World news

• Rikers Island wardens accused of using inmates as ‘enforcers’ to punish other prisoners

  17-11-2020 23:21 via independent.co.uk
  
  Bill de Blasio announced in 2017 that infamous jail would be closed within 10 years
  
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• Coronavirus: Five signs that show how bad El Paso's outbreak is

  17-11-2020 22:42 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The west Texan county has become the nation's latest Covid-19 hotspot. Here's a closer look.
  
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• Pictures show doctors on frontline of Covid battle in Texas as state becomes new epicentre

  17-11-2020 22:41 via independent.co.uk
  
  Texas has become a new epicentre in the coronavirus pandemic this week as it witnessed a dangerous spike in hospitalisations and passed a milestone of 20,000 confirmed deaths.
  
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• Russia moves to protect Putin from prosecution

  17-11-2020 19:45 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Russian MPs back an immunity bill that would protect President Putin and his family for life.
  
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• Ponzi scheme suspect tries to escape FBI using underwater ‘sea scooter’

  17-11-2020 19:20 via independent.co.uk
  
  ‘[He] spent some time out of sight underwater where law enforcement could only see bubbles’
  
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• Trump Pennsylvania court hearing due as Biden sharpens criticism of concession refusal – live updates

  17-11-2020 18:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Biden warns ‘more people may die’ unless Trump starts cooperatingTrump ‘considered striking Iran’s nuclear sites’ after election lossMajor hurdles ahead for Covid-19 vaccine distribution in the USSign up to receive First Thing – our daily briefing by email 5.12pm GMT Senator Lindsey Graham said he had spoken to election officials in other battleground states, as the president and his allies continue to push baseless claims of election fraud. “Yeah, I tal
  
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• East Anglian Bonnie and Clyde 'leave trail of unpaid pub bills'

  17-11-2020 18:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Middle-aged couple accused of charming their way out of paying bill at string of pubs and restaurantsThe original Bonnie and Clyde cut a swathe across America, holding up a series of banks and gas stations before going down in a hail of bullets. Their alleged 21st-century equivalents in the east of England have set their sights a little lower.But after an audacious middle-aged couple were accused of visiting at least a dozen venues in Norfolk and Suffolk to eat steak, drink doubles and charm the
  
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• What could a good green recovery plan actually look like?

  17-11-2020 18:09 via theguardian.com
  
  What do governments across the world need to do to shift economies away from fossil fuels?What does a green recovery look like? That is the question governments around the world are considering as they decide how to align their $12tn worth of economic rescue packages for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic with their obligations under the Paris climate accord.The UK is expected to announce a 10-point recovery plan this week, and observers have warned that if it lacks ambition, it could undermi
  
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• Thailand protests: clashes cause chaos outside parliament

  17-11-2020 18:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Skirmishes break out between rival groups as police fire water cannon and MPs flee in boatsThailand’s riverside parliament was surrounded by chaos as police repeatedly fired water cannon at pro-democracy protesters, clashes broke out between the demonstrators and royalist counterparts, and MPs abandoned the scene in boats.Five people were treated for gunshot wounds after the most violent clashes since a student-led movement emerged in July. A further 36 people suffered other injuries in th
  
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• Joe Biden announces who will be in his White House team

  17-11-2020 18:03 via independent.co.uk
  
  The first round of senior staff appointments reflects a mix of longtime loyalist and Democratic operatives, as well as an absence of high-profile progressives far-left faction of the party.
  
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• Joe Biden announces who will be in his White House staff

  17-11-2020 18:03 via independent.co.uk
  
  The first round of senior staff appointments reflects a mix of longtime loyalist and Democratic operatives, as well as an absence of high-profile progressives far-left faction of the party.
  
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• Australia drought: Capturing spectacular storms in the outback

  17-11-2020 18:03 via bbc.co.uk
  
  An Australian photographer says it feels "amazing" to capture spectacular images of long-absent storms.
  
