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- House approves $1.9tn Covid aid bill despite minimum wage setback
- New Zealand: Auckland to go into seven-day Covid lockdown
- Myanmar police try to crush protests as envoy pleads with UN for action
- US finds Saudi crown prince approved Khashoggi murder but does not sanction him
- Electricity needed to mine bitcoin is more than used by 'entire countries'
- Lady Gaga's bulldogs returned unharmed after kidnapping
- Global stock markets drop as inflation fears prompt sell-off
- Captain Sir Tom Moore’s funeral to get flypast by WWII plane
- Cattle stranded on ship in Spain must be destroyed, say vets
- Tribal conflict worsens in Papua New Guinea as firearms rewrite the rules
- Prison director and gang leader among 25 killed in Haitian jailbreak
- Coronavirus live news: UK will face 'enormous strains', says chancellor; New Zealand PM says Auckland to go into lockdown for seven days
- The UK couples breaking Covid lockdown to avoid breaking up
- Vaccine envy, inoculation etiquette and judging the unjustly jabbed
- Johnson & Johnson one-shot Covid vaccine gets nod from FDA advisory panel
- Three families, one sperm donor: the day we met our daughter’s sisters
- Blind date: ‘I never once attempted to check the football scores’
- What’s worse than discovering a mouse problem? Half a mouse problem
- Can Oatly milk it? Oatmilk brand gears up for US stock market
- With VPNs and fancy dress, Myanmar youth fight 'turning back of the clock'
- The trouble with boys: what lies behind the flood of teenage sexual assault stories?
- What will be in Rishi Sunak's 2021 budget?
- Named, shamed but unscathed: Saudi crown prince spared by US realpolitik
- Schoolchildren freed after abduction in northern Nigeria, governor says
- Republicans continue to embrace Trump's election lie at CPAC
- Cabinet minister rape claim: victim’s friend says she wants alleged perpetrator ‘sacked’
- Brazil tops 251,000 Covid deaths as daily fatalities also set record
- Pro-choice protests in Warsaw and Myanmar coup: 20 photos on human rights this week
- It’s time to face up to colourism | Candice Brathwaite
- Lack of sanctions for crown prince shows weight Riyadh holds
- Sustainable aviation fuel is the only way forward if we want to keep flying | Paul Callister and Robert McLachlan
- Hundreds of calves stranded at sea due to suspected disease – video
- 'Do not wreck this': Jonathan Van-Tam warns against breaking lockdown rules – video
- Happy 'farmily': portraits of people and their animals – in pictures
- Militia attack groups want to ‘blow up Capitol’, police chief warns – video
- Russian diplomats leave North Korea on hand-powered rail trolley – video
| House approves $1.9tn Covid aid bill despite minimum wage setback Posted: 26 Feb 2021 11:24 PM PST Relief bill represents Biden first big legislative win but wage hike proposal to be removed from Senate version The US House of Representatives has passed Joe Biden's $1.9tn coronavirus aid bill in his first major legislative victory. Related: Criticism builds over Biden's failure to lift Trump sanctions on ICC prosecutors Continue reading... |
| New Zealand: Auckland to go into seven-day Covid lockdown Posted: 27 Feb 2021 02:12 AM PST Restrictions in country's biggest city to be imposed after single Covid case of unknown origin was recorded New Zealand's prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said the country's biggest city, Auckland, will go into a seven-day lockdown from early morning on Sunday after a new local case of the coronavirus of unknown origin emerged. It comes two weeks after Auckland's nearly 2 million residents were plunged into a snap three-day lockdown when a family of three were diagnosed with the more transmissible UK variant of coronavirus. Continue reading... |
| Myanmar police try to crush protests as envoy pleads with UN for action Posted: 27 Feb 2021 02:07 AM PST One woman reportedly shot dead as Kyaw Moe Tun says strongest possible action needed to end military coup Police cracked down in Myanmar on Saturday to prevent opponents of military rule gathering and one woman was shot and killed, media reported, hours after the country's ambassador to the United Nations pleaded for international action to restore democracy. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army seized power and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and much of her party leadership, alleging fraud in a November election her party won in a landslide. Continue reading... |
| US finds Saudi crown prince approved Khashoggi murder but does not sanction him Posted: 26 Feb 2021 12:10 PM PST Biden administration to target 'counter-dissident' activity and Saudi official but not Mohammed bin Salman personally US intelligence agencies have concluded in a newly declassified intelligence report that Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, approved the 2018 murder of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi – but Washington stopped short of targeting the future Saudi king with financial or other sanctions. The four-page report released on Friday confirmed the long-suspected view that the 35-year-old future king had a personal hand in the violent murder of one of his most prominent critics, a columnist and former Saudi insider who was living in exile in the US and used his platform to decry the prince's crackdown on dissent. Continue reading... |
