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- WHO experts to discuss Oxford vaccine after suspension in some countries
- Isis-linked militants beheading children in Mozambique, says aid group
- FBI facing allegation that its 2018 background check of Brett Kavanaugh was ‘fake’
- France to return Klimt painting looted by the Nazis in 1938
- Prince Philip leaves hospital after heart surgery
- Food and fuel prices soar in Myanmar as coup exacerbates Covid-19 crisis
- Cap on Trident nuclear warhead stockpile to rise by more than 40%
- Israeli archeologists find new Dead Sea scroll fragments
- 'Music is my life': ban on schoolgirls singing in Afghanistan met with protest
- Banksy on side of former Reading prison defaced with red paint
- Coronavirus live news: WHO vaccine experts to discuss AstraZeneca jab; German cases rising exponentially
- Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch relay legs could be cancelled if Covid rules broken
- Biden heads to Pennsylvania in push to sell US Covid relief plan to nation – live updates
- 'We forget our troubles': crystal meth use rises during lockdown in Zimbabwe
- Not tonight, darling: how the world lost its libido – and how it can get it back
- ‘Reading the writing on the wall’: why Wall Street is acting on the climate crisis
- Fish detectives: the sleuths using ‘e-DNA’ to fight seafood fraud
- Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer: a key relationship to a successful presidency
- Waffles + Mochi review – Michelle Obama's charming puppet series
- Memento at 20: Christopher Nolan's memory thriller is hard to forget
- Which European states have paused AstraZeneca jabs due to clotting concerns?
- Special brew: eco-friendly Peruvian coffee leaves others in the shade
- RSL and leagues clubs to trial alternative to NSW government's gaming card
- Mali conflict: 'It's not about jihad or Islam, but justice'
- ‘It opens a window of hope’: case will potentially set precedent for sexual violence survivors in Colombia
- Europe’s caution over Oxford vaccine about more than the science
- 'What are you going to do, arrest me?': Texas anti-masker handcuffed by police – video
- Sandstorm and pollution turn Beijing sky orange – video
| WHO experts to discuss Oxford vaccine after suspension in some countries Posted: 16 Mar 2021 02:06 AM PDT WHO tells people to keep taking AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, while EU medical agency says benefits outweigh risks World Health Organization safety experts are preparing to meet over the AstraZeneca/Oxford coronavirus vaccine, whose rollout has been halted in several European countries over blood clot fears. The three largest EU nations – Germany, Italy and France – joined others in suspending the shot Monday, dealing a blow to the global immunisation campaign against a disease that has killed more than 2.6 million people. Sweden paused its use of the vaccine on Tuesday. Continue reading... |
| Isis-linked militants beheading children in Mozambique, says aid group Posted: 16 Mar 2021 04:24 AM PDT Islamist insurgents targeting victims as young as 11, according to Save the Children Children as young as 11 are being beheaded in Mozambique as part of an Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands and forced many more from their homes, a UK-based aid group has said. Save the Children said it had spoken to displaced families who described "horrifying scenes" of murder, including mothers whose young sons were killed. In one case, the woman hid, helpless, with her three other children as her 12-year-old was murdered nearby. Continue reading... |
| FBI facing allegation that its 2018 background check of Brett Kavanaugh was ‘fake’ Posted: 16 Mar 2021 12:00 AM PDT A Democratic senator has asked attorney general Merrick Garland to facilitate 'proper oversight' into concerns on the investigation The FBI is facing new scrutiny for its 2018 background check of Brett Kavanaugh, the supreme court justice, after a lawmaker suggested that the investigation may have been "fake". Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator and former prosecutor who serves on the judiciary committee, is calling on the newly-confirmed attorney general, Merrick Garland, to help facilitate "proper oversight" by the Senate into questions about how thoroughly the FBI investigated Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing. Continue reading... |
