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

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


Gaza rocked by fresh airstrikes after Netanyahu vows to keep attacks at ‘full force’

Posted: 17 May 2021 01:22 AM PDT

Monday strikes appeared broader and more intense than Sunday's, in which 42 Palestinians died in single attack

Israeli warplanes have launched what appeared to be the heaviest airstrikes yet on Gaza City, hours after the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, signalled the bombardment would rage on.

The series of attacks early on Monday rocked the city from north to south for 10 minutes and was more intense, covered a broader area and lasted longer than the raids 24 hours earlier in which 42 Palestinians were killed – the deadliest single attack in the latest violence between Israel and the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza.

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‘Catastrophic’: Sierra Leone sells rainforest for Chinese fish plant

Posted: 16 May 2021 10:00 PM PDT

Controversial deal with China would be 'disastrous' for fishing and protected rainforest, say opponents

A $55m (£39m) deal struck by the government of Sierra Leone with China to build an industrial fishing harbour on 100 hectares (250 acres) of beach and protected rainforest has been criticised as "a catastrophic human and ecological disaster" by conservationists, landowners and rights groups.

The gold and black sands of Black Johnson beach fringe the African nation's Western Area Peninsula national park, home to endangered species including the duiker antelope and pangolins. The waters are rich in sardines, barracuda and grouper, caught by local fishermen who produce 70% of the fish for the domestic market.

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‘Everybody is angry’: Modi under fire over India’s Covid second wave

Posted: 16 May 2021 09:00 PM PDT

From an approval rating of 80% earlier in the year, now tough questions are being asked of PM's leadership

The missing persons complaint was filed at Parliament Street police station in Delhi as a matter of some urgency: it concerned the "disappearance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi" and 10 of his cabinet ministers during the pandemic.

Nagesh Kariyappa, the general secretary of the Indian national students' union who filed the report to police on Friday, said he wanted the absence of political leadership when India had been brought to its knees by Covid-19 to be a matter of official record. "Where are the so-called leaders who had promised to make India a global leader but have instead made people suffer like this?" said Kariyappa.

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‘On bad days, we don’t eat’: Hunger grows for thousands displaced by conflict in Chad

Posted: 16 May 2021 11:15 PM PDT

As war forces more to flee, humanitarian organisations facing funding shortfalls and increasing demand are unable to keep pace

The number of people having to leave their homes in the Lake Chad region of central Africa has more than doubled over the past year with agencies warning they are struggling to feed people.

The fighting, which last month claimed the life of the president of Chad, Idriss Déby, has displaced more than 400,000 Chadians, according to the International Organization for Migration, a rise from 169,000 at the start of 2020. More than 65,000 people were displaced in the first quarter of this year.

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New Zealand to cut ‘low-skill’ immigration and refocus on wealthy

Posted: 17 May 2021 02:18 AM PDT

Government signals sweeping changes to address 'reliance on temporary migrant labour'

New Zealand has become an increasingly appealing destination for those seeking a haven – from Covid-19, economic recession or chaotic international politics. In recent years, the country gained a reputation for "billionaires' boltholes", as mega-rich speculators including Peter Thiel bought up remote properties in scenic, isolated regions.

But in a post-Covid world, the emigration dream will be less accessible – at least for those who don't fall into the mega-rich category. On Monday, the New Zealand government announced it would be narrowing pathways for those hoping to migrate and work in the country, particularly those it classed as "low-skill" and low-wage workers. It simultaneously announced new measures to attract rich investors.

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UK ‘faces labour shortage’ as Covid and Brexit fuel exodus of overseas workers

Posted: 16 May 2021 04:01 PM PDT

Experts say recovery at risk amid sharp fall in EU workers and dwindling interest in UK jobs from abroad

Britain's employers are struggling to hire staff as lockdown lifts amid an exodus of overseas workers caused by the Covid pandemic and Brexit, industry figures reveal.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the recruitment firm Adecco, employers plan to hire at the fastest rate in eight years, led by the reopening of the hospitality and retail sectors as pandemic restrictions are relaxed in England and Wales on Monday.