| Electricity needed to mine bitcoin is more than used by 'entire countries' Posted: 27 Feb 2021 12:00 AM PST Bitcoin mining – the process in which a bitcoin is awarded to a computer that solves a complex series of algorithm – is a deeply energy intensive process It's not just the value of bitcoin that has soared in the last year – so has the huge amount of energy it consumes. The cryptocurrency's value has dipped recently after passing a high of $50,000 but the energy used to create it has continued to soar during its epic rise, climbing to the equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of Argentina, according to Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, a tool from researchers at Cambridge University that measures the currency's energy use. Continue reading... |
| Lady Gaga's bulldogs returned unharmed after kidnapping Posted: 26 Feb 2021 08:25 PM PST Dogs were dropped off at a police station in Los Angeles, while dog walker shot in the attack is recovering Two French bulldogs belonging to Lady Gaga that were stolen at gunpoint earlier this week have been recovered unharmed, police in Los Angeles have said. A woman brought the dogs to the LAPD's Olympic community police station on Friday evening, said Jonathan Tippett, commanding officer of the robbery-homicide division. Continue reading... |
| Global stock markets drop as inflation fears prompt sell-off Posted: 26 Feb 2021 10:00 AM PST UK FTSE was down 2.5%, its biggest one-day fall in percentage terms since the end of October Global stock markets ended February deep in the red, as fears of higher inflation prompted a sell-off in government bonds and spread anxiety across financial markets. The UK's FTSE 100 index fell 168 points to 6,483, a 2.5% drop – the biggest one-day fall in percentage terms since the end of October. Continue reading... |
| Captain Sir Tom Moore’s funeral to get flypast by WWII plane Posted: 27 Feb 2021 12:00 AM PST Family-only service given honour in recognition of veteran who died at 100 after raising £38m for NHS A second world war-era plane will fly over Captain Sir Tom Moore's funeral service in honour of the war veteran, who raised almost £39m for NHS charities during the first coronavirus lockdown. Related: Captain Sir Tom Moore obituary Continue reading... |
| Cattle stranded on ship in Spain must be destroyed, say vets Posted: 26 Feb 2021 06:33 PM PST Spanish officials recommend 864 cows that have been at sea for two months are no longer fit for transport More than 850 cows that have spent months aboard a ship wandering across the Mediterranean are no longer fit for transport any more and should be killed, according to a confidential report by Spanish government veterinarians. The cows have been kept in what an animal rights activist called "hellish" conditions on the Karim Allah, which docked in the south-eastern Spanish port of Cartagena on Thursday after struggling for two months to find a buyer for the cattle. Continue reading... |
| Tribal conflict worsens in Papua New Guinea as firearms rewrite the rules Posted: 26 Feb 2021 11:00 AM PST Land dispute in which 21 people died is the latest brutal conflict exacerbated by high-powered weapons, weak governance and erosion of traditional mores At the height of the killing, women and children hid in the dense forests nearby or took shelter in homes in neighbouring villages. More than 6,000 people sought refuge as murderous mobs rampaged across three villages in Papua New Guinea's Hela province, seeking retribution over a land dispute. At the end of weeks of indiscriminate, roiling violence this month, 21 people were dead, including a woman and two girls, and dozens were more wounded. Continue reading... |
| Prison director and gang leader among 25 killed in Haitian jailbreak Posted: 26 Feb 2021 05:41 PM PST Notorious gangster Arnel Joseph shot dead at police checkpoint after more than 400 inmates escape in country's biggest breakout for 10 years More than 400 inmates have escaped and 25 people have died in a prison breakout in Haiti, authorities say, making it the country's largest and deadliest one in a decade. A prison director and a powerful gang leader were among those killed. The breakout at Croix-des-Bouquets prison on the outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince on Thursday was believed to be an attempt to free gang leader Arnel Joseph, who had been Haiti's most wanted fugitive until his 2019 arrest on charges including rape, kidnapping and murder. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 27 Feb 2021 02:41 AM PST Rishi Sunak warns of risk to economy; Joe Biden tells US 'now is not the time to relax - follow all the day's news as it happens
More details from New Zealand as Auckland prepares to enter a seven-day lockdown: Related: New Zealand: Auckland to go into seven-day Covid lockdown
The president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has extended coronavirus restrictions in the capital of Manila after record rises in cases in recent days. Curbs will stay in place for another month in Manila. The southern city of Davao and the northern city of Baguio are also under partial restrictions limiting business operations and public transport. Continue reading... |
