World news | The Guardian

Countries are taking different approaches to driving up vaccine acceptance while trying not to be seen as forcing the issue

Temporary shelter funding for people granted asylum is winding up before many have found new homesThousands of refugees are at risk of being left homeless by the abrupt termination of an EU-funded programme providing cash assistance and temporary shelter to people granted asylum in Greece.Appeals from aid groups have mounted, which fear more than 2,000 men, women and children will face destitution if action isn’t taken. Continue reading...

EU and US sanctions this week targeted Russian security and political officials but not business figuresAides to Alexei Navalny have said they will continue to push for new western sanctions against Kremlin-linked businessmen and officials, as Moscow brushes off the west’s response to the poisoning and jailing of the opposition politician.In interviews, senior advisers to Navalny said they welcomed this week’s sanctions against Russian officials but they had hoped to see oligarchs and others who could influence Vladimir Putin’s decision-making also included. Continue reading...

Family of Natsuko Okuyama ‘extremely happy’ after remains identified as those of 61-year-old woman who went missing 10 years agoSkeletal remains found on a beach have been identified as those of woman who went missing 10 years ago in the 2011 Japan tsunami.Dental and DNA analysis this week revealed the remains to be those of Natsuko Okuyama, a 61-year-old from Higashimatsushima in the north-eastern Miyagi prefecture who disappeared when the waves swept in on 11 March 2011, a police spokesman said. Continue reading...

Services are being forced to close because of lack of money and staff as coronavirus threatens to take holdRead all our coronavirus coverage

Thousands of people have been evacuated in coastal areas of New Zealand’s North Island after a powerful 8.1-magnitude earthquake off the coast prompting a tsunami warning. The quake was one of three to strike New Zealand in a day, with emergency orders in coastal regions urging people to head away from the water and onto high ground. There were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties before the warning was downgraded

We make changes to children’s books all the time. It’s important to ask: does the cultural value of this book outweigh the potential harm?Children’s literature sits at an awkward crossroads, where it is expected to be art, education and moral instruction. Children’s books are designed to teach our kids to read, to teach them about the world, about themselves and their bodies, about how to be kind, about society’s morals and values.This is true of all children’s literature, but it is particularly true of books by Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr Seuss), which do all these things deliberately and explicitly. Which is why I’m not at all surprised that Seuss’s estate has decided to cease publication of six titles due to their racist portrayal of people of colour. To do otherwise would be disrespectful to Seuss’s legacy of kindness and empathy. Continue reading...

Friday: Italy blocks export of 250,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia. Plus: what is cryptoart?Good morning, it’s Friday 5 March and this is Imogen Dewey with news on federal parliament’s ongoing misogyny backlash, New Zealand’s withdrawn tsunami warning, and, of course, the latest on the pandemic.Italy has blocked the export of 250,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia in the first such intervention under the EU’s controversial export authorisation scheme – alarming those concerned that the EU is moving towards a protectionist approach to vaccine supply. Germany’s vaccination committee has reversed its guidance not to administer this vaccine to over-65s, in light of new studies. Predicting a time lag on vaccine impact, the World Health Organisation is urging Europeans to “get back to basics” (e.g. quarantine, test and trace) to prevent a Covid resurgence. Continue reading...

Campaign group says tax bill for main service company could be wiped out under ‘super-deduction’ policyAmazon could “entirely wipe out” the tax bill of its main UK service company by taking advantage of the chancellor’s £25bn “super-deduction” tax break, according to analysis by a tax fairness campaign group.The super-deduction, announced by Rishi Sunak in the budget on Wednesday, will allow companies such as Amazon to offset 130% of investment spending on plant and machinery against profits for the next two years, starting next month. The chancellor explained that if a company spent £10m on new equipment, its taxable income would be reduced by £13m. Continue reading...

IOPC determines officer may have committed GBH on Jordan Walker-Brown, who was paralysed in incidentProsecutors are to consider charges against a Metropolitan police officer who fired a Taser at a young black man as he jumped over a wall in north London, leaving him paralysed from the waist down.Jordan Walker-Brown, 24, said he had his back to police and was running away because he was carrying a small amount of cannabis, when he was shot with the stun gun on 4 May last year. He is now paraplegic. Continue reading...

Senior Tories say government likely to be defeated in any vote on issue in the CommonsThe government is facing a growing rebellion over cuts to aid spending and senior Conservatives say it is likely to be defeated if it asks MPs to vote on the issue.Cuts to UK aid to Yemen, which is facing a humanitarian crisis, are said to have galvanised backbench opposition to broader cuts, which is now enough to cause the government serious difficulty in passing a vote in the Commons or the Lords. Continue reading...

