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- Scientists find bug that feasts on toxic plastic
- UK-EU talks on post-Brexit relations 'in deep freeze'
- Egypt forces Guardian journalist to leave after coronavirus story
- Bob Dylan releases first original song in eight years, 17-minute track about JFK
- Benny Gantz elected Israeli speaker, signalling deal with Netanyahu
- Japan Airlines ditches compulsory high heels and skirts in big win for #KuToo movement
- US indicts Nicolás Maduro and other top Venezuelan leaders for drug trafficking
- Cave find shows Neanderthals collected seafood, scientists say
- Royal Navy shadows Russian ships after 'high activity' in Channel
- Ireland's old political rivals hold talks over historic coalition
- 'It’s a razor’s edge we’re walking': inside the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine
- National Trust aims to lift lockdown spirits with #BlossomWatch
- Coronavirus live news: French hospitals to reach capacity in 48 hours; US must improve relations, Xi says
- Did a New York Times article inspire Trump's 'back to work' plan?
- Bolsonaro's anti-science response to coronavirus appals Brazil's governors
- Industry super funds ask for government help amid fears of mass Covid-19 withdrawals
- Minibuses keep Kenya’s wheels turning amid Covid-19 fears – in pictures
- 'We fear, but have to work': isolation not an option for the poor of Nairobi
- Bosnia crams thousands of migrants into tent camp to 'halt Covid-19 spread'
- Conflict and Covid-19 are a deadly mix – I fear for the world's most vulnerable
- Jair Bolsonaro claims Brazilians 'never catch anything' as Covid-19 cases rise
- Can a face mask protect me from coronavirus? Covid-19 myths busted
- Will the coronavirus crisis spell triumph or disaster for Donald Trump?
- Europe doesn't have to be so helpless in this crisis
- Socially distanced street parade greets US teenager after cancer treatment – video
- Dr Fauci joins NBA star Stephen Curry for coronavirus Q&A – video
- India's 1.3billion population in lockdown - in pictures
- Expressing gratitude during the coronavirus crisis – video
- Trump: 'You don't know what the coronavirus numbers are in China' - video
- Millions of Britons step out to clap for NHS staff on coronavirus frontlines – video report
- Clap for carers: applauding the NHS – in pictures
| Scientists find bug that feasts on toxic plastic Posted: 26 Mar 2020 10:00 PM PDT Bacterium is able to break down polyurethane, which is widely used but rarely recycled A bacterium that feeds on toxic plastic has been discovered by scientists. The bug not only breaks the plastic down but uses it as food to power the process. The bacterium, which was found at a waste site where plastic had been dumped, is the first that is known to attack polyurethane. Millions of tonnes of the plastic is produced every year to use in items such as sports shoes, nappies, kitchen sponges and as foam insulation, but it is mostly sent to landfill because it it too tough to recycle. Continue reading... |
| UK-EU talks on post-Brexit relations 'in deep freeze' Posted: 26 Mar 2020 12:31 PM PDT Brussels laments London's failure to table comprehensive legal text to work on Planned negotiating rounds on the UK's future relationship with the EU have been abandoned as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with Boris Johnson's government still to table a comprehensive legal text for both sides to work on. During a European commission briefing on Thursday, envoys for the EU capitals were told that holding negotiations via video-conferencing had so far proved impossible. Continue reading... |
| Egypt forces Guardian journalist to leave after coronavirus story Posted: 26 Mar 2020 05:00 AM PDT Ruth Michaelson had reported on study that questioned country's official tally of cases Egyptian authorities have forced a Guardian journalist to leave the country after she reported on a scientific study that said Egypt was likely to have many more coronavirus cases than have been officially confirmed. Ruth Michaelson, who has lived in and reported from Egypt since 2014, was advised last week by western diplomats that the country's security services wanted her to leave immediately after her press accreditation was revoked and she was asked to attend a meeting with authorities about her visa status. Continue reading... |
| Bob Dylan releases first original song in eight years, 17-minute track about JFK Posted: 27 Mar 2020 01:28 AM PDT Singer says Murder Most Foul, 'recorded a while back', is a gift to fans for their support and loyalty over the years Bob Dylan has released his first original music in eight years, a 17-minute long song about the JFK assassination. A ballad set to piano, strings and light drums, Murder Most Foul retells the 1963 killing in stark terms, imagining Kennedy "being led to the slaughter like a sacrificial lamb … they blew off his head while he was still in the car / shot down like a dog in broad daylight." He paints an epic portrait of an America in decline ever since, but offered salvation of a sort in pop music: the Beatles, Woodstock festival, Charlie Parker, the Eagles and Stevie Nicks are all referenced in its lyrics. Continue reading... |
| Benny Gantz elected Israeli speaker, signalling deal with Netanyahu Posted: 26 Mar 2020 11:01 AM PDT Shock twist to electoral saga splits opposition, with power-sharing agreement expected Israel's main opposition party has split after its leader, Benny Gantz, was elected as speaker of parliament with the support of his rivals, including Benjamin Netanyahu, in a stunning plot twist to a year-long political crisis. Gantz's move was widely interpreted as a precursor to a power-sharing deal with the prime minister to form an emergency government. The coronavirus pandemic, including more than 2,600 confirmed Israeli cases, has added urgency to efforts to break a stalemate between the two leaders. Continue reading... |
