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- Construction of US-Mexico border wall proceeds despite coronavirus pandemic
- Rise in 'forced disappearance' preys on Brazil's young men of colour
- BBC’s Question Time accused of giving platform to far right
- Poor water infrastructure is greater risk than coronavirus, says UN
- UK military planners drafted in to help feed vulnerable in Covid-19 outbreak
- Congress and White House resume talks on $1tn pandemic rescue deal
- Mike Bloomberg transfers $18m to Democratic National Committee
- Doctors warn coronavirus could overwhelm NHS ‘within weeks’
- German man held over attempted high-speed train track sabotage
- Parr’s makeup ad for Gucci has a brush with controversy
- Maggie O’Farrell: ‘Having to bury a child must be unlike anything else’
- Three men arrested in Essex after haul of loo roll found in van
- Coronavirus live news: Russian military medics to help Italy; thousands queue in Japan to see Olympic flame
- Iran 'frees French researcher under prisoner exchange deal'
- Trump talks himself up as 'wartime president' to lead America through a crisis
- Australia is easing superannuation access for those worst-hit by coronavirus. But can we afford it?
- As Australia goes off the coronavirus cliff, the question is how hard will it land? | Katharine Murphy
- We have a once in a generation responsibility to confront Covid-19 | Sadiq Khan
- A tale for our times: laughter is still the best medicine | Nancy Banks-Smith
- Can a face mask protect me from coronavirus? Covid-19 myths busted
- Panic-buyers urged to 'be responsible and think of others' amid Covid-19 pandemic – video
- Chinese people venture outdoors as coronavirus fears ease – video
- Germans sing Bella Ciao from rooftops in solidarity with Italy – video
| Construction of US-Mexico border wall proceeds despite coronavirus pandemic Posted: 21 Mar 2020 11:00 PM PDT The Trump administration announced plans to erect 150 miles of barrier on the border, involving large numbers of contractors The Trump administration is ramping up construction of its multibillion-dollar southern border wall, despite the rapidly escalating coronavirus epidemic which threatens to kill thousands of Americans and plunge the country into economic recession. Earlier this week, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced plans to erect more than 150 miles of the 30ft border wall in Arizona, New Mexico and California – in addition to ongoing construction work at at least 15 sites across those states and Texas. Continue reading... |
| Rise in 'forced disappearance' preys on Brazil's young men of colour Posted: 22 Mar 2020 02:00 AM PDT Carlos Eduardo Nascimento is the latest apparent victim of a trend aided by police impunity and Bolsonaro's rhetoric, activists say Carlos Eduardo Nascimento was at a bar with friends in the city of Jundiaí, 50km from São Paulo, when the police arrived. The only black man in the group, Nascimento, 20, was handcuffed, bundled into a squad car and driven away. Continue reading... |
| BBC’s Question Time accused of giving platform to far right Posted: 22 Mar 2020 12:03 AM PDT Letter from all-party group to director general Tony Hall says corporation has duty to avoid inflammatory hate The BBC has been asked to clarify if any efforts are made to "deliberately invite or attract" members of far-right groups to the audience of its flagship political programme, Question Time. Baroness Warsi and Labour MP Debbie Abrahams have written to the BBC's director general Tony Hall, asking him to consider also introducing a new code of conduct for panelists and the audience, and to stop sharing inflammatory videos from the show on social media. Continue reading... |
| Poor water infrastructure is greater risk than coronavirus, says UN Posted: 21 Mar 2020 08:15 PM PDT On World Water Day, UN warns that more than half the global population lacking access to safely managed sanitation Decades of chronic underfunding of water infrastructure is putting many countries at worse risk in the coronavirus crisis, with more than half the global population lacking access to safely managed sanitation, experts said as the UN marked World Water Day on Sunday. Good hygiene – soap and water – are the first line of defence against coronavirus and a vast range of other diseases, yet three quarters of households in developing countries do not have access to somewhere to wash with soap and water, according to Tim Wainwright, chief executive of the charity WaterAid. A third of healthcare facilities in developing countries also lack access to clean water on site. Continue reading... |
