World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk |
- Coronavirus live news: Japan's PM announces state of emergency for Tokyo; US suffers record daily deaths
- Jon Ossoff wins Georgia runoff election, giving Democrats control of Senate
- UK politics: Labour calls Johnson 'spineless' over Trump as Patel says US president provoked violence – live
- Customers in Europe hit by post-Brexit charges when buying from UK
- Hong Kong police release US lawyer arrested with democracy figures
- Minke whale trapped in nets in Japan for two weeks
- Global heating could stabilize if net zero emissions achieved, scientists say
- Environment department scientist calls for biotechnology debate
- London population set to decline for first time since 1988 – report
- Dire warning that London hospitals could be overwhelmed by Covid
- IOC seeks Covid vaccines for athletes in second wave so Olympics can go ahead
- French authorities charge man suspected of organising new year rave
- Covid kills half of Sussex care home's residents over Christmas
- The joys of being an absolute beginner – for life
- Could a deadly pig virus transform Germany’s fixation on 'cheap meat'?
- 'Anarchy in the USA': what the papers say about the storming of the US Capitol
- Robert Webb: 'The doctor said my heart was about to fail. That got my attention'
- Making waves: the hit Indian island radio station leading climate conversations
- Barbara Blake-Hannah: how Britain’s first black female TV reporter was forced off our screens
- Girl, 13, and boys, 13 and 14, charged with murder of Olly Stephens in Reading
- My life is on hold, frozen at the moment my son died in the Beirut blast | Sarah Copland
- Developing economies need a fairer way to help them decarbonise | Kenneth Rogoff
- Trump promises ‘orderly transition’ but continues election lies after Congress certifies Biden as US president – live
- Quebec to enter full lockdown as Covid cases spiral
- Queensland hotel quarantine worker contracts UK strain of Covid prompting aged care lockdown
- Maga mob's Capitol invasion makes Trump's assault on democracy literal
- Parents, please don't take a school place just because you can | Anonymous
- Democrats' Georgia success reshapes US political landscape
- Trump's doomed bid to reverse result further damages faith in US democracy
- Congress certifies Biden and Harris win hours after deadly attack on Capitol – video
- 'Modi's policies are doing nothing for the poor': feeding India's protesting farmers – video
- Democratic and Republican senators unite to condemn deadly US Capitol violence – video
- Pro-Trump rioters storm US Capitol during vote on Biden election victory – video report
- How the Covid surge has left the NHS on the brink – podcast
- 'Domestic terrorists': Schumer condemns pro-Trump mob's storming of Capitol – video
- Biden calls on Trump to 'demand an end to this siege' – video
| Posted: 07 Jan 2021 02:22 AM PST State of emergency will last until 7 February; Johns Hopkins says 3,865 Americans died in 24 hours; London hospitals could be overwhelmed by Covid
Youths protesting a coronavirus curfew clashed with security forces overnight in the Senegalese capital, burning tyres and erecting barricades as police fired tear gas in Dakar's Ngor district, an AFP photographer has reported. Incidents were also reported in other parts of the capital overnight on Wednesday.
