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

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


G7: Boris Johnson appears to repudiate Tory austerity at summit opening

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 02:30 PM PDT

PM tells world leaders it is vital not to repeat the mistakes of the 2008 crash and entrench inequality

Boris Johnson has told his fellow G7 leaders in Cornwall they should avoid repeating the mistakes of 2008, when the recovery from the deep recession that followed the financial crisis entrenched inequalities.

In his opening remarks to the first formal session of the three-day summit, Johnson said: "It is vital that we don't repeat the mistakes of the last great crisis, the last big economic recession of 2008, when the recovery was not uniform across all part of society."

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Vladimir Putin says Biden ‘radically different’ after impulsive Trump

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 06:37 PM PDT

Russian ruler says relations with US at their lowest point in years as the two presidents prepare to meet in Geneva

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has said US-Russia relations are at their lowest point in years, in an interview before his meeting with the US president, Joe Biden, next week.

Putin and Biden will meet in Geneva on Wednesday. The White House has said Biden will bring up ransomware attacks emanating from Russia, Moscow's aggression against Ukraine, the jailing of dissidents and other issues that have irritated the relationship.

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Agnes Chow: Hong Kong democracy activist leaves jail

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 08:39 PM PDT

Key figure in 2019 anti-government protests was imprisoned for more than six months under national security law imposed by mainland China

The Hong Kong democracy activist Agnes Chow has been released from jail after serving more than six months for taking part in unauthorised assemblies during 2019 anti-government protests that triggered a crackdown on dissent by mainland China.

Chow, 24, was greeted by a crowd of journalists as she left the Tai Lam women's prison on Saturday. She got out of a prison van and into a private car without making any remarks.

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In the mouth of the whale: lobster diver swallowed by humpback lives to tell the tale

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 02:56 PM PDT

The Cape Cod fisherman estimates he was in the beast's mouth for 30 seconds; experts say the encounter was a fluke

A commercial lobster diver who got caught in the mouth of a humpback whale off the coast of Cape Cod on Friday morning said he thought he was going to die.

Michael Packard, 56, of Wellfleet, told WBZ-TV after he was released from Cape Cod hospital that he was about 45ft (14 meters) deep in the waters off Provincetown when "all of a sudden I felt this huge bump, and everything went dark".

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French soldiers kill Mali jihadist blamed for RFI journalists’ murder

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 08:53 PM PDT

Bayes Ag Bakabo was prime suspect in 2013 kidnapping and shooting of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon

French soldiers have killed a Malian jihadist suspected of being responsible for the kidnapping and death of two French journalists in 2013.

Florence Parly, the defence minister in Paris, said French forces in the Sahel region killed "four terrorists" during an operation in northern Mali on 5 June, including Bayes Ag Bakabo, the prime suspect in the deaths of Radio France International (RFI) reporters Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon.

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Peru on edge as electoral board reviews result of disputed presidential election

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 10:31 AM PDT

Rightwing candidate Keiko Fujimori alleged fraud after losing to leftist Pedro Castillo by about 60,000 votes

Peru was on a knife-edge on Friday as its electoral board reviewed ballots cast in the presidential election, after a challenge to the tally by the losing candidate Keiko Fujimori.

The final tally gave the leftist teacher Pedro Castillo a razor-thin 50.17% to 49.83% advantage over his rightwing rival Fujimori, which amounts to about 60,000 votes.

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Texas will build a wall along its border with Mexico, governor says

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 02:12 PM PDT

It is unclear if the state has the authority to construct a wall after Joe Biden stopped building projects on the border

The Republican Texas governor, Greg Abbott, has announced that the state will build a wall along its southern border with Mexico, sparking criticism from human rights and immigration advocacy groups.

Citing the Biden administration's rollback of Trump-era immigration policies, Abbott announced the border wall plans amid other security measures including plans for Texas to construct its own detention centers and $1bn of the state's budget being allocated to border security. Abbott also declared that more undocumented immigrants will be arrested and sent to local jails versus being turned over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as Ice.

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Italian TV employees suspected of thieving dozens of works of art

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 07:49 AM PDT

'Priceless' pieces removed from Rai's offices by employees and replaced with fakes, police believe

"Disloyal employees" at Italy's public broadcaster, Rai, are suspects in the theft of dozens of works of art from its offices thought to date back to the 1970s.

In what the daily newspaper Il Messaggero has described as "the sack of Rai", the "priceless" artworks were removed from the broadcaster's headquarters in Rome and units across the country and replaced with fakes. The works included original paintings by Renato Guttuso and etchings by Claude Monet and Amedeo Modigliani.

