World news

• Some in White House getting early access to COVID-19 vaccine

  13-12-2020 23:42 via independent.co.uk
  
  Some White House officials who work in close proximity to President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will be offered coronavirus vaccines as soon as this week, while its public distribution is limited to front-line health workers and those in nursing homes and long-term care facilities
  
  Read more

• British-Iranian academic jailed for 9 years in Iran for ‘subversive’ research

  13-12-2020 23:05 via independent.co.uk
  
  Foreign Office ‘deeply concerned’ by reports of prison sentence
  
  Read more

• Man shot by police after gunfire following Christmas carol concert at Manhattan cathedral

  13-12-2020 23:04 via independent.co.uk
  
  Gunman taken to hospital in critical condition after firing his weapon into the air
  
  Read more

• Man shot by police after gunfire at end of Christmas carol concert at Manhattan cathedral

  13-12-2020 22:48 via independent.co.uk
  
  A man was shot by police after gunfire erupted at the end of Christmas carol concert at a Manhattan cathedral.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Today Show host Craig Melvin’s brother dies from colon cancer at 43

  13-12-2020 22:12 via independent.co.uk
  
  Craig Melvin paid tribute to Lawrence Meadows on social media
  
  Read more

• Australia news live: wild weather hits south-east Queensland; contact tracing failures to be revealed

  13-12-2020 22:09 via theguardian.com
  
  Strong winds and heavy rain forecast to continue in parts of Queensland’s south-east and northern NSW and report to reveal if Victoria’s contact tracing shortcomings have been fixed. Follow all the latest news updates• Follow coronavirus global news live9.09pm GMT Joy to the world, the Bob has comeBOB KATTER CHRISTMAS EDITION pic.twitter.com/o5zvUgQERw 9.07pm GMT The Herald Sun is reporting that the Portland aluminium smelter in south-west Victoria has received a $76.8m lifeline
  
  Read more

• Electoral college vote may be knockout blow to Trump's ploy to subvert election

  13-12-2020 22:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Formality to cement outcome of election takes on real political significance as Trump continues efforts to undermine resultsPresident’s lies spark political unrest in several cities Donald Trump on Monday could suffer a withering blow to his increasingly hopeless effort to overturn the results of the US presidential election when 538 members of the electoral college will cast their ballots and formally send Joe Biden to the White House.Under the arcane formula which America has followed si
  
  Read more

• Coronavirus live news: London borough to close all schools; Spain 'could achieve herd immunity by summer 2021'

  13-12-2020 22:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Greenwich ‘in a period of exponential growth that demands immediate action’; Spain’s health minister says vaccine could bring herd immunity by summerHow Covid revealed the truth about our worldFDA chief urged by White House to approve Pfizer vaccine ‘or quit’Scientists warn against Christmas gatherings in UKCalifornia’s ICU beds near capacity as hospitalizations hit recordSee all our coronavirus coverage 9.00pm GMT8.42pm GMT The US Centers for Disease Control
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Fetishism makes an exhibition of itself: The Paris gallery portraying upskirting as an art form

  13-12-2020 21:59 via independent.co.uk
  
  ‘The most dangerous thing would be to censor in the name of political correctness,’ says gallery owner
  
  Read more

• Huawei worked on several surveillance systems promoted to identify ethnicity, documents show

  13-12-2020 21:43 via independent.co.uk
  
  Technology included face-scanning cameras that could send ‘Uighur alarm’ to police
  
  Read more

• US treasury hacked by foreign government group – report

  13-12-2020 21:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Concern that hackers who breached treasury and commerce departments used similar tool to break into other agencies Hackers backed by a foreign government have been monitoring internal email traffic at the US treasury department and an agency that decides internet and telecommunications policy, according to people familiar with the matter.“The United States government is aware of these reports and we are taking all necessary steps to identify and remedy any possible issues related to this s
  
  Read more

• Coronavirus: Next few weeks are ‘going to be hell,’ warns New Jersey governor

  13-12-2020 21:18 via independent.co.uk
  
  Politician says people must have small Christmas gatherings this year 
  
  Read more

• Pfizer Covid vaccine trucks leave Michigan factory as FDA says first shots could be administered on Monday

  13-12-2020 20:41 via independent.co.uk
  
  Drug company hopes to ship 40 million doses by the end of the year
  
  Read more

• British–Iranian academic sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran

  13-12-2020 20:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Kameel Ahmady, who has written books on Iran, found guilty of collaborating with hostile stateA British-Iranian anthropologist has been sentenced to eight years in prison after being found guilty of collaborating with a hostile state.The Foreign Office has been made aware of the case of Kameel Ahmady, who said he was detained for 100 days last year without access to legal representation. Unusually, he has not been sent directly to jail following the sentencing. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• The moment landmark hotel demolished in Virginia

  13-12-2020 20:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The former Holiday Inn offered views of Washington DC, but was brought down without a hitch in a controlled implosion.
  