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Suez Canal starts work to extend double lane after Ever Given grounding

Posted: 16 May 2021 06:07 PM PDT

Grounding of the container ship in a southern section of the canal in March delayed the passage of hundreds of vessels through the waterway

Egypt has started dredging work to extend a second lane that allows for two-way traffic in a southern section of the canal near to where a giant container ship got stuck for six days in March.

The state-owned Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced last week that it was planning to extend a second canal lane that opened in 2015 by 10km to make it 82km long, and would widen and deepen a single lane stretch at the southern end of the canal.

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UN champions Mauritian control of Chagos Islands by rejecting UK stamps

Posted: 16 May 2021 05:46 AM PDT

Refusal to recognise British Indian Ocean Territory stamps is latest move to assert Mauritian sovereignty

Stamps issued by the British Indian Ocean Territory could soon be rendered invalid after the United Nations' Universal Postal Union (UPU) council recommended they no longer be recognised, in the latest step rejecting the UK's claim to the Chagos Islands.

The move by the UPU, the second oldest international organisation, is in recognition of Mauritian sovereignty over the strategically important islands in the Indian Ocean and is the first of what is likely to be many by UN specialised agencies, such as the International Civil Aviation Organization and International Monetary Fund.

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Bitcoin lowest since February as Musk tweets trigger whipsaw trading – business live

Posted: 17 May 2021 02:48 AM PDT

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

China's economic recovery appears to have cooled last month, with manufacturing production and consumer spending both slowing.

"Production demand continued to grow... and the economy continued to stabilise and resume development," said NBS spokesman Fu Linghui, though he cautioned that the global epidemic situation remained "complicated, and the recovery of the world economy is very uneven".

The rise of homeworking during the pandemic was most prevalent among IT and communications workers, among women, professional workers, and those employed in and around London.

That's according to new data from the Office for National Statistics:

Our latest Annual Population Survey data show that in 2020, 25.9% of those in employment worked at home at some point in the week before they were surveyed, up from 12.4% in 2019 https://t.co/nuw7X0L9h6

The groups with the highest rates of homeworking in 2020 were

▪️women
▪️those working in information and communication
▪️those residing in or working in London
▪️those in professional occupations

➡️ https://t.co/MGS0MfsW53

New results from the Management and Expectations Survey suggest that better-managed firms were more able to switch to homeworking in 2020 https://t.co/xKg36V3YYo pic.twitter.com/r0LxgLnOwa

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‘Naughty favours’: Matt Gaetz seeks to ridicule allegations he paid underaged girl for sex

Posted: 16 May 2021 07:07 AM PDT

Embattled Republican congressman compares allegations of sexual misconduct involving a minor to congressional earmarks

The embattled Florida congressman Matt Gaetz has compared allegations of sexual misconduct involving a minor to earmarks, a congressional process by which spending measures beneficial to representatives' districts are attached to legislation.

"I'm being falsely accused of exchanging money for naughty favors," he said, speaking to Republicans in Ohio on Saturday.

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Sharks use Earth’s magnetic field as ‘GPS’ guidance system, study says

Posted: 16 May 2021 11:00 PM PDT

  • Florida scientists use juvenile bonnetheads for research
  • Authors say findings applicable to other ocean-going sharks

Scientists in Florida have concluded that sharks possess an internal navigation system similar to GPS that allows them to use Earth's magnetic forces to travel long distances with accuracy.

Related: Below the surface: reports of rising shark attacks don't tell the whole story

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How did Covid slip through Taiwan’s ‘gold standard’ defences?

Posted: 17 May 2021 02:14 AM PDT

Island state went 253 days without a single local case but now the number of cases is rising sharply

A worsening coronavirus outbreak in Taiwan has raised urgent questions about how the virus slipped past Taiwan's "gold standard" defences, and if the country can quickly return to a zero-Covid life.

In 2020, the island state of 24 million people was producing extraordinary numbers: fewer than 1,000 cases, about 90% of them detected in recent arrivals, zero infection leaks from quarantine, a death toll of 12, and 253 days without a single local case.

