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- Coronavirus live news: Lebanon begins 11-day, 24-hour curfew; WHO team arrives in Wuhan
- Countries adapting too slowly to climate breakdown, UN warns
- Twitter chief says Trump ban was right decision but sets 'dangerous precedent'
- Brexit problems halt some Scottish seafood exports to EU
- South Korean AI chatbot pulled from Facebook after hate speech towards minorities
- Ugandans go to polls in election pitting Museveni against pop star MP
- US police three times as likely to use force against leftwing protesters, data finds
- Poland plans to make censoring of social media accounts illegal
- Nigeria launches 'biggest job creation scheme' in its history after long delay
- Hong Kong: 11 more national security arrests over attempted boat escape to Taiwan
- Bali’s thieving monkeys can spot high-value items to ransom
- Dealing with death: Covid's toll on UK crematoria and morgues
- Covid: UK influencers scramble to justify exotic getaways
- GPs in England say inconsistent supply of Covid vaccine causing roll-out issues
- US tennis player Tennys Sandgren flying to Australian Open despite positive Covid test
- 'Colonialism had never really ended': my life in the shadow of Cecil Rhodes
- Journeys of hope: what will migration routes into Europe look like in 2021?
- The last days of Pompeo: secretary of state lashes out as reign comes to an end
- Tim Rice: 'Evita was a bonkers idea'
- 'I came up a black staircase': how Dapper Dan went from fashion industry pariah to Gucci god
- 'Carbon-neutrality is a fairy tale': how the race for renewables is burning Europe's forests
- Bad omen? Tower of London raven missing, feared dead
- Trump impeachment: attention turns to Senate after House votes to impeach – live
- Huawei: bullets sent to Meng Wanzhou while under house arrest, court hears
- Labor fears humanitarian crisis on Australian coal ships stranded off China
- What have we learned from Trump's reign? There are worse things than being boring | Adrian Chiles
- California bids to speed its painfully slow vaccine rollout – here's what you need to know
- Are Republicans really ready to unhitch their wagon from Donald Trump?
- Coronavirus in the UK: when will the worst of this be over?
- US House votes to impeach Donald Trump for a second time – video report
- Moment Donald Trump becomes first US president to be impeached twice – video
- Hundreds of troops guarding US Capitol filmed resting during break in shifts – video
- Nancy Pelosi: Trump is a clear and present danger to the nation – video
- From naked protests to challenging Museveni: Uganda’s 'rudest feminist' on the campaign trail
| Coronavirus live news: Lebanon begins 11-day, 24-hour curfew; WHO team arrives in Wuhan Posted: 14 Jan 2021 03:04 AM PST Lebanon closes supermarkets in lockdown; WHO team touches down in Wuhan; New York Mayor warns city will fall short of its inoculation goals
In Greece there has been good and bad news this morning, writes Helena Smith, the Guardian's correspondent in Athens. While epidemiologists say the epidemic is gradually being brought under control, the nation woke up to the announcement that Olympic sailing champion Leonidas Pelekanakis had succumbed to the virus. Echoing fellow infectious disease experts, Gkikas Magiorkinis told the Guardian he was "optimistic" that the outlook was finally improving.
