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- Just 3% of world’s ecosystems remain intact, study suggests
- Coronavirus live news: Northern Ireland lockdown easing to be unveiled; Olympics ‘could still be cancelled’
- ‘Terrible days ahead’: Afghan women fear the return of the Taliban
- Royals to forgo military gear at Philip’s funeral ‘to avoid embarrassing Harry’
- Biden to unveil Russia sanctions over SolarWinds hack and election meddling
- Hong Kong children schooled in national security as city ‘celebrates’ new laws
- China aggression on agenda as Japanese PM heads to Washington
- Palestine condemns Boris Johnson for opposing ICC Israel investigation
- US lawmakers advance bill to create slavery reparations commission
- UN outlines plan to close camps housing 430,000 refugees in Kenya
- ‘Cancel the Olympics’: fashion outcry as Canada brings back jean jackets for Tokyo
- Paradise cost: high prices and strict rules deflate Palau-Taiwan travel bubble
- Cancelling Tokyo Olympics ‘remains an option’ says top Japanese politician
- Covid-status certificate scheme could be unlawful discrimination, says EHRC
- Medics’ anger as Delhi orders most beds in private hospitals be reserved for Covid cases
- Out of thin air: the mystery of the man who fell from the sky
- Dog-bite Britain: the problem with the pandemic puppy explosion
- Married to the job: how a long-hours working culture keeps people single and lonely
- ‘Can babies see ghosts?’ The best of Yahoo Answers
- ‘I blamed myself’: how stigma stops Arab women reporting online abuse
- Danny Huston: ‘I went around the world with my father – making his drinks’
- ‘A lovable young man’: Daunte Wright was a doting father with big life dreams
- The Mexican women who kicked out the cartels – video
- World at risk of ‘great polarisation’, Scott Morrison tells Indian forum
- Queenslanders will be hardest hit if Australia fails to act on climate change, Labor warns
- UK support for Mozambique gas plant fuelling conflict – Friends of the Earth
- Myanmar’s lost generation: nation’s youth sacrificing futures for freedom
- ‘We cannot drink oil’: campaigners condemn east African pipeline
- Mexico’s vow to tighten border fails to deter US-bound migrants
- ‘Marry your rapist’ laws in 20 countries still allow perpetrators to escape justice
- Ukraine still outgunned as Russia prepares for larger conflict
- Joe Biden: 'It's time for American troops to come home from Afghanistan' – video
- Volcanic ash covers St Vincent – in pictures
- Minneapolis unrest grows as families of George Floyd and Daunte Wright speak out – video
| Just 3% of world’s ecosystems remain intact, study suggests Posted: 14 Apr 2021 09:00 PM PDT Pristine areas in the Amazon and Siberia may expand with animal reintroductions, scientists say Just 3% of the world's land remains ecologically intact with healthy populations of all its original animals and undisturbed habitat, a study suggests. These fragments of wilderness undamaged by human activities are mainly in parts of the Amazon and Congo tropical forests, east Siberian and northern Canadian forests and tundra, and the Sahara. Invasive alien species including cats, foxes, rabbits, goats and camels have had a major impact on native species in Australia, with the study finding no intact areas left. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 15 Apr 2021 01:52 AM PDT NI executive to outline reopening dates; Cambodia 'on brink of death', says premier; Germany records biggest single day case rise since January
The number of people in England waiting to start hospital treatment has risen to a new record high. A total of 4.7 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of February 2021, according to figures from NHS England. PA note that this is the highest number since records began in August 2007.