| Japan Airlines ditches compulsory high heels and skirts in big win for #KuToo movement Posted: 26 Mar 2020 09:09 PM PDT Company becomes first major employer in the country to stop forcing dress code on women Female flight attendants working for Japan Airlines will no longer be required to wear high heels or skirts, the airline has said, in a rare victory for Japan's #KuToo campaign against workplace dress codes for women. The airline is the first major Japanese company to relax its regulations in response to complaints from women that having to wear high heels was uncomfortable and often left them in considerable pain. Continue reading... |
| US indicts Nicolás Maduro and other top Venezuelan leaders for drug trafficking Posted: 26 Mar 2020 11:27 AM PDT
The US has charged the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and 14 members of his inner circle with drug trafficking, "narco-terrorism", corruption and money laundering, and offered a $15m reward for information leading to Maduro's capture and prosecution. Unveiling the indictment, the attorney general, William Barr, said the Venezuelan leadership collaborated with a dissident faction of the former Colombian guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, operating on the Colombian-Venezuelan border, which Barr described as an "extremely violent terrorist organization". Continue reading... |
| Cave find shows Neanderthals collected seafood, scientists say Posted: 26 Mar 2020 11:00 AM PDT Discovery adds to growing evidence that Neanderthals were very similar to modern humans Neanderthals made extensive use of coastal environments, munching on fish, crabs and mussels, researchers have found, in the latest study to reveal similarities between modern humans and our big-browed cousins. Until now, many Neanderthal sites had shown only small-scale use of marine resources; for example, scattered shells. But now archaeologists have excavated a cave on the coast of Portugal and discovered a huge, structured deposit of remains, including from mussels and limpets, dating to between 106,000 and 86,000 years ago. Continue reading... |
| Royal Navy shadows Russian ships after 'high activity' in Channel Posted: 26 Mar 2020 09:19 AM PDT Seven ships remained off UK coast for unusually long time this month Nine Royal Navy ships were involved in a major operation shadowing seven Russian vessels who had lingered in the Channel for several days this month as the coronavirus crisis was beginning to worsen in the UK. The unusually high level of Russian activity concluded about a week and a half ago and navy officials said they believed it was primarily a response to western exercises in Europe rather than to a perception that the disease was leaving the UK vulnerable. Continue reading... |
| Ireland's old political rivals hold talks over historic coalition Posted: 26 Mar 2020 10:16 AM PDT Coronavirus crisis spurs Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil government formation talks The coronavirus crisis has spurred government formation talks in Ireland between Leo Varadkar's ruling Fine Gael party and its old rival, Fianna Fáil. Both parties lost seats in a general election last month that marked a revolt against the political establishment, but parliamentary arithmetic and the coronavirus pandemic have prodded them towards an unprecedented coalition. Continue reading... |
| 'It’s a razor’s edge we’re walking': inside the race to develop a coronavirus vaccine Posted: 26 Mar 2020 11:00 PM PDT Around the world, more than 40 teams are working on a vaccine for Covid-19. We followed one doctor in the most urgent quest of his life. By Samanth Subramanian Of the dozens of places where a coronavirus vaccine might be born, one is DIOSynVax, a small company started by a Canadian pathologist named Jonathan Heeney. In ordinary times, I'd have visited Heeney in his office, in a stately red-brick building in Cambridge. I'd have met his team and his Aria III cytometer, which looks like as if might brew a strong, space-age espresso but which, in fact, uses its four lasers to separate cells marked with fluorescent dyes as they flow through the machine at 10,000 cells per second. I'd have tried to wangle my way into the lab designated containment level 3, the highest-but-one level of biosafety security, where Heeney's biologists investigate pathogens such as the West Nile virus or the tuberculosis bacterium. These would be so lethal if they escaped that the lab is nearly hermetic. The joints along the walls, floor and ceiling are sealed and re-sealed; the steel panels in the walls, according to government guidelines, have to be "of the type used in the nuclear industry"; a flow of air must constantly be forced in if the door is open, to prevent the germs inside from drifting out. I would have even seen the coronavirus vaccine candidates themselves: samples of clear liquid, held in glass vials. But Heeney couldn't take the risk. Understandably, he didn't want anyone carrying Covid-19 into his lab and infecting his staff. "It's a challenge already, because when they go home to their families every day, you don't know who they're passing on the bus or the train," he said when I first spoke to him last week. At the time, Heeney was considering quarantining himself. A Cambridge college had offered him a room, so that he could shuttle between lab and