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Democratic candidates zero in on Buttigieg and Sanders at tense debate Competing visions for the party were on display as moderate candidates challenged progressives ahead of New Hampshire primaryDemocratic presidential candidates clashed on Friday night in a tense televised debate that was dominated by attacks against Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders, the two candidates who declared victory after the Iowa caucuses.In the week that Donald Trump was acquitted in his impeachment trial and days ahead of the New Hampshire primary, the competing visions for the Democratic party were on show as moderate candidates challenged the progressives, and those with more Washington experience called out the relative political newcomers. Continue reading... Go to Source

Mike Pence hints UK's Huawei decision could jeopardise trade talks Vice-president says US is ‘profoundly disappointed’ with Chinese firm’s 5G involvementUS vice-president Mike Pence appeared to hint on Friday that White House disquiet at the involvement of Huawei in building the UK’s 5G network could jeopardise trade talks between the two countries.Pence told the US broadcaster CNBC: “The United States is very disappointed that the United Kingdom has decided to go forward with Huawei. Continue reading... Go to Source

George Osborne's future at Evening Standard in doubt Exclusive: former chancellor expected to leave role amid shakeup by new chief executive, sources sayGeorge Osborne’s future at the Evening Standard is believed to be in doubt, with sources at the newspaper expecting the former chancellor to leave the publication.Osborne was appointed to edit the daily London newspaper in March 2017 and since then has continued to juggle the job with several other roles, including a £650,000-a-year post advising the investment fund BlackRock, and as chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership. Continue reading... Go to Source

Wuhan facing 'wartime conditions' as global coronavirus deaths reach 719 With businesses around the world suffering, Beijing tightens controlsIncreasingly desperate officials in the quarantined centre of the coronavirus outbreak have tightened controls on an already frightened population, likening the growing crisis to “wartime conditions”. Related: The Guardian view on tackling the new coronavirus: handle with care | Editorial Continue reading... Go to Source

Sanders and Buttigieg to go head to head in first debate since Iowa tie Debate will also be a key test for Warren and Biden, who trail the dual frontrunners ahead of New Hampshire primary on TuesdayDemocratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg are set to go head to head with five fellow contenders in a live televised debate in Manchester, New Hampshire, after the chaotic Iowa caucuses saw both men declare victory in a contest that was too close to call.Ahead of the New Hampshire primary vote next week, there is still no clear frontrunner in the race to become the Democratic presidential nominee who will take on Donald Trump in November’s election, though recent polling has shown both Sanders and Buttigieg leading days ahead of the New Hampshire primary. Cont...

Alexander Vindman: witness who spoke out against Trump fired from job Vindman escorted out of White House on Friday afternoonTrump ‘decided to exact revenge’, says Vindman’s lawyerIn an accelerating assault on Donald Trump’s critics in the days since his impeachment acquittal, Lt Col Alexander Vindman, who defied Trump to deliver public testimony during the impeachment inquiry, was removed from his White House post on Friday afternoon. Related: Trump impeachment witness Alexander Vindman fired from White House job – live Continue reading... Go to Source

UK unprepared for COP 26 conference, warn climate leaders Former UN climate envoy joins list of experts frustrated at Britain’s lack of leadershipThe UK is showing a “lack of coherence” in its leadership of vital UN climate crisis talks this year and giving the damaging impression that the talks are not a high priority, one of the world’s leading voices on the climate crisis has said.Mary Robinson, a former UN climate envoy and Ireland’s first female president, also said the perception that major British politicians, including the ex-prime minister David Cameron and former foreign secretary William Hague, were unwilling to take on the role of leading the COP 26 summit was damaging. Continue reading... Go to Source

Tory candidate jailed for violent threats against Yvette Cooper Joshua Spencer, 25, attended Cooper’s election count after arrest and received character reference from Tory MPA Conservative activist who sent messages claiming to have paid “crackheads” £100 to beat up the Labour MP Yvette Cooper and warned that “if you make peaceful revolution difficult you make a violent one inevitable” has been jailed for nine weeks.Joshua Spencer, who received a character reference from the Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns, attended Cooper’s general election count in December as a representative of the Conservative party despite being under investigation by West Yorkshire police after his arrest. Continue reading... Go to Source

