From the motorcade, leaving Washington, it was clear how Trump thrives on a noisy minority’s support – and why he lost
It was a jarring few minutes of seeing the world through Donald Trump’s eyes and indulging his fantasies.
Related: Trump supporters gather in Washington as president refuses to concede to Biden
Continue reading...Mummies and up to 40 gilded statues found in a vast Pharaonic necropolis south of Cairo
Egyptian antiquities officials have announced the discovery of at least 100 ancient coffins, some with mummies inside, and about 40 gilded statues in a vast Pharaonic necropolis south of Cairo.
Sealed sarcophagi and statues that were buried more than 2,500 years ago were displayed in a makeshift exhibit at the feet of the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara.
Continue reading...Fears fighting in country’s north could reopen long-running feuds and spread across national borders
Leaders of Tigray in Ethiopia’s north on Saturday claimed responsibility for rocket attacks on two airports in a nearby region and threatened to strike neighbouring Eritrea, raising concerns that the escalating conflict could spread across national borders.
The attacks – and threats of more – fuelled concern that a conflict Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed vowed would be quick and contained could instead snowball and destabilise the broader Horn of Africa region.
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Italy has registered 37,255 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, the health ministry announced on Saturday, down from 40,902 on Friday.
The ministry also recorded 544 Covid-related deaths, down from 550 the day before, Reuters reports.
Sixteen people have been arrested after hundreds of protestors attended an anti-lockdown demonstration in Liverpool city centre.
ARRESTS | 25 people have now been arrested in #Liverpool city centre for public order offences and breaches of Coronavirus regulations. A further male has been arrested after a police officer was assaulted. Please read our statement about why it's so important people stay home: pic.twitter.com/XcLXXLpuPH
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Joe Biden is reportedly poised to choose a woman to lead the Pentagon, an historic decision.
The president-elect’s expected selection, Michele Flournoy, is described by the Associated Press as a “a politically moderate Pentagon veteran … regarded by US officials and political insiders as a top choice for the position.”
Out of his bunker for a second straight day, Donald Trump made a deliberate pass by his supporters in town for today’s Maga rallies in his presidential motorcade before veering off toward Trump National in Sterling, Virginia.
More details from the White House pool report:
POTUS emerged from the south portico at 10am wearing a red hat, blue jacket and blue trousers. He appeared to be holding a newspaper. He got inside the presidential limousine and the motorcade headed out to Pennsylvania Avenue.
It was greeted by applause, cheers, waving and whistles from hundreds of Trump supporters lining both sides of the street. They punched the air, took pictures with phones and held signs that included ‘Best prez ever’ and ‘Stop the steal’.
Continue reading...Affectionate friendship between the two poets and artist Barrie Cooke, united by a love of fishing, revealed in a collection of correspondence that was believed lost
A “treasure trove” of unseen poems and letters by Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney and the artist Barrie Cooke has revealed the depth of a close three-way friendship that one Cambridge academic has described as a “rough, wild equivalent of the Bloomsbury group”.
Cooke, who died in 2014, was a leading expressionist artist in Ireland, and a passionate fisherman. Fellow fishing enthusiast Mark Wormald, an English fellow at Pembroke College, Cambridge, came across his name while reading Hughes’s unpublished fishing diaries at the British Library. He visited Cooke in Ireland, and discovered the close friendship between the three men.
Continue reading...Deaths increase as states implement new social restrictions and president threatens not to deliver vaccines to New York
The US set yet another daily record for new coronavirus cases on Friday, topping 184,000, while Donald Trump promised imminent distribution of a vaccine – except to New York, which he threatened to leave out for political reasons – and the president-elect, Joe Biden, pleaded with Americans to follow basic mitigation measures.
Related: 'Failure is not an option': Biden's Covid taskforce ready to step up
Continue reading...Storm may bring dangerous winds, storm surge and as much as 30in of rain to Nicaragua and Honduras
Tropical Storm Iota was brewing in the Caribbean early on Saturday, threatening a second tropical strike for Nicaragua and Honduras, countries recently ransacked by Eta, a category 4 hurricane.
Related: Devastating 2020 Atlantic hurricane season breaks all records
Continue reading...With the world feeling more distant than ever, photographers were this year called on to translate their vision of the new humanity into images seen through their own eyes. David LaChapelle and Steve McCurry are among those who contributed
Continue reading...Coastguard footage shows extensive flooding triggered by the typhoon in the northern Isabela province. Dozens of people were killed and thousands were rescued from fast-flowing floodwater, as the Magat Dam released water in the region.