The Olympic Games may not go ahead in Tokyo this summer, Japan's administrative and regulatory reform minister has said in an interview with the Reuters news agency. "We need to do the best we can to prepare for the Games at this moment, but it could go either way," Taro Kono told the Reuters Next conference. The once-delayed #TokyoOlympics may not go ahead this summer as planned, Japanese cabinet minister Taro Kono said in an interview at the #ReutersNext conference https://t.co/r2us4HUNzv pic.twitter.com/1FOhGGbHp3 Continue reading... |
| Countries adapting too slowly to climate breakdown, UN warns Posted: 14 Jan 2021 02:00 AM PST Report says not enough funding is being made available to deal with effects of extreme weather Millions of people around the world are facing disaster from flood, droughts, heatwaves and other extreme weather, as governments fail to take the measures needed to adapt to the impacts of climate breakdown, the UN has warned. Nearly three-quarters of countries around the world have recognised the need to plan for the effects of global heating, but few of those plans are adequate to the rising threat, and little funding has been made available to put them into force, according to the UN environment programme's Adaptation report 2020, published on Thursday. Continue reading... |
| Twitter chief says Trump ban was right decision but sets 'dangerous precedent' Posted: 13 Jan 2021 06:16 PM PST
Jack Dorsey, the chief executive of Twitter, has said that banning Donald Trump from the platform was the "right decision" but that it sets a dangerous precedent. Related: Donald Trump becomes the first US president to be impeached for a second time – live Continue reading... |
| Brexit problems halt some Scottish seafood exports to EU Posted: 14 Jan 2021 02:26 AM PST Fishing industry plunged into crisis as smaller firms face huge post-Brexit obstacles Deliveries of Scottish seafood to the EU from smaller companies have been halted until Monday, 18 January, after post-Brexit problems with health checks, IT systems and customs documents caused a huge backlog. Scottish fishing has been plunged into crisis, as lorry-loads of live seafood and some fish destined for shops and restaurants in France, Spain and other countries have been rejected because they are taking too long to arrive. Continue reading... |
| South Korean AI chatbot pulled from Facebook after hate speech towards minorities Posted: 13 Jan 2021 08:24 PM PST Lee Luda, built to emulate a 20-year-old Korean university student, engaged in homophobic slurs on social media A popular South Korean chatbot has been suspended after complaints that it used hate speech towards sexual minorities in conversations with its users. Lee Luda, the artificial intelligence [AI] persona of a 20-year-old female university student, was removed from Facebook messenger this week, after attracting more than 750,000 users in the 20 days since it was launched. Continue reading... |
| Ugandans go to polls in election pitting Museveni against pop star MP Posted: 14 Jan 2021 02:27 AM PST Bobi Wine's challenge to Yoweri Museveni seen as emblem of Africa-wide generation gap Ugandans are going to the polls after one of the most keenly-watched and violent election campaigns in a generation, as the pop star politician Bobi Wine tries to unseat Yoweri Museveni from his 34-year rule. Delays were seen in the delivery of polling materials in some places, including where Wine voted in the capital, Kampala. After he arrived to the cheers of a crowd and cast his ballot, he made the sign of the cross, then raised his fist and smiled. He said he was "confident" of victory. Continue reading... |
| US police three times as likely to use force against leftwing protesters, data finds Posted: 13 Jan 2021 10:00 PM PST Law enforcement responses to more than 13,000 protests show a clear disparity in responses, new statistics show Police in the United States are three times more likely to use force against leftwing protesters than rightwing protesters, according to new data from a nonprofit that monitors political violence around the world. In the past 10 months, US law enforcement agencies have used teargas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and beatings at a much higher percentage at Black Lives Matter demonstrations than at pro-Trump or other rightwing protests. Continue reading... |
| Poland plans to make censoring of social media accounts illegal Posted: 13 Jan 2021 09:00 PM PST Following Trump's Twitter ban, Polish government wants to protect posts that do not break nation's laws Polish government officials have denounced the deactivation of Donald Trump's social media accounts, and said a draft law being readied in Poland will make it illegal for tech companies to take similar actions there. "Algorithms or the owners of corporate giants should not decide which views are right and which are not," wrote the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, on Facebook earlier this week, without directly mentioning Trump. "There can be no consent to censorship." Continue reading... |
