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- US takes aim at China territorial claims as Biden vows to back Japan
- WHO team exits Wuhan quarantine to start Covid fact-finding mission
- Biden signals radical shift from Trump era with executive orders on climate change
- GameStop's three largest shareholders earn over $2bn amid stock surge
- Ghislaine Maxwell said she learned of Epstein abuse claims in papers
- Daniel Pearl murder: Pakistan supreme court orders release of British-born man
- Italy 'failed to protect life' in 2013 drowning of 200 people, rules UN
- Mining giant Glencore faces human rights complaint over toxic spill in Chad
- A Cinderella story: $2,125 Manolo Blahniks found in Canberra Vinnies for $35
- Crochet artist turns viral Bernie Sanders image into a doll that sells for $20,000
- Coronavirus live news: Portugal says situation is 'terrible'; WHO team in Wuhan leave quarantine
- Japan faces Olympian task with slow start to Covid vaccinations
- White House: 'great concern' over Covid origin 'misinformation' from China
- Keep Covid rescue programmes or risk triggering stock market crash, warns IMF
- Cash injection: could we cure all disease with a trillion dollars?
- Beverley Bryan: the British Black Panther who inspired a generation of women
- Black on both sides: the African diaspora around the world – in pictures
- Forget Ratatouille, here's Ratatoing! The rise and rise of the 'mockbuster'
- ‘My Antifa Lover’: I read the weirdest Trump-era erotica so you don't have to
- 'I was pretty crushed': Mitch Benn wrote two novels – then stopped. What happened?
- Government lawyer tells court MI5 officers could authorise murder
- Biden turns to healthcare access in face of worrying US Covid projections – live updates
- Why Brazilians are having to take the Covid crisis into their own hands – podcast
- Christmas Covid outbreaks a result of putting economy ahead of health, AMA says
- 'Things are getting worse': Tunisia protests rage on as latest victim named
- All countries should pursue a Covid-19 elimination strategy: here are 16 reasons why | Michael Baker and Martin McKee
- How quarantine rules work and what UK government is planning
- Why has Britain suffered more than 100,000 Covid deaths?
- Hundreds of thousands protest in Poland over near-total ban on abortion – video
- John Kerry says workers have been fed false narrative on climate change – video
- Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano erupts – in pictures
- 'We can't wait any longer': Biden announces plan to tackle 'existential' climate crisis – video
- Boris Johnson ‘hopeful’ schools will reopen on 8 March – video
- Holocaust Remembrance Day – in pictures
| US takes aim at China territorial claims as Biden vows to back Japan Posted: 27 Jan 2021 08:56 PM PST US president smooths over Trump-era complaints to deepen Japan security alliance as new secretary of state rejects Beijing's South China Sea claims Joe Biden has vowed to strengthen the US's alliance with Japan to counter growing Chinese military activity in the volatile Asia-Pacific region, including a commitment to defend the Senkakus, a group of islands in the East China sea administered by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing. The US president and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga agreed during a phone call that their countries' security alliance was "the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in a free and open Indo-Pacific". Continue reading... |
| WHO team exits Wuhan quarantine to start Covid fact-finding mission Posted: 27 Jan 2021 11:58 PM PST Mission is politically charged as China seeks to avoid blame for alleged missteps in outbreak response A World Health Organization team has emerged from quarantine in the Chinese city of Wuhan to start field work in a fact-finding mission on the origins of the virus that caused the Covid-19 pandemic. The researchers, who were required to complete 14 days in quarantine after arriving in China, could be seen leaving their hotel and boarding a bus on Thursday afternoon. It was not immediately clear where they were headed. Continue reading... |
| Biden signals radical shift from Trump era with executive orders on climate change Posted: 27 Jan 2021 12:18 PM PST 'We need to be bold,' Biden says, signing orders to halt fossil fuel activity on public lands and transform the government's fleet of cars into electric vehicles Joe Biden has warned the climate crisis poses an "existential threat" to the world as he unveiled a radical change in direction from the Trump era by halting fossil fuel activity on public lands and directing the US government to start a full-frontal effort to lower planet-heating emissions. Continue reading... |
| GameStop's three largest shareholders earn over $2bn amid stock surge Posted: 27 Jan 2021 11:00 PM PST Shares rise as video game retailer is at the center of a frenzied duel between Wall Street and small investors The three largest shareholders in GameStop, the video game retailer at the center of a frenzied duel between Wall Street and small investors, have made more than $2bn from the company's astronomic recent share rise. Stock in the company continued its vertiginous rise on Wednesday, hitting a fresh 52-week high of $354.83, making the 13% stake held by Ryan Cohen, 34, GameStop's largest single shareholder, worth more than $1.3bn. Continue reading... |
