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- Mass weekly Covid-19 testing of population to be trialled in England
- Lack of staff, funds and tools: health officials worry the US isn’t ready for Covid vaccines
- Children locked up by parents over Covid should not go home, rules Swedish court
- UK coronavirus live: 20-minute Covid test could be widely available 'over coming months', says Hancock
- Coronavirus live news: India records daily rise of 83,883 cases; Trump plans immediate cut to WHO funding
- Matt Hancock shows unease at Tony Abbott as UK trade envoy
- Alexei Navalny novichok finding prompts calls for answers from Moscow
- French reporter who joined police exposes racism and violence
- Trump says North Carolinians should vote twice – despite it being illegal
- Trump signs memo to defund 'lawless' cities but experts raise legality doubts
- Cargo ship with 43 crew and nearly 6,000 cattle sank off Japan, survivor says
- Washington imposes new restrictions on Chinese diplomats in US
- India bans 118 Chinese apps, accusing companies of stealing data
- Star Wars actor John Boyega says non-white roles are 'pushed to the side' in franchise
- New Zealand given 'F for failure' on child obesity and youth suicide in Unicef report
- Operation Condor: the illegal state network that terrorised South America
- Wife of poisoned police officer says of Johnson’s novichok tweet: ‘actions speak louder’
- France launches €100bn stimulus plan to drive Covid-19 recovery - business live
- Trump's tweets are felt in Ethiopia. Washington should use its power wisely | Mekonnen Firew Ayano
- Breadth of rightwing Portland protest network reveals energized Trump base
- 'Culture is language': why an indigenous tongue is thriving in Paraguay
- Taiwan demotes 'Republic of China' reference on new passports
- Labor accuses Scott Morrison of being 'up to his neck' in sports grants scandal
- ‘I am starving’: the migrant workers abandoned by Dubai employers
- Vaccine-derived polio spreads in Africa after defeat of wild virus
- As election nears, Trump builds the very 'deep state' he railed against
- Trump is trying to pin Kenosha on Biden – but he created the chaos and violence | Richard Wolffe
- Using novichok against Navalny is a Russian message of menace
- Andrzej Krauze on the return to classrooms during a pandemic – cartoon
- Coronavirus curfew in Havana, Cuba – in pictures
- California lawmaker Buffy Wicks brings newborn baby to state assembly floor for vote – video
- Trump suggests people vote twice to test mail-in system, which would be illegal – video
- Nancy Pelosi says she was 'set up' in hair salon mask dispute – video
- Joe Biden tells Trump to 'get off Twitter' and focus on reopening schools – video
- Angela Merkel: 'unequivocal proof' Alexei Navalny was poisoned with novichok – video
| Mass weekly Covid-19 testing of population to be trialled in England Posted: 02 Sep 2020 02:00 PM PDT Jeremy Hunt says UK should embrace repeat testing as route to more 'normal life' The UK government is to trial routine weekly Covid testing of the population as part of preparations to head off a possible winter second wave, as the former health secretary Jeremy Hunt called for such tests to become the norm. Matt Hancock said the government was committing an extra £500m to scale up testing capacity and launch community pilots trialling the effectiveness of repeat testing in schools and colleges, as well as in the population as a whole. It will also ramp up the trials of a new test kit that it is claimed can provide results within 20 minutes. Continue reading... |
| Lack of staff, funds and tools: health officials worry the US isn’t ready for Covid vaccines Posted: 02 Sep 2020 11:30 PM PDT Experts are frustrated after months of inconsistent information and concerned that a mass vaccination plan will stumble Millions of Americans are counting on a Covid-19 vaccine to curb the global pandemic and return life to normal. While one or more options could be available toward the end of this year or early next, the path to delivering vaccines to a population of 330 million people remains unclear for the local health officials expected to carry out the work. Continue reading... |
| Children locked up by parents over Covid should not go home, rules Swedish court Posted: 02 Sep 2020 07:27 AM PDT Family 'nailed apartment door shut with planks' and isolated three children from each other Three children taken into care after being locked up by their parents for nearly five months in case they caught the coronavirus should not be allowed to return home, an administrative court in Sweden has ruled. From March until early July, the children, aged between 10 and 17, were prevented from leaving the family's apartment, whose door was "nailed shut with planks", and also kept isolated from each other, according to the court verdict in Jönköping county. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 03 Sep 2020 02:49 AM PDT News updates: health secretary says 'quarantine policy has absolutely proved its worth' ahead of expected restrictions on Portugal travel
