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- Report reveals ‘massive plastic pollution footprint’ of drinks firms
- Oil prices rally as Trump-Putin call raises truce hopes
- Costa Rican president pledges to protect indigenous rights after activists murdered
- Exiled Pakistani journalist goes missing in Sweden
- Zoom booms as demand for video-conferencing tech grows
- North Korea reacts to Pompeo 'insult' with threat to cut off talks
- Will Andrew Cuomo run for president, his brother asks? 'No. No'
- Van Gogh painting stolen from Dutch museum
- New blood test can detect 50 types of cancer
- Hampshire 112-year-old officially recognised as world's oldest man
- Waxahatchee: 'Getting sober, you’re facing this stuff shoved deep down'
- Murder inquiry launched after family of four and dog found dead
- Coronavirus live news: World Bank warns of 'unprecedented shock' as global confirmed cases pass 800,000
- Retail association to press government to include more casuals in jobkeeper payment
- Sierra Leone lifts ban on pregnant girls going to school but shutdown expected
- Planting hope: the Syrian refugee who developed virus-resistant super-seeds
- The UK feigns ignorance, but five years on it's still intimately involved in Yemen's war
- Divided Delhi under lockdown: 'If coronavirus doesn't kill me, hunger will'
- If coronavirus sinks the eurozone, the 'frugal four' will be to blame | David Adler and Jerome Roos
- Can a face mask protect me from coronavirus? Covid-19 myths busted
- Explainer: what is the national cabinet and is it democratic? | Jennifer Menzies
- Antarctica: what it means when the coldest place on Earth records an unprecedented heatwave
- Family's lockdown adaptation of Les Misérables song goes viral – video
- How to correctly wear your coronavirus face mask and gloves – video
- Trump uses White House coronavirus briefing to promote corporate allies – video
- Trump attacks journalists for asking 'snarky' questions on coronavirus testing in US – video
- Coronavirus: 'each and every individual matters', says WHO director – video
- New York governor Andrew Cuomo calls for unity in US coronavirus fight – video
- NHS nurse applauded by family as she returns from work amid coronavirus crisis – video
| Report reveals ‘massive plastic pollution footprint’ of drinks firms Posted: 30 Mar 2020 04:01 PM PDT Report says plastic from Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé and Unilever products could cover 83 football pitches every day Four global drinks giants are responsible for more than half a million tonnes of plastic pollution in six developing countries each year, enough to cover 83 football pitches every day, according to a report. The NGO Tearfund has calculated the greenhouse gas emissions from the open burning of plastic bottles, sachets and cartons produced by Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé and Unilever in developing nations, where waste can be mismanaged because people do not have access to collections. Continue reading... |
| Oil prices rally as Trump-Putin call raises truce hopes Posted: 31 Mar 2020 02:56 AM PDT Producers including Shell affected by price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia Oil prices have rallied after a call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin raised hopes that tensions between Moscow and Saudi Arabia may start to ease. Brent crude prices rose as much as 3.5% to $23.55 overnight, after hitting an 18-year low of less than $23 per barrel on Monday. The global benchmark for oil prices lost some of its gains later on Tuesday, but was still trading just above the $23 level at $23.01, a rise of 1.1%. Continue reading... |
| Costa Rican president pledges to protect indigenous rights after activists murdered Posted: 31 Mar 2020 03:30 AM PDT Carlos Alvarado seeks solution that will end conflicts over land despite previous delays Costa Rica's president has pledged to protect the rights of indigenous defenders following a spate of violence against native communities in his country. Last month, an activist, Yehry Rivera, from the Brörán indigenous community in Térraba, Puntarenas province, was shot and killed after he was attacked by an armed mob while trying to reclaim ancestral land. The murder happened just two weeks after an indigenous leader of the Bribri indigenous people in nearby Salitre was shot in a surge of unpunished violence against native communities in Costa Rica. Continue reading... |
| Exiled Pakistani journalist goes missing in Sweden Posted: 31 Mar 2020 03:20 AM PDT Sajid Hussain, who wrote about rights abuses in Balochistan, had been granted Swedish asylum A prominent Pakistani journalist who fled the country after receiving death threats has gone missing in Sweden where he had been granted political asylum. Sajid Hussain, 39, went into self-imposed exile in 2012 after his reporting on forced disappearances and human rights abuses in the turbulent region of Balochistan had led to death threats. He had continued to run an online newspaper, the Balochistan Times, from abroad covering the same topics. Continue reading... |
| Zoom booms as demand for video-conferencing tech grows Posted: 30 Mar 2020 11:00 PM PDT Estimated net worth of founder has increased by more than $4bn since coronavirus crisis started From nursery school sing-alongs to FTSE 100 boardrooms and even UK cabinet meetings hosted by the poorly prime minister, a socially distanced world is reconvening in cyberspace with the help of Silicon Valley video conferencing app Zoom. As governments across the world have placed their citizens on lockdown, downloads of video conferencing apps have soared to record highs and the companies behind them have seen their share prices rise while the rest of the global stock market tanks. Continue reading... |
