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- Coronavirus live news: US cases pass 500,000 as Trump faces 'biggest decision' on curbs
- Coronavirus: who will be winners and losers in new world order?
- Call for super-rich to donate more to tackle coronavirus pandemic
- Cruise firms face 'off-the-scale' challenge in wake of coronavirus
- Awakening volcanic region in Iceland 'could cause disruption for centuries'
- Cardinal George Pell writes about suffering, jail and coronavirus in News Corp piece
- Apple and Google team up in bid to use smartphones to track coronavirus spread
- The Beatles' handwritten Hey Jude lyrics sell for $910,000 at auction
- Amsterdam to Paris in 90 minutes? Dutch tout hyperloop as future of travel
- EU members clash over pandemic economic rescue package
- 'After war we now have this': Syrians grapple with poverty and coronavirus
- Russia opens criminal case after Czech officials remove Soviet statue
- Fire at Siberian penal colony after riot sparked by claims of brutality
- Harvey Weinstein faces new sexual assault charge in Los Angeles
- Milk floats ride to the rescue of locked-down British households
- Anne Tyler: 'Up close you’ll always see things to be optimistic about'
- 'Test of resolve': Britons warned to stay at home as temperatures set to hit 26C
- Crisis in Chablis: wine hit by frost, drought and now coronavirus
- Crime falls sharply in even the most violent US cities
- First Yanomami Covid-19 death raises fears for Brazil's indigenous peoples
- Why is South Korea beating coronavirus? Its citizens hold the state to account | Tae Hoon Kim
- Perth endures hottest April day ever, as temperature reaches 39.5C
- Foreigners targeted in Central African Republic as coronavirus fears grow
- Covid-19 should not be allowed to run free, but Australians are looking for a positive timetable | Malcolm Farr
- Time to cut each other some slack amid lockdown fury | Zoe Williams
- Drone footage shows San Francisco deserted under coronavirus lockdown – video
- War veteran, 99, receives guard of honour from nurses after surviving coronavirus – video
- 'Your sacrifices are making a difference': Leo Varadkar announces Irish lockdown extension – video
- 'Roast at home': Italian mayors' Easter warning to coronavirus lockdown defiers – video
- Risking coronavirus on the New York City subway: 'I feel guilty but have no choice' – video
| Coronavirus live news: US cases pass 500,000 as Trump faces 'biggest decision' on curbs Posted: 11 Apr 2020 02:20 AM PDT US president says he is 'not determined' to open up the country in May; global death toll passes 100,000
The Philippines reported 26 new coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, taking the total to 247. Elsewhere, Malaysian health authorities reported 184 additional confirmed cases of the new coronavirus on Saturday, raising the cumulative tally to 4,530, the highest number for any country in southeast asia.
An interesting article today, asking are state responses to the virus shifting the balance of power between China and the west? Related: Coronavirus: who will be winners and losers in new world order? Continue reading... |
| Coronavirus: who will be winners and losers in new world order? Posted: 10 Apr 2020 11:00 PM PDT Are state responses to the virus shifting the balance of power between China and the west? Andrà tutto bene, the Italians have taught us to think, but in truth, will everything be better the day after? It may seem premature, in the midst of what Emmanuel Macron has described as "a war against an invisible enemy", to consider the political and economic consequences of a distant peace. Few attempt a definitive review of a play after the first three scenes. Yet world leaders, diplomats and geopolitical analysts know they are living through epoch-making times and have one eye on the daily combat, the other on what this crisis will bequeath the world. Competing ideologies, power blocs, leaders and systems of social cohesion are being stress-tested in the court of world opinion. Continue reading... |
| Call for super-rich to donate more to tackle coronavirus pandemic Posted: 11 Apr 2020 12:00 AM PDT While some billionaires have pledged vast chunks of their wealth others have been criticised for not giving enough, or even at all The world's richest people are being urged to urgently donate big chunks of their fortunes to the global effort to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, and help millions of people across the globe whose lives have been thrown into crisis by Covid-19. Some billionaires – including Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey – have committed huge amounts of their money to fund solutions to the unfolding crisis. Continue reading... |