Eminent Aberdeen University professor Hugh Pennington has accused the Scottish government of "letting Glasgow off the hook", after Nicola Sturgeon introduced far less onerous local restrictions in the central belt than those experienced by the Granite City. Pennington, who is emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen and chaired inquiries into E coli outbreaks in Scotland and South Wales, told the Press and Journal that Aberdeen was "hammered and punished" by last month's three-week shutdown which included the closure of all pubs, cafes and restaurants, a five-mile travel restriction as well as a ban on indoor gatherings and hospital visits. It looks as though we were almost being punished for having an outbreak while Glasgow is, to some degree, being let off the hook". The Glasgow outbreaks are associated with domesticated settings – and these are even more difficult to control. So why aren't they being more draconian with central Scotland than in Aberdeen? It looks as though we got hammered with a punitive element rather than a public health one, compared to Glasgow.
The mayor of Middlesbrough, Andy Preston, has warned residents that they must act now to avoid a local lockdown being imposed on the town. Speaking after 14 positive tests were reported yesterday, following 12 on Tuesday and eight on Monday, Preston said: It's never our intention to cause unnecessary alarm, but as a town we need to get a grip of this virus and break the chains of transmission now. The problem we have is a scattering of cases from different parts of Middlesbrough that have the potential to grow. Mbro must act now to avoid the threat of a local lockdown. 2. So please wear a face covering, wash your hands & keep your distance from others you don't live with. |
| Posted: 03 Sep 2020 02:22 AM PDT India rise is second-highest one day total ever reported; signs deaths easing in Brazil; Berlusconi tests positive
GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi are to start testing their protein-based Covid-19 vaccine on humans for the first time, following promising results in earlier studies. GSK, the world's largest vaccine maker, and the French drugmaker Sanofi joined forces in April to work on an effective treatment to halt the devastating pandemic. Related: GSK and Sanofi to start human trials of potential Covid-19 vaccine
France plans to spend €100bn ($118 bn) to pull its economy out of a deep coronavirus-induced slump, Reuters reports. The stimulus equates to 4% of gross domestic product, meaning France is ploughing more public cash into its economy than any other big European country as a percentage of GDP, an official said ahead of its formal launch later on Thursday. Continue reading... |
| Matt Hancock shows unease at Tony Abbott as UK trade envoy Posted: 03 Sep 2020 02:22 AM PDT Health secretary would not endorse ex-Australian PM's views on gender equality and equal marriage Matt Hancock has expressed apparent discomfort at the appointment of Tony Abbott as a UK trade envoy, declining to endorse the former Australian prime minister's views in areas such as gender equality and equal marriage. While the health secretary defended the government's decision, saying Abbott had "a huge amount of expertise" in international trade, he repeatedly stressed his own contrasting opinions on such matters. Continue reading... |
| Alexei Navalny novichok finding prompts calls for answers from Moscow Posted: 02 Sep 2020 09:30 PM PDT Angela Merkel says poisoning was attempted murder and White House calls it 'reprehensible' World leaders are demanding answers from the Kremlin after toxicological examinations indicated that the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent from the novichok family. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, revealed that tests carried out at a military laboratory had "identified unequivocally" the Soviet era nerve agent. She referred to the case as an "attempted murder" and said the findings raised "very difficult questions that only the Russian government can answer, and has to answer". Continue reading... |
| French reporter who joined police exposes racism and violence Posted: 03 Sep 2020 12:00 AM PDT Undercover journalist Valentin Gendrot describes culture where officers act with impunity A French journalist who infiltrated the country's police force has described a culture of racism and violence in which officers act with impunity. |