bed, meeting as few people as possible. "I don't have time to get sick," Heeney said. He runs his company out of Cambridge University's department of veterinary medicine, where he is a professor. He's just a 12-minute bicycle ride from where I live, but we video-conferenced on Zoom. Continue reading...This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| National Trust aims to lift lockdown spirits with #BlossomWatch Posted: 27 Mar 2020 12:00 AM PDT Charity asks people to emulate Japan's hanami custom and share images on social media A British conservation charity is urging people confined indoors or only allowed to roam outside briefly to begin a new tradition emulating hanami, the Japanese custom of relishing the fleeting sight and scent of blossom. The National Trust is encouraging people to join its scheme to salve the spirit in this most difficult of springtimes. It suggests adults and children who can see a tree in bloom take a moment to pause, actively notice and enjoy the transient beauty of the blossom, and share their images on social media using the hashtag #BlossomWatch. Next year it intends to launch a blossom map to track the colours as they move across the country. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 27 Mar 2020 03:43 AM PDT South Africa records first Covid-19 deaths; China closes borders; UK records biggest daily rise in deaths
A rescue flight arranged by the German government on Friday picked up hundreds of tourists who had been stranded in Nepal since the Himalayan nation went on lockdown earlier this week, the Press Association reports: The Qatar Airways charter flight took off with 305 people on board, said Deo Chandra Lal Karna, an official at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport. Immigration official Sagar Acharya said most of the passengers were German nationals or had some connection to the country.
The UK's largest retailer Tesco is limiting online shoppers to 80 items per shop in a drive to free up more delivery slots to households in self-isolation, writes my colleague Rebecca Smithers. A typical online order before the coronavirus would contain fewer than 60 items, but the average has leaped recently due to the number of very large shops now over 100 items. Customers are stocking up with essentials but may also buy more than they need. The move will allow the supermarket to release significantly more delivery slots over the coming weeks, as part of its efforts to ensure all customers can buy what they need. Continue reading... |
| Did a New York Times article inspire Trump's 'back to work' plan? Posted: 27 Mar 2020 03:15 AM PDT A New York Times piece by a diet specialist appears to have informed Trump's idea to open up the country by Easter At the start of this week, as millions were following US government advice to combat the coronavirus pandemic by physical distancing and staying indoors, Donald Trump abruptly declared that people needed to soon return to work. Related: Coronavirus US live: Pelosi says stimulus will pass but Congress is 'not doing enough' Continue reading... |
| Bolsonaro's anti-science response to coronavirus appals Brazil's governors Posted: 27 Mar 2020 02:35 AM PDT The president has contradicted his own health ministry by urging people to return to work and schools – 'I was gobsmacked,' said one former Bolsonaro ally Top Brazilian politicians from across the political spectrum have warned that Jair Bolsonaro is putting thousands of lives at risk with what they called his reckless, paranoid, anti-scientific and belligerent response to the coronavirus. In a series of scathing interviews – conducted as 26 of Brazil's 27 state governors convened an emergency meeting to discuss Bolsonaro's behaviour – regional chiefs told the Guardian they feared the far-right leader was sowing confusion over the need for quarantine and social distancing measures, and wasting precious time setting political bonfires to energize his radical base. Continue reading... |
| Industry super funds ask for government help amid fears of mass Covid-19 withdrawals Posted: 27 Mar 2020 12:17 AM PDT Rules allowing members who lose their job due to the coronavirus crisis to withdraw money early may cost funds more than $30bn Superannuation funds have asked the government for taxpayer backing to help them meet withdrawals by members without being forced to sell assets, as the coronavirus crisis sparks one of the worst sharemarket routs in the past 100 years. But sources said that so far the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has rebuffed the proposal for a "liquidity backstop facility" designed to protect funds from taking heavy losses due to a large number of people withdrawing money because they have lost their jobs due to government restrictions. Continue reading... |
| Minibuses keep Kenya’s wheels turning amid Covid-19 fears – in pictures Posted: 27 Mar 2020 03:30 AM PDT 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 All photographs by Joost Bastmeijer |
| 'We fear, but have to work': isolation not an option for the poor of Nairobi Posted: 27 Mar 2020 03:00 AM PDT 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. Continue reading... |
| Bosnia crams thousands of migrants into tent camp to 'halt Covid-19 spread' Posted: 27 Mar 2020 12:00 AM PDT 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 Bihać 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". Continue reading... |