Britain is making preparations in case London is overwhelmed by Covid infections, health minister Matt Hancock said, saying a so-called "Nightingale" field hospital will be ready to relieve pressure on the health service. Asked about a report that National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in London could be overwhelmed in two weeks, Hancock said: Of course I'm concerned about the pressures on the NHS. We're putting in the extra resources to make sure that the NHS gets the support it needs in the parts of the country where it's under the most significant pressure. Continue reading... |
| Jon Ossoff wins Georgia runoff election, giving Democrats control of Senate Posted: 06 Jan 2021 02:25 PM PST Victory unseats Republican David Perdue, who held the seat for the past six years, and follows fellow Democrat Raphael Warnock's win The Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff has won his Senate runoff election, giving Democrats control of the Senate for the opening of Joe Biden's presidency. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 07 Jan 2021 02:21 AM PST Latest updates: PM accused of not being critical enough of US president after Trump supporters storm Capitol in Washington
The Labour MP Chris Bryant, a former Foreign Office minister, is also effectively calling for Donald Trump to be banned from the UK after the leaves office (because that would be one effect of Magnitsky-style sanctions). We should consider Magnitsky style sanctions against all those who incited violence in the Capitol. No condemnation of Trump because they're cut from the same cloth. Right-wing narcissist dilettantes both. https://t.co/khlsQ4kYwO This is what @BorisJohnson should have said https://t.co/LVngcw7oUX
Humza Yousaf, Scotland's justice minister, has suggested that the Westminster government should ban Donald Trump from entering the UK after he leaves the White House on the grounds that his presence would not be conducive to the public good. Once he leaves Office if Trump tries to come to UK the Home Sect should give serious consideration to denying him entry, she has the power if an applicant's presence is not conducive to the public good |
| Customers in Europe hit by post-Brexit charges when buying from UK Posted: 07 Jan 2021 02:15 AM PST Shoppers tell of shock at unexpected bills for VAT or customs duty as some retailers stop shipping to continent Customers in Europe buying products ranging from furniture to pet food from UK firms are receiving unexpected bills for VAT and customs duty or finding even household names have stopped shipping to the continent, as post-Brexit trading rules bite. "We bought a €47 [£42] shelf from Next for our bathroom," said Thom Basely, who lives in Marseille. "On the morning it was supposed to be delivered we received an 'import duty/tax' demand for over €30, like a ransom note. It came as a complete surprise." Continue reading... |
| Hong Kong police release US lawyer arrested with democracy figures Posted: 06 Jan 2021 09:39 PM PST John Clancey freed pending further inquiries after authorities launched unprecedented crackdown One of the 53 people arrested in Hong Kong on Wednesday, the American lawyer John Clancey, has been released without charge pending further inquiries. Police were expected to begin releasing the remaining detainees on Thursday, according to local media, after an unprecedented round-up of politicians, campaigners, and activists over accusations that their holding of a democratic poll violated the national security law (NSL) imposed by China's government. Continue reading... |
| Minke whale trapped in nets in Japan for two weeks Posted: 06 Jan 2021 09:39 PM PST Animal rights groups demand animal's release but locals claim its size and strong currents are making it hard to free Animal rights campaigners have demanded the immediate release of a minke whale that has been trapped for more than two weeks in nets in Taiji, a town on Japan's Pacific coast known for its annul dolphin cull. Japanese media reported that attempts were being made to free the four or five metre long whale but fishermen claimed its size and strong tidal currents were making it difficult to guide it into open water. Continue reading... |
| Global heating could stabilize if net zero emissions achieved, scientists say Posted: 06 Jan 2021 11:00 PM PST Climate disaster could be curtailed within a couple of decades if net zero emissions are reached, new study shows The world may be barreling towards climate disaster but rapidly eliminating planet-heating emissions means global temperatures could stabilize within just a couple of decades, scientists say. For many years it was assumed that further global heating would be locked in for generations even if emissions were rapidly cut. Climate models run by scientists on future temperatures were based on a certain carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere. If this remained at the current high level there would be runaway climate disaster, with temperatures continuing to rise even if emissions were reduced because of a lag time before greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere. Continue reading... |