| Trump says North Carolinians should vote twice – despite it being illegal Posted: 03 Sep 2020 01:03 AM PDT US president suggests people vote in person and by mail and if system works it will stop two votes Donald Trump has suggested that people in the state of North Carolina should vote twice in the November election, once in person and once by mail, although doing so is a crime. "Let them send it in and let them go vote," Trump said in an interview with WECT-TV in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Wednesday when asked about the security of mail-in votes. "And if the system is as good as they say it is then obviously they won't be able to vote" in person. Continue reading... |
| Trump signs memo to defund 'lawless' cities but experts raise legality doubts Posted: 02 Sep 2020 07:43 PM PDT Legal scholars say Trump has little power to make good on the document in which he threatened to cut funding to Democratic-led cities Donald Trump signed a memo on Wednesday that threatened to cut funding to Democratic-led cities that the administration has characterized as "lawless" and "anarchist jurisdictions", using his office to launch an extraordinary – if legally ineffective – attack on his political opponents ahead of the November election. "My administration will not allow federal tax dollars to fund cities that allow themselves to deteriorate into lawless zones," the memorandum reads. "It is imperative that the federal government review the use of federal funds by jurisdictions that permit anarchy, violence, and destruction in America's cities." Continue reading... |
| Cargo ship with 43 crew and nearly 6,000 cattle sank off Japan, survivor says Posted: 02 Sep 2020 10:06 PM PDT Strong winds and rain from Typhoon Maysak hamper rescue of crew from Philippines, New Zealand and Australia A cargo ship carrying 43 crew and nearly 6,000 cattle sank off Japan after reportedly losing an engine in rough seas caused by Typhoon Maysak, a survivor has said. The Filipino crew member, named as Sareno Edvarodo, a 45-year-old chief officer, was rescued late on Wednesday after Japanese navy P-3C surveillance aircraft spotted him wearing a life vest and waving while bobbing in the water. Continue reading... |
| Washington imposes new restrictions on Chinese diplomats in US Posted: 02 Sep 2020 04:37 PM PDT Chinese embassy in US says move, which limits meetings and university visits without approval, contradicts 'openness and freedom' The US has put new restrictions on Chinese diplomats in America, barring senior envoys from visiting universities or meeting local government officials without approval, in the latest escalation in tensions between the two countries. Announcing the latest measures, the state department said it was responding to "significant barriers" on its own diplomats based in China. Continue reading... |
| India bans 118 Chinese apps, accusing companies of stealing data Posted: 02 Sep 2020 07:01 PM PDT Apps used by millions in India for everything from selfies to gaming banned as border dispute widens India has banned 118 more Chinese apps as the backlash intensified against Beijing over an increasingly bitter border showdown between the giant neighbours. The government said on Wednesday the apps – including the popular video game PUBG and other services provided by Chinese internet giant Tencent – promoted activities "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order". Continue reading... |
| Star Wars actor John Boyega says non-white roles are 'pushed to the side' in franchise Posted: 02 Sep 2020 04:21 PM PDT British actor, who played former stormtrooper Finn, says the process had changed him and made him 'angry' The British actor John Boyega has criticised the treatment of non-white characters in the latest Star Wars films, saying they were marketed as important elements in the franchise but were ultimately "pushed to the side". In an interview published by GQ magazine on Wednesday, Boyega expressed bitterness over how his role as stormtrooper Finn faded in the latter episodes of the trilogy which concluded with The Rise of Skywalker in 2019. Continue reading... |
| New Zealand given 'F for failure' on child obesity and youth suicide in Unicef report Posted: 02 Sep 2020 05:45 PM PDT 'Woeful' result puts country in bottom 15% for overall child wellbeing which Ardern says reflects previous government's underinvestment Unicef says New Zealand is failing children after a new report revealed the country's poor childhood obesity and suicide statistics have pushed it to near the very bottom on child wellbeing. The latest Unicef Innocenti report card shows that, out of 41 developed countries in the OECD and European Union, New Zealand ranks 35th. Continue reading... |
