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

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


Shootings at three Atlanta massage parlors leave eight dead, police say

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 09:00 PM PDT

Man taken into custody after attacks, as police say many victims believed to be Asian women

At least eight people have been killed in a series of shootings at three Atlanta area massage parlours, with a number of the victims described by authorities as women of Asian descent.

A 21-year-old man, Robert Aaron Long, has been taken into custody following an hours-long manhunt as police told local media that he was the suspect in all three shootings. An alleged motive has not been described.

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Russia targeted Trump allies to hurt Biden in 2020 election, US officials say

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 01:12 PM PDT

Intelligence report underscored allegations that Trump allies played into Moscow's hands by amplifying claims against Biden

Russia tried to influence the 2020 US presidential election by proliferating "misleading or unsubstantiated allegations" largely against Joe Biden and through allies of Donald Trump, US intelligence officials said on Tuesday.

The assessment was contained in a 15-page report published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It underscored allegations that Trump's allies played into Moscow's hands by amplifying claims against Biden by Ukrainian figures with links to Russia.

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Coronavirus live news: AstraZeneca jab is safe, says UK health secretary; Trump urges people to get vaccinated

Posted: 17 Mar 2021 02:52 AM PDT

Matt Hancock says vaccine is 'saving lives right now'; former US president addresses 'a lot of people that don't want to get it, and a lot of those people voted for me'

China will allow foreign visitors who have had Chinese-made vaccine to enter the country, Helen Davidson reports.

Related: China to allow foreign visitors who have had Chinese-made vaccine

Poland has reported 25,052 daily coronavirus cases, its highest rate since November, Reuters reports.

In total, the country of 38 million has reported 1,956,974 cases and 48,032 deaths.

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Demi Lovato says she was raped as a teenager by someone she knew

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 05:40 PM PDT

In a new docuseries, the singer says she was assaulted as a teen and after telling somebody, the rapist 'never got taken out of the movie they were in'

Demi Lovato has said she was raped as a teenager while working for the Disney Channel in the late 2000s by someone who faced no repercussions when she revealed what happened. The singer does not say who the offender was, only that she "had to see this person all the time" afterwards.

Related: Demi Lovato says she had three strokes and heart attack after 2018 overdose

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Crews rescue two people from truck dangling over Idaho bridge

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 06:20 PM PDT

Safety chains attaching pickup truck to camper trailer prevented it from falling

Authorities say a set of camper trailer safety chains and quick, careful work by emergency crews saved two people after their pickup truck plunged off a bridge, leaving them dangling above a deep gorge in southern Idaho.

Idaho state police responded to the accident at about 2.45pm on Monday, said Lynn Hightower, a police spokesperson. A trooper found a man and a woman inside the pickup truck that was dangling, nose-down, off the side of the bridge spanning the Malad Gorge.

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Landmark Japan court ruling says not allowing same-sex marriage is 'unconstitutional'

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 10:21 PM PDT

Ruling is a major symbolic victory in a country where the constitution defines marriage as being based on 'the mutual consent of both sexes'

A Japanese district court has ruled that not allowing same-sex couples to marry is "unconstitutional", setting a new precedent in the only G7 nation not to fully recognise same-sex partnership, though it rejected demands for damages to be paid.

The ruling, the first in Japan on the legality of same-sex marriages, is a major symbolic victory in a country where the constitution defines marriage as being based on "the mutual consent of both sexes".

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UK urged to ban fur imports from China over animal abuse claims

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 11:20 PM PDT

Investigation appears to show unnecessary cruelty, suffering and disregard for Covid health precautions at more than a dozen farms

Campaigners are urging the UK government to ban fur imports after an investigation appeared to show widespread animal abuse and disregard for Covid-19 health protocols at more than a dozen fur farms in China.

Videos and photos from 19 farms visited in northern and north-eastern China last November and December appear to show foxes and raccoon dogs packed tightly in unsanitary cages and animals being electrocuted in ways that prolong their pain before death, often in front of others awaiting the same fate.