| France to return Klimt painting looted by the Nazis in 1938 Posted: 16 Mar 2021 02:53 AM PDT Rosebushes Under the Trees, painted in 1905, was stolen from an Austrian Jewish family The French government has announced that it will return a Gustav Klimt landscape painting to its rightful owners more than 80 years after it was stolen by the Nazis from a Jewish family in Austria in 1938. The colourful 1905 oil work by the Austrian symbolist painter, titled Rosebushes Under the Trees, has been hanging in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris for decades. Continue reading... |
| Prince Philip leaves hospital after heart surgery Posted: 16 Mar 2021 03:43 AM PDT Duke of Edinburgh is driven away from King Edward VII's hospital in London The Duke of Edinburgh has left the King Edward VII's hospital in central London where he has been recovering after heart surgery four weeks after first being admitted. He was driven away from the private hospital, where he has been recovering from a heart procedure. Continue reading... |
| Food and fuel prices soar in Myanmar as coup exacerbates Covid-19 crisis Posted: 15 Mar 2021 11:00 PM PDT World Food Programme says people already reeling from pandemic are facing double-digit price increases in staple foods The UN World Food Programme has warned of a "very serious" economic crisis in Myanmar in the wake of last month's coup, with food and fuel prices rising amid the political turmoil. The retail price of palm oil had risen 20% since the start of February around the main city, Yangon, said the World Food Programme (WFP), while rice prices there and in Mandalay had gone up 4% in the past three weeks alone. Continue reading... |
| Cap on Trident nuclear warhead stockpile to rise by more than 40% Posted: 15 Mar 2021 01:00 PM PDT Exclusive: Boris Johnson announcement on Tuesday will end 30 years of gradual disarmament Britain is lifting the cap on the number of Trident nuclear warheads it can stockpile by more than 40%, Boris Johnson will announce on Tuesday, ending 30 years of gradual disarmament since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The increased limit, from 180 to 260 warheads, is contained in a leaked copy of the integrated review of defence and foreign policy, seen by the Guardian. It paves the way for a controversial £10bn rearmament in response to perceived threats from Russia and China. Continue reading... |
| Israeli archeologists find new Dead Sea scroll fragments Posted: 16 Mar 2021 04:12 AM PDT Judean Desert dig also finds six-millennia-old skeleton of child described as world's oldest Israeli archaeologists have unearthed two dozen Dead Sea scroll fragments from a remote cave in the Judean Desert, the first discovery of such Jewish religious texts in more than half a century. "For the first time in approximately 60 years, archaeological excavations have uncovered fragments of a biblical scroll," the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said in a statement. Continue reading... |
| 'Music is my life': ban on schoolgirls singing in Afghanistan met with protest Posted: 15 Mar 2021 11:30 PM PDT Government appears to backtrack on decree after women take to social media to sing in defiance under #IAmMySong hashtag Afghanistan's Ministry of Education appears to be backtracking on a decision to impose a nationwide singing ban on schoolgirls. In a letter to school boards last week, which was leaked to the media, Kabul's Education Department said girls aged 12 and above would no longer be able to sing at public events, unless the events were attended solely by women. The letter also stipulated that girls couldn't be trained by a male music teacher. Continue reading... |
| Banksy on side of former Reading prison defaced with red paint Posted: 16 Mar 2021 03:12 AM PDT Photographs emerge showing work entitled Create Escape with 'Team Robbo' painted over typewriter A mural by Banksy on the side of a former prison in which Oscar Wilde was incarcerated has been defaced with red paint. The artwork, which appeared on a red brick wall of what was once Reading prison, showed an inmate escaping lockdown using a knotted spool of paper from a typewriter. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 16 Mar 2021 04:18 AM PDT Health body says it hasn't found association between blood clots and Oxford jab; German expert adds that risk of AstraZeneca vaccine relatively low
The European Medicines Agency will hold a news conference at 1300 GMT on Tuesday, a spokesman for the EU's executive arm said. EMA is conducting an investigation into the safety of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 shot after Germany, France, Italy and other EU countries suspended the use of the vaccine over isolated cases of bleeding, blood clots and low platelet counts.
