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- Revealed: 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar as it gears up for World Cup
- Hong Kong plans to make politicians swear oath of loyalty to Beijing
- Man accused of Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination pleads guilty
- Mount Etna illuminates night sky with 1,500-metre lava fountain
- US Senate hears testimony on Capitol riot: 'These criminals came prepared for war' – live
- Israeli checkpoint killing of Palestinian was an execution, report claims
- Relative of Queen jailed for sexually assaulting woman at Scottish castle
- Police arrest Georgian opposition leader after storming party HQ
- Elon Musk no longer world’s richest person as Tesla shares fall
- Boris Johnson says he feels guilty about his journalism
- EU tells six countries to lift Covid border restrictions
- Prototype Covid test delivers results three times faster than lateral flow
- Coronavirus live news: Greek health workers strike over conditions; Fauci says political divide added to US deaths
- Coronaangst ridden? Overzoomed? Covid inspires 1,200 new German words
- My Brother’s Keeper: a former Guantánamo detainee's unlikely friendship with his guard
- Nude selfies: are they now art?
- 'A role model': how Seville is turning leftover oranges into electricity
- Sky News Australia is tapping into the global conspiracy set – and it’s paying off
- Daft Punk were the most influential pop musicians of the 21st century
- Ruling on Trump tax records could be costliest defeat of his losing streak
- Sturgeon unveils plans for easing Scotland's Covid restrictions
- Amos Oz accused of 'sadistic abuse' by daughter in new memoir
- Italian ambassador to DR Congo dies in attack on UN convoy
- US Democratic senators introducing bill to sanction Honduran president
- HSBC to slash post-Covid office space by 40% as profits drop by a third
- Colombia's 'capital of horror' despairs amid new wave of gang violence
- Reporting on WTO's first female head 'sexist and racist', say African UN leaders
- Rights and freedom – welcome to our series
- America's half a million Covid deaths a stark reminder of challenges for Biden
- What is the science behind plans to relax England's lockdown?
- Mount Etna erupts at night, illuminating sky – video
- My Brother’s Keeper: a former Guantánamo detainee, his guard and their unlikely friendship - video
- Boris Johnson sets out four-step plan to ease lockdown in England – video
- Spanish police rescue migrants hidden in waste containers – video
- Spanish people take to streets over rapper's jailing – in pictures
| Revealed: 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar as it gears up for World Cup Posted: 22 Feb 2021 10:00 PM PST Guardian analysis indicates shocking figure likely to be an underestimate, as preparations for 2022 tournament continue More than 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have died in Qatar since it won the right to host the World Cup 10 years ago, the Guardian can reveal. The findings, compiled from government sources, mean an average of 12 migrant workers from these five south Asian nations have died each week since the night in December 2010 when the streets of Doha were filled with ecstatic crowds celebrating Qatar's victory. Continue reading... |
| Hong Kong plans to make politicians swear oath of loyalty to Beijing Posted: 23 Feb 2021 02:54 AM PST All election participants will have to swear allegiance or face five-year ban under bill to be tabled next month Hong Kong's government has announced electoral changes requiring office-holders to pledge and maintain an oath of loyalty to Hong Kong and Beijing, or face disqualification and a five-year ban on running for re-election. A bill to "ensure patriots govern Hong Kong" has been endorsed by the chief executive council and will be tabled in March, the secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs, Erick Tsang, told a press conference on Tuesday. Continue reading... |
| Man accused of Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination pleads guilty Posted: 23 Feb 2021 07:19 AM PST Vincent Muscat, one of three men awaiting trial over Maltese journalist's killing, registers admission in pre-trial hearing One of three men accused of the 2017 assassination of the Maltese anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has pleaded guilty, a major development in a case that has rocked the Mediterranean island nation. Vincent Muscat was arrested in December 2017, two months after the car bomb attack that set off a chain of events that led to the resignation of Joseph Muscat – no relation – as prime minister. Continue reading... |