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How an endangered Australian songbird is forgetting its love songs

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 04:08 PM PDT

New study suggests young regent honeyeaters are not getting the chance to learn mating calls

What happens to a species if the music starts to die, or when their songs become corrupted or their singers have never heard the original tunes?

A new study has found that a loss of melody and song could be a bad sign for one of Australia's rarest songbirds – the regent honeyeater.

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ChimpanZoom? Primates at Czech zoo go wild for video calls

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 05:41 PM PDT

To make up for lack of interaction under Covid-19 restrictions, apes at zoos 150km apart can now watch each others' daily lives on big screens

Humans might be tiring of video calls, Zoom birthdays and streamed performances, but the chimps at two Czech zoos are just starting to enjoy their new live online link-up.

To make up for the lack of interaction with visitors since the attractions closed in December under Covid-19 restrictions, the chimpanzees at Safari Park Dvur Kralove and the troop at a zoo 150km away in in Brno, can now watch one another's daily lives on giant screens.

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Stoked! Surfboard lost in Tasmania turns up 2,700km away in Queensland

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 09:52 PM PDT

Board belonging to big wave surfer Danny Griffiths believed to have made the journey via New Zealand

An Australian surfer has found a surfboard he lost four years ago after it floated at sea for thousands of kilometres, from the bottom of Australia to the top – potentially via New Zealand.

Danny Griffiths, a big wave surfer, lost his favourite board after he crashed off a wave at the very southern tip of Tasmania. It was found, covered in barnacles, by two brothers near Townsville in north Queensland, more than 2,700km away.

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Sperm whales in 19th century shared ship attack information

Posted: 17 Mar 2021 12:01 AM PDT

Whalers' logbooks show rapid drop in strike rate in north Pacific due to changes in cetacean behaviour

A remarkable new study on how whales behaved when attacked by humans in the 19th century has implications for the way they react to changes wreaked by humans in the 21st century.

The paper, published by the Royal Society on Wednesday, is authored by Hal Whitehead and Luke Rendell, pre-eminent scientists working with cetaceans, and Tim D Smith, a data scientist, and their research addresses an age-old question: if whales are so smart, why did they hang around to be killed? The answer? They didn't.

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Why home-produced Covid vaccine hasn't helped India, Russia and China rollouts

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 08:00 PM PDT

Challenge of reaching vast, far-flung populations is combined with a lack of public interest

The day India started coronavirus vaccinations, Amit Mehra's name was on the priority list. But he never made an appointment. "I'm not inclined to get vaccinated just because it's available," says the 47-year-old Delhi hospital worker.

Two and a half thousand miles away, strolling past a popup inoculation centre near Red Square in Moscow, Magomed Zurabov is similarly reluctant. Suspicious that the pandemic was deliberately engineered, he has no intention of being vaccinated, he says. Instead, he is "taking the necessary precautions": wearing a mask and using disinfectant.

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Covid outbreak has reached my hospital in Papua New Guinea. People could soon be dying in the parking lot | Glen Mola

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 04:17 PM PDT

Port Moresby General Hospital is one of the few safe places for women to give birth, but 30% of our workforce has Covid-19 and we may have to shut our doors

At Port Moresby General Hospital, about 20% of women presenting in labour have symptoms of Covid-19. Of these, about one-third (four to five women a day) test positive.

We get the test results back about two to three hours after we take the swabs, so often by the time the woman is delivering her baby it is too late to transfer her to the Covid isolation ward for the birth and staff have attended to her and been exposed to the virus, without being able to don the appropriate level of PPE and practice other precautionary measures to protect themselves.

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China to only allow foreign visitors who have had Chinese-made vaccine

Posted: 17 Mar 2021 02:39 AM PDT

Move raises questions as China's vaccines not approved in many countries to which it is opening travel

China is resuming visa processing for foreigners from dozens of countries, but only if they have been inoculated against Covid-19 with a Chinese-made vaccine.

The move has raised questions about the motivations behind the demand, given China's vaccines are not approved in many of the countries to which it has opened travel and that it will not accept foreign vaccines made elsewhere, including those approved by the World Health Organization.

