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

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


Coronavirus live news: India offers vaccination to all adults as country nears 20m cases

Posted: 03 May 2021 02:02 AM PDT

US president and Prince Harry address LA fundraising concert for Covax programme; India reports slight drop in cases and deaths

The European Commission has recommended that foreign citizens fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and those coming from countries with a good epidemiological situation be allowed to travel into European Union countries without additional restrictions, report Reuters.

"The Commission proposes to allow entry to the EU for non-essential reasons not only for all persons coming from countries with a good epidemiological situation but also all people who have received the last recommended dose of an EU-authorised vaccine," the executive arm said in a statement.

Lawyers expect that a legal case challenging Australia's India travel ban could be filed within days, despite the federal health minister, Greg Hunt, saying it was his "absolute belief" the measure was lawful.

Hunt announced a potential five-year jail term and $66,000 fine late on Friday, in a dramatic escalation of the flight bans implemented a week earlier.

Related: Legal challenges loom after Australian government bans citizens returning from India

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New Zealand’s differences with China becoming ‘harder to reconcile’, Jacinda Ardern says

Posted: 02 May 2021 05:17 PM PDT

Prime minister has been coming under pressure from allies to take a tougher approach towards country's largest trading partner

New Zealand's differences with China are becoming "harder to reconcile," the prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said, as she called on China "to act in the world in ways that are consistent with its responsibilities as a growing power".

Ardern's comments were made as New Zealand's government comes under increasing pressure, both internally and from international allies, to take a firmer stance on concerns over human rights abuses of Uyghur people in China's Xinjiang province. Last week, the Act party presented a motion for New Zealand's parliament to debate whether the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang constitutes genocide – a motion that Labour will discuss this week.

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Proud Boys Canada dissolves itself, months after designation as terrorist entity

Posted: 02 May 2021 05:52 PM PDT

Far-right group was deemed a terrorist entity in Canada in February with authorities describing group as 'serious and growing' threat

Proud Boys Canada, a far-right group that Ottawa named as a terrorist entity earlier this year, has dissolved itself, saying it has done nothing wrong, according to a statement by the organisation.

In February, Canada said the group posed an active security threat and played a "pivotal role" in the deadly attack on the US Capitol in January by pro-Trump rioters. US authorities have charged several members of the Proud Boys in connection with the 6 January assault.

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Billie Eilish says all her age group have suffered sexual misbehaviour

Posted: 02 May 2021 01:51 PM PDT

US singer, 19, made claim in Vogue interview when discussing new single about abusive relationship

Billie Eilish has spoken about the prevalence of sexual exploitation of minors in an interview, saying "it's everywhere".

Speaking about her new single, Your Power, which addresses an abusive relationship between a minor and an older person, the 19-year-old singer said all her peers had experienced some sort of sexual impropriety.

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Ugandan president’s son named in ICC complaint over abductions and abuse

Posted: 02 May 2021 09:00 PM PDT

Muhoozi Kainerugaba leads Special Forces Command, an elite military unit blamed for widespread abuses

  • Warning: graphic information in this report may upset some readers

Lawyers acting for the victims of a wave of abductions and torture by security forces in Uganda have named senior military commanders, including the president's son, in a complaint to the international criminal court.

Prosecutors at the ICC are already reviewing an earlier submission from the opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi, the former reggae singer known as Bobi Wine, describing widespread human rights abuses before presidential polls held in January.

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Outpouring of grief after alleged murder of leading Tongan LGBTQI activist

Posted: 02 May 2021 11:07 PM PDT

Police have charged a man for the killing of Polikalepo Kefu, a lifelong advocate for the queer community across the Pacific

Police in Tonga are investigating the death of one of the country's leading LGBTQI+ activists after his body was found on a beach near his home in Tongatapu, Tonga's main island.

A 27-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Polikalepo Kefu, 41. Kefu, who was affectionately known as "Poli", was the president of Tonga Leitis Association, an organisation dedicated to the country's LGBTQ+ communities, providing support services, advocacy, and education on HIV-Aids.

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Queen praises Northern Ireland people in message to mark centenary

Posted: 03 May 2021 01:59 AM PDT

Monarch says 'continued peace' is 'credit to its people' and speaks of 'treasured memories' of visits with Philip

The Queen has said that "continued peace" in Northern Ireland is a "credit to its people", in a message to the country to mark its centenary.

She also spoke of the "treasured" memories she shared of Northern Ireland with the Duke of Edinburgh, who died, aged 99, last month.

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Senior Tory says Boris Johnson should resign if he breached ministerial rules

Posted: 02 May 2021 12:19 PM PDT

Leader of Scottish Conservatives says PM should 'of course' quit if he has not been honest about payments for Downing Street refurb

One of the UK's most senior Conservatives has broken ranks and called for Boris Johnson to resign if he breached ministerial rules over the refurbishment of a Downing Street flat, amid new claims that undeclared donations have been sought to fund the prime minister's lavish lifestyle.

Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said on Sunday that Johnson should "of course" quit if he is found to have breached the code by failing to be honest about cash payments from a Conservative donor sought to redecorate his official residence.

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Iguanas with chips: Florida seeks solution to invasive reptile problem

Posted: 02 May 2021 11:00 PM PDT

  • 'Tag day' initiative opposed by some owners of exotic pets
  • State official 'proud that Florida is looked at as a leader'

From Key West's high-summer Hemingway Days, in which bearded hopefuls vie for the title of best Papa lookalike, to the annual hunt for the elusive (and imaginary) skunk ape, Florida is renowned for its calendar of curiosities.

Related: Toilet-invading iguanas among invasive species now banned in Florida

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‘I’m bursting with fiction’: Alan Moore announces five-volume fantasy epic

Posted: 02 May 2021 10:01 PM PDT

Exclusive: Watchmen and V for Vendetta writer lands six-figure deal for fantasy quintet Long London and short story collection

Two years after announcing that he had retired from comics, Alan Moore, the illustrious author of Watchmen and V for Vendetta, has signed a six-figure deal for a "groundbreaking" five-volume fantasy series as well as a "momentous" collection of short stories.

Bloomsbury, home to the Harry Potter novels, acquired what it described as two "major" projects from the 67-year-old. The first, Illuminations, is a short story collection which will be published in autumn 2022 and which moves from the four horsemen of the apocalypse to the "Boltzmann brains" fashioning the universe. Bloomsbury said it was "dazzlingly original and brimming with energy", promising a series of "beguiling and elegantly crafted tales that reveal the full power of imagination and magic".

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Covering India’s Covid crisis: ‘Hundreds of journalists have lost their lives’

Posted: 02 May 2021 11:00 PM PDT

Our South Asia correspondent reflects on a catastrophe that is now affecting the lives of almost everyone in the country


You recently lost a close colleague, Kakoli Bhattacharya, to Covid-19. Can you tell us about her
and the important work that she did?

Kakoli was the Guardian's news assistant over here and had worked for us since 2009. She could find any number or contact I needed and smoothed over any and all of the bureaucratic challenges that working in India can present. She made reporting here a huge joy, when it could be a huge challenge, and she was hugely well thought of by journalists for other organisations too. More than that, though, she was the person who welcomed me to Delhi. She knew the region inside out. She was incredibly warm and was someone I could always call on. The Guardian's India coverage won't be the same without her.

Related: 'Warm, kind, wise and brilliant': Guardian writers remember Kakoli Bhattacharya

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‘Calamity of maternal deaths’: Covid concern grows for Brazil’s pregnant

Posted: 03 May 2021 01:00 AM PDT

Following 803 pregnant and postpartum deaths, authorities have warned women to delay pregnancy as alarm rises

This month should have been one of the happiest in Letícia Aparecida Gomes's life. The pregnant 23-year-old Brazilian had been due to marry before delivering her baby, Elloah, in August.

Instead, as the Covid-19 pandemic swept Gomes's country claiming thousands of lives each day, she was taken to hospital having been infected herself.

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Japan nurses voice anger at call to volunteer for Tokyo Olympics amid Covid crisis

Posted: 03 May 2021 12:07 AM PDT

Medical staff say their focus should remain on treating coronavirus patients rather than helping hold Games

The organisers of the Tokyo Olympics have sparked anger in Japan's medical community after they asked 500 nurses to volunteer at this summer's Games.

The request came as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and organisers pressed ahead with plans to hold the Games, even as the coronavirus pandemic continued to worsen in the host nation, amid warnings that the event could place an intolerable strain on exhausted health workers.

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New Zealand fires nine border workers who refused Covid vaccine

Posted: 02 May 2021 06:32 PM PDT

PM Jacinda Ardern had previously said workers who declined to be vaccinated would be moved to other roles

New Zealand's customs agency has fired nine border workers who refused to get the Covid-19 vaccine. The country has required all frontline border workers to be vaccinated by the end of April.

In February, the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said the government would not be making the vaccine compulsory for frontline staff, and that those who declined the vaccine would be moved into backroom roles.

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French Réunion: the postmen of the peaks

Posted: 02 May 2021 11:00 PM PDT

René-Claude and Cyril, the two postmen serving Mafate, French Réunion, walk 90 miles of paths to deliver mail to residents on routes that can last days

The Cirque de Mafate, one of three calderas on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean, along with Cilaos and Salazie, is a valley more than 1,000 metres deep surrounded by huge cliffs and steep peaks which, for nearly two centuries, have been home to the descendants of the "maroons", slaves who fled sugar cane plantations.

The community of 700 Mafatais lives here, almost self-sufficiently, amid palm, banana and filao trees. But there are only two ways to get to the cirque: by foot or by helicopter.

