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

0 komentar

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


China could invade Taiwan in next six years, top US admiral warns

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 07:51 PM PST

Asia Pacific commander Philip Davidson says Beijing wants to take Washington's world leadership role by 2050

China could invade Taiwan within the next six years as Beijing accelerates its moves to supplant American military power in Asia, a top US commander has warned.

Democratic and self-ruled Taiwan lives under constant threat of invasion by China, whose leaders view the island as part of their territory and which they have vowed to one day take back.

Continue reading...

Sarah Everard: arrested police officer ‘not on duty’ when she went missing

Posted: 10 Mar 2021 01:29 AM PST

Scotland Yard expresses hope that 33-year-old London woman will be found safe and well

The serving police officer arrested over the disappearance of a woman in south London was not on duty when she went missing last week, Scotland Yard has said.

A senior officer has expressed hope that Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive who went missing after leaving a friend's house in Clapham at about 9pm last Wednesday, will yet be found safe and well.

Continue reading...

Buckingham Palace breaks silence on Meghan and Harry Oprah claims

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 12:39 PM PST

Queen says 'issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning' but adds they will be dealt with privately

The Queen has sought to draw a line under damaging racism claims made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, saying that issues will be dealt with "privately" by the royal family.

The monarch expressed her "concern" over allegations of racism and her sadness on learning exactly how challenging the couple had found life as working royals, though she said some recollections of events differed.

Continue reading...

Female MP awarded Japan’s most sexist comment after casting doubt on sexual assaults

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 10:47 PM PST

Mio Sugita earns notoriety for accusations that women lie about sexual violence and LGBT community are 'unproductive'

Of all the candidates for Japan's most sexist comment of the year, there seemed to be only one possible winner – Yoshiro Mori, the former head of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic organising committee, who was forced to resign last month after complaining that women "talked too much" during meetings.

But even Mori was unable to compete with Mio Sugita, a conservative politician with a history of insulting women and members of the LGBT community.

Continue reading...

Susanna Reid bids farewell to 'disruptive' Piers Morgan after GMB exit

Posted: 10 Mar 2021 02:04 AM PST

Good Morning Britain presenter says she disagreed with ex-host on many things, including his remarks on Duchess of Sussex

Susanna Reid has told viewers of the first edition of Good Morning Britain after the departure of Piers Morgan that they "disagreed on many things", including his remarks on the Duchess of Sussex, and described him as an "outspoken, challenging, opinionated, disruptive broadcaster".

Reid said that Morgan, who is understood to have left after a clash with ITV executives because he refused to apologise for casting doubt on the veracity of Meghan's comments about her thoughts of suicide, had "decided to leave the programme".

Continue reading...

Brexit: EU poised to take legal action against UK over Northern Ireland

Posted: 10 Mar 2021 02:03 AM PST

Bloc agrees on need for action after Britain unilaterally extends grace period for checks on goods

The European Union is set to launch a two-pronged legal assault on the UK in the coming days after the British government's unilateral decision to allow businesses in Northern Ireland more time to adapt to post-Brexit rules.

EU27 ambassadors were briefed on Tuesday on the plans, which are likely to involve initiating a formal "infringement proceeding" that could end up at the European court of justice (ECJ), and triggering the dispute mechanism in the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

Continue reading...

Help Hong Kong residents flee before it's too late, fugitive democracy figure urges

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 10:37 PM PST

Ted Hui, who escaped to the UK while on bail before moving to Australia, says world must provide 'lifeboat plans' ahead of expected travel bans

Time is running out to help Hongkongers before the expected introduction of powers banning people from leaving as China tightens its grip on the city, a pro-democracy politician has warned after fleeing to the UK and then Australia.

Former legislator Ted Hui arrived in Australia on Tuesday, three months after he fled to the UK while on bail in Hong Kong. Speaking from quarantine, Hui told the Guardian he had decided to move in order to expand the pro-democracy movement-in-exile, and lobby Canberra for increased Hong Kong support, including formal "lifeboat" plans to help dissidents and civilians flee.

Continue reading...

Medieval women 'put faith in birth girdles' to protect them during childbirth

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 04:01 PM PST

New findings cement idea that ritual and religion was invoked using talismans to soothe nerves

With sky-high levels of maternal mortality, the science of obstetrics virtually nonexistent and the threat of infectious disease always around the corner, pregnant medieval women put their faith in talismans to bring them divine protection during childbirth.

From amulets to precious stones, the list of items that the church lent to pregnant women was substantial, but the most popular lucky charm was a "birthing girdle".