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‘I’m filled with hope’: cash-strapped Algarve awaits return of UK tourists

Posted: 16 May 2021 08:38 AM PDT

People in Faro are relieved and excited but do not expect a speedy recovery from impact of Covid

Tatiana stands by the counter of the souvenir shop where she works in downtown Faro, with little in the way of company besides the postcard racks, the shelves of trinkets and towels, and an all too familiar silence.

"Only three customers have come into the shop so far today," says Tatiana, who lost her job at Faro's airport last October after her contract was not renewed.

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‘Happy hours ... for now’: what the papers say about Britain emerging from lockdown

Posted: 16 May 2021 08:43 PM PDT

Front pages celebrate easing of restrictions but they all deliver a health warning as cases of the new variant spread

Newspapers are almost unanimous in identifying the easing of coronavirus restrictions as the biggest story of the day – but they all deliver the news with a health warning.

As the most parts of the UK take another step out of lockdown on Monday – with two households or groups of six allowed to meet indoors in England for the first time since last year – health experts have said that the Indian Covid variant still poses a real risk.

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Fake Covid vaccine and test certificate market is growing, researchers say

Posted: 16 May 2021 09:53 AM PDT

More than 1,200 vendors operating in the UK and worldwide, offering false documents for as little as £25

A hidden pandemic market advertising fake vaccine and test certificates for as little as £25 has grown exponentially, with more than 1,200 vendors in the UK and worldwide, researchers have found.

After UK ministers announced the return of overseas holidays – with travellers required to show proof of negative tests, and vaccine passports on the horizon – the Guardian has also learned that anti-vaxxers and people arriving in Britain from poorer nations make up a significant number of those buying forged pandemic paraphernalia.

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‘Revolution dwells in the heart’: Myanmar’s poets cut down by the military

Posted: 16 May 2021 07:24 PM PDT

Khet Thi, who captured the unflinching determination of the Myanmar public, was the third poet to be killed by the military since the coup

His words captured the unflinching determination of the Myanmar public in the face of military brutality: "They shoot in the head, but they don't know revolution dwells in the heart."

The poet Khet Thi was taken from his home in Shwebo, in the Sagaing region, last Saturday. The next day, his wife collected his body from a hospital. His organs had been removed, she told BBC Burmese.

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Mel B on domestic abuse, trauma and recovery: ‘In my mind there was no way out’

Posted: 16 May 2021 10:00 PM PDT

Four years after escaping her marriage, the former Spice Girl talks about confidence, family – and why the pandemic has led to a rise in abusive relationships

Melanie Brown is in her tracksuit talking to me from her Leeds home. Her mother has popped round and is chomping away on an Easter egg she has just found, despite the fact that Brown has made her some "amazing" spicy curry soup for lunch. Her oldest daughter, Phoenix, is going to extreme measures to get her attention. Meanwhile, tiny yorkshire terrier Cookie has jumped into Brown's arms, as her French bulldogs Yoshi and Yoda and golden doodle Luna wander around making mischief. It's a picture of contented domestic chaos.

But it wasn't always like this. Four years ago Brown, better known as Mel B or Scary Spice, was living in Los Angeles, married to the American film producer Stephen Belafonte and, she says, terrified for her life. In her 2018 memoir Brutally Honest, she documented the horror of her day-to-day existence – alleging physical, sexual, verbal and financial abuse.

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Photographers rewrite list of ‘big five’ animals to shoot

Posted: 16 May 2021 10:00 PM PDT

Project turns trophy hunters' hit list into a conservation tool – and reveals the animals we most want to see caught on camera

For trophy hunters, the big five are the toughest, most dangerous animals to kill, but a photography project has turned the meaning of shooting on its head, creating a new list of the five most fantastic creatures to capture on camera.

More than 50,000 people from around the world voted for animals they most liked seeing pictures of as part of the New Big 5 wildlife photography list. The crowning creatures are elephant, lion, polar bear, gorilla and tiger, all of which are keystone species listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as either critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable.