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P&O to restart UK cruises this summer - but only for vaccinated passengers

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 11:01 PM PDT

Short-sailings around UK with dining and entertainment to restart but ships will not call at ports

Cruise operator P&O is to restart domestic holidays this summer, but only for UK residents who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

After its fleet has been grounded for over a year, P&O is dipping its toes back in the water by offering passengers short sailings on two of its ships around the UK coastline. Coronavirus restrictions mean the ships will not call at any ports, although there will be the usual onboard dining and entertainment programme.

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'Two boys snogging was revolutionary': the greatest gay moments in cinema

Posted: 17 Mar 2021 01:00 AM PDT

From Gus Van Sant to Maryam Keshavarz, Terence Davies to Andrew Haigh, film-makers and writers recall the charged scenes that moved and inspired them – and even helped nudge them out of the closet

Gus Van Sant, director of My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, To Die For, Milk

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‘The time for men to step up is right now!’: what all men can do to help end violence against women

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 11:00 PM PDT

Over the past week, women have shared their stories of abuse, harassment and assault. Is it time for men to join the fight to dismantle the culture that allows this violence to flourish? A panel of male experts on masculinity and violence against women explain the vital steps men can take

In the wake of the killing of Sarah Everard, and the wider concerns about gender-based violence, women have shared their stories of abuse, harassment and assault. And the myriad ways they have tried to protect themselves from this. Men have, for the most part, listened. Now – given that violence against women and girls is primarily a male-perpetrated crime – is it time more men actively joined the fight against it? The Guardian convened a round table of experts to ask what men can do to help effect change among their friends and family, and in their workplaces.

Luke Hart of CoCo Awareness. In 2017, Hart's father murdered his wife, Claire, and their daughter, Charlotte. Days earlier, Claire and Charlotte had left the family home after a lifetime of coercive control and abuse. Luke and his brother Ryan are now anti-abuse activists: This week, and Everard's death, really took me back to what happened to my family. I feel deeply sorry for Everard's family; it's hard when things take on a life of their own and you just want to grieve. Events become something that other people feel they have ownership of. I remember, after my mother and sister died, some of the media reporting made me and my brother angry, to the point where we had to shut ourselves away. I remember one report saying that what my dad did was "understandable". We started to despair. So I think this has to be a moment to remember Everard's family because it's so difficult when something you're going through becomes public property.

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Xiaomi Mi 11 review: cheaper, top-spec phone undercuts competition

Posted: 17 Mar 2021 12:00 AM PDT

Great screen, flagship chips and good camera with a few corners cut for significantly cheaper price

With the Mi 11 Xiaomi, one of China's largest electronics firms, is attempting to undercut Samsung with a premium, top-spec phone costing significantly less.

The £750 Mi 11 is the first of Xiaomi's new top-spec phones for the year, replacing the Mi 10 series from 2020.

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From Tipperary to Silicon Valley: how Stripe became vital cog in digital economy

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 11:00 PM PDT

Brothers Patrick and John Collison's online payments empire is now valued at $95bn

The latest fundraising round by the digital payments firm Stripe has boosted the net worth of its co-founders, Patrick and John Collison, to about $11.5bn (£8.3bn) each, catapulting them into the top bracket of the world's millennial billionaires. Not bad for two brothers from the tiny Tipperary village of Dromineer, population: barely 100.

Related: Silicon Valley's Stripe valued at $95bn after fundraising

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Cycle of retribution takes Bolivia's ex-president from palace to prison cell

Posted: 17 Mar 2021 02:00 AM PDT

Jeanine Áñez's government once sought to jail the country's former leader Evo Morales for terrorism and sedition – now she faces the same charges

It was November 2019, just days after Evo Morales had abandoned Bolivia's presidency and fled into exile, and the country's newly installed interior minister was making no effort to hide his glee.

"Any terrorist should spend the rest of their life in prison," Arturo Murillo gloated during an interview in his recently occupied chambers, vowing to put the runaway leftist behind bars for the next 30 years.

