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- Long Covid: what we know so far
- Ending Covid-19 via herd immunity is 'a dangerous fallacy'
- China's Sinopharm offered experimental vaccine to students going abroad – reports
- London to face tighter Covid restrictions from Friday night
- Facebook and Twitter restrict controversial New York Post story on Joe Biden
- Coronavirus live news: Germany sets daily case record, WHO says young people may not get vaccine until 2022
- Thailand uses emergency decree to ban gatherings after Bangkok protests
- K-Pop band BTS scores huge hit on South Korea stock market in management firm's IPO
- New Brexit law will allow vulnerable EU citizens to apply late to stay in UK
- Amy Cooper made second call claiming black birdwatcher tried to assault her
- UK brands act to cut catch of 'near-threatened' yellowfin tuna
- Jacinda Ardern prevails in final debate before New Zealand election
- 'My ticket out': the Indian village where every family has an engineer
- Study reveals world’s most walkable cities
- Eco glitter causes same damage to rivers as ordinary product – study
- ‘Machines set loose to slaughter’: the dangerous rise of military AI
- Welsh government insists police can enforce Covid travel ban
- Israel's pact with the UAE is not about peace. It's a business deal | Sami Abu Shehadeh
- Ugandan forces seize cash and red berets from opposition leader Bobi Wine's office
- US election polls tracker: who is leading in the swing states?
- 'Solastalgia': Arctic inhabitants overwhelmed by new form of climate grief
- Gladys Berejiklian angrily rejects Labor charge she is a 'sounding board for corruption'
- Democrats are resigned to losing the supreme court battle – but set on winning the war
- Civil rights and Qanon candidates: the fight for facts in Georgia - video
- 'Sorry sunshine, wrong place': New Zealand deputy PM tells off Covid conspiracy theorist – video
- US election 2020: mistrust spurring black community to early voting in Georgia – video
- Amy Coney Barrett refuses to tell Kamala Harris if she thinks climate change is happening – video
- France: Macron announces 9pm curfew for Paris and eight other cities – video
| Long Covid: what we know so far Posted: 14 Oct 2020 10:01 PM PDT Lasting symptoms may not be down to a single syndrome but several different ones At the start of the pandemic we were told that Covid-19 was a respiratory illness from which most people would recover within two or three weeks, but it's increasingly clear that there may be tens of thousands of people, if not hundreds of thousands, who have been left experiencing symptoms months after becoming infected. Now, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has released a report which suggests that "long Covid" may not be a single syndrome, but up to four different ones, which some patients might be experiencing simultaneously. Here's what we now know: Continue reading... |
| Ending Covid-19 via herd immunity is 'a dangerous fallacy' Posted: 14 Oct 2020 03:30 PM PDT Prominent scientists sign open letter saying strategy is 'unsupported by evidence' The concept of ending the Covid pandemic through herd immunity is "a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence", say 80 researchers in a warning letter published by a leading medical journal. The international signatories of the open letter in the Lancet say the interest in herd immunity comes from "widespread demoralisation and diminishing trust" as a result of restrictions being reimposed in many countries because of surging infections in a second wave. Continue reading... |
| China's Sinopharm offered experimental vaccine to students going abroad – reports Posted: 14 Oct 2020 11:09 PM PDT State media reported the company was offering its vaccines to students in Beijing and Wuhan but that the trial had been suspended A division of China's state-run pharmaceutical group Sinopharm is reportedly offering experimental Covid-19 vaccines to Chinese students going abroad. China National Biotec Group Co, part of Sinopharm which has two vaccines in development, was offering them free to Chinese students this week, the Wall Street Journal reported. A company website said 481,613 people had taken the vaccine while an additional 93,653 had applied to be inoculated as of Monday. Continue reading... |