| Ghislaine Maxwell said she learned of Epstein abuse claims in papers Posted: 28 Jan 2021 01:26 AM PST Transcript released in US shows Maxwell said in 2016 she had no memory of anything amiss happening at financier's properties A British woman criminally charged with aiding Jeffrey Epstein in his sexual abuse of teenage girls, testified in 2016 that she had no memory of anything amiss on his properties in the 2000s despite the accusations from dozens of women and girls that they were sexually abused by Epstein. Ghislaine Maxwell, 59, said during a July 2016 deposition for a defamation lawsuit that she learned about abuse claims "like everybody else, like the rest of the world, when it was announced in the papers". Continue reading... |
| Daniel Pearl murder: Pakistan supreme court orders release of British-born man Posted: 28 Jan 2021 02:14 AM PST Majority ruling upholds earlier decision to commute sentence of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh Pakistan's supreme court has ordered the release of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the British-born Islamist militant who had been sentenced to death for the execution of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002. Pearl was kidnapped in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi in January 2002 during an investigation into al-Qaida and beheaded by Islamic militants, with a video of the killing posted online. Continue reading... |
| Italy 'failed to protect life' in 2013 drowning of 200 people, rules UN Posted: 27 Jan 2021 10:28 PM PST Authorities had duty under international law to respond immediately to calls from boat that came under fire and capsized Italy failed in its duty to protect human life by delaying a rescue mission for a sinking boat in the Mediterranean, the UN Human Rights Committee found on Wednesday. More than 200 people who had been on board drowned on 11 October 2013 after repeated requests for help were ignored, according to a ruling by the committee on a case brought by Syrian and Palestinian survivors who lost their relatives. Continue reading... |
| Mining giant Glencore faces human rights complaint over toxic spill in Chad Posted: 27 Jan 2021 11:30 PM PST Dozens of villagers, including children, claim they suffered severe burns and sickness after contact with contaminated water The UK government has accepted a human rights complaint against mining and commodities giant Glencore regarding a toxic wastewater spill in Chad, where dozens of villagers – among them children – claim they suffered severe burns, skin lesions and sickness after contact with contaminated water. The complaint, brought by three human rights groups on behalf of affected communities, alleges environmental abuses and social engagement failures by the FTSE-100 company in relation to two spillages, the wastewater spill and an alleged oil spill, both in 2018. Continue reading... |
| A Cinderella story: $2,125 Manolo Blahniks found in Canberra Vinnies for $35 Posted: 28 Jan 2021 12:13 AM PST The style made famous by Sex and the City was found by an ANU academic and served as a reminder of the importance of op shops An Australian Twitter user caused a flurry of excitement on Wednesday when she posted about a bargain find at Vinnies in Belconnen, Canberra: designer Manolo Blahniks shoes worth $2,125 for a steal at $35. And not just any pair of Manolo Blahniks, but the same blue satin jewel buckle pumps that Carrie Bradshaw wears during her proposal and marriage in the 2008 Sex and the City film. Continue reading... |
| Crochet artist turns viral Bernie Sanders image into a doll that sells for $20,000 Posted: 27 Jan 2021 06:50 PM PST 'I really hope he thinks this is something cool,' said Tobey King, who made the doll and plans to donate the proceeds to charity Bernie Sanders went from becoming a hit meme to a more than $20,000 crochet doll in less than a week. After an inauguration day image of the Vermont senator went viral, showing him sitting on a folding chair, socially distanced from other guests, hunched against the cold wearing chunky knitted mittens, Tobey King in Texas got to crocheting. She turned the sensational meme that trended for days into a crochet doll. Continue reading... |
| Coronavirus live news: Portugal says situation is 'terrible'; WHO team in Wuhan leave quarantine Posted: 28 Jan 2021 02:24 AM PST Portuguese PM says situation is not 'bad' but 'terrible'; World Health Organization team beings field work in China; 'We are in the fight of our lives,' says WHO
The World Health Organisation's European director Hans Kluge said on Thursday Covid-19 transmission rates in Europe remained too high, putting health services under severe strain, and therefore it was "too early to ease up".
