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- Joe Biden suggests US would defend Taiwan against China, forcing fresh White House clarification
- Alec Baldwin fired prop gun that killed woman on film set of Rust
- Stop overfishing or we’ll buy elsewhere, top UK fish firm warns European states
- The Queen spent night in hospital after cancelling Northern Ireland visit
- More than 30,000 Polish women sought illegal or foreign abortions since law change last year
- London drivers ditching diesel cars six times faster than rest of UK
- Covid may have killed up to 180,000 health workers globally, WHO says
- China Evergrande will make crucial bond payment to avert looming default – reports
- ‘What a fool’: fellow actors criticise William Shatner’s space flight
- ‘Sorry, a slight distraction’: Jacinda Ardern unruffled as earthquake interrupts press conference
- ‘The plan is to drink all day’: sunny Melbourne celebrates its freedom day. First stop – brunch!
- Covid live news: UK rows over booster jab timings and MP face masks continue; Covid case cancels ‘cruise to nowhere’ in Hong Kong
- ‘I need to work’: Italy’s green pass rule triggers rise in Covid jab uptake
- Rightwing pundit Candace Owens suggests US invade Australia to ‘free an oppressed people’
- Elton John: ‘I can still explode at any moment. I just have terrible feelings about myself’
- Scandal rocks German media giant on brink of global expansion
- Across Kazakhstan by rail – a photo essay
- Countdown to ecstasy: how music is being used in healing psychedelic trips
- How online meetings are levelling the office playing field
- Ruby Wax on life after loneliness: ‘I always felt isolated. Mindfulness helped me drop my armour’
- Luxembourg becomes first in Europe to legalise growing and using cannabis
- Protesters take to the streets demanding full civilian rule in Sudan
- Winners of the East African photography awards 2021 – in pictures
- US public health in crisis as Covid prompts curbs on officials’ powers
- Shootout in Mexican tourist hotspot of Tulum leaves two women dead
- Fearful but defiant: life goes on in Taiwan despite China’s threats
- ‘This stuff won’t go away’: PFAS chemicals contaminate Wisconsin’s waterways and soil
- Auckland’s lockdown has finally given me what I always wanted – a licence to pry | Leni Ma'ia'i
- Freezing to death: the migrants left to die on the Poland-Belarus border – video
- 'We're sticking with our plan': Boris Johnson on rising Covid-19 cases – video
- Helicopters airlift stranded people after flash floods in India – video
| Joe Biden suggests US would defend Taiwan against China, forcing fresh White House clarification Posted: 21 Oct 2021 09:49 PM PDT Administration says there is no change of policy after president repeats remarks from August that US has 'a commitment' to defend island President Joe Biden has said the US would come to Taiwan's defence and had a commitment to defend the island China claims as its own, forcing the White House to clarify for the second time in three months that US policy on the subject has not changed. "Yes, we have a commitment to do that," Biden said at a CNN town hall on Thursday night when asked if the US would come to the defence of Taiwan, which has complained of mounting military and political pressure from Beijing to accept Chinese sovereignty. Continue reading... |
| Alec Baldwin fired prop gun that killed woman on film set of Rust Posted: 22 Oct 2021 01:45 AM PDT Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins airlifted to hospital, where she died, while director Joel Souza also injured Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on a movie set in an accident that killed the film's director of photography and injured its director, authorities in New Mexico have said. A statement from the Santa Fe Sheriff's office said Baldwin, who is acting in and producing the film Rust, had fired the prop gun in an incident on Thursday. Continue reading... |
| Stop overfishing or we’ll buy elsewhere, top UK fish firm warns European states Posted: 21 Oct 2021 10:01 PM PDT Young's Seafood joins calls for sustainable quotas of mackerel, herring and blue whiting to be agreed in line with scientific advice The UK's largest seafood processor is threatening to stop sourcing fish from the north-east Atlantic unless coastal states, including the UK and countries in the EU, reach a suitable agreement on managing populations this month. Young's Seafood has joined Tesco, Co-op, Princes, Aldi, Asda, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and other retailers and suppliers in calling for urgent action from ministers to manage populations of mackerel, herring and blue whiting more sustainably. Continue reading... |
| The Queen spent night in hospital after cancelling Northern Ireland visit Posted: 21 Oct 2021 02:32 PM PDT Buckingham Palace says Elizabeth II is now back in Windsor after doctors advised a few days' rest The Queen spent Wednesday night in hospital after cancelling a visit to Northern Ireland, Buckingham Palace has said. The 95-year-old had been due to take part in a two-day trip, but doctors told her that she should rest for a couple of days at Windsor Castle. Continue reading... |