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Crude, obscene and extraordinary: Jean Dubuffet’s war against good taste

Posted: 02 May 2021 10:00 PM PDT

He was the inventor of 'art brut' who rebelled against his parents, his teachers and then art itself. Yet the impact of his wild provocative paintings, often culled from graffiti, can still be seen today

Which great artist of the 20th century has been most influential on the 21st? Neither Picasso nor Matisse, as they have no heirs. And not Marcel Duchamp, however much we genuflect before his urinal. No, the artist of the last century whose ideas are everywhere today was a wine merchant who took street art and fashioned it into something extraordinary more than 75 years ago.

After four years of Nazi occupation, you'd think Parisians would have been unshockable. But in 1944, the newly liberated city was sorely provoked by the antics of Jean Dubuffet. Even as the last shots were fired, he was creating newspaper collages bearing the fragmentary graffiti messages he saw in the streets: "Emile is gone again", "Always devoted to your orders", "URGENT". In the next couple of years, he unveiled shapeless, childlike paintings that abandoned all pretence at skill.

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‘Our moment is now’: can Washington DC statehood finally become a reality?

Posted: 03 May 2021 02:00 AM PDT

Activists hope that with Democrats controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress, DC can finally join the union – but challenges remain

Thousands of miles from the US capital, a group of progressive protesters recently marched to the office of their senator, Republican Lisa Murkowski, to demand that she support statehood for Washington DC.

The protest was notable because of its setting of Anchorage, Alaska, and similar demonstrations have recently been popping up all across America. Progressives from Arizona to New York have taken pictures with 51-star flags to show their support for making DC the first new state to join the union since Hawaii in 1959.

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Sick of the same old route? 14 fabulous ways to get out of your running rut

Posted: 02 May 2021 10:00 PM PDT

Many people have been running more in lockdown - but your route may now be wearily familiar. Here's how to get the excitement back

Over the past year – perhaps because of stress, boredom, and a need to get a break from video meetings and homeschooled children – an estimated 7 million people in the UK have been running. Sportswear stores have reported a leap in sales of running gear, and downloads of the popular Couch to 5K app almost doubled. For the able-bodied among us, running has become a new way of life. But now, after many months – and with distractions creeping in as lockdown restrictions lift – how can you ensure your running regime sticks? Here is some expert advice to keep you moving.

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‘Ground zero of the opioid epidemic’: West Virginia puts drug giants on trial

Posted: 02 May 2021 11:00 PM PDT

A series of federal cases over the pharmaceutical industry's push to sell narcotic painkillers which created the worst drug epidemic in US history

The trial of the three biggest US drug distributors for illegally flooding West Virginia with hundreds of millions of prescription opioid pills, and driving the highest overdose rate in the country, is due to open on Monday.

Related: Empire of Pain review: the Sacklers, opioids and the sickening of America

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Succulent smuggling: why are South Africa’s rare desert plants vanishing?

Posted: 03 May 2021 12:00 AM PDT

Unique species in 'the world's most biodiverse desert' are at risk from a warming planet and the lucrative plant poaching trade

In May 2020, 10mm of rain fell at Sendelingsdrif Rest Camp in South Africa's most north-westerly corner. After enduring nine years of almost zero rain, Pieter van Wyk, a 32-year-old self-taught botanist who heads up the Richtersveld national park's nursery, was elated to see several species flower for the first time in almost a decade. The rain, including 200mm on the nearby mountains, was a welcome respite for the world heritage site's flora and fauna.

His joy, however, was short-lived. While the rain gave a temporary lease of life to some annuals and bulbs in the |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld transfrontier park, it did little to alter the fact that scores of species, especially large succulent plants such as aloes, are in peril. A study to be published by Van Wyk and others shows that 85% of the population of the distinctive Pearson's aloe (Aloe pearsonii) – endemic to the Richtersveld – has been lost in the past five years, having been a stable presence for the previous four decades.

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UK dairy firms try to count the cost of churn in post-Brexit trade

Posted: 02 May 2021 11:00 PM PDT

Country Milk's trade with the EU has nosedived with the dairy industry particularly badly affected by new customs rules

A small error in the paperwork – a box ticked by mistake – and the tanker of butter oil was held at French customs for five days, with veterinary authorities at the border threatening to destroy it. The debacle nearly cost the tanker's exporter, dairy company County Milk, a six-figure sum. After fraught negotiations, the cargo was eventually repatriated.

"You don't need too many of those to be destroyed and you are in dire straits," says Phil Langslow, trading director at County Milk, the UK's largest privately owned dairy ingredients business.

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British man who died in crush at Israeli festival is named as Moshe Bergman

Posted: 02 May 2021 01:13 PM PDT

Bergman, 24, had been in Israel to train as a rabbi before dying at Mount Meron

A British man who died in a crowd crush at a Jewish festival in Israel has been named as Moshe Bergman.