| The UK couples breaking Covid lockdown to avoid breaking up Posted: 26 Feb 2021 07:00 AM PST Compliance with lockdown is proving increasingly hard for people in relationships who don't live together Since most of the UK went back into lockdown on 5 January, people have once again been forced to "stay at home, save lives". But with "pandemic burnout" on the rise many say compliance is proving increasingly difficult. People in relationships who do not live with their partner have been in a tough position throughout the pandemic. Faced with the prospect of breaking lockdown or breaking up, many couples have opted for the former. Continue reading... |
| Vaccine envy, inoculation etiquette and judging the unjustly jabbed Posted: 26 Feb 2021 07:47 AM PST Queue-jumping triggers rows and resignations – and experts say it could undermine trust in the system Vaccines against Covid-19 may represent a peak of human ingenuity and achievement – but that still leaves a sticky problem of etiquette: how should you behave during a global scramble for the jab? When someone jumps the queue and gets vaccinated, do you condemn their selfishness, admire their chutzpah, ask for tips? When a friend or relative is way ahead of you in the queue, are you happy for them or resentful? Is yearning for vaccines a legitimate existential response or is it just a symptom of Vomo – fear of missing out on a vaccine? Continue reading... |
| Johnson & Johnson one-shot Covid vaccine gets nod from FDA advisory panel Posted: 26 Feb 2021 02:06 PM PST Vaccine, along with those from Pfizer and Moderna, should provide US with more than enough supply to vaccinate every person The battle against Covid-19 took a major step forward on Friday as the US moved closer to distributing its first one-shot Covid-19 vaccine, after an independent expert advisory panel recommended drug regulators authorize the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for emergency use. The authorization would be a significant boost to the Biden administration's vaccination plans, making Johnson & Johnson's vaccine the third available to the public. Janssen, Johnson & Johnson's vaccine subsidiary, told a congressional hearing this week that it expects to deliver 20m doses by March and a total of 100m doses before the end of June. Continue reading... |
| Three families, one sperm donor: the day we met our daughter’s sisters Posted: 26 Feb 2021 10:00 PM PST Every year, thousands of British children are conceived with the help of donor sperm. But few ever meet their siblings... Caroline Pearson, a podcast producer from London, was a few days into her maternity leave when she discovered that her unborn daughter had two sisters. She had visited a website a friend had told her about, which allows recipients of donated sperm (such as her) to search for families who have used the same donor. If they've registered with this website, they could be anywhere in the world, since the US sperm bank chosen by Pearson and her husband, Francis, ships internationally, and the website, Donor Sibling Registry (DSR), is also US-based with an international reach. Pearson couldn't resist, and typed in the donor's reference number. "Suddenly, I was overwhelmingly curious," Pearson says. She didn't expect to find anything – let alone two families living within a half-hour radius. The first profile was a single mother to a two-year-old girl, living nearby in London. It seemed an extraordinary coincidence. Caroline was "totally giddy"; her partner Francis, a photographer, was cautious. "I tried to rein things in," he says. "Caroline was pregnant and we were already dealing with becoming parents, and the donor process. But all this other stuff, it was so unknown. I'm practical and you think: yes, that could be amazing – but what if they're awful people?" Continue reading... |
| Blind date: ‘I never once attempted to check the football scores’ Posted: 26 Feb 2021 10:00 PM PST Ken, 60, sales director, meets Shelley, 63, Spanish interpreter What were you hoping for? |
| What’s worse than discovering a mouse problem? Half a mouse problem Posted: 26 Feb 2021 10:00 PM PST I imagine a thriving mouse community going about its business behind the plaster, with an occasional member stopping to say, 'I think I hear someone typing out there' The oldest one is complaining about a mouse that he says lives in his bedroom. "It scrabbles about under the floorboards," he says. "It sounds big." Continue reading... |
| Can Oatly milk it? Oatmilk brand gears up for US stock market Posted: 27 Feb 2021 12:00 AM PST Swedish company has begun work on US flotation as plant-based foods enter mainstream "Here comes the post milk generation" is the slogan emblazoned on the side of the electric trucks of the alt-milk brand Oatly. We will soon find out if that's true as the Swedish oatmilk juggernaut heads towards a mega US stock exchange listing. The Swedish company said this week it had begun work on a flotation in New York which some analysts think could value the fast-growing business at as much as $10bn (£7.1bn). Continue reading... |
| With VPNs and fancy dress, Myanmar youth fight 'turning back of the clock' Posted: 26 Feb 2021 09:00 PM PST For a generation used to freedoms that have come with democracy, going back to military rule is unthinkable In the searing afternoon sun, Myo, 21, stood in front of a police barricade near Yangon's Sule Pagoda – one of just a handful of protesters to gather at the rallying point on Wednesday. He stood alone, a towel wrapped around his neck to soak up the sweat, and held a sign that read "humanity" in front of the officers. "The military took away my future," said the digital artist. "My work can no longer pay me. This country had barely started trying to develop and now it's 2021. I don't know what made them think they should stage a coup." Continue reading... |