| Operation Condor: the illegal state network that terrorised South America Posted: 02 Sep 2020 10:00 PM PDT During the cold war, eight US-backed military dictatorships jointly plotted the cross-border kidnap, torture, rape and murder of hundreds of their political opponents. Now some of the perpetrators are finally facing justice. By Giles Tremlett The last time Anatole Larrabeiti saw his parents, he was four years old. It was 26 September 1976, the day after his birthday. He remembers the shootout, the bright flashes of gunfire and the sight of his father lying on the ground, mortally wounded, outside their home in a suburb of Buenos Aires, Argentina, with his mother lying beside him. Then Larrabeiti remembers being taken away by armed police, along with his 18-month-old sister, Victoria Eva. The two children became prisoners. At first, they were held in a grimy car repair garage that had been turned into a clandestine torture centre. That was in another part of Buenos Aires, the city that their parents had moved to in June 1973, joining thousands of leftwing militants and former guerrillas fleeing a military coup in their native Uruguay. The following month, in October 1976, Anatole and Victoria Eva were taken to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, and held at the military intelligence headquarters. A few days before Christmas, they were flown to a third country, Chile, in a small aircraft that climbed high above the Andes. Larrabeiti remembers looking down on snowy peaks from the plane. Continue reading... |
| Wife of poisoned police officer says of Johnson’s novichok tweet: ‘actions speak louder’ Posted: 03 Sep 2020 01:17 AM PDT Sarah Bailey responds to Boris Johnson's vow to seek justice after suspected poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny The wife of a police officer who almost died after investigating the Salisbury poisonings said has "actions speak louder than words", in response to a tweet by Boris Johnson. The prime minister joined world leaders in demanding answers from Moscow amid claims the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was poisoned using novichok. Continue reading... |
| France launches €100bn stimulus plan to drive Covid-19 recovery - business live Posted: 03 Sep 2020 02:48 AM PDT Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as Paris outlines the next stage of its battle against the coronavirus slump
In a worrying sign, retail sales across the eurozone fell back in July - underlining the need for fresh stimulus measures. Consumer spending shrank by 1.3% compared with June, when shops benefited from a post-lockdown surge in demand. In the euro area in July 2020, compared with June 2020, the volume of retail trade decreased by 2.9% for non-food products, remained unchanged for food, drinks and tobacco and increased by 4.3% for automotive fuels. Euro area #RetailTrade -1.3% in July over June, +0.4% over July 2019 https://t.co/4IO2EiUFlT pic.twitter.com/r5KaGY6ywr
While many UK firms cut jobs, Amazon is bucking the trend by hiring thousands more staff. Amazon has already added 3,000 new permanent roles to its workforce across its UK network of fulfilment centres, sort centres and delivery stations – including at a new hi-tech fulfilment centre in the North East of England which opened in May. The company will add a further 7,000 new permanent roles by the end of 2020 across more than 50 sites, including Corporate offices and two new fulfilment centres launching in the autumn in the North East and in the Midlands. The new roles, including engineers, graduates, HR and IT professionals, health and safety and finance specialists, as well as the teams who will pick, pack and ship customer orders, will help Amazon meet growing customer demand and enable small and medium sized enterprises selling on Amazon to scale their businesses. Continue reading... |
| Trump's tweets are felt in Ethiopia. Washington should use its power wisely | Mekonnen Firew Ayano Posted: 03 Sep 2020 12:30 AM PDT Anti-democratic attitudes in America helped to scrub our election, while US-Nile geopolitics could become a powder keg When US presidents comment on events in other countries, their remarks have impact. When, for example, President Barack Obama congratulated the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) on an apparent landslide election victory in 2015, it signalled to some Ethiopians that the world's most powerful country would not favour a legal challenge to the election results. Continue reading... |
| Breadth of rightwing Portland protest network reveals energized Trump base Posted: 03 Sep 2020 02:00 AM PDT Organizers able to draw support from mainstream Republicans and extremist groups – including some prepared for violence The recent deadly protest in Portland, where a far-right supporter was killed, was just one of many organized in recent weeks with the help of a network of pro-Trump, pro-police and anti-Black Lives Matter activists in a local Facebook-powered pro police network in Oregon. Related: How did the US's mainstream right end up openly supporting vigilante terror? | Richard Seymour Continue reading... |
