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- EU leaders push back against bloc's plans to halt Covid vaccine export
- North Korea test fires two ballistic missiles in challenge to Biden
- Suez canal: race to free 'beached whale' container ship enters third day
- GCHQ releases 'most difficult puzzle ever' in honour of Alan Turing
- Oscars 'no Zoom' policy proving a headache for overseas nominees
- Nike and H&M face backlash in China over Xinjiang statements
- Australians could be charged for exporting energy from rooftop solar panels to the grid
- Virginia becomes the first southern state to end the death penalty
- Singapore blogger ordered to pay nearly US$100,000 damages to PM for Facebook post
- New Zealand brings in bereavement leave for miscarriages and stillbirths
- David Cameron faces investigation into possible lobbying law breach
- 'Unless you're wealthy, don't come back': dismay over new rules for returning to NZ
- Pandemic periods: why women's menstrual cycles have gone haywire
- 'Saddest March of our lives': Brazilians lament Covid devastation as critics decry Bolsonaro
- Covid curfew and clock change threaten to call time on Spain's drive-in cinemas
- Traffic wars: who will win the battle for city streets?
- 'The Yanomami could disappear' – photographer Claudia Andujar on a people under threat in Brazil
- 'Just write STOP': the teenager helping Polish women flee abuse
- Is the devil really Prada? An uneasy history of fashion as cinema's punchbag
- 'So much pressure to look a certain way': why eating disorders are rife in pop music
- British black power: stars of BBC documentary reflect on UK activism
- Suez canal drama – and a tiny bulldozer – inspire wave of memes
- Haiti deportations soar as Biden administration deploys Trump-era health order
- Christian Porter and Linda Reynolds to retain 'very important' roles in cabinet, Scott Morrison says
- UN resolution hailed as 'crucial turning point' for victims of Sri Lanka civil war
- A small Islamist party could decide Benjamin Netanyahu's fate
- Suez Canal gridlock highlights its impact on oil and shipping prices
- The US has been silent on Honduras's drug problem, but that might be about to change
- Holi: a festival of colours – in pictures
- Suez canal blocked: attempts continue to free stuck megaship Ever Given – video
- Boris Johnson on EU vaccine exports and 'vaccination passports' – video
- EU vaccine exports: UK singled out for failing to export Covid vaccines – video
- 'It will save lives': Joe Biden calls for gun reform after Colorado shooting – video
| EU leaders push back against bloc's plans to halt Covid vaccine export Posted: 25 Mar 2021 02:19 AM PDT More sceptical member states hope 'stick will never be used' amid concerns over supply chain EU leaders are likely to shy away from supporting the use of new powers to block Covid vaccine shipments to countries such as the UK with better jab coverage than the bloc, according to a draft statement ahead of a meeting of EU leaders today. The European commission has increased its scope for blocking vaccine exports but disquiet among capitals is set to be reflected in a muted statement at the end of the virtual summit on Thursday evening. Continue reading... |
| North Korea test fires two ballistic missiles in challenge to Biden Posted: 24 Mar 2021 08:51 PM PDT Projectiles are believed to have landed in the sea outside Japan's exclusive economic zone North Korea test fired two ballistic missiles early on Thursday, in the biggest challenge so far to Joe Biden's attempts to engage the regime over its nuclear weapons program. The projectiles were launched on North Korea's east coast and are believed to have landed in the sea outside Japan's exclusive economic zone, officials in Tokyo said. Continue reading... |
| Suez canal: race to free 'beached whale' container ship enters third day Posted: 25 Mar 2021 02:04 AM PDT Head of dredging company says Ever Given is stuck on the sand and containers may have to be unloaded, a process that could take weeks The mission to unblock the Suez canal after a vast container ship became wedged has entered its third day, as pressure builds on authorities to get one of the world's key trade arteries flowing again. Efforts to refloat the 220,000-ton, 400-metre-long Ever Given resumed on Thursday after a brief overnight suspension, amid fears the operation could potentially take weeks if the vessel needs to be unloaded. Continue reading... |
| GCHQ releases 'most difficult puzzle ever' in honour of Alan Turing Posted: 24 Mar 2021 11:00 PM PDT 12 riddles linked to new £50 note featuring the codebreaker may take seven hours to crack GCHQ has released its "most difficult puzzle ever", a set of 12 riddles linked to design elements of the new £50 note featuring the mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing. The questions begin with a relatively straightforward crossword-style puzzle that starts by asking where GCHQ's predecessor agency, where Turing worked, was based during the second world war. A two-word answer, nine letters then four, is required. Continue reading... |
