Latest in flurry of launches draws particular criticism amid coronavirus pandemic
North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the ocean off its east coast on Sunday, the latest in an unprecedented flurry of launches that South Korea decried as ?€?inappropriate?€? amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
Two ?€?short-range projectiles?€? were launched from the coastal Wonsan area and flew 230km (143 miles) at a maximum altitude of 30km (19 miles), South Korea?€?s joint chiefs of staff said.
Campaigners say plan will end up fuelling conflict and human rights abuses
The government has quietly drawn up proposals to lend other countries £1bn of public money so that they can buy British-made bombs and surveillance technology.
The move has been attacked by arms-control campaigners who say that taxpayers?€? cash may end up fuelling conflict and human rights abuses.
The militant group?€?s refusal represents a setback for US-brokered peace talks
The Taliban refused to begin talks with the Afghan government?€?s new negotiating team on Saturday, in a setback to the US-brokered peace process for one of the world?€?s longest-running conflicts.
As Boris Johnson went into solitary confinement in his flat above No 11 Downing Street on Friday, having tested positive for Covid-19, a member of his staff noted how the atmosphere had quickly changed at the heart of power. It was not just the PM who had taken himself out of circulation in the preceding hours. ?€?There are quite a lot of others not here now because they are self-isolating,?€? said the official. ?€?Those who are, are just getting on with their jobs. The whole place has become very quiet.?€?
Downing Street is a huge rambling complex of corridors and offices in which staff can, in normal times, move fairly freely, running errands and attending meetings in small rooms in No 10, No 11 and the Cabinet Office. Until Thursday, the place had buzzed with activity, day and night. Many members of staff were exhausted, working 18-hour days, or more, at what had for weeks been the national nerve centre for coordinating responses to the pandemic. Some were sleeping in the building to avoid the risks of public transport and to save time.
?€?Zoombombers?€? broadcast explicit imagery or abuse other users in video hangouts
Working and socialising from home has brought new risks to everyday life, as webcam meetings and chatroom cocktail hours contend with privacy invasions, phishing attacks and ?€?zoombombings?€? - uninvited guests abusing the popular video service to broadcast shocking imagery to all.
Public Zoom hangouts have become a popular way to spend time for isolated remote workers, who are joining calls with names such as ?€?WFH Happy Hour?€? to spend time in the company of others.
Government responses to climate breakdown and to the challenges of poverty and inequality must be changed permanently after the coronavirus has been dealt with, leading scientists have urged, as the actions taken to suppress the spread of the virus have revealed what measures are possible in an emergency.
The Covid-19 crisis has revealed what governments are capable of doing and shone a new light on the motivation for past policies and their outcomes, said Sir Michael Marmot, professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London, and chair of the commission of the social determinants of health at the World Health Organisation.
Every citizen in the United Kingdom must play a part if the number of deaths from coronavirus are to be kept below 20,000, the national medical director has said.
The call for a national effort to reduce deaths came as the total who have died rose by 260 since Friday to 1,019. In total, 17,089 have tested positive in the UK.
More than 11 million people tuned in to watch Pope Francis deliver a blessing in an empty Saint Peter?€?s Square, television bosses have said, as the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, said the EU risked losing its purpose.
The pope?€?s blessing, Urbi et Orbi(To the city and the world)is usually reserved for Christmas Day and Easter Sunday, with thousands flocking to take part.
Foreign Office accused of failing thousands marooned by pandemic around the world
Britons stranded abroad due to the coronavirus pandemic are being faced with flights home costing more than £40,000, prompting a wave of accusations that the Foreign Office is failing to adequately support people desperate to come home.
Britons in New Zealand told the Observer that the only available flights to the UK are prohibitively priced with even the cheaper tickets costing as much as £15,000. A Qatari Airlines flight from Auckland to London on 31 March was priced at NZ$83,534 (£40,096).
The Senakw development aims to ease the city?€?s chronic housing crisis - and to challenge the mindset that indigeneity and urbanity are incompatible
The scrubby, vacant patch beneath the Burrard Street Bridge in Vancouver looks at first glance like a typical example of the type of derelict nook common to all cities: 11.7 acres of former railway lands, over which tens of thousands of people drive every day.
