General news

• Iran shuts schools, cultural centres as coronavirus kills five

  22-02-2020 20:46 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Iran on Saturday ordered the closure of schools, universities and cultural centres after a coronavirus outbreak that has killed five people in the Islamic republic -- the most outside the Far East.The moves came as Iranian authorities reported one more death among 10 new cases of the virus.Since it emerged in December, the new coronavirus has killed 2,345 people in China, the epicentre of the epidemic, and 17 elsewhere in the world.
  
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• Clyburn hits out at Trump over Gestapo comment: ‘Incredible but not surprising’

  05-05-2024 21:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Democrat says country is going off track after Trump compares Biden administration to Germany’s fascist secret policeSenior congressional Democrat James Clyburn has responded to remarks made by Donald Trump at a private event on Saturday in which he compared the Biden administration with the Gestapo secret police in fascist Germany, saying it was “incredible but it’s not surprising”.The 83-year-old South Carolina Democrat added that Trump “is given to hyperbole on e
  
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• Four arrested after £40m cocaine haul found in van in Yorkshire pub car park

  05-05-2024 20:34 via theguardian.com
  
  Three men from Scotland and one from Colombia held in connection with discovery at Stags Head Inn, Lelley, East YorkshireFour men have been arrested after £40m worth of cocaine was found in the back of a van in a Yorkshire village pub car park.About 500kg of the drug was discovered in a Vauxhall Vivaro in the car park of the Stags Head Inn in Lelley, East Yorkshire, the National Crime Agency said. Continue reading...
  
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• Little sign that Sunak will tack towards centre after local elections rout

  05-05-2024 20:08 via theguardian.com
  
  PM and allies seemingly intent on staying the course in face of conflicting calls on how to avoid wipeout when country goes to pollsAs the terrible council and mayoral results rolled in for the Conservatives on Friday night, was there any part of Rishi Sunak that regretted sealing Boris Johnson’s fate as prime minister by resigning as his chancellor less than two years ago?This could have been Johnson’s defeat, hurtling towards a Labour landslide at a general election, with Sunak and
  
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• Labour to target south of England at general election, campaign chief says

  05-05-2024 20:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Pat McFadden says local election results give the party confidence it can win ‘blue wall’ seats that are ‘turning red’Labour is planning to target the south of England heavily at the general election as the local election results show some “blue wall” seats are turning red, Keir Starmer’s election chief has said.The shadow cabinet minister Pat McFadden said Labour was advancing in southern Tory heartlands and it was wrong to think the Lib Dems were the o
  
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• Labour ‘working to get support back’ after losing votes over Gaza stance

  05-05-2024 19:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Analysis shows almost 18% drop in party’s vote in areas of England where more than a fifth are Muslim A senior Labour official has insisted the party wants better lives for Palestinian people as it prepares to shift its campaigning to win back voters opposing its position on Gaza.Pat McFadden, the party’s national election coordinator, said it would “work to get people’s support back” as analysis showed that despite huge gains in council seats, seizing the West Midl
  
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• Democrats rally to Biden’s defense over response to pro-Palestinian student protests

  05-05-2024 19:53 via theguardian.com
  
  Republicans accuse president of weak response, but prominent Democrats claim he ‘has been very strong from the beginning’Some Democrats rallied to the defense of Joe Biden on Sunday as the president came under increased criticism over his response to pro-Palestinian student protests and his handling of Israel’s war on Gaza.Republicans have seized on Biden’s response to the protests, which have seen more than2,000 people arrested around the country, accusing him of a weak
  
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• Mains water begins returning to 32,500 East Sussex properties after pipe burst

  05-05-2024 19:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Southern Water says supplies coming back to St Leonards-on-Sea and Hastings now that rupture in woodland area has been fixedWater has started to return to more than 30,000 homes in East Sussex after a main burst three days ago.Southern Water said in an update on Sunday afternoon that supplies were “gradually being restored” to about 32,5000 properties in St Leonards-on-Sea and Hastings. Continue reading...
  
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• US man diagnosed with brain damage after allegedly being pushed into lake

  05-05-2024 19:31 via theguardian.com
  
  Yolanda George, mother of Christopher Gilbert, calls on police to make arrest after incident in Louisiana in AprilThe family of a 26-year-old Louisiana man who has brain damage after a friend allegedly pushed him into a lake despite him being unable to swim is calling on authorities to deliver them justice.Christopher Gilbert’s family’s pleas came after he nearly drowned on 14 April while at a lakefront restaurant by Lake D’Arbonne in the northern Louisiana town of Farmerville.
  
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• Rwanda admits it can’t guarantee how many asylum seekers it will take in from UK

  05-05-2024 19:13 via theguardian.com
  
  About 52,000 people are eligible under the scheme, but a government spokesperson said Kigali would accept ‘thousands’Rwanda has admitted it cannot guarantee how many people it will take from the UK under Rishi Sunak’s deportation scheme.The east African country did not give assurances that the estimated 52,000 asylum seekers in the UK who are eligible to be sent to Kigali would be accepted, instead saying it would be “thousands”. Continue reading...
  