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Rupert Murdoch writes down value of Sun newspapers to zero

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 08:51 AM PDT

Move follows £200m loss caused by Covid-19 pandemic and one-off charges related to phone hacking

Rupert Murdoch has written down the value of the Sun newspapers to zero as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic helped to fuel a £200m loss at his flagship tabloid titles.

Advertising and sales revenues at the Sun and the Sun on Sunday plummeted, with turnover falling by 23% from £419.9m to £324m in the year to the end of June 2020.

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Party’s over: Amsterdam plans to keep tourists ‘in penis outfits’ away

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 08:56 AM PDT

As Dutch capital reopens post-Covid, city is taking 'extra measures' to discourage excess

Amsterdam has said it will not allow a return to the "nuisance and massive crowds" the city endured before the pandemic, sending a blunt warning that visitors "whose intention is to booze and misbehave, dressed like a penis" should go elsewhere.

As much of the EU prepares to open up to tourists who are vaccinated, have recovered from the coronavirus or can provide a negative test from 1 July, the Dutch capital's city hall said in a statement it was taking "extra measures" to discourage excesses.

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Covid passports will be discriminatory and must be scrapped, say MPs

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 04:01 PM PDT

Cross-party group warns against pushing ahead with system being used at England's Euro 2020 matches

Covid passports, which will be used by sports fans for the first time at England's Euro 2020 match on Sunday, will "disproportionately discriminate" based on race, religion, age and socio-economic background, a cross-party committee has concluded.

MPs on the public administration and constitutional affairs committee (PACAC) said that the decision to allow certification, giving people access to events and venues if they test negative for coronavirus or have had the vaccine, could be seen as contempt of parliament.

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‘My dream was buried’: the children of India orphaned by Covid

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 12:43 PM PDT

Officials and NGOs say orphans now face the double threat of neglect and being vulnerable to exploitation

Nitish Kumar will never forget the day he and his sisters buried their dead mother in the back garden.

Just 32, Priyanka Devi had died from Covid on 3 May. Neighbours and relatives refused to help with her burial, and all the family's money had gone on hospital fees.

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Delta variant causes more than 90% of new Covid cases in UK

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 05:22 AM PDT

Variant first discovered in India is thought to spread more easily and be more resistant to vaccines

More than 90% of Covid cases in the UK are now down to the coronavirus Delta variant first discovered in India, data has revealed, as the total number of confirmed cases passed 42,000.

Also known as B.1.617.2, the Delta variant has been linked to a rise in Covid cases in the UK in the past weeks. It is believed to spread more easily than the Alpha variant, B.1.1.7, that was first detected in Kent, and is somewhat more resistant to Covid vaccines, particularly after just one dose. It may be also associated with a greater risk of hospitalisation.

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Holidaymania strikes Germany as Covid travel restrictions ease

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 05:43 AM PDT

Hundreds of thousands of Germans plan to go away soon, as government reduces risk rating of favoured destinations

Germans are in the midst of holiday fever following the widespread relaxation of coronavirus restrictions at home and abroad, opening the prospect of travel again for a nation that considers the summer break to be a basic human right.

A considerable improvement week on week since May in the country's virus incidence rate, which stood at 22 per 100,000 on Thursday, a 42% decrease on last week, a vaccine campaign that was slow to start but has picked up pace, and relaxations of rules in holiday destinations such as Mallorca, have prompted a boom in bookings.

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Hello possum: the New Zealanders keeping invasive marsupials as pets

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 01:00 PM PDT

The animals have a bad reputation in Aotearoa, where they are regarded as pests – but some say they are scapegoated for human failures

Maurice likes to stay up all night. When he finally settles down at 5am, he makes sure everyone knows he's there – then he curls up and sleeps all day.

"When he's ready to go to bed, he gives us a good face wash to say 'hi,'" Jo Little* says, laughing. "He's got really, really cold feet, and he puts them all over your head. He licks every area of your face!"

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Lorde’s comeback single is a lesson in letting pop stars take their time

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 07:56 AM PDT

Solar Power delivers a statement of loose-limbed maturity from a mercurial star who is much imitated but utterly unique

Lorde has said she was "waiting for the right moment" to release her comeback single, Solar Power, and opted for 11 June to coincide with the year's only solar eclipse (although leaks may have forced her hand). Her chosen date resonates beyond the obvious thematic associations of her hazy, sun-worshipping comeback single and its cheeky cover art.

