Results show 94% of Covid sceptics would refuse vaccine and most describe themselves as free-thinkers

Yonas Tadesse is an Ethiopian photographer based in Addis Ababa who has been documenting doctors and emergency workers fighting coronavirus since the beginning of the outbreak. This series focuses on the taskforce at the Eka Kotebe hospital in Addis AbabaThe first case of Covid-19 in Ethiopia was reported on 13 March, when a team of first responders took in a 48-year-old Japanese man. Having never seen anything like his condition, they did not know what to prepare for, and thus started their new normal of battling the coronavirus in Ethiopia.Doctors, nurses, janitors, security guards and drivers donned hats they had never dreamed of wearing as they worked to develop systems and techniques to minimise the damage from the virus – often at the cost of their health, their home lives, their reputations, and sometimes their lives. Continue reading...

President’s move to free Joseph Scott Pemberton condemned as ‘shameless mockery of justice’

Condition of Russian opposition leader who was poisoned with novichok is improvingThe Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been taken out of an induced coma and is responding to speech, the Germany hospital treating him has said.The Charité hospital in Berlin, which has been treating Navalny since 22 August, said his condition was improving and that he was also being weaned off mechanical ventilation. Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Child’s mother says her daughter was buying art supplies when she was tackled and pinned to the ground by policeHong Kong police have been strongly criticised over the rough arrest of a 12-year-old girl whose family says was caught in a protest crowd while out buying art supplies.Video widely shared across social media and in Hong Kong media showed the officers seeking to corral a group of people including the young girl, who ducked aside and tried to run away. An officer tackled her to the ground, while several others helped to pin her down. Continue reading...

UK on collision course with EU and Ireland over unilateral powers for British ministers

WikiLeaks founder in court to face US accusations of stealing military secrets

Supporters of Denis Mukwege say he is at risk of assassination after criticism of armed groupsA doctor who shared a Nobel prize in 2018 for his work with victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is at risk of assassination after the United Nations withdrew peacekeepers guarding his hospital and residence, friends and supporters say.Denis Mukwege has received death threats in recent weeks after making a series of statements deploring recent violent incidents and calling for justice for perpetrators of possible war crimes committed in eastern DRC by militia, foreign troops and rebels. Continue reading...

Police seal off area as Kesgrave high school says pupil involved in ‘serious incident’A teenage boy has been arrested after a 15-year-old boy was shot near Kesgrave high school, Suffolk police said.The victim suffered “serious” injuries and was airlifted to Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge, Suffolk police said. Continue reading...

Police unions call for changes in law after Giuseppe Mastini again fails to return from day releaseA multiple murderer has absconded for a fourth time from an Italian prison.Giuseppe Mastini, 60, who was given a life sentence in 1989, absconded during day release from a high security prison in Sassari, Sardinia. Police launched a country-wide manhunt after he failed to return to the jail at midday on Sunday. Continue reading...

Chairman insists he is ‘not looking for scapegoats’ as inquiry hears of possible ‘missed opportunities’The Manchester Arena bomber was spotted “praying” at the venue 50 minutes before he carried out the attack, the inquiry into the bombing has heard.It was one of two possible “missed opportunities” to stop Salman Abedi in the hour before the bombing on 22 May 2017, the public inquiry into the attacks heard. Continue reading...

Melbourne’s stage 4 lockdown extended by two weeks in ‘roadmap’ as Victoria pursues aggressive suppression strategy. This blog has ended

Health secretary urges distancing to avoid second wave, and says hospitals could soon see impact

EU’s chief Brexit negotiator said full implementation of withdrawal agreement vital for avoiding a hard border

Exclusive: State and federal departments of health refuse to confirm figures as doctor condemns ‘outrageous’ secrecy around the dataMore than four out of every 10 Victorian aged-care deaths due to Covid-19 occurred across just 10 facilities, data obtained by Guardian Australia reveals.As of Monday, 532 of the state’s deaths were linked to aged care, with St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Fawkner recording 44 of those deaths. The home, which caters for the Greek Orthodox community, is where the most deaths have occurred. Continue reading...