| The trouble with boys: what lies behind the flood of teenage sexual assault stories? Posted: 26 Feb 2021 11:00 AM PST Young women are being failed by a society that seems unable – or unwilling – to address rape culture and its grave consequences Page after page after page. Story after story after story: hundreds of them. Stories of boys raping girls, boys forcing girls to perform oral sex, boys anally raping girls, boys assaulting their girlfriends, boys assaulting girls who are unconscious, sharing the stories and the images and the videos with their friends. In one case, uploading illicitly-taken videos to a widely available porn website. Some girls are as young as 13. The boys are their peers. These stories coalesced into a litany of horror over the past week as part of a petition started by former Sydney schoolgirl Chanel Contos, now 23, in an effort to convince the school principals of elite private schools in Sydney to implement consent education earlier and better. Continue reading... |
| What will be in Rishi Sunak's 2021 budget? Posted: 26 Feb 2021 10:00 PM PST Expect measures to help economic recovery but watch out for capital gains tax and other tax rises Rishi Sunak's budget on 3 March is set to unveil a range of measures to help support the recovery of the UK economy, but tax rises are in the offing too. Here is what we can expect. Continue reading... |
| Named, shamed but unscathed: Saudi crown prince spared by US realpolitik Posted: 26 Feb 2021 01:40 PM PST Analysis: The US has sanctioned 76 people linked to Khashoggi's murder, but not Mohammed bin Salman, future king of a strategic Middle East ally Friday was the day that Joe Biden's vaunted drive to put human rights back at the centre of US foreign policy slammed, as such drives usually do, into the brick wall of great power realpolitik. As it had promised, the new administration obeyed the law laid down by Congress and ignored by its predecessor. It published an unclassified summary of the intelligence assessment that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, "approved" the murder and dismemberment of the Saudi reformer and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Continue reading... |
| Schoolchildren freed after abduction in northern Nigeria, governor says Posted: 27 Feb 2021 02:54 AM PST Students, teachers and family members released after gunmen stormed college in Kagara two weeks ago Forty-two people including 27 students who were abducted two weeks ago from a school in northern Nigeria have been freed, an official has said. The chief press secretary for the Niger state governor, Mary Noel Berje, told the Associated Press on Saturday that those released have arrived in the state capital, Minna. "We have received them," she said. Continue reading... |
| Republicans continue to embrace Trump's election lie at CPAC Posted: 27 Feb 2021 12:00 AM PST Conservative gathering in Florida has seven sessions this year focused on voter fraud and election-related issues Republicans have continued to embrace the myth of a stolen election the annual rightwing conclave of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), underscoring how the party continues to sustain the baseless idea months after Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 race and the deadly assault on the Capitol. This year's gathering of some of the party's most fervent supporters has a staggering seven sessions focused on voter fraud and election-related issues. Several have inflammatory titles. "Other culprits, why judges and media refuse to look at the evidence," was the name of one panel discussion on Friday. "The left pulled the strings, covered it up, and even admits it," was another. "Failed states (GA, PA, NV, oh my!)" is the title of another scheduled for this weekend. Continue reading... |
| Cabinet minister rape claim: victim’s friend says she wants alleged perpetrator ‘sacked’ Posted: 26 Feb 2021 10:00 PM PST Simon Birmingham rejects suggestion unnamed minister at centre of allegations should stand aside As pressure builds on Scott Morrison to investigate allegations of a historical rape levelled against one of his cabinet ministers, a woman who had known the victim for 30 years has come out to say she "absolutely, 100% believes" her friend. New South Wales police have confirmed the alleged victim reported the incident to them in February 2020, and the allegations have also been forwarded to the Australian federal police. Continue reading... |
| Brazil tops 251,000 Covid deaths as daily fatalities also set record Posted: 26 Feb 2021 01:04 PM PST
Brazil has passed two grim landmarks, as deaths from Covid-19 passed 251,000 and the country saw its highest daily toll since the coronavirus was first detected there one year ago. A total of 1,582 Brazilians died from Covid-19 on Thursday as the country struggles with a slow vaccination rollout, new variants of the disease and an uncoordinated government response. Continue reading... |