| Environment department scientist calls for biotechnology debate Posted: 06 Jan 2021 11:00 PM PST Gideon Henderson says debate needed on GM crops and gene editing of plants and animals Gideon Henderson, chief scientist at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, believes the time is ripe for a new public debate on biotechnology, the science of manipulating genes in crops and animals. "The last time we had an extensive public discussion was in the 1990s," he notes. Then, public outrage at the idea of 'Frankenfoods' centred on fears of what might result from newly available techniques that allowed the introduction of genes from one species into a completely different species. Lurid stories of tomatoes altered with fish genes grabbed the headlines. Continue reading... |
| London population set to decline for first time since 1988 – report Posted: 06 Jan 2021 04:01 PM PST Economic fallout from Covid pandemic and rise of home working likely to spur exodus London's population is set to decline for the first time in more than 30 years, driven by the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and people reassessing where they live during the crisis, according to a report. The accountancy firm PwC said the number of people living in the capital could fall by more than 300,000 this year, from a record level of about 9 million in 2020, to as low as 8.7 million. This would end decades of growth with the first annual drop since 1988. Continue reading... |
| Dire warning that London hospitals could be overwhelmed by Covid Posted: 06 Jan 2021 10:00 PM PST Senior doctors told that sheer numbers falling ill with Covid could leave capital without beds for thousands Hospitals in London could soon be overwhelmed by Covid-19 and left short of almost 5,500 beds they need to cope with the explosion in cases, NHS leaders have revealed. The health service's lead doctor for the capital shared the worrying analysis with the most senior medics in the city's NHS hospital trusts on a Zoom call on Wednesday afternoon. Continue reading... |
| IOC seeks Covid vaccines for athletes in second wave so Olympics can go ahead Posted: 06 Jan 2021 01:00 PM PST
The International Olympic Committee is working on ways to get athletes the coronavirus jab in the second or third wave so that the Tokyo Games can go ahead safely in July, the Guardian has been told. While insisting that we "do not want to queue jump", IOC sources are hoping athletes from around the globe will be high up on the vaccination list, once key workers and the vulnerable are given the jab. Continue reading... |
| French authorities charge man suspected of organising new year rave Posted: 06 Jan 2021 10:32 AM PST Prosecutor say 22-year-old not alone in organising event that shocked a country in lockdown French authorities have charged a suspected organiser of an illegal new year rave at which 2,400 people defied coronavirus rules, in a decision condemned by his supporters as an injustice. The wildcat rave party in Brittany shocked the country as people continued to observe strict bans on gatherings to battle the coronavirus. Continue reading... |
| Covid kills half of Sussex care home's residents over Christmas Posted: 06 Jan 2021 11:00 PM PST Exclusive: 'We're sitting ducks,' says Edendale Lodge boss, as fears rise of variant breaching homes' defences A care home in East Sussex has been devastated by Covid, losing half of all its residents to the disease over Christmas, fuelling fears the new, more transmissible virus variant sweeping the south-east of England is beginning to breach homes' defences. Thirteen of 27 residents at Edendale Lodge care home in Crowhurst had died with confirmed or suspected Covid since 13 December, said the home operator's managing director, Adam Hutchison, who also runs care homes in Kent. Continue reading... |
| The joys of being an absolute beginner – for life Posted: 06 Jan 2021 10:00 PM PST The phrase 'adult beginner' can sound patronising. It implies you are learning something you should have mastered as a child. But learning is not just for the young One day a number of years ago, I was deep into a game of draughts on holiday with my daughter, then almost four, in the small library of a beachfront town. Her eye drifted to a nearby table, where a black-and-white board bristled with far more interesting figures (many a future chess master has been innocently drawn in by "horses" and "castles"). "What's that?" she asked. "Chess," I replied. "Can we play?" she pleaded. I nodded absently. Continue reading... |
| Could a deadly pig virus transform Germany’s fixation on 'cheap meat'? Posted: 06 Jan 2021 11:00 PM PST African swine fever and Covid outbreaks among workers have raised questions over mega farms for pork It was the stench of the wild boar's carcass that first caught the rambler's attention. Bits of hide and a few bones were all that was left of the animal, found in September on the edge of a maize field in the north-east state of Brandenburg, which encircles Berlin. Tests quickly showed that it had died from African swine fever, or ASF. It was found 20km from the last known outbreak in neighbouring Poland. Continue reading... |