| Oscars 'no Zoom' policy proving a headache for overseas nominees Posted: 24 Mar 2021 06:48 PM PDT Publicists and studio executives have reportedly complained about logistics, costs and quarantine issues The "no Zoom" policy for this year's Oscars ceremony is proving a headache for multiple nominees who live outside the United States and who are still under pandemic restrictions, according to Hollywood publications. Variety and Deadline Hollywood reported on Wednesday that publicists and some studio executives have complained to the film academy about logistics, costs and quarantine issues raised by the decision to bar nominees from taking part in the ceremony remotely. Continue reading... |
| Nike and H&M face backlash in China over Xinjiang statements Posted: 24 Mar 2021 10:53 PM PDT Chinese social media condemns statements by the companies as celebrities cancel contracts with brands Anger with Nike has erupted on Chinese social media after the company issued a statement saying it was "concerned about reports of forced labour" in China's Xinjiang province, and that it would not source textiles from the region. The backlash over the Nike statement was among the highest trending topics on China's Twitter-like social media Weibo on Thursday. Continue reading... |
| Australians could be charged for exporting energy from rooftop solar panels to the grid Posted: 24 Mar 2021 04:24 PM PDT Proposed changes to the national energy market rules aims to prevent 'traffic jams' of electricity on sunny days Australian households with rooftop solar panels could be charged for exporting electricity into the power grid at times when it is not needed under proposed changes to the national electricity market. The recommendation is included in a draft deliberation by the Australian Energy Market Commission that is designed to prevent "traffic jams" of electricity at sunny times that could destabilise the network. Continue reading... |
| Virginia becomes the first southern state to end the death penalty Posted: 24 Mar 2021 06:51 PM PDT Ban comes after a yearslong battle by Democrats in the state, which previously had US's second-highest number of executions Virginia has become the 23rd US state and the first in the south to abolish the death penalty, a dramatic shift for the commonwealth which previously had the nation's second-highest number of executions. Continue reading... |
| Singapore blogger ordered to pay nearly US$100,000 damages to PM for Facebook post Posted: 24 Mar 2021 06:46 PM PDT Blogger argued he had 'merely shared' an article without changing content or adding comments The Singapore high court has ordered a blogger to pay S$133,000 (US$98,825) in damages in a defamation case to the prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong. Lee sued Leong Sze Hian, a financial adviser, after he shared on Facebook an online news article . Continue reading... |
| New Zealand brings in bereavement leave for miscarriages and stillbirths Posted: 24 Mar 2021 11:17 PM PDT Legislation allowing three days' leave applies to parents, their partners, and parents planning to have a child through adoption or surrogacy New Zealand's parliament has voted unanimously to give mothers and their partners three days of bereavement leave after a miscarriage or stillbirth. Labour MP Ginny Andersen, who presented the bill, said it would allow parents to come to terms with their loss without being forced to use up their sick leave entitlements. "The grief that comes with miscarriage is not a sickness; it is a loss," she said. "That loss takes time – time to recover physically and time to recover mentally; time to recover with a partner". Continue reading... |
| David Cameron faces investigation into possible lobbying law breach Posted: 25 Mar 2021 02:44 AM PDT Lobbying registrar to look at ex-prime minister's work on behalf of Greensill Capital, according to reports A formal investigation has been launched into whether David Cameron breached lobbying laws through his work on behalf of Greensill Capital. However, the Guardian understands the former prime minister will say he was acting as an employee for the firm. According to guidance by the register of consultant lobbyists, people who lobby on behalf of their own organisation do not need to declare themselves on the register. Continue reading... |
| 'Unless you're wealthy, don't come back': dismay over new rules for returning to NZ Posted: 24 Mar 2021 06:09 PM PDT Charge of $3,100 will have to be paid if a returnee leaves again within six months, instead of the previous three months New Zealanders overseas have reacted with despair to news that the government has doubled the time returning citizens are required to stay to avoid paying a $3,100 quarantine fee. The changes, announced on Wednesday, mean people coming home from overseas will need to stay six months, rather than the previous three, to be exempt from the fee – a move the government has said will help make the managed isolation system "more financially sustainable". Continue reading... |
