World news

• Frontline workers and those over 75 ‘should be next for Covid vaccine’, say CDC advisers

  20-12-2020 23:51 via independent.co.uk
  
  Moderna vaccine due to be given in coming days
  
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• Miss France runner-up April Benayoum targeted by anti-Semitic tweets

  20-12-2020 23:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Police are investigating insults against April Benayoum after she revealed her Israeli origins.
  
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• Top Chicago city lawyer resigns over Anjanette Young wrongful police raid

  20-12-2020 22:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Footage of February 2019 raid made in error stokes uproarBlack woman was handcuffed and not allowed to dressThe city of Chicago’s top attorney resigned on Sunday, in the fallout from a botched and wrongful police raid on the home of a Black woman who was not allowed to put on clothes before being handcuffed. Related: 'I feared for my life': Chicago woman was targeted in raid when police went to wrong addressContinue reading...
  
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• Iceland: Town of Seydisfjordur evacuated after mudslide hits

  20-12-2020 22:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  An 11-year-old boy had no time to dress as he and his father were forced to run from their home.
  
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• Trump attempt to overturn election is 'nutty and loopy', Romney says

  20-12-2020 21:21 via theguardian.com
  
  Utah Republican decries flirtation with Flynn martial law planTrump wanted conspiracy theorist Powell as special counselDonald Trump’s flirtation with declaring martial law in battleground states and appointing a conspiracy theorist as special counsel to help his attempt to overturn defeat by Joe Biden are “really sad” and “nutty and loopy”, Mitt Romney said on Sunday. Related: Biden mulls punishments for Russia over suspected role in government hackContinue reading
  
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• Dozens of Al Jazeera journalists allegedly hacked using Israeli firm's spyware

  20-12-2020 21:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Citizen Lab researchers say cyber-attack using NSO Group software likely ordered by Saudia Arabia and UAE
  iPhones vulnerable to hacking tool for months, researchers saySpyware sold by an Israeli private intelligence firm was allegedly used to hack the phones of dozens of Al Jazeera journalists in an unprecedented cyber-attack that is likely to have been ordered by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to leading researchers.In a stunning new report, researchers at Citizen Lab at t
  
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• US cyber-attack: Around 50 firms 'genuinely impacted' by massive breach

  20-12-2020 20:54 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The expert whose company uncovered the hack also backs US officials' view that Russia was behind it.
  
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• UK faces Brexit limbo after talks deadline missed

  20-12-2020 20:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Britain risks weeks without trade transition plans from 1 January after missing EU parliament Sunday deadlineNegotiators of a Brexit trade deal inched towards a compromise on fishing rights on Sunday but missed a major deadline, raising the prospect of weeks without arrangements from 1 January even in the event of agreement.The teams led by the chief UK negotiator, David Frost, and his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, were expected to continue talks on Monday despite the European parliament&rsquo
  
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• Fox News retracts Smartmatic voting machine fraud claim in staged video

  20-12-2020 20:26 via theguardian.com
  
  Segment airs on shows hosted by Dobbs, Pirro and BartiromoSmartmatic threatens action for ‘false and defamatory claims’Fox News has taken a further step back from Donald Trump’s baseless allegations of election fraud with a bizarre apparent legal retraction aired during shows hosted by some of the president’s most fervent supporters. Related: Trump attempt to overturn election is 'nutty and loopy', Romney saysContinue reading...
  
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• New coronavirus variant: What do we know?

  20-12-2020 20:12 via bbc.co.uk
  
  How has a new coronavirus variant become the most common form of the virus in parts of England?
  
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• Biden’s niece avoids prison time for driving under the influence crash

  20-12-2020 19:06 via independent.co.uk
  
  Caroline Biden’s arraignment was one day after 3 November’s presidential election
  
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• EU states begin suspending all flight travel from UK over new Covid strain

  20-12-2020 19:05 via independent.co.uk
  
  Five EU countries halt incoming journeys from UK as others looks poised to follow suit
  
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• Germany and Finland bring home women from Islamic State camps

  20-12-2020 18:49 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Three of the women are under investigation for allegedly belonging to the Islamic State (IS) group.
  
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• What do we know about the fast-spreading Covid variant in UK?