Hongkongers have been left shocked by the rough police arrest of a 12-year-old girl whose family says was corraled into a protest crowd while out buying art supplies.It came amid the largest street protest seen in Hong Kong since 1 July, the first full day under the national security laws imposed by Beijing on the city, outlawing acts of sedition, secession, foreign collusion and terrorism

Johnson to deliver ultimatum to EU as minister defends plan as addressing ‘a few loose ends’Reneging on any obligations under the Brexit withdrawal agreement would make the case for breaking up the UK stronger, the government has been warned, as a minister defended the plan as simply addressing “a few minor loose ends”.After it emerged Boris Johnson is drawing up legislation that will override the Brexit withdrawal agreement on Northern Ireland, threatening the collapse of talks with the EU, the SNP said leaving without a deal would cause “lasting damage to Scottish jobs and the economy in the middle of a pandemic”. Continue reading...

Why should black founders jump through more hoops to earn funders’ trust?I was in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum, when I heard about the shooting of another black man, Jacob Blake, by US police. Close by is a mural of George Floyd, painted on a wall near where I grew up, a reminder that the current upheaval surrounding race in the US has global repercussions. Just as calls for racial justice echo in American and European streets, government offices and boardrooms, we must not forget that the legacy of racial injustice extends far beyond those borders and any honest reckoning must include open dialogue around race in international development.In Africa, white-led institutions have shaped the development and social entrepreneurship landscape, deciding who succeeds and who fails. Only recently has there been a growing recognition of these imperialist dynamics, which uplift foreign-led practitioners more than local ones. There is a growing consensus that the future should and must be created and led by Africans, because real progress requires it to be on our own terms. And yet, this is just talk until funders shift resources and power, at scale, towards local solutions. Continue reading...

Move threatens to collapse talks that PM has said must be completed within weeksBoris Johnson is drawing up legislation that will override the Brexit withdrawal agreement on Northern Ireland, a move that threatens the collapse of crunch talks which the prime minister has said must be completed within five weeks.Johnson will put an ultimatum to negotiators this week, saying the UK and Europe must agree a post-Brexit trade deal by 15 October or Britain will walk away for good. Continue reading...

Group including children was rejected by Malaysia and Thailand and ‘held hostage’, says organisationAlmost 300 Rohingya refugees believed to have been at sea for six months landed on a beach in Aceh province, Indonesia, early on Monday, Indonesian authorities have said.Acehnese police said a wooden boat carrying the Rohingya was spotted by local fishermen several miles off the coast of Lhokseumawe, before landing at Ujung Blang beach shortly after midnight Continue reading...

Hundreds of thousands without power on Kyushu after winds of 140km/h and heavy rain hit the regionFour people are missing and dozens more have been injured after a powerful typhoon battered south-western Japan on Monday before making landfall on the Korean peninsula.Typhoon Haishen left 440,000 homes without power and damaged buildings on and near the island of Kyushu. Continue reading...

The pandemic’s impact is long-term: the UN warns that it could lead to 13 million more child marriages over a decadeSamita (not her real name) is 17 and lives in the Lamjung district of Nepal. It was never easy, even before coronavirus, for her to attend school full-time. Living in a rural community in a family with little income she was expected to do housework as well.Samita persisted though. At the beginning of the year, the Sisters for Sisters project run by international development charity VSO was supporting her with an “older sister” mentor, who was encouraging her to keep up her education. Continue reading...

Labour calls on Matt Hancock to explain reasons behind increase and testing centre problems

Staff from the Wall Street Journal, CNN and Getty Images told restrictions were a ‘reciprocal measure’ after the US limited Chinese media visasChinese authorities have refused to renew the press credentials for at least three reporters for US news organisations based in China, in the latest deterioration of ties between the two countries.Journalists from the Wall Street Journal, CNN and Getty Images, who have recently attempted to renew their press cards, were told they could not because of recent US measures against China journalists in the US, according to those news organisations and people familiar with the matter. Continue reading...

Seven French departments placed on high alert; UK sees 3,000 cases in one day, the highest figure since May

Long-term competitiveness at risk if scheme ends for critical industrial sectors, says Make UKThe government’s furlough scheme must be extended for critical sectors of British industry or the country risks losing key skills as it recovers from the pandemic, according to the UK’s foremost manufacturing group.Make UK is joining calls for the government to change its mind about ending the coronavirus job retention scheme in the autumn, after a survey of its members showed almost two-thirds (62%) of companies agreed with the proposal that the scheme be extended. Continue reading...

The presenter probes the Trump-afflicted US-Mexico borderlands. Plus: how to stay calm in scary times. Here’s what to watch tonight Continue reading...

