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- Australia v Facebook: PM claims tech giant 'back at the table' after executive's apology
- Biden assures US allies he will reverse Trump's policies and legacy
- Biden to declare major disaster in Texas as millions hit by water shortages
- Naomi Osaka beats Jennifer Brady to win second Australian Open title
- Nasa scientists hail Perseverance rover's arrival on Mars with stunning images
- Calls for vets to be sent to cattle ships stranded at sea since December
- Google fires Margaret Mitchell, another top researcher on its AI ethics team
- United Nations asks UAE for proof that Princess Latifa is alive
- Nvidia's new gaming software puts brakes on mining cryptocurrency
- Billie Eilish granted restraining order against alleged stalker
- ‘Something bit my butt’: Alaska woman using outhouse attacked by bear
- ‘If you wanted to design a virus dispersion hub, you could do worse’: the Cheltenham Festival, one year on
- Coronavirus: UK should donate vaccines to poorer nations now, says new WTO chief; two die amid lockdown protests in Gabon
- Covid: vaccinated Israelis to enjoy bars and hotels with ‘green pass’
- The path out of lockdown: can Boris Johnson keep his boosterism at bay?
- Kazuo Ishiguro: 'AI, gene-editing, big data ... I worry we are not in control of these things any more'
- ‘My thoughts became poisonous’: the toll of lockdown when you live alone
- Blind date: ‘His steamy screen made it look as if he was in a sauna’
- Emma Barnett: ‘Not being able to have a baby for two years took me to a very dark place’
- ‘I had no idea about the hidden labour’: has the pandemic changed fatherhood for ever?
- Zara Larsson: 'The more hate I got, the louder I became'
- UK weather: flooding and heavy rain forecast for some areas
- ‘Meet the governor we’ve known all along’: how Cuomo fell from grace
- New stars on the American flag? Fresh hope as Puerto Rico and DC push for statehood
- US warns Beijing against using force in South China Sea
- Australia's travel bubble with New Zealand to resume as Victoria records no new Covid cases
- Colombia tribunal reveals at least 6,402 people were killed by army to boost body count
- 'Marginalising our own brothers and sisters': the disrespect Micronesia has been shown is a tragedy for the Pacific | Surangel Whipps Jr, President of Palau
- 'We have no water': Texans struggle after deadly winter storm – video report
| Australia v Facebook: PM claims tech giant 'back at the table' after executive's apology Posted: 19 Feb 2021 06:51 PM PST Executive Simon Milner apologised after Facebook banned access to health accounts before coronavirus vaccine rollout
Australia's prime minister says Facebook is back at the negotiating table after the tech giant this week blocked news on its site in the country. However, despite Scott Morrison saying Facebook has "tentatively friended us again", the company has publicly indicated no change in its opposition to the proposed law requiring social media platforms to pay for links to news content. Continue reading... |
| Biden assures US allies he will reverse Trump's policies and legacy Posted: 19 Feb 2021 11:28 AM PST President says US will have to work to earn back the trust of its allies in video remarks to the G7 and Munich Security Conference Joe Biden has pledged "unshakable" US support for the transatlantic alliance in what he portrayed as an epoch-defining struggle to safeguard democracy. Biden used his virtual debut on the world stage on Friday, in videoconference remarks first to the G7 and then the Munich Security Conference, to assure America's allies of his determination to bury the legacy left by his predecessor. Continue reading... |
| Biden to declare major disaster in Texas as millions hit by water shortages Posted: 19 Feb 2021 05:59 PM PST
Joe Biden said on Friday he was ready to declare a major disaster in Texas after a deadly winter storm cut power and disrupted water supplies for millions across the state. Biden said the declaration, which follows a request from the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, would open up broader federal aid for immediate and long-term recovery efforts. Continue reading... |
| Naomi Osaka beats Jennifer Brady to win second Australian Open title Posted: 20 Feb 2021 02:04 AM PST
In the midst of this unending pandemic and a scattered, disjointed year of tennis, there has been one consistent sight throughout: Naomi Osaka exhibiting her greatness under suffocating pressure. She is already a star whose profile is in the process of transcending her sport but, most importantly, has the resumé to back it up. In a tight, gripping two-set match that saw her struggle and then soar, Osaka became a four-time grand slam champion by beating Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-3 to win her second Australian Open title. The achievements she has unlocked in the process are startling: Osaka is now the first woman to win her first four grand slam finals of her career since Monica Seles in 1991. She is the seventh woman in the Open era to save match point en route to the title after her fourth-round comeback against Garbiñe Muguruza from 3-5, 15-40, in which she saved the first match point with a 119mph ace and hit zero unforced errors in the final 22 points. Only 15 women in the Open era have won four majors and she now stands shoulder to shoulder with Aranxta Sánchez Vicario and Kim Clijsters. Continue reading... |