| Nigeria launches 'biggest job creation scheme' in its history after long delay Posted: 13 Jan 2021 11:15 PM PST Initiative aimed at shielding young people from economic impact of Covid-19 will provide 750,000 paid placements Nigeria has launched a much-delayed programme that promises to provide jobs for more than 750,000 young people amid worsening youth unemployment. The scheme, launched this month, is being hailed by government officials as the largest job creation initiative in the country's history. Continue reading... |
| Hong Kong: 11 more national security arrests over attempted boat escape to Taiwan Posted: 13 Jan 2021 11:27 PM PST Eight men and three women, aged 18 to 72, held on suspicion of helping 12 democracy activists last year Hong Kong police have arrested 11 people under the national security law for allegedly helping 12 pro-democracy activists accused of attempting to flee the city by boat for Taiwan last year, local media and activists have reported. Police arrested eight men and three women aged 18 to 72 for "assisting offenders", according to the South China Morning Post, which cited unnamed sources. Continue reading... |
| Bali’s thieving monkeys can spot high-value items to ransom Posted: 13 Jan 2021 05:00 PM PST Study finds macaques go for tourists' electronics and wallets over empty bags and then maximise their profit At the Uluwatu temple in Bali, monkeys mean business. The long-tailed macaques who roam the ancient site are infamous for brazenly robbing unsuspecting tourists and clinging on to their possessions until food is offered as ransom payment. Researchers have found they are also skilled at judging which items their victims value the most and using this information to maximise their profit. Continue reading... |
| Dealing with death: Covid's toll on UK crematoria and morgues Posted: 13 Jan 2021 10:00 PM PST 'Mortality management' has been stretched and as fatalities pass 100k systems are again feeling the strain When the UK's first victim of Covid-19 died on 5 March 2020, there were only 116 recorded infections in the country and few people countenanced a death toll of 100,000. But for government planners it was different. Emergency response experts tasked with "mortality management" braced for a death toll that they feared would dwarf anything seen since the second world war. As fatalities mounted in China and Italy, the worst-case scenario for the UK was so grim that one scheme hatched involved storing thousands of bodies in a warehouse in east London. Continue reading... |
| Covid: UK influencers scramble to justify exotic getaways Posted: 13 Jan 2021 11:00 PM PST Stung by scepticism over 'luxury business trips' in a pandemic, influencers in Dubai are touting their 'hard graft' In ordinary times influencers posting from Dubai go out of their way to show you what a good time they are having. In Covid's latest cruel reversal, they are now doing everything they can to show that they are working their socks off. With a rising number of cases leading the UK to announce that the United Arab Emirates would be removed from its travel corridor list from Tuesday, British nationals returning home now face 10 days in isolation. Continue reading... |
| GPs in England say inconsistent supply of Covid vaccine causing roll-out issues Posted: 13 Jan 2021 09:06 PM PST Short notice is making it difficult to book advance appointments, as PM admits regional disparities Inconsistent vaccine supply is making it difficult for GPs in England to book patient appointments more than a few days in advance, experts have warned, as the prime minister admitted there were significant disparities in local immunisation rates. Doctors, NHS specialists and MPs told the Guardian that batches of the Pfizer and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine frequently arrived with only a couple of days' notice, requiring last-minute planning and creating uncertainty for patients. Continue reading... |
| US tennis player Tennys Sandgren flying to Australian Open despite positive Covid test Posted: 14 Jan 2021 02:13 AM PST The American says he first tested positive in November and tournament organisers argue he is therefore not infectious The US tennis player Tennys Sandgren is bound for Melbourne after Tennis Australia reportedly intervened so he could board a charter flight despite testing positive for coronavirus. In a series of tweets on Thursday, Australian time, Sandgren initially suggested he would not be able to board the flight for the Australian Open, writing "Covid positive over thanksgiving" and "Covid positive on Monday". Continue reading... |