The 24-year-old from Salford, Manchester, had been in the country to train to be a rabbi in Jerusalem. He had been living in the city for two years and had married 18 months ago.

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Darwin Port’s Chinese owner says it will cooperate with Australian defence review

Posted: 03 May 2021 01:06 AM PDT

Landbridge says it is willing to participate in review of $500m lease but insists 2015 deal with Northern Territory was 'in good faith'

The Chinese company that operates the Port of Darwin has vowed to cooperate with the Morrison government's review into any security risks from its long-term lease – but insists it struck the deal "in good faith".

The defence minister, Peter Dutton, confirmed on Monday that his department was reviewing the 2015 agreement between the Northern Territory's then-Country Liberal party (CLP) government and the Landbridge Group.

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Greg Hunt has ‘absolute belief’ that banning returns from India is legal – as it happened

Posted: 03 May 2021 01:25 AM PDT

Health minister joins Scott Morrison in defending ban; over-50s eligible for Covid vaccine

We'll leave it there for today. Thanks for tuning in.

Here are today's main developments:

It's been a long few hours, but the final witness at the Australia Post inquiry is giving evidence: the former chair John Stanthorpe.

He was the chair in 2018 when the Cartier watches were gifted. He signed a card thanking the executives who received the watches, but he said he did not remember ever seeing the gifts.

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‘They knew we weren’t giving oxygen’: a Delhi doctor’s week of horror

Posted: 02 May 2021 04:38 AM PDT

Dr Chahat Verma saw five patients die in a day as India's Covid crisis overwhelms hospitals

During the past week, when oxygen was periodically running out at Ganga Ram hospital, one thing Dr Chahat Verma found unbearable was the look on the faces of patients when the oxygen saturation levels of another patient in the ward plunged.

"They'd lie there, watching the patient gasping, unable to breathe, and they knew we weren't giving oxygen because there wasn't any. The look in their eyes was one of pure terror. They knew it could be their turn next," she said.

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Ardern’s speech was not an attack on China, or even a shift away from Beijing | Bryce Edwards

Posted: 02 May 2021 10:45 PM PDT

Her words might have sounded tough to a domestic audience but in fact they'll go down fine in China

Jacinda Ardern's Labour government is achieving something no other western country has done – staying on side with China. Her latest speech on relations with China once again shows the west how deft diplomacy is done – with a carefully choreographed message that reiterates New Zealand is not joining the western aggression against the country's biggest trading partner, while at the same time voicing some necessary hard words about human rights abuses.

The prime minister gave a highly anticipated keynote speech at the China Business Summit in Auckland on Monday, which clarified her government's orientation to China following a controversial speech two weeks ago by the foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta. Mahuta had said that New Zealand won't simply follow the Five Eyes security alliance's condemnation of China. Today, Ardern essentially endorsed Mahuta's distancing from western allies, arguing her government would make its own decisions on how to communicate its concerns about human rights abuses. Then speaking in a Q and A session she used a sporting analogy, saying "I'm often asked which lane are we swimming in. We swim in New Zealand's lane." This is a very clear rebuff to the increasing pressure from western allies for her government to take a harder line.

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Sorcery-related violence should be thought of as profoundly modern | Miranda Forsyth

Posted: 02 May 2021 02:00 PM PDT

The attacks in Papua New Guinea may look like a barbaric relic from the past but have to do with poverty, inequality and the normalisation of violence

News broke last week about the horrific attack on two women in Port Moresby after they were accused of sorcery.

Senior leaders and police in Papua New Guinea expressed outrage that such violence was occurring in the nation's capital. But as a researcher who investigates this type of attack, these stories are frustratingly familiar and predictable.

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Dominic Raab says UK is in the 'last lap' in the fight against Covid – video

Posted: 02 May 2021 06:36 AM PDT

Dominic Raab urged people to keep their resolve in tackling coronavirus, saying there is only a little bit more time until all legal restrictions on social interactions are removed. Speaking on Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday, the foreign secretary said a careful approach to easing Covid restrictions was still necessary, despite people desperately wanting to hug family members


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The Kentucky Derby, May Day and a cannabis parade: the weekend’s best photos

Posted: 02 May 2021 05:19 AM PDT

The Guardian's picture editors select photo highlights from around the world

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Mitt Romney booed while speaking at Utah Republican convention – video

Posted: 02 May 2021 03:13 AM PDT

Mitt Romney was loudly booed at the Utah Republican party convention on Saturday, and called a 'traitor' and a 'communist' as he tried to speak. 'Aren't you embarrassed?' the Utah senator asked the crowd of 2,100 delegates at the Maverik Center in West Valley City. 'I'm a man who says what he means, and you know I was not a fan of our last president's character issues.'

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