| UK military planners drafted in to help feed vulnerable in Covid-19 outbreak Posted: 21 Mar 2020 03:03 PM PDT Food stockpilers told they should be 'ashamed' as prime minister urges Britons not to make mother's day visits Key military officials are to help ensure food and medicines reach vulnerable people isolated at home during the coronavirus crisis, as part of a nationwide campaign to protect more than a million people most at risk of being hospitalised. Community pharmacies, voluntary groups and food retailers are in talks with the government to ensure essential items reach people being told to remain in their home. Those believed to be at most risk are being contacted on how best to protect themselves, and being strongly advised to stay home for at least 12 weeks. Continue reading... |
| Congress and White House resume talks on $1tn pandemic rescue deal Posted: 21 Mar 2020 02:27 PM PDT Officials say the economic package could pump $2tn into the US economy which would provide paychecks and funds to hospitals Negotiators from Congress and the White House resumed top-level talks Saturday on a ballooning $1tn-plus economic rescue package, urged by Donald Trump to strike a deal to steady a nation thoroughly upended by the coronavirus pandemic. It was an extraordinary moment in Washington: Congress undertaking the most ambitious federal effort yet to shore up households and the US economy and a president angry and lashing out at all comers. All while the global outbreak and the nationwide shutdown grip an anxious, isolated population bracing for a healthcare crisis and looming recession. Continue reading... |
| Mike Bloomberg transfers $18m to Democratic National Committee Posted: 21 Mar 2020 08:51 AM PDT Former presidential candidate will also transfer offices in six battleground states to help defeat Trump Mike Bloomberg is transferring $18m (£15.5m) from his presidential campaign to the Democratic National Committee in the largest single such transfer ever made. The largesse is the latest sign of the billionaire businessman's continued involvement in the presidential race since ending his own campaign this month after a lacklustre showing on Super Tuesday. In the 3 March primaries the former New York city mayor won only one US territory. Continue reading... |
| Doctors warn coronavirus could overwhelm NHS ‘within weeks’ Posted: 21 Mar 2020 02:17 PM PDT Intensive care audit shows sharp rise in admissions to critical care as London hospitals struggle to cope The numbers of coronavirus patients needing life-or-death care have been doubling every three days, a report by senior doctors has revealed. London is worst affected, but the rest of the UK will soon be hit with a similar surge, the document warns. The audit of intensive care carried out since the epidemic began shows that patients needing the highest level of help soared from 50 on 9 March to almost 200 on 19 March – and doctors fear this spike could turn into a nationwide surge within a few weeks. Continue reading... |
| German man held over attempted high-speed train track sabotage Posted: 21 Mar 2020 07:21 AM PDT Man suspected of loosening rail bolts on bridge between Cologne and Frankfurt A German man has been arrested on suspicion of having loosened the bolts on a high-speed train track between Cologne and Frankfurt. |
| Parr’s makeup ad for Gucci has a brush with controversy Posted: 22 Mar 2020 02:08 AM PDT The shoot, featuring musician Dani Miller in mascara, has reignited debate about realistic standards of beauty One is famed for warts-and-all realism, the other for high-end gloss, so there was always going to be something spectacular in the offing when British photographer Martin Parr was asked to shoot a make-up advertising campaign for the Italian fashion house Gucci. The imagery – for the brand's new L'Obscur mascara – features New York punk musician Dani Miller and her now-famous gap-toothed smile. With lashings of heavy black mascara, natural eyebrows (complete with, shock horror, regrowth), and minimal foundation, it has divided customers and started yet another debate about diversity, even in these times of increased body positivity. Continue reading... |