Continue reading...

Major UK pension funds worth nearly £900bn commit to net zero

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 10:00 PM PST

Church of England, Lloyds and the National Grid among those pledging to meet 2050 target

Major pension funds that own assets worth £870bn, including those of the Church of England, Lloyds Banking Group and the National Grid, have committed to cutting the carbon emissions of their portfolios to net zero by 2050 or earlier, in another sign of big investors' increasing focus on the climate crisis.

Pension providers Scottish Widows, Royal London and Nest and a clutch of public sector pension funds from the UK to Scandinavia and New York were also among the investors that have pledged to align their portfolios to the Paris climate goals of limiting global temperature increases to 1.5C.

Continue reading...

Arkansas bans nearly all abortions in sweeping measure

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 03:59 PM PST

Law, which supporters hope will force the supreme court to revisit Roe v Wade, does not provide exceptions for cases of rape or incest

Arkansas has passed a new law banning nearly all abortions in the state, a sweeping measure that supporters hope will force the US supreme court to revisit Roe v Wade but opponents vow to block before it takes effect later this year.

The state's Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, said he was signing the bill because of its "overwhelming legislative support and my sincere and long-held pro-life convictions".

Continue reading...

China summons UK ambassador over 'arrogant' article on media freedom

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 06:51 PM PST

Caroline Wilson incurs wrath of Beijing for WeChat post described as full of 'lecturer arrogance and ideological prejudice'

Britain's ambassador to China has been summoned for a dressing down by the authorities in Beijing over an "inappropriate" article she wrote defending recent international media coverage on the country, the foreign ministry said.

Caroline Wilson's article in Chinese was posted on the official WeChat account of the British embassy in Beijing last week, amid already tense relations between Britain and China over issues including Hong Kong, Xinjiang and the media.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: US poised to approve Biden relief plan; Bulgaria reports highest cases in three months

Posted: 10 Mar 2021 02:29 AM PST

House of Representatives set to approve $1.9tn plan to revive US economy; 3,502 new daily cases in Bulgaria

The US state of Texas has lifted the mask mandate and occupancy restrictions on businesses in the country's widest rollback of coronavirus restrictions, Reuters reports.

Vast swaths of Texas are said to have rarely enforced mask or occupancy mandates in the past year.

The head of a German panel of experts has come out in support of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, as Europe cautiously weighs producing and using it, Reuters reports.

Thomas Mertens, head of STIKO, Germany's expert panel on vaccine use, told daily Rheinische Post:

This is a good vaccine, which looks like it will be approved in the EU at some point. The Russian researchers are very experienced in vaccines."

Continue reading...

No evidence £22bn test-and-trace scheme cut Covid rates in England, say MPs

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 10:00 PM PST

Spending watchdog challenges ministers to justify the 'staggering investment of taxpayers' money'

There is no evidence to show that the government's £22bn test-and-trace programme to combat Covid-19 in England contributed to a reduction in coronavirus infection levels, parliament's spending watchdog has concluded.

In a report which examined the rush to invest in the scheme, the cross-party public accounts committee has challenged ministers to justify the "staggering investment of taxpayers' money" and criticised the use of private consultants who are paid up to £6,624 a day.

Continue reading...

New Zealand Covid vaccine rollout: hard-hit south Auckland to be prioritised

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 09:36 PM PST

Residents over 65 or with underlying health problems will start receiving the Covid jab this month – but cricket team still wait for clarity

Plans to prioritise hard-hit south Auckland in New Zealand's vaccination rollout have been welcomed by experts – though cricketers hoping to head for the UK will have to wait for clarity.

Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins said on Wednesday that vaccinations over the next three to four months would go to the two million New Zealanders who were "most at risk of getting or spreading Covid-19, or getting seriously sick from it".

Continue reading...

US House poised to approve Joe Biden's $1.9tn Covid relief plan

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 11:00 PM PST

If passed, first major legislative initiative of Biden's presidency will send direct payments to most Americans and expand aid

The House of Representatives is poised to give final approval to Joe Biden's sweeping $1.9tn coronavirus stimulus and relief plan, a giant aid package the president has said is critical for lifting the US out of the pandemic and reviving its battered economy.

Continue reading...