  20-12-2020 18:34 via theguardian.com
  
  What can scientists tell us about the new mutation of Sars-CoV-2 that is circulating in south-east England? Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage A fast-spreading variant of Sars-CoV-2 – the virus that causes Covid-19 – compelled Boris Johnson to scale back his government’s “Christmas bubble” plans for England, including a “stay at home” order covering London and much of the south and east of England.These additional restrict
  
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• Biden mulls punishments for Russia over suspected role in government hack

  20-12-2020 18:26 via theguardian.com
  
  President-elect will consider options for unprecedented attackWhat we know – and still don’t – about the cyber-attackAs president-elect Joe Biden weighed options to punish Russia for its suspected hacking of US government agencies and companies, one leading Republican accused Moscow of “acting with impunity” and others called for retaliatory strikes. Related: Trump attempt to overturn election is 'nutty and loopy', Romney saysContinue reading...
  
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• Thailand to test thousands after shrimp market coronavirus outbreak

  20-12-2020 18:21 via independent.co.uk
  
  Thailand had previously kept the epidemic in check, recording little more than 5,000 Covid-19 cases
  
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• US nursing homes face daunting task of getting consent before they give coronavirus vaccines

  20-12-2020 18:11 via independent.co.uk
  
  Facilities must track down some residents’ relatives or attorneys, which could take days or weeks
  
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• Kyle Rittenhouse is funding his legal defence team by selling ‘Free Kyle’ merchandise

  20-12-2020 17:59 via independent.co.uk
  
  Gym gear, hats and T-shirts available on website
  
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• Arizona migrant border deaths on track for record amid heat

  20-12-2020 17:41 via independent.co.uk
  
  After a record hot and dry summer, more deaths among border-crossers have been documented in Arizona's desert and mountains
  
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• 'Want to do the Spacegirl dance with me?' How to talk to teens this Christmas

  20-12-2020 17:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Between cancelled school formals and gap years, it’s a bleak time to be a teenager – but Nina Dillon Britton knows the right words to sayGuides for talking to teenagers range from the useless to the psychopathic. “Really listen,” one reads, “control your emotions,” says another, “water daily and place in full sun,” suggests a third.For boomers, or even the old-at-heart millennials among us, this advice won’t equip you for climbing the mountin
  
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• Good Riddance 2020: the ultimate New Year's Eve songs, as voted by you

  20-12-2020 17:30 via theguardian.com
  
  We asked you to help us create an epic end of year playlist to see out the bin fire that has been 2020. After nearly 10,000 votes, here it isWe asked you, Guardian readers, to nominate the song you’d want on the ultimate New Year’s Eve playlist: one that represents the year we’ve had, the year we’re hoping for, or just the way we’ll feel (and the words we’ll be screaming) at midnight. Then, 9,534 of you voted on them.It was all over, though, once the Mountain
  
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• Bolosonaro says Covid vaccine may turn people into crocodiles in bizarre rant

  20-12-2020 17:12 via independent.co.uk
  
  President also suggested women may grow beards as a result of jab
  
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• Taiwan deploys ships and aircraft as Chinese carrier passes island

  20-12-2020 17:00 via independent.co.uk
  
  Taiwan has complained of repeated Chinese military activity, including China's regular flying of air force aircraft near the island
  
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• Pence mocked by SNL for getting vaccine after letting Covid ‘spread everywhere’

  20-12-2020 16:42 via independent.co.uk
  
  Outgoing US vice president was administered treatment live on TV on Friday 
  
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• CDC issues new guidance on allergic reactions to Covid vaccine

  20-12-2020 16:36 via independent.co.uk
  
  Agency reccomends those with severe reaction to first shot not take second
  
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• CPS pursuing Harry Dunn's alleged killer despite diplomatic immunity, parents told

  20-12-2020 15:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Anne Sacoolas was charged with causing the teenager’s death by dangerous driving 12 months agoThe Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has told Harry Dunn‘s parents it will continue to pursue the prosecution of their son’s alleged killer, despite the high court ruling she had diplomatic immunity.Anne Sacoolas was charged with causing the teenager’s death by dangerous driving 12 months ago after a fatal road crash outside a US military base in Northamptonshire on 27 August last
  