Governments prioritised reopening the economy over people's health, which resulted in "significant" Covid-19 outbreaks over Christmas, Australia's peak doctors body has said. The Australian Medical Association (AMA) also argued at a parliamentary inquiry on Thursday that the Morrison government had failed to protect frontline health workers with new rules on protective gear. Related: Christmas Covid outbreaks a result of putting economy ahead of health, AMA says Continue reading... |
| Japan faces Olympian task with slow start to Covid vaccinations Posted: 27 Jan 2021 05:00 PM PST With a vaccine-hesitant public and jabs yet to begin, there are fears immunisations are off the pace Japan was among the first countries to report cases of Covid-19 after the world was alerted to the virus in December 2019. But just over a year later, it is the last major economy to deploy a vaccine – a measure widely acknowledged as the best hope for a return to something resembling normal life. The first round of jabs is not expected to begin in Japan until the end of February, months after the US and UK – which have recorded far higher death tolls and caseloads – began their vaccination programmes. Continue reading... |
| White House: 'great concern' over Covid origin 'misinformation' from China Posted: 27 Jan 2021 05:08 PM PST Joe Biden's administration demands 'robust and clear' investigation as WHO team visits Wuhan The US wants a "robust and clear" international probe into the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic in China, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, has said. Speaking to reporters, she said it was "imperative we get to the bottom" of how the virus appeared and spread. She highlighted "great concern" over "misinformation" from "some sources in China". Continue reading... |
| Keep Covid rescue programmes or risk triggering stock market crash, warns IMF Posted: 27 Jan 2021 05:47 AM PST International Monetary Fund says there are concerns about share price bubble Governments and central banks must maintain their pandemic rescue programmes or risk triggering a stock market crash, the International Monetary Fund has said. Warning that there were legitimate concerns about a share price bubble, the Washington-based organisation said that without continued low interest rates and government subsidies it was possible a "correction" in stock markets would occur. Continue reading... |
| Cash injection: could we cure all disease with a trillion dollars? Posted: 27 Jan 2021 10:00 PM PST Could such a large amount of money end the Covid pandemic? Eradicate disease? Provide universal healthcare and fund vaccine research? You know that daydream where you suddenly come into a vast fortune? You could buy a castle or a tropical island hideaway, help out all your friends, do a bit of good in the world. But what if it was a truly incredible sum? What if you had $1tn to spend, and a year to do it? And what if the rules of the game were that you had to do it for the world – make some real difference to people's lives, or to the health of the planet, or to the advancement of science. A trillion dollars – that's one thousand billion dollars – is at once an absurdly huge amount of money, and not that much in the scheme of things. It is, give or take, 1% of world GDP. It's what the US spends every year and a half on the military. It is an amount that can be quite easily rustled up through the smoke and mirrors of quantitative easing, which is officially the mass purchase of government bonds, but which looks suspiciously like the spontaneous creation of money. After the 2008 financial crash, more than $4.5tn was quantitatively eased in the US alone. All the other major economies made their own money in this ghostly way. Continue reading... |
| Beverley Bryan: the British Black Panther who inspired a generation of women Posted: 27 Jan 2021 10:00 PM PST After her friend Olive Morris was assaulted by police in 1969, Bryan joined her in the civil rights group. Then she decolonised her classroom – and contributed to a groundbreaking book In the mid-60s, Beverley Bryan was a prefect at Lavender Hill secondary modern in south London. One of her responsibilities was to stand at the school gates and scribble down the name of any student who was late. One such girl was Olive Morris, who would become one of the country's leading anti-racism activists. Bryan, meanwhile, would follow in the younger girl's footsteps, becoming a British Black Panther, a founder member of the Brixton Black Women's Group and, in 1985, the co-author of the seminal book The Heart of the Race: Black Women's Lives in Britain – which helped educate generations of women about the struggles and triumphs of Black women in Britain. "She was always very fierce," Bryan says, over a video call from her home in Jamaica, of her friend Morris, who died in 1979. "She was always a strong person, a strong personality." Bryan and Morris had much in common – both were born in Jamaica before emigrating to London as young children – and they quickly became friends who reminisced with a laugh about their early dispute. Continue reading... |