| More than 30,000 Polish women sought illegal or foreign abortions since law change last year Posted: 22 Oct 2021 12:00 AM PDT Tens of thousands have travelled to other European countries including England for legal terminations since near-total ban, campaigners say At least 34,000 women in Poland are known to have sought abortions illegally or abroad since the country introduced a near total ban on terminations a year ago. According to Abortion Without Borders (AWB), an organisation that helps women access safe abortion services, more than 1,000 Polish women have sought second-trimester abortions in foreign clinics since the country passed draconian new laws. Continue reading... |
| London drivers ditching diesel cars six times faster than rest of UK Posted: 22 Oct 2021 01:12 AM PDT Abandoning of polluting vehicles has accelerated since expansion of ultra-low emission zone announced Drivers in London have abandoned diesel cars six times faster than those in the rest of the UK since Sadiq Khan announced plans for a massive expansion of the London's clean air zone. Research released days before London's ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) is rolled out across the capital shows there are about 111,000 fewer diesel cars on the city's roads than in 2018, when the mayor announced plans to create one of the biggest clean air zones in Europe. Continue reading... |
| Covid may have killed up to 180,000 health workers globally, WHO says Posted: 21 Oct 2021 04:59 PM PDT Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus condemns inequality in vaccine rollout, saying less than one in 10 health workers in Africa are fully vaccinated The World Health Organization says 80,000 to 180,000 healthcare workers may have been killed by Covid-19 up to May this year, insisting they must be prioritised for vaccination. A WHO paper on Thursday estimated that out of the world's 135 million health staff, "between 80,000 to 180,000 health and care workers could have died from Covid-19 in the period between January 2020 to May 2021". Continue reading... |
| China Evergrande will make crucial bond payment to avert looming default – reports Posted: 21 Oct 2021 07:29 PM PDT The struggling property giant has wired $83.5m to creditors, Chinese media says, but deadlines loom for another $193m in payments The troubled property company China Evergrande Group has come up with the money to pay a $83.5m bond interest payment that it missed in September, according to reports. The company, which has debts of around $305bn, wired the $83.5m payment and noteholders will receive it before Saturday, China's state-backed newspaper Securities Times said on Friday, citing relevant channels, according to Bloomberg. Continue reading... |
| ‘What a fool’: fellow actors criticise William Shatner’s space flight Posted: 21 Oct 2021 10:00 PM PDT Dame Joan Collins and Brian Cox unimpressed by historic trip, saying 'let's take care of this planet first' The Star Trek actor William Shatner's recent historic space flight saw him boldly go where some fellow actors refuse to follow, as the nonagenarian was labelled a "fool" for taking part in his record-breaking jaunt. Dame Joan Collins, who once appeared in an episode of the science fiction series, and the Succession star Brian Cox, are both unimpressed by Shatner, at 90, becoming the oldest person to travel into space when earlier this month he flew in a rocket built by the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Continue reading... |
| ‘Sorry, a slight distraction’: Jacinda Ardern unruffled as earthquake interrupts press conference Posted: 21 Oct 2021 04:40 PM PDT The 5.9 magnitude quake forced the prime minister to pause and grip her podium before continuing to outline post-Covid lockdown plans New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has been interrupted by an earthquake midway through announcing the country's plans for a post-Covid-lockdown future. The 5.9 quake rattled parliament in Wellington on Friday as Ardern was holding a press conference on the country's new vaccination targets. Continue reading... |
| ‘The plan is to drink all day’: sunny Melbourne celebrates its freedom day. First stop – brunch! Posted: 21 Oct 2021 08:10 PM PDT As the first hints of summer creep into the air, residents crowd into cafes – but a grim new record Covid death toll casts a shadow
For the first time in a long time, there are plenty of people out on Melbourne streets as the sun rises over the city. Just hours after lockdown lifted, cafe workers are out in the cool morning air, dragging chairs and tables out the front of the stores, anticipating hordes of brunch-starved customers. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 22 Oct 2021 01:59 AM PDT Minister says face mask wearing shouldn't be seen as a 'virtue'; 1,000 passengers have to disembark after one positive case among crew