| Pandemic periods: why women's menstrual cycles have gone haywire Posted: 24 Mar 2021 11:00 PM PDT A majority of menstruating women have experienced changes to their cycle over the last year, surveys suggest. One of the main culprits? Persistent stress We will not look back on the past year as a vintage one for the human body. Since March 2020, many of us have experienced physical manifestations of stress that correspond to living through a global pandemic. From low energy and headaches to changes in mood and disrupted sleep, our rhythms are deeply upset. And many women have experienced changes to a fundamental rhythm: the menstrual cycle. Rachel Burns has always experienced premenstrual syndrome (PMS), but it has been even more difficult to navigate in the past 12 months. "I always have a few days of feeling quite withdrawn before my period, but this has morphed into me feeling unreachable and anxious for over a week," says the 36-year-old from Kent. "My partner says the change is significant." Before Christmas, her PMS made her feel as if she were "going mad, like a panic attack I couldn't come down from". The effects of her period drag on now. She feels fluey, achy, "completely depleted, physically and emotionally". As a result, it can feel like she "only has one 'good' week" a month. "It's like being at sea within yourself," she says. Continue reading... |
| 'Saddest March of our lives': Brazilians lament Covid devastation as critics decry Bolsonaro Posted: 25 Mar 2021 01:00 AM PDT As country reaches 300,000 fatalities, doctors condemn 'politics of death' but pledge to fight on Like so many on Brazil's left, Pedro Carvalho was certain Jair Bolsonaro's presidency would prove a nightmare: for human rights, for the environment and for the national health system the 41-year-old doctor cherishes and serves. "I felt this profound sadness, just utter, personal sadness," Carvalho remembered of the fateful moment in October 2018 that the far-right populist was confirmed as his country's new leader. Continue reading... |
| Covid curfew and clock change threaten to call time on Spain's drive-in cinemas Posted: 24 Mar 2021 11:00 PM PDT Country's oldest autocine is calling for exemption from 10pm rule so it can survive summer's later sunsets At 7.30 on Friday evening, Godzilla and King Kong are scheduled to converge on a large lot in eastern Spain to trade blows and bellows, rip fistfuls of fur and scales off each other and generally wreak CGI havoc for an appreciative, car-bound audience. Their titanic sparring, however, could be short-lived. This weekend, the wading reptilian metaphor for atomic warfare and the conflicted, skyscraper-bothering ape could find themselves cowed by the setting sun, the changing of the clocks and the local coronavirus curfew. Continue reading... |
| Traffic wars: who will win the battle for city streets? Posted: 24 Mar 2021 11:00 PM PDT Radical new plans to reduce traffic and limit our dependence on cars have sparked bitter conflict. As legal challenges escalate, will Britain's great traffic experiment be shut down before we have time to see the benefits? On an overcast Saturday afternoon in December, a convoy of 30 cars, led by a red Chevrolet pickup truck, set off from the car park of an east-London Asda with hazard lights flashing. The motorists, who formed a "festive motorcade", wore Santa hats as they made their way slowly through the borough of Hackney before coming to a halt outside the town hall a couple of hours later. They had gathered to register their outrage at being the victims, as they saw it, of a grand experiment that has been taking place on England's roads since the start of the pandemic. As the national lockdown eased last summer, swathes of Hackney, stretching from Hoxton's dense council estates at the borough's western border with Islington to the edge of the River Lea marshland near Stratford in the east, had been closed to through traffic (with exceptions made for delivery vans, residents' cars and emergency vehicles). Continue reading... |
| 'The Yanomami could disappear' – photographer Claudia Andujar on a people under threat in Brazil Posted: 25 Mar 2021 01:15 AM PDT Andujar lived with the tribe and fights for them. A timely show of her images comes to London soon
"The question of indigenous people should be more respected, more widely known. This is very important as it's the only way the present [Brazilian] government will come to recognise their rights as human beings to occupy their land," says Andujar, speaking from São Paulo. "This government isn't interested in their rights." Continue reading... |
| 'Just write STOP': the teenager helping Polish women flee abuse Posted: 24 Mar 2021 11:15 PM PDT Schoolgirl's fake cosmetics site helps hundreds of women as domestic violence rises during Covid In April 2020, weeks after Poland went into its first Covid-19 lockdown, Krysia Paszko, a 17-year-old high school pupil, watched a TV report about Europe's surge in domestic violence cases, which had increased by up to 60% on 2019, according to the World Health Organization. Poland's largest women's rights centre, Centrum Praw Kobiet (CPK), had reported a 50% increase in calls to its domestic violence hotline in March. Learning from the report that France had implemented a scheme in pharmacies that women could use to report domestic violence using the codewords "Mask 19", Paszko had an idea. With help from a graphic designer friend, she created a Facebook page for a fictitious cosmetics company. Continue reading... |