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Monkeys and eggplants: how do men and women use emojis differently?

Posted: 17 Mar 2021 12:00 AM PDT

Studies have pointed to a gender gap and dating coaches agree – but researchers' findings don't always match stereotypes

It's 2021, and despite some great advances in space exploration, we are no closer to really knowing whether men are from Mars and women are from Venus. In fact, the growing consensus is that we're all from Earth, and people are more complex than we usually give them credit for.

But what if there were a way of unlocking some of the hidden trends that exist among men and women, which reveal how they think, see themselves and communicate? And what if it were ... emojis?

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Man arrested over Stuart Lubbock death at Michael Barrymore's home

Posted: 17 Mar 2021 02:21 AM PDT

Essex police say 50-year-old man being held in connection with death in 2001

Detectives have arrested a 50-year-old man over the death of Stuart Lubbock, who died at the home of the entertainer Michael Barrymore 20 years ago.

Essex police said the man, who has not been named, was arrested "in connection with the indecent assault and murder of Stuart Lubbock".

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UN calls for inquiry after rebels fired missiles into Yemen detention centre

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 11:47 AM PDT

Dozens of Ethiopian migrants died and UN special envoy described the deaths as 'extraordinarily horrific'

The UN has called for an independent inquiry into a horrific fire at a detention facility in Yemen's capital Sana'a that left dozens of Ethiopian migrants dead and more than 170 injured.

Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday that the fire on 7 March occurred after Houthi rebels fired missiles into the detention centre where the migrants were protesting over their cramped conditions.

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‘I woke up, he was gone’: Senegal suffers as young men risk all to reach Europe

Posted: 17 Mar 2021 12:15 AM PDT

As tourism plummets and fishing nets go empty, more are attempting the treacherous 1,000 mile journey to the Canaries

In the old Senegalese port city of Saint Louis, 12 women step off the sun-baked street and through a doorway draped with pink silk into a dim room beyond.

After greetings are over, one by one they recount their stories. Recent memories of husbands, sons and brothers they have lost at sea, revealing precious pictures on smartphones of moments when they last cradled children or kissed their families.

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Activists call on Coca-Cola, Delta to fight Republican anti-voting bills in Georgia

Posted: 17 Mar 2021 03:00 AM PDT

Groups say companies' support would help kill measures which aim to cut early voting, require voter ID and limit ballot drop boxes

Civil rights groups are escalating pressure on major Georgia companies including Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines to forcefully oppose sweeping new restrictions that would make it harder to vote in the state.

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Mood killer killed off: NSW punters allowed to resume 'vertical drinking' in pubs and clubs

Posted: 17 Mar 2021 02:51 AM PDT

People have stood at bars once again – but there remains a fine line between standing and dancing, which is still banned

New South Wales residents are now allowed to stand with their drinks in bars, following the latest easing of Covid-19 restrictions.

"This is what life is all about," the New South Wales treasurer, Dominic Perrottet, said while holding a Guinness on Wednesday.

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MPs will not get vote on cut to UK aid spending, says Boris Johnson

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 08:43 AM PDT

PM confirms cut temporary amid opposition from his own party including former ministers

MPs will not get a vote on the government's plans to slash aid spending, Boris Johnson has said in the House of Commons, confirming that the cut is intended to be temporary.

The former shadow international development secretary Andrew Mitchell said Johnson was at risk of setting an illegal budget if it did not meet the legal obligation to spend 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) on aid.

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Lesotho sacks hundreds of striking nurses as doctors warn of dire shortages

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 07:49 AM PDT

The African state was already struggling to cope with TB, HIV and Covid before latest response to demands for equal pay

Lesotho has sacked hundreds of its nurses over the past few days in a row over pay. The small southern African country's main hospital in the capital, Maseru, fired 345 nurses and nursing assistants, who have been on strike for the past month, with immediate effect.