| 'Anarchy in the USA': what the papers say about the storming of the US Capitol Posted: 06 Jan 2021 06:15 PM PST Front pages around the world cover the violence in Washington DC through the lens of an assault on democracy The extraordinary and violent scenes that consumed the US Capitol building on Wednesday have dominated news coverage across the world. The Guardian carries a scene from the Capitol's rotunda, filled with a pro-Trump mob waving the flag of their leader: "Chaos as pro-Trump mob storms US Capitol". Prominence is given to a quote from the US president-elect, Joe Biden, who said: "Our democracy's under assault, unlike anything we've seen in modern times." Continue reading... |
| Robert Webb: 'The doctor said my heart was about to fail. That got my attention' Posted: 07 Jan 2021 01:00 AM PST Months after emergency surgery saved his life, the comedian is returning with his sitcom Back. He talks about acting with a swollen heart – and why he's given up booze, cigarettes and Twitter Robert Webb is talking, rather casually, about how he almost died during the making of the much delayed and highly anticipated second season of his sitcom Back. "I went for the cast medical," he says, "and the GP put his stethoscope on my heart, pulled a face, and said, 'Interesting. What have you been doing about the heart murmur?' And I said, 'What heart murmur?' Then he referred me – quite urgently – to a cardiologist, who did a couple of tests and told me, 'I'm not saying you're going to have a heart attack in the next fortnight – but in the next two to four to six months, this heart will fail.'" He pauses. "So that got my attention." What swiftly followed was emergency surgery to fix his mitral valve, which had a birth defect, followed by three and a half months signed off work. And then, three weeks after he returned, Covid happened and the production was forced to shut down once again. The finishing touches were finally put to the series in September. But continuity was somewhat compromised. "There are scenes," says Webb, "where I look incredibly pasty and bloated and fucked, because my heart had almost doubled in size." Continue reading... |
| Making waves: the hit Indian island radio station leading climate conversations Posted: 06 Jan 2021 10:30 PM PST With its unique blend of gossip, jokes and songs mixed with serious global issues, Kadal Osai has built a devoted audience Selvarani Mari is a fisher and seaweed collector who lives on Pamban Island of Tamil Nadu, on the southernmost tip of India. Every day she helps her husband cast the fishing nets, maintains rafts for cultivating seaweed, and dives into the ocean to gather sargassum. But she always makes time to listen to the radio. Continue reading... |
| Barbara Blake-Hannah: how Britain’s first black female TV reporter was forced off our screens Posted: 06 Jan 2021 10:00 PM PST In the 60s, long before Trevor McDonald and Moira Stuart became household names, a 26-year-old from Jamaica was a regular on the news. Then the racist letters and calls started In 2008, Barbara Blake-Hannah sat down to write a letter of admonishment to the Guardian. "I must put history right," she wrote, explaining that a poster issued by the paper was incorrect. It contained, she noted, the common misconception that Trevor McDonald was the first Black person to report the news on British TV after he joined ITN in 1973 and that Moira Stuart, on BBC News from 1981, was the first Black woman. In fact, said Blake-Hannah – an author, film-maker and former Jamaican senator – in 1968 she was one of three Thames Television on-camera reporters for the current affairs programme Today, presented by Eamonn Andrews. (The BBC had hired a Black trainee reporter, Eric Anthony Abrahams, a few years earlier.) At the time her appointment made every daily newspaper, bar the Daily Express. Blake-Hannah claims the Express held out only because "they had a rule: no Black people on the front page". "Shirley Bassey sang regularly and there were comedians, but we were allowed in an entertainment capacity, not as serious news people, delivering serious stories." Continue reading... |
| Girl, 13, and boys, 13 and 14, charged with murder of Olly Stephens in Reading Posted: 06 Jan 2021 05:12 PM PST Trio charged over death of 13-year-old on Sunday and will appear at Reading magistrates court A 13-year-old girl and two boys, aged 13 and 14, have been charged with murder over the death of 13-year-old Oliver Stephens in Reading on Sunday, Thames Valley police have said. The trio, all from Reading, have been remanded in custody to appear at the town's magistrates court on Thursday. They have all also been charged with conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm. Continue reading... |
