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NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian strongly encourages mask-wearing as Victoria’s hotel quarantine system goes under the microscope. Follow live updates todayFollow our global live blogAustralian stats interactive; Vic cases map; NSW cases map; NSW hotspots listState by state Covid restrictions; Melbourne stage 4 restrictions; Vic stage 3 rulesSign up for Guardian Australia’s coronavirus email 6.34am BST Deputy chief medical officer, Dr Nick Coatsworth, is now up giving the daily Covid-19 update. 6.29am BST Good afternoonPolice in New South Wales have charged a 65-year-old publican from Casino in the state’s west after he allegedly failed to comply with the state’s Covid-safe guidelines.According to a statement from the NSW police the licensee was initially fined $5000 after failing a compliance check last Friday. The pub owner admitted he did not have a COVID safety plan, saying a broken printer had prevented him making one.At about 10.45am yesterday officers again attended the pub. When they arrived, the licensee was still unable to produce a COVID-19 Safety Plan. He’s now been issued with a court attendance notice and is due to appear at Casino Local Court on Thursday 8 October 2020.Separately, the licensee of a hotel at Tuncurry on the state’s mid north coast was issued with a $1000 fine following an investigation into alleged breaches of Public Health Orders over the weekend.On Saturday, officers were conducting proactive patrols when they attended the hotel and identified a number of potential breaches.Police said: “Of note, a 21st birthday gathering was underway, which inquiries revealed had been booked for 10 people, however, numerous others were in attendance. Further, social distancing was not being adhered to, in particular in the pub’s gaming area.”The licensee has been fined $1,000, and police say that “investigations remain underway into the planned birthday party”. Continue reading...

The only discernible difference between Russia’s vaccine and others is that this one has skipped most of the testing phases • Russia’s coronavirus vaccine: will it work, and is it safe?Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, there’s been one hope that we’ve all relied on. We’re all waiting, with baited breath, for the day that scientists announce a successful coronavirus vaccine, because then we can get a jab and go back to the humdrum existence we enjoyed in 2019.And, according to Russia, that day is today. In the last 24 hours, Vladimir Putin has apparently approved the world’s first coronavirus vaccine. Big news indeed. Continue reading...

WHO warns displacement of people in Beirut risks accelerating Covid-19 spread; four new cases in Auckland, New Zealand; Australia suffers deadliest day. Follow the latest updatesGlobal report: New Zealand begins mass testing as Australia records deadliest dayRussia approves vaccine despite testing concernsFrench and Dutch on alert over rise in casesLost on the frontline: the 900 US health workers who have diedSee all our coronavirus coverage 6.29am BST Hi, Helen Sullivan here. I recently wrote about being separated from my husband for five months by the pandemic. Now, we’d like to hear from couples and other loved ones kept apart by border closures and flight palavers. If you would like to tell your story, my email address is helen.sullivan@theguardian.com – please do drop me a few lines explaining your own situation. Related: In the months my husband and I were apart, the world changed completely | Helen Sullivan 6.19am BST Melissa Davey, Matilda Boseley and Josh Taylor report for the Guardian: Here is the full story on the Australian state of Victoria, which has recorded its highest overnight death toll from Covid-19, with 21 deaths and 410 new cases announced on Wednesday as the premier Daniel Andrews expressed concern about continued aged care cases and deaths, and a rise of cases in disability services, among health workers, and in regional areas. Related: Victoria records highest Covid death toll at 21 and 410 cases as aged care sector remains hardest hit Continue reading...

‘It’s the same every year. He talks gibberish and leaves,’ says one survivor after plagiarism app detects 93% match in speeches given days apartSurvivors of the atomic bombings of 75 years ago have accused Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, of making light of their concerns after he delivered two near-identical speeches to mark the anniversaries of the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.A plagiarism detection app found that Abe’s speech in Nagasaki on Saturday duplicated 93% of a speech he had given in Hiroshima three days earlier, the Mainichi Shimbun reported. Continue reading...

Coronavirus restrictions have been reintroduced across New Zealand after four new Covid-19 cases were diagnosed in Auckland Continue reading...

Survivors who say alleged assailants go unpunished have begun publicly shaming them onlineEgypt is witnessing a wave of online outrage targeting rape culture and sexual assault, as survivors use social media to shame alleged abusers and demand change.A growing number of social media accounts gather survivors’ testimony and attempt to shame alleged attackers, angry at elite perpetrators they say routinely go unpunished. Continue reading...