Pop stars, especially young women, are expected to be available, relatable, always on. Lorde has defied this with an old-school release rate (just three albums in nine years) and such a low-key public presence that a recent update of her Instagram account on which she reviews onions rings generated headlines. (She benefits, too, from New Zealand's minimal paparazzi culture.) The rare arrival of new music from the 24-year-old, last heard from in 2017, has come to feel like its own celestial event.

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Wish you were here? 13 photos that reveal what the G7 summit is really like

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 07:46 AM PDT

Jill Biden and Carrie Johnson play happy families, Justin Trudeau channels Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, giant Pikachus descend on a beach – and more

It's that time again – the G7 summit. It was previously the G8 summit, until the Russians went full Russia and, rather than receiving coordinated international condemnation and effective sanctions, were kicked out of this faintly ridiculous rigmarole as "punishment".

This year's is being held in Carbis Bay, Cornwall. Very rarely are things achieved at these summits. The best thing about them is the opportunity to laugh at the photographs, which somehow are even more excruciating than the usual political photo ops.

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All the Queen’s presidents: Biden joins long line of US leaders to meet royal

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 11:01 AM PDT

Biden previously met the Queen in 1982 while she has met every US president since Eisenhower except Lyndon Johnson

When the Queen encounters Joe Biden at a reception on Friday she will have met the 13th US president of her long reign, having come face to face with every US commander-in-chief since Dwight Eisenhower – except Lyndon Johnson.

Biden previously met the Queen in 1982 when he was the Democratic senator for Delaware but this will be their first rendezvous since Biden beat Donald Trump to win the White House.

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Move of the week: how to do the plank, and ease lower back pain | Shona Vertue

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 08:00 AM PDT

This simple but effective forearm plank – done properly – will counteract stiffness and pain caused by sitting down all day

This strengthens the core muscles involved in "anti-extension" – ie, any movement that resists extending the lower back – which applies to anyone who works at a desk. It uses all your abdominal muscles, but also works the legs, glutes (your bum) and shoulders. The key is to keep your hips in line with the rest of your body. Don't let them fall towards the floor or stick up towards the ceiling: easier said than done.

a) Starting from a kneeling position, come into a forearm plank position; bend your elbows so they are parallel with the floor, and turn your palms flat against it.

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Revealed: rightwing firm posed as leftist group on Facebook to divide Democrats

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 03:00 AM PDT

FEC investigation failed to uncover link to Rally Forge, a firm with close ties to Turning Point USA

A digital marketing firm closely linked to the pro-Trump youth group Turning Point USA was responsible for a series of deceptive Facebook ads promoting Green party candidates during the 2018 US midterm elections, the Guardian can reveal.

In an apparent attempt to split the Democratic vote in a number of close races, the ads purported to come from an organization called America Progress Now (APN) and used socialist memes and rhetoric to urge leftwing voters to support Green party candidates.

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Prue Leith, Lemn Sissay and Alison Moyet recognised in Queen’s birthday honours

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 02:30 PM PDT

Key figures in UK arts, culture and sport rewarded in list dominated by heroes and heroines of pandemic

The Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith, the poet Lemn Sissay and the singer-songwriter Alison Moyet are among notable figures in the arts to have been recognised in the Queen's birthday honours list.

In a list dominated once again by the heroes and heroines of the coronavirus pandemic, and particularly key players in Britain's successful vaccine rollout, there remained room to laud the achievements of people in the nation's fields of arts, culture and sport.

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Spain’s right unites in fury as PM considers Catalan pardons

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 09:00 PM PDT

Rightwing parties condemn prime minister's call to work for 'co-existence' with separatists

On Sunday thousands of people, among them the leaders of the three parties on Spain's right, will once again gather in the Madrid square that boasts the world's largest Spanish flag to protest against the Socialist-led government's handling of the Catalan independence crisis.

In February 2019, in a deeply controversial moment immortalised in photographs of the occasion, the conservative People's party (PP), the centre-right Citizens party and the far-right Vox party joined forces in the Plaza de Colón to accuse the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, of betraying Spain, and to call for an early election.

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Ex-Mossad chief signals Israel culpability for Iran attacks

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 06:15 AM PDT

Yossi Cohen reveals details of Iran nuclear programme attacks in interview timed to support Netanyahu

The outgoing head of Israel's foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, has signalled the country's clear responsibility for a series of attacks targeting Iran's nuclear programme in an interview that appeared to have as much to do with Israel's febrile politics as with Iran.

In a public intervention that appeared timed to help Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, before a Knesset vote on Sunday that could end his 12 consecutive years in office, the agency's former head Yossi Cohen revealed details of operations long attributed to Israel.