South Korea's capital of Seoul will order hundreds of thousands of foreign workers, as well as their employers, to undergo coronavirus tests or face fines running into thousands of dollars, officials said on Tuesday. Reuters reports: The policy comes despite criticism that a similarly sweeping programme in a neighbouring province was xenophobic and indiscriminate. From Wednesday Seoul city will issue a 15-day administrative order for testing on employers of at least one foreign worker, as well as the foreign workers, said Park Yoo-mi, a city quarantine officer. |
| Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch relay legs could be cancelled if Covid rules broken Posted: 16 Mar 2021 03:51 AM PDT Organisers say spectators must stay distanced, wear masks and avoid loud cheering Sections of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic torch relay could be scaled down or even cancelled if spectators lining the route fail to observe coronavirus restrictions, Games organisers have warned. Spectators who turn out to watch the torch as it begins its journey around Japan next week must wear masks, avoid cheering loudly and keep a safe distance from one another, the Tokyo 2020 organising committee said on Tuesday. Continue reading... |
| Biden heads to Pennsylvania in push to sell US Covid relief plan to nation – live updates Posted: 16 Mar 2021 04:22 AM PDT President will speak at small business in battleground state, while Kamala Harris visits Colorado
Secretary of state Antony Blinken is in Japan and has been posting pictures of his trip on social media. Great discussion with @Secdef, @moteging, & @KishiNobuo on the importance of a free, open, & inclusive Indo-Pacific anchored by universal values & uninhibited by coercive power. We're committed to cooperation with Japan including as part of the Quad & trilaterally with the ROK. pic.twitter.com/37VkmiMfrR
In the final hours ahead of the vote on Joe Biden's Covid relief bill, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia had thrown his fellow Democrats a curveball. He had effectively put the entire bill in jeopardy by possibly joining Republicans on unemployment benefits. Manchin seemed immovable. The White House legislative affairs team couldn't get him to relent. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the top Democrat in the chamber, met with him as well, but couldn't get him to budge, according to two Democrats with knowledge of those discussions. Eventually Manchin and Biden got on the phone directly, twice. The unemployment benefits in the bill were scaled back by a few weeks and the bill regained momentum. Related: Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer: a key relationship to a successful presidency Continue reading... |
| 'We forget our troubles': crystal meth use rises during lockdown in Zimbabwe Posted: 16 Mar 2021 02:00 AM PDT Harare's drug dealers say business is booming as more young people, some at school, use mutoriro Inside a tiny room in Kuwadzana, a township in Harare, Solomon Sigauke* and his friends talk animatedly about football and listen to loud music. The misty vapour from the crystal meth fills the room as they take turns on a fluorescent pipe. Sigauke, 25, has no cigarette lighter so he is improvises, holding a burning candle while his friend Kudzo puffs the smoke from the burning substance, known locally as mutoriro. . Continue reading... |
| Not tonight, darling: how the world lost its libido – and how it can get it back Posted: 15 Mar 2021 11:00 PM PDT After a year of lockdowns, home schooling, social distancing and stress, sex drives are suffering – among both couples and single people. Can we do anything about it – or do we just have to wait till the end of the pandemic? Suddenly faced with spending a lot more time with his wife, Anthony, 44, thought one silver lining of lockdown might be that their sex life would get back on track. "Of course, that was really stupid," he says now, with a small laugh. What he had not factored in was the exhaustion of childcare and home schooling, anxiety about the health of their parents – and the small matter of existential dread. "You'd wake up and everything was significantly worse than the day before. And that is really not sexy." Where once he would go to the gym or meet a friend for a pint after work to decompress, now all life was at home. "Before, you could come back to yourself a little bit. Lockdown took all that away – there are only so many times you can go for a walk on your own." Continue reading... |
| ‘Reading the writing on the wall’: why Wall Street is acting on the climate crisis Posted: 16 Mar 2021 03:00 AM PDT The industry has backed polluters for decades. Now, amid growing pressure, Wall Street says it's going green Wildfires burned nearly 10.4m acres across the US last year. The most costly thunderstorm in US history caused $7.5bn in damage across Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. As the climate crisis swept the globe on a biblical scale it left in its wake a record number of billion dollar disasters. And yet out of these ashes has emerged an unlikely savior: Wall Street. After decades of backing polluters and opposing legislation to rein them in, finance says it's going green. Continue reading... |