| Nasa scientists hail Perseverance rover's arrival on Mars with stunning images Posted: 19 Feb 2021 12:27 PM PST Car-sized vehicle designed to seek signs of life is pronounced 'healthy' after dramatic descent to surface of the red planet Nasa scientists have said the Perseverance Mars rover is "healthy" and is beaming back many stunning new images from the surface of the planet, promising significant scientific discoveries ahead. Related: Perseverance's mission to Mars – in pictures Continue reading... |
| Calls for vets to be sent to cattle ships stranded at sea since December Posted: 20 Feb 2021 02:31 AM PST Concern mounts for welfare of more than 2,500 livestock on two vessels off Italy and Cyprus after bluetongue outbreak Thousands of cattle remain stranded at sea on two livestock ships that left Spain in mid-December, as campaigners desperately seek veterinary support for the animals. The two vessels were bound for Libya but owing to an onboard outbreak of the bovine disease bluetongue were refused entry at multiple ports, said Maria Boada Saña, a vet with Animal Welfare Foundation (AWF), which has been tracking the ships via maritime websites. Continue reading... |
| Google fires Margaret Mitchell, another top researcher on its AI ethics team Posted: 19 Feb 2021 06:54 PM PST The dismissal comes after prominent Black researcher Timnit Gebru was fired in December; both had called for more diversity among research staff Google has fired one of its top artificial intelligence researchers, Margaret Mitchell, escalating internal turmoil at the company following the departure of Timnit Gebru, another leading figure on Google's AI ethics team. In a statement to Reuters, Google said the firing followed a weeks-long investigation that found she moved electronic files outside the company. Google said Mitchell violated the company's code of conduct and security policies. Continue reading... |
| United Nations asks UAE for proof that Princess Latifa is alive Posted: 19 Feb 2021 08:28 AM PST Request for information on Dubai ruler's missing daughter follows release of secretly recorded messages The UN has asked the United Arab Emirates for proof that the Dubai ruler's daughter is still alive, after the release of secret messages she recorded this week claiming she was being held in captivity after the failure of a 2018 attempt to escape the emirate. A spokesperson for Michelle Bachelet, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said on Friday that the UN had "expressed our concerns regarding the situation, in light of the disturbing videos which have surfaced this week. We have requested more information and clarification on the current situation." Continue reading... |
| Nvidia's new gaming software puts brakes on mining cryptocurrency Posted: 19 Feb 2021 07:54 AM PST Artificial constraint highlights struggle to keep up with demand from cryptocurrency miners The newest graphics cards from the gaming processor designer Nvidia will be artificially constrained in their ability to mine cryptocurrencies, the company has announced, as it desperately tries to manage a year-long inability to satisfy demand. The RTX 3060, a high-powered PC peripheral designed to let gamers get the best performance from their machines, will ship with software that makes it half as effective at mining the cryptocurrency Ethereum as it could be. Continue reading... |
| Billie Eilish granted restraining order against alleged stalker Posted: 19 Feb 2021 03:42 PM PST In legal documents, Eilish said the man had caused her 'emotional injury', including fear for the safety of herself and her family Billie Eilish has been granted a restraining order against an alleged stalker who she says camps outside her family home in Los Angeles and throws "extremely disturbing" letters on to their property, according to documents obtained by NBC News. Related: Billie Eilish talks to younger Billie Eilish – with both wisdom and wit Continue reading... |
| ‘Something bit my butt’: Alaska woman using outhouse attacked by bear Posted: 19 Feb 2021 02:34 PM PST Shannon Stevens was treated with first aid kit after incident in which bear face was seen at at toilet seat level An Alaska woman had the scare of a lifetime when using an outhouse in the backcountry and she was attacked by a bear, from below. "I got out there and sat down on the toilet and immediately something bit my butt right as I sat down," Shannon Stevens told the Associated Press. "I jumped up and I screamed when it happened." Continue reading... |
| Posted: 20 Feb 2021 02:00 AM PST It was one of the last major sporting events before Britain went into lockdown in March 2020. Racegoers recall a tense week and its aftermath When the roar of 65,000 people greeted the first race of the third day, at 1.30pm on Thursday 12 March last year, Geoff Bodman was feeling just fine. The 56-year-old painter and decorator from Tremorfa in Cardiff, whose friends call him "Boddie", had been going to the Cheltenham Festival every year for 25 years. He had paid £30 for a ticket to the affordable Best Mate enclosure, where he planned to have a punt on the horses and a day on the beer. The following morning he'd be back in Cardiff, getting on with a job painting the outside of a house. The week before, Bodman and his wife Julie, who worked in a Cardiff care home, had cancelled their second wedding anniversary trip to Venice. They had been looking forward to it for months, but Italy had become a hot spot for the new coronavirus. "We didn't want to take the risk. We lost money because easyJet wouldn't repay us, but we played safe. We thought it wasn't that bad in Britain." According to government figures, there were 1,302 confirmed cases of Covid across the UK by 11 March; data from the Office for National Statistics later revealed that there had been 26 Covid deaths. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 20 Feb 2021 02:42 AM PST