Hong Kong authorities said today that the city's vaccine scheme would be widened to include those aged between 16 to 29 years old for the first time, as they aim to boost lacklustre demand for inoculations in the Asian financial hub. Hong Kong has seen a relatively slow take-up of vaccines since rolling out the scheme in February, with only around 8% of Hong Kong's 7.5 million residents having been inoculated so far. |
| ‘Terrible days ahead’: Afghan women fear the return of the Taliban Posted: 14 Apr 2021 08:34 AM PDT After 20 years of liberty, female education is once again threatened by hardline Islamists Outside a college from which their mothers were banned, the women waited for friends finishing exams they fear will be some of the last they can take. "The Americans are leaving," said Basireh Heydari, a Herat University student. "We have terrible days ahead with the Taliban. I'm worried they won't let me leave the house, let alone what I'm doing now." The Biden administration's decision to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan by 11 September will bring an end to the US's longest war. With Nato allies such as Germany already announcing on Wednesday that they will follow Washington's lead and exit the country, Afghans fear an intensification of fighting between the national government and the Taliban, who were ousted by the US-led intervention two decades ago. Continue reading... |
| Royals to forgo military gear at Philip’s funeral ‘to avoid embarrassing Harry’ Posted: 15 Apr 2021 12:14 AM PDT Duke of Sussex faced being the only senior male royal not in uniform, despite serving in Afghanistan Senior members of the royal family will not wear military uniform at the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral, in a break with tradition designed to avoid embarrassing Prince Harry, according to reports. The Duke of Sussex, who lost his military titles after stepping down as a senior working royal, faced being the only senior male royal not in uniform, despite having served two tours in Afghanistan. Continue reading... |
| Biden to unveil Russia sanctions over SolarWinds hack and election meddling Posted: 15 Apr 2021 01:17 AM PDT Package of sanctions expel 10 officials and follows massive US government cybersecurity breach The US is set to announce new sanctions against Russia as soon as Thursday in retaliation for Moscow's elections interference, alleged bounties on US soldiers in Afghanistan, and cyber-espionage campaigns such as the SolarWinds hack, according to reports in US and international media. Ten Russian diplomatic officials are to be expelled from the US and up to 30 entities will be blacklisted, officials said, in the largest sanctions action against Russia of Joe Biden's presidency. Continue reading... |
| Hong Kong children schooled in national security as city ‘celebrates’ new laws Posted: 14 Apr 2021 10:54 PM PDT Kindergartens given specially themed puzzles and others taught to 'safeguard homeland' on National Security Education day Hong Kong school students as young as three have been given national-security themed puzzles as part of activities to mark the city's "celebrations" of a new legal code widely condemned by the international community. In a much expanded roster of events for the city's National Security Education day, schools were given teaching material on how to "uphold national security, safeguard our homeland". Continue reading... |
| China aggression on agenda as Japanese PM heads to Washington Posted: 14 Apr 2021 10:28 PM PDT Yoshihide Suga will travel to meet Joe Biden amid growing international condemnation of Beijing's human rights abuses China is expected to dominate talks between Joe Biden and the Japanese prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, in Washington on Friday amid growing international condemnation of Beijing's military exercises near Taiwan and human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. Suga will become the first world leader to meet Biden since his inauguration in January, a repeat of Shinzo Abe's meeting with the then president-elect, Donald Trump, in late 2016. Continue reading... |
| Palestine condemns Boris Johnson for opposing ICC Israel investigation Posted: 15 Apr 2021 01:45 AM PDT PM accused of giving 'carte blanche to Israel' by saying court had no right to examine alleged war crimes Palestine has said relations with Britain have reached a "low point" after Boris Johnson announced he opposed an international criminal court investigation into alleged war crimes in the Israeli-occupied territories. The prime minister's comments, made in a letter to the Conservative Friends of Israel lobby group in the UK, said that while his government had "respect [for] the independence" of the court, it opposed this particular inquiry into Israel. Continue reading... |