A campaign has highlighted plight of unmarried couples from different countries parted for monthsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage Sarah flew home to Germany in April, leaving her boyfriend, Fares, behind in Jordan, unsure when they might see each other again. “She thought it might take a couple of months,” Fares said.Inside, he was steeling himself for as long as six months apart, although “I didn’t tell her that,” he says. Continue reading...

Anger has been building since 2014 coup in which prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha seized power, with students now holding rallies almost daily Thai protesters have broken a long-standing taboo, risking lengthy jail terms to criticise the king, after weeks of student-led pro-democracy rallies that have swept across the country.Over recent weeks, high school and university students have targeted the government of prime minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha, calling for its dissolution and for democratic reforms. Now, some protesters have begun openly criticising the country’s wealthy and powerful monarchy. Continue reading...

Harris and Biden’s late son were longtime allies, helping to cement the relationship behind the Democratic ticketLong before Joe Biden named Kamala Harris as his running mate, and even before they faced off as rival Democratic presidential candidates, the two had bonded over their mutual love for Biden’s son Beau – and grief over his death.Harris’s friendship with Biden’s late son, who died in 2015 at the age of 46 from brain cancer, was something that Biden said he “thought a lot about” as he made the decision to name her as his running mate. “There is no one’s opinion I valued more than Beau’s and I’m proud to have Kamala standing with me on this campaign,” Biden wrote in a campaign email. Continue reading...

Videos have shown congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene voicing racist, antisemitic and Islamophobic viewsMarjorie Taylor Greene, a businesswoman who has expressed racist views and support for the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon, has won the Republican nomination for Georgia’s 14th congressional district.Greene beat the neurosurgeon John Cowan in a primary runoff for the open seat on Tuesday in the deep-red district in north-west Georgia, despite several Republican officials denouncing her campaign after videos surfaced in which she expressed racist, antisemitic and anti-Muslim views. Continue reading...

Security forces target media and beat demonstrators amid anger at vote-rigging and apparent forced exile of opposition candidateProtesters have clashed with riot police for the third night running in cities across Belarus as the European Union threatened to reimpose sanctions over suspected vote-rigging and a violent crackdown on demonstrators.After, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the main challenger to the long-time president said she had fled the country to protect her children, security forces fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse thousands of protesters in the capital, Minsk. Continue reading...

Fears Beijing would export its strict control of the media to Hong Kong have been borne out by arrest of pro-democracy media mogul and raid on his paperHong Kong rallies around Apple Daily after arrest of founder Jimmy Lai On Monday when Zoe*, a local news reporter at Apple Daily returned to her office in Hong Kong it was swarming with police officers. Her boss, the strident pro-democracy activist, media mogul and billionaire Jimmy Lai, was in handcuffs as police led him through the newsroom.Cordons were set up blocking journalists from their desks as police rifled through papers and packed 25 boxes of documents for further investigation. Zoe was ordered to tell the police her home address and phone number and the section of the paper that she worked on. For hours, staffers were followed wherever they went in the building, even to the toilet. She was told not to report on the raid. Continue reading...

New South Wales relents on decision to prevent Canberrans transiting through the state after six-day standoffFollow the Australia coronavirus blog hereCovid restrictions state by state; Melbourne stage 4 rules; Vic stage 3 rulesAustralia’s full Covid stats; Vic cases map; NSW cases map; NSW hotspots listCanberrans stuck at the Victorian border have been given four days to return home, after New South Wales relented on its decision to prevent them transiting through the state.The New South Wales health minister Brad Hazzard said a resolution had been reached on Wednesday, and that drivers must take a direct route and only travel between 9am and 3pm. Continue reading...

States assess widespread damage to crops and property after ‘devastating’ storm brings gusts of more than 100mphHundreds of thousands across the midwest remained without electricity on Tuesday after a powerful storm packing 100mph winds battered the region a day earlier, causing widespread damage to millions of acres of crops and killing at least two people.The storm, known as a derecho, tore from eastern Nebraska across Iowa and parts of Wisconsin and Illinois, blowing over trees, flipping vehicles and causing widespread damage to property and crops. The storm left downed trees and power lines that blocked roadways in Chicago and its suburbs. After leaving Chicago, the most potent part of the storm system moved over north central Indiana. Continue reading...