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• SNP activist aims to challenge John Swinney for party leadership

  05-05-2024 19:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Graeme McCormick claims he will gather requisite number of signatures to force contest instead of unopposed coronationJohn Swinney could face a leadership contest before he becomes Scottish National party leader after an activist said he expected to win enough nominations to stand.Graeme McCormick, a well-known party activist who stood to become SNP president in 2023, claimed he would gather the 100 signatures needed from 20 different party branches to mount a challenge for the leadership. Conti
  
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• Israel shuts down local Al Jazeera offices in ‘dark day for the media’

  05-05-2024 18:53 via theguardian.com
  
  Foreign Press Association decries move under new law based on claim network is a threat to national security Israeli authorities shut down the local offices of Al Jazeera on Sunday, hours after a government vote to use new laws to close the satellite news network’s operations in the country.Critics called the move, which comes as faltering indirect ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas continue, a “dark day for the media” and raised new concerns about the attitude to
  
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• Flooding death toll in south Brazil rises to 75 as over 100 people remain missing

  05-05-2024 18:50 via theguardian.com
  
  Officials in Rio Grande do Sul state say more than 80,000 have been displaced by record water levelsSeventy-five people are now known to have died in the flooding in Brazil’s southern Rio Grande do Sul state, while more than 100 people remain missing, local authorities said on Sunday.The state’s civil defence authority said 101 people were unaccounted for and more than 80,000 had been displaced after record-breaking floods swept across the state, which borders Uruguay and Argentina.
  
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• Hungary tired of ruling elite, Viktor Orbán challenger tells large rural rally

  05-05-2024 18:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Péter Magyar, who is running in European elections, has shot to prominence by pledging to end corruptionA rising challenger to the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has held what he has called the largest countryside political demonstration in the country’s recent history on the latest stop of his campaign tour that has mobilised thousands across Hungary’s rural heartland.About 10,000 people gathered in Debrecen, Hungary’s second-largest city, in support of
  
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• Teenager turns himself in to police after attack on German lawmaker

  05-05-2024 17:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Matthias Ecke, a European parliamentarian for Olaf Scholz’s SPD, was set upon while putting up EU election posters in DresdenA 17-year-old has turned himself in to police in Germany after an attack on a lawmaker that the country’s leaders decried as a threat to democracy.The teenager reported to police in the eastern city of Dresden early on Sunday morning and said he was “the perpetrator who had knocked down the SPD politician”, police said in a statement. Continue readi
  
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• France reclaims world record after baking baguette measuring 140.53m

  05-05-2024 17:56 via theguardian.com
  
  Parisian bakers have claimed victory over rivals in Italy who created a baguette almost 133 metres long in 2019For the past five years, bragging rights over the world’s longest baguette have belonged not to the residents of a small village or a city in France, but rather to a clutch of bakers 500 miles away in Como, Italy.On Sunday a crop of 12 bakers from France set out to rectify this, spending hours kneading, shaping and baking their way back to victory. Continue reading...
  
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• Gaza war surgeon feels ‘criminalised’ after being denied entry to France

  05-05-2024 17:55 via theguardian.com
  
  Prof Ghassan Abu-Sitta says Schengen-wide ban imposed by Germany appears to be attempt to silence witness testimonyA London surgeon who provided testimony on Israel’s war in Gaza after operating during the conflict has said he feels criminalised after being denied entry to France over the weekend.Prof Ghassan Abu-Sitta, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon was due to speak about the war to the French parliament’s upper house on Saturday. However, after arriving at Charles de Gaulle a
  
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• Israel tells Hamas to accept ceasefire terms or risk new onslaught ‘in near future’

  05-05-2024 17:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Netanyahu refuses demands of permanent ceasefire and also moves to shut down Al Jazeera networkSenior Israeli officials ramped up pressure on Hamas on Sunday, saying Israel would refuse any permanent end to hostilities and threatening a new onslaught “in the very near future” if the militant organisation did not accept recently proposed terms for a ceasefire.In a televised address, Benjamin Netanyahu once more rejected Hamas’s demands for a definitive end to the war in Gaza, sa
  
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• Third-party providers a customer data ‘weak spot’, Australian privacy commissioner says

  05-05-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Carly Kind’s comments come after major leak of customer data collected by IT provider for NSW and ACT clubsGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThe Australian privacy commissioner has warned third party suppliers are “a real weak spot” for protecting customer privacy after Australian user details were compromised in a leak of supplier data held by NSW and ACT clubs.Last week more than 1 million people had their personal information including
  
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• ‘Placement poverty’ to be tackled in Labor budget with new payments for student teachers and nurses

  05-05-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Midwives and social workers will also be given $320 weekly payment for undertaking mandatory work placements at universityGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastStudent teachers, nurses, midwives and social workers will receive a $320 weekly payment during their mandatory placements under a new cost-of-living measure in the May budget.The Albanese government will establish a commonwealth practical payment for 68,000 university students and 5,000 vocational educa
  
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• ‘News on Facebook is dead’: memes replace Australian media posts as Meta turns off the tap