| US lawmakers advance bill to create slavery reparations commission Posted: 14 Apr 2021 09:52 PM PDT House panel backs legislation to examine slavery and discrimination since 1619, and recommend education and remedies A panel of US lawmakers has advanced a decades-long effort to pay reparations to the descendants of slaves by approving legislation that would create a commission to study the issue. After an impassioned debate, the House judiciary committee voted by 25-17 to advance the bill late on Wednesday, marking the first time that it has acted on the legislation. Continue reading... |
| UN outlines plan to close camps housing 430,000 refugees in Kenya Posted: 15 Apr 2021 12:00 AM PDT Proposals follow Kenyan government's ultimatum to UN refugee agency to close Dadaab and Kakuma camps The UN refugee agency has given the Kenyan government "sustainable and rights-based" proposals for the closure of Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps. The response follows a 14-day ultimatum issued by the Kenyan government for the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) to come up with a plan for closing the two camps, which are home to some 430,000 refugees and asylum seekers from more than 15 countries. Continue reading... |
| ‘Cancel the Olympics’: fashion outcry as Canada brings back jean jackets for Tokyo Posted: 14 Apr 2021 06:10 PM PDT
For sports fans, there are many reasons to be thankful that the Tokyo Olympics look like they will take place – a year late – despite concerns about coronavirus: the chance to see supreme athletes compete at the highest level, an opportunity to deliver your definitive opinion on the Montenegro water polo team and marvel at the proxy superpower struggle at the top of the medal table. But the biggest treat of all could happen on the final night of the Games when the Canadian team walk out for the closing ceremony. The athletes will be clad in graffiti-splashed denim jackets that would have been very current at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona or on Degrassi Junior High at its peak, but haven't quite passed muster among 21st-century critics on social media. Continue reading... |
| Paradise cost: high prices and strict rules deflate Palau-Taiwan travel bubble Posted: 14 Apr 2021 09:32 PM PDT Taiwan eases restrictions on travellers after bookings fall into single digits and flight is cancelled It launched with a presidential escort and the promise of rare international travel to a postcard-perfect tropical island, but the Taiwan-Palau travel bubble has deflated after just a couple weeks, with Taiwanese bookings dwindling to single figures. Travel agents, consumers and health authorities have blamed the high cost of the tours and the Taiwanese government's strict rules for returning travellers. Continue reading... |
| Cancelling Tokyo Olympics ‘remains an option’ says top Japanese politician Posted: 14 Apr 2021 11:17 PM PDT Toshihiro Nikai's comments are at odds with the united front presented by the Japanese government A senior member of Japan's ruling party has said that cancelling the Tokyo Olympics "remains an option" if the coronavirus pandemic continues to worsen. "If it seems impossible to do it any more, then we have to stop, decisively," Toshihiro Nikai, secretary general of the Liberal Democratic party, said in a TV interview that has yet to be aired. Continue reading... |
| Covid-status certificate scheme could be unlawful discrimination, says EHRC Posted: 14 Apr 2021 11:51 AM PDT Exclusive: Equalities watchdog tells government documents could create 'two-tier society' Covid-status certificates being considered by ministers to help open up society could amount to unlawful indirect discrimination, the government's independent equalities watchdog has advised. As ministers decide whether the documents should be introduced as passports to certain events later this year, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has told the Cabinet Office they risk creating a "two-tier society". Continue reading... |
| Medics’ anger as Delhi orders most beds in private hospitals be reserved for Covid cases Posted: 14 Apr 2021 10:46 PM PDT Doctors say 'absurd' move, made as second wave surges, is unfair on non-Covid patients Doctors have expressed fears for patients after the government ordered that the majority of the beds in 14 of Delhi's biggest private hospitals be reserved exclusively for Covid patients, as the Indian capital's healthcare system struggles to cope with a virulent second wave. The announcement by the government came as the situation in Delhi grew increasingly dire, with over 17,000 new cases reported on Wednesday, breaking all records since the pandemic began, and 104 deaths. The capital has overtaken Mumbai, previously Covid ground zero in India, in terms of the number of new cases reported every day. Continue reading... |