One thing regular readers will have noted is that I occasionally pop in this map that seems to indicate the extent to which the UK's caseload is an outlier in the western end of Europe, while also showing the surge that is building up towards the east of the continent. It can sometimes be quite the cognitive dissonance for a journalist to be reporting that Russia – with a much larger population and a much lower caseload than the UK – is going into a week of work-free lockdown to try and break transmission, while members of the UK government are failing to follow their own public health advice over face mask wearing, even as daily Covid cases top 50,000. "The UK is an outlier, because it does have quite high coverage of vaccination — and is still having 45,000 cases per day," said Quique Bassat, a pediatrician at the Barcelona Institute for Global health. Yet after Britain marked "freedom day" in July, it was to be expected that there would be a "persistence of transmission as opposed to other countries which have maintained much more stringent preventive measures," said Bassat. Continue reading... |
| ‘I need to work’: Italy’s green pass rule triggers rise in Covid jab uptake Posted: 22 Oct 2021 01:39 AM PDT Rule that pass must be presented to access workplaces forces hand of many vaccine-hesitant Italians At the vaccination hub outside Termini train station in Rome, a steady flow of people have been turning up for their first Covid vaccine dose in recent days. The mood is generally one of begrudging. "If I didn't have to do it, I wouldn't," said Rosanna Barbuto, a supermarket worker. Catalin, 41, who works in a factory, said: "I'm taking it because I need to work." They are among the vaccine hesitant who caved in after Italy made it mandatory for all workers to present a so-called green pass to access their workplaces. The rules are the strictest in Europe and require workers to present proof of vaccination, immunity or of a negative test taken within the previous 48 hours. Some see Italy's cautious approach as the key to its current low infection rate. Continue reading... |
| Rightwing pundit Candace Owens suggests US invade Australia to ‘free an oppressed people’ Posted: 21 Oct 2021 08:50 PM PDT The high-profile conservative commentator described Australia as a 'tyrannical police state' during an episode of her self-titled TV show Outspoken conservative political commentator Candace Owens has suggested the US military invade Australia in order to free its people "suffering under a totalitarian regime" while drawing comparisons to Hitler, Stalin and the Taliban. Owens made the comments on her self-titled Daily Wire TV show earlier this week, declaring Covid-19 had propelled the planet into an "ideological and psychological" global war. Continue reading... |
| Elton John: ‘I can still explode at any moment. I just have terrible feelings about myself’ Posted: 21 Oct 2021 10:00 PM PDT Despite a dodgy hip, the superstar remains youthful thanks to pop star friends like Dua Lipa – but is still struggling with anger and childhood trauma. He explains how fatherhood is making him a better man A good illustration of Elton John in 2021 is how, last week, he scored the eighth UK No 1 single of his career and also had his right hip replaced. The 74-year-old certainly has his frailties – "my left hip is the hip of a two-year-old, and my right hip is the hip of a 92-year-old" – but is youthful in other ways. His enormously enjoyable and varied new album, The Lockdown Sessions, may feature a range of boomer-pleasing names, such as Eddie Vedder, Glen Campbell and two A-list Stevies (Wonder and Nicks), but there are also plenty of pop artists that could feasibly incite a TikTok dance craze: Dua Lipa, Lil Nas X, Rina Sawayama. One song pairs John with country singer Jimmie Allen over a drum'n'bass beat; another is interspersed with raps from Young Thug and Nicki Minaj. "Watching Young Thug freestyle was just amazing!" he enthuses over a video call, self-isolating the day before his operation, dressed in collared, lapelled pyjamas over a rugby top. Oil paintings of 19th-century figures flank him in the background. "I hate it when people knock rap and hip-hop – when you actually go in the studio and watch Young Thug in front of a microphone, it's an incredible thing." He'd had dinner with Lipa, who duets with him on their No 1 single Cold Heart, a few nights before; he rings up Olly Alexander of Years & Years, who covered Pet Shop Boys' It's a Sin with him, "a couple of times a fortnight. I feel an empathy with these people. I've got the enthusiasm of an 18-year-old, and enthusiasm keeps me going." Continue reading... |
| Scandal rocks German media giant on brink of global expansion Posted: 21 Oct 2021 09:00 PM PDT Axel Springer is accused by ex-employees of turning a blind eye to sexual misconduct at flagship title Bild That Axel Springer, a media empire built on digging up stories of sex and sleaze among the rich and famous, should have turned a blind eye to sex and sleaze within its own offices will hardly have come as a shock to its readers. A chauvinistic "Wolf of Wall Street" office culture at its flagship title Bild has always been plain to see, say former staff members at the German media giant, named after its five-times-married founder who died in 1985. Continue reading... |