This is not any old swath of underused space, however. It?€?s one of Canada?€?s smallest First Nations reserves, where dozens of Squamish families once lived. The village was destroyed by provincial authorities more than a century ago.
Amazon have arrived in force in rapidly expanding Hyderabad, with designs on the currently almost non-existent Indian e-commence market
The futuristic lobby of the new Amazon building in Hyderabad feels as though it should have a permanent orchestra blasting out Also Sprach Zarathustra. The scale is intended to awe. A large slogan on a wall suggests the company is ?€?Delivering smiles?€?. The only sound that rises above the hush is a synthesised beep, coming from a giant screen playing a video of the campus at various stages of its construction.
Built on nine acres in this Indian city?€?s financial district, it is Amazon?€?s single largest building globally and the only Amazon-owned campus outside the US. It can house over 15,000 employees, but its size is its main architectural feature: it resembles the same cube of glass steel and chrome seen in corporate offices across Hyderabad, though a flash of magenta reflected in one of the top floor windows, from a billowing sari across the road, is a nice Indian touch.
Minibuses that run on Friday evenings and Saturdays buck state?€?s religious restrictions
Tel Aviv is one of Israel?€?s most dynamic cities, but the latest local craze could appear fairly humdrum to outsiders - a bus service that runs at weekends.
Packed 19-seat minibuses fill up fast with passengers, who excitedly gossip about the new routes. People patiently queue at bus stops, knowing they might have to wait for two or three buses to pass before there is a space. Still, they are upbeat. ?€?It?€?s a pleasure,?€? said Ben Uzan, a 30-year-old electronic engineer. ?€?It?€?s a blessed initiative.?€?
The Garbage Cafe in Ambikapur, India, is helping to tackle the country?€?s plastic waste problem - and their novel idea is catching on
On bad days, when his employer made some excuse for not paying him his paltry daily wage, Ram Yadav?€?s main meal used to be dry chapatis, with salt and raw onion for flavour. Sometimes he just went hungry. For a ragpicker like him, one of the thousands of Indians who make a living bringing in plastic waste for recycling, eating in a cafe or restaurant was the stuff of fairytales.
But last week, Yadav was sitting at a table at the Garbage Cafe in Ambikapur, in the state of Chhattisgarh, over a piping hot meal of dal, aloo gobi, poppadoms and rice. He earned the food in exchange for bringing in 1kg of plastic waste. ?€?The hot meal I get here lasts me all day. And it feels good to sit at a table like everyone else,?€? he said.
Could frilly satin and lace underwear, along with form-fitting ?€?shapewear?€?, really replace the traditional vest and Y-fronts?
Decades ago, Prince sported high-cut, leather-look women?€?s briefs on stage, and Rod Stewart borrowed satin knickers from his then girlfriend, Britt Ekland, to wear under tight trousers while performing. Now, ranges of male lingerie are being launched for the man on the street to buy - raising the question: will it catch on?
One man thinks so. Jules Parker, 54, is a full-time metalworker who has set up Moot Lingerie, which combines traditional male underwear shapes with non-traditional lingerie flourishes and fabrics.
Separate incidents include 66-year-old woman and police officers allegedly being spat at and coughed on
A 14-year-old boy has been charged after a woman was allegedly coughed on and spat at in Greater Manchester, while a 38-year-old man accused of spitting blood in the face of police officers has been remanded in custody.
There have been multiple reports of people deliberately coughing at others, including NHS staff, in an attempt to frighten them as anxiety grows amid the coronavirus outbreak.
President had triggered confusion and alarm, with New York governor responding that sealing off state would be ?€?federal declaration of war?€?; meanwhile more than 10,000 have died in Italy. Follow the latest updates
Thailand has 143 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total of cases since the outbreak to 1,388, the spokesman of the government?€?s Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) said on Sunday.
It also reported one new fatality, bringing Thailand?€?s since the outbreak started to seven.
Following Trump?€?s decision not to propose a quarantine over New York and neighbouring states, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued a warning against non-essential travel in the region instead.
?€?Due to extensive community transmission of Covid-19 in the area, CDC urges residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to refrain from non-essential domestic travel for 14 days effective immediately,?€? said the warning issued late on Saturday, local time.