| North Korea reacts to Pompeo 'insult' with threat to cut off talks Posted: 30 Mar 2020 05:05 PM PDT Kim Jong-un's regime says 'we will walk our own way' but US secretary of state still hopes for dialogue North Korea has warned it could cut off dialogue with the United States but Mike Pompeo has said the US still looked forward to talks, even after the North called his insistence on sanctions "ludicrous". The US secretary of state has asked nations to "stay committed to applying diplomatic and economic pressure" over the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes while calling on it to return to talks. Continue reading... |
| Will Andrew Cuomo run for president, his brother asks? 'No. No' Posted: 31 Mar 2020 05:00 AM PDT New York governor did an interview with his brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, avoiding criticism of Donald Trump As he navigates the coronavirus crisis in New York the governor, Andrew Cuomo, has become the subject of increasingly excited talk about a late run for the Democratic presidential nomination. But on Monday night, after a day in which cases and deaths in the state continued to rise steeply and a massive US Navy hospital ship arrived in New York City harbour, he had a simple answer for his brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo. Continue reading... |
| Van Gogh painting stolen from Dutch museum Posted: 30 Mar 2020 10:10 AM PDT Thieves have stolen the £5m Parsonage Garden at Neunen in Spring by the famous artist from the Singer Laren museum A painting by Vincent van Gogh with an estimated value of up to £5m has been stolen from a Dutch museum currently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The thieves took Van Gogh's Parsonage Garden at Neunen in Spring after smashing through the front glass door of the Singer Laren museum, in Laren, at around 3.15am on Sunday morning. No other art is believed to be missing. Continue reading... |
| New blood test can detect 50 types of cancer Posted: 30 Mar 2020 04:01 PM PDT System uses machine learning to offer new way to screen for hard-to-detect cancers A new blood test that can detect more than 50 types of cancer has been revealed by researchers in the latest study to offer hope for early detection. The test is based on DNA that is shed by tumours and found circulating in the blood. More specifically, it focuses on chemical changes to this DNA, known as methylation patterns. Continue reading... |
| Hampshire 112-year-old officially recognised as world's oldest man Posted: 31 Mar 2020 03:06 AM PDT Bob Weighton presented with certificate at assisted living home where he is isolating A Hampshire resident has been officially recognised as the world's oldest man by Guinness World Records. Bob Weighton, who is 112 years and two days old, was presented with his certificate by staff at the assisted living home where he lives, while keeping the appropriate distance because he is isolating. Continue reading... |
| Waxahatchee: 'Getting sober, you’re facing this stuff shoved deep down' Posted: 31 Mar 2020 04:30 AM PDT As she releases her superb fifth album, Alabama musician Katie Crutchfield shows us around her native Birmingham, and explains how sobriety opened up her songwriting Katie Crutchfield pulls up in her dad's rugged Jeep outside my hotel in a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. She grins when I voice my surprise at her ride. "I should have told you it was a ragtop with crazy tyres," she says. It's early March, and we head to a nearby coffee shop then she steers us into the city. As soon as I take out a notebook, the bumpy ride upends my pen. "Sorry," she says. "I love driving it so much, but it's a little wild." With a licence plate repping the college football powerhouse Alabama Crimson Tide, the vehicle blends into Crutchfield's home town. Her relationship to the place is more complex. One of the US's sharpest and most acclaimed songwriters, she's about to give me a tour of Birmingham as she viewed it as a teenager: through the lens of the underground punk scene. Now 31, Crutchfield about to release Saint Cloud, her fifth album as Waxahatchee, which finds her reexamining her southern roots with increased self-awareness. It's one of the year's most bewitching albums, the bristly indie rock for which she's best known enhanced by country and folk, and the clarifying effect of new sobriety. "If you're getting sober, you're facing all of this stuff that has been shoved deep down and covered in booze for years," she says. "And I'm like, oh my god, my brain is a scary place right now." Continue reading... |
| Murder inquiry launched after family of four and dog found dead Posted: 31 Mar 2020 04:57 AM PDT Police not seeking anyone else in connection with deaths in Woodmancote, West Sussex A murder investigation has been launched after a family of four and their dog were found dead in a West Sussex village. The bodies, understood to be those of a man, his partner and their two young daughters, were discovered at a house in Woodmancote, near Chichester. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 31 Mar 2020 05:30 AM PDT Spain reports record single-day death toll; Vietnam enters lockdown; Russia records biggest daily rise in cases for seventh day running
The streets of Lagos, Africa's biggest city, were deserted on Tuesday after Nigeria imposed a lock down in its economic hub, AFP reports. The government has implemented one of Africa's most ambitious efforts at social distancing after recording 135 confirmed cases and two deaths.