| 'Culture is language': why an indigenous tongue is thriving in Paraguay Posted: 03 Sep 2020 02:30 AM PDT The Paraguayan Guaraní language is a rare regional success story. But its own popularity is a problem for smaller languages On a hillside monument in Asunción, a statue of the mythologized indigenous chief Lambaré stands alongside other great leaders from Paraguayan history. The other historical heroes on display are of mixed ancestry, but the idea of a noble indigenous heritage is strong in Paraguay, and – uniquely in the Americas – can be expressed by most of the country's people in an indigenous language: Paraguayan Guaraní. Continue reading... |
| Taiwan demotes 'Republic of China' reference on new passports Posted: 03 Sep 2020 12:37 AM PDT New design aims to avoid confusion with mainland, says government, though opposition criticises 'ideological move' Taiwan has revealed the new design of its passport, minimising the words "Republic of China" and eschewing popular submissions featuring pictures of animals, food and bubble tea. The new passport, unveiled on Wednesday, no longer has large English lettering spelling out "Republic of China", having moved the words into a small design feature around the national emblem. The "Taiwan" lettering is enlarged. Continue reading... |
| Labor accuses Scott Morrison of being 'up to his neck' in sports grants scandal Posted: 03 Sep 2020 02:28 AM PDT Evidence to Senate inquiry indicates then minister Bridget McKenzie suggested expansion to PM and sent list of options in marginal seats Labor has accused Scott Morrison of being "up to his neck" in the sports grants controversy after fresh revelations of deliberate government funding to projects in marginal and target seats. Bridget McKenzie directly pitched to Morrison on 28 November 2018 to expand the community sport infrastructure grant program from $30m to $100m, according to evidence obtained by the Senate inquiry from the Australian National Audit Office on Wednesday. Continue reading... |
| ‘I am starving’: the migrant workers abandoned by Dubai employers Posted: 02 Sep 2020 11:45 PM PDT With no salary or money to pay for flights home, many are trapped in desperate situations in crowded labour camps Hassan doesn't know if he will eat today. The 30-year-old Pakistani has lived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), for over a decade, employed as a construction worker. But when the Covid-19 pandemic took hold, he lost his job. Without his salary he cannot afford to live in the UAE. Nor can he afford to fly home. "The suffering is too much. We hardly have any food and there's no support. Since we don't have any money, we can't travel from here either," he says. "How are we going to buy the ticket?" Continue reading... |
| Vaccine-derived polio spreads in Africa after defeat of wild virus Posted: 02 Sep 2020 06:11 AM PDT Fresh cases of disease linked to oral vaccine seen in Sudan, following outbreak in Chad A new polio outbreak in Sudan has been linked to the oral polio vaccine that uses a weakened form of the virus. News of the outbreak comes a week after the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that wild polio had been eradicated in Africa. Continue reading... |
| As election nears, Trump builds the very 'deep state' he railed against Posted: 03 Sep 2020 01:00 AM PDT White House manipulation of US intelligence on Russian and Chinese interference may rival WMD fiasco that led to Iraq war, say experts Two months before the presidential election, the US intelligence agencies are under increasing pressure from the Trump administration to provide only the information it wants to hear. After installing loyalist John Ratcliffe at the pinnacle of the intelligence community, the administration is seeking to limit congressional oversight, and has removed a veteran official from a sensitive national security role in the justice department Continue reading... |
| Trump is trying to pin Kenosha on Biden – but he created the chaos and violence | Richard Wolffe Posted: 02 Sep 2020 12:07 PM PDT Make no mistake: this is Trump's America, where protesters are shot by vigilantes as police look on Donald Trump took a trip to a place called Biden's America on Tuesday. It is a strange land where the president of the United States is a helpless guest, a doomed corner of his own country that is somehow ruled by a former vice president. It is a topsy-turvy place, this Biden's America. Occasionally, the president can regain his magical ruling powers by summoning assorted minions in uniforms and incanting a spell with his thumbs to tweet the words LAW AND ORDER. Continue reading... |