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• Bad altitude: Spain’s disgraced former king ‘spent over £7m on flights’

  17-11-2020 17:57 via independent.co.uk
  
  Flights paid for by offshore account under investigation for money laundering 
  
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• Coronavirus live news: Italy reports highest death toll since 3 April; Iran registers new case record

  17-11-2020 17:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Italian daily toll of 731 is highest since early April, when country was in lockdown; Iran says 13,352 people tested positive in 24 hoursChemicals in everyday products could hinder vaccine effectivenessSouth Korea forced to tighten Covid measuresPfizer trials vaccine delivery procedures in four US statesModerna vaccine’s effectiveness bodes well for Oxford jabUK coronavirus updates - live4.52pm GMT England relaxed its quarantine rules on Tuesday to allow seasonal poultry staff to work duri
  
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• States plead for more federal help as virus outbreak worsens

  17-11-2020 17:34 via independent.co.uk
  
  States in the U.S. are renewing their push for more federal money to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak and to help them distribute a vaccine when one becomes widely available sometime in 2021
  
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• Covid welfare cut will cast 330,000 more Australians into poverty, researcher says

  17-11-2020 17:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The Australian National University’s Ben Phillips says the number of people living below the poverty line is set to rise to 3.82 millionAn extra 330,000 people will be thrown below the poverty line when the federal government reduces the coronavirus supplement after Christmas, analysis shows.Modelling by the Australian National University’s Ben Phillips shows the $100 reduction to the fortnightly supplement from 1 January would see the number of people in Australia living in poverty
  
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• Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis: The long, medium, and short story

  17-11-2020 17:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A conflict in the Tigray region is threatening to destabilise East Africa. This is why.
  
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• US senators Sherrod Brown and Dan Sullivan clash over face masks in chamber

  17-11-2020 17:20 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Democrat Sherrod Brown asked Republican Dan Sullivan to put on his mask while speaking in the chamber.
  
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• Nearly 30,000 flee Ethiopia as UN warns ‘full-scale humanitarian crisis’ unfolding

  17-11-2020 17:08 via independent.co.uk
  
  Deepening war with Tigray region threatens ‘massive displacement’ and disruption of vital aid, UNHCR says
  
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• Weinstein accusers endorse Manhattan DA candidate Lucy Lang

  17-11-2020 17:04 via independent.co.uk
  
  One of several women competing to be Manhattan's first female state prosecutor says she has secured the endorsement of prominent accusers of Harvey Weinstein
  
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• The Crown, magic mushrooms and the truth behind Michael Fagan's palace break-in

  17-11-2020 16:41 via theguardian.com
  
  The Netflix drama plays fast and loose with the truth regarding the palace intruder, says the palace intruder himselfName: Michael Fagan.Age: 70. Continue reading...
  
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• Apple faces privacy case in Europe over iPhone tracking ID

  17-11-2020 16:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Tool that lets advertisers track users created without consent, says activist Max SchremsThe consumer rights activist Max Schrems has filed a formal privacy case against Apple, arguing that an ID generated by iPhones that lets advertisers track users violates privacy regulations.Schrems, whose lawsuit against Facebook led to a landmark ruling restricting data transfers from the EU to the US, has made the case through his privacy rights non-profit Noyb, which has filed formal complaints in Spain
  
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• How Trump’s presidency turned off some Republicans – a visual guide

  17-11-2020 16:23 via theguardian.com
  
  As our maps and charts show, Trump not only lost to Joe Biden – he lost to other Republicans on the ballotAfter four years of Donald Trump’s presidency, many voters who typically vote Republican turned against him.For example, in Winnebago county, Wisconsin, about 72% of voters cast their ballot for the Republican House candidate – either Glenn Grothman or Mike Gallagher, depending on where they live. But just 52% cast their vote for Trump. Continue reading...
  
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• Covid: near-lockdown curbs imposed on west of Scotland

  17-11-2020 16:21 via theguardian.com
  
  Eleven local authorities to enter level 4 – highest of Scotland’s five-tier system of virus controlsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageMore than 2 million Scots will face near-lockdown restrictions for three weeks after Nicola Sturgeon imposed the country’s highest level of Covid restrictions across the west of Scotland.Following a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, Scotland’s first minister told MSPs that 11 local authority areas would ent
  
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• Three arrested over ‘biggest art heist in modern history’

  17-11-2020 16:09 via independent.co.uk
  
  Police apprehend suspects after £900m theft of treasures from Germany’s Green Vault Museum
  
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• European parliament 'should stop Strasbourg sittings to hit carbon-neutral goal'