Biden’s VP pick ‘makes America look more like America’ – and now Harris is better placed than anyone to be the first female presidentJoe Biden may have just chosen the anti-Trump as his running mate – and, if he wins, as his successor.The selection of California senator Kamala Harris for the Democrats’ vice-presidential nomination puts a woman of colour on a major party ticket for the first time in America’s 244-year-old history. Continue reading...

Proposed design slipped through screening process and should not have been selected, state officials sayMississippi will not put a huge mosquito on its new state flag.The state department of archives and history (MDAH) said on Tuesday that a design featuring the blood-sucking insect had slipped through the screening process and should not have been among the selections posted online on Monday. Continue reading...

Kamala Harris, 55, has become the first black woman on a major presidential ticket in US history after democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden named her as his VP pick.From her punishing cross-examinations of Trump officials to previous clashes with Biden over racism, we look back at the California senator's key moments in politicsKamala Harris named as Joe Biden’s running mate – live VP pick updates Continue reading...

Labour seeks review after police and RSPB link sharp rise in killings to hunting seasonLabour has called for grouse shooting to be licensed after a big increase in illegal killings of birds of prey during the coronavirus lockdown, the majority of which, investigators say, are linked to the sport.As the grouse shooting season, known as the Glorious 12th, officially began on Wednesday, the shadow environment secretary, Luke Pollard, called for a review of how shoots operate. Continue reading...

Choice of California senator follows months-long search Harris is first Black woman and first Asian American on a major party’s presidential ticketHarris named as Biden’s running mate – live VP pick updatesJoe Biden has named California senator Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential running mate, a historic choice he believes will bolster his chances of beating Donald Trump in an election year shaped by the global coronavirus pandemic and a national reckoning on race.Harris – Biden’s former Democratic presidential rival and a barrier-breaking former prosecutor – is the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India and is the first Black woman and the first Asian American to be nominated for a major party’s presidential ticket. Continue reading...

State department’s inspector general office finds Pompeo acted within the law, but did not ‘fully assess’ risk of deaths in YemenA US government watchdog investigation into the “emergency” sale of more than $8bn in weapons to Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies has found the state department failed to “fully assess” or mitigate the risk of civilian casualties in Yemen.The report by the state department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that Mike Pompeo had acted within the law in May 2019 by authorizing the sales of bombs and other arms through an emergency declaration, bypassing congressional opposition. Continue reading...

A third night of clashes between demonstrators and security forces broke out near the parliament building in Beirut, in which police used teargas and protesters threw stones and fireworks, in the wake of the devastating explosion that hit the city's port a week ago. The Lebanese prime minister's announcement a day before that the government would resign did little to quell the anger of a people demanding change to the political systemChronic corruption and dirty tricks: Beirutis demand lasting change Continue reading...

The conclusion of this two-part documentary charted the end of the Soviet Union to the Clinton years and beyond, with the former US president joining a superb cast of talking headsIt’s been so long since I experienced it – either personally or simply as a possibility in the wider world – that for a minute or two I couldn’t identify the feeling that arrived as Cuba: Castro vs the World (BBC Two) concluded. It was, I realised after rummaging through distant memory, the sense of having become better informed about some aspect of the world rather than even more flailingly confused about it.The two-hour film, produced by Norma Percy (The Death of Yugoslavia, Inside Europe: Ten Years of Turmoil) traced the history of Cuba from 1959, when “the bearded men from the mountains” – led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara – vanquished US-backed military dictator Fulgencio Batista and began a revolution that would prove it is not the size of your country that matters, it’s what you do with it. Continue reading...

Move to include local authorities in test and trace could allow politicians to pass blame in a Covid second waveCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe saga of the attempts to set up an English test-and-trace system is perhaps the central story of the government’s Covid-19 failure.At the heart of the tale is a prime minister who promised NHS test and trace would be a “world beating” operation. Next to him sits Matt Hancock, the health secretary whose record is now indelibly associated with the smartphone app that was meant to be integral to controlling the virus, but has yet to materialise. Other key actors include Serco, the multinational outsourcing company that has previously been contracted to run everything from prisons to air traffic control – and, at a cost of £108m, was recently put in charge of recruiting and training thousands of call centre workers to establish contact with infected people and ensure that anyone they had been close to went into self-isolation. Continue reading...

