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

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


Taiwan train crash: construction site manager released on bail

Posted: 03 Apr 2021 02:16 AM PDT

Police suspect rail accident that killed at least 50 was caused by 'improperly parked' truck

A Taiwan court has released on bail the manager of a construction site whose truck is believed to have caused a train accident that killed at least 50 people, but prosecutors vowed to appeal.

The Taroko Express was carrying almost 500 people down the island's east coast on Friday, the first day of a religious festival when families gather to honour their ancestors, when it crashed in a tunnel just outside Hualien city.

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US Capitol: one officer and suspect dead after car rams into barrier

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 05:38 PM PDT

Police shoot suspect after he allegedly rams vehicle and then lunges at officers with a knife

A police officer and a suspect were dead on Friday after the suspect rammed a vehicle into two US Capitol police officers outside Congress in Washington, then lunged at others with a knife.

The suspect was shot. Two officers were taken to hospital. Police named the officer who died as William "Billy" Evans, an 18-year veteran of the department.

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China launches musical in bid to counter Uyghur abuse allegations

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 11:21 PM PDT

Beijing is attempting to draw attention away from reports it is holding at least one million in Xinjiang internment camps

A new state-produced musical set in Xinjiang inspired by the Hollywood blockbuster "La La Land" has hit China's cinemas, portraying a rural idyll of ethnic cohesion devoid of repression, mass surveillance and even the Islam of its majority Uyghur population.

China is on an elaborate PR offensive to rebrand the north-western region where the United States and other western nationals and human rights groups say genocide has been inflicted on the Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.

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Myanmar security forces open fire on anti-coup protesters

Posted: 03 Apr 2021 01:41 AM PDT

Reports say 550 people dead, including 46 children, and almost 3,000 detained since February coup

Security forces in central Myanmar opened fire on anti-coup protesters on Saturday in violence that a human rights group said has left 550 civilians dead since the military takeover.

Of those, 46 were children, according to Myanmar's Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Some 2,751 people have been detained or sentenced, the group said.

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China sandstorms highlight threat of climate crisis

Posted: 03 Apr 2021 12:00 AM PDT

Experts say extreme weather including droughts will become more common as planet heats

Recent sandstorms that shrouded Beijing in a post-apocalyptic orange haze and intensive droughts in other parts of the country are bringing into stark relief the challenges China faces from rising temperatures induced by the climate crisis.

The widespread sandstorms that pelted the capital and spread as far as central China for several days in mid-March and again at the end of the month were brought on by lower than average snow cover and precipitation, as well as higher than normal temperatures and winds across Mongolia and northern China.

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Historian David Olusoga joins academic criticism of No 10's race report

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 10:34 AM PDT

Broadcaster says report seems to want to brush history under the carpet, as others attack 'distorted' use of research

One of Britain's foremost historians of slavery has accused the authors of a controversial racial disparities report commissioned by Downing Street of giving the impression they would prefer "history to be swept under the carpet".

Broadcaster David Olusoga, professor of public history at Manchester University, made the comments in an article for the Guardian, as hundreds of experts on race, education, health and economics joined the criticism of the report for brazenly misrepresenting evidence of racism.

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Mozambique: French energy giant Total withdraws after militant attacks

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 06:31 PM PDT

Dozens of people have died in the attacks launched by Islamic State-linked insurgents

French energy company Total has withdrawn all its staff from its Afungi natural gas site in northern Mozambique, sources say, as clashes between Islamic State-linked fighters and the military rage nearby.

The company, which last week called off the planned resumption of construction at the $20bn development due to the violence, declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

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NHS feels strain as tens of thousands of staff suffer long Covid

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 11:00 PM PDT

ONS says at least 122,000 health service workers have condition, threatening patient care

Intense pressures on the already overstretched NHS are being exacerbated by the tens of thousands of health staff who are sick with long Covid, doctors and hospital bosses say.

At least 122,000 NHS personnel have the condition, the Office for National Statistics disclosed in a detailed report that showed 1.1 million people in the UK were affected by the condition. That is more than any other occupational group and ahead of teachers, of whom 114,000 have it.

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US lifts Trump administration's sanctions on top ICC prosecutor

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 02:47 PM PDT

Mike Pompeo had imposed sanctions and refused visas after Fatou Bensouda launched investigation into alleged war crimes

The United States have lifted sanctions and a travel ban imposed by Donald Trump's administration on the top prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, calling for a more cooperative relationship.

The former secretary of state Mike Pompeo last year imposed sanctions and refused visas for the outgoing prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, after she launched an investigation into alleged war crimes by US military personnel in Afghanistan.

