Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Former coronavirus taskforce coordinator tells CNN deaths could have been prevented if Trump administration acted sooner
The “vast majority” of the almost 550,000 coronavirus deaths in the US could have been prevented if Donald Trump’s administration had acted earlier and with greater conviction, according to one of the public health experts charged with leading the pandemic response at the time.
Seven confirmed dead and several more injured after assault on Palma, near a large gas project
As many as 60 people – mostly foreign citizens – are unaccounted for following a deadly ambush on their convoy by Islamist militants in northern Mozambique.
According to recordings of security calls reviewed by the Guardian describing the aftermath of the attack, only seven vehicles in a convoy of 17 made it to safety after the attack on Friday, with seven confirmed dead and many injured in the recovered vehicles. Everyone in the other vehicles is assumed dead.
At least 5,000 troops and police begin security operation to tackle growing threat from sleeper groups
Kurdish forces in north-east Syria have begun a security operation inside al-Hawl detention camp in an attempt to eliminate Isis sleeper cells that have become increasingly active over the last few months.
Around 5,000–6,000 Kurdish troops and Asayish security police, led by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) military, entered the camp on Sunday to conduct searches and arrests in what is expected to be a 15-day operation.
Protesters returned to the streets of Yangon and Dawei as small-scale rallies were held following the bloodiest crackdown since the military takeover on 1 February. At least 114 people were killed by security forces on Saturday, including at least six children, in scenes described as 'mass murder' by the UN
Analysis: As ships ballooned in size, worst-case scenario was flagged up by organisations such as OECD
Authorities have blamed strong winds, possible technical faults or human error for the stranding of the Ever Given in the Suez canal.
But the running aground of the “megaship” – which salvage teams continued to try to free on Sunday as preparations were made for the possible removal of some of its containers – and the disruption of more than 10% of global trade, has been in the making for years longer according to analysts, who say an accident of this magnitude was foreseeable and warnings were ignored.
Bloody crackdowns and massacres initiate anger and stronger desire for a future without the Tatmadaw
From soldiers randomly shooting passersby in the street to imminent economic collapse, anxieties have been plentiful in Myanmar since its military seized power on 1 February.
But unease was surging ahead of Armed Forces Day on Saturday when the military was expected to meet protesters with a brutal crackdown.
European commission president accused of focusing too much on UK and domestic German image
Forging unity within the European Union is rarely easy for a president of the European commission but Ursula von der Leyen managed at least to bring together two strange bedfellows in recent days.
When Jean-Claude Juncker, her predecessor in the commission’s Berlaymont headquarters, took aim at the EU’s error-strewn vaccine strategy last week, it prompted a tweet of appreciation from Dominic Cummings, former chief adviser to Boris Johnson and key architect of Brexit.
Freedom of information data will increase calls for country to be granted debt amnesty
When Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, was in Sudan in January he offered £40m in aid to help its poorest people, who are facing unprecedented food scarcity in a debt-laden country where austerity is deepening.
Sudan, ruled by an unelected military-led transitional government after longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir was deposed in 2019, owes the UK almost £900m. But the Observer can reveal that almost 80% of that was accrued from interest, leading to calls for an unconditional debt amnesty.
As many countries faced restrictions and lockdowns to battle the coronavirus pandemic, communities adapted in surprising ways, with some of the most uplifting moments being filmed and shared across the world.
From concerts for plants, to animal roaming empty streets, here are some of the most memorable videos from 12 months of fight against Covid-19
Chile trails only Israel and the UAE in vaccine doses per 100 inhabitants worldwide, but new cases have risen quickly amid mixed health messaging, travel over the southern hemisphere summer holidays and the circulation of new variants.
Archaeologists have discovered foundations of the previously unknown structure in the city’s Letná park
The colossal monument to Joseph Stalin that towered over Prague at the height of the cold war stood as a frightening reminder of the Soviet dictator’s tyranny and communism’s seemingly unshakeable grip on the former Czechoslovakia.
Nearly 60 years after its demolition, the brooding 15.5-metre (51ft) shrine retains a hold on the popular imagination, with locals referring to the now popular meeting point where it once stood as “Stalin’s”.
Ex-Observer journalist tells of role in trap to expose disinformation tactics of defenders of the Assad regime
A more sceptical academic than Paul McKeigue might perhaps have wondered if the emails flooding into his inbox from “Ivan”, a purported Russian spy, were too good to be true.