| Fish detectives: the sleuths using ‘e-DNA’ to fight seafood fraud Posted: 15 Mar 2021 11:00 PM PDT A Canadian supplier known for wild salmon has teamed up with geneticists to prove what really ends up on the plate The first notable thing about the wild salmon fillet Dane Chauvel shows me is its colour – a rich red that, even over FaceTime, makes my mouth water. The second notable thing is that it's definitely salmon. This might not seem like a debatable fact. Chauvel is co-founder of Organic Ocean Seafood in Vancouver, Canada, housed in a historic building at the mouth of the 854-mile (1,375km) Fraser River, one of Canada's main salmon courses. The company supplies many high-end restaurants, and wild-caught salmon makes up a large proportion of its sales. Continue reading... |
| Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer: a key relationship to a successful presidency Posted: 16 Mar 2021 03:00 AM PDT The Democratic party mainstays who have spent decades in the Senate have an important dynamic as they wrangle a sometimes unruly Congress In the final hours ahead of the vote on Joe Biden's Covid relief bill, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia had thrown his fellow Democrats a curveball. He had effectively put the entire bill in jeopardy by possibly joining Republicans on unemployment benefits. Manchin seemed immovable. The White House legislative affairs team couldn't get him to relent. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the top Democrat in the chamber, met with him as well, but couldn't get him to budge, according to two Democrats with knowledge of those discussions. Eventually Manchin and Biden got on the phone directly, twice. The unemployment benefits in the bill were scaled back by a few weeks and the bill regained momentum. Continue reading... |
| Waffles + Mochi review – Michelle Obama's charming puppet series Posted: 16 Mar 2021 12:02 AM PDT The former first lady teams up with puppets to educate children about food in an overstuffed yet likable new Netflix series As first lady, Michelle Obama received plenty of cable TV flak for her youth nutrition initiative, Let's Move!, which combined the soft touch of the First Lady's "mom-in-chief" persona with actual policies to combat childhood obesity and improve school lunches. The subsequent administration may have tarnished the Obamas' legislative legacy, but soft power abounds on the streaming services; the latest in the lucrative partnership between the Obamas' Higher Ground production and Netflix is Waffles + Mochi, a mostly charming, zany children's series in which two puppets explore, via magic flying shopping cart, the world of food cast in its rosiest light. Related: DC Super Hero Girls: a startlingly funny kids series of masked and caped crime fighters Continue reading... |
| Memento at 20: Christopher Nolan's memory thriller is hard to forget Posted: 15 Mar 2021 11:28 PM PDT The ambitiously structured noir gave us an early sign of what was to come from the director who would go on to bigger, if not always better, things The first time I encountered Memento, at the 2000 Toronto film festival, it was one of those rare buzz magnets that nobody has on their schedule at the beginning of the festival, but everyone rushes to squeeze in towards the end. Christopher Nolan was still an unknown quantity, having only directed the little-seen DIY thriller Following, and the film was being screened at the Uptown, in one of the chilly dungeons underneath the gorgeous theater reserved for bigger premieres and Midnight Madness screenings. Related: From Memento to Interstellar: our writers pick their favourite Christopher Nolan films Continue reading... |
| Which European states have paused AstraZeneca jabs due to clotting concerns? Posted: 16 Mar 2021 03:46 AM PDT Despite no evidence of a link between blood clots and the vaccine, a cautious approach is spreading Several European countries have halted using the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine amid unconfirmed fears that the shot may have led to serious blood clots. Both the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) say there is no evidence the jabs caused clotting issues. AstraZeneca has said 17 million people had so far received the jab, and the blood clot incidents were "much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population". Continue reading... |