| My life is on hold, frozen at the moment my son died in the Beirut blast | Sarah Copland Posted: 07 Jan 2021 12:00 AM PST The sun still rises and sets every day but I am stuck at 6.08pm on 4 August 2020, when Isaac was taken from me Five months ago, my son died. As I write these words and read them over and over again, they are so incomprehensible that they might as well be in a foreign language. Again and again I read them, unable to grasp that they relate to me, that they form part of my story. These words belong in a novel, or a sad news story about some poor family that I will never meet, but will take a moment to feel sorry for before going back to my life. They cannot be my life. I cannot be the one that people look at and silently thank God that my life is not their own. Continue reading... |
| Developing economies need a fairer way to help them decarbonise | Kenneth Rogoff Posted: 06 Jan 2021 11:00 PM PST Carbon border taxes alone will not encourage poorer countries to meet climate goals With the US president-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration promising a fresh, rational approach to climate change, now is an ideal time to make the case for a World Carbon Bank that would transfer and coordinate aid and technical assistance to help developing countries decarbonise. The proposed Green New Deal in the US and the European commission's European Green Deal have laudable environmental goals but are too inward-looking. When an entire building is burning, to concentrate firefighting resources on one floor would only delay, not prevent, its destruction. According to the International Energy Agency, almost all the net growth in carbon dioxide emissions over the next two decades will come from emerging markets. Although China recently pledged to achieve zero net emissions by 2060, it is sobering to consider that it accounts for half of the world's coal output and half of its coal consumption. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 07 Jan 2021 02:20 AM PST
The House will not reconvene on Monday after all, the Democratic leadership announces, according to Fox News' Chad Pergram. Back in two weeks: Hoyer announces no sessions of the House until after the inauguration.
The UK home secretary, Priti Patel, said Donald Trump's incendiary remarks directly provoked the violence witnessed in the US Capitol as she urged him to condemn it. "His comments directly led to the violence and so far he has failed to condemn that violence – and that is completely wrong," she said. Related: Priti Patel: Trump's remarks 'led to violence' in US Capitol Continue reading... |
| Quebec to enter full lockdown as Covid cases spiral Posted: 06 Jan 2021 03:27 PM PST Canadian province implements 'shock measure' intended to blunt steady growth of infections Quebec will enter a full lockdown on Saturday, becoming the first Canadian province to enact a curfew as coronavirus cases once again spiral out of control. The premier, François Legault, announced the sweeping rules on Wednesday, describing them a "shock measure" intended to blunt a steady growth in cases. Continue reading... |
| Queensland hotel quarantine worker contracts UK strain of Covid prompting aged care lockdown Posted: 07 Jan 2021 12:52 AM PST Fears the Queensland case could spark an outbreak come as Victoria records no new cases of coronavirus and NSW records one
A Queensland hotel quarantine worker has contracted the highly infectious UK strain of Covid-19, prompting the state's health authorities to send aged care homes in parts of greater Brisbane into lockdown. The cleaner, a woman in her 20s, was working at a hotel that contained patients with the strain, which has been found to be more infectious than previous strains. Continue reading... |
| Maga mob's Capitol invasion makes Trump's assault on democracy literal Posted: 06 Jan 2021 09:06 PM PST Hundreds of the president's supporters stormed the Capitol in the most dramatic challenge to US democracy since the civil war The US Capitol, the seat of American democracy, has been stormed by a pro-Donald Trump mob, egged on by the president in a desperate and violent effort to overturn the results of the election. Continue reading... |
| Parents, please don't take a school place just because you can | Anonymous Posted: 06 Jan 2021 12:01 PM PST This lockdown comes with increased pressures for educators, writes a primary headteacher In March 2020, when we first went into lockdown, my school went overnight from over 200 pupils to having between three and 10 pupils. Having seen it coming way before the government – not that you needed the gift of prophecy – we were prepared with remote learning from the very next day. Related: English schools struggle with demand for key worker places Continue reading... |
| Democrats' Georgia success reshapes US political landscape Posted: 06 Jan 2021 11:53 AM PST Projected election victories will give Biden a majority in the Senate and were built on a revamped strategy and organisational effort The US state of Georgia on Wednesday afternoon looked set to present an early inauguration gift to Joe Biden, giving him a decent shot at breaking Washington gridlock and enacting his agenda. Continue reading... |