Ivan appeared to share many of McKeigue’s own personal obsessions, particularly his desire to discredit investigators who compile evidence of war crimes committed in Syria. And he claimed access to both ready cash and secret intelligence.
Boris Johnson will stress the need for people to be cautious on Monday as England takes its first significant step towards easing lockdown restrictions for adults.
People will now be able to meet up legally outdoors in groups of six, or in two households, including in private gardens, and organised outdoor sport can resume.
A government-funded study of care home residents in England has found that their risk of infection with Covid-19 – either symptomatic or asymptomatic – fell by 62% five weeks after they received their first Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine dose.
Those who were infected after having the vaccine may also be less likely to transmit Covid-19, initial findings showed. The study, funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, is key, given that most clinical trials and observational studies evaluated the impact of the vaccines on symptomatic infections, but whether the vaccines can reduce asymptomatic infections – which play a crucial role in the spread of the virus – is still unclear:
Washington says Beijing’s tit-for-tat sanctions will only focus attention on its ‘genocide’ against Uighurs
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has warned that China’s tit-for-tat sanctions against two Americans in the growing dispute over Beijing’s treatment of Uighurs were “baseless” and would only shine a harsh spotlight on the “genocide” in Xinjiang.
“Beijing’s attempts to intimidate and silence those speaking out for human rights and fundamental freedoms only contribute to the growing international scrutiny of the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang,” Blinken said in a statement on Saturday.
US secretary of state says Washington ‘horrified’ after bloodiest day since February coup
The killing by Myanmar’s military of more than 100 pro-democracy protesters in the single deadliest day since February’s coup has drawn outrage from across the world, and calls for a stronger global response.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, strongly condemned the junta, saying Washington was “horrified” by the deaths on Saturday, and that the violence shows “that the junta will sacrifice the lives of the people to serve the few”.
This year’s event focuses on the link between harming the natural world and disease outbreaks like Covid-19
Cities around the world were turning off their lights on Saturday for Earth Hour, with this year’s event highlighting the link between the destruction of nature and increasing outbreaks of diseases like Covid-19.
In London, the Houses of Parliament, London Eye, Shard skyscraper and neon signs of Piccadilly Circus were among the landmarks flicking the switches.
Summit is designed to revive a US-convened forum of the world’s major economies that previous administrations had allowed to lapse
President Joe Biden is doubling down on his reset of his predecessor’s environmental policies by inviting Russian president Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping of China to the first big climate talks of his administration next month aimed at increasing cooperation to fight global heating.
The Leaders Summit on Climate talks, scheduled to be held virtually on 22 and 23 April, are an opportunity for the US to shape, hasten and deepen global efforts to cut climate-wrecking fossil fuel pollution, administration officials told the Associated Press.
Unarmed civilians and children were reportedly killed on one of the bloodiest days since a military coup in Myanmar.
Security forces killed more than 90 people on armed forces day as Min Aung Hlaing, the junta leader, said during a parade in the capital the military would protect the people and strive for democracy
State television had said on Friday that protesters risked being shot “in the head and back”. Despite this, demonstrators against the 1 Feb coup came out on the streets of Yangon, Mandalay and other towns
Since the beginning of the pandemic I’ve taken huge comfort in the knowledge that just about everyone I love is safely inside the fortress-like border that’s been erected around New Zealand. I have no doubt that every other Kiwi still living or trapped in the Covid red-zones of the world feels the same way. But this week’s announcement that returning citizens must now commit to a stay of at least six months, double the previous requirement of three, to avoid a NZ$3,100 (£1,600) fee for their managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) prioritises politics over their right to return.
The government’s official line on the issue is that the changes are being made in the interests of fairness and sustainability. In practice, the policy amounts to a thinly veiled deterrence strategy. A strategy with the additional bonus of delivering visible action in response to public restlessness following the recent series of lockdowns. It neither contributes meaningfully to meeting the cost of the policy nor makes the policy more equitable, but it does make for a satisfying user-pays narrative to placate resentment towards the border and those who cross it.
At least one foreign worker among those killed after assault on Palma, near a huge gas project
Islamist militants seized control of a town in northern Mozambique, killing several people including at least one foreign worker, near a huge gas project involving France’s Total and other energy companies, security sources said on Saturday.
Militants raided the town of Palma in the northern province of Cabo Delgado on Wednesday, forcing nearly 200 people including foreign gas workers to be evacuated from a hotel where they had sought refuge.