'They were treated terribly' – why 'lad lit' veteran Mike Gayle is finally tackling racism

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 10:00 PM PST

He just became the first male writer ever to win romantic fiction's top award. The former agony uncle explains why his latest novel looks back at the 'virulent' prejudice of 1950s Britain

In the past, the Romantic Novelists' Association has bestowed its outstanding achievement award on some major names, among them Jilly Cooper, Helen Fielding and Joanna Trollope. But this month, a genre traditionally dominated by women presented its top prize to Mike Gayle. Not only is he the first ever male author to win, he's also the first person of colour to take home the gong.

"It's just lovely," says Gayle. "It's lovely to be recognised by anybody, and the RNA have been great to me ever since my first book came out. Back then, I had no idea how long this this thing would last. It took me ages to think of it as a career – because I could just imagine it sort of disappearing. To be here, 20 years later, I think that is a real achievement."

Continue reading...

Rupert Murdoch at 90: what now for the media mogul?

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 10:00 PM PST

Sun, Times and WSJ owner shows no sign of slowing down – and has big decisions to make, not least what to do with Fox

Rupert Murdoch may be set to join the tiny ranks of nonagenarians running global empires when he celebrates his 90th birthday on Thursday, but according to associates who have met with the media mogul recently, he shows no sign of slowing down.

"Honestly, it's the fittest I've seen him in years," said one person who held a meeting with Murdoch, just prior to the latest lockdown, at Holmwood House, the Georgian property near Henley-on-Thames he acquired for £11.25m two years ago with his former model wife Jerry Hall, and where he has spent most of his time during the pandemic. "I expected him to be, well, more tired. Instead he takes lots of meetings, when Covid restrictions have allowed, he is wanting to be engaged, talk about things, to keep on top of business."

Continue reading...

Japan's 2011 tsunami, then and now - in pictures

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 10:00 PM PST

Ten years ago one of the most powerful earthquakes on record triggered a devastating tsunami in Japan, killing more than 18,000 people and triggering catastrophic meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Then and now photographs show the extent of the destruction and the enormity of the reconstruction work

Ofunato in Iwate prefecture. Photographs by Toshifumi Kitamura and Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP /Getty Images

Continue reading...

‘Thrown back in jail – it’s cruel’: why was actor Amy Locane imprisoned twice for the same crime?

Posted: 10 Mar 2021 02:00 AM PST

Convicted of killing a woman while drink-driving, Locane served her time and spent the next five years as a model citizen, facing up to her crime and trying to stop others from following in her footsteps. Then she was locked up again for the same offence …

Amy Locane is struggling to make sense of it all. The actor and mother of two children knows she committed a crime with devastating consequences, so she accepted it when she pretty much lost everything as a result – doing her time in jail uncomplainingly. The one thing she can't accept is that, after being released and living in the community for five years as a model citizen, she is back in prison for the same crime. It is a situation that one legal expert described as "unheard of".

In September 2020, Locane was re-sentenced to eight years in jail. "I'm not really sure what's going on," she tells me from the Edna Mahan correctional facility for women. "I walk around in a daze. It's really messing with my mind. I never violated any rules. I never reoffended, and then to get thrown back in here … it's cruel. I feel like I'm being made an example of."

Continue reading...

Men en pointe: ballet dancers kick against gender stereotypes

Posted: 10 Mar 2021 01:11 AM PST

Performing on the tips of the toes is part of the mystique of a female ballerina but male dancers devoted to the pointe technique want to be taken more seriously

"I was always attracted to pointe shoes. They were like magic! I wondered: Why can only girls use them?" Iván Félix is a 24-year-old ballet dancer from Mexico who has been dancing en pointe for three years. "I think that many people look down on the men who dance in pointe shoes because they think it is very easy, or we do it because we cannot dance as a man in a traditional way," adds Félix who dances for Les Ballets Eloelle in New York, a company in which all the roles – often comic – are played by men.

Since the art of pointe work was popularised in 1823 by Amalia Brugnoli, the form has become part of the mystique of the female ballerina, while men use floorwork and execute incredible jumps and athletic movements. When male dancers have performed en pointe in the past, it has traditionally been for comedic effect, not to showcase skill. For example, men who portray Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream have to pair a giant donkey's head with hoof-like movements in pointe shoes. Now, male ballet dancers en pointe want to be taken more seriously.

Continue reading...

Piers Morgan: end of the road for the man who never knew when to stop

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 11:15 PM PST

Analysis: being 'ghosted' by Meghan may be behind the harsh words that cost the presenter his Good Morning Britain job

Once again, Piers Morgan has showed he simply did not know when to stop.

Seventeen years ago, he was fired as editor of the Daily Mirror after publishing faked Iraqi prisoner abuse photographs. A decade later, he was axed by CNN after he lost his US audience over a series of lectures over gun control.

