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

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


Russian court expected to outlaw Alexei Navalny’s organisation

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 08:19 AM PDT

Court likely to effectively liquidate opposition politician's movement by classifying it as 'extremist'

A Russian court is soon expected to outlaw opposition politician Alexei Navalny's nationwide political organisation on the grounds it is "extremist", in a landmark step forward for Vladimir Putin's crackdown on political dissent.

The highly anticipated court decision will effectively liquidate Navalny's non-violent opposition movement and bar his allies from running for office for years, as the Kremlin seeks to erase the jailed opposition leader from Russian political life.

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Fastly says single customer triggered bug behind mass internet outage

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 07:02 AM PDT

Bug was introduced in May and lay dormant until a customer updated their settings, firm says

An internet blackout that knocked out some of the world's biggest websites on Tuesday was ultimately caused by a single customer updating their settings, the infrastructure provider Fastly has revealed.

A bug in Fastly's code introduced in mid-May had lain dormant until Tuesday morning, according to Nick Rockwell, the company's head of engineering and infrastructure. When the unnamed customer updated their settings, it triggered the flaw, which ultimately took down 85% of the company's network.

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EU-UK relations deteriorate as Northern Ireland talks end without agreement

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 09:17 AM PDT

'Patience wearing very thin' and relationship with London 'at crossroads', says EU negotiator Maroš Šefčovič

Talks between the EU and the UK over Northern Ireland appear on the brink of collapse as London indicated it was still considering unilateral action to keep unhindered supplies flowing from Great Britain into the region.

The European commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, said patience was "wearing very very thin" and described the relationship with the UK as "at a crossroads".

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Harry and Meghan reject claim Queen not consulted on Lilibet name

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 05:09 AM PDT

BBC correspondent says palace source claims Sussexes did not ask for permission to use name for daughter

Buckingham Palace has become embroiled in a row over whether the Queen was consulted over the naming of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's daughter.

Harry and Meghan's decision to name their second child Lilibet, a childhood nickname of the Queen, was seen as an attempt by the couple to try to mend their rift with the royal family.

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EU takes legal action against Germany after tussle between courts

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 08:49 AM PDT

Brussels says German court ruling contradicting ECJ sets 'dangerous precedent' for integrity of EU law

Brussels has launched a legal case against Germany over an alleged breach of "the principle of the primacy of EU law" by the country's constitutional court.

The "infringement proceeding" is the result of a ruling last year by the German federal constitutional court in Karlsruhe which it is claimed undermined the pre-eminence of the European court of justice (ECJ).

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Emmanuel Macron will continue to meet public despite assault

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 07:19 AM PDT

French president shrugs off security fears after he is slapped on walkabout in run-up to elections

Emmanuel Macron has insisted he will continue to meet the public despite security fears after he was assaulted on a walkabout.

The French president was speaking as an opinion poll suggested his popularity is increasing. The latest survey by Ifop showed Macron gained 7 percentage points over the last month and was considered favourably by 50% of people.

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Multiple sightings of missile launcher before MH17 shot down, court told

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 09:34 AM PDT

Four men on trial in absentia in the Netherlands over downing of flight with 298 onboard over Ukraine

Multiple witnesses saw an anti-aircraft missile launcher that had secretly crossed into eastern Ukraine from Russia in the hours before it shot down the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, a trial in the Netherlands has heard.

The Buk system crossed the border in darkness in the early hours of 17 July 2014. It was then loaded on to a trailer and taken to the rebel-held city of Donetsk, the court heard on Wednesday, before it headed east towards the town of Snizhne.

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Republicans threaten to sink Biden’s G7-backed plan to fix global tax system

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 06:50 AM PDT

  • G7 supports international minimum of at least 15%
  • Republicans in Congress condemn proposal as 'crazy'

Joe Biden's plans to overhaul the international tax system face mounting opposition from his Republican opposition who have called the proposals "crazy" and are threatening to block the historic deal's passage in the US.