| Pro-choice protests in Warsaw and Myanmar coup: 20 photos on human rights this week Posted: 26 Feb 2021 03:45 AM PST A roundup of the best photography on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Algeria to Uganda |
| It’s time to face up to colourism | Candice Brathwaite Posted: 27 Feb 2021 01:00 AM PST As I grew up, the majority of black women I saw on TV were fair skinned. Those who looked like me were never cast as the lead I've been building a profile as a writer and broadcaster long enough to know that there will be public storms. Some creep up on you, others you sense brewing, and some have been lingering in the background for a lifetime. A couple of weeks ago, I posted on social media about having "lost out" on hosting a documentary to a lighter-skinned black woman. The subject of the documentary was maternal mortality in the UK, and the harrowing fact that black women are five times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. This is something I have campaigned on for several years, wrote about in my book I Am Not Your Baby Mother and experienced first-hand when I almost died a few days after the birth of my first child in 2013. Continue reading...This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Lack of sanctions for crown prince shows weight Riyadh holds Posted: 26 Feb 2021 01:40 PM PST Analysis: decision not to penalise Saudi heir over Jamal Khashoggi shows kingdom still has influence After two years of blanket cover from Donald Trump, a new US president has officially blamed Mohammed bin Salman for the most savage political slaying of modern times and brought the Saudi heir's unchecked run with Washington to a humiliating halt. Joe Biden's confirmation that Prince Mohammed approved the butchering of Jamal Khashoggi bluntly ends the era of bromance between his predecessor and the kingdom's de facto leader, and signals a very different relationship with a new administration. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2021 11:00 AM PST The targets envisioned by the Paris Agreement leave no room for fossil fuelled commercial aviation by 2050 Aviation is an important part of the global economy; until Covid-19, it was responsible for 2.8% of global CO2 emissions. In New Zealand, aviation is responsible for an even higher percentage of CO2 emissions, the figure having doubled since 1990 to 13% in 2018. The country's geographic isolation, transport system, international tourist industry, and globally dispersed families have all contributed to the jump in growth and will make reducing emissions a challenge. But New Zealand has signed up to net zero emissions by 2050 and enacted the Zero Carbon Act, which aims to implement policies that will limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5C, in line with the Paris Agreement. Continue reading... |
| Hundreds of calves stranded at sea due to suspected disease – video Posted: 26 Feb 2021 12:53 PM PST Hundreds of calves crammed onboard a ship were checked by Spanish government veterinarians after months at sea, suspected of contracting the bovine disease bluetongue. The Karim Allah docked at the south-eastern Spanish port of Cartagena on Thursday after struggling to find a buyer for its almost 900 cattle |
| 'Do not wreck this': Jonathan Van-Tam warns against breaking lockdown rules – video Posted: 26 Feb 2021 10:11 AM PST England's deputy chief medical officer has told people not to break the country's lockdown rules ahead of official relaxations, particularly those who have received their Covid vaccinations. With worrying signs cases might be rising slightly, Van-Tam said the country was not yet 'in the right place' and pressed people not to 'wreck this now' Continue reading... |
| Happy 'farmily': portraits of people and their animals – in pictures Posted: 26 Feb 2021 09:31 AM PST Photographer Tasha Hall creates what she calls 'farmily' portraits – featuring families and their animals. Hall, from British Columbia in Canada, says she got the idea after wanting to include all her furry friends in a family portrait. She now travels the world capturing other families with their livestock and pets Continue reading... |
| Militia attack groups want to ‘blow up Capitol’, police chief warns – video Posted: 26 Feb 2021 09:03 AM PST In alarming testimony to a House subcommittee, the acting chief of Capitol police, Yogananda Pittman, said threats were circulating that directly targeted Joe Biden's first formal speech to a joint session of Congress – the date of which has not yet been announced. Militia groups involved in the 6 January insurrection want to stage another attack aiming to 'blow up' the complex and kill lawmakers, Pittman has warned Continue reading... |
| Russian diplomats leave North Korea on hand-powered rail trolley – video Posted: 26 Feb 2021 04:04 AM PST In normal times, most diplomats can expect to end a foreign posting with an official – if not always fond – farewell from their hosts and a comfortable journey back to their native country. But for one group of Russian envoys and their families, the coronavirus pandemic meant there was only one way home: under their own steam on a hand-pushed rail trolley. A more conventional exit from North Korea has not been possible since the country closed its land borders and banned international air travel early on in the pandemic Continue reading... |
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