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April the giraffe, who gave birth in a viral livestream, dies aged 20

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 05:03 PM PDT

New York zoo where giraffe lived says she was euthanized because of advancing arthritis

April, the giraffe that became a sensation when a rural New York zoo livestreamed her 2017 pregnancy and delivery, was euthanized Friday because of advancing arthritis, the zoo said.

"She is a precious member of our family, and while we knew this day would eventually come, our hearts are hurting," Animal Adventure Park's owner, Jordan Patch, said in a statement.

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Houston police say they're investigating embattled Texans star Deshaun Watson

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 09:00 PM PDT

  • Police looking into report filed on Texans star quarterback
  • Litigation against Watson has reached 21 civil lawsuits

Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, who is accused of sexual assault and harassment in lawsuits filed by 21 women, is being investigated by police after a report was filed regarding the NFL player, officials said Friday.

In a tweet Friday, the Houston police department said a complainant had filed a report with the agency about Watson.

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Coronavirus live news: two visitors for England care home residents from mid-April; India cases hit six-month high

Posted: 03 Apr 2021 02:28 AM PDT

Children in England can visit grandparents for first time from next week; India's daily coronavirus infections hit six-month high

South Korea's foreign minister said on Saturday the government will prepare for a visit to the country by Chinese president, Xi Jinping, local news outlet Yonhap reported.

"As soon as the novel coronavirus stabilises, we have decided to prepare for President Xi's visit to [South] Korea as early as possible," Chung Eui-yong told reporters after a meeting with state councillor Wang Yi, the Chinese government's top diplomat, Yonhap reported.

There is no evidence uptake of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine is slowing in the UK despite some European countries pausing its rollout, a public health expert has said.

Prof Linda Bauld of Edinburgh University said all studies indicated the jab was safe and effective, while the fact different countries were reviewing their position was a sign that the system was working.

Germany has suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for people aged under 60 due to fears of a link with rare blood clots.

On Friday, the Dutch government also said it would temporarily halt AstraZeneca jabs for people under 60 after it received five reports of blood clots with low blood plate counts following vaccinations.

Speaking to the BBC's Good Morning Scotland radio programme, Prof Bauld said reports of blood clots were "very rare" and a direct link to the vaccine was very unlikely.

She said: "These kinds of pauses and reviews are a sign that the system is working.

"Because when you see either deaths or unlikely adverse events that you wouldn't anticipate or you didn't see in the trials it's reasonable for regulators to look at this.

"The MHRA is still consistently saying there's no cause for concern and that is absolutely the message to people."

She added: "It doesn't look from the behavioural response, the surveys I've seen, that it's affecting uptake in the UK and that's really important."

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Australian Covid vaccine rollout to continue after blood clot case in Melbourne

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 11:20 PM PDT

The acting chief medical officer says it is 'likely' the 44-year-old Victorian man's condition is related to the vaccine

Australia's acting chief medical officer says there will be no changes to the national vaccination program for Covid-19 while health authorities continue to investigate whether blood clots developed by a 44-year-old Victorian man are linked to the AstraZeneca jab.

Prof Michael Kidd said the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (Atagi) and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) had not recommended any change to the rollout of the vaccine following an urgent meeting of health authorities on Saturday.

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I spent lockdown on a Portuguese island

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 11:00 PM PDT

Armona, off the Algarve, has been home since Covid's second wave – and I've grown to love its beauty, simplicity and kindness

The sun is slowly rising over the Atlantic and I sit watching from the house I have rented overlooking dunes on the small Portuguese island of Armona. The sound of fishing boats heading out marks the pre-dawn, a time known as the blue hour, now a time when many are awake, having thrashed the bedding during another fretful pandemic night. I try to meditate and do breathing exercises to settle myself down. "It will be all right," I say. And the sun says it back.

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Deserted islands: Pacific resorts struggle to survive a year without tourists

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 02:30 PM PDT

Algae-filled pools and shuttered hotel windows are a reminder that Covid-19 is not just a public health problem

Of the handful of countries in the world that managed to stay completely Covid-free, almost all were islands in the South Pacific.

Most Pacific countries – protected by their remoteness and their governments' decisions to close their borders – have kept their case numbers very low, with some notable exceptions, including French Polynesia, which restarted international travel early and suffered a devastating outbreak in the second half of 2020 and Papua New Guinea, which is now facing a very serious flare-up.

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Minnie Driver: ‘I did not have the appetite to be a big movie star’

Posted: 03 Apr 2021 01:00 AM PDT

The British actor shot to fame in Good Will Hunting with Matt Damon, but didn't fit the Hollywood mould – and she's fine with that

Minnie Driver first realised the film industry might be a strange place for a woman who didn't fit its tiny mould when she was standing in some mud. A ditch, in fact, that had been dug for her, on a hill, so that she looked shorter than the actor she was snogging. "I was hock high in a bog, as they say in Ireland," she says merrily, in an accent that instantly reminds me of that scene in Good Will Hunting where she tells a dirty joke and spits out her drink. This was on a different film, the first but not the last time it happened. She was young, new to the game. "I was thinking, 'Oh my God, this is just bananas – can't he stand on something? Or why don't we both sit down and shoot it like that?'" But it had to be her, "in the earth, trying to be romantic and sexy when there's mud squishing through your lace-ups".