| Mount Etna illuminates night sky with 1,500-metre lava fountain Posted: 23 Feb 2021 05:56 AM PST Europe's most active volcano produces one of most striking eruptions in decades Mount Etna's spectacular eruptions reached a peak on Monday when the volcano's lava fountains soared to 1,500 metres – a display described by one expert as "one of the most striking in the last few decades". Europe's most active volcano has been on explosive form in recent weeks, spewing incandescent magma and a copious shower of ash, reaching as far as Catania. Continue reading... |
| US Senate hears testimony on Capitol riot: 'These criminals came prepared for war' – live Posted: 23 Feb 2021 08:54 AM PST
The main lesson from the scandal over his flight to Cancún while Texas froze, Senator Ted Cruz said on Tuesday, is that people should not be "assholes", and should treat each other with respect. The Texas Republican, who ran for the presidential nomination in 2016, is known for his caustic and brutal attacks on Democrats and willingness to buck even the appearance of bipartisan cooperation in the Senate in order to achieve his own goals, even by causing a government shutdown. Related: 'Don't be assholes': Ted Cruz criticizes press reports over his Cancún trip
The former USCP chief Steven Sund and the former House sergeant at arms Paul Irving offered conflicting accounts of when National Guard assistance was first requested. According to Sund, he called Irving at 1:09 pm on January 6 to tell him that National Guard troops were urgently needed at the Capitol. Continue reading... |
| Israeli checkpoint killing of Palestinian was an execution, report claims Posted: 23 Feb 2021 04:29 AM PST London-based group says video evidence casts doubt on claims Ahmad Erekat was conducting an attack Israeli forces executed a 26-year-old Palestinian at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank last year, a report has alleged, challenging Israeli police claims that the man was a "terrorist" conducting an attack. Forensic Architecture, a British research body based at Goldsmiths, University of London, said it had conducted an analysis into the death of Ahmad Erekat, who was shot seconds after his car crashed into a booth and lightly wounded an Israeli border guard. Continue reading... |
| Relative of Queen jailed for sexually assaulting woman at Scottish castle Posted: 23 Feb 2021 03:56 AM PST Simon Bowes-Lyon, the Earl of Strathmore, sentenced to 10 months over attack at Glamis Castle A relative of the Queen has been jailed for 10 months for sexually assaulting a woman at his ancestral home. Simon Bowes-Lyon, 34, the Earl of Strathmore, pleaded guilty to attacking a woman at Glamis Castle, in Angus, Scotland, in February last year. Continue reading... |
| Police arrest Georgian opposition leader after storming party HQ Posted: 23 Feb 2021 04:33 AM PST Nika Melia of UNM charged with inciting violence at 2019 anti-government demonstrations Georgian police have stormed the country's opposition party headquarters and arrested their leader, escalating a political crisis in the former Soviet country that government critics say risks a descent into authoritarianism. In a dramatic morning raid, riot police entered the headquarters of the United National Movement (UNM), using teargas and batons as they arrested its leader, Nika Melia, on criminal charges and detained at least a dozen others. Continue reading... |
| Elon Musk no longer world’s richest person as Tesla shares fall Posted: 23 Feb 2021 04:47 AM PST Electric carmaker's CEO falls behind Amazon founder Jeff Bezos after tweet saying bitcoin price 'seems high' Elon Musk, the maverick boss of Tesla, is no longer the world's richest person after shares in the electric car company dropped 8.6% on Monday, wiping $15.2bn (£10.8bn) off his fortune. Musk, who last month leapfrogged Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to take the title of the world's wealthiest person, dropped back into second place with a $183bn estimated fortune behind Bezos' $186.3bn. Continue reading... |
| Boris Johnson says he feels guilty about his journalism Posted: 23 Feb 2021 07:49 AM PST During school visit prime minister reveals doubts over 'abusing or attacking people' Boris Johnson quit journalism for politics because he felt guilty about "abusing or attacking people" without putting himself in their shoes, he told a group of schoolchildren on Tuesday. "I was like a journalist for a long time, I still am really, I still write stuff," he told pupils at Sedgehill Academy in south-east London. "But when you're a journalist, it's a great, great job, it's a great profession, but the trouble is that you sometimes find yourself always abusing people or attacking people." Continue reading... |