| 'Colonialism had never really ended': my life in the shadow of Cecil Rhodes Posted: 13 Jan 2021 10:00 PM PST After growing up in a Zimbabwe convulsed by the legacy of colonialism, when I got to Oxford I realised how many British people still failed to see how empire had shaped lives like mine – as well as their own There was no single moment when I began to sense the long shadow that Cecil John Rhodes has cast over my life, or over the university where I am a professor, or over the ways of seeing the world shared by so many of us still living in the ruins of the British empire. But, looking back, it is clear that long before I arrived at Oxford as a student, long before I helped found the university's Rhodes Must Fall movement, long before I even left Zimbabwe as a teenager, this man and everything he embodied had shaped the worlds through which I moved. I could start this story in 1867, when a boy named Erasmus Jacobs found a diamond the size of an acorn on the banks of the Orange river in what is now South Africa, sparking the diamond rush in which Rhodes first made his fortune. Or I could start it a century later, when my grandfather was murdered by security forces in the British colony of Rhodesia. Or I could start it today, when the infamous statue of Rhodes that peers down on to Oxford's high street may finally be on the verge of being taken down. Continue reading... |
| Journeys of hope: what will migration routes into Europe look like in 2021? Posted: 13 Jan 2021 11:45 PM PST Thousands of people, many fleeing persecution and conflict, will risk everything this year, seeking a new life of freedom and opportunity In 2020, tens of thousands of migrants crossed desert and sea, climbed mountains and walked through forests to reach what has become an increasingly inhospitable Europe. Many of them died, overwhelmed by the waves, or tortured in the detention centres of Libya. More were displaced after the flames of Moria refugee camp in Greece burned everything they had. As a new year begins, so do the journeys of tens of thousands more people seeking a new life overseas. The Guardian has spoken to experts, charity workers and NGOs about the challenges and risks they face on the main migration routes into Europe. Continue reading... |
| The last days of Pompeo: secretary of state lashes out as reign comes to an end Posted: 14 Jan 2021 02:00 AM PST Trump's foreign policy chief has pursued confrontation with Iran and other perceived enemies, but his efforts to disrupt diplomacy will end in failure The finale of Mike Pompeo's reign at the state department has been as controversial and clamorous as the rest of his 32-month tenure, but it is unclear what traces will remain after he has gone. The last days of Pompeo have been played out in a blizzard of self-congratulatory tweets, at the rate of two dozen a day, as he seeks to write his own first draft of history. Continue reading... |
| Tim Rice: 'Evita was a bonkers idea' Posted: 13 Jan 2021 10:00 PM PST As the great songwriter prepares to take Jesus Christ Superstar on a 50th birthday tour, he talks about penning hits, his idea for a new musical – and drinking from Lloyd Webber's Georgian wine glasses Tim Rice had a hunch the Oscar was in the bag. After all, he and Elton John had been responsible for three of the five nominations in the best song category. But, as he walked on stage that night in 1995, after Can You Feel the Love Tonight from The Lion King won, the tall, slightly awkward-looking English lyricist had no idea what he was going to say. So he drew a breath then decided, on a whim, to thank his childhood hero, Denis Compton. No one in the Hollywood audience had heard of the England and Middlesex cricketing all-rounder and his words were greeted with a bemused silence. Rice laughs at the memory and puts on a throaty American drawl to recount the scene back stage when reporters swarmed. "What movies was this guy Compton in?" "Oh, I said, he was in The Final Test." "But what part did he play?" "Well, he played Denis Compton – and frankly, I thought he captured the character very well." Continue reading... |
| 'I came up a black staircase': how Dapper Dan went from fashion industry pariah to Gucci god Posted: 13 Jan 2021 10:00 PM PST In the 1980s, his Harlem store attracted famous athletes and musicians. Then the luxury brands got him shut down. Now, at 76, he's more successful than ever – and still on his own terms It was a mentor on the gambling circuit in Harlem, New York, who gave Daniel Day the moniker that would make him famous. Day was just 13, but had revealed himself to be not only a better craps player than his guide, who was the original Dapper Dan, but also a better dresser. So it came to be that Day was christened "the new Dapper Dan". It wouldn't be until decades later that Day would truly make his name. Dapper Dan's Boutique, the legendary Harlem couturier he opened in 1982, kitted out local gamblers and gangsters, then later hip-hop stars and athletes such as Mike Tyson, Bobby Brown and Salt-N-Pepa. His custom pieces repurposed logos from the fashion houses that had overlooked black clientele. A pioneer in luxury streetwear, Day screenprinted the monograms of Gucci, Louis Vuitton, MCM and Fendi on to premium leathers to create silhouettes synonymous with early hip-hop style: tracksuits, bomber jackets, baseball and kufi caps. In the process he became a pariah of the fashion industry – and to this day, now aged 76, still one of its great influencers. Continue reading... |