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus infection around the world has passed 800,000, with more than 38,000 deaths, according to the tally kept by Johns Hopkins university. The Maryland, US-based research university has been tracking official statistics on coronavirus infections, deaths and recoveries since the outbreak was first recognised in January. Continue reading... |
| Retail association to press government to include more casuals in jobkeeper payment Posted: 31 Mar 2020 02:05 AM PDT Exclusion of casuals with less than 12 months' service to be raised in talks on Coalition's coronavirus measures after concerns voiced
Australia's peak retail body will raise casuals' eligibility for the new jobkeeper payment with the government after unions, Labor and the Greens raised concerns that those with less than 12 months of service are excluded from the $1,500 fortnightly payment. The Australian Retail Association's executive director, Russell Zimmerman, told Guardian Australia that casuals' eligibility was an "area of concern" and the government should consider exceptions for people with less than 12 months' service but a likely "continuation of their role" after Covid-19 shutdowns. Continue reading... |
| Sierra Leone lifts ban on pregnant girls going to school but shutdown expected Posted: 31 Mar 2020 12:00 AM PDT Decision hailed as 'victory' comes amid warnings that coronavirus could close schools and leave teenagers vulnerable in quarantine Sierra Leone has lifted an internationally criticised ban that prohibited pregnant schoolgirls from attending school and sitting exams, in a move heralded by activists as a "victory for feminism" in the west African nation. The decision, announced on Monday, follows a judgment last December by a top regional court that ordered the immediate overturn of the ban, which effectively barred tens of thousands of girls the right to finish their education. The Economic Community of West African States court instructed Sierra Leone to establish nationwide programmes to help pregnant girls return to school. Continue reading... |
| Planting hope: the Syrian refugee who developed virus-resistant super-seeds Posted: 30 Mar 2020 11:00 PM PDT Plant virologist Dr Safaa Kumari discovered seeds that could safeguard food security in the region – and risked her life to rescue them from Aleppo The call came as she sat in her hotel room. "They gave us 10 minutes to pack up and leave," Dr Safaa Kumari was told down a crackling phone line. Armed fighters had just seized her house in Aleppo and her family were on the run. Kumari was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, preparing to present a conference. She immediately began organising a sprint back to Syria. Hidden in her sister's house was a small but very valuable bundle that she was prepared to risk her life to recover. Continue reading... |
| The UK feigns ignorance, but five years on it's still intimately involved in Yemen's war Posted: 30 Mar 2020 10:00 PM PDT The British government refuses to track the use of its weapons in a conflict that has targeted civilians and healthcare facilities, and now a coronavirus outbreak looms The coronavirus pandemic has forced questions of life and death to the fore around the world. National health infrastructures risk being overwhelmed, food supply chains are struggling to keep up with stockpiling, and restrictions on movement are enforcing social distancing. Worries about loved ones and fears for the future combine with outbreaks of neighbourliness and solidarity. The questions about who is – or should be – responsible for mitigating the crisis and addressing its worst effects are being raised urgently. For many this is the new reality. But for those in conflict zones, such as Yemen, basic survival has long been the pressing preoccupation. Continue reading... |
| Divided Delhi under lockdown: 'If coronavirus doesn't kill me, hunger will' Posted: 30 Mar 2020 05:00 AM PDT India's shutdown is catastrophic for Muslims driven from their homes by sectarian carnage and now without food or shelter It wasn't possible for Mohammed Idrish to watch Narendra Modi's address to the nation last Tuesday exhorting 1.3 billion Indians to stay at home. His TV was looted along with everything else in his home in Delhi during the recent anti-Muslim riots in the Indian capital. When Idrish, a carpenter, heard about Modi urging Indians to stay at home to stop coronavirus spreading, he shook his head again and again. "I don't understand … I don't understand. Doesn't he know we have no home?" Continue reading... |
| If coronavirus sinks the eurozone, the 'frugal four' will be to blame | David Adler and Jerome Roos Posted: 31 Mar 2020 01:47 AM PDT The Dutch-led opposition to a 'coronabond' to raise funds for nations hardest-hit by the pandemic is self-defeating Last Thursday, the leaders of the European Union convened a video conference to deliberate the escalating Covid-19 crisis. On the agenda was a simple proposal co-signed by nine different eurozone governments: the "coronabond", a new type of public debt instrument backed by all the members of the currency union as they come together to combat the virus. After a long decade of crisis fighting in the eurozone – pitting north against south, creditor against borrower – the proposal marked a rare display of unity, and the meeting was a perfect opportunity to ratify it. Issued collectively, the "coronabond" would drive down the borrowing costs of some of Europe's most heavily affected countries, staving off another sovereign debt crisis and freeing up much-needed resources to invest in public health and economic recovery. "We are all facing a symmetric external shock," the proposal read, "and we are collectively accountable for an effective and united European response." Continue reading... |