Without a radical overhaul the next government could look like the one that resignedLike a break in a merciless heatwave, the fall of Lebanon’s failed government has reduced by a few degrees the political temperature in the country’s towns and cities. One week after the enormous explosion that levelled much of Beirut, its rulers have rightly paid a price. The power of the street had exposed the fragility of Lebanese leaders. Impunity hadn’t won the day after all.But what seemed like much needed relief is more likely to be the start of a familiar pattern; the same line up of ministers who quit in disgrace will now take on a caretaker role, while those who really control the country haggle over the next incarnation of a government that is likely to look very similar to the one that has just resigned. Continue reading...

All teacher-awarded grades to be reinstated as pressure grows in England; Scottish football games axed after lockdown breachesPressure grows on ministers over England A-level results ‘mess’Scotland: mixed feelings about school return following closuresDo teenagers spread coronavirus more than young children?Global coronavirus updates – live 5.31pm BST Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, says that Scotland’s move to reverse result downgrades could intensify competition for university places among English students.She said: “We now have two qualification systems required for entry into UK universities, operating on completely different criteria with wildly different pass rates. 5.18pm BST Robin Swann, Northern Ireland’s health minister, has said there has been a “very concerning” increase in cases of Covid-19 over the last seven days.Swann said there had been 194 positive tests in the last seven days. No further deaths were announced on Tuesday but another 48 diagnoses of the infectious disease were confirmed - bringing the overall tally to 6,188. Continue reading...

Readers share their views on the UK government’s response to Channel migrant crossingsChris Philp “shares” what he calls “the anger and frustration of the public at the appalling number of crossings” (Refugees tell of brutality as people-smuggling across Channel booms, 7 August). What is appalling is his own rhetoric, which is likely to whip up resentment and dehumanise the people desperately trying to reach the UK. Most are fleeing conflict and persecution; they are coming to claim asylum, which they have a legal right to do. The numbers involved are minuscule when presented as a fraction of our population (0.006%), and lower than the normal number entering the UK in non-Covid times to claim asylum. Continue reading...

President says empty seats at a rally won’t ‘look great’Investigation: finding every US healthcare worker who dies fighting Covid-19US health secretary expects vaccine by DecemberCori Bush interview: ‘They don’t know what I know’Sign up to our First Thing newsletter 5.11pm BST Donald Trump has waded into the anthem debate as well as the long-running conversation over the merits of LeBron James and Michael Jordan during a call to Clay Travis’ Fox Sports radio show on Tuesday.Jordan and James are often held up as the two greatest players of the modern NBA era, and the president was asked whom he preferred. “Michael Jordan, plus he wasn’t political so people like him better,” Trump said. 4.52pm BST Donald Trump said people will have to learn to speak “Chinese” if he loses the election, and claimed Joe Biden was the “dumbest” senator, in an interview this morning.Speaking to the conservative pundit Hugh Hewitt, Trump said he had “tariffed the hell out of” China, taking “in billions and billions of dollars” for the US in the process. (In reality, Americans are paying for the tariffs, not China.)“I said [to the highly-respected senator]: ‘Who’s the smartest person in the Senate?’ He gave me a name. Then he said: ‘Who’s the dumbest?’ And he said Joe. And I said: ‘Who’s Joe?’ ‘Joe.’ I said: ‘Who is he? Who is he?’ He said: ‘Joe. You don’t know Joe?’ And we go along, and I said: ‘You’re talking about Biden?’ ‘Yeah, I’m talking about Joe Biden.’ I said: ‘Why, he’s the dumbest in the Senate?’ ‘He’s by far.’” Continue reading...

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya left for Lithuania after election result prompted protest action Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the main opposition candidate in Sunday’s disputed elections in Belarus, has left the country after an apparent threat to her children.In a video published on Tuesday morning, following a second night of clashes between heavily armed police and demonstrators, a visibly distressed Tikhanovskaya indicated she had faced an ultimatum involving her family and was forced to flee for neighbouring Lithuania. “God forbid you face the kind of choice that I faced,” she said. “Children are the most important thing in our lives.” Continue reading...

New infections nearly back to peak in Netherlands as France reports ‘worrying increase’Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageNew daily coronavirus infections in the Netherlands are nearly back to their level at the peak of the pandemic, while France’s prime minister has said it is crucial for his country to avoid a new lockdown amid a “worrying increase” in cases.Jaap van Dissel, the Netherlands’ chief epidemiologist, told the Dutch parliament on Tuesday that 4,036 new Covid-19 cases had been reported in the past week, an increase of 55% on the previous seven days. The figure translates to a weekly average of just over 500, compared to nearly 1,200 at the peak of pandemic. Continue reading...