| Trump's doomed bid to reverse result further damages faith in US democracy Posted: 06 Jan 2021 11:51 AM PST The rantings of a president unable to accept defeat have gained traction, and are embraced by a majority Republican voters as fact Americans' confidence in their democracy has been eroded for years by a system that has, at various junctures, delivered victory to Republican presidents who lost the popular vote, permitted industrial-scale gerrymandering of electoral maps, and is built around a Congress rigged in favour of conservative states. Related: Trump supporters storm Capitol as McConnell warns of democracy 'death spiral' – live Continue reading... |
| Congress certifies Biden and Harris win hours after deadly attack on Capitol – video Posted: 07 Jan 2021 01:30 AM PST With all electoral college votes counted, the US Congress has certified Joe Biden's win in the election. Biden and Kamala Harris will take over as president and vice-president on 20 January. The confirmation of the vote was delayed when pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol building in the afternoon of 6 January
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| 'Modi's policies are doing nothing for the poor': feeding India's protesting farmers – video Posted: 07 Jan 2021 12:44 AM PST Pushpinder Pal is one of tens of thousands of Indian farmers camped along nine miles (15km) of major roads outside Delhi, protesting about agricultural laws they claim will devastate their earnings. Based in Haryana, he collects food every day from his local gurdwara, a Sikhs' place of assembly, delivering spinach curry to huge numbers of protesters. The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, promised to increase farmers' incomes, but they claim his new policies are designed to favour rich corporations and not them. In one of the largest protests in history, farmers are pledging to stay put while they wait for their representatives to strike a deal with government Continue reading... |
| Democratic and Republican senators unite to condemn deadly US Capitol violence – video Posted: 06 Jan 2021 11:30 PM PST Senators from both sides of US politics have condemned the violence unleashed on the Capitol building on Wednesday. The vice-president, Mike Pence, described it as 'a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol'. The Democratic Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, labelled the Trump supporters as 'goons', 'thugs' and 'domestic terrorists', while Republican Mitt Romney labelled the events 'an insurrection, incited by the president of the United States'
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| Pro-Trump rioters storm US Capitol during vote on Biden election victory – video report Posted: 06 Jan 2021 10:07 PM PST Pro-Donald Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building in Washington DC on Wednesday, breaking into the debating chambers and clashing with armed police. Four people died during the unrest, three from medical emergencies and one woman was shot dead in circumstances that are unclear. The siege came on the day the electoral college votes confirming Joe Biden's victory were to be affirmed by members of the House and Senate. The chaos erupted after Trump addressed thousands of protesters near the White House, repeating false claims the election had been stolen.
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| How the Covid surge has left the NHS on the brink – podcast Posted: 06 Jan 2021 07:00 PM PST Boris Johnson has announced a new national lockdown amid fears the NHS could be overwhelmed within weeks with Covid patients. Denis Campbell and Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden describe a service already at breaking point Fears that the NHS could be overwhelmed within weeks have prompted new national lockdowns across the UK. There are now more than 30,000 people in NHS hospitals with coronavirus as staff levels have been hit too by the disease. The Guardian's health policy editor, Denis Campbell, tells Anushka Asthana that the rapidly rising number of Covid patients is forcing hospitals to cancel non-urgent operations and ration care. Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden, who works in intensive care units, says staff are feeling exhausted as their workloads continue to expand. She welcomes the new lockdown but fears the toll on the NHS and staff is becoming unbearable. Continue reading... |
| 'Domestic terrorists': Schumer condemns pro-Trump mob's storming of Capitol – video Posted: 06 Jan 2021 06:11 PM PST 'This will be a stain on our country not so easily washed away,' the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, said on the Senate floor after it reconvened to finish certifying Joe Biden's election victory after a six-hour delay. Schumer further called for the 'goons' and 'thugs' and 'domestic terrorists' who stormed the Capitol today to be 'prosecuted to the full extent of the law'.
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| Biden calls on Trump to 'demand an end to this siege' – video Posted: 06 Jan 2021 05:37 PM PST President-elect Joe Biden denounces the violence at the Capitol, after a mob of Trump supporters storm the building. 'This is not dissent, it's disorder, it's chaos, it borders on sedition, and it must end now,' Biden said. He then called on outgoing US president Trump to publicly 'demand an end to this siege'
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