The nurses went on strike to press the government-owned Queen Mamohato Memorial Hospital (QMMH) to give them the same salaries as their counterparts in other government and private institutions. Opened in 2011, QMMH is state-owned but run by the Tšepong Consortium, comprising five companies, namely Netcare Healthcare Group and Afri'nnai of South Africa, and Excel Health, Women Investment, and D10 Investments of Lesotho.

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Ally or no, New Zealand must stand up to Australia over 501 deportees | Golriz Ghahraman

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 06:17 PM PDT

Aotearoa has a proud history of protesting human rights abuses on the world stage. Now that means pushing back against our traditional trade partner

Today a 15-year-old waits alone in a New Zealand quarantine facility, facing an uncertain future. Deported from Australia, he is not ordinarily resident here, and government agencies normally engaged for child protection are making plans for his care. Although Australia was his home, he was not Australian enough to be simply sanctioned in that nation for whatever infraction he is deemed to have committed.

This dehumanising treatment is what passes for necessary hard-line immigration policy in Australia. In its very high human cost, failure of binding child rights standards, and international criticism, it is very much in line with Australia's longstanding approach to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Australia has been thought of as outside human rights norms and any moral standard of fairness for some time. In fact, our neighbour has been repeatedly found to be enforcing policy that amounts to literal torture on its offshore prison islands.

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Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine: which countries have paused jab and why

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 10:30 AM PDT

Analysis: Germany, France, Spain and Italy head an expanding list of EU countries to have put its use on hold

A host of European countries have put all vaccinations with this jab on hold, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Norway and Ireland. Some others such as Estonia and Austria have suspended vaccinations from particular batches of the vaccine.

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Suspect arrested after shootings at three Atlanta massage parlors leave eight dead – video

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 11:36 PM PDT

At least eight people have been killed in a series of shootings at three Atlanta area massage parlors. Authorities described a number of victims as women of Asian descent. A 21-year-old man, Robert Aaron Long, has been taken into custody. The first shooting occurred at Young's Asian Massage near Acworth in Cherokee county, just north-west of Atlanta. Police officers responded to a reported robbery at Gold Spa in the city's north-east and were then alerted to another shooting across the street at the Aromatherapy Spa

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Two rescued from truck dangling over Idaho bridge – video

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 08:10 PM PDT

Two commuters in southern Idaho are lucky to be alive after their pickup truck plunged off a bridge - saved only by the quick work of emergency crews, and a set of 'safety chains' attaching the Ford F50 to the 30ft camper trailer it was carrying, which miraculously held firm.

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Kamala Harris addresses the UN: 'The status of women is the status of democracy' – video

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 11:21 AM PDT

Kamala Harris spoke about democracy and its connection with women's equality in her debut address to the UN as US vice-president. 'This year, in considering the status of women, especially the participation of women in decision making, we must also consider the status of democracy,' Harris told the 65th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. 'It is a means to establish peace and shared prosperity. It should ensure every citizen, regardless of gender, has an equal voice'

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Benefits of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine 'firmly outweigh any risk', says EMA director – video

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 09:40 AM PDT

The EMA is conducting an investigation into the safety of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine after Germany, France, Italy and other EU countries suspended its use over isolated cases of bleeding, blood clots and low platelet counts. 

Director Emer Cooke stated the EMA is "still firmly convinced the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine … outweigh the risk of these side effects." The investigative panel will meet again on Thursday when they will publish their findings to the public.

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How can we help end hair discrimination? – video explainer

Posted: 16 Mar 2021 02:06 AM PDT

Black and mixed-race people can face discrimination over the hair they were born with. Students are excluded from school, people report losing out on jobs, and others say they can feel ostracised at work. 

At least 93% of black people with afro hair in the UK have experienced micro-aggressions related to their hair, according to a survey released last month for the haircare brand Pantene.

In 2019 California became the first state to legally prohibit discrimination based on hairstyles such as dreadlocks, cornlocks and afros. New Jersey, New York and Virginia later followed. 

Activist Zina Alfa says hair discrimination is a 'conduit for racism' and explains why she believes similar legislation in the UK is critical to tackling the issue 

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