  17-11-2020 16:02 via theguardian.com
  
  Monthly trip from Brussels by 2,400 MEPs and staff standing in way of hitting 2030 targetThe EU must consider establishing Brussels as the sole base of the European parliament, breaking its historic links to Strasbourg, to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, an internal report has advised.The decision would involve a treaty change and a major row with the French government but the study’s authors say it is clear the EU needs to “rationalise” despite the symbolic importance of th
  
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• Majority of EU population feel good about bloc, study finds

  17-11-2020 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In the UK, 60% of respondents have a favourable view, the highest on recordMore people hold a favourable view of the European Union than not in every member state surveyed in a new poll, while positive opinions in Britain – which left the bloc in January – are the highest on record.A Pew Research Center study of eight EU countries also found more than half of respondents felt confident Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Emmanuel Macron would do the right thing, but far
  
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• Clashes between police and protesters in Bangkok

  17-11-2020 15:54 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Police use tear gas and water cannon against pro-democracy protesters outside the Thai parliament.
  
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• How Harry Styles became the face of gender-neutral fashion

  17-11-2020 15:52 via theguardian.com
  
  In becoming the first solo man to grace the cover of US Vogue – and in a dress – the singer has cemented his place at the vanguard of the movementHarry Styles was unveiled as the first solo male cover star of US Vogue last week – and in a dress to boot. He wore a custom-made, lace-trimmed Gucci ballgown dressed with a tuxedo jacket.Nine men have featured on the cover previously, but always as part of a couple. They include Kanye West, Justin Bieber and Styles’ former band
  
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• Arnab Goswami: How legal battles caught up with the star anchor of ‘India’s Fox News’

  17-11-2020 15:52 via independent.co.uk
  
  The Republic TV star has become one of India’s most famous - and controversial - news anchors. He claims his arrest this month was a political move to shut him up, as Stuti Mishra in Delhi reports
  
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• Iran and US on collision course in Trump’s final weeks

  17-11-2020 15:51 via independent.co.uk
  
  Tehran plays down reports that Trump wanted to attack Iran’s nuclear sites
  
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• UK aid budget facing billions in cuts

  17-11-2020 15:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Treasury seeking to slash target for aid spending from 0.7% of gross national income to 0.5%The Treasury is planning to slash billions from the overseas aid budget despite the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, praising the government’s 0.7% aid target on Monday as representing UK values in front of aides to Joe Biden.The Treasury wants to cut the aid budget from 0.7% of gross national income to 0.5% next year and plans to make the announcement as part of next Monday’s one-year spendin
  
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• Coronavirus has driven me to fantasise even more about moving home

  17-11-2020 15:45 via independent.co.uk
  
  My partner and I have a habit of looking at other properties online – this has become even more rampant during the pandemic but it seems we’re not the only ones considering a new home, writes Holly Baxter
  
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• Ohio senator joins COVID-19 vaccine study to set example

  17-11-2020 14:30 via independent.co.uk
  
  A U.S. senator from Ohio is participating in a COVID-19 vaccine test
  
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• Delhi considers return of some lockdown measures as Covid cases in Indian capital soar

  17-11-2020 14:27 via independent.co.uk
  
  Among ‘mini-lockdown’ measures being considered are a limit of 50 guests at marriage functions, down from 200 currently
  
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• First privately owned spacecraft successfully delivers astronauts to ISS

  17-11-2020 14:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Commander Mike Hopkins said his team had an amazing ride on the privately owned spacecraft.
  
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• NATO chief warns of high price if troops leave Afghanistan

  17-11-2020 14:13 via independent.co.uk
  
  NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the military organization could pay a heavy price for leaving Afghanistan too early, after a U.S. official said that President Donald Trump is expected to withdraw a significant number of American troops from there in coming weeks
  
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• Christian Brueckner: Madeleine McCann suspect injured while in custody

  17-11-2020 14:13 via independent.co.uk
  
  Suspected killer’s lawyer filing complaint against prison guards
  
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• Why US ballot count live streams became misinformation magnets

  17-11-2020 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Live streams of the count aren’t a new phenomenon – but after Trump’s baseless vote fraud claims, some are wondering if this method of transparency is too vulnerableAt a vote-counting center in Montgomery county, Maryland, a man sat in a room with other election workers, wearing a grey hat and dark purple rubber gloves. He unfolded a ballot, looked around and leaned forward to mark it. The man appeared on a Yahoo Finance livestream of the center. The video went viral, one versi
  