| Out of thin air: the mystery of the man who fell from the sky Posted: 14 Apr 2021 10:00 PM PDT In 2019, the body of a man fell from a passenger plane into a garden in south London. Who was he? It was Sunday 30 June 2019, a balmy summer's afternoon, and Wil, a 31-year-old software engineer, was lounging on an inflatable airbed outside his house in Clapham, south-west London. He wore pyjamas and drank Polish beer. As he chatted to his housemate in the sunshine, planes on their way to Heathrow airport made their final approach overhead. On his phone, Wil showed his housemate an app that tells users the route and model of any passing plane. He tested the app on one plane, and then held his phone up again, shielding his eyes from the sun and squinting into the sky. Then he saw something falling. "At first I thought it was a bag," he said. "But after a few seconds it turned into quite a large object, and it was falling fast." Maybe a piece of machinery had fallen from the landing gear, he thought, or a suitcase from the cargo hold. But then he half-remembered an article he had read years before, about people stowing away on planes. He didn't want to believe it, but as the object got nearer and nearer, it became impossible to deny. "In the last second or two of it falling, I saw limbs," said Wil. "I was convinced that it was a human body." Continue reading... |
| Dog-bite Britain: the problem with the pandemic puppy explosion Posted: 14 Apr 2021 10:00 PM PDT Over the past year, dog ownership has surged, and they have brought many of us untold joy. But the lack of proper training or socialisation has led to a growing danger of attacks Annie Forman's cockapoo was not a pandemic puppy, but she became one: a furry lifebuoy to cling to during the first lockdown. Forman, 28, a receptionist at a GP surgery in a small Devon town, had grown up with dogs. They had never let her down, which she couldn't say for some of the humans in her life. So when in January last year, Forman moved from her parents' dog-filled home to her own place, the first thing she did was get a puppy. "There was no way I was going to go anywhere in life without a dog," Forman says on the phone. As she speaks, Nellie the cockapoo is curled up on her lap. "I've struggled with my mental health for many years, and dogs were what got me through it. That's why it was a bit crap what happened – because everything that had made me feel better sort of got taken away." Continue reading... |
| Married to the job: how a long-hours working culture keeps people single and lonely Posted: 15 Apr 2021 02:00 AM PDT Demanding bosses, impossible workloads, 24/7 email – no wonder many employees feel they have no time outside work to find love Laura Hancock started practising yoga when she worked for a charity. It was a job that involved long hours and caused a lot of anxiety. Yoga was her counterbalance. "It saved my life, in a way," she says. Yoga brought her a sense of peace and started her journey of self-inquiry; eventually, she decided to bring those benefits to others by becoming a yoga teacher. She studied for more than eight years before qualifying. That was about 10 years ago; since then, she has been teaching in Oxford, her home town. Continue reading... |
| ‘Can babies see ghosts?’ The best of Yahoo Answers Posted: 14 Apr 2021 05:55 PM PDT After 16 years, one of the internet's first – and most surreal – Q&A platforms is to be shut down Before Reddit's Am I the Asshole? forum for the "frustrated moral philosopher", or days-long Twitter debates about whether you wash your legs in the shower, there was Yahoo Answers: one of the first online crowdsourcing resources, now a repository of infamously idiosyncratic wisdom. Established in 2005, the "knowledge-sharing" platform was where you might turn for help with a head-scratcher such as "How do I get black ink from a Biro out of coloured clothes?", "What documents do you need to enter China?" or "Any ladies want to show me their boobs?". Continue reading... |
| ‘I blamed myself’: how stigma stops Arab women reporting online abuse Posted: 14 Apr 2021 11:15 PM PDT Women in the Middle East and north Africa say social codes leave them unable to talk about social media abuse as pandemic pushes sexual harassment off the streets The first pornographic picture sent shivers of shock through Amal as she stared in horror at the phone screen. Until now, she had responded politely to the older man who had been messaging her on Facebook, hoping to deter his questions about her life with curt, one-word replies. More lurid pictures followed, some from pornographic magazines, others of the man himself in sexual poses. "I started to blame myself and feel that I invited this because I had replied to him," says the 21-year-old, who is a university student in Amman, Jordan. Continue reading... |