  Read more

• Bolsonaro branded 'homicidally negligent' over Brazil's vaccine planning

  13-12-2020 19:43 via theguardian.com
  
  President accused of ignoring China-produced Covid vaccine because of political expediency Jair Bolsonaro is facing a furious backlash over what critics are calling his “homicidally negligent” failure to prepare a coherent coronavirus vaccination programme as Brazil’s death toll again soars.More than 181,000 Brazilians have died from the disease the president calls “a little flu”, with Latin America’s biggest economy now careering into a painful second wave. C
  
  Read more

• 'The time has arrived': Covid vaccines roll out of Pfizer plant as US nears 300,000 deaths

  13-12-2020 19:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The most complex vaccine distribution project ever in the United States begins on Sunday morningCoronavirus live updatesTrucks hauling trailers loaded with suitcase–sized containers of Covid-19 vaccine rolled out of Pfizer’s manufacturing facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Sunday – launching the largest and most complex vaccine distribution project in the US.The long-wished for development comes against a backdrop of a raging pandemic that has killed almost 300,000 Americans a
  
  Read more

• Hundreds of pupils missing after gunmen attack Nigerian school

  13-12-2020 19:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Officials search forests and contact parents in search for 333 students after Friday’s attackHundreds of Nigerian pupils are missing, with many feared to have been abducted, after gunmen attacked a secondary school in north-western Katsina state.A large group of men armed with AK-47s overran the all-boys Government Science secondary school in Kankara on Friday night, shooting local security, said government officials. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Recording of Queen's Christmas speech reportedly delayed by Brexit impasse

  13-12-2020 19:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Buckingham Palace does not deny suggestion the doubt over a deal has caused postponementBuckingham Palace has refused to deny reports that the Queen is delaying the recording of her Christmas speech until after a decision on a Brexit deal is reached.The monarch usually films the annual address in early to mid December, but has reportedly pushed back the recording to next week due to uncertainty about the UK’s future relationship with the EU, after the deadline for a deal passed. Continue r
  
  Read more

• Classifying Houthis as terrorists will worsen famine in Yemen, Trump is warned

  13-12-2020 18:40 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: US policy, if enacted, would hinder deliveries of badly needed aid in war-torn countryThe Trump administration is facing mounting calls to abandon threats to sanction Houthi rebels in northern Yemen to avoid an imminent danger of extreme famine in the country, where almost two-thirds of the population are in need of food aid.US state department officials are considering designating the Houthis as a terrorist group before the 20 January inauguration of Joe Biden, a move that would comp
  
  Read more

• Polish women travel abroad for abortions ahead of law change

  13-12-2020 18:26 via theguardian.com
  
  Support services in Poland and abroad say numbers increasing even before legislation is tightenedPolish women are increasingly being forced to travel abroad to seek abortions even though a court ruling to tighten the country’s already strict laws has not yet coming into force, activists have said. The constitutional court ruled in October that abortion was illegal even in cases where there were severe foetal abnormalities. Around 1,000 abortions a year – almost all of the country&rsq
  
  Read more

• Netflix pledges to be 'force for good' by diversifying its programming

  13-12-2020 17:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: service announces collaborations with Stormzy strategist Akua Agyemfra and writer Bisha K Ali among othersNetflix has declared it is on a mission to “be a force for good” by increasing the diversity of its programming, and that British film-makers and writers will have their voices “amplified globally” by the streaming service.Announcing a wide-range of new programmes involving Stormzy’s cultural strategist Akua Agyemfra, the film-maker Rapman, and the Se
  
  Read more

• Two arrested in Spain for selling drugs to buy weapons for race war

  13-12-2020 17:27 via independent.co.uk
  
  Suspects planned to create ‘isolated white supremacist groups’, police say
  
  Read more

• ‘F*** Antifa!’: Far-right Proud Boys burn BLM banner while making white supremacy signs at DC rally

  13-12-2020 17:22 via independent.co.uk
  
  Four people were stabbed in Washington DC on Saturday, authorities say
  
  Read more

• Oprah Winfrey offers vacation to ER doctor who spoke out about Arizona’s Covid challenges

  13-12-2020 17:15 via independent.co.uk
  
  ‘We should be taking care of those taking care of us,’ Oprah tweeted on Friday
  
  Read more

• ‘F*** Antifa!’: Proud Boys burn BLM banner while making white supremacy signs as violence erupts at DC rally