Related: Joe Biden heads to UK as Democrats rally in support of voting rights bill – live

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Italy investigates UN officer over death of diplomat in DR Congo

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 08:14 AM PDT

Prosecutors accuse suspect of failing to ensure protection of convoy that was attacked in February

Italian prosecutors have placed a UN officer under investigation in relation to the murder of Italy's ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who was killed in February along with two other people in an attack in the restive east of the central African country.

Magistrates in Rome are investigating the role of a UN World Food Programme (WFP) officer in the DRC, whose name has not been disclosed, who is accused of allegedly omitting to take all the necessary security to ensure against a potential attack.

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El Salvador becomes first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 08:15 AM PDT

Lawmakers voted in favor of President Nayib Bukele's proposal despite concern about potential impact on program with the IMF

El Salvador has become the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender after its congress approved President Nayib Bukele's proposal to embrace the cryptocurrency in a bid to promote "financial inclusion", investment and economic development.

Bukele, a media-savvy former mayor of the capital, San Salvador, who was elected president in a landslide victory two years ago, is known for his love of technology and his fondness for attention-grabbing stunts.

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UK pushes for City of London to be exempt from G7 tax plan

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 04:35 AM PDT

Chancellor seeks carve-out for financial services in 'historic' global corporation tax agreement

Britain will seek to exclude the City of London's financial services companies from a global tax overhaul targeting the world's most profitable businesses agreed between G7 finance ministers last weekend.

The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is concerned that under a version of the plan put forward by the US president – which involves redistributing the profits of the world's 100 largest businesses – digital businesses such as Google, Amazon and Facebook will be joined by banks that he says already pay a fair share of tax.

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Leading biologist dampens his ‘smoking gun’ Covid lab leak theory

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 04:48 AM PDT

Nobel laureate David Baltimore says he overstated case, and the origins of the virus are still unknown

A Nobel prize-winning US biologist, who has been widely quoted describing a "smoking gun" to support the thesis that Covid-19 was genetically modified and escaped from a Wuhan lab, has said he overstated the case.

David Baltimore, a distinguished biology professor, had become one of the most prominent figures cited by proponents of the so-called lab leak theory.

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Coronavirus live: Portugal delays Lisbon lockdown easing; highest daily cases in Russia since March

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 10:09 AM PDT

Capital and three other municipalities will remain under restrictions until at least 27 June due to rise in infections; Russia reports 10,407 new cases

World Trade Organization members have agreed to negotiate ways to boost global supplies of Covid-19 vaccines but are still at odds of waiving patents to speed production, Reuters reports.

South Africa and India have been arguing since last year that a temporary waiver would enable much faster production by tapping into unused manufacturing capacity around the world but the EU have argued against their proposal.

Health experts in Haiti have said that low official pandemic figures are hiding a large increase in cases on the impoverished Caribbean island in recent weeks.

Just 2,271 cases and 62 deaths have been recorded over the past month, according to government data collected by Johns Hopkins University. A total of 15,700 cases and more than 330 deaths have been reported since early last year.

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German health minister facing calls to resign over mask furore

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 09:32 AM PDT

Jens Spahn's ministry is accused of planning to distribute substandard Covid masks to vulnerable people

Germany's health minister is facing calls to resign over accusations his ministry planned to distribute face masks considered inadequate protection against Covid-19 to socially and physically vulnerable people.

Jens Spahn was the subject of a fierce debate in the German parliament, the Bundestag, on Wednesday afternoon, in which he was accused of putting the desire to be seen to be acting to tackle the pandemic ahead of safety concerns.

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Covid distancing may have weakened children’s immune system, experts say

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 07:49 AM PDT

End of social distancing and mask-wearing could leave children vulnerable to common bugs

Scientists are concerned that measures to combat Covid-19 have weakened the immune systems of young children who have not been able to build up resistance to common bugs, leaving them vulnerable when mask-wearing and social distancing eventually end.

Contact with viral pathogens happens on a fairly regular basis and although it does not always lead to sickness, the exposure helps shore the immune system against the threat should the bugs be encountered again.

