Category Archives: World News

Trump claims storm, not turnout concerns, ‘forced’ him to cancel New Hampshire rally – live

Posted on by

Trump did an interview with Telemundo’s Jose Diaz-Balart during his trip to Florida today, and the interview will air at 6:30 pm ET.

#EXCLUSIVA: El presidente @realDonaldTrump habla con Noticias Telemundo.

Es su primera entrevista a un medio en español desde que empezó la pandemia del #coronavirus.

Más de la entrevista de @jdbalart con #DonaldTrump a las 6:30 p.m. y en https://t.co/YkVub31ilq pic.twitter.com/PxI37eWFeL

Trump is holding a rountable on supporting the people of Venezuela in Doral, Florida, where many Venezuelan immigrants reside.

But the president’s remarks took a turn for the blatantly political when he attacked his opponent, Joe Biden, as a “puppet” of the “radical left.”

LIVE: “Joe Biden is a puppet of Bernie Sanders, AOC, the militant left, the people that want to rip down statues … they want to rip down statues to Jesus.” @RealDonaldTrump said during a roundtable on Supporting the People of Venezuela in Doral, Florida pic.twitter.com/ynPhLWpyXM

Continue reading...

Why is Australia’s second biggest city back in coronavirus lockdown? – video explainer

Posted on by

Metropolitan Melbourne returned to lockdown on 8 July after Victoria recorded 191 new cases of coronavirus since the start of the week, which was at the time the highest daily increase since the pandemic began. 

Guardian Australia’s Melissa Davey explains why the stage 3 stay-at-home orders were announced, how the latest lockdown has been met with a mixture of fury and acceptance, and whether this apparent second wave could have been avoided

Continue reading...

Ghislaine Maxwell requests bail release due to ‘unprecedented’ Covid-19 risks

Posted on by
  • Maxwell awaits trial over alleged involvement in Epstein crimes
  • Lawyers in court papers ask for Maxwell be released on bail

Ghislaine Maxwell should be released on bail while awaiting trial for her alleged involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s child sex trafficking ring because of “the Covid-19 crisis and its impact on detained defendants”, the British socialite’s lawyers argued in Manhattan federal court papers filed on Friday.

Maxwell, 58, was arrested on 2 July at her Bradford, New Hampshire, home. She faces up to 35 years in federal prison if convicted.

Continue reading...

Michaela Coel: ‘Like Arabella, I realised my life was about to change for ever’

Posted on by

The actor and writer mined her own dark experiences of assault and racism for the BBC hit drama I May Destroy You

Michaela Coel’s drama I May Destroy You has passed the point where we argue about whether it is a hit. The story of Arabella, a young London writer who’s drugged and raped, and embarks on a quest for justice and self-knowledge, has been a passport for millions of BBC viewers into a world of shifting boundaries around sexual consent, generational clashes, social media addiction and drugs.

Coel, 32, stars, writes and co-directs the drama, which has also launched on America’s HBO. The scrutiny means she’s been prodded to excavate her own past, after she was drugged and assaulted by an unknown assailant in her 20s. So, to Coel the same question that Arabella’s friend asks her on-screen character: why return to the worst of days with such punishing intensity?

Continue reading...

Donald Trump is a hypocrite on China – but China deserves to be condemned | Jonathan Freedland

Posted on by

Beijing is crushing human rights in Hong Kong, and is accused of genocide against the Uighurs. The world cannot stand by

Donald Trump taints everything he touches. If he supports a cause, he damages it. If he takes a stance, the instinct of most self-respecting liberals is to rush to the opposing side. So when Trump rails against China, a favourite bete noire, it can make a progressive pause.

That’s especially true when the US president lurches so easily into casual bigotry – referring to the coronavirus as “kung flu” – and when his hypocrisy is so rank. Thanks to his former national security adviser, John Bolton, we know that, for all his talk, Trump begged Beijing to meddle in this year’s election in his favour, breezily granting US blessing to what Amnesty International calls the “gulag” of camps in Xinjiang, in which China holds a million Uighur Muslims against their will.