Recent acrimony as well as historical rivalry are making a crucial agreement on European access to British waters look increasingly remoteFishing has always been one of the biggest hurdles to a post-Brexit deal between the EU and UK. Now it is becoming one of the most bitter.The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, last week accused the government of treating European fishermen and women as “a bargaining chip”, while vowing that there would be no trade deal without a “fair and sustainable” agreement on fishing. Hitting back at Barnier’s speech, which also covered trade, a UK source said it was “a deliberate and misleading caricature of our proposals aimed at deflecting scrutiny from the EU’s own positions, which are wholly unrealistic and unprecedented”. Continue reading...

Queensland posts two new cases while authorities examine how three Sydney hospital staff were infected

Thirty years after murder of eight people, including six Jesuits, those who ordered deaths may finally face consequencesA few hours before he was shot dead in the campus garden of his university in San Salvador, Ignacio Martín-Baró rang his family back in Spain to let them know he was OK. “It’s all fine,” the Jesuit, psychologist and academic told his parents. “The army is all around us.”The following morning, Martín-Baró was dead, murdered by a military death squad along with five Jesuit colleagues, a housekeeper and her 15-year-old daughter. Continue reading...

Activists say detentions break promise to protect those standing up to sexual assaultEgyptian security forces have arrested six witnesses, including three women, in an investigation into an alleged gang-rape case previously hailed as a watershed moment for women’s rights.Feminist campaigners and a researcher from the organisation Human Rights Watch said six people had been arrested overnight in their homes by the country’s powerful National Security Agency, including a woman seized from her car in front of her building. Another was arrested at her holiday home after the NSA could not find her at her Cairo address. Continue reading...

Schools in Redcar, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough record positive cases as infections in north-east of England continue to spike

His first feature, Closely Watched Trains, won the best foreign language film in 1967Oscar-winning Czech film director Jiri Menzel has died aged 82 after battling serious health problems for a long time, his wife Olga Menzelová said on Sunday.“Our dear Jiri, the bravest of the brave. Your body left our mundane world in our arms last night,” she wrote on Facebook. Continue reading...

Monday: Australia will buy 84.8m vaccine doses at a cost of $1.7bn. Plus: boarding school system is failing Indigenous studentsGood morning, this is Lauren Waldhuter bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 7 September. Continue reading...

Sean Williams was stabbed in the neck after intervening in fight at unlicensed event in Catford

Police say lone suspect still on loose after attacks in which one man died and seven people were injuredWest Midlands police have released CCTV of a man they are seeking after a series of stabbings in Birmingham city centre left one man dead and seven people injured, two seriously.The attacker responsible for the stabbings – which happened in four different areas over a two-hour period in the early hours of Sunday morning – was still at large, police confirmed. Continue reading...

Survivors and victims’ group ‘outraged’ by suggested sum per person for email error in MaySurvivors of institutional sexual and physical abuse in Northern Ireland have rejected compensation offered to them in response to a damaging leak that exposed more than 500 of their names.The Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse (Savia) group said on Sunday it was “outraged” by the offer of £1,500 per person as recompense for their identities being revealed earlier this year. Continue reading...

Papua New Guinean student Lesley Wengembo has painted campus assistant Mal Nagobi for Australia’s famous Archibald prizeAlongside Malachi Nagobi, progress across the august grounds of the National Art School in Sydney is constantly – happily – impeded.“Mal!” comes a voice, “hello Mal,” another. Every handful of steps, another person wants to stop to chat. Continue reading...

ANU researchers say 59% of 100 young people from one community dropped out in first year of off-country boardingA policy that sees Indigenous students from remote communities board “off-country” in an attempt to advance their educational opportunities is a revolving door that is “comprehensively failing” Aboriginal children and their families, according to a new study.Australian National University (ANU) researchers tracked the education histories of 100 young people aged between 12 and 21 years old from one Top End community. Continue reading...