Bodies including Institute for Fiscal Studies doubt chancellor’s spending cuts after Covid are deliverableRishi Sunak is under increasing pressure to provide more money for the NHS and struggling households amid criticism from tax and spending experts that his Budget plans to repair the Covid-19 damage to public finances were unrealistic.The Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Resolution Foundation, with the head of the Treasury’s own independent forecasting body, all questioned whether it would be possible to deliver the cuts in spending that are central to the chancellor’s strategy. Continue reading...

Killed journalist’s fiancee petitioned for report implicating crown prince to be part of case against 26 SaudisA Turkish court trying 26 Saudi nationals in absentia for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi has refused to admit as evidence a recent US intelligence report implicating the kingdom’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, despite a petition from the journalist’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz.The declassified US report released last Friday said Washington believed that Prince Mohammed approved the operation to “capture or kill” Khashoggi. Continue reading...

Row continues between EU and drug firm after shortfall in vaccine deliveries to bloc

Marise Payne says Australia is ‘gravely concerned about the rising death toll’ after 38 people were reported killed during peaceful protestsThe Australian government has called on Myanmar’s security forces to cease the violent response to protests, voicing grave concerns about the rising death toll and condemning the killings of minors as “indefensible”.But the government has stopped short of outlining any additional sanctions against figures in Myanmar’s military, as the deadliest day of violence since last month’s coup sparked new calls for tougher action from Canberra. Continue reading...

WHO warns of time lag with vaccine impact, urging return to quarantine, test and trace, as cases rise 9%

Boris Johnson said the latest problems surrounding Brexit and Northern Ireland could be solved with ‘goodwill’ and ‘common sense’. The EU said it would take legal action against the UK government after it unilaterally extended a grace period for checks on food imports to Northern Ireland, against terms of the Brexit deal

European nations to shelve censure motion after agreement to hold technical meetingsA potential roadblock to talks between Iran and the US on the future of the nuclear deal has been cleared after the UN nuclear inspectorate said it had won Iran’s agreement to return to Tehran to hold focused talks on doubts over the veracity of the country’s previous declarations about its nuclear sites.Rafael Grossi, the director general of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, said Iran and IAEA inspectors had been talking past each other, with Iran failing to provide credible answers to the inspectorate’s questions. He said he had decided “we either continue with this merry-go-round or try something else”. Continue reading...

We asked UK readers to send in photos of the natural world near them from the last few weeks

Inspired by her father’s release from prison, Annie Clark’s new album asks where to run when ‘the outlaw’s inside you’. She discusses his incarceration, the delusions of love – and why she remains as perverse as ever

The Guardian’s picture editors select photo highlights from around the worldWarning: this article includes graphic images some readers may find disturbing Continue reading...

Dr Habib Naqvi also says move could widen inequalities and increase workplace bullying

The reaction to the British company’s blacklist shouldn’t overshadow Ireland’s own discrimination against TravellersI was well into my adult years when I realised a word that I, and every other Derry child I knew, had been using as an insult was actually a name. The word, which I won’t repeat here, was used to denote people or actions that were trashy, uncivilised, poor or dishevelled.You could be called this word if you had scuffed trainers, or if your school uniform had gone a little threadbare. I was called this word if my hair was unkempt, and I used it on others if they took a few crisps too many from a charitably proffered packet. Continue reading...

Exclusive: third of teachers say schools have become key providers of support services for families in poverty

Morgan Carey says passages in The Meaning of Mariah Carey that characterise him as violent are ‘false and defamatory’Mariah Carey’s brother Morgan Carey has filed a lawsuit against her in New York’s supreme court, alleging “defamation and the intentional infliction of emotional distress” arising from her memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey.The action calls for the payment of unspecified damages, and seeks “a judicial determination that many of the passages in [the memoir] … are false and defamatory”. It claims the book caused Morgan “serious damage to his reputation and to his personal and business affairs” and “extreme mental anguish”, and that it negatively affected negotiations for a feature film he was developing. Continue reading...

Move to extend grade period for trade with Northern Ireland has damaged trust, says EU commissionerBoris Johnson’s unilateral move to ease the impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland has damaged Brussels’ trust in the government, according to the EU commissioner taking key decisions on access for the City of London to the European market.The UK was accused of breaking international law for a second time on Wednesday after ministers said they would extend a grace period on a range of checks on trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Continue reading...