Continue reading...

Iran denies latest blast reports and accuses west of disinformation

Posted on by

Tehran says incident in early hours in garrison town of Gamdareh was a power outage

Iran has denied reports that fresh mysterious explosions have rocked two towns close to Tehran, accusing the west of waging psychological warfare by spreading false messages on social media.

Reports suggested that the blasts had occurred in the early hours of Friday in Gamdareh, a residential town that houses a number of military garrisons, including bases of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and in Shahr-e Qods. Officials insisted the reports were false but accepted there had been a power outage.

Continue reading...

Eminem criticises non-mask wearers on new rap track

Posted on by

Collaboration with Kid Cudi takes aim at people spreading Covid-19 by not wearing masks

Eminem has entered the debate about face masks in a collaboration with Kid Cudi, tackling an issue that is the subject of fierce disagreement in the US and UK.

The single, The Adventures of Moon Man and Slim Shady, is the first time the two rappers have joined forces. They reflect on rehab and recovery as well as current events including police brutality and the coronavirus pandemic.

Continue reading...

Court ruling paves way for Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia to revert to mosque

Posted on by

Status of Unesco-listed 1,500-year-old building has been hotly debated for decades

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has formally converted Istanbul’s crowning architectural jewel, the Hagia Sophia, from a museum into a mosque – a politically charged decision that has drawn international criticism but delighted his conservative base.

Turkey’s highest administrative court, the council of state, paved the way for the move after it ruled unanimously on Friday to annul a 1934 cabinet decree that stripped the 1,500-year-old building of its religious status.

Continue reading...

Venice’s much-delayed flood defence system fully tested for first time

Posted on by

Designed in 1984 and expected to be in service a decade ago, the project is still incomplete

Italy has successfully conducted the first full test of Venice’s flood defence system, a much-delayed project designed in 1984 but still incomplete a decade after it was due to come into service.

Amid much fanfare, the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, activated the 78 mobile barriers of the Mose dam on Friday. “We’re here for a test, not a parade,” Conte, who was greeted in Venice by activists who have long protested against the project, told reporters. “The government wants to check the progress of the work.”

Continue reading...

Global report: Tokyo hits Covid-19 high as Australia limits arrivals

Posted on by

Japan reels from resurgence of virus while Australia restricts admissions to 4,000 a week

Tokyo hit another record daily high number of new cases, Australia is to halve the number of citizens it allows to return each week and Hong Kong’s schools have closed early for the summer as countries around the world struggled to contain fresh coronavirus outbreaks.

Amid growing signs of a resurgence of the virus in Japan, the capital reported 243 new infections on Friday, more than the previous day’s 224 and the first time that more than 200 cases have been confirmed for two consecutive days.

Continue reading...

WHO’s Covid-19 inquiry is a shrewd move in a sea of disinformation

Posted on by

Its findings should illuminate global responses amid conspiracy theories and Trump’s mudslinging

In the world of epidemiology it’s sometimes said that pandemics are lived forwards and understood backwards.

We encounter them head-on, chaotically, trying to fathom the disease in real time even while trying to mitigate its impact. Lessons generally come later as the evidence accumulates.

Continue reading...

Genocide denial gains ground 25 years after Srebrenica massacre

Posted on by

Even as remains continue to be identified, denialism is moving from far-right fringe into mainstream

At the genocide memorial centre outside Srebrenica, thousands of simple white gravestones stretch across the gently inclined hillside for as far as the eye can see.

Nearby, over a number of days in July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces systematically murdered around 8,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys. It was the worst crime of the Bosnian war, and remains the only massacre on European soil since the second world war to be ruled a genocide.

Continue reading...