| EU tells six countries to lift Covid border restrictions Posted: 23 Feb 2021 08:40 AM PST Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary and Sweden put on notice over curbs to free movement Brussels has put six EU member states on notice that their tight Covid border restrictions, including exit and entry bans, should be lifted over fears of a wider breakdown in the bloc's free movement of people and goods. Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary and Sweden have been given 10 days to respond to the European commission's concerns that they have breached commonly agreed coronavirus guidelines. Continue reading... |
| Prototype Covid test delivers results three times faster than lateral flow Posted: 23 Feb 2021 06:55 AM PST Test developed in France is as accurate as PCR test and does not require lab processing French researchers have developed a coronavirus test that they say delivers results three times faster than rapid lateral flow antigen tests with – according to initial trial data – almost the same accuracy as more reliable, but slower, PCR tests. The electrochemical test, which uses nanobodies taken from the camelid group of animals, returns a result within 10 minutes and, in an early test of 300 samples, proved 90% as accurate as a PCR test for both positive and negative results. It is being developed by scientists at Lille and Marseille universities and from the French national scientific research centre CNRS. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 23 Feb 2021 08:56 AM PST Greek doctors marched in Athens over 'suffocating' conditions at hospitals; Fauci says large US death toll 'should not have happened'
EasyJet shares have rallied amid rocketing flight bookings for the British airline, boosted by prime minister Boris Johnson's plan to ease England's coronavirus lockdown, AFP reports. Bookings had soared by 337 percent by late Monday compared with a week earlier, EasyJet said in a statement issued after Johnson's announcement. EasyJet shares rallied around five percent in late deals on the London stock market - and there were solid gains for European rivals. "The prime minister... has provided a much-needed boost in confidence for so many of our customers in the UK with demand for flights up 337 percent and holidays up 630 percent already compared to last week," said EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren.
Spain has extended its ban on arrivals from Britain, Brazil and South Africa until 16 March to safeguard against the spread of new coronavirus strains from these countries, AFP reports. Only legal residents or nationals of Spain and the neighbouring micro-state of Andorra are currently allowed in on flights from these countries. The restriction on arrivals from Britain was imposed at the end of December to halt the spread of the highly contagious Covid-19 variant discovered there in November. Continue reading... |
| Coronaangst ridden? Overzoomed? Covid inspires 1,200 new German words Posted: 23 Feb 2021 06:10 AM PST Linguist who compiled list of words says they help tell story of life during pandemic From coronamüde (tired of Covid-19) to Coronafrisur (corona hairstyle), a German project is documenting the huge number of new words coined in the last year as the language races to keep up with lives radically changed by the pandemic. The list, compiled by the Leibniz Institute for the German Language, an organisation that documents German language in the past and present, already comprises more than 1,200 new German words – many more than the 200 seen in an average year. Continue reading... |
| My Brother’s Keeper: a former Guantánamo detainee's unlikely friendship with his guard Posted: 23 Feb 2021 02:00 AM PST Mohamedou Ould Salahi and one of his former guards, Steve Wood, reunite in Mauritania 13 years after last seeing each other, rekindling an unlikely relationship that profoundly changed their lives. Mohamedou was a prisoner at Guantánamo Bay for 14 years. During his incarceration he was subjected to torture and solitary confinement, but never charged with a crime. His memoir, Guantánamo Diary, became an international bestseller and was adapted into the film, The Mauritanian, starring Tahar Rahim and Jodie Foster. My Brother's Keeper is BAFTA longlisted for British Short Film 2021. Read exclusive extracts and listen to audio readings from Mohamedou's book on the Guardian. Continue reading... |