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• Jeremy Bulloch obituary

  20-12-2020 14:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Stage and screen actor who played the bounty hunter Boba Fett in the Star Wars filmsJeremy Bulloch, who has died aged 75, was a busy character actor who staked a claim for cinematic immortality by playing the inscrutable Boba Fett in the Star Wars films. A masked, enigmatic bounty hunter with a jet pack and distinctive costume design, Boba Fett debuted in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), capturing and carbon-freezing Han Solo (Harrison Ford) in order to convey him to the slug-like paymaster Jabba
  
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• EU states begin suspending all travel from UK over new Covid strain

  20-12-2020 14:46 via independent.co.uk
  
  EU states have started suspending all incoming travel from the UK amid mounting concern over a new strain of Covid-19.
  
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• Keir Starmer: Johnson is asking public to pay for his incompetence – video

  20-12-2020 14:32 via theguardian.com
  
  The Labour leader labels the decision on Saturday 19 December to cancel the planned Christmas relaxation of Covid restrictions an 'act of gross negligence by a prime minister who once again has been caught behind the curve'. Boris Johnson announced swaths of the south-east of England would be put in a new tier 4 to contain a new strain of the virus just days after he insisted Christmas plans could go ahead. 'We have a prime minister who is so scared of being unpopular that he is incapable of mak
  
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• Italy joins other EU states in suspending all travel from UK due to new Covid strain

  20-12-2020 14:29 via independent.co.uk
  
  Italy has joined a number of other EU countries in banning incoming travel from the UK amid mounting concern over a new strain of Covid-19.
  
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• Nigeria kidnapping: Mahuta children rescued after gun battle

  20-12-2020 14:25 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Police say vigilantes helped rescue 84 children after Nigeria's second mass kidnapping in eight days.
  
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• 'Zak's an icon': the long fight for justice over death of Greek LGBT activist

  20-12-2020 13:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Zak Kostopoulos’s family say murder charges must be brought in a case that has exposed deep homophobiaDays after his death in the heart of Athens, the image of Zak Kostopoulos began to appear across the city centre, on buildings and nondescript office blocks, the marble steps of neoclassical mansions, walls and columns.On Gladstonos street there were also words, some sprayed, some stencilled, some handwritten, but all amounting to the same thing: a memorial to a man who dared to be differe
  
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• The most exciting scientific breakthroughs of 2020, chosen by scientists

  20-12-2020 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The response to Covid-19 has been momentous but discoveries in AI, diet, conservation, space and beyond, show the power of science to improve the world post-pandemic
  In 2020 the race to space changed gear. The May launch of the SpaceX vehicle Crew Dragon was the first time a private vehicle had delivered astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). It was deeply impressive, but also featureless… sleek, white inner walls replaced the complex instrument panels of old, and it was cle
  
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• New Covid strain 'out of control', says Matt Hancock – video

  20-12-2020 12:57 via theguardian.com
  
  There is a 'long way to go' before a return to normality, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, has warned, after saying a new Covid variant was 'out of control' in the UK. Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show and Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Hancock suggested the new tier 4 restrictions announced on Saturday may have to remain in place for several months until vaccines have been administered across the countryEngland's new Covid restrictions likely to stay 'for months' until vaccine rolloutPoli
  
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• Moderna vaccine shipments set to arrive in US on Monday, says Operation Warp Speed chief

  20-12-2020 12:47 via independent.co.uk
  
  The CDC advisory panel endorsed the Moderna coronavirus vaccine for use in adults late on Saturday 
  
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• Was the Trump Christmas card photoshopped?

  20-12-2020 12:39 via independent.co.uk
  
  Social media users accused US first lady of manipulating portrait
  
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• Joe Biden and Mexico’s president vow to cooperate on immigration

  20-12-2020 11:42 via independent.co.uk
  
  The two leaders say they share a desire to address the reasons for migration in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and southern Mexico
  
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• London's St Pancras station packed as travellers flee tier 4 restrictions on Saturday – video

  20-12-2020 11:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Throngs of travellers congregated at London's St Pancras train station on Saturday 19 December as they sought to flee the city before it was placed in tier 4 at midnight. Swaths of south-east England were placed in the new highest tier as Boris Johnson abandoned attempts to relax Covid restrictions over Christmas to counter a highly infectious new strain of the virus. The announcement prompted a rush on London train stationsCoronavirus live updatesEngland's new Covid restrictions likely to stay
  
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• My perfect Christmas playlist, by Michael Kiwanuka, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Tim Burgess

  20-12-2020 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Pop stars who lit up 2020 talk about their Christmas routines and share the tracks they turn to on the big day – scroll down to hear their choices2020 Mercury prize winner and associate of mysterious band of the year Sault Continue reading...
  