| Black on both sides: the African diaspora around the world – in pictures Posted: 27 Jan 2021 11:00 PM PST Sasha Phyars-Burgess's Untitled features essays, poems and stunning photographs that delve into the black experience and the true meaning of 'home' Continue reading... |
| Forget Ratatouille, here's Ratatoing! The rise and rise of the 'mockbuster' Posted: 27 Jan 2021 10:00 PM PST If there's a big animated film coming out, a studio somewhere will be rushing to release a cheap imitation. But who makes them? Are they proud of their work? And how did they become an internet hit? It is hard to describe what happens 24 minutes into Ratatoing, an animated children's movie from 2007. Four unnerving rats – one with a handlebar moustache, another in pearls – begin to jump up and down and grunt in a restaurant, in order to alarm the human clientele. "La, la, la, la, la," they sort of sing while sort of dancing. They then do the can-can and shout "HA, HA, HA!" before making ghostly noises. Ratatoing is not, it is safe to say, a good movie. It is barely even an acceptable movie. It was created in just four months by Brazilian animation studio Vídeo Brinquedo, to be released in the same month as Ratatouille, the restaurant-and-rat-themed film that went on to win Pixar the Oscar for best animated feature. "I don't have regrets but I'm not proud of it," says Ale McHaddo, one of Ratatoing's producers. He says Vídeo Brinquedo had a budget of just £75,000 to script, cast, animate and score each movie he worked on. These included The Little Cars (released the same year as Pixar's Cars) and Little Bee (released two years after DreamWorks' Bee Movie). Ratatouille's budget, by comparison, was £112m. "I was young and needed to produce some films," says the 37-year-old from São Paulo. "I thought, 'I have plenty of ideas – but OK, I need to pay my bills.'" Continue reading... |
| ‘My Antifa Lover’: I read the weirdest Trump-era erotica so you don't have to Posted: 27 Jan 2021 11:00 PM PST The Trump years were a powerful creative muse for self-published erotic and romance literature. We review four of the most memorable If you've ever wondered what it might be like to, say, have a sexual encounter with Mike Pence, Kindle has you covered. In recent years, Amazon's e-books market has nurtured a flourishing cottage industry of self-published romance and erotic literature – and the Trump years have inspired many to put pen to paper. The most successful authors (most write under pseudonyms) are known for their prolific publication, thesaurus-aided descriptions of the human anatomy, and responsiveness to current events. Continue reading... |
| 'I was pretty crushed': Mitch Benn wrote two novels – then stopped. What happened? Posted: 27 Jan 2021 11:00 PM PST The standup won a book deal after an idle tweet. Two books later, his love for publishing was over. He talks about why he's persisting with the third book in his scifi trilogy A decade ago, a bored tweet landed standup comedian and singer Mitch Benn a book deal. What made him lose another isn't quite so clear. "I am a big, shambling doofus," says Benn, a fixture on TV and radio, especially BBC Radio 4's The Now Show. "It's quite possible somewhere along the line I said the wrong thing to the wrong person, I don't bloody know." Continue reading... |
| Government lawyer tells court MI5 officers could authorise murder Posted: 27 Jan 2021 12:39 PM PST Admission came hours before bill allowing continuation of controversial powers passed the Commons Government lawyers have told a court that MI5 officers could authorise an informer to carry out a murder under controversial powers that ministers want to see continued contained in a bill that passed the Commons hours later. The admission came in a court of appeal hearing on Wednesday when Sir James Eadie, representing the government, was asked if there was "a power for a Security Service officer to authorise an agent to execute an extremely hostile individual". Continue reading... |
| Biden turns to healthcare access in face of worrying US Covid projections – live updates Posted: 28 Jan 2021 02:16 AM PST President to sign executive action on healthcare as experts warn of 500,000 death toll by February's end