| Nude selfies: are they now art? Posted: 23 Feb 2021 08:11 AM PST Lockdown has triggered a boom in the exchange of intimate shots – and now a new book called Sending Nudes is celebrating the pleasures and perils of baring all to the camera Have you ever sent a nude selfie? The question draws a thick red line between generations, throwing one side into a panic while the other just laughs. And yet, as far back as 2009, that fount of moral wisdom, Kanye West, was advising how to stay safe. "When you take the picture cut off your face / And cover up the tattoo by the waist," he rapped in Jamie Foxx's song Digital Girl. As the pandemic forces relationships to be conducted remotely, more people than ever are resorting to the virtual exchange of intimacies. Last autumn, a poll of 7,000 UK schoolchildren by the youth sexual health charity Brook put the figure at nearly one in five who said they would send a naked selfie to a partner during a lockdown. Continue reading... |
| 'A role model': how Seville is turning leftover oranges into electricity Posted: 23 Feb 2021 07:16 AM PST Pilot scheme will use methane from fermenting fruit to create clean power for city water plant In spring, the air in Seville is sweet with the scent of azahar, orange blossom, but the 5.7m kilos of bitter fruit the city's 48,000 trees deposit on the streets in winter are a hazard for pedestrians and a headache for the city's cleaning department. Now a scheme has been launched to produce an entirely different kind of juice from the unwanted oranges: electricity. The southern Spanish city has begun a pilot scheme to use the methane produced as the fruit ferments to generate clean electricity. Continue reading... |
| Sky News Australia is tapping into the global conspiracy set – and it’s paying off Posted: 23 Feb 2021 08:30 AM PST News Corp-owned channel is garnering millions of views across digital platforms with a slew of far-right conspiracies The US conspiracy network Infowars has been banned from most social media platforms, but Alex Jones, its presenter, is still delivering his incendiary broadcasts on the internet, pumping out his message that the election of Joe Biden as president is part of a plot by globalists and the deep state to bring about "the takedown of America". And that's the mild version. Continue reading... |
| Daft Punk were the most influential pop musicians of the 21st century Posted: 23 Feb 2021 02:35 AM PST By resurrecting disco, soft rock and 80s R&B, and bringing spectacle to the world of dance music, the French duo changed the course of pop music again and again It's hard to think of an act who had a greater impact on the way 21st-century pop music sounds than Daft Punk. The style Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo minted on their 1997 debut album Homework – house music heavy on the filter effect, which involved the bass or treble on the track gradually fading in and out, mimicking a DJ playing with the equalisation on a mixer; drums treated with sidechain compression, so that the beats appeared to punch through the sound, causing everything else on the track to momentarily recede – is now part of pop's lingua franca. In fact, no sooner had Homework come out than other artists started to copy it. Within a couple of years, Madonna had hooked up with another French dance producer, Mirwais, employed to add a distinctly Daft Punk-ish sheen to her 2000 album Music, and the charts were playing host to a succession of soundalike house tracks – 2 People by Jean Jacques Smoothie, who turned out to be a bloke from Gloucester called Steve; Phats and Small's ubiquitous Turn Around; and No 1 singles, Modjo's Lady and Eric Prydz's Call on Me among them. Continue reading... |
| Ruling on Trump tax records could be costliest defeat of his losing streak Posted: 22 Feb 2021 11:00 PM PST The US supreme court has rejected an attempt to block a subpoena from New York where the ex-president's business affairs are under investigation Donald Trump used to promise his supporters that they would be winning so much, they would get sick and tired of winning. But the former US president is now on a seemingly endless losing streak. Continue reading... |
| Sturgeon unveils plans for easing Scotland's Covid restrictions Posted: 23 Feb 2021 08:40 AM PST First minister says lockdown will remain for at least six weeks, with gradual easing after 5 April Scotland's schools are expected to fully reopen in early April, with some household mixing allowed, after Nicola Sturgeon unveiled a partial route map to lifting the country's strict Covid controls. In a statement to Holyrood, the first minister confirmed that Scotland's lockdown would remain in place for at least six weeks, with the stay-at-home rule enforced until 5 April at the earliest. Continue reading... |