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Bennifer’s rebooted! Why is Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s reunion so cheering?

Posted: 08 Jun 2021 10:00 PM PDT

They were a tabloid dream, the super-cool fly girl and the eyeliner-wearing Caped Crusader. Now, 17 years on, Ben and Jen are together again. But what do the ultimate 00s couple mean to the TikTok age?

Brangelina. Kimye. Tomkat. Gyllenspoon. Each pairing is yet another note in the long, sad dirge of failed Hollywood romances. Blending famous monikers has been a showbiz tradition for decades, even if most of these fusions fizzle out quicker than you can say "Vaughniston" (you remember: Vince Vaughn dated Jennifer Aniston for about a minute after her breakup with Brad Pitt). But back in the early 2000s, there was one couple whose tumultuous affair and melded nickname towered above the rest, all but consuming the tabloid press for three whole years, until their abrupt, dramatic breakup just days before their planned wedding. And now, 17 years later, in a plot twist worthy of a Nancy Meyers romcom, those same not-so-young-any-more lovers have shocked the world and delighted the media by getting back together.

That's right: like the cicadas, Bennifer has risen anew. The details of the Ben Affleck-Jennifer Lopez reunion are still a bit sketchy. There was a New York Post item in April reporting that the two had been observed entering the restaurant at the Pendry hotel in West Hollywood with "arms wrapped around each other". A few days later, Affleck was spotted making an early-morning departure from Lopez's LA home ("with a smirk" on his face, the Page Six article noted). A month after that, multiple outlets broke the news that the couple had spent a weekend at a resort in Montana. Then celebrity mag Us Weekly made it semi-official with a quote from an anonymous source: "Jen and Ben are both very happy with each [other] and excited to see where the relationship goes."

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‘I fell in the water, but it was worth it!’: Guardian readers on their most extraordinary bird photographs

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 04:00 AM PDT

From friendly Antarctic penguins to the rainbow plumage of a Colombian hummingbird, our readers on their favourite images – and the lengths they went to to capture them.

I took this photo at the end of January in Balloch, Scotland. I have always wanted to take a picture of a male mandarin duck. It is the bird that made me want to start taking photographs. They are beautiful, with so many stunning colours. At the end of January, I had heard via Facebook that there was a pair of them up the road from me. I got up early and drove to Balloch. I had all but given up hope, when all of a sudden I saw the bright orange tail feathers of the duck in between some bushes on the river's edge. I had to lean on a tree that was in the water to take the pictures. I then fell into the water and tore my trousers, but it was worth it. Paul Fraser, 36, freshwater biologist, Callander, Scotland

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From rule of six to 6,500 police: Cornwall hosts first Covid-era G7

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 09:12 AM PDT

Alongside coronavirus measures, huge security operation under way as thousands plan to join protests

Everybody from the most junior official to the president of the United States will have to follow the rules. Take daily Covid tests, wear masks at appropriate times and respect everything from one-way systems around venues to limits on how many people can gather around a table for a meal or drink.

Welcome to G7 UK 2021, the first world summit in the times of Covid.

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China the spectre at the feast as Biden aims to rally democracies on Europe trip

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 10:07 AM PDT

The US president has become convinced that Beijing is the main adversary in a global battle of governance systems

The unifying theme behind Joe Biden's European tour this week is a country which will not be at any of the meetings and may not even be mentioned in the final communiques: China.

Before setting out on his first foreign trip as president, Biden has made clear that the competition between the world's democracies and its authoritarian regimes – mostly importantly Beijing – is the defining global challenge of the age, with victory anything but guaranteed for the US and its allies.

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From My Fair Lady to Grease 2: Guardian writers on their favourite movie musicals

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 07:18 AM PDT

To celebrate the release of Lin-Manuel Miranda's upbeat musical In the Heights, Guardian writers have picked their favourite examples of the genre

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Lockdown refunds: why are Ryanair and BA being investigated?