Duke of Edinburgh to remain in hospital for treatment, rest and recuperation for a number of days, says palace

What happens when kids and parents sit each other down to watch their favourite childhood shows – from Sesame Street to The Powerpuff Girls? Six families find out

The attorney general acknowledges he may have seen the woman after 1988, despite saying he had no recollection of further contactScott Morrison faces a growing clamour for an independent investigation into the contested rape allegation against Christian Porter, as the attorney general acknowledged he may have had contact with the woman after 1988.Hours after the prime minister had rejected the need for an arm’s-length probe on the basis that would offend the rule of law, the family of the woman who alleged Porter assaulted her when they were teenagers backed “any inquiry” that would shed light on the circumstances “surrounding” her death in June 2020. Continue reading...

Duchess of Sussex criticises ‘the firm’ in latest excerpt ahead of broadcast of full Oprah Winfrey interviewThe Duchess of Sussex has said she cannot be expected to remain silent about her experiences of palace life if the royal family is “perpetuating falsehoods” about her and Prince Harry.Dismissing the consequences of speaking out, Meghan said a lot had “been lost already”. Continue reading...

Loyalist Communities Council warns of ‘strength of feeling’ over border checks but says protests should stay peacefulLoyalist paramilitary groups have told the British and Irish governments they are withdrawing support for the Good Friday agreement in protest at Northern Ireland’s Irish Sea trade border with the rest of the UK.The Loyalist Communities Council, an umbrella group that represents the views of the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando, wrote a letter to Boris Johnson and Ireland’s taoiseach, Micheál Martin, warning of “permanent destruction” of the 1998 peace agreement without changes to post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland. Continue reading...

Chancellor launches raid on household incomes and company profits in Tory U-turnRishi Sunak has announced the highest tax increases since Norman Lamont 28 years ago with a £65bn raid on household incomes and company profits.In a budget that reversed more than a decade of tax cuts by successive Tory governments and was even tougher than George Osborne’s post 2010-election austerity package, the chancellor announced tough action to reduce government borrowing. Continue reading...

Labour leader says party would have put NHS and social care ‘front and centre’ of budget

‘They’d had to have their car repainted because it got covered in blood when someone was shot’I was staying with a friend in Los Angeles in 1983, documenting the punk scene when I saw a story in LA Weekly about this Mexican American gang the Hoyo Maravilla. Nobody much thought about East LA and the different communities there. I was fascinated by this culture that I, especially being British, wasn’t aware of.I tracked down the story’s writer and he agreed to introduce me. I brought along a box of my prints of punks, mods and rockabillies that I’d been documenting in London for magazines such as the Face and Melody Maker and I said: “These are the gangs of London. I’d like to take photographs of you to show to the kids in London what’s going on in LA.” I spent much of that summer hanging out in a hot, dusty park that was the gathering spot for the Hoyo Maravilla. Continue reading...

Thousands of green military cadets march into the firing line as the Red Army resists Nazi invasion in Vadim Shmelyov’s cliche-ridden historical epicHere’s a tale of chest-puffing courage and one-dimensional heroism from Russia during the second world war: an old-fashioned patriotic epic with slo-mo action scenes, intestines spewed on the battlefield and a soppy sentimental romance. It is based on real events in 1941, when more than 3,000 young military cadets were sent to the frontline to defend Moscow. Their mission was to buy time, holding off the Germans for five or six days until reinforcements arrived. Only a third survived.The cadets are still three months from graduating military school when the order comes to mobilise. These lads are future Red Army commanders, the brightest and the best. Two of them, best friends Lavrov (Artyom Gubin) and Shemyakin (Igor Yudin), are in love with the same girl, trainee doctor Masha (Lubov Konstantinova). Good-looking Lavrov is a crack-shot gunner, recklessly brave and romantic. Shemyakin is gentle and decent, a bit dull. You can guess which one Masha kisses in the broom cupboard. Continue reading...

Decision to open inquiry into both sides in conflict is result of nearly five years of work, says prosecutor

Anecdotal evidence suggests Muslims over-represented in ICUs, but Germany has no official data

French president admits army was behind 1957 death of Ali Boumendjel during Battle of AlgiersEmmanuel Macron has admitted French soldiers tortured and killed a well-known Algerian lawyer and activist during the country’s independence war.Ali Boumendjel, 37, died after falling from a sixth-floor window in 1957 during the Battle of Algiers. Until now, his death has been recorded as suicide. Continue reading...