| Can a face mask protect me from coronavirus? Covid-19 myths busted Posted: 31 Mar 2020 01:42 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... |
| Explainer: what is the national cabinet and is it democratic? | Jennifer Menzies Posted: 30 Mar 2020 10:28 PM PDT Its power is in the way it brings all Australia's leaders together to negotiate and compromise, whereas parliament is about majority will
Crises pose particular challenges for democratic leaders. They are expected to make critical decisions in times of uncertainty and rapidly develop effective plans to lead us out of the emergency. Usually we are more interested in constraining our leaders through the checks and balances of accountability. But in times of crisis we look for leadership. Finding the right balance between accountability and rapid decision-making remains a challenge during an era of reduced trust in political leaders. Continue reading... |
| Antarctica: what it means when the coldest place on Earth records an unprecedented heatwave Posted: 30 Mar 2020 05:31 PM PDT Antarctica's weather has worldwide impacts and can be a 'canary in the mine' for patterns of change elsewhere While the world rightfully focuses on the Covid-19 pandemic, the planet is still warming. This summer's Antarctic weather, as elsewhere in the world, was unprecedented in the observed record. Our research, published today in Global Change Biology, describes the recent heatwave in Antarctica. Beginning in late spring east of the Antarctic Peninsula, it circumnavigated the continent over the next four months. Some of our team spent the summer in Antarctica observing these temperatures and the effect on natural systems, witnessing the heatwave first hand. Continue reading... |
| Family's lockdown adaptation of Les Misérables song goes viral – video Posted: 31 Mar 2020 02:13 AM PDT A family from Kent who shared a video of their living room performance of a lockdown-themed adaptation of a Les Misérables song have become a sensation online. Ben and Danielle Marsh and their four children changed the lyrics of One Day More to reflect common complaints during the Covid-19 lockdown. They say the video, which has gone viral, was intended to give friends and family a laugh during this stressful time Continue reading... |
| How to correctly wear your coronavirus face mask and gloves – video Posted: 30 Mar 2020 10:58 PM PDT Trish Hann, a Sydney-based diagnostic radiographer and clinical educator, goes through the correct method of putting on and wearing personal protective equipment. 'The most important thing with regards to PPE is making sure that what you're wearing is appropriate,' she says
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| Trump uses White House coronavirus briefing to promote corporate allies – video Posted: 30 Mar 2020 09:22 PM PDT US president Donald Trump uses his White House coronavirus briefing to promote companies doing their 'patriotic duty' by producing or donating medical equipment to meet America's most urgent needs. 'What they're doing is incredible,' he said. 'These are great companies.' Trump invited CEOs from MyPillow, Honeywell, Jockey International, Procter & Gamble and United Technologies to make short speeches to the press gathered in the Rose Garden. Trump introduced MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell as a 'friend' saying, 'Boy, do you sell those pillows, it's unbelievable what you do' |
| Trump attacks journalists for asking 'snarky' questions on coronavirus testing in US – video Posted: 30 Mar 2020 08:00 PM PDT Donald Trump said that federal physical distancing guidelines might be toughened as he urged Americans to help fight the coronavirus with tough measures through April. Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, said more than 1 million Americans had been tested for the coronavirus, which he called a milestone. But when questioned about testing per capita in the US, Trump wrongly claimed that the population of Seoul in South Korea was 38 million people (it is actually closer to 10 million people) and told the reporter to stop asking 'snarky' questions Continue reading... |
| Coronavirus: 'each and every individual matters', says WHO director – video Posted: 30 Mar 2020 03:04 PM PDT WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the poorest from each community would struggle for their 'daily bread' as more and more countries implemented lockdowns of various degrees. He added poverty was a global problem, not one unique to India, and governments should take each individual into account when implementing measures
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| New York governor Andrew Cuomo calls for unity in US coronavirus fight – video Posted: 30 Mar 2020 12:22 PM PDT The New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, has warned that the state's surge of coronavirus cases and deaths could soon be replicated across the country. He said he agreed with Donald Trump's description of the fight against the virus as 'a war' and stressed that preparation for the peak of infection was essential Continue reading... |
| NHS nurse applauded by family as she returns from work amid coronavirus crisis – video Posted: 30 Mar 2020 11:34 AM PDT Lynne Addison Lake, an NHS nurse working during the coronavirus outbreak, received a standing ovation from her family as she returned home from a shift at a GP's surgery in North Wales. Her son shared a video on Twitter and said: 'We as a family have been welcoming our mum home from work as a hero. She is a nurse in the NHS in Britain and is working so hard every day! We will continue to do this every time she returns home from work' Continue reading... |
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