| Is the devil really Prada? An uneasy history of fashion as cinema's punchbag Posted: 25 Mar 2021 02:03 AM PDT Slaxx, a new indie horror-satire about a pair of murderous jeans, is the latest film to turn fashion into a baddie. The Guardian's film critic thinks it is time to change the story Which professions get a bad press in the movies? TV executives tend to be portrayhed as manipulative and sociopathic. Journalists can be boozy and lazy (although sometimes they're dishy investigative idealists, like Woodward and Bernstein). Nightclub owners are awful. Dentists are creepy. Hotel receptionists are sinister. But if there's one trade that's somehow perennially getting it in the neck on screen, it's fashion. The new horror movie from Canadian satirist Elza Kephart – Slaxx – is a case in point, showing a new brand of jeans, unveiled to an elite audience of hipsters at a haughty upmarket store, becoming possessed by the spirits of exploited workers from the developing world who made them. The jeans run violently amok, slaughtering fashion vloggers and Instagram influencers in showers of blood. Continue reading... |
| 'So much pressure to look a certain way': why eating disorders are rife in pop music Posted: 25 Mar 2021 12:00 AM PDT A documentary series about Demi Lovato shows how brutally controlled the singer's diet once was, and, as other pop performers attest, it's control that underpins damaging behaviour For eight years of her life, Demi Lovato was served a watermelon cake for her birthday. This wasn't a watermelon-flavoured version of a proper cake with all the good stuff like butter, sugar and flour, but rather an actual watermelon with some icing on top. The reason for this was that her team at the time were "trying to keep her weight down", according to Lovato's best friend Matthew Scott Montgomery, who is interviewed as part of Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil, the YouTube documentary series premiering this week. Her team would police what she ate, he says, and those she was with were also required to eat only when Lovato ate, with no snacking outside of meals, in an attempt to "keep her well" and avoid triggering a relapse into the restrictive eating disorders she struggled with as a teenager. Continue reading... |
| British black power: stars of BBC documentary reflect on UK activism Posted: 24 Mar 2021 11:00 PM PDT As a new film on 60s and 70s resistance is released, its subjects discuss what progress, if any, has been made When Zainab Abbas, a renowned activist and former member of the Black Liberation Front, was asked if things had improved for black people in the UK over the past 50 years, she didn't hesitate with her response. "I don't think it's got better, I really don't," she said, pointing to rates of stop and search, black unemployment and rising hate crimes. "It's important to remember that things haven't changed because they were able to wipe out our history." Continue reading... |
| Suez canal drama – and a tiny bulldozer – inspire wave of memes Posted: 24 Mar 2021 09:04 PM PDT Big ship getting stuck in a too-narrow waterway has spawned invocations of poetry, the pandemic and Austin Powers It is the David and Goliath story of our times: one of biggest container ships in the world got stuck in the Suez canal, blocking a route through which 12% of the world's trade passes – and sent to rescue it was a very small bulldozer. 2 guys and a bulldozer on site to dislodge a ship stuck in the Suez Canal. pic.twitter.com/APAIU7sCv6 Continue reading... |
| Haiti deportations soar as Biden administration deploys Trump-era health order Posted: 25 Mar 2021 02:00 AM PDT There have been more 'Title 42' expulsions in the space of a few weeks than during an entire year of Trump's administration, report says The Biden administration has so far deported more Haitians in a few weeks than the Trump administration did in a whole year, with the use of a highly controversial Trump-era public health order denying asylum seekers basic legal rights, according to a new report. The report, The Invisible Wall, due to be published on Thursday by a coalition of immigrant rights groups, focuses on Title 42, part of the 1944 Public Health Service Act invoked a year ago by the Trump administration as grounds for summary expulsion of migrants because of the supposed health risk they posed during the Covid pandemic. Continue reading... |
| Christian Porter and Linda Reynolds to retain 'very important' roles in cabinet, Scott Morrison says Posted: 25 Mar 2021 02:38 AM PDT The prime minister also reveals the Brittany Higgins rape allegation has 'taken me deeper into this issue than I have appreciated before' The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has insisted Christian Porter and Linda Reynolds will continue to play an "important role" in his cabinet and declared he would not "condone" any negative briefing against Brittany Higgins. Morrison confirmed on Thursday evening there would be a process for establishing whether members of his media team had briefed against Higgins – the former Liberal staffer who triggered the Australian parliament's #MeToo moment by going public with her allegation of rape by a colleague. Continue reading... |