We are talking over video chat, Driver from her family home in London, to which she has temporarily decamped after decades away in Los Angeles. She apologises for how nice she looks, the sort of apology that can only be made after a year in lockdown. "I'm only dolled up like this because I just did the photoshoot," she explains. "And my fucking phone, the facial recognition thing wouldn't recognise me. It was like, 'Where's the hag who usually opens the phone? Who's this person?' I often feel insulted by my own phone, but that was legendary."

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‘Raise my taxes – now!’: the millionaires who want to give it all away

Posted: 03 Apr 2021 02:00 AM PDT

Abigail Disney has parted with $72m – and thinks the rich need to pay far more tax. As Covid widens the inequality gap, she and an international league of the super-rich are urging governments to take their money

Abigail Disney has always been very, very rich, or, as she describes it, "too rich". The money came with her name: she is the granddaughter of Roy Disney who, with his brother Walt, founded the Walt Disney Company in 1923. Disney, 61, refuses to say how much she has, but acknowledges she would have been a billionaire in her own right had she not realised in her 20s that it was her fortune that was making her miserable, and decided to start giving it away.

She has been donating to good causes ever since – $72m (£52m) and counting, mostly to groups helping women in prison, women living with HIV, and victims of domestic violence. But giving it away is no longer enough. She wants the tax collector to take more money, not only from her, but from "all of the absurdly rich people across the world".

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This year’s Oscars are the most diverse yet – but is it a Covid anomaly?

Posted: 03 Apr 2021 12:00 AM PDT

Stripped of its prestige and power, this year's awards season is the weirdest ever. But it could also mark a moment for real change when it comes to celebrating diversity

And the award for weirdest awards season ever goes to … well, there's no competition, is there? Looking back, Parasite winning the best picture Oscar last year feels like a) half a century ago, and b) the last normal thing that happened before the pandemic turned the entertainment industry upside down. It's still in the Covid Upside Down, as anyone who sat through this year's awkward Golden Globes and Grammys ceremonies might have noticed. There is also the fact that it's early April and we are only just talking about awards season. Usually it's all over by February, but thanks to this year's two-month delay, we are barely in the home straight for the Baftas (10 and 11 April), the Oscars (25 April) and the Brits (11 May). It feels like celebrating Easter in June.

Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips

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From colonialism to Covid: Viet Thanh Nguyen on the rise of anti-Asian violence

Posted: 03 Apr 2021 01:00 AM PDT

Anti-Asian racism is on the rise around the world. The Pulitzer-winning author reflects on his own experiences as a Vietnamese American – and the dark history that continues to fuel the current hate

On 16 March eight people were killed in Atlanta, Georgia, by a 21-year-old white man: all but one were women, and six were Asian. The shootings take their place in a much longer story of anti-Asian violence. The Covid pandemic has given us a particular insight into this phenomenon: verbal and physical assaults against Asians have accelerated in the US over the last year, with 3,800 documented incidents involving spitting, knifings, beatings, acid attacks – and murder. The majority of the victims have been women.

Though the Atlanta killings took place in Asian massage parlours, the shooter has said he did not target the women because of their race. Instead, he claimed to be a sex addict bent on "removing temptation". Regardless of his denial – whether it is a lie or self-deception – it is obvious that he targeted these women because they were Asian. "Racism and sexism intersect," says Nancy Wang Yuen, a sociology professor. This intersection has been a driving force in western attitudes towards Asia and Asian women, who are routinely hypersexualised and objectified in popular culture.

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Blind date: ‘Would I meet her again? Oh, I do hope so...’

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 10:00 PM PDT

Marion, 36, operations manager, meets Brenden, 37, opera singer

What were you hoping for?
A nice evening and someone easy to talk to.

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Richard Okorogheye: let someone know you are safe, say Met police

Posted: 03 Apr 2021 02:14 AM PDT

'You are not in trouble' and only concern is your safety, police tell missing London teenager

Police investigating the disappearance of 19-year-old Richard Okorogheye have implored him to get in touch, saying: "Our only concern is your safety."

Okorogheye, who has sickle cell disease, has not made contact with his family since leaving his home in Ladbroke Grove, west London, on Monday 22 March at about 8.30pm. He was reported missing two days later.