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Billionaire François Pinault fulfils Paris art gallery dream

Posted: 17 May 2021 01:00 AM PDT

Contemporary collection finds home in former grain exchange 16 years after plan for Seine island failed

For 20 years, the French billionaire François Pinault has dreamed of opening a museum to display his renowned contemporary art collection in Paris.

The original plan was to build a massive concrete and glass structure on an abandoned island in the River Seine three miles from the Eiffel Tower. When that sparked planning and legal rows and proved impossible, the tycoon moved his collection to Venice, where it seemed destined to remain.

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‘Their stories need to be told’: the true story behind The Underground Railroad

Posted: 16 May 2021 11:16 PM PDT

Barry Jenkins' acclaimed 10-part adaptation of Colson Whitehead's novel shines much-needed light on a history that many still don't know

Don't be fooled by the train carriage. The Washington Waterfront Underground Railroad Museum might be housed inside one but its content has nothing to do with railways. Its true genesis lies across the street in the Pamlico River, once used as an avenue of escape by enslaved African Americans seeking freedom.

Leesa Jones, cofounder and executive director of the museum, says: "We realised through reading copious documents and old slave ads from Washington newspapers that would say things like, 'My slave has escaped, they're going to try to get to Washington to board a ship to get to their freedom', that we wanted to tell an accurate story of how freedom seekers left from the Washington waterfront."

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Yanomami beset by violent land-grabs, hunger and disease in Brazil

Posted: 16 May 2021 09:00 PM PDT

Indigenous people in the grip of a humanitarian crisis as Bolsonaro gives encouragement to wildcat miners with designs on their rainforest territory

A photograph of an emaciated Yanomami girl, huddled listlessly in a hammock beside an empty cooking pot over an unlit fire. Shaky footage of indigenous people screaming as they flee in panic to a soundtrack of gunfire.

Shocking images shared on Brazilian social media this week have cast a spotlight on a spiral of violence, malnutrition and disease that threatens fresh devastation for the Yanomami people and their ancestral territory in the Amazon state of Roraima.

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Scots urged to stay cautious as Covid restrictions are eased

Posted: 17 May 2021 02:51 AM PDT

Ministers highlight infection rate in Moray and Glasgow as most of country moves down to level 2

People in Scotland have been urged to remain cautious and vigilant about social contact and travel as Covid-19 restrictions were eased across much of the country.

Nearly all of mainland Scotland has moved down to level 2, while many islands are at level 1, the second lowest Scottish tier, allowing people to socialise indoors, visit pubs and hug loved ones for the first time in months.

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Why Not You review – a hollow depiction of homophobic violence

Posted: 17 May 2021 03:00 AM PDT

An aspiring dancer is devastated by survivor's guilt after a shooting in a gay bar, in a topical film that takes on too many big issues

Here's yet another film that falls disappointingly flat when the film-makers are more preoccupied with delivering topical messages than outlining nuanced characters. Why Not You tries hard to comment on a mosaic of issues – homophobia, addiction, PTSD, religious extremism – yet ends up hollow and emotionally vapid.

The debut feature from Evi Romen, a seasoned film editor, the film's visual flair sometimes makes up for the jumbled plot, which follows Mario (Thomas Prenn), an aspiring queer dancer at odds with his conservative community in the primarily German-speaking South Tyrol, Italy. With a penchant for wigs and nail polish, he dreams of bigger cities and the personal freedom they promise. Tragedy strikes on a trip to a gay bar in Rome with Lenz (Noah Saavedra), a close friend with whom Mario shares an intense sexual tension. Islamic extremists open fire on the patrons; Lenz dies while Mario survives. Grief, coupled with intense guilt, sends Mario spiralling further into a cycle of addiction until he crosses path with a local Muslim community willing to rehabilitate the self-destructive man.

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‘We’re gonna win the second half’: the Texas Democrat eyeing 2022 victory

Posted: 17 May 2021 02:00 AM PDT

Mike Collier lost out to the Trumpist Dan Patrick for lieutenant governor last time but thinks he better embodies the state's progressive past – and future

No football team ever lost a game, says Mike Collier. The players just ran out of time.