| UN resolution hailed as 'crucial turning point' for victims of Sri Lanka civil war Posted: 24 Mar 2021 05:43 AM PDT UK-led action ramps up scrutiny of the regime against a backdrop of worsening human rights abuses Civil rights groups have welcomed a UK-led UN resolution on Sri Lanka as a "crucial turning point for justice" for victims of the country's nearly 30-year-long conflict. The resolution, which ramps up international monitoring and scrutiny of the country, was passed on Tuesday by the human rights council after the UN high commissioner for human rights warned Sri Lanka could rapidly descend into violence unless decisive international action was taken. Michelle Bachelet expressed alarm over "worrying trends" in the country since President Gotabaya Rajapaksa took office in 2019 and last month told the human rights council the country had "closed the door" on ending impunity for past abuses. Continue reading... |
| A small Islamist party could decide Benjamin Netanyahu's fate Posted: 24 Mar 2021 08:19 AM PDT Analysis: Israel's election is pushing the PM towards a historic and incongruous political move He built a hugely successful career scaremongering among Israelis about politicians from the country's Arab minority presenting a threat from the inside. Now, Benjamin Netanyahu's rhetoric might have come back to haunt him: election results suggest the leader's fate may have fallen into the hands of a small party of Islamists. With most votes tallied, the latest national election – Israel's fourth within the span of two years – looks on course for further deadlock. Neither Netanyahu nor the opposition leader, Yair Lapid, have a clear majority to form a coalition government. Continue reading... |
| Suez Canal gridlock highlights its impact on oil and shipping prices Posted: 24 Mar 2021 04:41 AM PDT Analysis: blockage of route through Egypt provides a reminder of its importance to global trade The impressive span of Al Salam Bridge at El Qantara in Egypt gives a unique view over the Suez canal. On a normal day a procession of bulk carriers in convoys can be seen for miles creeping into the hazy distance on both sides. Continue reading... |
| The US has been silent on Honduras's drug problem, but that might be about to change Posted: 24 Mar 2021 02:00 AM PDT Analysis: The Biden administration is expected to take a cooler approach to President Hernández than Donald Trump did For the US, this is a painfully embarrassing fortnight to count Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández as a key ally in Central America. On Monday he was named in a New York federal courtroom as a co-conspirator in the conviction of his associate, Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez, for smuggling tons of cocaine into the US, and receiving a $250,000 bribe from Fuentes, an alleged drug kingpin. Continue reading... |
| Holi: a festival of colours – in pictures Posted: 25 Mar 2021 12:00 AM PDT The Hindu festival of Holi is under way in India. The celebration heralds the arrival of spring Continue reading... |
| Suez canal blocked: attempts continue to free stuck megaship Ever Given – video Posted: 24 Mar 2021 08:50 PM PDT Efforts to free the giant container ship are continuing after the 400m-long vessel became stuck in the Suez canal. Local authorities attempted to dislodge the 220,000 ton vessel from the banks of the canal using tug boats, but the megaship remains stuck more than one day after it ran aground. The blockage has caused an extensive traffic jam, with more than 100 ships laden with cargo including oil, automotive parts and consumer goods waiting to get through one of the world's key trade arteries
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| Boris Johnson on EU vaccine exports and 'vaccination passports' – video Posted: 24 Mar 2021 02:24 PM PDT Boris Johnson has told the EU that Europe would be the loser if it imposed a Covid vaccine blockade on Britain, as Brussels empowered officials to prohibit shipments to countries with a better record in vaccinating their population. The prime minister also discussed whether pubs should be allowed to set rules on vaccine passports as a condition of entry
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| EU vaccine exports: UK singled out for failing to export Covid vaccines – video Posted: 24 Mar 2021 09:02 AM PDT Valdis Dombrovskis, a European commission vice-president, said the commission was revising its export authorisation mechanism in order to 'preserve security of supply chains'. Under the revised regulation, countries with a high level of vaccination coverage or those that restrict exports through law or their contracts with suppliers now risk having shipments prohibited Continue reading... |
| 'It will save lives': Joe Biden calls for gun reform after Colorado shooting – video Posted: 24 Mar 2021 03:43 AM PDT In his first remarks on the supermarket shooting in Boulder, Colorado, that killed 10 people on Monday, Joe Biden called on Congress to move quickly to toughen the country's gun laws, asking lawmakers to close the loopholes in the background checks system and ban assault weapon and high-capacity magazines. Biden homed in on closing what is known as the Charleston loophole – a provision in federal law that gives a gun seller discretion on whether to proceed with a sale if the FBI fails to determine within three business days if a buyer is eligible to purchase a gun
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