| 'Carbon-neutrality is a fairy tale': how the race for renewables is burning Europe's forests Posted: 13 Jan 2021 10:00 PM PST Wood pellets are sold as a clean alternative to coal. But is the subsidised bioenergy boom accelerating the climate crisis? Kalev Järvik stands on a bald patch of land in the heart of Estonia's Haanja nature reserve and remembers when he could walk straight from one side of the reserve to the other under a canopy of trees. Järvik has lived in the Haanja uplands in the southern county of Võru for more than 10 years. His closeness to the forest has shaped his life as a carpenter and the fortunes of the surrounding villages, with their handicraft traditions – a substitute for farming on the poor arable land. Upcountry, travel literature promotes the region to city dwellers, promising its ancient woodlands as a place to rest and reinvigorate the mind. Continue reading... |
| Bad omen? Tower of London raven missing, feared dead Posted: 14 Jan 2021 03:04 AM PST Legend says at least six ravens must be kept at the castle or the kingdom will fall One of the ravens at the Tower of London is feared to have died, in a potentially gloomy omen for Britain. It means that the tower is close to having fewer than six ravens, a level that would spell doom for the kingdom, according to legend. Ravenmaster Christopher Skaife confirmed that one of the birds, Merlina, known as the queen of the tower's unkindness of ravens, is presumed dead after being missing for weeks. Continue reading... |
| Trump impeachment: attention turns to Senate after House votes to impeach – live Posted: 14 Jan 2021 03:01 AM PST Biden to set out Covid vaccination and economic rescue package plans
Some Democrats believe that responsibility for the assault on the Capitol last week lies not just with president Trump, but with other Republican members of Congress. The Washington Post reports this morning: New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill said in a Facebook Live broadcast that she saw Republicans "who had groups coming through the Capitol that I saw on 5 January for reconnaissance for the next day." She said some of her GOP colleagues "abetted" Trump and "incited this violent crowd." "I'm going to see that they're held accountable and, if necessary, ensure that they don't serve in Congress," she said.
The shooting of Jacob Blake was just one of the incidents that put American law enforcement under the spotlight in 2020. Lois Beckett reports for us on data that shows that police are three times as likely to use force against leftwing protesters than against other protests: In the past 10 months, US law enforcement agencies have used teargas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and beatings at a much higher percentage at Black Lives Matter demonstrations than at pro-Trump or other rightwing protests. Related: US police three times as likely to use force against leftwing protesters, data finds Continue reading... |
| Huawei: bullets sent to Meng Wanzhou while under house arrest, court hears Posted: 13 Jan 2021 02:33 PM PST Chief financial officer received multiple death threats during time in Vancouver, Canadian court told Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, has received multiple death threats – including bullets in the mail – while under house arrest in Vancouver, a Canadian court heard on Wednesday. The threats were revealed during testimony by Doug Maynard, chief operating officer of Lions Gate Risk Management, the company providing her security detail. Continue reading... |
| Labor fears humanitarian crisis on Australian coal ships stranded off China Posted: 14 Jan 2021 12:27 AM PST The opposition calls on the Morrison government to work to repair the relationship with Beijing as exporters face a 'grim' year Australian exporters face another "grim" year driven by tensions with China while a standoff over more than 70 ships stranded with Australian coal on board threatens to cause an international humanitarian crisis, the opposition has said. While warning of the mounting economic costs to Australia, the shadow trade minister, Madeleine King, called on the Morrison government to take a step towards repairing the relationship by pledging to "eradicate deeply offensive anti-China rhetoric" from some backbench MPs. Continue reading... |
| What have we learned from Trump's reign? There are worse things than being boring | Adrian Chiles Posted: 13 Jan 2021 11:00 PM PST Most of us dread it, but the outgoing president has shown us why it's a mistake to think that boredom is always to be avoided Boredom is arguably the biggest outcome of lockdown. I don't suffer from it as I can always default to worrying myself into a frantic state about something or other. And terror is never boring, I will say that for it. Boredom is generally regarded as a bad thing, and I have often taken it as saying more about the character of a bored person than the boringness of their situation. But now I am wondering if we need to embrace boredom a bit more. Professionally, as journalists, we dread boredom. This can lead us into an awful place where bad or even terrible news reaching us can feel darkly thrilling or at least better than the worst thing of all: plain boring. Continue reading... |