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• Anger in North Dakota after governor asks Covid-positive health workers to keep working

  17-11-2020 13:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Doctors and nurses say order puts lives in danger, amid a Covid surge and a statewide shortage of healthcare workersInteractive: the healthcare workers who have died from CovidNurse Leslie McKamey has gotten used to the 16-hour shifts, to skipping lunch, to the nightly ritual of throwing all her clothes in the laundry and showering as soon as she walks through the door to avoid potentially infecting her children. She’s even grown accustomed to triaging Covid patients, who often arrive at t
  
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• Pfizer to begin first US immunisation programmes in another leap forwards for Covid vaccine

  17-11-2020 13:52 via independent.co.uk
  
  The company has selected Rhode Island, Texas, New Mexico, and Tennessee for the pilot
  
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• One giant leap for China: Beijing gets ready to go to the Moon and bring back rocks

  17-11-2020 13:46 via independent.co.uk
  
  If successful, the mission will be the first to bring back rocks from the Moon’s surface since the 1960s and 70s.
  
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• Marine biologists probe mystery illness after spike in whales washed up on French beaches

  17-11-2020 13:44 via independent.co.uk
  
  Creatures do not appear to have been hit by ship or caught in trawler's net
  
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• Boris Johnson's saboteur is back, and looking strangely familiar | Marina Hyde

  17-11-2020 13:42 via theguardian.com
  
  The prime minister’s remarks about Scottish devolution are those of a man who is his own disloyal backbencherI see Boris Johnson continues to be a thorn in the prime minister’s side. It has been his political role for more than a decade, so maybe we shouldn’t be surprised at Johnson’s continued failure to act in the government’s interest. Sabotage is his middle name. Sorry – de Sabotage.The departure of the spudhead spads last Friday was supposed to reset the
  
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• 24 hours in a French Covid ward: ‘Before, they applauded every night. Now they tell us it’s just doing our job’

  17-11-2020 13:42 via independent.co.uk
  
  France is more than two weeks into its second coronavirus lockdown, and intensive care wards have been over 95% capacity for more than 10 days now
  
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• Obama scolds 'petulant' Trump but reveals conservative sympathies

  17-11-2020 13:35 via theguardian.com
  
  In interview about new memoir, Obama says ‘I am sympathetic to a certain strain of conservatism’ and lauds ‘gracious’ George BushIn an interview with the Atlantic to mark publication of his memoir A Promised Land, Barack Obama ponders Joe Biden’s chances of working with Republicans in Congress, comes close to admitting to being a never-Trump conservative himself – and compares America under Trump to Central Asia under Genghis Khan.“If we were going to ha
  
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• Obama hails arrival of a more 'caring government' as memoir launches – video

  17-11-2020 13:35 via theguardian.com
  
  In an interview marking the launch of his memoir A Promised Land, Barack Obama tells Oprah Winfrey that the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will help lead the US back to the 'competent, caring government we so badly need'. He lamented the standard of governance over the past four years, saying Biden and Harris will 'level set' and show that the presidency will not label journalists 'enemies of the state' or 'routinely lie'  A Promised Land by Barack Obama review – me
  
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• Workers ‘routinely exploited’ at Indian factories supplying major brands

  17-11-2020 13:22 via independent.co.uk
  
  Workers complain of earning as little as £20 a month in ‘slave-like’ conditions in the world’s second-largest manufacturer and exporter of garments
  
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• Solomon Islands plans ban on Facebook amid criticism of government on platform, reports say

  17-11-2020 13:07 via independent.co.uk
  
  Opposition leader says he cannot ‘see any justification whatsoever’ for move
  
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• Pharrell Williams announces gender-neutral skincare line

  17-11-2020 12:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Musician’s Humanrace products described as perfect for ‘every individual’The musician and entrepreneur Pharrell Williams has announced the release of Humanrace, his long-awaited skincare line. Significantly, it is gender neutral.The products – a powder cleanser, lotus enzyme exfoliator and humidifying cream – are described on the website as being for “every individual”, subtly avoiding any pronoun definition. Continue reading...
  
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