| Cruise firms face 'off-the-scale' challenge in wake of coronavirus Posted: 11 Apr 2020 12:00 AM PDT With dozens of fatalities linked to 'floating Petri dishes', shares have collapsed – but all may not be lost Like many thousands of nurses, Julie Timson has spent the past few weeks suited up in an armour of personal protective equipment fighting the coronavirus and trying to save lives. In the moments when it's too overwhelming on the ward, Timson takes a minute to daydream about sipping cocktails on a cruise ship floating in some ocean paradise destination. Continue reading... |
| Awakening volcanic region in Iceland 'could cause disruption for centuries' Posted: 10 Apr 2020 03:28 AM PDT Reykjanes peninsula's last active period started in 10th century and lasted 300 years Volcanic activity is escalating in a region of Iceland that has not erupted for 800 years, with scientists warning it could cause disruption for centuries to come. Since 21 January, the Reykjanes peninsula south-west of Iceland's capital, Reykjavik, has experienced more than 8,000 earthquakes and about 10cm of land uplift due to magma intrusions underground. Continue reading... |
| Cardinal George Pell writes about suffering, jail and coronavirus in News Corp piece Posted: 10 Apr 2020 06:40 PM PDT Cardinal writes in the Australian that 'God-fearers' are better able to deal with evil and suffering than atheists Cardinal George Pell has used an Easter opinion piece to argue "God-fearers" are better able to deal with evil and suffering than atheists, pointing to his own experience of "13 months in jail for a crime I didn't commit". Pell was released from prison on Tuesday after Australia's high court quashed five convictions for child sexual abuse, over allegations he assaulted two choirboys at a Melbourne cathedral in the 1990s. Continue reading... |
| Apple and Google team up in bid to use smartphones to track coronavirus spread Posted: 10 Apr 2020 01:44 PM PDT The app will use a Bluetooth technology to trace every phone a person comes in contact with, raising concerns over privacy Apple and Google announced Friday an unprecedented collaboration to leverage smartphone technology to help trace and contain the spread of coronavirus. The collaboration will open up their mobile operating systems to allow for the creation of advanced "contact-tracing" apps, which will run on iPhones and Android phones alike. Continue reading... |
| The Beatles' handwritten Hey Jude lyrics sell for $910,000 at auction Posted: 10 Apr 2020 06:44 PM PDT Paul McCartney's hastily scribbled notes for a 1968 studio recording fetches nine times its original estimate Paul McCartney's handwritten lyrics to The Beatles' hit song Hey Jude has sold for $910,000, nine times its original estimate, auction house Julien's Auctions said. A vintage bass drumhead with The Beatles' logo that was used during the English band's first North American tour in 1964 was another top item in the auction, selling for $200,000. Continue reading... |
| Amsterdam to Paris in 90 minutes? Dutch tout hyperloop as future of travel Posted: 10 Apr 2020 08:51 AM PDT North Holland thinks unproven 600mph magnetic hovertrain could help replace air travel Swifter than trains, safer than cars and far less damaging to the environment than planes, the Dutch province of North Holland believes the hyperloop might be the future. Plans are being drawn up for Amsterdam to be connected to other European cities by the futuristic high-speed mode of transportation comprising a magnetic hovertrain in an air-free tube able to travel at speeds of over 600mph due to the lack of friction and drag. Continue reading... |
| EU members clash over pandemic economic rescue package Posted: 10 Apr 2020 06:13 AM PDT France and Netherlands at odds on finance ministers' €500bn compromise France and the Netherlands have openly clashed over the meaning of a messy compromise struck by finance ministers which has unlocked a €500bn (£438bn) pandemic rescue package for European economies but left major issues unresolved. Hours after a breakthrough was secured late on Thursday evening to allow immediate support for businesses and healthcare systems, it became clear on Friday that there remained bitter divisions within the EU over the longer-term task of rebuilding the European economy. Continue reading... |