| Danny Huston: ‘I went around the world with my father – making his drinks’ Posted: 14 Apr 2021 10:00 PM PDT The actor grew up on film sets, rubbing shoulders with the biggest stars on earth. Now he's stepping into his father John's shoes again – to direct a film about grief, secrets and the Lockerbie bombing With his father, the legendary director John Huston, it was that gravelly voice that you noticed first. With his sister, Anjelica Huston, it is her magnificent nose. And with his nephew, actor Jack Huston, it's the moustache. But with actor-director Danny Huston, it is, unarguably, the eyebrows: those great looping Ls that waggle away as you chat with him, as if they were having their own separate conversation with you. People often talk about his resemblance to his father, but, I tell him, the celebrity he always looked most like to me is Jack Nicholson, thanks to those brows. "Yes, Jack defined these eyebrows before I was able to grow into mine," he grins, bearish in size and wolfish in smile. Isn't it a little weird for his sister Anjelica that her baby brother looks so much like her ex-boyfriend? "Hmmm, I know what you mean. Well, I think that only enabled her to have greater affection towards both of us – ha!" Continue reading... |
| ‘A lovable young man’: Daunte Wright was a doting father with big life dreams Posted: 15 Apr 2021 02:00 AM PDT Wright, who was fatally shot by Minneapolis police, is remembered by friends and family as a witty, popular, 'charismatic kid' Daunte Wright became a father while he was still a teenager, and seemed to relish the role of a doting young dad, his family and friends said. A family photograph shows a beaming Wright holding his son, Daunte Jr, at his first birthday party. Another shows Wright, wearing a mask and his son wearing a bib with the inscription, "Always hungry". Continue reading... |
| The Mexican women who kicked out the cartels – video Posted: 15 Apr 2021 12:06 AM PDT Adelaida Sánchez is a member of the community police force in Cherán, a Purépecha indigenous town in Michoacán, Mexico, which declared itself autonomous in 2011. When the town was under siege from illegal logging, cartel criminals, and corrupt authorities and the men of the town stood by and did nothing, it was left to women to lead the fightback. On the tenth anniversary of the uprising, Adelaida patrols the town and its forests, providing an oasis amidst the murder, kidnap and extortion across the state Photograph credit: Andrea Murcia Continue reading... |
| World at risk of ‘great polarisation’, Scott Morrison tells Indian forum Posted: 15 Apr 2021 01:30 AM PDT Democracy and liberal norms are 'under assault', the Australian prime minister tells the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi The world is at risk of "a great polarisation" between autocracies and democracies, Scott Morrison has declared, while also appearing to take aim at China for using "economic coercion" as "a tool of statecraft". The Australian prime minister told an audience in India on Thursday that liberal rules and norms were "under assault", tensions over territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region were growing, and militaries were being modernised "at an unprecedented rate". Continue reading... |
| Queenslanders will be hardest hit if Australia fails to act on climate change, Labor warns Posted: 15 Apr 2021 01:33 AM PDT Chris Bowen says Coalition's failure to cut emissions could cost 500,000 jobs in Queensland but 'there is a different path' The opposition climate change minister, Chris Bowen, has warned almost one million Australians will lose their jobs if runaway climate change decimates the environment and the economy – with Queensland bearing the brunt of any failure to act. Bowen used a speech in Brisbane on Thursday night to warn Queenslanders they would pay the price for the federal Coalition's failure to act in accordance with climate science, with half a million jobs lost in the state and a forecast economic contraction of 8% by 2050 and 14% by 2070. Continue reading... |
| UK support for Mozambique gas plant fuelling conflict – Friends of the Earth Posted: 14 Apr 2021 10:00 PM PDT Environmental group warns UK's £750m funding for fossil fuel project could worsen Isis-led insurgency The UK government is facing fresh calls to abandon its £750m plan to support a gas export terminal in Mozambique over fears the fossil fuel project is stoking the insurgency in the north of the country, which has left thousands of people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands. In a letter to the government, seen by the Guardian, lawyers for the environmental group Friends of the Earth have warned that the huge natural gas project has worsened the conflict in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province, and called on the UK government to withdraw its financial support. Continue reading... |