| London to face tighter Covid restrictions from Friday night Posted: 15 Oct 2020 01:51 AM PDT No 10 also set to extend tier 3 lockdown measures to Greater Manchester as cases rise London will be placed in high risk coronavirus restrictions from Friday night as infection rates in the capital continue to increase, multiple sources have confirmed. The health minister Helen Whately informed London MPs in a conference call on Thursday morning that people must not meet with anybody outside their household or support bubble in any indoor setting, whether at home or in a public place. People should also aim to avoid public transport. Continue reading... |
| Facebook and Twitter restrict controversial New York Post story on Joe Biden Posted: 14 Oct 2020 07:36 PM PDT Social media platforms move to limit spread of article amid questions over its veracity Facebook and Twitter took steps on Wednesday to limit the spread of a controversial New York Post article critical of Joe Biden, sparking outrage among conservatives and stoking debate over how social media platforms should tackle misinformation ahead of the US election. In an unprecedented step against a major news publication, Twitter blocked users from posting links to the Post story or photos from the unconfirmed report. Users attempting to share the story were shown a notice saying: "We can't complete this request because this link has been identified by Twitter or our partners as being potentially harmful." Users clicking or retweeting a link already posted to Twitter are shown a warning the "link may be unsafe". Continue reading... |
| Posted: 15 Oct 2020 01:22 AM PDT Angela Merkel says country must prevent 'exponential increase'; Macron tells France 'we have to act'; Trump claims he's 'immune' again
Ryanair will slash more flights this winter and temporarily shut bases in Cork and Shannon in Ireland, and Toulouse in France, due to coronavirus travel restrictions. The Irish no-frills airline said it will reduce its November-March capacity from 60% to 40% of the prior year, having already announced in September that it was cutting October flights to the same level. Due to increased flight restrictions imposed by EU governments, air travel to/from much of central Europe, the UK, Ireland, Austria, Belgium and Portugal has been heavily curtailed. This has caused forward bookings to weaken slightly in October, but materially in November and December. While we deeply regret these winter schedule cuts, they have been forced upon us by government mismanagement of EU air travel. Our focus continues to be on maintaining as large a schedule as we can sensibly operate to keep our aircraft, our pilots and our cabin crew current and employed while minimising job losses.
The Philippine health ministry has recorded 2,261 new coronavirus infections and 50 additional deaths. The ministry said total confirmed cases have increased to 348,698 while deaths reached 6,497, next only to Indonesia for the most Covid-19 casualties in the Southeast Asia region. Continue reading... |
| Thailand uses emergency decree to ban gatherings after Bangkok protests Posted: 14 Oct 2020 10:33 PM PDT Protest leaders arrested and publication of news that could harm national security banned as authorities crack down on dissent Thailand's prime minister has declared a "severe" state of emergency in Bangkok, while police have arrested more than 20 people, including prominent protest leaders, in a crackdown on the country's pro-democracy movement. Under the new emergency measures, gatherings of five or more people have been banned, as has the publication of news or online information that "could create fear" or "affect national security". It follows a major rally on Wednesday, in which protesters repeated calls for democratic reforms, including to the country's powerful monarchy. Continue reading... |
| K-Pop band BTS scores huge hit on South Korea stock market in management firm's IPO Posted: 14 Oct 2020 07:45 PM PDT Investors scramble to buy shares in Big Hit Entertainment amid speculation that the boy band members could be allowed to defer military service The management company behind the popular South Korean boy band BTS has scored a huge hit on the country's stock market after its shares doubled on their first day of trading. Investors scrambled to buy into the success story of Big Hit Entertainment amid speculation that the South Korean government could allow K-pop and other celebrities to defer their military service, citing their huge contribution to the country's economy and international reputation. Continue reading... |
| New Brexit law will allow vulnerable EU citizens to apply late to stay in UK Posted: 15 Oct 2020 01:13 AM PDT Those with 'reasonable excuse', such as children in care, will face no time limit, says Home Office The government is to fast-track legislation it believes will stop vulnerable EU citizens becoming Windrush-type victims of Brexit, it has emerged. Under new secondary legislation, vulnerable citizens already lawfully living in the country, such as children in care and homeless people, may be able to apply for settled status years after the 30 June 2021 deadline. Continue reading... |