| 'After war we now have this': Syrians grapple with poverty and coronavirus Posted: 10 Apr 2020 08:06 AM PDT Collapse of economy leaves country unable to cope with prospect of a major outbreak Kareem Zukari has endured a lot during the nine years of Syria's war. There have been missiles and bullets, loved ones killed, and the fear of being conscripted into the army or tortured in Bashar al-Assad's prisons. But no matter how bad things got, there was always food. "Now there is so much poverty," the 25-year-old from the Damascus neighbourhood of Barzeh said. "There are families living on $200 [£160] a month, but I don't call that living. It's barely managing to eat. And now with the coronavirus some businessmen are capitalising on the panic and raising prices." He asked that his real name not be used for fear of repercussions. Continue reading... |
| Russia opens criminal case after Czech officials remove Soviet statue Posted: 10 Apr 2020 11:33 AM PDT Statue of Marshal Ivan Konev in Prague seen by some as symbol of communist rule Russia has opened a criminal investigation after Czech authorities dismantled the statue of a Soviet military commander despite Moscow's protests, escalating a diplomatic row over the issue. The statue of Marshal Ivan Konev, who led the Red Army forces during the second world war that drove Nazi troops from Czechoslovakia, is reviled by some in Prague as a symbol of the decades of communist rule that followed the war. Continue reading... |
| Fire at Siberian penal colony after riot sparked by claims of brutality Posted: 10 Apr 2020 12:55 PM PDT Videos on social media show buildings alight in prison near Angarsk near Lake Baikal Fire has engulfed a penal colony in Siberia after a riot broke out – reportedly sparked by accusations of brutality. Videos posted to social media on Friday showed buildings ablaze at the IK-15 prison in the Siberian city of Angarsk, 2,500 miles southeast of Moscow and near Lake Baikal's southern shore Continue reading... |
| Harvey Weinstein faces new sexual assault charge in Los Angeles Posted: 10 Apr 2020 12:53 PM PDT Prosecutors accuse film producer, serving 23-year sentence in New York, of sexual battery by restraint in 2010 incident Los Angeles prosecutors have filed a new sexual assault charge against Harvey Weinstein, the film producer serving a 23-year prison sentence in New York for rape. The LA district attorney's office, which filed its original case in January, announced on Friday that Weinstein was facing a new felony charge of sexual battery by restraint, stemming from an incident at a Beverly Hills hotel on 11 May 2010. Continue reading... |
| Milk floats ride to the rescue of locked-down British households Posted: 10 Apr 2020 11:00 PM PDT The once ubiquitous electric float had seen its power wane. Then came the pandemic The humble milkman – a regular sight on most British streets throughout the 20th century – was almost consigned to the history books by the rise of the supermarkets. But now, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, these dairy deliverers on their electric floats are busier than ever as they try to keep up with newfound demand for their services. Continue reading... |
| Anne Tyler: 'Up close you’ll always see things to be optimistic about' Posted: 11 Apr 2020 01:00 AM PDT Renowned for her extraordinary insights into ordinary lives, the award-winning novelist discusses family sagas and why she thinks she was a better writer when she was younger When Anne Tyler's UK tour for her latest novel became an early victim of the coronavirus, and her publisher announced that the 78-year-old would be conducting all media interviews by phone from the safety of her home in Baltimore, Tyler felt some relief, but mainly she felt guilt. She is one of the world's most acclaimed modern novelists, winner of both a Pulitzer (for Breathing Lessons, 1988) and the National Book Critics Circle award (for The Accidental Tourist, 1995, which was turned into an Oscar-winning film) and a finalist for the Man Booker (A Spool of Blue Thread, 2015) and the Women's prize for fiction (Ladder of Years from 1995, and A Spool of Blue Thread). But until 2012, she maintained a silence as assiduous as that of Thomas Pynchon or JD Salinger. She never liked – and still doesn't, but needs must in today's world – talking about how she does what she does, because that leads to self-consciousness, which is never good for creativity. So she was "kind of relieved" when the tour was cancelled. "But I remember I used to pray the school would burn down before a math test the next day. Yet if it had actually burned down I would have felt so guilty. So now I'm thinking, 'Oh dear, be careful what you wish for!'" she says. Continue reading... |