China trials anti-HIV drug on coronavirus patients News of Kaletra being tested as a possible treatment for the disease sparks panic buying Coronavirus – latest newsA drug used to treat people with HIV, the virus that causes Aids, is being trialled in patients in China as a possible therapy against the coronavirus.News that HIV drugs are being deployed in hospitals, however, has led to panic buying on the black market by people who fear they are ill or are going to get sick. They have been obtaining the drug, Kaletra, from generics companies in India and even from people with HIV in China willing to sell or donate their own stocks. Continue reading... Go to Source

Armed ecoguards funded by WWF 'beat up Congo tribespeople' Exclusive: Inquiry into $21.4m conservation project reports ‘credible’ evidence of abuseArmed ecoguards partly funded by the conservation group WWF to protect wildlife in the Republic of Congo beat up and intimidated hundreds of Baka pygmies living deep in the rainforests, an investigation into a landmark global conservation project has heard.A team of investigators sent to northern Congo by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to assess allegations of human rights abuses gathered “credible” evidence from different sources that hunter-gatherer Baka tribespeople living close to a proposed national park had been subjected to violence and physical abuse from the guards over years, according to a leaked draft ...

Watchdog warns true number of cases where claimants took own lives as a result of DWP actions could be far higher The Department of Work and Pensions has investigated 69 suicides of benefit claimants in the past six years and said this could be a small fraction of the total number of such deaths, a government watchdog has said.The National Audit Office (NAO) said it is unlikely this figure represents the true number of benefit-related suicides, in part because the DWP did not until recently actively seek information from coroners and other sources about such cases. Continue reading...

Shamima Begum loses first stage of appeal against citizenship removal Former schoolgirl who went to Syria to join Islamic State had citizenship revoked a year agoShamima Begum, the woman who left Britain as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State in Syria, has lost the initial stage of her appeal against the Home Office’s move to revoke her citizenship and prevent her from returning to London.A judgment by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) found against Begum, now 20, on three grounds, including that she had not been improperly deprived of her citizenship. Continue reading... Go to Source

Phillip Schofield, ITV presenter, comes out as gay ITV show host appeals for kindness, particularly to wife and daughters who support himPhillip Schofield, the co-presenter of ITV’s This Morning, has announced he is gay.In a statement released on the programme’s Twitter account, the presenter, who has been married to his wife for almost 27 years, paid tribute to his family. Continue reading... Go to Source

Coronavirus: 41 more people, including British honeymooner, test positive on cruise ship – latest news Total infections pass 30,000 as Wuhan whistleblower doctor dies and North Korea confirms first case of virusDoctor who blew whistle over virus diesProfile of whistleblower doctorFirst British national to get virus had been in SingaporeShare your stories 11.44am GMTThe world is running out of masks and other gear to protect against the new coronavirus, the World Health Organization has warned.The WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told the organisation’s executive board in Geneva:The world is facing a chronic shortage of personal protective equipment. 11.31am GMTA woman from China has taken ill at Copenhagen airport, prompting a small area to be cordoned off.The Copenhagen a...

Give people right to ignore work emails at home, says Long-Bailey Labour leadership contender says she wants to end ‘24/7 work culture’Rebecca Long-Bailey has called for workers to be given the right to ignore work emails and messages outside working hours to end the “24/7 work culture” and protect mental health.The Labour leadership candidate said she would bring new ideas to the party, having worked on her policy positions for four years. Continue reading... Go to Source

Jamaica deportations 'must be halted until Windrush report published' Home Office warned against forced removal of about 50 people until report is released The advisory panel of a review into the Windrush scandal, including a former senior immigration judge, has warned against the resumption of mass deportation flights to Jamaica until after its report is published.Up to 50 people are due to be deported on Tuesday in what will be the second immigration removal charter flight to Jamaica since the Guardian exposed the scandal of the wrongful deportation of Commonwealth citizens from the Caribbean in 2018. Continue reading... Go to Source