| California bids to speed its painfully slow vaccine rollout – here's what you need to know Posted: 13 Jan 2021 05:23 PM PST The state's vaccination plan has been decidedly sluggish – but now every Californian aged 65 and older is eligible for the vaccine California leaders are facing mounting pressure to speed up distribution of the new coronavirus vaccine, announcing major steps this week to makes doses available to more people. On Wednesday the state's governor, Gavin Newsom, said that all residents 65 and older will be able to get a vaccine. The move follows the announcement of new mass-vaccination sites at locations such as Disneyland and Dodger Stadium. Continue reading... |
| Are Republicans really ready to unhitch their wagon from Donald Trump? Posted: 13 Jan 2021 11:18 AM PST Analysis: The attack on the Capitol – and perhaps the Senate losses in Georgia – have prompted some GOP leaders to signal a split even as others back his election lie Has the spell really been broken? After years of joining Donald Trump in demonizing political opponents, and holding their silence as Trump furiously shredded public trust in elections, public service, the rule of law and the truth itself, have mainstream Republicans really decided to give him up? Continue reading... |
| Coronavirus in the UK: when will the worst of this be over? Posted: 13 Jan 2021 02:45 AM PST What data from the first wave suggests about how much longer cases and deaths will continue to rise The UK is on course for record hospital admissions and deaths in the coming weeks, as coronavirus cases hit an all-time high following the loosening of restrictions in December and the rapid spread of the new variant. On Monday, the chief medical officer for England, Chris Whitty, warned that the country was approaching the worst weeks of the pandemic. Data from the first wave of Covid-19 and statistical modelling may give us some indication of just how much longer deaths, cases and hospital admissions could continue to rise. Continue reading... |
| US House votes to impeach Donald Trump for a second time – video report Posted: 13 Jan 2021 11:47 PM PST The House of Representatives has voted 232 to 197 to impeach the US president, Donald Trump, for a second time, formally charging him with inciting an insurrection. It was the most bipartisan impeachment vote in US history. After an emotional day-long debate in the chamber, 10 Republicans joined Democrats to hold Trump to account before he leaves office next week.
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| Moment Donald Trump becomes first US president to be impeached twice – video Posted: 13 Jan 2021 02:43 PM PST The US House of Representatives voted by a margin of 232 to 197 to impeach Donald Trump on the charge of incitement of insurrection, making him the first president in history to have been impeached twice. Ten House Republicans voted in favour of the motion Continue reading... |
| Hundreds of troops guarding US Capitol filmed resting during break in shifts – video Posted: 13 Jan 2021 01:42 PM PST Footage shows hundreds of troops resting inside the US Capitol building, one week after it was stormed by a mob of Trump supporters. Over 10,000 members of the national guard have been deployed to Washington DC as the FBI warned far-right groups were continuing to threaten plots before Joe Biden's inauguration as president on 21 January.
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| Nancy Pelosi: Trump is a clear and present danger to the nation – video Posted: 13 Jan 2021 11:03 AM PST The Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives has opened the debate on the article of impeachment against Donald Trump, arguing the president must be removed from office. Describing the storming of the Capitol as a 'day of fire', Nancy Pelosi said Trump had incited insurrection
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| From naked protests to challenging Museveni: Uganda’s 'rudest feminist' on the campaign trail Posted: 13 Jan 2021 06:02 AM PST Stella Nyanzi is Uganda's most outspoken, self-described radical queer feminist. She has been imprisoned for her activism and is known for her attention-grabbing naked protests and poetry. In an election campaign that has become increasingly violent, Nyanzi is standing to be the elected MP for Kampala, as part of the growing nationwide opposition to the 35-year presidency of Yoweri Museveni. With most attention focused on Museveni's presidential challenger Bobi Wine, Nyanzi is on the streets and in the media campaigning for her own votes. She vows that, unlike other women who have been elected, she will not forget her commitment to feminism if she wins Continue reading... |
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