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 06:16 AM PDT

Airlines may have broken law by refusing refunds for flights customers could not legally take

British Airways and Ryanair are being officially investigated over whether they treated customers unfairly during the pandemic by failing to offer them flight refunds.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was looking to see if the two airlines had broken consumer law, and indicated it was on the side of consumers on this issue. It has opened enforcement cases into both companies.

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Biden set to meet Putin in 18th-century Swiss villa for first summit

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 10:24 AM PDT

  • Disputes likely over cyber-attacks, human rights and Ukraine
  • First overseas trip will start with G7 summit in Cornwall

Joe Biden and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, are set to hold their 16 June summit in an 18th-century Swiss villa overlooking Lake Geneva, a soothing setting for what promise to be heated talks.

The US president's first foreign trip since entering the White House got off to an inauspicious start, however, when he was assaulted by a cicada before boarding Air Force One bound for the UK on Wednesday morning, ready to begin his overseas visit by attending the G7 meeting in Cornwall.

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My Amazon rainforest angel: Claudia Andujar’s best photograph

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 08:34 AM PDT

'When I first visited the Yanomami tribe, they were completely isolated – they hadn't seen a camera and didn't know what photography was'

It was 1971 when I photographed the Yanomami tribe of Brazil for the first time. I knew that it would take time to build our relationship, but I wanted to see if we could become friends. For me, the best photographers are those who are truly interested in their subjects.

The Yanomami is a big population of indigenous people who live in the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil and southern Venezuela; several thousand live in Brazil alone. A small village can be as few as 40 people, or a big one as many as 200. When I first went to the Yanomami villages, the tribe was completely isolated – some still are today. At that time, 50 years ago, they hadn't seen a camera and didn't even know what photography was.

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World’s most liveable city: Auckland wins as Covid shakes up rankings

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 03:59 AM PDT

Previous first-place holder Vienna fell out of the top 10 as cities in New Zealand, Australia and Japan fared best in rankings

The Covid-19 pandemic has shaken up the Economist Intelligence Unit's annual ranking of most liveable cities, propelling Auckland to the top spot in place of Vienna, which crashed out of the top 10 altogether as the island nations of New Zealand, Australia and Japan fared best.

The Austrian capital had led the list since 2018 and for years ran neck and neck with Melbourne at the top of the survey of 140 urban centres. New Zealand's elimination of Covid-19 within its borders, through lockdown measures helped by its geographic isolation, gave its cities a big boost.

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Bizarre photo of Gladys Berejiklian watching TV sparks ridicule – and many memes

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 04:14 AM PDT

Gladys Berejiklian posts photo showing her back and a hand holding a sugar-free Coke ahead of State of Origin clash

A bizarre photo of the New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, has become the latest in a long line of images of Australian politicians watching television in baffling and unnerving ways.

Posted on Wednesday to drum up support for New South Wales in its upcoming clash with Queensland in the State of Origin rugby league, the premier's photo was instead widely mocked for its bizarre composition and strange elements.

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‘Epidemic of violence’: Brazil shocked by ‘barbaric’ gang-rape of gay man

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 06:21 AM PDT

Activists fear that an increase in attacks on the country's LBGT community is fuelled by a culture of homophobia at the very top

An act of "barbaric" violence where a 22-year-old gay man was gang-raped and tortured has prompted fierce reaction in Brazil and is evidence of a growing tide of hate crime in the country, according to human rights campaigners.

The man, who has not been named, was attacked last week in Florianópolis by three armed men who used sharp objects during the assault and forced him to carve homophobic slurs into his legs, said activists.

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‘This is a revolution’: the faces of Colombia’s protests

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 02:00 AM PDT

Fifty-eight people have died in six weeks of unrest, but demonstrators say they are more determined than ever to fight for change

Protests in Colombia that began in late April over a proposed tax hike have morphed into a generational outcry over the country's deep-rooted inequalities.

Related: 'They can't take it any more': pandemic and poverty brew violent storm in Colombia

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Uganda’s ID scheme excludes nearly a third from healthcare, says report

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 12:01 AM PDT

Vital services including grants financed by UK unavailable without identity cards, with women and the elderly worst affected

Up to a third of adults in Uganda have been excluded from vital healthcare and social services because they do not have national ID cards, according to a report.