Helping to vaccinate people doesn't feel like work, says Camille Edmonds, a senior nurse manager in Hull. "There's a productive buzz in the air," she says. "The usual stresses and anxieties aren't there." Related: 'I feel privileged': the people helping to give vaccine jabs in the UK
Shortly before the UK's epidemic began, I started working as an adviser to shareholders – mostly local authority and trade union pension funds – on labour rights concerns in the companies in which they invest. Circumstances changed very quickly, but this has led me to speak, from my living room, on a weekly basis to people in frontline services about their working situations. I've talked to their union representatives and employers as part of formal meetings on behalf of the company shareholders. I have heard about countless instances of dangerous practices and rash decisions by companies. In the scramble to balance workforce safety with protecting their bottom line, mistakes have been made – often repeatedly and in some cases systemically. Someone working in a food plant recalled colleagues being asked to wear cake boxes as masks. A union rep took a call from a woman in tears who was expected to clean care home rooms of deceased Covid patients with just a cloth and disinfectant spray. People across the UK took public transport to work while unwell because they couldn't afford not to. Related: Why are cases of Covid in the workplace not being reported in the UK? | Alice Martin Continue reading... |
| Covid: vaccinated Israelis to enjoy bars and hotels with ‘green pass’ Posted: 19 Feb 2021 04:24 AM PST Mobile app inoculation certificate aims to help reopen economy, but privileges are untested and raise ethical questions Israel is preparing itself to be split in half from next week, with the government creating a new privileged tier in society: the vaccinated. Nearly 50% of the population who have chosen to be inoculated against Covid will be provided with a "green pass" a week after their second shot, as will those with presumed immunity after contracting the disease. Continue reading... |
| The path out of lockdown: can Boris Johnson keep his boosterism at bay? Posted: 19 Feb 2021 07:44 AM PST England waits to see if PM will stay restrained or bow to backbench pressure with Covid plan It was an uncharacteristically subdued Boris Johnson who announced from Downing Street that Britain had surpassed the first, phenomenally ambitious target of giving 15 million people a coronavirus vaccine: this was a success, yes, but it was "no moment to relax", the prime minister said on Monday. The boosterish rhetoric has been restrained for several weeks – gone is the talk that led to claims there would be normality by November last year, or that it would be "inhuman" to cancel Christmas. Now, escape from the third lockdown must be "cautious but irreversible". Continue reading... |
| Posted: 20 Feb 2021 01:00 AM PST The Nobel-winning author talks about scaring Harold Pinter, life after death – and his new novel about an 'artificial friend' For the Ishiguro household, 5 October 2017 was a big day. After weeks of discussion, the author's wife, Lorna, had finally decided to change her hair colour. She was sitting in a Hampstead salon, not far from Golders Green in London, where they have lived for many years, all gowned up, and glanced at her phone. There was a news flash. "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to stop this," she said to the waiting hairdresser. "My husband has just won the Nobel prize for literature. I might have to help him out." Back home, Kazuo Ishiguro was having a late breakfast when his agent called. "It's the opposite to the Booker prize, where there's a longlist and then a shortlist. You hear the rumbling thunder coming towards you, often not striking. With the Nobel it is freak lightning out of the blue – wham!" Within half an hour there was a queue of journalists outside the front door. He called his mother, Shizuko. "I said: 'I've won the Nobel, Shon.' Oddly, she didn't seem very surprised," he recalls. "She said: 'I thought you'd win it sooner or later.'" She died, aged 92, two years ago. His latest novel Klara and the Sun, in part about maternal devotion and his first since winning the Nobel, is dedicated to her. "My mother had a huge amount to do with my becoming a writer," he says now. Continue reading... |
