Category Archives: World News

US election 2020 live: Trump and Biden pick up wins as votes counted in Florida

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The AP has confirmed that Senator John Cornyn has won another Senate term in Texas, defeating Democratic candidate MJ Hegar.

BREAKING: Republican John Cornyn wins reelection to U.S. Senate from Texas. #APracecall at 9:06 p.m. CST. #Election2020 #TXelection https://t.co/lGfinjTqT4

Donald Trump has won Kansas and its 6 electoral votes, the AP just announced.

BREAKING: Donald Trump wins Kansas. #APracecall at 9:00 p.m. CST. #Election2020

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Coronavirus live news: seven US states report record hospitalisations; France suffers highest deaths since April

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France sees 854 new deaths and 36,330 new cases; UK sees highest deaths since May; Italy fears ‘tsunami’ of hospitalisations.

Twitter has permanently suspended the account of the conspiracy theorist David Icke. A spokesman for the social media platform said Icke had violated its rules regarding coronavirus misinformation, PA Media reports.

The move follows the decision by YouTube and Facebook to terminate Icke’s accounts in early May for the same reason.

Related: Twitter permanently suspends conspiracy theorist David Icke’s account

Here is what we know so far about the US election. Among other things:

According to a CNN nationwide exit poll, about a third of voters said the economy was most important to them, around one in five said racial inequality and about one in six said the coronavirus pandemic.

We'll be updating this summary of what we know – and don't know – throughout the night:https://t.co/LZqwjQNhbl

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PNG police chief raises fears officers may have been raping women inside station

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New provincial commander says he is concerned by allegations of rape and sexual assault by officers in Alotau Town

Two policemen have been charged with rape allegedly committed inside a police station in Alotau Town, in Papua New Guinea’s south-east, but the city’s most senior officer said he fears others sexual assaults may have been committed by police, with victims too afraid to report attacks.

“I can honestly say that this practice may have been going on for a while,” Milne Bay provincial police commander Peter Barkie told the Guardian. “I’ve heard about it but since taking office I can only confirm two [alleged] cases, who were charged during my time.”

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Scientists hail earwax test for checking stress hormone levels

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Researchers say cortisol sampling technique could transform diagnostics for people with depression


A test that uses earwax to measure levels of the stress hormone cortisol could “transform diagnostics and care for millions of people with depression or stress-related conditions”, scientists have said.

The researchers believe the test, which can be done at home without clinical supervision, may also have the potential to measure glucose or Covid-19 antibodies that accumulate in earwax.

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Robert Fisk obituary

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Veteran journalist and author whose postings read like a battle roll of the post-colonial wars he despised

Robert Fisk would have been amused, if unsurprised, by the plethora of reactions, from the adulatory to the sharply critical, prompted by the news of his death, at the age of 74. As a journalist, commentator and author, in a five-decade career that focused overwhelmingly on the Middle East, Fisk expressed strong views about who was responsible for the region’s agonies, and provoked equally strong responses.

Even a partial list of his postings and assignments reads like the battle roll of the post-colonial wars he despised: post-revolution Lisbon, Belfast, Tehran, Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad, Algiers, Kabul, Sarajevo.

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Rich states’ Covid deals ‘may deprive poor of vaccine for years’

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Wealthy countries already have agreements for 3.73bn doses, with another 5m under negotiation, study finds

Governments in predominantly wealthy countries are negotiating to buy nearly 8.8bn doses of prospective Covid-19 vaccines in a “frenzy of deals” that could mean many poor countries would not get access to immunisation until at least 2024, a report says.

None of the 320-plus potential vaccines in development have been approved for use, but countries have already struck advance purchasing agreements for 3.73bn doses of the most promising candidates, with negotiations underway for another 5bn doses, the study by Duke University’s global health innovation centre calculated.

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Austria terror attacker ‘pretended he had given up jihadism’

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Kujtim Fejzulai deceived mentors in deradicalisation programme, minister says

An Islamic State-supporting gunman who killed four people and injured 23 others in an attack in central Vienna on Monday night deliberately “deceived” his mentors in a deradicalisation programme to feign a renunciation of jihadism, Austria’s interior minister has said.

The 20-year-old dual Austrian and North Macedonian citizen, named as Kujtim Fejzulai, was shot dead by police nine minutes after opening fire in the Austrian capital’s first district at 8pm.

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Canada makes plan to evacuate its citizens from Hong Kong

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Consul general in territory says contingency arrangements in place to bring 300,000 home

Canada has drawn up plans to evacuate hundreds of thousands of its citizens from Hong Kong if necessary, but officials have cautioned they can do little for pro-democracy activists seeking refuge from the Chinese authorities.

Jeff Nankivell, Canada’s consul general in Hong Kong and Macao, told a parliamentary committee the federal government had drafted plans to assist nearly 300,000 Canadians living in in the territory if the security situation deteriorated.

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The New East photo prize 2020 shortlist – in pictures

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Calvert 22 Foundation and The Calvert Journal have announced the finalists of the New East photo prize 2020. This year marks the third edition of the competition, which celebrates contemporary photography from eastern Europe, the Balkans, Russia, and central Asia. The shortlist includes 11 photographers from Albania, Georgia, Hungary, Poland, Russia, and Uzbekistan.