Dr Scott Atlas ‘will be working with us on coronavirus’ – TrumpAtlas said in June not allowing schools to reopen was ‘ludicrous’Amid increasing public clashes with his top public health advisers on the pandemic, Donald Trump appears to have turned to an academic whose views on swift reopening in the face of coronavirus mirror his own. Related: Covid live news: New Zealand reports first new cases in community; Russia approves vaccine Continue reading...

Research could pave way for cheap supercapacitor storage of renewable energyThe humble house brick has been turned into a battery that can store electricity, raising the possibility that buildings could one day become literal powerhouses.The new technology exploits the porous nature of fired red bricks by filling the pores with tiny nanofibres of a conducting plastic that can store charge. The first bricks store enough electricity to power small lights. But if their capacity can be increased, they may become a low-cost alternative to the lithium-ion batteries currently used. Continue reading...

Bulgarian Aleksandar Antonov disqualified for unspecified ‘breach of terms’With millions of players around the world, the Fantasy Premier League is meant to recreate the competitive excitement and experience of managing a football team in England’s top division.Instead, it has attracted off-pitch intrigue after this year’s champion was disqualified for unspecified reasons in a scandal that has rocked the world of fantasy football. Continue reading...

Auckland has been swiftly put under a three-day lockdown after four cases of coronavirus were confirmed in one family in the city.The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, made the announcement at a late-night press conference after 102 days without any community transmission in New Zealand. The family had not travelled overseas and the source of the infection was unknownCoronavirus latest updates All coronavirus coverage Continue reading...

Experts offer other options as UK government seeks to reduce numbers crossing in boatsThe government insists the way to reduce the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats is to prevent the vessels from leaving France in the first place or by intercepting the boats and returning those attempting to make a crossing.But humanitarian groups and refugee and asylum experts argue the way to reduce the number of attempted crossings is to offer alternative “safe and legal” routes to the UK to claim asylum. Continue reading...

Sputnik V’s development has been marked by worrying opacity and ethical issuesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe race to find a vaccine against Covid-19 has not always been particularly edifying, driven at times by so-called “vaccine nationalism”, much cautioned against by the World Health Organization, which has itself been accused of being invested as much in self-interest and prestige as global public health.Russia’s announcement that it has registered its Sputnik V vaccine as safe and effective for mass production and inoculation even before so-called phase 3 large-scale safety trials, which usually take months, fits the pattern. Continue reading...

Police seize drugs valued at up to €6m and arrest at least 17 suspects at stables At least 17 people are in custody in the Netherlands after police raided a former riding stables that had been transformed into the country’s largest ever illicit drugs “laundry” capable of producing up to 200kg of cocaine a day.Thirteen of those detained were Colombian nationals, police said on Tuesday. Three Dutch citizens – including the 64-year-old owner of the stables, in the northern village of Nijeveen – and one Turkish suspect were also arrested. Continue reading...

Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the main opposition candidate in Belarus' disputed elections, is thought to have left the country for Lithuania as clashes between heavily armed police and demonstrators escalated during a second night of protests follow re-election of longtime ruler Alexander Lukashenko.In an emotional video posted to social media, Tikhanovskaya indicated she had faced an ultimatum and urged people to 'please be careful' adding that 'children are the most important part of our lives'.Lithuania’s foreign minister, Linas Linkevičius, told the Guardian that Tikhanovskay had been detained by Belarusian authorities for seven hours after filing a complaint against vote-riggingBelarus opposition candidate in Lithuania after second night of protests Continue reading...

Auckland to enter lockdown as Ardern confirms four members of a family have tested positiveCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageNew Zealand has recorded four new cases of Covid-19 after 102 days without any community transmission, the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has announced at a late-night press conference.Auckland was swiftly put under a three-day lockdown after four cases were confirmed in one family in the city. The family had not travelled overseas and the source of the infection was unknown. Continue reading...

War Office feared war movie would ‘not go down well with British public’The adventure war film The Bridge on the River Kwai may have swept the board of awards and attracted acclaim as one best films of the 20th century, but the War Office was very nervous “it would not go down well with the British public”, documents reveal.Letters between the Hollywood producer Sam Spiegel and the UK War Office, from whom he was seeking permission for RAF cooperation in making the 1957 film, show tensions over how its plot depicted the conduct of British officers. Continue reading...