| Amos Oz accused of 'sadistic abuse' by daughter in new memoir Posted: 23 Feb 2021 04:34 AM PST Galia Oz claims late author – hailed as Israel's greatest – beat and humiliated her in childhood, but siblings say they remember him differently The daughter of the late Israeli author Amos Oz has alleged that her father subjected her to "a routine of sadistic abuse" in a new memoir, claims that have been challenged by his family. Galia Oz, a children's author, published her autobiography, Something Disguised as Love, in Hebrew on Sunday. "In my childhood, my father beat me, swore and humiliated me," she writes, in a translation published by the newspaper Haaretz. "The violence was creative: He dragged me from inside the house and threw me outside. He called me trash. Not a passing loss of control and not a slap in the face here or there, but a routine of sadistic abuse. My crime was me myself, so the punishment had no end. He had a need to make sure I would break." Continue reading... |
| Italian ambassador to DR Congo dies in attack on UN convoy Posted: 22 Feb 2021 10:37 AM PST Luca Attanasio and two others killed in attempted kidnapping north of Goma in eastern DRC Italy's ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and two other people have been killed in an attack on a United Nations convoy in the restive east of the central African country. The convoy from the World Food Programme (WFP) was attacked at about 10.30am local time (0830 GMT) during an attempted kidnapping near the town of Kanyamahoro, about 10 miles north of the regional capital, Goma, a spokesperson for Virunga national park said. Continue reading... |
| US Democratic senators introducing bill to sanction Honduran president Posted: 23 Feb 2021 08:46 AM PST Legislation would suspend certain US assistance until corruption and human rights violations no longer systemic A group of influential Democratic senators are introducing legislation which would sanction the president of Honduras – an alleged drug trafficker and key US ally – and cut off financial aid and ammunition sales to the country's security forces which are implicated in widespread human rights abuses and criminal activities. The Honduras Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Act, co-sponsored by Senators Jeff Merkley, Bernie Sanders, Patrick Leahy, Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren, Dick Durbin, Sheldon Whitehouse and Chris Van Hollen, would suspend certain US assistance to the Central American country until corruption and human rights violations are no longer systemic, and the perpetrators of these crimes start facing justice. Continue reading... |
| HSBC to slash post-Covid office space by 40% as profits drop by a third Posted: 23 Feb 2021 08:52 AM PST Bank also reaffirms greater shift towards Asia-Pacific, where most of its earnings come from HSBC is to reduce its office space around the world by nearly 40% as part of sweeping cost cutting designed to capitalise on new part office-part homeworking arrangements after the pandemic. The decision to move to new hybrid working arrangements was announced as HSBC confirmed it was accelerating its pivot towards Asia, including China and Hong Kong, despite concerns about the political crackdown in the former British colony. Continue reading... |
| Colombia's 'capital of horror' despairs amid new wave of gang violence Posted: 23 Feb 2021 02:37 AM PST President urged to act as rival gangs use death and intimidation in their brutal turf war for control of Buenaventura Clenching a fist, Tatiana Angulo talked about the killings of her neighbours' two teenage sons. "They got mixed up in it," said Angulo, 34, who runs a peace theatre group, reenacting the stories of local victims. "We used to be able to hang out and have a laugh on the street corners, but now that's where the killings happen." Continue reading... |
| Reporting on WTO's first female head 'sexist and racist', say African UN leaders Posted: 22 Feb 2021 11:15 PM PST Coverage of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala criticised by group who say such attitudes 'discourage women from taking on leadership positions' Senior African leaders at the UN have criticised the "sexist and racist" language used in coverage of the appointment of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the new president of the World Trade Organization. Okonjo-Iweala, a graduate of Harvard University, was confirmed as the new head of the WTO last week, making her the first woman and the first African to lead the organisation. Continue reading... |