| ‘My thoughts became poisonous’: the toll of lockdown when you live alone Posted: 19 Feb 2021 10:00 PM PST Long-term social isolation is as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. What has the last year meant for those who don't share their homes? When the first headlines about coronavirus began to appear in January 2020, they had little impact on south Londoner TJ, 25. "It seems outrageous now, but I thought: 'I'm young, I'm healthy, I'll be fine.'" By the time the first lockdown was announced, his mindset had begun to shift. He'd been single "for ever" and his housemate was spending lockdown with her parents, but he felt that same batten-down-the-hatches optimism many did in the era of weekly clapping and Zoom quizzes. "But that first weekend, the silence of the house and all the hours to fill – I got this inkling… mentally, I don't know where I'll be at the end of this. Four weeks in, I was genuinely scared for my mental health, I wasn't coping at all." TJ is one of an estimated 7.7 million people in the UK who lived alone for most or all of the last year. "It's not a game of Top Trumps, it's not like my anxiety is more profound," he says. "But it is different when you're experiencing it all on your own." In November 2020 the Office for National Statistics released findings that showed acute loneliness had climbed to record levels, with 8% of adults (around 4.2 million people) feeling "always or often lonely", and 16-29-year-olds twice as likely as the over-70s to experience loneliness in the pandemic. "You'd never think fear of missing out would exist when we're all stuck at home," TJ says. "But I'd be scrolling through Instagram, seeing friends with their boyfriends or housemates, and thinking: 'I wish I had someone. I feel so alone.'" Continue reading... |
| Blind date: ‘His steamy screen made it look as if he was in a sauna’ Posted: 19 Feb 2021 10:00 PM PST Lucy, 42, drama therapist, meets Luke, 36, education data manager What were you hoping for? |
| Emma Barnett: ‘Not being able to have a baby for two years took me to a very dark place’ Posted: 20 Feb 2021 01:30 AM PST The broadcaster on chewed pen lids, infertility and fantasies of gutting fish Born in Manchester, Emma Barnett, 36, began her eponymous show on BBC Radio 5 live in 2016 and won Radio Broadcaster of the Year 2018. She is a Newsnight presenter and last month became the main anchor on Woman's Hour on Radio 4. She is married with a son and lives in London. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? |
| ‘I had no idea about the hidden labour’: has the pandemic changed fatherhood for ever? Posted: 20 Feb 2021 12:00 AM PST For the past year, many men have spent more time with their children than ever before. Could it force a permanent change? Primary school spelling tests ringed by coffee stains; office printouts splashed with paint from GCSE art projects; laptops running out of puff in the middle of Zoomed-in geography lessons; and everyone in the family, from the mildest of adults to the sweetest of children, arguing with the fury of stockbrokers over their fair share of the wifi bandwidth. By shutting schools, by taking away the familiar avenues of social escape, by crunching together our working lives with our home lives, this marathon Covid pandemic has changed the terms of parenting beyond all recognition. Mothers have absorbed most of the blow: taking on more of the extra childcare; surrendering more of their scarcer work hours; being interrupted by children more; and any one of them would be justified in saying it was ever thus. But in the midst of it all, fathers have been undergoing some quietly radical changes in behaviour, too. Or so research suggests. Dads are spending more time than ever before with their children, according to a report last year by the Office for National Statistics. Meanwhile, those dads who were already inclined to take on the playful aspects of parenting (what's known by sociologists as "non-routine care", and by the rest of us as "the fun shit") have started doing more of the unpaid, unglamorous work of child-rearing, according to a joint study of lockdown behaviours by the Universities of Birmingham and Kent. Two of its authors, Holly Birkett and Sarah Forbes, believe that this year of intermittent lockdowns and school closures, along with the widespread adoption of home working, has hurried on an evolution in caring roles we might otherwise have waited decades for. Continue reading...This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Zara Larsson: 'The more hate I got, the louder I became' Posted: 20 Feb 2021 12:00 AM PST One of pop's biggest, and most outspoken, young stars, the Swedish musician now wants to leave her Twitter beefs behind – but she'll never stop talking about the issues she cares about While some artists are keen to cultivate the perfect video call mise-en-scene ("Oh, these coffee table art books? Love them!"), or tap up their stylist for designer loungewear, the Swedish pop star Zara Larsson doesn't have time for that. Literally. "I didn't know this interview was going to be on Zoom!" she apologises as she enters the chat five minutes late. It is 11am in Stockholm and Larsson is not camera-ready. However, rather than insisting we talk via her assumed communication medium – the humble telephone – she finds a comfy spot on her boyfriend's sofa, scrapes back her unstyled hair and tightens the belt on her navy blue dressing gown. "This is what I look like 90% of the time now anyway," she shrugs. Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading... |