Women and elderly people have been particularly affected by the introduction of the digital identity cards, which are required to access government and private sector healthcare, to claim social benefits, to vote and to open bank accounts or buy sim cards.

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Barcelona street sellers take on Nike with own-brand trainers

Posted: 08 Jun 2021 11:01 PM PDT

Ethical streetwear co-operative Top Manta says profits will help migrant vendors 'become legal and work for a decent wage'

After years of selling cheap copies of designer shoes and handbags, Barcelona's street vendors have set up a co-operative and launched a line of trainers under the brand name Top Manta.

Unlike an earlier attempt to establish a brand in 2017 by sticking a logo on shoes imported from China, the trainers are made in Alicante in Spain and Porto in Portugal.

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End all legal barriers to abortion, say leading European politicians

Posted: 08 Jun 2021 10:30 PM PDT

Belgium's prime minister among signatories to open letter backing global right to safe abortions and reopening of clinics closed in pandemic

Government ministers from five European countries, including Belgium's prime minister, Alexander de Croo, are among 29 politicians, healthcare and women's rights activists who have signed an open letter calling for the removal of all legal barriers to abortion.

The letter, signed by gender and equality ministers from France, Canada and Norway, and international development ministers from Sweden and the Netherlands, states that women's right to safe, legal abortion is being eroded by misinformation and attacks on services. It calls for the reopening of abortion clinics closed during the pandemic.

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Ratko Mladić: life in prison is as close to justice as his victims will get

Posted: 08 Jun 2021 11:13 AM PDT

Analysis: upholding of genocide conviction for 1995 atrocities is a victorious end to a process few thought would succeed

When Ratko Mladić's life sentence for genocide and crimes against humanity was confirmed, marking the end of the road for the Bosnian Serb general 10 years after his capture, Munira Subašić was in The Hague courtroom to watch.

In July 1995, Subašić was outside a UN compound, a disused battery factory near Srebrenica, appealing for protection from Dutch peacekeepers along with thousands of other terrified Bosnian Muslims.

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What could a delay to the 21 June lockdown easing mean for England?

Posted: 08 Jun 2021 08:35 AM PDT

Analysis: with ministers said to be considering England's 21 June easing, how delay could affect vaccinations and virus spread

Ministers are said to be considering delaying the easing of lockdown in England on 21 June for somewhere between two weeks and a month. We look at what a delay could mean, and how long it may need to last.

Why delay?

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Trudeau pays tribute to Canadian Muslim family killed in ‘terror attack’ – video

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 05:46 AM PDT

Three generations of the same family who migrated from Pakistan 14 years ago died on Sunday after a 20-year-old man drove his pickup truck at them in London, Ontario.

Speaking in parliament after a minute of silence for the family, the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, described it as a 'terrorist attack, motivated by hatred'

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‘Sea snot’ plagues the Turkish coast – in pictures

Posted: 09 Jun 2021 12:40 AM PDT

A thick layer of organic matter known as marine mucilage has spread in the Sea of Marmara, covering harbours, shorelines and swathes of the surface south of Istanbul. Some of the 'sea snot' has sunk below the waves, suffocating seabed life

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Kamala Harris questioned over not going to US-Mexico border – video

Posted: 08 Jun 2021 07:28 PM PDT

US vice-president Kamala Harris has brushed off questions about her decision not to go to the US-Mexico border as part of her work to address the spike in migration. Harris, who was asked about the issue during visits to Mexico and Guatemala, said: 'I've been to the border before and I will go again, but when I'm in Guatemala dealing with root causes, I think we should have a conversation about what is going on in Guatemala', Harris said. Republican lawmakers have criticised her for not prioritising the shared frontier

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The 150km Velikoretsky procession – in pictures

Posted: 08 Jun 2021 02:00 PM PDT

Annual Russian pilgrimage in honour of icon of St Nicholas discovered, as legend has it, in the 14th century

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