| Using novichok against Navalny is a Russian message of menace Posted: 02 Sep 2020 11:01 AM PDT World leaders can be in little doubt: the evidence leads directly to Moscow and Putin The debate over what precisely happened to Alexei Navalny has raged for almost two weeks. Some facts are agreed. The Russian opposition leader drank a cup of tea at Tomsk airport and then collapsed on a flight back to Moscow. After cursory treatment in a Russian hospital, he was flown to Berlin. Since then German doctors have been treating him in the Charité hospital, where he remains in a medically induced coma. Far murkier is the question of who poisoned Navalny and why. On Wednesday the German government provided a pretty big clue when it revealed Navalny was poisoned with novichok. This is the substance used in 2018 against Sergei and Yulia Skripal. It was smeared on the front door of Skripal's Salisbury home. Novichok also killed Dawn Sturgess, a Wiltshire woman who unknowingly sprayed it on her wrists. Continue reading... |
| Andrzej Krauze on the return to classrooms during a pandemic – cartoon Posted: 02 Sep 2020 07:09 AM PDT As a new school year begins across Europe, governments are balancing the need to get children back in the classroom against the risks of a new spike in covid infections Continue reading... |
| Coronavirus curfew in Havana, Cuba – in pictures Posted: 02 Sep 2020 11:58 PM PDT Cuban authorities have launched a strict 15-day lockdown of Havana to try to stamp out the low-level but persistent spread of coronavirus. In addition to a curfew, most stores are barred from selling to shoppers from outside the immediate neighbourhood to prevent people from moving around the city Continue reading... |
| California lawmaker Buffy Wicks brings newborn baby to state assembly floor for vote – video Posted: 02 Sep 2020 10:56 PM PDT California politician Buffy Wicks was forced to bring her newbown baby on the state assembly floor after she was denied a proxy vote. Wicks, who gave birth to a daughter in late July via C-section, had requested to vote by proxy two weeks prior and cited Covid-19 concerns. After her request was denied by the assembly speaker, Anthony Rendon, footage of Wicks nursing her child while speaking about a bill was shared widely online by prominent political figures including Hillary Clinton Continue reading... |
| Trump suggests people vote twice to test mail-in system, which would be illegal – video Posted: 02 Sep 2020 07:43 PM PDT US president Donald Trump told voters in North Carolina they should vote twice, once by mail and once in person, even though doing so would be illegal. Trump was asked whether he has confidence in the mail-in voting system before suggesting voters break the law as he cast further confusion over the process ahead of November's election. 'Let them send it [their mail-in ballot] in and let them go vote, and if their system's as good as they say it is, then obviously they won't be able to vote,' he said.'So that's the way it is. And that's what they should do' Continue reading... |
| Nancy Pelosi says she was 'set up' in hair salon mask dispute – video Posted: 02 Sep 2020 05:58 PM PDT House speaker Nancy Pelosi says she was 'set up' after she was photographed in a San Francisco hair salon without a face covering, breaking the city's coronavirus prevention rules. 'I take responsibility for trusting the word of a neighbourhood salon that I have been to over the years many times,' she said. 'I don't wear a mask when I'm washing my hair. Do you wear a mask when you're washing your hair?' Security camera footage of Pelosi in the salon was obtained by Fox News, sparking outcry over the incident which was pounced on by Donald Trump Continue reading... |
| Joe Biden tells Trump to 'get off Twitter' and focus on reopening schools – video Posted: 02 Sep 2020 12:58 PM PDT Joe Biden has described school closures as a 'national emergency' as he sought to put the coronavirus pandemic back at the heart of the US election campaign, after two weeks of Trump seeking to capitalise on sporadic scenes of violence in cities to push a 'law and order' theme Continue reading... |
| Angela Merkel: 'unequivocal proof' Alexei Navalny was poisoned with novichok – video Posted: 02 Sep 2020 10:41 AM PDT The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said in a personal statement that testing by a special military laboratory had shown proof that the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a novichok nerve agent. 'It is now clear: Alexei Navalny is the victim of a crime,' Merkel said. 'He was meant to be silenced. This raises very difficult questions that only the Russian government can answer, and has to answer' Continue reading... |
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