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• The Brexit bonanza for Spain: Cottage industries spring up to help bewildered expats navigate new paperwork

  20-12-2020 10:53 via independent.co.uk
  
  Spain has the highest number of British residents of any EU country with at least 300,000, now many will have to deal with the beauracratic realities of Brexit, reports Graham Keeley in Barcelona
  
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• 'Trump is crazy': Hezbollah sees threat in US president's final days

  20-12-2020 10:17 via theguardian.com
  
  Leaders fear Donald Trump and Israel will act against Iran and Hezbollah before Joe Biden’s arrivalFor the past four years, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has fought a war in Syria, supported Iraqi forces and stage-managed the politics of its homeland, all the while trying to avoid facing off with Israel. Yet its exhausted leaders fear the last gasps of Donald Trump’s presidency could deliver threats that eclipse everything else.In the organisation’s heartland, Hezbollah
  
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• Trump's flurry of dodgy deals will not bring the Middle East any peace

  20-12-2020 10:15 via theguardian.com
  
  The outgoing US president has his eyes on a Saudi Arabia-Israel accord – no matter who gets hurt Peace deals that entrench injustice, punish the weak and are propelled by greed, blackmail and weapons sales have precious little to do with peace – and are unlikely to endure. Yet the Middle East has witnessed a recent spate of such dodgy deals. All concern Israel and all were hastily cobbled together by the White House. As his curtailed presidency grinds to an unlamented close, Donald T
  
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• What does the future hold for the European Union?

  20-12-2020 09:56 via independent.co.uk
  
  Much has been made of Britain’s prospects outside the European Union, while compariatively little - on this side of the Channel at least - has been said about what’s in store for the remaining 27 member states. Sean O’Grady considers the EU’s reasons to be cheerful - and fearful - once Brexit is finally over
  
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• Fiji cyclone death toll rises to 4 with 1 missing

  20-12-2020 07:59 via independent.co.uk
  
  The death toll from a powerful cyclone that battered the Pacific island nation of Fiji last week has risen to four with one missing
  
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• We need even tougher curbs to fight this new coronavirus strain

  20-12-2020 07:40 via theguardian.com
  
  The virus is likely to have spread more widely than the south-east of England, so the lockdown is likely to expand
  Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageWhile the country has obsessed over the Christmas restrictions over the last few weeks the real story lay elsewhere, it transpires. A new strain of the coronavirus emerged a couple of months ago, probably somewhere in the north-east corner of Kent, but went unnoticed for weeks. New viruses emerge all the time, but the
  
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• Netherlands bans flights from UK over new Covid-19 strain

  20-12-2020 01:47 via independent.co.uk
  
  One case of mutant variant already detected inside Dutch borders
  
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• Covid vaccine: 'Disappearing' needles and other rumours debunked

  20-12-2020 01:35 via bbc.co.uk
  
  We examine widely shared false claims about vaccines - from "disappearing" needles to a "dead" nurse.
  
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• Christmas celebrations to go ahead in Bethlehem

  20-12-2020 01:03 via bbc.co.uk
  
  BBC Middle East correspondent Yolande Knell joins the rehearsals for the festive processions.
  
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• Kim Jong-un crackdown: North Korea enforces 'unreasonable' covid rules despite no cases

  20-12-2020 00:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  NORTH KOREA has called on its citizens to strictly comply with social distancing at workplaces despite the hermit nation still not reporting any cases.
  
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• Donald Trump 'squandered' chance to end North Korea's nuclear programme - top scientist

  20-12-2020 00:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  DONALD Trump "squandered" an opportunity to strike a nuclear deal with North Korea, according to a world leading plutonium scientist.
  
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