| Amy Cooper made second call claiming black birdwatcher tried to assault her Posted: 14 Oct 2020 09:07 AM PDT
Amy Cooper, the white woman charged with filing a false police report for calling 911 during a videotaped dispute with a black birdwatcher in New York's Central Park, made a second, previously undisclosed, emergency call in which she added that the man had tried to assault her, it was revealed on Wednesday. Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance called Cooper's complaints a hoax and noted it was lucky that no one had been injured or killed that day as a result. Continue reading... |
| UK brands act to cut catch of 'near-threatened' yellowfin tuna Posted: 15 Oct 2020 01:18 AM PDT Voluntary action of companies including Tesco and Princes aims to put pressure on regulatory body to tackle overfishing British supermarkets and brands, including Tesco, the Co-op and Princes, are stepping up action to cut yellowfin tuna catches in the Indian Ocean, amid warnings the stock is in a "critical" state. The effort, by companies reliant on healthy fish stocks, represents a counterintuitive effort to force regulators to act, rather than the other way around. Continue reading... |
| Jacinda Ardern prevails in final debate before New Zealand election Posted: 15 Oct 2020 01:39 AM PDT Labour leader says she will resign if she is not re-elected on Saturday In the final leaders' debate before New Zealand goes to the polls on Saturday Jacinda Ardern has dominated, appearing confident and prime ministerial as she took on a subdued Judith Collins. In a surprise admission, Ardern said if she was not re-elected, she would resign as Labour leader. Continue reading... |
| 'My ticket out': the Indian village where every family has an engineer Posted: 14 Oct 2020 11:15 PM PDT Students from a small community traditionally known for weaving are beating the odds to gain coveted university places He had tossed and turned all night. When he finally got out of bed at 4am, Anand Kumar realised his parents had too. The 17-year-old was confident he had worked hard for his exam – the joint entrance exam (JEE), which is the ticket to India's finest engineering institutions – but the anxiety was undeniable. Huddled together in their living room last week, the family sat refreshing the JEE homepage repeatedly on two smartphones as they waited for the results to be uploaded. Continue reading... |
| Study reveals world’s most walkable cities Posted: 14 Oct 2020 05:01 PM PDT Walking improves health and cuts pollution but most cities still dominated by cars, says report The world's most walkable cities include London, Paris, Bogotá and Hong Kong, according to a report. The UK capital outranks almost 1,000 cities around the world on citizens' proximity to car-free spaces, schools and healthcare, and the overall shortness of journeys. Researchers at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) said making cities walkable was vital to improve health, cut climate-heating transport emissions and build stronger local communities and economies. However, they said very few cities overall gave pedestrians priority and were dominated by cars. The report found US cities ranked particularly low for walkability due to urban sprawl. Continue reading... |
| Eco glitter causes same damage to rivers as ordinary product – study Posted: 14 Oct 2020 11:00 PM PDT All types of glitter affect life forms at base of food web, say researchers at Cambridge Biodegradable glitter causes the same ecological damage to rivers and lakes as the ordinary product, according to the first study of its kind on the impact of the microplastic on the environment. Tests on ordinary glitter and so-called biodegradable or eco glitter were carried out by Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Cambridge. Continue reading... |