Scotland’s first minister is appearing before MSPs, amid multiple allegations that she broke the ministerial code

First minister under pressure to answer claims she misled parliament over harassment inquiry

Juggling babies and a job is always difficult – what are the particular pressures for performers and how is the industry taking steps to improve?Followers of Royal Ballet principal Lauren Cuthbertson cheer ardently for her Juliet, Manon and Sugar Plum Fairy, but are in raptures about her latest role, as mum to baby Peggy, born in December and already the toast of Instagram. Cuthbertson is one of a flurry of dancers at the Royal who are about to give or have recently given birth, in a serendipitously timed lockdown baby boom.It’s a long way from the early days of the company, when founder Ninette de Valois set the tone. “‘You’re pregnant darling, goodbye!’ That’s how it was,” says Jeanetta Laurence, a dancer in its touring company in the 1960s and 70s. Even now, she says: “It’s hard to think of another industry where having a baby is so intrusive to the work. I’m in awe and wonder at how they manage it.” Continue reading...

The new HBO documentary in which Mia and Dylan Farrow revisit their 1992 allegation against Woody Allen claims to be an even-handed investigation. But its failure to present the facts makes it feel more like activism

The mock trial of a teacher puts history on the stand in Radu Jude’s peculiar revenge porn story – but what is it telling us?Radu Jude’s new film, with its rambling and self-consciously inelegant title, is an absurdist provocation, or an obsessive-compulsive disruption, like the photograph of the dadaist Benjamin Péret insulting a priest in the street.It’s about the anger and frustration of Romania, and maybe of all of us, at the Covid outbreak, and our creeping suspicion that standard-issue human unhappiness will survive even when, or if, the disease is eradicated. Most of all, this is about porn, and even when it is not about porn, it is somehow still about porn and the porn aesthetic of social media. There is a bleak humour here, but also a kind of redundancy: the film constitutes a huge comedy pratfall that isn’t perhaps every bit as funny and meaningful as it was supposed to be. Continue reading...

Speaking to colleagues before delivering budget, chancellor says borrowing has reached levels usually seen only in wartime

Rightwing party’s move comes after European People’s party changed its internal rules on excluding membersHungary’s ruling rightwing Fidesz party has said it will leave the main centre-right political grouping in the European parliament after the European People’s party (EPP) voted to change its internal laws on excluding members.The EPP’s 180 members, many of whom have campaigned for the expulsion of Fidesz, which they accuse of weakening Hungary’s democracy and curbing media and other freedoms, voted by 148 to 28 in favour of the new rules, with four abstentions. Continue reading...

The PM needs to decide whether to let the attorney general’s defence be the last word on the case or to represent all the interests involved, including the alleged victim’sIf Christian Porter was somehow unaware that survivors of sexual assault in the #MeToo era have had enough of being silenced, the Australian of the year, Grace Tame, appeared at the National Press Club on Wednesday to remind him.Only an hour or so before the attorney general confirmed the worst-kept secret on the internet – that he was the unnamed cabinet minister at the centre of a rape allegation from 1988 – Tame stood before reporters in Canberra and delivered a speech of piercing moral clarity. Continue reading...

The Rotherham electronic musician is using his skills to tackle dementia, teach children and collaborate across the globe – and dreams of a club where the dancers play the drum machinesLiving in lockdown while caring for someone with dementia “isn’t just like Groundhog Day”, chuckles Rian Treanor, “it’s like Groundhog Second.” The soft-spoken electronic music producer has spent a year indoors with three generations of his family – including his producer and sound-artist dad, Mark Fell, and his grandmother, Doreen, who is has late-stage Alzheimer’s. It’s certainly a change of scene for the producer of one of 2020’s most audacious and frenzied dance albums, File Under UK Metaplasm.Instead of the pointillist rave and singeli – a high-speed Tanzanian style – that influenced that record, the Treanor-Fell household playlist is geared towards Doreen’s favourites, particularly dub reggae and Hawaiian-style steel guitar. “When she listens to that she’s completely in the zone, she astrally projects into it,” marvels Treanor. Music has a powerful effect on brains damaged by dementia, unlocking memories and opening up non-verbal channels of communication, so they tried Doreen on a piano next, knowing that she’d grown up with one. When the keys proved too complicated, Fell designed a set of blocks for her to use, described by Treanor as “squares with little notches cut out that create different chord shapes”. Continue reading...

Ex-French president vows to take case to European court of human rights if appeal does not succeed