| Conflict and Covid-19 are a deadly mix – I fear for the world's most vulnerable Posted: 26 Mar 2020 11:00 PM PDT As the Red Cross launches an emergency appeal, its president calls for the world to pull together If the first casualty of war is truth, the second may very well be something the entire world values highly right now: healthcare. Families fleeing conflict, or currently in its crosshairs, know that medical assistance is a rare and precious privilege in war zones. Amid the terror of bombs and bullets, a functioning medical facility is a life-saving oasis, but it's a near certainty medical staff will be overworked and short on supplies. Continue reading... |
| Jair Bolsonaro claims Brazilians 'never catch anything' as Covid-19 cases rise Posted: 26 Mar 2020 05:25 PM PDT President suggests citizens may already have antibodies that help virus 'not to proliferate', as cases rise to nearly 3,000 Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro has tried to reassure his citizens over the threat of coronavirus by claiming Brazilians can bathe in excrement "and nothing happens". As Brazil's Covid-19 death toll rose to 77, Bolsonaro scotched the idea Latin America's biggest economy could soon face a situation as severe as the United States, where there have been more than 1,000 deaths and more than 83,000 cases. Continue reading... |
| Can a face mask protect me from coronavirus? Covid-19 myths busted Posted: 27 Mar 2020 01:54 AM PDT The truth about how you can catch coronavirus, who is most vulnerable 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... |
| Will the coronavirus crisis spell triumph or disaster for Donald Trump? Posted: 26 Mar 2020 01:43 PM PDT The president was slow to address the pandemic that is plunging the US into recession but could an economic bounceback come in time to aid his re-election hopes On the day of Donald Trump's election, economists predicted calamity. Related: Record 3.3m Americans file for unemployment as the US tries to contain Covid-19 Continue reading... |
| Europe doesn't have to be so helpless in this crisis Posted: 26 Mar 2020 07:53 AM PDT European governments already have system for working together in a health emergency – it's called the EU More than 250 million European citizens are in mandatory home confinement to help curb the spread of Covid 19. Yet while Swedes, Germans and Bulgarians still walk more or less freely around their cities, Italians, Spaniards and French people can't leave their homes. Swedish kids are still going to school, while most of their European peers are not. Shops are open in the Netherlands, Denmark and Hungary but closed elsewhere. How can we make sense of these conflicting realities when European citizens are all equally affected by the virus? How do we achieve the same aim: the containment of the disease in a shared continent, supposedly without borders, with such a range of different policies? Continue reading... |
| Socially distanced street parade greets US teenager after cancer treatment – video Posted: 27 Mar 2020 02:59 AM PDT A group of neighbours in Los Angeles threw a socially distanced welcome-home party for a teenager after she finished chemotherapy amid the coronavirus pandemic. Courtney Johnson, 15, was diagnosed with cancer in June and was receiving treatment at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. The video was shared by her mother on social media Continue reading... |
| Dr Fauci joins NBA star Stephen Curry for coronavirus Q&A – video Posted: 27 Mar 2020 01:02 AM PDT The NBA star Stephen Curry has hosted a coronavirus Q&A with the infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci on Instagram. Fauci has been a regular at Donald Trump's press briefings on Covid-19, as the US battles to contain coronavirus Continue reading... |
| India's 1.3billion population in lockdown - in pictures Posted: 27 Mar 2020 12:00 AM PDT A three-week nationwide lockdown has been imposed by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi starts, in an attempt to halt the spread of the coronavirus Continue reading... |
| Expressing gratitude during the coronavirus crisis – video Posted: 26 Mar 2020 09:03 PM PDT Australian academic, psychologist and author Lea Waters discusses the beneficial power of expressing gratitude during times of stress and uncertainty. The video forms part of a multi-part series looking at ways we can all stay positive during the coronavirus crisis.
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| Trump: 'You don't know what the coronavirus numbers are in China' - video Posted: 26 Mar 2020 07:40 PM PDT US president Donald Trump has played down figures that revealed the country now has the highest number of coronavirus cases in the world, insisting 'you don't know what the numbers in China are'. Trump added he is due to speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, while explaining why he continues to call Covid-19 the 'China virus' despite his plea earlier this week to protect Asian-Americans from racism. |
| Millions of Britons step out to clap for NHS staff on coronavirus frontlines – video report Posted: 26 Mar 2020 02:52 PM PDT At 8pm on Thursday, millions of people stood at their front doors and open windows, in gardens and on balconies, to raise a thunder of gratitude for those working on the frontline of the fight against coronavirus Continue reading... |
| Clap for carers: applauding the NHS – in pictures Posted: 26 Mar 2020 02:45 PM PDT People across the UK have taken part in a mass round of applause in support of the NHS workers battling the coronavirus pandemic. In the Clap For Carers initiative people took to their doorsteps and balconies applauding, banging pans and letting off fireworks. Notable buildings around the country were also lit up in blue Continue reading... |
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