Here's a reminder of what we are expecting from Joe Biden today when he addresses the issue of healthcare access at 1:30pm EST (6:30pm GMT). As the Washington Post reported, he will reopen federal marketplaces selling Affordable Care Act health plans and lower recent barriers to joining Medicaid: Under one order, HealthCare.gov, the online insurance marketplace for Americans who cannot get affordable coverage through their jobs, will swiftly reopen for at least a few months. Ordinarily, signing up for such coverage is tightly restricted outside a six-week period late each year. Another part of Biden's scheduled actions is intended to reverse Trump-era changes to Medicaid that critics say damaged Americans' access to the safety-net insurance. It is unclear whether Biden's order will undo a Trump-era rule allowing states to impose work requirements, or simply direct federal health officials to review rules to make sure they expand coverage to the program that insures about 70 million low-income people in the United States. Biden has been saying for many months that helping people get insurance is a crucial federal responsibility.
Much criticism of "Green New Deal" and environmental policies in the US from Republicans has focussed on the cost to the economy and specifically to jobs. Joe Biden has been attempting to sell his program for dealing with the climate crisis as specifically good for the creation of well-paid union jobs. When I think of climate change I think of jobs. We're going to tackle the climate crisis and create good-paying, union jobs at the same time. https://t.co/2VXwVmp7QZ Continue reading... |
| Why Brazilians are having to take the Covid crisis into their own hands – podcast Posted: 27 Jan 2021 07:00 PM PST Tom Phillips, the Guardian's Latin America correspondent, looks at the surge of infections in the Brazilian state of Amazonas that has left many hospitals without the most basic supplies and has prompted yet more protests against Bolsonaro Rachel Humphreys talks to the Guardian's Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, about the Covid crisis in Brazil. A surge in infections linked to a new and seemingly more contagious variant has overwhelmed hospitals in Amazonas state, leaving many without the most basic supplies. Circumstances were so bleak that oxygen tankers were rushed over the border from Venezuela, the economically collapsed nation next door, with its leader, Nicolás Maduro, decrying what he called "Jair Bolsonaro's public health disaster". Tom tells Rachel about the way the public have reacted to Bolsonaro and his government's handling of this latest wave of infections. Inoculation began last Sunday, weeks after other Latin American countries such as Chile and Mexico. But Brazil, which has 212 million citizens, has so far secured only 6m doses of China's CoronaVac shot and 2m of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine. Continue reading... |
| Christmas Covid outbreaks a result of putting economy ahead of health, AMA says Posted: 28 Jan 2021 02:15 AM PST The Australian Medical Association boss tells a parliamentary inquiry the Avalon cluster came as no surprise Governments prioritised reopening the economy over people's health, which resulted in "significant" Covid-19 outbreaks over Christmas, Australia's peak doctors body has said. The Australian Medical Association (AMA) also argued at a parliamentary inquiry on Thursday that the Morrison government had failed to protect frontline health workers with new rules on protective gear. Continue reading... |
| 'Things are getting worse': Tunisia protests rage on as latest victim named Posted: 27 Jan 2021 05:18 AM PST Police brutality and unemployment worsened by the pandemic continues to drive young protesters onto streets to demand reform The latest victim of Tunisia's current unrest has been named as Haykel Rachdi, from Sbeitla in Kasserine, near the Algerian border. He died of his injuries on Monday night after reportedly being struck on the head by a police teargas canister. Protests were continuing on Wednesday, with police pushing back hundreds of mainly young demonstrators outside the country's parliament in the capital, Tunis. One group had marched there from the working-class district of Hay Ettadhamen, in the north of the city. The protesters chanted refrains from the revolution of the winter of 2010–11 and anti-police slogans, while inside, politicians continued to debate whether to accept or reject a proposed new government, the fifth since 2019's inconclusive elections. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 27 Jan 2021 05:37 PM PST Countries trying to eliminate the virus have been far more successful and economically better off than those that have tried to suppress it The past year of Covid-19 has taught us that it is the behaviour of governments, more than the behaviour of the virus or individuals, that shapes countries' experience of the crisis. Talking about pandemic waves has given the virus far too much agency: until quite recently the apparent waves of infection were driven by government action and inaction. It is only now with the emergence of more infectious variants that it might be appropriate to talk about a true second wave. As governments draw up their battle plans for year two, we might expect them to base their strategies on the wealth of data about what works best. And the evidence to date suggests that countries pursuing elimination of Covid-19 are performing much better than those trying to suppress the virus. Aiming for zero-Covid is producing more positive results than trying to "live with the virus". Continue reading... |
| How quarantine rules work and what UK government is planning Posted: 27 Jan 2021 12:00 PM PST Analysis: Arrivals from high-risk countries will have to pay to isolate in a hotel under Boris Johnson's proposals With new hotel quarantine measures for international arrivals from high-risk countries due to be introduced to curb the spread of Covid-19, focus falls on how they will work. Here, we look at what the rules are now and what's being done by the UK government to toughen border controls. Continue reading... |
| Why has Britain suffered more than 100,000 Covid deaths? Posted: 26 Jan 2021 11:59 AM PST Analysis: there are a string of reasons that have contributed to that extraordinary number On nearly every metric, the UK death toll from coronavirus has now exceeded 100,000. Here, we look at why that figure is so high. Continue reading... |
| Hundreds of thousands protest in Poland over near-total ban on abortion – video Posted: 27 Jan 2021 08:36 PM PST More than 400,000 protesters gathered across Poland with the country set to impose a near total-ban on abortion. A controversial ruling that banned abortions due to foetal defects led to the largest protests in the country's recent history in October 2020. The announcement of plans to implement the ban led to a new wave of mass gathering around the country that already had some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe Continue reading... |
| John Kerry says workers have been fed false narrative on climate change – video Posted: 27 Jan 2021 08:32 PM PST US climate envoy John Kerry says US workers have been fed a false narrative on climate change over the last few years. The former US secretary of state was speaking as president Joe Biden signalled a major shift on climate policy by signing a host of executive orders. Kerry highlighted job growth in renewable energy as evidence of a misled belief that had spread that resolving climate change would come at a cost to workers Continue reading... |
| Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano erupts – in pictures Posted: 27 Jan 2021 05:52 PM PST The country's most active volcano has unleashed a river of lava, searing gas and ash down its 3,000m slopes on Java island, threatening vulnerable villages Continue reading... |
| 'We can't wait any longer': Biden announces plan to tackle 'existential' climate crisis – video Posted: 27 Jan 2021 02:00 PM PST In a sharp 180-degree turn from the Trump administration, Joe Biden signed a series of executive orders to address the 'existential threat' of the climate crisis. Biden insisted his climate plan would create millions of new 'clean' jobs to replace those lost in the coal and oil industries Continue reading... |
| Boris Johnson ‘hopeful’ schools will reopen on 8 March – video Posted: 27 Jan 2021 10:13 AM PST Boris Johnson has said that 8 March is the earliest schools could reopen, but warned the date depended on 'lots of things going right'. A firm decision will be taken in the week of 22 February after reviewing infection and vaccination data, the prime minister said Continue reading... |
| Holocaust Remembrance Day – in pictures Posted: 27 Jan 2021 05:38 AM PST As the pandemic has forced the cancellation of most large gatherings, many institutions including the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial museum in Poland, Yad Vashem museum in Israel and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC are marking Holocaust Remembrance Day this year with online events Continue reading... |
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