| Special brew: eco-friendly Peruvian coffee leaves others in the shade Posted: 16 Mar 2021 03:30 AM PDT The Mayni people are harvesting shade-grown coffee from under the canopy of mature trees, with huge benefits for wildlife and the community Deep within the Peruvian cloud forests, a six-hour drive from the town of Satipo, the remote Mayni community is busy growing organic coffee beneath the canopy of the native forest in order to preserve the rich mosaic of life there. Most of the forest is kept intact, with just a little undergrowth cleared to plant Coffea arabica trees. Dahlia Casancho, who is leading the Mayni in their eco-friendly coffee-growing endeavours, sees shade-grown coffee farming as a positive development for the community, who traditionally believe in a forest god and river god. "Nature is our home. Nature gives us water, feeds us and also allows us to grow our coffee," she says. "That's why we take great care of our forest and we want it to be sustainable so that our children can also enjoy it. Continue reading... |
| RSL and leagues clubs to trial alternative to NSW government's gaming card Posted: 16 Mar 2021 03:02 AM PDT Cashless technology trial wins approval but critics warn a badly designed system could be a 'disaster' RSL and leagues clubs in New South Wales have broken ranks with their peak industry body to negotiate a trial of an alternative to the state government's proposed mandatory gaming card as critics warn a badly designed system could be a "disaster". The push by the RSL and Services Clubs Association and Leagues Clubs Australia – which are separate from the powerful ClubsNSW – would see a trial of cashless technology in several of the state's largest clubs to tackle problem gambling and money laundering. Continue reading... |
| Mali conflict: 'It's not about jihad or Islam, but justice' Posted: 15 Mar 2021 05:08 AM PDT Camps for refugees are growing as old rivalries between Fulani herders and Dogon farmers are exacerbated in Mali's war on Islamist militants Mopti used to be a stopover for tourists on their way to the fabled Timbuktu, or to see the homes of the Dogon people cut into the yellow cliffs of Bandiagara. The Malian city, which is known for its grand mosque and rock-salt markets, lies where the Niger and Bani rivers meet. When the rivers flood, the town is turned into a series of islands. But the visitors and their cameras are gone, and the 4x4s that used to transport them replaced with those bearing logos of humanitarian organisations, as the Mali government struggles to root out a strengthening Islamist movement that has been expanding from the north of the country since 2015. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 15 Mar 2021 03:00 AM PDT Jineth Bedoya, who's been seeking justice since she was kidnapped, tortured and raped in 2000, to testify before international court The Inter-American Court of Human Rights will hear testimony on Monday from a Colombian journalist who was kidnapped, tortured and raped while reporting on her country's civil war, in a case which could set a precedent for thousands of survivors of sexual violence in the Andean nation. Jineth Bedoya, who has been pursuing justice for more than 20 years and now campaigns against sexual violence, has so far seen only three of her attackers sentenced. Continue reading... |
| Europe’s caution over Oxford vaccine about more than the science Posted: 15 Mar 2021 12:38 PM PDT Analysis: the evidence for side-effects is scant but governments have other factors to consider As France and Germany join Ireland, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands in suspending the use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine – even though the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization are advising people to continue taking it – the common refrain in European governments is that they are acting out of "an abundance of caution". There have been a handful of reports of blood clots in people recently vaccinated and also a rarer condition called thrombocytopenia, in which people do not make enough platelets. That can result in excessive bleeding. Deaths have been reported in Austria and Italy, which stopped the use of one batch of vaccine for fear it was contaminated. Meanwhile a further death from thrombocytopenia has been reported in Norway, as well as three hospitalisations. Continue reading... |
| 'What are you going to do, arrest me?': Texas anti-masker handcuffed by police – video Posted: 15 Mar 2021 11:32 AM PDT Police issued a warrant for the arrest of Terry Wright, 65, of Grants Pass, Oregon. The woman's detention on Thursday at a Bank of America in Galveston was captured by the officer's body camera. An arrest warrant was issued for Wright, who refused to wear a mask at a Texas bank, saying to a police officer: 'What are you going to do, arrest me?' Police said they had obtained an arrest warrant on resisting arrest and criminal trespassing charges Continue reading... |
| Sandstorm and pollution turn Beijing sky orange – video Posted: 15 Mar 2021 05:27 AM PDT A sandstorm has combined with already high air pollution to turn the sky over Beijing an eerie orange. Air quality indexes recorded a "hazardous" 999 rating on Monday as commuters travelled to work through the thick, dark air across China's capital and further west. Large-scale deforestation is considered a factor in the spring dust storms that are relatively common at this time of year and are usually attributed to winds blowing across the Gobi desert Continue reading... |
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