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Victoria records one new locally acquired case of Covid-19

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 08:56 PM PDT

Authorities say investigations are underway into the source of the infection, which comes just a day after Melbourne ended a two-week lockdown

A senior Victorian health official has encouraged people to "call out" friends and colleagues if they are showing symptoms of Covid-19 but haven't been for a test.

Victoria's Covid-19 testing commander, Jeroen Weimar, made the call after revealing details of a new mystery case of the disease – a man from Melbourne who tested positive on Friday afternoon.

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Government pledges to raise legal age of marriage to 18 in England and Wales

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 08:54 AM PDT

Commitment from justice ministry seen as victory by rights campaigners, who say current law is exploited to coerce children

The government has committed to raising the minimum legal age of marriage to 18 in England and Wales in a victory for campaigners.

Currently, 16 and 17-year-olds can marry with parental consent, but a coalition of charities has warned that this legal loophole is being exploited to coerce young people into child marriage.

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Frontex turning ‘blind eye’ to human rights violations, says former deputy

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 04:26 AM PDT

Gil Arias Fernández says EU border agency, which is under investigation for illegal migrant pushbacks, cannot stop far-right infiltrating its ranks

The former deputy head of Europe's border and coastguard agency has said the state of the beleaguered force "pains" him and that it is vulnerable to the "alarming" rise of populism across the continent.

In his first interview since leaving office, Gil Arias Fernández, former deputy director at Frontex and once tipped for the top post, said he was deeply worried about the agency's damaged reputation, its decision to arm officers, and its inability to stop the far-right infiltrating its ranks, amid anti-migrant movements across Europe.

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Maradona Jr pleads for DNA donors in search for Argentina’s stolen babies

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 04:00 AM PDT

The son of the footballing legend is carrying on his father's quest to trace the children taken from parents murdered by the junta

Diego Armando Maradona Jr, son of the late Argentine football legend, is urging Italians to submit DNA to help the Argentinian government trace hundreds of children who were stolen and their parents murdered by the military junta that controlled the country four decades ago.

Maradona Jr is doing radio interviews in Italy and using his 400,000-strong social media following to broaden the search, which has already seen DNA testing programmes rolled out in Madrid and Rome.

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Student’s rape and murder puts India’s sexual violence under spotlight again

Posted: 10 Jun 2021 10:00 PM PDT

Despite new laws to combat the problem, a rape is reported every 15 minutes, leaving victims and families crying out for justice

It was a historic day for women in India. Mamata Banerjee and her party won a spectacular election victory in West Bengal, defeating the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, defying many predictions. Securing a third term as chief minister, she was the only woman in such an important position in India.

The following day, 3 May, while TV anchors debated how Banerjee's win represented not only a strong force against Modi but also made her a powerful woman in a patriarchal country, a 20-year-old student, known only as Jana (her identity cannot be revealed under Indian law), was cornered by two men in a village, about 70 miles west of Kolkata, West Bengal's main city.

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China’s Uyghurs living in a ‘dystopian hellscape’, says Amnesty report

Posted: 10 Jun 2021 08:00 AM PDT

Widespread internment, torture and rights abuses have been claimed by former detainees as Beijing continues a policy of denial

Amnesty International has collected new evidence of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region of China, which it says has become a "dystopian hellscape" for hundreds of thousands of Muslims subjected to mass internment and torture.

The human rights organisation has collected more than 50 new accounts from Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities who claim to have been subjected to mass internment and torture in police stations and camps in the region.

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Lifting restrictions in England on 21 June: what are the alternatives?

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 09:00 AM PDT

As doubt grows that government will end Covid controls on planned date, we look at the other options

Downing Street is due to announce its decision on the next stage of Covid reopening in England by Monday, a week ahead of 21 June, which was set as the earliest date to bring in what is officially stage four of the Covid unlocking process. The original aim was to remove "all legal limits on social contact", allowing the reopening of remaining businesses such as nightclubs. Public health is a devolved matter, meaning Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland do not have the same deadline. Here are some possible options for England. They are not exclusive, meaning several could be used at the same time.

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I’m my high school’s first Black male valedictorian. I won’t be the last | Ahmed Muhammad

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 03:00 AM PDT

Ahmed Muhammad, in his valedictory speech, reflected on the unprecedented circumstances that shaped the class of 2021

Ahmed Muhammad recently became the first Black male valedictorian in the 106-year history of Oakland Technical high school in Oakland, California, graduating at the top of his class with a 4.73 grade point average (GPA) and offers from 11 top universities. A video of his moving graduation speech subsequently went viral, drawing widespread attention on social media and even earning praise from the state's governor.