| Across Kazakhstan by rail – a photo essay Posted: 21 Oct 2021 10:30 PM PDT Photographer Mario Heller spent three weeks crossing the steppe by train. Here is his journey through the stories of the passengers, the history of the country and the romance of the railway The monotonous rattling of the train accompanies us through the steppe of Central Asia. The air that travels with us smells of cooked food and the exhalations of dozens of passengers. Sounds drift over to me from various corners of the wagon: a sawing snore, children's cries, folk music and a hyperactive radio voice. Lying in my upper bunk, I seek body contact with the cooling plastic wall because of the summer heat. I am in a twilight state between shallow sleep and nervous glances at my mobile phone: still no reception. I am trapped in the here and now. It is shortly after 3am. It is the beginning of my almost three-week train journey across the endless expanses of Kazakhstan. Above, in the mornings, borrowed bedding is neatly folded and handed over to the train crew. Right, children play on board Continue reading... |
| Countdown to ecstasy: how music is being used in healing psychedelic trips Posted: 22 Oct 2021 01:00 AM PDT Jon Hopkins timed his upcoming album to the length of a ketamine high, while apps are using AI music to tailor drug experiences. Welcome to a techno-chemical new frontier Two hundred psychedelic enthusiasts have converged in Austin, Texas for a "ceremonial concert" on the autumn equinox. People sprawl on yoga mats around a circular stage as staffers pace the candlelit warehouse, jingling bells and spritzing essential oils. While psychedelic drugs are prohibited, some attenders seem in an altered state, lying on their backs and breathing heavily as rumbles of bass from Jon Hopkins' upcoming album, Music for Psychedelic Therapy, shakes the hushed space. This is the first time Hopkins – known for acclaimed solo electronic albums as well as production for Coldplay and Brian Eno – has played his new record in public, and the crowd is visibly moved. As recordings of spiritual guru Ram Dass's teachings fill the room on the final song, the woman next to me begins silently weeping. Continue reading... |
| How online meetings are levelling the office playing field Posted: 21 Oct 2021 11:00 PM PDT Far from suffering 'Zoom fatigue', many women have found the move to online meetings empowering Before the pandemic Francesca used to miss a lot of meetings because she had to drop off her kids at school before commuting into the office. If she did make them, she rarely spoke up. While many workers are suffering from Zoom fatigue, for workers like Francesca online meetings have presented an opportunity – and one that she fears may soon be taken away. Continue reading... |
| Ruby Wax on life after loneliness: ‘I always felt isolated. Mindfulness helped me drop my armour’ Posted: 21 Oct 2021 10:00 PM PDT I created a persona to help me fit in – but no one can connect with you when you're presenting a tough front. Once I left the narcissistic shores of TV, I learned to live very differently Loneliness was in our lives long before lockdown. We all pretended to be part of one big happy electronic family by zinging back and forth a few heart-shaped emojis to show we cared, but deep down we knew it was just a click of a button that meant nothing. I even sent those hearts to my plumber. Personally, I have always felt lonely. From childhood, my main motive was to be accepted so I didn't have to feel alone. And certainly not alone with my parents, who brought the war from Europe into our breakfast nook. Continue reading... |
| Luxembourg becomes first in Europe to legalise growing and using cannabis Posted: 22 Oct 2021 02:00 AM PDT Relaxation is part of government rethink designed to keep users away from illegal market Adults in Luxembourg will be permitted to grow up to four cannabis plants in their homes or gardens under laws that will make it the first country in Europe to legalise production and consumption of the drug. The announcement on Friday by Luxembourg's government was said to deliver fundamental changes in the country's approach to recreational cannabis use and cultivation in light of the failure of prohibition to deter use. Continue reading... |
| Protesters take to the streets demanding full civilian rule in Sudan Posted: 21 Oct 2021 11:03 AM PDT Hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators march in Khartoum and other cities Hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators have taken to the streets of the Sudanese capital Khartoum and other major cities demanding full civilian rule, just days after a sit-in was launched calling for a return to military government. Images posted on social media showed vast crowds marching in different parts of the Sudanese capital in protests to reject military rule as the crisis in the country's troubled transition from authoritarian rule deepened. Continue reading... |
| Winners of the East African photography awards 2021 – in pictures Posted: 22 Oct 2021 01:00 AM PDT Covid in Ethiopia, fishermen reducing their carbon footprint in Kenya and domestic violence in LGBTQ+ relationships in Uganda were some of the winning projects by visual storytellers from across East Africa in the EAPA 2021 Continue reading... |