| ‘Machines set loose to slaughter’: the dangerous rise of military AI Posted: 14 Oct 2020 10:00 PM PDT Autonomous machines capable of deadly force are increasingly prevalent in modern warfare, despite numerous ethical concerns. Is there anything we can do to halt the advance of the killer robots? The video is stark. Two menacing men stand next to a white van in a field, holding remote controls. They open the van's back doors, and the whining sound of quadcopter drones crescendos. They flip a switch, and the drones swarm out like bats from a cave. In a few seconds, we cut to a college classroom. The killer robots flood in through windows and vents. The students scream in terror, trapped inside, as the drones attack with deadly force. The lesson that the film, Slaughterbots, is trying to impart is clear: tiny killer robots are either here or a small technological advance away. Terrorists could easily deploy them. And existing defences are weak or nonexistent. Some military experts argued that Slaughterbots – which was made by the Future of Life Institute, an organisation researching existential threats to humanity – sensationalised a serious problem, stoking fear where calm reflection was required. But when it comes to the future of war, the line between science fiction and industrial fact is often blurry. The US air force has predicted a future in which "Swat teams will send mechanical insects equipped with video cameras to creep inside a building during a hostage standoff". One "microsystems collaborative" has already released Octoroach, an "extremely small robot with a camera and radio transmitter that can cover up to 100 metres on the ground". It is only one of many "biomimetic", or nature-imitating, weapons that are on the horizon. Continue reading... |
| Welsh government insists police can enforce Covid travel ban Posted: 15 Oct 2020 01:42 AM PDT Police say they lack resources to prevent people travelling from hotspots elsewhere in UK The Welsh government has said it is confident the police will be able to enforce rules banning people from travelling to Wales from Covid-19 hotspots in other parts of the UK. Welsh Police Federation officials expressed concerns on Thursday that it would be difficult to stop people travelling to Wales because they did not have the resources and would find it difficult to identify where people were coming from. Continue reading... |
| Israel's pact with the UAE is not about peace. It's a business deal | Sami Abu Shehadeh Posted: 14 Oct 2020 07:14 AM PDT Palestinian homes are still being demolished and illegal settlements expanded. That's why tomorrow I'll be voting against the agreement in the Knesset Tomorrow, the Israeli parliament will be voting on the agreement to normalise relations with the United Arab Emirates. A large majority will approve a hugely favourable step towards the Israeli government's goals: perpetuating its systematic violations of international law and of the Palestinian people's inalienable rights. Those parliamentarians who believe in justice and equality are going to vote against this agreement. I'm afraid, though, that we are a tiny minority. This week, we were given copies of the agreement, which I read in the three languages (Arabic, Hebrew and English) and figured out a few things. First of all, those who wrote it in different languages tailored it to their audiences. While in English and Hebrew, they repeated the word "normalisation" several times, it is not even mentioned in Arabic. This is a business deal that merely establishes diplomatic relations, and not a peace agreement. The word "annexation" (of occupied Palestinian territory) is not even mentioned. Continue reading... |
| Ugandan forces seize cash and red berets from opposition leader Bobi Wine's office Posted: 14 Oct 2020 09:33 AM PDT Reggae star and presidential hopeful signature headgear is 'symbol of resistance Security forces in Uganda have raided the offices of Bobi Wine, the reggae star and prominent opposition leader, as tensions rise in the east African country months ahead of presidential elections in January. Soldiers and police officers invaded the headquarters of the National Unity Platform (NUP) in Kamwokya, a suburb of Kampala, the capital, in the late morning on Wednesday. They seized cash, posters, banners and quantities of red berets – Wine's signature headgear and a "symbol of resistance" which the government says is illegal. Continue reading... |
| US election polls tracker: who is leading in the swing states? Posted: 15 Oct 2020 01:06 AM PDT As the presidential campaign heats up, the Guardian is tracking the latest polling in eight states that could decide the election Joe Biden is leading Donald Trump in the national polls for the presidential election. Continue reading... |
| 'Solastalgia': Arctic inhabitants overwhelmed by new form of climate grief Posted: 15 Oct 2020 12:00 AM PDT Solastalgia means a feeling of homesickness without ever leaving home - and for Inuit in Canada's north it describes the psychological impact of the climate crisis With snow just beginning to dust the hills surrounding the city of Iqaluit, the hunters scramble off in boats. They're hunting Canada geese, as they have always done, only now using rifles and motorboats instead of the spears and kayaks of their ancestors. Across Baffin Island, Inuit are harvesting before autumn begins to transition into winter. Later in the year, when the snows arrive in force and the fjords and harbours become thick with ice, the boats will be replaced by snowmobiles and the area will once again teem with human life. Continue reading... |