A row over over borders, gasfields and national pride risks regional disorderSome claim it has been centuries since the Mediterranean has been viewed as the cockpit of history. But great powers and coastline states, wishing to capture hydrocarbon riches, are today vying for mastery of the sea – or at least its eastern waves. The trouble surfaced last month when a Turkish frigate escorting an oil-and-gas exploration ship collided with a Greek naval vessel. Since then, tempers have flared, with the unresolved question of Cyprus providing a flashpoint between the two nations. Greek ships were last week joined by France, Italy and the United Arab Emirates in the waters around Cyprus. Turkey announced that Russia will hold naval exercises. Nato is right that the temperature needs lowering and ought to be congratulated for kickstarting talks aimed at de-escalation. Nato members ought to trade words, not blows.In Turkey there has been a lurch towards authoritarianism under the executive presidency of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, while the country’s military, economic and cultural power has expanded. Not since the Ottoman empire has the Turkish military had such a sprawling global footprint, with troops and drones recently saving a UN-recognised government in Tripoli from defeat. Despite a Covid recession, Turkish companies retain a global edge – taking advantage of cheap labour, made even cheaper by a weak Turkish lira, and access to European markets. Mr Erdoğan has also won favour in the Sunni Arab world by hosting 4 million Syrian refugees. Continue reading...

Frances O’Grady calls for pay rise pledge to be met, amid speculation it will be scrappedThe head of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has denounced a possible freezing of the national living wage as “totally wrong”, as the Treasury reportedly considers backtracking on a planned pay rise for the lowest paid.The hourly pay rate under the national living wage, the legal minimum paid to workers over the age of 25, was due to rise 6.2% from £8.72 to £9.21 in April, under targets set last December by the chancellor at the time, Sajid Javid. Continue reading...

The Guardian’s Africa correspondent on life in a country that has fought and faced down more than one epidemicIn the evening I went for a run, down to the gate from my guesthouse, past a huddle of round huts and through the fields of sugar cane to the lake. A dog barked, a child howled, someone laughed, and tinny music played somewhere in the gathering darkness.Eshowe, a small town in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, is a place of astonishing natural beauty. The run did not last long. I stopped and watched as weavers, glossy starlings and sunbirds swooped through the trees, catching the last rays of the sun. To the north, low dry hills lined the horizon. To the south, the breakers of the Indian Ocean crashed on miles of wild shore. Eshowe was memorable for something else too: the very human suffering I found there, and equally human hope. Continue reading...

Similar marches held in other cities including Brest a month after disputed electionHuge protests have taken place across Belarus against the embattled regime of Alexander Lukashenko, with demonstrators marching on the president’s residence in the capital, Minsk, for a fourth weekend in a row.More than 100,000 people filled Minsk’s Independence Avenue calling for Lukashenko to step down. There were similar marches in other cities, including Brest, Vitebsk and Grodno. Continue reading...

Police say many accidents involve young men who have leased high-powered vehiclesRoad deaths in one of Britain’s biggest police force areas have increased by 42% this year despite a substantial drop in traffic during lockdown, with a senior officer blaming boy racers driving high-speed leased cars, often high on drink or drugs.Cycling organisations and lawyers representing injured cyclists report a similar picture nationally, with one law firm saying cycling cases were up 45% year-on-year. Continue reading...

Community contrasts ongoing restrictions at inquiry with reopening of bars and eateries

Dumped on the streets after Covid-19 hit, hundreds of nannies are now starving amid the ruins of last month’s blast

Police fire pepper pellets in one of largest gatherings since national security law imposedOn what was supposed to have been Hong Kong’s election day, hundreds of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets on Sunday, where they encountered a heavy presence from police, who fired pepper pellets and arrested almost 300 people.It was one of the largest gatherings of protesters since China’s implementation of a sweeping set of anti-sedition laws that a coalition of United Nations expert groups has said risks breaching multiple international laws and human rights. Continue reading...

Despite the stories of people drinking more when confined to home, for many this has been a time to tackle their dependencyThere was nothing extraordinary about the weekend that Charlotte Davies decided to stop drinking. The 47-year-old office manager, from the Berkshire village of Warfield, watched TV with her husband. They cooked. On the Saturday evening, Davies drank two bottles of red wine. Fetching the wine from the garage, where she stores it, she realised with dismay that the 36 bottles she had ordered online had almost gone. She made a mental note to order more.On Sunday, her hangover was “horrendous”. “I was really ill, I had such a headache and I felt incredibly depressed,” she says. She held out for as long as she could, before cracking at about 5.30pm, and drinking another bottle of red wine. That day, Sunday 14 June, was the last on which Davies would drink alcohol. Enough. Continue reading...

If you have been affected by the events in Birmingham you can share your experiences directly with our journalistsWest Midlands police have launched a murder investigation after a series of stabbings in Birmingham city centre left one man dead, two people with serious injuries and five others injured.West Midlands police declared a major incident in Birmingham city centre after a number of stabbings in the early hours of Sunday morning. Continue reading...