| US public health in crisis as Covid prompts curbs on officials’ powers Posted: 22 Oct 2021 02:00 AM PDT As the pandemic showed their importance, across the US laws have sought to restrict public health actions: 'It's a pretty grim future' More than half of US states have introduced new laws to restrict public health actions, including policies requiring quarantine or isolation and mandating vaccines or masks. Between the new laws and the massive workforce departures during the pandemic, public health in America is now in crisis, experts say. The new restrictions and shortages not only affect responses to the coronavirus but also make it harder to contain outbreaks of the flu, measles and other health crises, and they put the US in a weaker position to combat future pandemics. Continue reading... |
| Shootout in Mexican tourist hotspot of Tulum leaves two women dead Posted: 21 Oct 2021 02:48 PM PDT Women killed were from Germany and India, believed to be caught in crossfire of clash between drug gangs A shootout between suspected gang members has left two foreign women dead and three injured at a restaurant in Mexico's Caribbean beach resort of Tulum. The women killed were from Germany and India while the injured were from Germany and the Netherlands, the district attorney's office in Quintana Roo state said. Continue reading... |
| Fearful but defiant: life goes on in Taiwan despite China’s threats Posted: 22 Oct 2021 01:58 AM PDT On the streets of Taipei, the rhetoric and actions of Beijing are a hot topic but people are focused on a peaceful future In a small urban park on Yong Kang Jie, Taipei's famous eat street, an elderly woman leans across the frame of her friend's parked bicycle and shouts. "Taiwan is an independent country!" It's a quiet autumn morning. Children play on a nearby slide, and a young mother enjoys a takeaway bento box. Continue reading... |
| ‘This stuff won’t go away’: PFAS chemicals contaminate Wisconsin’s waterways and soil Posted: 22 Oct 2021 02:00 AM PDT Water sources used by millions of humans as well as wildlife poisoned with 'forever chemicals' Last year, residents in Campbell, Wisconsin, a four-square-mile island city in the Mississippi River, learned disturbing news: toxic PFAS "forever chemicals" used in firefighting foam at a neighboring airport had probably been contaminating their private wells for decades. As state and local leaders search for a solution, residents now use bottled water for drinking, cooking and brushing their teeth. Yet the situation represents more than an enormous inconvenience. Some strongly suspect that the seemingly high rate of cancer, Crohn's disease and other serious ailments that have plagued the island's residents stem from the dangerous chemicals. Continue reading... |
| Auckland’s lockdown has finally given me what I always wanted – a licence to pry | Leni Ma'ia'i Posted: 21 Oct 2021 06:30 PM PDT I'm one of the city's many undercover agents, ready to pounce on any and all lockdown infringements Nine weeks into Tāmaki Makaurau's lockdown, having pushed the limits on baking, introspection and backgammon, I've taken to running. No, not for any of the health benefits – running at my size can't be healthy; it's a chance to go snooping. I've always enjoyed sticking my nose in other people's business, but society has repressed these urges. Lockdown, finally, has given me the licence to pry. Continue reading... |
| Freezing to death: the migrants left to die on the Poland-Belarus border – video Posted: 22 Oct 2021 01:23 AM PDT Migrants are dying in Poland's forested border with Belarus, as the countries are locked in a geopolitical standoff. Polish authorities accuse Belarus of deliberately abandoning migrants near its border in an attempt to destabilise the EU due to the bloc imposing sanctions on Belarus after its disputed election. Poland has responded by declaring an emergency zone, forbidden to journalists and activists, where it is believed that, hidden from sight, they are illegally forcing asylum seekers back over the border instead of processing applications. We follow Piotr Bystrianin, an activist trying to locate desperate migrants in the woods before the border guards do. Continue reading... |
| 'We're sticking with our plan': Boris Johnson on rising Covid-19 cases – video Posted: 21 Oct 2021 08:46 AM PDT The prime minister says in an interview in Northern Ireland that there is no need to change the government approach to Covid, as the rising case numbers are 'within the parameters of what the predictions were'. Calls to move to a 'plan B', which reintroduces some restrictions to limit the spread of the virus, have grown louder Continue reading... |
| Helicopters airlift stranded people after flash floods in India – video Posted: 21 Oct 2021 04:40 AM PDT People stranded in flood waters in northern India had to be airlifted to safety by Indian air force helicopters. At least 150 people have died in India and Nepal after heavy rains produced flash floods that wrecked crops, blocked roads and washed away bridges Continue reading... |
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