In 2018, Collier tried to unseat the Republican incumbent, Dan Patrick, as Texas's lieutenant governor, arguably the most powerful role in state government. He watched poll numbers trend closer and closer – until Patrick bested him by just under five points.

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Crown ‘lied to regulator’, Victorian royal commission told

Posted: 17 May 2021 02:06 AM PDT

An inquiry into the James Packer-backed Crown Resorts has also heard that it took a 'belligerent' attitude to an investigation into the arrest of 19 of its staff in China

Crown Resorts allegedly lied to its regulator and adopted a belligerent attitude towards an investigation into the arrest of 19 of its staff in China, an inquiry into the James Packer-backed casino operator has heard.

A royal commission into Crown, called by Victoria's Andrews government, also heard that the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation was still considering referring the company to the state's supreme court for failing to properly respond to notices ordering it to produce documents for use in the investigation.

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17 May reopening: how Covid measures across Britain are changing

Posted: 16 May 2021 01:47 PM PDT

Coronavirus restrictions are set to be eased in England, Wales and most of Scotland from Monday

Coronavirus restrictions will be eased further on Monday in England, Wales and most of Scotland. Northern Ireland will review its measures on Thursday, with a view to lifting more restrictions on 24 May.

The next phase of relaxation comes despite the spread of the coronavirus variant first detected in India, though Boris Johnson warned on Friday that the variant could make it "more difficult" to achieve the final step in England's roadmap in June.

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What threat does Indian Covid variant pose and do vaccines work against it?

Posted: 16 May 2021 09:45 AM PDT

The number of identified cases of the B.1.617.2 variant in the UK has more than doubled in a week

The number of identified cases of the Indian variant in the UK has more than doubled in a week, from 520 to 1,313, according to the most recent figures. The areas with the highest numbers so far include Bolton, Blackburn with Darwen, Erewash in Derbyshire and Bedford, all in England, and Moray in Scotland.

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Joe Biden feels political ground shift as Israel-Gaza conflict rages on

Posted: 16 May 2021 09:36 AM PDT

Analysis: US president may find himself increasingly isolated in his resolute defence of Israel

In his staunch defence of Israel, Joe Biden is sticking to a course set decades ago as a young senator, and so far he has not given ground on the issue to the progressive wing of his party or many Jewish Democrats urging a tougher line towards Benjamin Netanyahu.

Biden has even been prepared to face isolation at the UN security council, at the potential cost of his own credibility on multilateralism and human rights. But analysts say that as the death toll rises with no sign of a ceasefire, the domestic and international pressures on the president could become impossible to ignore.

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Ignore the hype of Republicans threatening to ‘break away’ over Trump | Cas Mudde

Posted: 16 May 2021 03:20 AM PDT

Anti-Trump Republicans get lots of media attention. That doesn't mean they are relevant within the Republican party

"Over 100 Republicans, including former officials, threaten to split" from the Republican party, the New York Times declared on Tuesday. The next day the Washington Post upped the ante, headlining that the 100 Republicans were vowing "civil war"; the columnist Jennifer Rubin proclaimed the beginning of "the stampede away from the GOP".

Sounds exciting, but what has really happened?

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Gaza suffers deadliest airstrikes yet as Israel targets Hamas leader – video report

Posted: 16 May 2021 10:53 AM PDT

At least 33 Palestinians have been killed and 50 injured in the deadliest airstrikes since the start of fighting between Israel and Hamas six days ago. Israel targeted the home of the Hamas leader Yehya al-Sinwar over the weekend and destroyed the building that housed the offices of Al-Jazeera and the Associated Press. At least 181 people in Gaza and 10 in Israel have been killed so far

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Matt Hancock: unlocking will go ahead next week despite India variant – video

Posted: 16 May 2021 03:22 AM PDT

The health secretary told the BBC's Andrew Marr that the next stage of opening England up from lockdown would still go ahead this week despite concerns about the India variant.

'I'm confident that we can take the step tomorrow, but we should all be careful about how we take that step,' Hancock said.

He added that the government would announce a decision on whether to end all lockdown measures – currently planned for 21 June – on 14 June 

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