  13-12-2020 17:13 via independent.co.uk
  
  Four people were stabbed in Washington DC on Saturday, authorities say
  
  Read more

• ‘The worst form of torture I experienced’: China’s war against Tibetan Buddhism

  13-12-2020 17:12 via independent.co.uk
  
  Condemnation of China by the west has been muzzled in favour of protecting trade interests but the social control, surveillance and crackdown of Tibetan self-determination goes on, writes Brian McGleenon
  
  Read more

• Renewed hope of Brexit deal as Johnson and EU agree to go 'extra mile'

  13-12-2020 16:55 via theguardian.com
  
  British negotiators stay on in Brussels but PM says two sides still ‘very far apart’ on key issuesBritain and the EU have taken a step forward towards striking a post-Brexit trade and security deal after Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen agreed to “go the extra mile” and ordered the resumption of talks in Brussels.The prime minister played down expectations following the telephone conversation with the European commission president, telling the cabinet to prepare for
  
  Read more

• Sudanese PM arrives in Ethiopia with offer to mediate in Tigray

  13-12-2020 16:51 via independent.co.uk
  
  Abdalla Hamdok makes two-day visit to voice concerns about security threat along border with Tigray
  
  Read more

• Speculation swirls over Ivanka Trump’s potential run for US Senate in Florida

  13-12-2020 16:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Trump and Kushner reportedly buying property as a potential base for soon to be ex-first daughter to launch political career Speculation about the post-White House career of Ivanka Trump is now centered on Florida, where the soon to be ex-first daughter and senior aide to her president father has reportedly bought an expensive plot of land for a house and may be considering a run for Senate.Ivanka Trump is frequently mentioned as desiring a political career of her own and during her time working
  
  Read more

• Poland protests: Large crowds march against right-wing government after abortion ban

  13-12-2020 16:39 via independent.co.uk
  
  Protest scheduled to coincide with 39th anniversary of martial law crackdown by country's then-communist regime
  
  Read more

• 'Autoantibodies' may be driving severe Covid cases, study shows

  13-12-2020 16:09 via theguardian.com
  
  Scientists find aberrant immune system in patients with virus could also be cause of ‘long Covid’Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage Dramatic levels of “friendly fire” from the immune system may drive severe Covid-19 disease and leave patients with “long Covid” – when medical problems persist for a significant time after the virus has been beaten – scientists have said.Researchers at Yale University found that Covid-1
  
  Read more

• Olivia Colman on acting: 'Take your job seriously and not yourself'

  13-12-2020 16:08 via theguardian.com
  
  Star of The Crown and Peep Show opens up on her career, revealing she is plagued by self-doubt
  She won an Oscar for her performance as Queen Anne in The Favourite, and is a household name thanks to roles as wide-ranging as Sophie in Peep Show and Queen Elizabeth in The Crown. But, despite such success, Olivia Colman has revealed she is plagued by self-doubt and a fear of unemployment, having never forgotten the pain of repeated rejection at the start of her career.Colman, 46, graduated from the
  
  Read more

• Four stabbed and one shot as violence erupts at pro-Trump rallies attended by far-right

  13-12-2020 14:49 via independent.co.uk
  
  Some 23 arrests made in Washington DC, authorities say
  
  Read more

• Hundreds of Nigerian students missing after attack on school

  13-12-2020 14:30 via independent.co.uk
  
  School attacked by gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles 
  
  Read more

• Paolo Rossi’s home burgled during funeral

  13-12-2020 13:13 via independent.co.uk
  
  The Italian footballer’s funeral was held in Vicenza after he died on Thursday at the age of 64.
  
  Read more

• India farm protests: Mass strike intensifies as deadlock over new laws continues

  13-12-2020 12:37 via independent.co.uk
  
  'Government wants to discredit and crush our movement, but we will continue to protest peacefully’,  protester says
  
  Read more

• Sean Connery remembered by Jackie Stewart

  13-12-2020 12:30 via theguardian.com
  
  25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020The former F1 racing driver on the iconic James Bond star and advocate for all things Scottish who was his friend for 50 yearsDiana Rigg remembered by Mark GatissRead the Observer’s obituaries of 2020 in fullWhen people think of Sean of course they think of James Bond, but he wasn’t really acting when he was playing that part. In real life, when he walked into a room, he walked like James Bond and he talked like James Bond, which people could fin
  
  Read more

• Uganda's young voters are hungry for change – and for Bobi Wine

  13-12-2020 12:15 via theguardian.com
  
  President Museveni promised much when he took power but, 34 years on, violence and poverty are rifeTo survive as an opposition politician in Uganda, you have to hit the campaign trail wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet. You must be ready for war. Ugandan musician turned opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, discovered this when he decided to challenge incumbent Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s 34-year stranglehold on power at elections scheduled for 14 January. On th
  