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Mantilla of the Semana Santa – in pictures

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 04:23 PM PDT

In Spain, women traditionally wear mantilla dresses as mourning clothes while they accompany the Virgin during the Holy Week processions. For the second consecutive year, Spain will mark Semana Santa or Holy Week without processions due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year, however, churches will remain open and religious rites can be visited

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Iran and US on track to return to nuclear deal, says Russia

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 06:22 AM PDT

Virtual talks between parties to JCPOA produce agreement to meet in person next week

Tehran and Washington are on the right track to come back into compliance with the Iran nuclear deal but progress will not be easy, Russia has said following virtual talks.

In a positive sign, the parties have agreed to meet formally in person in Vienna on Tuesday.

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Trump on the ballot again? Daughter-in-law Lara ponders Senate run

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 11:00 PM PDT

The former TV producer is said to be an ardent 'Maga' champion – and a North Carolina seat is soon to be vacant

The Trump flags and yard signs are still up. Flags that shout "Impeach Biden" fly on the back of pickup trucks. "Most people here believe Donald Trump is still the president," says Nancy Allen of her neighborhood in Shelby, North Carolina. "And I call him President Trump."

Allen might get the chance to vote Trump again sooner than expected. But it will not be for Donald or his politically ambitious daughter Ivanka. Instead the former president's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, a North Carolina native, is considering a run for the US Senate next year.

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Canada's herring facing ‘biological decimation’, say First Nations and activists

Posted: 03 Apr 2021 02:15 AM PDT

Herring off western coast will 'teeter on edge of complete collapse' if commercial fishing continues at current level, says report

First Nations and conservationists are warning that Pacific herring populations are "collapsing" off Canada's western coast, and are appealing for a moratorium on commercial fishing until the critical species can rebuild.

Emmie Page, a marine campaigner with the organization Pacific Wild, said in the past, five large commercial herring fisheries opened each year on the coast.

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A Mexican tragedy: country's crippling Covid crisis comes into sharp focus

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 11:00 PM PDT

Adriana Mejía lost half her family in just 83 days – now a huge death toll of 294,000 is being quietly acknowledged

It took just 83 days for Adriana Mejía to lose half her family, as Covid unleashed a Mexican tragedy whose full impact is only now becoming clear.

First to depart was her father, Juan, a 90-year-old carpenter who died at the family home in Mexico City last July after summoning his eight children to say goodbye. Two weeks later Mejía's 55-year-old sister, Cecilia, who began feeling unwell as they buried their father, also lost her life. Two days later, on 3 August, Mejía lost her brother, Juan Carlos, then, 13 days after that, her brother-in-law, Germán.

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Chauvin trial prosecutors are working on behalf of a traumatized community

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 11:00 PM PDT

The ex-officer's trial has seen witnesses offering personal and vivid accounts of their experiences from the day George Floyd was killed

The murder trial of Derek Chauvin, which concluded its first week of testimony on Friday, saw a wave of witnesses come before the jury, with many offering deeply personal and vivid accounts of their experiences on 25 May 2020.

At times the trial has felt unique in comparison to other officer involved murder cases that have made it to court, partly as a result of prosecutorial strategy but also the very specific circumstances of the death of George Floyd, the 46-year-old Black man killed during a police restraint.

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US Capitol: officer dead after suspect rams car against security barrier – video report

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 11:44 AM PDT

The US Capitol was put under lockdown after a car reportedly rammed two US Capitol police officers before crashing into a giant concrete barrier outside the complex.

The suspect reportedly drove into the barrier and launched an attack with a knife and was shot dead by police. Two officers were taken to two different hospitals and police said one had died from his injuries

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'Opportunity is coming': Joe Biden celebrates latest jobs report – video

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 09:55 AM PDT

Joe Biden has encouraged Americans to 'buckle down' as coronavirus cases rise but he was optimistic on the state of the economy and celebrated the latest jobs report.

The US economy added 916,000 jobs last month according to the report which Biden credited to the resiliency of the American people and his administration's new economic vision

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Shard free-climber George King scales Barcelona skyscraper – video

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 06:46 AM PDT

George King has free-climbed the Melia Barcelona Sky hotel in the Catalonian capital. His first such climb was in 2019, when he scaled the Shard in central London without safety ropes or suction pads at the age of 19. The skyscraper's managers later took him to court, where he was given a 24-week prison sentence

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Taiwan train crash – in pictures

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 04:50 AM PDT

Dozens of people have been killed in a train derailment on the east coast of Taiwan, the island's worst rail disaster in decades

Dozens dead after Taiwan express service derails in tunnel

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Japan's largest pets fair - in pictures

Posted: 02 Apr 2021 04:23 AM PDT

At the Interpets fair in Tokyo about 300 exhibitors will present their products to business visitors and pet lovers

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