| UK weather: flooding and heavy rain forecast for some areas Posted: 20 Feb 2021 01:31 AM PST Up to 200mm possible in parts of Wales as travel disruption predicted across the weekend Weather warnings remain in place for several parts of Britain amid heavy rain which threatens flooding and travel disruption across the weekend. The Met Office has issued five yellow warnings for rainfall, mostly in western areas from Scotland south to Plymouth, with a more serious amber warning for south Wales. Continue reading... |
| ‘Meet the governor we’ve known all along’: how Cuomo fell from grace Posted: 20 Feb 2021 12:00 AM PST At the start of the pandemic, the New York governor found himself on the national stage with his daily briefings. Now he faces calls for his resignation and a federal investigation On 20 March 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic was rampaging through New York, Andrew Cuomo announced new restrictions on home visits for older and vulnerable people. Unveiling the rules, named Matilda's Law after his mother, at his televised daily briefing, the governor spoke passionately about the need for New Yorkers to care for one another. "Those three-word sentences can make all the difference," he said. " 'I miss you', 'I love you', 'I'm thinking of you', 'I wish I were there with you', 'I'm sorry you're going through this'." Continue reading... |
| New stars on the American flag? Fresh hope as Puerto Rico and DC push for statehood Posted: 19 Feb 2021 11:00 PM PST Five US territories float in constitutional limbo, but impetus is growing to put and end to a 'fundamental democratic flaw' One of the most powerful prosecutions of former US president Donald Trump last week came from Stacey Plaskett of the US Virgin Islands, the first delegate from an American territory to hold the position of impeachment manager. Yet Plaskett's status meant that she was unable to vote for Trump's impeachment because she has no vote on the floor of the House of Representatives. The US Virgin Islands has no representation at all in the Senate. Its residents cannot even vote for president. Continue reading... |
| US warns Beijing against using force in South China Sea Posted: 19 Feb 2021 07:53 PM PST State department concerned by new laws that authorise Chinese coastguard to use weapons against foreign ships The United States has warned China against the use of force in disputed waters as it reaffirmed its view that Beijing's assertive campaign in the South China Sea is illegal. The state department voiced "concern" about new legislation enacted by China that authorises its coastguard to use weapons against foreign ships that Beijing considers to be unlawfully entering its waters. Continue reading... |
| Australia's travel bubble with New Zealand to resume as Victoria records no new Covid cases Posted: 19 Feb 2021 10:29 PM PST Quarantine-free travel for New Zealanders entering Australia will restart from Sunday
Australia's coronavirus travel bubble with New Zealand will recommence on Sunday, the Department of Health has announced. In a statement issued on Saturday afternoon, the department said "green zone" flights from New Zealand could resume at 12.01am on Sunday, subject to some conditions. Continue reading... |
| Colombia tribunal reveals at least 6,402 people were killed by army to boost body count Posted: 19 Feb 2021 03:00 AM PST The killings, which took place between 2002 and 2008, were declared combat kills in order to boost statistics in war with rebel groups A special peace tribunal in Colombia has found that at least 6,402 people were murdered by the country's army and falsely declared combat kills in order to boost statistics in the civil war with leftist rebel groups. That number is nearly three times higher than the figure previously admitted by the attorney general's office. The killings, referred to in Colombia as the "false positives scandal", took place between 2002 and 2008, when the government was waging war against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (or Farc), a leftist guerrilla insurgency, which ultimately made peace with the government in 2016. Soldiers were rewarded for the manipulated kill statistics with perks, including time off and promotions. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 19 Feb 2021 11:00 AM PST Micronesia had no choice to but to abandon the Pacific Islands Forum after being 'thoroughly and publicly disregarded', the President of Palau writes What becomes of an organisation when it disregards one-third of its membership? What happens when "we" stops being inclusive? As the eldest of four, I have always felt responsible for the safety, security, and well-being of my siblings. In my family, "I" has always been synonymous with "we", the collective, being one inclusive family and ensuring no one is left out. This is what I understand to be the Palauan way; this is what I understand to be the Pacific Way. Continue reading... |
| 'We have no water': Texans struggle after deadly winter storm – video report Posted: 19 Feb 2021 07:47 AM PST Millions of Texans are facing water shortages after a winter storm caused pipes to burst and treatment plants to back up. Officials ordered 7 million people – a quarter of the population of the nation's second largest state – to boil tap water before drinking it. The storms have also left millions without power for days Continue reading... |
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