| Myanmar’s lost generation: nation’s youth sacrificing futures for freedom Posted: 14 Apr 2021 07:59 PM PDT Dreams of careers and family life have been replaced with death and injury in the wake of the 1 February coup For Myanmar's young people, 2021 was supposed to be a year for optimism. After seeing through the Covid-19 pandemic, the rollout of the vaccine had begun and general elections in November had marked a step towards the country realising its potential. But in the wake of the 1 February coup, their dreams have turned into nightmares, as many of Myanmar's young people have found themselves forced to sacrifice their futures to take a stand against the military. Continue reading... |
| ‘We cannot drink oil’: campaigners condemn east African pipeline Posted: 14 Apr 2021 04:15 AM PDT Activists say the 'heart of Africa' line shipping crude from Uganda to Tanzania is unnecessary and poses a huge environmental risk Activists have accused French and Chinese oil firms of ignoring huge environmental risks after the signing of accords on the controversial construction of a £2.5bn oil pipeline. Uganda, Tanzania and the oil companies Total and CNOOC signed three key agreements on Sunday that pave the way for construction to start on the planned east African crude oil pipeline (EACOP). But on Tuesday a letter signed by 38 civil society organisations across both east African countries said the parties had failed to address environmental concerns over the pipeline and had steamrollered over court and parliamentary processes. Continue reading...This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Mexico’s vow to tighten border fails to deter US-bound migrants Posted: 14 Apr 2021 03:00 AM PDT As the Biden administration enlists its neighbours in attempts to slow the flow of people, families seeking a future free from hunger and violence journey on Groups of men, women and children stepped off small boats and on to Mexican soil without showing their documents to anyone. Drivers quickly bundled them into taxis which sped past an immigration office to a nearby crossroad, where the travelers climbed into a vans for the next leg of their journey toward the US border. Continue reading... |
| ‘Marry your rapist’ laws in 20 countries still allow perpetrators to escape justice Posted: 14 Apr 2021 01:52 AM PDT Critical UN report says the legislation is 'deeply wrong', subjugates women and shifts the burden of guilt on to the victim Twenty countries still allow rapists to marry their victims to escape criminal prosecution, according to the UN's annual state of world population report. Russia, Thailand and Venezuela are among the countries that allow men to have rape convictions overturned if they marry the women or girls they have assaulted. Continue reading... |
| Ukraine still outgunned as Russia prepares for larger conflict Posted: 14 Apr 2021 10:02 AM PDT Analysis: Ukraine's military is in better shape than at outbreak of war in 2014, but still no match for Russia's larger force Russia's unexplained buildup along Ukraine's border set alarm bells ringing in the west last month as military analysts noted unusual flourishes – such as new field hospitals, long-distance shipments of armour and artillery and last-minute railcar bookings – that did not feel like a normal exercise. Whether it is merely an attention-grabbing feint or a prelude to an escalation will depend on the Kremlin's will. But through the buildup, Russia has already signalled that if a larger war does take place, it is prepared to deliver a hammer blow to its neighbour. Continue reading... |
| Joe Biden: 'It's time for American troops to come home from Afghanistan' – video Posted: 14 Apr 2021 01:06 PM PDT Joe Biden has declared that it is time 'to end America's longest war', announcing that nearly 10,000 US and Nato troops would return home in the run-up to the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Biden said he was the fourth US president to serve in office during the US-led fight against the Taliban. 'I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth,' he said
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| Volcanic ash covers St Vincent – in pictures Posted: 14 Apr 2021 12:11 PM PDT Three days after La Soufrière volcano began to erupt on St Vincent, the eastern Caribbean island remains under a shower of ash and subject to water restrictions as authorities grow concerned for the safety of those who did not evacuate. Continue reading... |
| Minneapolis unrest grows as families of George Floyd and Daunte Wright speak out – video Posted: 14 Apr 2021 05:33 AM PDT Protesters were dispersed by police with flashbangs and gas grenades in the third night of demonstrations and unrest after the death of a black man shot by a white police officer during a traffic stop. The two officers who stopped Daunte Wright, 20, resigned two days after his death in Brooklyn Center on Sunday. Across town, at Hennepin county courthouse, relatives of Daunte Wright and George Floyd talked about the two cases of fatal police violence. 'The world is traumatised, watching another African American man being slain,' said George Floyd's brother Continue reading... |
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