's diplomatic opening – in pictures

Posted: 12 Jan 2021 12:00 AM PST

US plans to open a consulate in Western Sahara mark a turning point for the disputed territory. US recognition of Morocco's authority over the land frustrates indigenous Sahrawis seeking independence but others see the future US consulate as a boost for Western Sahara cities like Dakhla

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House seeks Trump removal as it heads to 25th amendment showdown vote – live updates

Posted: 12 Jan 2021 02:18 AM PST

Democrats will today force vote asking Mike Pence to remove president

Helen Sullivan reports for us on a very different picture of police behaviour during last week's insurrection – an officer who is being hailed as a hero.

A police officer is being hailed for his role steering an angry mob away from the Senate chambers during Wednesday's deadly storming of the US Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.

Related: Capitol police officer who steered mob away from Senate chambers hailed a hero

As you can imagine there is still plenty of fall-out from last week's storming of the US Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. This morning the Washington Post have been reporting on some consequences within the Capitol police force:

Several US Capitol Police officers have been suspended and more than a dozen others are under investigation for suspected involvement with or inappropriate support for the demonstration last week that turned into a deadly riot at the Capitol, according to members of Congress, police officials and staff members briefed on the developments.

Eight separate investigations have been launched into the actions of Capitol officers, according to one congressional aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the status of the internal review.

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Trump administration puts Cuba back on 'sponsor of terrorism' blacklist

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 02:30 PM PST

  • Mike Pompeo cites US fugitives and support for Venezuela
  • Move will heap sanctions on Havana before Biden inauguration

Donald Trump has reclassified Cuba as a "state sponsor of terrorism" in a last-minute move that could complicate efforts by Joe Biden's incoming administration to re-engage with Havana.

The controversial step was announced by secretary of state Mike Pompeo on Monday, at the start of Trump's final full-week in office, and places Cuba alongside Iran, North Korea and Syria.

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Coming of Age day in Japan under Covid – in pictures

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 11:00 PM PST

Young adults gathered in Japan to celebrate reaching 20, the age at which they can drink alcohol, smoke and get married without parental approval, although many events were cancelled due to coronavirus fears

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Sydney women-only ocean pool under fire over transgender policy

Posted: 12 Jan 2021 01:40 AM PST

Social media users criticise the exclusion of some trans women at McIver's Ladies Baths, forcing a change of policy wording

A women-only ocean pool in Sydney's eastern suburbs has come under fire over a policy that excluded transgender women who had not had surgical intervention.

The McIver's Ladies Baths' policy on transgender women, published on the FAQ section of its website, has been changed twice since attention was drawn to it on Monday afternoon.

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In these grim times we all need a saviour and right now it is Chris Whitty | John Crace

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 12:06 PM PST

The chief medical officer seems the only person left we can trust to tell us the harsh truth on Covid

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. In these exceptionally grim times we're all – Boris Johnson included – looking for a saviour to rise from these streets. And right now that salvation appears to be the England's chief medical officer, Chris Whitty. Just about the only person left whom anyone can trust to tell the country the naked truth about coronavirus.

For months now, we've grown used to ministers being sent out on the morning media round to sell the latest U-turn. But sometime over the weekend, someone in Downing Street's communications team realised many people tended not to take ministers all that seriously. They would hear the horrifying death statistics and still come up with a way of adapting lockdown guidance to their own convenience. And after Dominic Cummings got away with ignoring the rules during the first lockdown, who could really blame them. The rules were seen as an aspiration, not a binding necessity.

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'Cummings effect': why are people bending lockdown rules?

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 09:17 AM PST

Analysis: experts say erosion of trust in government contributes to liberal interpretation of guidance

Photographs of crowded beaches, parks and queues at food stalls outside popular walking spots, all at a time when the UK is on highest alert under tough coronavirus restrictions.

Despite Matt Hancock describing these as examples of "flexing the rules", and Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, warning that stopping to chat in the street is a potential threat, many continue to interpret the government's strict "stay at home" message as liberally as they can.

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Biden says he's not afraid to take oath of office outside following US Capitol riots – video

Posted: 12 Jan 2021 12:47 AM PST

President-elect Joe Biden said he was not afraid to take the oath of office outside on 20 January following the violent riots at the US Capitol. 

Speaking after receiving his second Covid-19 vaccination, the 78-year-old added the focus now was on holding those who engaged in the riot to account

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Gorillas at San Diego zoo test positive for Covid-19 – video

Posted: 12 Jan 2021 12:05 AM PST

Several gorillas at the San Diego zoo have tested positive for Covid-19, with the cases believed to be the first outbreak among primates in captivity. 

After showing mild symptoms of the virus including coughing, the presence of Covid-19 was confirmed through fecal testing. 

The animals will remain in their habitat in the park and have been quarantined together, with the zoo hopeful of a full recovery

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Joe Biden says he is not afraid to take oath of office outside following Capitol riots – video

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 11:58 PM PST

President-elect Joe Biden has said he is not afraid to take the oath of office outside on 20 January following the violent riots at the US Capitol. Speaking after receiving his second Covid-19 vaccination, the 78-year-old added the focus now was on holding those who engaged in the riot to account

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Inside the investigation into how Covid-19 began – podcast

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 07:00 PM PST

This week a team of international experts from the WHO will arrive in China to investigate the origins of Covid-19. A year into the pandemic, Guardian health editor Sarah Boseley looks at what questions still need to be answered

A World Health Organization team of international experts tasked with investigating the origins Covid-19 will arrive in China this week. Scientists want to determine how the virus jumped species into humans. A year into the pandemic there are still many unanswered questions over the origins of the novel virus.

The Guardian's health editor, Sarah Boseley, tells Rachel Humpheys about what the WHO has uncovered over the past 12 months and the challenges it has faced. Ideally, door-to-door detective work, talking to the first people to fall ill and their families and colleagues, would have begun in Wuhan in January. But the city was in lockdown, its streets deserted. And the rest of the world had not yet understood what it was facing, Bruce Aylward, the Canadian doctor and epidemiologist appointed by WHO to lead its fact-finding mission to China in early February told Sarah in a recent phone call.

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Capitol breach: Republicans block resolution calling on Pence to invoke 25th amendment – video

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 09:43 AM PST

House majority leader Steny Hoyer introduced a resolution from congressman Jamie Raskin calling on the vice-president to invoke the 25th amendment and remove Donald Trump from office.

The resolution urged Mike Pence to "declare what is obvious to a horrified Nation: That the President is unable to successfully discharge the duties and powers of his office." It was not adopted by unanimous consent, after Republican Alex Mooney of West Virginia objected to the request.

As a result, a group of House Democrats then formally introduced an article of impeachment against Donald Trump. They have charged the president with 'incitement to insurrection' in connection to the violent riot at the Capitol last week

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Japan's Hokuriku region blanketed by record snowfall – video

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 07:38 AM PST

Heavy snow has swept across the Hokuriku region of Japan, bringing traffic to a standstill, damaging electricity cables and leaving more than 100 vehicles stranded.

Weather officials warned that some parts of Hokuriku could experience three times more snow than usual in the coming days

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We don't want to go tougher on English lockdown, says vaccines minister – video

Posted: 11 Jan 2021 03:51 AM PST

The UK's Covid vaccine deployment minister, Nadhim Zahawi, confirmed England's restrictions were being reviewed but said the lockdown was already 'pretty tough'.

Zahawi told Sky News: 'The lockdown is actually pretty severe. We're asking people to stay at home, don't go out, if you have to go out it's only for exercise'

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