Natalie Elphicke distances herself from letter to home secretary about Channel crossingsThe Conservative MP for Dover has distanced herself from rhetoric used by fellow Tories in a letter to the home secretary, in which they referred to “invading migrants” amid an increasingly fraught debate over the rise in Channel crossings.A group of 23 Conservative MPs and two peers on Monday wrote to Priti Patel to demand “stronger enforcement” efforts to combat a “surge in illegal immigration” as the number of arrivals in small boats surpassed the 4,100 mark so far in 2020. Continue reading...

John Quigley has introduced emergency legislation into parliament in a bid to ‘prevent potentially dire consequences for the state’The mining billionaire Clive Palmer is suing the Western Australian government for $30bn, the state’s attorney general has revealed.The WA attorney general, John Quigley, introduced emergency legislation into the state’s parliament on Tuesday in a bid to “prevent potentially dire consequences for the state” after Palmer and his company, Mineralogy, lodged the claim as part of a dispute related to one of the businessman’s iron ore projects in the Pilbara region. Continue reading...

Police in Minsk use rubber bullets and stun grenades against protesters during second night of violence Continue reading...

Guardian investigation finds the Facebook communities are gaining followers as Twitter cracks down on QAnon contentNew and established QAnon groups on Facebook are growing at a rapid pace and helping to spread the baseless and dangerous conspiracy theory to new countries around the world, a Guardian investigation has found.The Guardian has documented more than 170 QAnon groups, pages and accounts across Facebook and Instagram with more than 4.5 million aggregate followers. The Guardian has also documented dedicated communities for QAnon followers in at least 15 countries on Facebook. Continue reading...

Government says it will not cancel trains to seaside after dozens are involved in fightCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageBelgium’s government has ruled out cancelling trains to the seaside after a weekend beach brawl prompted local mayors to call for limits on visitors to the coast.Local politicians across Belgium’s 40-mile (65km) strip of coastline called for action after police confronted dozens of young people, who had been disturbing other holidaymakers, at a beach in Blankenberge on Saturday. Some of the young people threw sand in people’s faces and used parasols as projectiles against police. Three people from Brussels appeared before a judge on Monday charged with assault and battery. Continue reading...

Ebo forest is home to hundreds of rare species including Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzeesA Cameroonian government decree allowing logging in a forest that is home to some of the world’s most endangered species has sparked outrage among local communities and conservation groups.The richly biodiverse Ebo forest is one of the last intact forests in central Africa and home to hundreds of rare flora and animal species. Continue reading...

Her team made half a million calls, recruited 2,000 volunteers, and knocked on 25,000 doors. It paid off: in a stunning upset, she ended a half-century Democratic dynasty in MissouriAugust ninth was always going to be a difficult day to interview Cori Bush. Just five days before, Bush was propelled into the spotlight after winning her primary race in Missouri’s first congressional district, unseating the Democratic incumbent and ending a half-century family dynasty in Missouri.In the days since, Bush has barely had a chance to catch her breath. Continue reading...

Software hailed as a ‘game-changer’ in providing early warning for humanitarian relief efforts as virus fuels conflictCoronavirus is predicted to push more than 1 million people from their homes across the Sahel, creating havoc in an already highly fragile region, according to new forecasting software.Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria in west Africa are predicted to see displacement as a result of the increasing conflict, unemployment and human rights abuses brought on by fallout from the coronavirus, the analytical tool developed by the humanitarian group Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has found. Continue reading...

Shielding rules were relaxed in England on 1 August, but I’m not rushing to the shops or beach any time soonCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageI am one of those people who were told that from 1 August we no longer needed to shield to protect ourselves from the coronavirus.While you might assume that, having been trapped inside our homes for the past 18 weeks, we would embrace our newfound freedom with enthusiasm, the reality remains far from it. Continue reading...

As the Guardian/KHN database shows, too many have given their lives to keep us safe – but with decisive action we can stop Covid-19 in its tracksThey chose not to hold their own children’s hands so they could hold ours. They intubated us and kept our ICU rooms germ-free. They brushed our teeth and switched our position so we could be more comfortable. As they always have, they put our health first, although this time it was in place of their own. Related: Lost on the frontline: US healthcare workers who died fighting Covid-19 Continue reading...

Joseph Wu tells visiting US health secretary Taiwan lives under constant threat of its freedoms being quashed by BeijingChina is trying to turn Taiwan into another Hong Kong, the island’s foreign minister warned on Tuesday as he met with a senior US official making a historic diplomatic trip.A crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong has gathered pace since China imposed a sweeping security law on the financial hub in June, with opposition politicians disqualified and activists arrested. Continue reading...