| Gladys Berejiklian angrily rejects Labor charge she is a 'sounding board for corruption' Posted: 15 Oct 2020 01:46 AM PDT NSW premier calls allegation 'extremely offensive' and dares Labor to repeat it outside parliament, as Icac continues to grill her former lover Daryl Maguire The exchange during question time on Thursday following evidence by Berejiklian's former lover, Daryl Maguire, the disgraced MP for Wagga Wagga. Continue reading... |
| Democrats are resigned to losing the supreme court battle – but set on winning the war Posted: 14 Oct 2020 02:19 PM PDT Amy Coney Barrett's supreme court confirmation hearings bring few surprises – with occasional glimpses of truth It was the five-hour mark when the tech gods finally pulled the plug. As Senator Richard Blumenthal started questioning supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, the Senate's audio system crashed and her words floated away on the air. Continue reading... |
| Civil rights and Qanon candidates: the fight for facts in Georgia - video Posted: 15 Oct 2020 12:52 AM PDT Joe Biden won the nomination for president on the shoulders of older Black voters in the US south. But how do younger, progressive people of color feel about his candidacy in the southern state of Georgia, in play for the first time in decades? And will a dangerous campaign of Qanon disinformation have any bearing on the outcome of the election? Oliver Laughland and Tom Silverstone try to find out
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| 'Sorry sunshine, wrong place': New Zealand deputy PM tells off Covid conspiracy theorist – video Posted: 14 Oct 2020 09:13 PM PDT Winston Peters has rebuked a coronavirus sceptic at an election campaign event in Tauranga. New Zealand's deputy prime minister was answering questions from an audience on Tuesday when the unidentified man asked: 'Where is your evidence that there is a virus that causes this disease?' 'Here's someone who gets up and says "the Earth is flat",' Peters responded. 'Sorry sunshine, wrong place.' New Zealanders go to the polls on Saturday 17 October
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| US election 2020: mistrust spurring black community to early voting in Georgia – video Posted: 14 Oct 2020 06:36 PM PDT Thousands of members of Georgia's black community have come out to vote early in the US election, enduring long lines and hours of waiting. Many acknowledged they could have voted by mail or returned to a polling place at a different time, but with no expectation of voting becoming easier in the weeks to come, they saw waiting as a necessary step. 'I wanted to make sure that my vote was counted,' Wilbart McCoy said as he queued to cast his ballot. 'The suspicions, or the alleged suspicions around mail-in voting, we never had those before but it pushed me to come out early' Continue reading... |
| Amy Coney Barrett refuses to tell Kamala Harris if she thinks climate change is happening – video Posted: 14 Oct 2020 06:30 PM PDT Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris has continued to grill supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett on a range of issues, including climate change and racial discrimination in the US. Harris pressed Barrett on whether she believed coronavirus was infectious, smoking caused cancer and climate change was happening. Barrett avoided answering directly to a number of issues during the questioning, including one from Democratic senator Cory Booker on whether it was wrong to separate children from their parents to deter immigrants coming to the US Continue reading... |
| France: Macron announces 9pm curfew for Paris and eight other cities – video Posted: 14 Oct 2020 02:27 PM PDT France will impose a nightly curfew on almost one-third of the country's 67 million people to tackle a resurgence in coronavirus cases, but a new national lockdown is not envisaged, Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday. The French president announced the curfew, which will take effect from Saturday and run each night from 9pm to 6am the following morning, shortly after the government declared a new public health state of emergency. Continue reading... |
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