At the recommendation of the Coronavirus Task Force & after consulting with @NYGovCuomo, @GovMurphy, & @GovNedLamont, @CDCgov issued a Domestic Travel Advisory urging residents of NY, NJ, & CT to refrain from non-essential travel for the next 14 days. https://t.co/PtEI5IXWe4
South African police and soldiers have used rubber bullets to enforce lockdown after hundreds of shoppers gathered outside a supermarket in Johannesburg.
The incident came on Saturday, the second day of the 21-day lockdown that was ordered last week by president Cyril Ramaphosa to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Donald Trump appeared to back away from talk of a quarantine on New York and other states after Andrew Cuomo, the New York governor, warned that sealing off the state would lead to ?€?chaos and mayhem?€? and amount to a ?€?federal declaration of war?€?.
When a woman and six children were ritualistically killed in the indigenous community of Alto Terrón the official response was complicated by the absence of police and health services
At the Iglesia de Dios church deep in the rainforest of Panama?€?s Caribbean coast, a number of unsettling objects attest to the horrific events which took place here.
A black and red accordion stands among the overturned pews, children?€?s belongings are strewn across the floor, and a Bible - open at the Book of Revelation - rests on the wooden pulpit.
Australian safe haven visa holder Amir denied re-entry and sent back to Europe in case reminiscent of detained footballer Hakeem al-Araibi
Refugee advocates fear time is running out for a refugee to return to his Australian home after he was denied the right to board a flight from Indonesia to Australia because of his visa status.
In what advocates fear may be a repeat of the Hakeem al-Araibi case, which left a refugee wrongly detained in a Thai prison after a series of bureaucratic bungles over his visa status, Amir, a young Iranian refugee on an Australian safe haven visa, has been sent back to Turkey amid the coronavirus crisis.
Swipe at lawmakers as judge says only ?€?undemocratic and authoritarian regimes?€? seek to ban peaceful protests
Government opponents and human rights activists have welcomed a decision by Uganda?€?s constitutional court to overturn legislation that gave police ?€?supernatural powers?€? to stop public gatherings and protests.
?€?It is only in undemocratic and authoritarian regimes that peaceful protests and public gatherings of a political nature are not tolerated,?€? said Justice Cheborion Barishaki in a ruling on Thursday.
Experts warn leaders of huge social and economic consequences of failing to support developing states against ?€?unprecedented threat?€?
Economists and global health experts have called on G20 leaders to provide trillions of dollars to poorer countries to shore up ailing healthcare systems and economies, or face a disaster that will rebound on wealthier states through migration and health crises.
Twenty experts, among them four Nobel prizewinners, including Joseph Stiglitz, Lord Nicholas Stern and seven chief economists of the World Bank and other development banks, have written to G20 leaders to warn of ?€?unimaginable health and social impacts?€? as coronavirus rips through the developing world, taking overburdened healthcare systems beyond breaking point, and causing economic and social devastation.
Matatus, the shared, tightly-packed minibuses popular throughout the country, are feared to be a weak link in efforts to contain coronavirus, but conductors are working to make journeys as hygienic as possible
As coronavirus arrives in Kenya, retreat behind closed doors is only an alternative for those who can afford it
All photographs by Duncan Moore
Benson Kinyale is a security guard who works the door at a luxury apartment complex in the Parklands neighbourhood of Nairobi. While residents of the building have started to hoard supplies and stay at home because of Covid-19, he continues to make the 80km commute by bus from his home outside the city, six days a week.
He knows standing outside and opening doors all day is now a high-risk activity, as is travelling on a crowded matatu minibus almost every day. But he has little choice.
Move to makeshift facility in remote village sparks fears over social distancing and access to water, heat and power
Authorities in Bosnia have ordered the transfer of thousands of migrants to a remote camp in Lipa, a village about 25 kilometres from the border with Croatia, due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
In a document seen by the Guardian, the Biha? city civil defence headquarters asked that the move be carried out ?€?in order to take urgent measures to prevent the onset of the disease caused by Covid-19?€?.