| 'Test of resolve': Britons warned to stay at home as temperatures set to hit 26C Posted: 10 Apr 2020 08:17 PM PDT Good weather is expected over the Easter weekend but Matt Hancock urges people not to visit their local park or beach Britons have been urged to resist visiting their local beach or park over the Easter weekend as temperatures were expected to soar to 26C in some areas. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said the Easter weekend will be a "test of the nation's resolve" as he issued another warning to the public to "stay at home" amid the coronavirus crisis. Continue reading... |
| Crisis in Chablis: wine hit by frost, drought and now coronavirus Posted: 10 Apr 2020 11:00 PM PDT Coronavirus outbreak dashes hopes of winemakers in Burgundy In the village of Maligny in the valley of the Serein river at the heart of chablis country, Jean-François Bordet surveys the vineyards his family has owned since 1590. Spring, when the vines sprout their first leaves, is an uncertain time, when late frosts threaten to kill off early growth. Like other vignerons in this region of Burgundy, Bordet has been working day and night to protect his plants, a number of which are more than 100 years old. Continue reading... |
| Crime falls sharply in even the most violent US cities Posted: 11 Apr 2020 02:16 AM PDT Police in Latin America also see drops, as criminals stay home and policing patterns change The coronavirus pandemic that has crippled major retailers and small shops worldwide may be making a dent in illicit business, too. In Chicago, one of the most violent cities in the US, drug arrests have fallen by 42% in the weeks since the city shut down, compared with the same period last year. Continue reading... |
| First Yanomami Covid-19 death raises fears for Brazil's indigenous peoples Posted: 10 Apr 2020 07:39 AM PDT Acutely vulnerable population at risk as wildcat miners in Amazon reserve suspected as source of infection that killed 15-year-old A Yanomami teenager has reportedly died after contracting Covid-19, further fuelling fears over the disease's potential to decimate indigenous communities in the Amazon. The victim – who health authorities named as 15-year-old Alvanei Xirixana – died on Thursday night after spending almost a week in intensive care in Boa Vista, a Brazilian city near the Yanomami's Portugal-sized reserve. Continue reading... |
| Why is South Korea beating coronavirus? Its citizens hold the state to account | Tae Hoon Kim Posted: 11 Apr 2020 01:00 AM PDT The widely lauded policy of testing, tracing and treating has its roots in Koreans' expectation of high-quality public services • See all our coronavirus coverage South Korea is one of the few countries that has succeeded in flattening the coronavirus curve. Its policy of testing, tracing and treating without lockdowns has been widely lauded. Some attribute this to South Korea's experience of having dealt with previous epidemics such as Sars and Mers. Commentators in the US tend to stress the country's effective leadership, contrasting it with that of Donald Trump's. Others point to cultural factors, such as the willingness of the public to sacrifice privacy for the greater good. What is often overlooked, though, is that at the roots of South Korea's success against Covid-19 are a well-funded and efficient system of delivering public services. Without this baseline infrastructure, the policy of test, trace and treat could not have been sustained or expanded to the degree that it has. Likewise, effective leadership cannot achieve much if it lacks a well-oiled public service system that can deliver. Continue reading... |
| Perth endures hottest April day ever, as temperature reaches 39.5C Posted: 11 Apr 2020 01:48 AM PDT Beaches remain open in Western Australia as police praise the public for respecting coronavirus physical distancing rules Police have praised West Australian beachgoers for respecting physical distancing rules as Perth sweltered through its hottest April day on record. Perth's temperature reached 39.5C on Saturday, eclipsing the previous April record set in 1910. Continue reading... |