UK’s Magnitsky law does little to stem flow of dirty money from Russia

Posted on by

Sanctions target mid- or low-level officials and will have little impact on the wealthiest

He is known as Vladimir Putin’s enforcer. Almost every criminal case in Russia – from Pussy Riot to anti-government street protests – passes his desk. But as of last week Moscow’s top law officer, Alexander Bastrykin, is no longer welcome in Britain. He is banned from owning property, opening a bank account or popping over from Moscow for a weekend jaunt.

Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s powerful investigative committee, was one of 25 Russians sanctioned by the UK. All were allegedly involved in human rights abuses – specifically in the mistreatment of Sergei Magnitsky, who was beaten to death in 2009 in a Moscow jail. Bastrykin covered up the case, No 10 says. Others named and shamed include judges, interior ministry officials and prison staff.

Continue reading...

‘We’re desperate to dance’: Britons in Mallorca express relief over quarantine easing

Posted on by

Tourists slowly returning to Spain’s Balearic Islands after months-long coronavirus lockdown

Sunbathing on a deserted beach in Mallorca, Nicola Brett says she is having the “best holiday ever”.

The 31-year-old gym sales executive from York arrived on the Spanish island on a Ryanair flight on Sunday, hours after the government changed its advice against all but essential foreign travel. She was flying back at midnight on Thursday, just as the rules requiring those arriving in the UK to quarantine for 14 days were lifted.

Continue reading...

Médecins Sans Frontières is ‘institutionally racist’, say 1,000 insiders

Posted on by

Medical charity accused of shoring up colonialism and white supremacy in its work

The medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières is institutionally racist and reinforces colonialism and white supremacy in its humanitarian work, according to an internal statement signed by 1,000 current and former members of staff.

The statement accused MSF of failing to acknowledge the extent of racism perpetuated by its policies, hiring practices, workplace culture and “dehumanising” programmes, run by a “privileged white minority” workforce.

Continue reading...

New York City mayor helps paint Black Lives Matter mural outside Trump Tower – video

Posted on by

Bill de Blasio on Thursday helped to paint the large, bright yellow mural on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower in Manhattan. Similar murals have been painted on New York City streets and in other US cities including Washington DC, Raleigh in North Carolina, and Oakland in California. The Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum after the death of George Floyd who was killed by police in Minneapolis in May.

Continue reading...

Security video shows Naya Rivera and son renting boat in California – video

Posted on by

Authorities have released footage of the former Glee star renting a boat with her four-year-old son before she went missing on 7 July. The search for Rivera has switched from a rescue to a recovery mission, with the authorities saying they presume the 33-year-old drowned while boating on Lake Piru north of Los Angeles.

Rivera played the high school cheerleader Santana Lopez in the TV series until 2015

Continue reading...

Chile’s indigenous communities face new challenges amid pandemic

Posted on by

Country’s indigenous groups count for 12.8% of population but government response has been criticised as ‘monocultural’

Away from the grey tower blocks and sprawling suburbs of Chile’s capital, Santiago, the country’s indigenous communities are facing new challenges during the pandemic.

The country’s 10 indigenous groups account for 12.8% of the population, scattered from the southernmost tip of Patagonia to the dry plains of the Atacama Desert in the north, and remote Easter Island in the South Pacific.

Continue reading...

Coronavirus live news: Bolivia leader tests positive as Australia limits returnees

Posted on by

Venezuelan Socialist party boss also tests positive; Brazil president Bolsonaro ‘in good health’; record new cases in Australian state of Victoria

Reuters is reporting that a clinical trial in Japan of Fujifilm Holdings Corp’s Avigan drug yielded inconclusive results as a treatment of Covid-19.

The drug, which has been shown to cause birth defects in animal studies, has already been approved as a Covid-19 treatment in Russia and India.

So, welcome to our coronavirus live coverage. For those of you wanting your news straight, here’s a summary of the top lines of the day, with link to key pieces for you to investigate further at your leisure:

The UK has rejected the chance to join the European Union’s coronavirus vaccine programme due to ministers’ concerns over “costly delays”, according to sources.

Continue reading...