The winners will be announced to the public on 10 November.

The biennial prize received over 700 entries this year from 26 New East countries.

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Hurricane Eta lashes Nicaragua, raising fears of disastrous floods

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Many thousands evacuated as storm moves inland, wrenching roofs off houses, downing trees and severing power lines in Puerto Cabezas

Hurricane Eta, an unusually powerful storm, has slammed into Nicaragua, bringing potentially disastrous flooding to one of the country’s poorest regions.

The heart of the storm begin to move inland on Tuesday, wrenching roofs off houses and causing rivers to overflow. In Puerto Cabezas on the Atlantic coast,trees were torn down and power lines were severed, plunging much of the city into darkness. About 10,000 people were in shelters in the city and an equal number in smaller towns across the region, according to city officials.

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Does Vienna attack signal new wave of jihadist terrorism?

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Fact that Isis attacks have declined in EU does not mean threat has disappeared, says expert

Does the attack in Vienna on Monday night presage a return to the darkest days of the wave of terrorist violence that shook Europe between 2012 and 2017?

Over that five-year period, hundreds died in lethal stabbings, attacks with cleavers, bombings of stadiums and airports, as well as assaults by multiple gunmen in city centres with AK-47s that bear horrible resemblance both to that still being investigated in the Austrian capital and the spate of attacks in France in recent weeks.

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Poland delays abortion ban as nationwide protests continue

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Anti-government rallies continue over court’s ruling to restrict access to terminations

Poland’s rightwing government has delayed implementation of a controversial court ruling that would outlaw almost all abortion after it prompted the largest protests since the fall of communism.

“There is a discussion going on, and it would be good to take some time for dialogue and for finding a new position in this situation, which is difficult and stirs high emotions,” Michał Dworczyk, the head of the prime minister’s office, told Polish media on Tuesday.

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Spain’s former king Juan Carlos faces new corruption allegations

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Disgraced ex-monarch already under investigation over role in €6.7bn Saudi Arabia deal

Spain’s attorney general has instructed supreme court prosecutors to investigate new corruption allegations against the country’s disgraced former king.

Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014, is already under investigation over his alleged role in a deal under which a Spanish consortium won a €6.7bn (£5.9bn) contract to build a high-speed rail line in Saudi Arabia.

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Vienna shooting: fourth victim dies as police make several arrests – latest updates

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Government confirms five people including suspected attacker have died

Here is more on the chancellor’s speech, from my colleague, Kate Connolly:

He said that the “Republic of Austria and its people have been the target of a brutal terror attack” in which “four citizens have been cold-bloodedly murdered.”

The Israelitische Kultusgemeinde (IKG) in Austria, the organisation representing the Jewish community, has said it has closed all its synagogues and related institutes across the country, following Monday night’s attacks in Vienna.

The decision affects synagogues, as well as kosher restaurants, Jewish supermarkets, schools and cultural centres, said Erich Nuler, spokesman for the IKG’s crisis committee, according to the Austrian daily Der Standard.

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Coronavirus live news: France sees record new cases; WHO warns it’s ‘not too late’ to take critical action

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Portugal considering state of emergency; Italy’s coronavirus strategy is ‘wasting time’, says scientific advisor; Germany begins ‘light lockdown’. Follow the latest updates.

In the UK Liverpool (otherwise known as the World’s Best City) is set to become the first to have mass test-and-trace operation. My colleagues Sarah Boseley and Jess Elgot write:

Up to half a million people in Liverpool will be tested for Covid-19 under the UK government’s first attempt to embark on city-wide mass testing.

Related: Liverpool to pioneer UK's first attempt at mass Covid testing

Indonesia has reported 2,973 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of infections to 418,375, according to data from the country’s health ministry.

The country has also reported an additional 102 deaths, taking the total number of fatalities to 14,146.

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Hong Kong TV journalist arrested ‘over report on police misconduct’

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Choy Yuk-ling reportedly held over film about claims of police collusion with armed thugs

Hong Kong police have arrested a journalist at a public broadcaster, reportedly in relation to a documentary about the 2019 Yuen Long incident, when police were accused of standing by as armed thugs attacked commuters.

RTHK confirmed the arrest of Choy Yuk-ling, one of the producers of Hong Kong Connection. The respected current affairs programme investigated the police response to the attack, which left 45 people needing treatment in hospital.

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Vienna attack: arrests made after four killed in ‘Islamist terror’ shooting

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Attack in busy restaurant district of Austrian capital on eve of new Covid lockdown

Austrian police have made several arrests at addresses linked to a suspected Islamic State sympathiser who killed at least four people in a terrorist shooting attack in Vienna on Monday night.

Two men and two women died from their injuries after the attack in the centre of the Austrian capital, which took place hours before a coronavirus lockdown started.

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Sri Lanka rescues 120 whales after biggest mass stranding

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Gruelling rescue involved navy and volunteers pulling the pilot whales back into deeper waters

Sri Lanka’s navy and volunteers have rescued 120 pilot whales stranded in the country’s worst mass beaching, but at least two injured animals were found dead, officials said.

Sailors from the navy and the coastguard along with local volunteers had pulled back at least 120 whales by dawn on Tuesday after a gruelling overnight rescue operation, navy spokesman Indika de Silva said.

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