  Read more

• 'There are many roadblocks': Fears grow over US Covid-19 vaccine rollout

  13-12-2020 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  States will soon begin distributing a vaccine with plans that vary widely, lack federal funding and are often opaqueEleven hospitals in Kentucky will receive doses of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer, perhaps as soon as Monday. Dr Nichelle Jadhav’s hospital is not one of them and she is confused. And she is not alone. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• AOC's cooking live streams perfect the recipe for making politics palatable

  13-12-2020 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is using her millennial’s instinct for social media and her star quality to get her message acrossWhen life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Or talk up a storm about the minimum wage, healthcare and the existential struggle for democracy.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s latest Instagram live stream found the youngest woman ever elected to the US Congress standing at a chopping board with two lemons and a plastic jug as she expounded her political philosophy. Contin
  
  Read more

• Far-right Trump supporters clash with counter-protesters in Washington – video

  13-12-2020 11:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Far-right groups, including Proud Boys, clashed with counter-protesters after a largely peaceful march against US president-elect Joe Biden’s election victory on Saturday.
  Donald Trump made three passes over the cheering protesters in the Marine One helicopter on his way to the New York annual Army-Navy football game before the violence began.Trump supporters are alleging widespread voter fraud during the 3 November election without evidence.Violence flares in Washington as far-right Trump
  
  Read more

• Coronavirus: Germany to enter new lockdown, Angela Merkel announces

  13-12-2020 11:37 via independent.co.uk
  
  Most stores, schools and daycare centers are expected to shut starting Wednesday.
  
  Read more

• Tome raiders: solving the great book heist

  13-12-2020 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  When £2.5m of rare books were stolen in an audacious heist at Feltham in 2017, police wondered, what’s the story?Everything went exactly to plan. Late on the evening of 29 January 2017, Daniel David and Victor Opariuc parked up and made their way towards the Frontier Forwarding customs warehouse in Feltham, less than a mile from Heathrow. After cutting a hole in the fence, the men made their way to the side of the building and scaled a wall to the roof. There, they cut through a skyl
  
  Read more

• Has a year of living with Covid-19 rewired our brains?

  13-12-2020 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The pandemic is expected to precipitate a mental health crisis, but perhaps also a chance to approach life with new clarityShow your support for rigorous, independent Guardian journalismCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageWhen the bubonic plague spread through England in the 17th century, Sir Isaac Newton fled Cambridge where he was studying for the safety of his family home in Lincolnshire. The Newtons did not live in a cramped apartment; they enjoyed a large garde
  
  Read more

• Parisians: ‘We love Britain’s culture, its energy, its people. It’s sad you don’t love us too’

  13-12-2020 09:30 via theguardian.com
  
  People in the French capital are hurt and baffled by the UK’s attitude to France as a no-deal Brexit loomsAt the Châtelet branch of Boulinier, a Paris bookshop that has stocked English language books since 1845, shoppers were yesterday reflecting on a spate of British newspaper headlines threatening to send Royal Navy gunboats to board invading French trawlers in the event of a failure to agree a trade deal.Anglophiles like Didier Aubert, 72, a retired civil servant, said the threats
  
  Read more

• George Clooney: ‘It’s been a crappy year, but we will come out of it better’

  13-12-2020 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Marriage and fatherhood have given George Clooney a new perspective on life, work and the world we all share. While his young twins play outside, he talks about outsmarting war criminals, battles with Boris and dinnertime debates with AmalDad-chat with George Clooney, father of two. While the actor’s twin three-year-olds, Ella and Alexander, are out on the family tennis court, learning to ride their bikes, Clooney sits in a curtained edit suite inside his Los Angeles home, wondering how th
  
  Read more

• WW3 fears surge as Azerbaijan ramps up its military drones to DESTROY Armenian troops

  13-12-2020 04:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  DRONES are reported to have played a huge part in the defeat of Armenian forces during the recent Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan.
  
  Read more

• CARNAGE in Washington DC as Trump supporters and opponents fight with batons and fireworks

  13-12-2020 03:39 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  SUPPORTERS and opponents of Donald Trump took part in violent clashes in Washington DC with the two sides using batons, fireworks and bear spray as weapons.
  
  Read more

• Snow leopard tests positive for Covid-19

  13-12-2020 02:37 via independent.co.uk
  
  Risk of infection from an animal to a human is believed to be low
  
  Read more

Follow @uk_worldnews on Twitter!