| Maggie O’Farrell: ‘Having to bury a child must be unlike anything else’ Posted: 22 Mar 2020 01:00 AM PDT Shakespeare's only son, Hamnet, who died aged 11, is the inspiration for Maggie O'Farrell's remarkable new novel. She talks about the link between his loss and the bard's most famous work When the novelist Maggie O'Farrell was 16, she was invited to a fancy-dress party and knew at once who to be. She put on a black shirt, with a ruffled paper collar, an inky cloak made out of a skirt, her Doc Martens and cheeky shorts over black leggings. To complete her ensemble, she borrowed a skull from her school's biology lab. She had become obsessed with Hamlet: "He had got under my skin. I felt he was part of my DNA." And while there is no mystery about Hamlet's glamorous turbulence appealing to an adolescent, O'Farrell's feeling was to be rekindled, as an adult, by her discovery of the play's connection with Shakespeare's son, Hamnet. There was, she was sure, a novel in it. Over the years, she repeatedly tried to write that novel and almost gave up. Yet it was a story that refused to abandon her. And now, here it is: Hamnet – the novel of her career. And that is saying something because O'Farrell is the author of eight accomplished and hugely popular books. She won the Costa novel award, in 2010, for The Hand That First Held Mine, and shortlisted for both Instructions for a Heatwave (2013) and This Must Be the Place (2016). Her wildcard memoir, I am, I am, I am: Seventeen Brushes With Death (2017), about living close to the edge, was a bestseller. But Hamnet is a novel apart. And what distinguishes it from O'Farrell's earlier work is that while it shares the page-turning verve of its predecessors, it pulls off what younger writers (she is now 47) seldom achieve: the power of letting a story appear to tell itself. It reads like a fairytale rooted in heartbreaking reality – there is no magic with which to save a child. Continue reading... |
| Three men arrested in Essex after haul of loo roll found in van Posted: 21 Mar 2020 01:01 PM PDT Vehicle pulled over by police also contained a stash of stolen handwash and other items Three men have been arrested after police found a van full of stolen toilet roll and handwash. Officers were alerted by a report of suspicious activity in the Essex town of Hatfield Peverel at 10.20pm on Friday. It was alleged that a van was driven through a barrier at a building site in Bury Lane. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 22 Mar 2020 02:56 AM PDT Italy warns of worst crisis since WWII; Romania records first death, India launches curfew. Follow all the developments live
Iran has also issued its latest figures, which show the death toll has risen to 1,685, an increase of 129 in 24 hours, and the number of cases has risen by 1,028 to 21,638.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany has risen by 1,948 to 18,610, and the number of deaths has increased by nine to 55, the country's public health institute has said. Continue reading... |
| Iran 'frees French researcher under prisoner exchange deal' Posted: 21 Mar 2020 08:02 AM PDT Roland Marchal, whose colleague remains in detention, reportedly released in return for Iranian engineer Emmanuel Macron says Iran has freed a French researcher imprisoned in the country, after France reportedly released an Iranian threatened with extradition to the US. Macron said on Saturday he was "happy to announce the release of Roland Marchal, imprisoned in Iran since June 2019" and urged the Iranian authorities to immediately also free fellow researcher Fariba Adelkhah, the French president's office said. Continue reading... |
| Trump talks himself up as 'wartime president' to lead America through a crisis Posted: 21 Mar 2020 11:00 PM PDT The president initially scoffed at the coronavirus. Now he seems convinced he can lead – and secure four more years in November Bill Clinton used to lament that his time as US president was broadly peaceful, and lacked a historic test of his mettle. Donald Trump believes that his moment has arrived: a crisis on a par with leading a nation at war. Related: Lay off those war metaphors, world leaders. You could be the next casualty… | Simon Tisdall Continue reading... |