Covid-19 is a new virus. Its high transmission rate and rapid exponential growth make its effects particularly serious. We are seeing how, in country after country, this is now far more than a public health issue. Politicians everywhere are having to balance their responses to the health consequences of Covid-19 with the needs of their economies and societies. The interactions are complex and can be highly contextual as differences in the strength of the economy, the age of the population and local health systems and society all interact. People and businesses are hurting and fearful for the future.
There are many lessons from countries where the disease appeared early in the pandemic, but global leaders also need to be aware of the global context. It is right that we scrutinise our leaders?€? actions, but it is right because we all need to learn quickly, and to improve our responses. In such a rapidly evolving situation it is far too early to judge what has worked and what has not. What is critical is that we develop our actions fast in response to new information.
As I walk across the hospital complex and pause to look at the London tower blocks in the near distance, life could not be further removed from the green benches of parliament, a mere 45 minutes walk away. Covid-19 has changed everything. In mental health services, in the central London epicentre of Britain?€?s outbreak, we are used to caring for people who have severe mental illness, but we have been confronted with a new reality of caring for people who are also infected with coronavirus.
Hundreds of healthcare colleagues are already off sick. Others are self-isolating because a family member is showing symptoms. Our service is at maximum stretch.
We?€?re about to enter our fourth week of lockdown in Italy, our sixth of home-schooling, and we?€?ve begun to glimpse minor positives. It?€?s as if we?€?re all at that stage of musical chairs when the music has stopped. The loud, relentless run-around is over. We?€?ve passed the point of the nervous scramble to get what we need. And now - even if we?€?re not where, with whom or with all we want - that is just where we?€?re at. We know the music isn?€?t starting up again for a long time. And that subtly changes your attitude towards who?€?s alongside you. Barely-known neighbours have come to seem like comrades in the trenches.
There?€?s something profound about what is happening in our small palazzo. Giorgio delivers us a newspaper every day. Silvia gives our son an old tablet (studiously wiped clean with alcohol) so he can do his online classes. Massimo delivers sheet music for our daughter. We, in turn, distribute food and offer free, online English lessons. We?€?re all looking out for each other. The exchanges are announced by text message, like drug drops (?€?rice outside door?€?) and with money hidden here and there. We never get close, and yet we?€?ve never been closer.
Donald Trump has said he is considering a mandatory quarantine of some Northeastern states because of the coronavirus outbreak. Responding, New York governor Andrew Cuomo said he had not discussed any potential 'enforceable quarantine', adding 'I don't even know what that means'
Holding a sign that reads ?€?help us?€?, a Canadian couple are stranded on the Holland America cruise ship Zaandam off the coast of Panama as sickness spreads aboard. Chris and Anna Joiner are among more than 130 passengers stuck onboard the vessel, which has been stranded for days after Chile refused to allow the ship to dock.
At 7pm local time on Friday, hundreds of thousands of people across New York, one of the cities hardest hit by the coronavirus in the US, cheered those working on the frontline of efforts to rein in the pandemic from their balconies and windows
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez clashed with Republicans as the US Senate voted on a $2.2tn coronavirus relief bill on Friday. She said it was a ?€?shameful?€? corporate bailout that would further widen the income inequality gap. ?€?What did the Senate majority fight for??€? the New York congresswoman asled. ?€?One of the largest corporate bailouts with as few strings as possible in American history?€?
Donald Trump said on Friday that he had a conversation with Boris Johnson, who has tested positive for coronavirus, and 'the first thing he said to me is: "We need ventilators"'. Trump mentioned Johnson 'asking for ventilators today' twice during the Coronavirus Task Force briefing
Stuart Hamlin urges people to stay inside in an emotional video filmed hours after his mother died from the coronavirus. He describes his pain just four days after Tracy was admitted to hospital with Covid-19 symptoms.
'Losing someone is hard enough, but not being able to hold your family close when you do is the most gut-wrenching pain I've ever felt in my life,' he says.
Michael Gove has said the rate of coronavirus infections in the UK is doubling every three to four days. The Conservative politician gave the update during the government's daily Covid-19 briefing after Boris Johnson was diagnosed with the virus
Large number of US citizens demonstrated against the war in Iraq (and the possible war in Iran) during this October weekend. Massive turnout in Boston and San Fransisco, and also in Chicago, LA and DC people took to the streets. The message was: NO more war in Iraq! NO to a war with Iran!