Continue reading...

Nazir Ahmed trial collapses due to 'disgraceful' late disclosure of evidence

Posted: 10 Mar 2021 01:58 AM PST

Former Labour peer went on trial in Sheffield accused of sexually abusing younger children in 1970s

The trial of a former Labour peer accused of sexually abusing younger children has collapsed due a "disgraceful" late disclosure of evidence by the prosecution, a judge has said.

Nazir Ahmed was charged with two counts of attempting to rape a girl under 16, indecent assault of a boy under 14, and raping a boy under 16, all alleged to have occurred in the early 1970s.

Continue reading...

Kylie Moore-Gilbert says Australian government should have gone public with her case earlier

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 03:09 PM PST

British-Australian academic also talks about impact of solitary confinement, saying it was like a 'prolonged anxiety attack'

Kylie Moore-Gilbert believes she never would have been sentenced to 10 years jail on spying charges in Iran if the Australian government had gone public with her case earlier to pressure Tehran.

The British-Australian academic – who was released after a little more than two years in a complex prisoner swap involving four countries – said the Australian government's strategy of "quiet diplomacy", deliberately shielding her case from the media, while pursuing negotiations with Iran's government, was flawed.

Continue reading...

Rescuers find 39 bodies off Tunisia after two boats sink

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 02:08 PM PST

Coastguards were able to save 165 people before rescue called off due to bad weather and nightfall

At least 39 migrants have drowned off Tunisia when two boats capsized, the defence ministry has said, as numbers risking the dangerous crossing to Europe continued to rise.

Rescuers pulled 165 survivors from the foundering boats to safety on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

George Floyd: Chauvin murder trial continues as House set to approve Covid relief – live updates

Posted: 10 Mar 2021 02:32 AM PST

Vote expected to pass along party lines when House reconvenes this morning

The exchanges between potential jurors, attorneys and the judge at the outset of Derek Chauvin's murder trial illustrated yesterday the challenges in seating a jury in such a well-known case. Judge Peter Cahill has set aside at least three weeks for jury selection. Opening statements are scheduled no sooner than 29 March.

Amy Forliti, for the Associated Press, writes that the three jurors who were selected yesterday – two men and one woman – all said they had heard some details about the case against Chauvin but would be able to put aside what they heard or opinions they had formed and make a decision based on evidence in court.

Also coming down the track from the House of Representatives this week has been the PRO Act, which was passed yesterday. It will almost certainly face a filibuster attempt from Republicans in the Senate, which hasn't stopped Sen Bernie Sanders urging all of his colleagues to get behind it. David Brenna writes for Newsweek:

The act would strengthen the rights of American workers to strike for better wages and working conditions, introduce new protections for union elections, and give the National Labor Relations Board the power to fine employers who violate workers' rights, among other reforms.

Sanders appealed to colleagues on Twitter to take up the bill on Tuesday. "The trade union movement is the last line of defense against a billionaire class that won't be satisfied until they have it all," Sanders said.

Continue reading...

Venezuelan women forced to risk online pill market in face of abortion ban

Posted: 10 Mar 2021 02:00 AM PST

The socialist-led country has little sex education, acute shortages of contraceptives and one of Latin America's most restrictive laws

Sofía was 20 years old and coming out of an emotionally abusive relationship when she found out she was pregnant.

Her ex-boyfriend called her a "slut" for having conceived and claimed that he was not the father. Appealing to Sofía's conservative family for help was not an option, since they had long warned that they would disown her if she ever got pregnant.

Continue reading...

Deadly pig disease could have led to Covid spillover to humans, analysis suggests

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 11:15 PM PST

African swine fever led to mass cull of pigs in China and may have increased human-virus contact as people turned to other meat

An outbreak of a deadly pig disease may have set the stage for Covid-19 to take hold in humans, a new analysis has suggested. African swine fever (ASF), which first swept through China in 2018, disrupted pork supplies increasing the potential for human-virus contact as people sought out alternative meats.

Pork is the main meat source in the Chinese diet, and the country produces half of the world's pigs, which generate roughly 55m tonnes of pork annually, forming an industry worth more than $128bn (£98bn). The ASF outbreak had spread across most of China by the fourth quarter of 2019. The disease is untreatable and incurable. Once it takes hold, the only solution is to kill infected animals.

Continue reading...