Though waters have mostly receded since Wednesday, rescue teams continued to help people in places where waters remained high
Continue reading...Artefacts held by British Museum and other western institutions were looted by British forces in 1897
A new museum designed by Sir David Adjaye is to be built following the most extensive archaeological excavation ever undertaken in Benin City, Nigeria, raising hopes of a resolution to one of the world’s most controversial debates over looted museum artefacts.
The kingdom of Benin, in what is now southern Nigeria and not to be confused with the modern-day country of Benin, was one of the most important and powerful pre-colonial states of west Africa.
Continue reading...Advisory board set up by president-elect to play high-profile role as pandemic enters its deadliest phase so far
President-elect Joe Biden has set up a 13-member coronavirus advisory board will play a high-profile role in helping the Biden-Harris administration contain the coronavirus pandemic in the US as it enters its deadliest phase so far.
Related: Officials condemn Trump's false claims and say election 'most secure in US history'
Continue reading...Geoffrey Hoguet is suing Austrian authorities for control of trust set up by his ancestors, but seized by Nazis in 1938
A Rothschild descendant has claimed an initial victory in a legal battle with the city of Vienna over a medical trust set up by his ancestors, seized by Nazis and now controlled by the city.
Geoffrey Hoguet is suing Austrian authorities for control of the trust, which he claims has been hollowed out by town hall officials who have made themselves administrator and potential beneficiary of assets worth up to €110m (£98m).
Continue reading...Research reveals how ground-nesting birds frequently scared from nest by off-lead canines
There is only one thing more terrifying for a nesting bird than a person walking nearby: when that two-legged beast is joined by a four-legged companion.
A study of how ground-nesting birds are disturbed on beaches in Spain has revealed how they are almost always scared from their nests by passing off-lead dogs, but seem unperturbed by motorbikes, helicopters and low-flying planes.
Continue reading...Abu Muhammad al-Masri was gunned down in Tehran more than three months ago, says New York Times
Al-Qaida’s second-in-command was killed in Iran in August by Israeli operatives acting at the behest of the United States, the New York Times has reported, citing intelligence officials.
Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who went by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was gunned down by two men on a motorcycle in Tehran, the NYT reported. He was accused of helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa.
Continue reading...Donald Trump has come closer than ever to admitting that he lost the US presidential election, suggesting “time will tell” but stopping short of a formal concession to president-elect Joe Biden.
Related: Joe Biden ignores Trump obstruction to press ahead with cabinet selection
Continue reading...A major police operation was under way in Montreal on Friday afternoon at offices of French video game company Ubisoft that media reported was a possible hostage-taking, but police later said no threat had yet been found, and CBC News reported that the incident had been caused by a hoax 911 call.
Police confirmed the large deployment on Twitter had started at about 1.30pm, but offered no details while urging people to “avoid the area” near St-Laurent Boulevard and St-Viateur Street in Montreal’s Mile-End neighbourhood, close to downtown. Police later updated in a statement that “no threat has been detected so far. No injuries were reported.”
Continue reading...Five alleged sorcery-related deaths – including the hanging of a 13-year-old boy - in a single week in one Papua New Guinea province, has revived a nationwide angst over the persistent crime of alleged witchcraft killings.
In the highland villages and the lowland towns of Papua New Guinea, it is the crime that everybody knows about, that many see, but that few can, or do, anything to stop.
Those who survive it are left disfigured: limbs shattered and missing, faces scarred and swollen, souls forever damaged.
Continue reading...Record daily infections in Germany; Naples hospitals at risk of being overwhelmed; France reports slowdown in rate of new cases
Germany’s partial lockdown could be extended beyond the end of the month and hospitals in parts of Italy are near breaking point as Covid-19 cases continued to surge in both countries, despite positive signs elsewhere in Europe.
New daily coronavirus cases in Germany hit a record of 23,542 on Friday, the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported, prompting government spokesman Stefan Seibert to say measures “were not expected to be relaxed” by next week.
Continue reading...Fierce clashes in Peru between police and protesters have wounded at least 11 people, doctors and rights groups said on Friday, as thousands of Peruvians took to the streets to protest against the ousting of President Martín Vizcarra.
The clashes, and other more peaceful protests in the capital Lima and other cities, are piling pressure on a fragmented congress and the new government of Manuel Merino. Thursday night’s rallies were among the largest in two decades in Peru.
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