| Foreigners targeted in Central African Republic as coronavirus fears grow Posted: 10 Apr 2020 03:00 AM PDT Peacekeeping and aid operations face disruption as outsiders are scapegoated in one of Africa's most vulnerable countries A backlash against foreigners in Central African Republic threatens to disrupt peacekeeping and aid supplies in one of Africa's most fragile countries. Since an Italian missionary was identified as CAR's first coronavirus case last month, xenophobia has been on the rise. Stories widely published in the country's newspapers and on social media have portrayed foreigners as unwelcome importers of a disease that could further impoverish the country. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 10 Apr 2020 01:00 PM PDT The government's coronavirus response is working, however there is a growing view the cure has been worse than the disease
Worrying and at times nasty themes are seeping out of the national insecurity produced by the coronavirus pandemic. It's not just the strange grocery hoarding, the ignorance of street-level racist rants, or the emergence of coughing as an assault weapon. Continue reading... |
| Time to cut each other some slack amid lockdown fury | Zoe Williams Posted: 10 Apr 2020 08:06 AM PDT In the coronavirus pandemic, everyone is trying to create new rules by constantly, volubly judging each other. Better to realise we don't know the pressures others are under Before we went into lockdown, I was trying to persuade my mother to reduce her contact circle to five. It seems absurd, now that everyone of advanced age and comorbidities has been told to see no one at all, but way back then (three weeks ago), this seemed reasonable. She immediately bartered the number up to six. It was like negotiating with Tony Soprano: there was no way she was coming out of the deal without the upper hand. Then I asked her how she planned to tell the rest of her associates that they weren't on the list, and she said: "Good heavens, I'm not going to tell them. That would be so rude!" Then the list was reduced to zero, but mysteriously, one of the original six went round anyway to fix her letterbox. I asked what was the point of fixing her letterbox, when the only important letter she was going to get would be from the government, telling her not to have anyone round, irrespective of whether or not she had a defective letterbox. She said she would prefer to have less advice, and be given a lethal injection. "I wouldn't mind," she said, graciously. "I"m not sure whether the main impediment to euthanasia is whether or not you mind," I observed, extremely calmly and not at all sarcastically. Continue reading... |
| Drone footage shows San Francisco deserted under coronavirus lockdown – video Posted: 10 Apr 2020 03:06 PM PDT The effect of the three-week-long lockdown on daily life in San Francisco is revealed in drone footage showing empty streets and deserted landmarks. The city was the first in the US to announce a 'stay-at-home' order on 16 March, restricting all but essential activities Continue reading... |
| War veteran, 99, receives guard of honour from nurses after surviving coronavirus – video Posted: 10 Apr 2020 01:52 PM PDT Albert Chambers, a 99-year-old second world war veteran, has been discharged from hospital after recovering from Covid-19. Chambers, who will be 100 in July, was wounded in the war and spent three years in a prison camp. He praised the treatment he had received from the NHS, saying: 'It couldn't have been better'.
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| 'Your sacrifices are making a difference': Leo Varadkar announces Irish lockdown extension – video Posted: 10 Apr 2020 01:48 PM PDT Taoiseach has announced Ireland will extend its coronavirus lockdown for at least three more weeks, until 5 May. He said the decision was taken on expert advice. 'We cannot be complacent. What we're doing is difficult, but it is making a difference'
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| 'Roast at home': Italian mayors' Easter warning to coronavirus lockdown defiers – video Posted: 10 Apr 2020 05:58 AM PDT Mayors across Italy are pleading with residents to stay indoors on Easter weekend as the country prepares to extend its lockdown until 3 May to contain the coronavirus outbreak. This is what the mayors of Bari, Reggio Calabria, Messina and Lucera and the governor of Campania had to say |
| Risking coronavirus on the New York City subway: 'I feel guilty but have no choice' – video Posted: 10 Apr 2020 04:00 AM PDT While ridership on the New York City subway has declined 92% during the outbreak of the coronavirus, for many essential workers it remains the only way to get to work. But with cramped conditions and busy train carriages, the subway brings its own risks. Continue reading... |
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