Legal Practice Board of WA unlikely to investigate Christian Porter

Posted: 10 Mar 2021 01:01 AM PST

Two professors have sought an inquiry into whether the attorney general is a 'fit and proper person' to remain on the roll of legal practitioners

The Legal Practice Board of Western Australia has poured cold water on a bid by two legal ethics academics to start an investigation into the attorney general, Christian Porter.

In an interview with Guardian Australia, the executive director of the board, Libby Fulham, questioned whether the academics had standing to bring a complaint or any "substantive evidence" of the allegation that Porter sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl in January 1988 when he was 17.

Continue reading...

Caste aside: hide names to curb Dalit job bias in India, study says

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 10:00 PM PST

Concealing candidates' surnames in the ultra-competitive civil service exam would help to overcome caste prejudice, report urges

The exam is considered to be the country's toughest – about a million people sit it every year vying for only a thousand or so vacancies in India's hallowed civil service. Now a report suggests that it would be much fairer if all the candidates' surnames were kept secret throughout the application process, as about 90% of Indian surnames reveal a person's caste.

Candidates' names are currently concealed, along with their religion, when they sit the written tests. But after the exam, the names of those who qualify for the final interview stage are used. And this, according to the report, scuppers the chances of Dalits, the lowest Hindu caste once called "untouchables", because of the innate bias of interviewers.

Continue reading...

The UN food systems summit will consider all stakeholders’ interests | Letter

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 09:57 AM PST

Dr Agnes Kalibata responds to a report on the 2021 summit that she is leading as a special envoy for the UN secretary general

As you note in your article (Farmers and rights groups boycott food summit over big business links, 4 March), farmers have for too long been on the fringes of global discussions about hunger, poverty and climate change, despite being the frontline of our food systems and the custodians of our natural resources.

The UN food systems summit marks a momentous opportunity for farmers, producers and many others who support them to be at the heart of the year-long consultative process that has been launched to improve our shared food system.

Continue reading...

Quarter of women and girls have been abused by a partner, says WHO

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 08:10 AM PST

Largest such study finds domestic violence experienced by one-in-four teenage girls with worst levels faced by women in their 30s

One in four women and girls around the world have been physically or sexually assaulted by a husband or male partner, according to the largest study yet of the prevalence of violence against women.

The report, conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN partners, found that domestic violence started young, with a quarter of 15- to 19-year-old girls and young women estimated to have been abused at least once in their lives. The highest rates were found to be among 30- to 39-year-olds.

Continue reading...

Domestic violence and workers' rights: women protest worldwide – in pictures

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 05:42 AM PST

A wide range of issues affecting women, from abortion rights to femicide, were highlighted at rallies and events for International Women's Day on 8 March

Continue reading...

'I'm his voice today': George Floyd's sister speaks as Derek Chauvin trial begins – video

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 01:01 PM PST

Bridgett Floyd, George Floyd's sister, said that her family was glad the trial had finally arrived and was 'praying for justice' as the hearing continued on Monday.

The trial of a former police officer in the US city of Minneapolis charged with George Floyd's murder has begun jury selection on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Myanmar: nun begs police to spare protesters – video

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 07:53 AM PST

Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng begged a group of heavily armed police officers to spare 'the children' and take her life instead, kneeling before them in the dust of a northern Myanmar city.

Her act of bravery in the city of Myitkyina on Monday came as Myanmar struggles with the chaotic aftermath of the military's overthrow of the civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on 1 February. 

Continue reading...

Whitty: revising plan to ease England lockdown would 'risk surge in virus' – video

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 07:10 AM PST

England's chief medical officer has warned MPs that revising the government's roadmap to emerge from lockdown sooner than planned would risk a more serious third wave of Covid infections.

Whitty told MPs on the Commons science and technology committee: "All the modelling suggests there is going to be a further surge that will find people either that have not been vaccinated, or where the vaccine has not worked."

Continue reading...

Visualising gender during the pandemic – in pictures

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 07:00 AM PST

From transgender sex workers living in a mass shelter whose health relies on backstreet clinics, to community leaders making changes from the ground up despite a system that is stacked against them, This is Gender 2021 is the world's largest photography competition looking specifically at gender and health. The collection offers an insight into our gendered world during a time of pandemic

Continue reading...

Thai PM sprays disinfectant on journalists at press conference – video

Posted: 09 Mar 2021 06:28 AM PST

Thailand's prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, finished his weekly news conference by spraying alcohol disinfectant on the front row of journalists. He walked away from lectern after evading a question about a possible cabinet reshuffle

Continue reading...


Posting Komentar