"I recently became the first Black male valedictorian in our school's history. And I want to say something about that..."

Thank you, Ahmed for your powerful words. Look out world -- Oakland Tech is coming with some serious change makers! pic.twitter.com/vqANk21T5k

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G7 leaders face make-or-break moment in climate crisis

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 12:00 AM PDT

Analysis: message in Cornwall is clear – leaders must act now or go down in history as the ones who threw away last-ditch chance

Global leaders arriving in Cornwall for the G7 summit have already found themselves in a changed world: masks and social distancing have replaced the usual hugs, handshakes and cheek-pecking, the entourages have slimmed down, and the usual media circus has been muted, with protesters having to content themselves with writing sand messages on the beach.

Boris Johnson has faced ridicule and accusations of hypocrisy for travelling to Carbis Bay by private jet. Some of the other leaders have been more concerned about the extent to which quarantine rules apply to them.

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UK and US gird for a titanic struggle – if they can avoid falling out first

Posted: 10 Jun 2021 01:07 PM PDT

Analysis: Mundane conflicts over sausage exports have no place in high-flown plans for new Atlantic charter

Whatever precise pressure US diplomats put on Boris Johnson's Brexit negotiator, Lord Frost, ahead of Joe Biden's rather chaotic first photocall with Johnson at the G7 summit at Carbis bay, both sides were keen at their bilateral meeting to put the ugly genie back in the bottle.

The US side claimed there was nothing it had been saying to the British in private about the sanctity of the Good Friday agreement that it had not said in public, adding there had been no presidential directive to the US embassy to heighten the issue via a demarche to Frost, a florid piece of diplomatic jargon of French origin normally reserved for something akin to Russian diplomats caught spying.

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Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden share a moment after G7 leaders' photo – video

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 12:24 PM PDT

Emmanuel Macron made a beeline for Joe Biden after the G7 summit photo call in Cornwall. Biden, on whom Boris Johnson expended considerable energy attempting to politically woo ahead of the summit, warmly embraced the French president. Johnson was left lingering with Angela Merkel as he waited for the pair to catch up.

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G7 leaders in Cornwall – in pictures

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 08:26 AM PDT

G7 leaders have opened their first in-person talks in nearly two years. Welcomed by Boris Johnson to the beachside summit venue in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, the leaders posed for a photograph before opening their first session of talks

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Pikachus, politicians and pollution art: how activists are protesting at the G7 summit – video

Posted: 11 Jun 2021 06:44 AM PDT

As world leaders flocked to the G7 summit at Carbis Bay in Cornwall to discuss the Covid pandemic recovery and the climate emergency, activists have also taken the chance to demonstrate to the leaders of seven of the wealthiest global democracies.

From a swarm of 300 drones creating 3D images of endangered species to protesters running around in Pikachu costumes, demonstrators have got creative to get the attention of politicians and the press. Here are some of the most impressive stunts

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G7 signs of protest in Cornwall – in pictures

Posted: 10 Jun 2021 11:00 PM PDT

Policing protests taking place around the G7 summit will be challenging, officers have said. Devon and Cornwall police said around 40 groups had contacted the force stating their intention to protest at the event

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G7 security preparations in Cornwall – in pictures

Posted: 10 Jun 2021 06:22 AM PDT

Ahead of the G7 summit starting on Friday, 5,000 mutual aid officers have arrived in the area from police forces across the UK. They will join 1,500 officers and staff from Devon and Cornwall police being deployed at the event.
More than 100 police dogs will be working at the summit, though no police horses are due to be there

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One Gaza street, 43 deaths: ‘The real war is the aftermath' – video

Posted: 10 Jun 2021 04:07 AM PDT

Omar Abu al-Ouf lost his parents, grandparents and two siblings when his building was bombed by the Israeli military last month, in a street where 43 people were killed. Two weeks after the 16-year-old was pulled from the rubble, he leaves hospital to visit his remaining family and return to what's left of his devastated neighbourhood in Gaza City. Many of Omar's neighbours also lost loved ones, and search through the rubble for possessions, after a war which killed more than 250 people in Israel and Gaza, the vast majority of them Palestinians 

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Biden calls for democracies to stand together as he marks first overseas trip as president – video

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 09:27 PM PDT

Joe Biden marked his first overseas trip as US president, telling a crowd of US troops and their families at RAF Mildenhall the "the US is back and democracies of the world are standing together to tackle the toughest challenges and the issues that matter most to our future." The speech came ahead of Biden's talks with Boris Johnson, the G7 summit and a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

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