| Australia is easing superannuation access for those worst-hit by coronavirus. But can we afford it? Posted: 21 Mar 2020 09:34 PM PDT Tax-free withdrawals will be capped at $10,000 this financial year and will allow those struggling to pay rent, meet mortgage repayments and buy food • What Australia's $189bn coronavirus economic rescue package means for you Australians who are laid off as a result of the coronavirus outbreak will be allowed to pull money out of their superannuation, Scott Morrison announced on Sunday. Withdrawals will be capped at $10,000 this financial year, and a further $10,000 next financial year, and will be tax-free, the prime minister and his treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, said. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 22 Mar 2020 12:24 AM PDT A significant spike in cases and state lockdowns are signals that life has changed. It's all now on the health system Anyone watching events on Sunday will know the coronavirus story is now moving so fast it is hard to keep on top of what's happening. So let's keep this simple. Let's be very clear what happened. Continue reading... |
| We have a once in a generation responsibility to confront Covid-19 | Sadiq Khan Posted: 21 Mar 2020 01:45 PM PDT America seems reluctant to lead in this crisis: so Europe, and Britain, must step up Covid-19 is the biggest health, social and economic emergency we have faced since the second world war. And while we're only at the beginning of the process of halting its spread, we will be living with the consequences for many years to come. Our first responsibility is to save lives. That means giving our fantastic NHS staff the time and resources they need. The biggest threat to life is if hospitals are overrun – with more patients requiring intensive care than there are beds available – as we've seen in Italy with devastating consequences. We're already starting to see some London hospitals really feeling the strain. Continue reading... |
| A tale for our times: laughter is still the best medicine | Nancy Banks-Smith Posted: 21 Mar 2020 09:33 AM PDT For one moment 100 years ago a war widow and a plague orphan had fun courtesy of Charlie Chaplin Gather round my skirts, children, while I tell you about the great plague of 1919. It killed my Aunt Lucy, who was not, as her name suggests, an elderly spinster. She was young and pregnant and wore a yard of red gold curls piled on her head. To have hair long enough to sit on was considered a mark of beauty. My grandmother always blamed her husband, believing the pregnancy had killed her. He may well have brought the virus back from the front. Either way, she never forgave him. Good at incubating a grudge, my Grandma Nancy. Continue reading... |
| Can a face mask protect me from coronavirus? Covid-19 myths busted Posted: 21 Mar 2020 04:31 AM PDT The truth about how you can catch coronavirus, how much more elderly people are at risk and what you can do to avoid infection
Wearing a face mask is certainly not an iron-clad guarantee that you won't get sick – viruses can also transmit through the eyes and tiny viral particles, known as aerosols, can penetrate masks. However, masks are effective at capturing droplets, which is a main transmission route of coronavirus, and some studies have estimated a roughly fivefold protection versus no barrier alone (although others have found lower levels of effectiveness). Continue reading... |
| Panic-buyers urged to 'be responsible and think of others' amid Covid-19 pandemic – video Posted: 21 Mar 2020 10:06 AM PDT The environment secretary, George Eustice, has urged panic-buyers to only purchase what they need in order to not make shopping difficult for frontline workers, such as NHS staff. Standing in for Boris Johnson on Saturday at the government's daily briefing, he said: 'Be responsible when you shop and think of others. Buying more than you need means others may be left without' Continue reading... |
| Chinese people venture outdoors as coronavirus fears ease – video Posted: 21 Mar 2020 08:17 AM PDT People in Beijing and Shanghai are going outside for the first time in months as warmer weather coincides with a gradual easing of fears across China about the coronavirus. It comes days after China reported no new domestic transmissions of Covid-19, a major milestone in the country's fight against the pandemic Continue reading... |
| Germans sing Bella Ciao from rooftops in solidarity with Italy – video Posted: 21 Mar 2020 03:40 AM PDT People in the Bavarian town of Bamberg stood on their rooftops and opened their windows to sing Bella Ciao, an Italian resistance song, in solidarity with Italy where the death toll from the Covid-19 outbreak continues to rise Continue reading... |
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