  05-05-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Analysis of Facebook data finds engagement with news is at an all-time low – due at least in part to changes to Meta’s algorithmsGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastMeta has refused to enter into new deals with Australian media publishers for the use of their content on Facebook, leading to fears it may again implement a ban on news content appearing on the platform. But an analysis of Facebook data suggests engagement with posts from news organis
  
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• Middle East crisis: Israel suspends broadcasts of Al Jazeera; minister threatens Rafah attack if truce talks undermined – as it happened

  05-05-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Netanyahu cabinet votes to shut down TV network’s operations in Israel; Yoav Gallant says Hamas appear to not be serious about reaching a truce. This live blog is closedIsrael tells Hamas to accept ceasefire terms or risk new onslaught ‘in near future’A local official in southern Lebanon said an Israeli strike on a village on Sunday killed a couple and their child, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.“The dad, the mother and their little son were martyred”, accordin
  
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• Free Madonna concert draws crowd of 1.6m to Brazil’s Copacabana beach

  05-05-2024 16:26 via theguardian.com
  
  Area around Rio de Janeiro beach filled for several blocks as singer closes her Celebration world tourWith the world-famous statue towering over it from Corcovado mountain, Rio de Janeiro is well used to Christ the Redeemer. For one night only this weekend, it also had Madonna.More than a million people thronged Copacabana beach on Saturday night, turning its vast stretch of sand into a massive dancefloor for a free concert by the pop star as she completed her world tour. Continue reading...
  
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• Motorist dies after crashing into White House gate

  05-05-2024 15:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Authorities characterized the wreck as ‘only … a traffic crash’ rather than an intentional, politically motivated actFor the second time since January, a motorist crashed into the gates of the White House on Saturday.The driver in Saturday’s case was pronounced dead at the scene after smashing a speeding car into an outer gate of the US president’s home and workplace. Authorities characterized the wreck as “only … a traffic crash” rather than an
  
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• At least 400 rescued from flooding in Texas as waters continue rising

  05-05-2024 15:25 via theguardian.com
  
  A flood watch remains in effect through Sunday afternoon after forecasters predict additional rainfall in Harris countyHigh waters flooded neighborhoods around Houston on Saturday following heavy rains that resulted in crews rescuing more than 400 people from homes, rooftops and roads engulfed in murky water. Others prepared to evacuate their properties.A flood watch remained in effect through Sunday afternoon after forecasters predicted additional rainfall Saturday night and the likelihood of m
  
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• ‘It’s just not hitting like it used to’: TikTok was in its flop era before it got banned in the US

  05-05-2024 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  I used to be an avid user of TikTok, but the algorithm serves much less delight and serendipity than it used toTikTok is facing its most credible existential threat yet. Last week, the US Congress passed a bill that bans the short-form video app if it does not sell to an American company by this time next year. But as a former avid user whose time on the app has dropped sharply in recent months, I am left wondering – will I even be using the app a year from now?Like many Americans of my de
  
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• ‘There are people in tents writing dissertations’: UK reaches for scale of US campus protests

  05-05-2024 13:56 via theguardian.com
  
  Pro-Palestine protesters hope encampments at universities will contribute to an ‘international student revolt’ Students across Britain have said they hope pro-Palestine protests will reach the same scale as those seen on US campuses as they call for universities to divest from companies supplying arms to Israel.Protests have spread across university campuses in Sheffield, Bristol and Leeds, after a crackdown in the US on protests, which led to mass arrests of students and staff. Cont
  
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• Shadow of war hangs over Orthodox Easter as Zelenskiy and Putin mark holiday

  05-05-2024 12:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Russian president attends service led by one of his staunchest backers while Zelenskiy asserts God is on Kyiv’s sideOrthodox Easter services in Ukraine and Russia have taken on a political tone, as Volodymyr Zelenskiy asserted that God had a “Ukrainian flag on his shoulder” and Vladimir Putin attended a church service led by a staunch supporter of Moscow’s invasion.Noting that Ukraine had now been fighting Russia for 802 days, Zelenskiy called on Ukrainians to pray for ea
  
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• ‘I was happy they still stand beside us’: Palestinians in Rafah on US campus protests

  05-05-2024 12:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Word of the demonstrations that have spread across the west has cheered some in Gaza’s southernmost cityMiddle East crisis – live updatesIn the tented camps and crowded streets of Rafah, the pro-Palestinian campus protests in the US have been followed closely.“We hear a lot of news about students’ demonstrations in American universities … When I saw that, I was very happy that there are still those who stand beside us and in support of us,” said Nevin Abu Sha
  
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• ‘Alarming’ number of lone children held in UK-run facilities in France

  05-05-2024 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Charities say FoI disclosure that 369 such children were held over 21-month period is ‘hugely concerning’More than 350 lone children were held in UK-run detention facilities in northern France over a 21-month period, according to documents disclosed under freedom of information laws.The Home Office has admitted that it failed to keep data on how many properly trained staff looked after the children held in four short-term holding facilities near Calais and Dunkirk in 2022 and 2023. C
  
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