| Rights and freedom – welcome to our series Posted: 22 Feb 2021 04:12 AM PST We'll be reporting on human rights worldwide, elevating the voices of those working on the frontline to protect rights and freedom A year on from the start of the world's biggest health crisis, we now face a human rights pandemic. Covid-19 has exposed the inequalities and fragilities of health and political systems and allowed authoritarian regimes to impose drastic curbs on rights and freedoms, using the virus as a pretext for restricting free speech and stifling dissent. Continue reading... |
| America's half a million Covid deaths a stark reminder of challenges for Biden Posted: 22 Feb 2021 01:42 PM PST Analysis: the president has ambitious plans to halt a public health crisis his predecessor wrongly claimed would simply disappear Exactly one year after the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in the United States, Joe Biden was sworn in as president, inheriting the worst public health disaster since the flu pandemic of 1918. In the days that followed, Biden pledged a "full-scale, wartime" effort to combat the virus, even as he braced a disease-weary nation for its darkest chapter yet. "Things are going to continue to get worse before they get better," Biden said at the time, offering a dire forecast. The national death toll, he warned, could exceed half a million by the end of February. Continue reading... |
| What is the science behind plans to relax England's lockdown? Posted: 22 Feb 2021 08:44 AM PST A quick guide to the scientific underpinnings, advice and evidence behind the roadmap for relaxing Covid restrictions With the government announcing a roadmap for lifting coronavirus restrictions in England, we look at the scientific underpinnings, advice and evidence behind the changes. Continue reading... |
| Mount Etna erupts at night, illuminating sky – video Posted: 23 Feb 2021 07:29 AM PST Spectacular eruptions of red lava from Mount Etna, on the Italian island of Sicily, continued overnight from Monday into Tuesday, illuminating the night sky. The volcano's lava fountains soared to 1,500 metres, according to the Etna Observatory at Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology Continue reading... |
| My Brother’s Keeper: a former Guantánamo detainee, his guard and their unlikely friendship - video Posted: 23 Feb 2021 02:00 AM PST Mohamedou Ould Salahi and one of his former guards, Steve Wood, reunite in Mauritania 13 years after last seeing each other, rekindling an unlikely relationship that profoundly changed their lives. Mohamedou was a prisoner at Guantánamo Bay for 14 years. During his incarceration he was subjected to torture and solitary confinement, but never charged with a crime. His memoir, Guantánamo Diary, became an international bestseller and was adapted into the film, The Mauritanian, starring Tahar Rahim and Jodie Foster. My Brother's Keeper is BAFTA longlisted for British Short Film 2021.
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| Boris Johnson sets out four-step plan to ease lockdown in England – video Posted: 22 Feb 2021 11:06 AM PST The prime minister has announced that schools will reopen from 8 March, while non-essential retail outlets and outdoor service in pubs and restaurants could be back by 12 April, with indoor service earmarked for 17 May at the earliest. No 10 stresses that after the first step, the subsequent stages could be subject to delay and would be guided by 'data rather than dates' Continue reading... |
| Spanish police rescue migrants hidden in waste containers – video Posted: 22 Feb 2021 06:52 AM PST Spanish authorities have rescued several people who had been hiding in recycling containers in the Spanish enclave of Melilla, on the tip of Morocco, where each year thousands of migrants attempt to reach the Spanish mainland from northern Africa. Footage released by Spain's Guardia Civil shows individuals partially buried in a container of glass bottles and another inside a bag of toxic ash Continue reading... |
| Spanish people take to streets over rapper's jailing – in pictures Posted: 22 Feb 2021 04:12 AM PST Free speech protests have continued since the jailing of musician Pablo Hasél last week for exalting terrorism in his lyrics Continue reading... |
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