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- Dozens killed in crush at Lag Baomer religious festival in Israel
- ‘Sexual predator’: actor Noel Clarke accused of groping, harassment and bullying by 20 women
- India Covid crisis: first US relief supplies arrive as cases hit new record
- Five arrested in Lady Gaga dognapping case – including the woman who returned them
- White House investigating ‘unexplained health incidents’ similar to Havana syndrome
- Ghislaine Maxwell: lawyers release photo showing bruised face
- ‘Cruel’ trafficker accused of torturing refugees found guilty in Ethiopia
- Boris Johnson’s phone number ‘listed online for last 15 years’
- ‘You changed America’: Biden marks first 100 days in Georgia – a state key to his victory
- Sumo wrestler dies one month after suffering a concussion in Japan
- Dutch couple move into Europe’s first fully 3D-printed house
- Coronavirus live news: some Indian states suspend jabs over vaccine shortage; England expands access to all over-40s
- AstraZeneca revenues up as it delivers jab to 120 countries via Covax
- UK economy rebounds as hopes grow for end to Covid crisis
- Eurozone falls into double-dip recession amid pandemic – business live
- ‘Nature is hurting’: Gojira, the metal band confronting the climate crisis
- ‘A blur of legs, arms and adrenaline’: the astonishing history of two-tone
- From Line of Duty to Lost: 10 of the best TV twists
- Experience: I knit with pet hair
- Tucker Carlson’s conspiracy-obsessed Giuliani interview: not for the faint hearted | David Smith's sketch
- Echo Show 10 review: this rotating Alexa display follows you around
- People with dyslexia have skills that we need, says GCHQ
- African photography CAP prize 2021 shortlist – in pictures
- Biden’s world: how key countries have reacted to the US president’s first 100 days
- Venezuela’s ‘doctor of the poor’ to be beatified – in pictures
- Covid breach at Brisbane airport after traveller tests positive – as it happened
- Ending Tigray conflict will test UK’s claim to be ‘force for good’
- ‘Devastating for women and girls’: UK cuts 85% in aid to UN family planning
- Joe Biden's 100 days in office interrupted by protesters – video
- World’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge Arouca 516 opens in Portugal – video
- Chaotic scenes as crush kills dozens at religious festival in Israel – video
- 'The situation in India can happen anywhere,' says WHO Europe director – video
- 'I'm a creepy skeleton': Alexei Navalny appears in court after hunger strike – video
| Dozens killed in crush at Lag Baomer religious festival in Israel Posted: 30 Apr 2021 12:38 AM PDT Teams treating dozens of injured at Mount Meron as emergency medical group says at least 44 dead At least 44 people have been killed and about 150 injured in a crowd crush at a Jewish religious gathering in northern Israel attended by tens of thousands of people, in one of the country's worst peacetime disasters. Children were among the dead, Eli Beer, the director of an Israeli volunteer ambulance service, Hatzalah, said. "Unfortunately, we found small children trampled there, and we performed CPR. We were able to save some of them," he told Army Radio. Continue reading... |
| ‘Sexual predator’: actor Noel Clarke accused of groping, harassment and bullying by 20 women Posted: 29 Apr 2021 11:35 AM PDT
When Noel Clarke appeared on stage at the Royal Albert Hall on 10 April to collect his Bafta, the typically self-assured actor looked a little on edge. Viewers might have concluded that Clarke was simply overwhelmed: he was clutching one of the most prestigious accolades bestowed by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the prize for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema. Yet there were other reasons why Clarke – and Bafta – may have felt preoccupied. Continue reading... |
| India Covid crisis: first US relief supplies arrive as cases hit new record Posted: 29 Apr 2021 09:40 PM PDT Confirmed cases rose to more than 386,000 in one day while 3,498 people died in the past 24 hours The first US emergency aid to India has arrived as the country battles a devastating surge in Covid-19 cases which has overwhelmed hospitals and crematoriums. A Super Galaxy military transporter carrying more than 400 oxygen cylinders and other hospital equipment and nearly 1m rapid coronavirus tests landed at Delhi's international airport on Friday. Continue reading... |
| Five arrested in Lady Gaga dognapping case – including the woman who returned them Posted: 29 Apr 2021 03:28 PM PDT Detectives do not believe the thieves knew the dogs belonged to the pop star and think the motive was the French bulldogs' value The woman who returned Lady Gaga's stolen French bulldogs was among five people arrested in connection with the theft from and shooting of the music superstar's dog walker, Los Angeles police said Thursday. Detectives do not believe that the thieves knew the dogs belonged to the pop star, the Los Angeles police department said in a statement. The motive for the 24 February robbery, investigators believe, was the value of the French bulldogs – which can run into the thousands of dollars. Continue reading... |
| White House investigating ‘unexplained health incidents’ similar to Havana syndrome Posted: 29 Apr 2021 08:42 AM PDT Two US officials experienced symptoms similar to ones suffered abroad that were probably result of directed energy device The White House has said it is investigating "unexplained health incidents" after a report that two US officials in the Washington area experienced sudden symptoms similar to the "Havana syndrome" symptoms suffered by American diplomats and spies abroad. Related: CIA file on Russian ESP experiments released – but you knew that, didn't you? Continue reading... |
| Ghislaine Maxwell: lawyers release photo showing bruised face Posted: 29 Apr 2021 04:08 PM PDT Legal team allege she is being held in worse conditions to other inmates due to the "Epstein Effect" Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell have released a photograph of the British socialite, who is in a US prison facing sex trafficking charges, showing her with a bruised face. Maxwell, 59, who is accused of procuring underage girls for the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein to abuse, has been in jail since last year while awaiting trial. She denies the allegations. Since her arrest last summer, she has only been seen in court sketches during hearings. Continue reading... |
| ‘Cruel’ trafficker accused of torturing refugees found guilty in Ethiopia Posted: 29 Apr 2021 10:00 PM PDT Tewelde Goitom reportedly ran a brutal and lucrative trade extorting migrants desperate to reach Europe from Libya One of north Africa's most notorious human traffickers, accused of extorting and torturing thousands of refugees and migrants in Libya, has been found guilty on five counts of smuggling and trafficking in Ethiopia. Tewelde Goitom, known as "Welid", operated in Libya between roughly 2014 and 2018 and is thought to have been at the heart of a highly lucrative and brutal trade trafficking desperate migrants trying to reach Europe. Continue reading... |
| Boris Johnson’s phone number ‘listed online for last 15 years’ Posted: 30 Apr 2021 01:11 AM PDT Security expert Peter Ricketts says PM's conversations could be hacked by criminal gangs A UK national security adviser has said Boris Johnson should be much more digitally secure after reports that the prime minister's mobile phone number has been available online for the past 15 years. Peter Ricketts said Johnson's phone conversations may well include "sensitive material" and "people trying to lobby them for favours, or tax advantages, or talks with foreign leaders". Continue reading... |
| ‘You changed America’: Biden marks first 100 days in Georgia – a state key to his victory Posted: 29 Apr 2021 05:24 PM PDT President promoted his $4tn plans to rebuild crumbling US infrastructure and expand the social safety net at drive-in rally On his 100th day as US president, Joe Biden spontaneously lowered his black face mask, leaned towards the microphone and shouted: "Go Georgia, we need you!" It was a fitting moment in a state that has more claim than most to be the ground zero of a potentially transformative presidency. Continue reading... |
| Sumo wrestler dies one month after suffering a concussion in Japan Posted: 29 Apr 2021 08:11 PM PDT Hibikiryu, 28, landed on his head during a bout in March and was later treated for a spinal injury A Japanese sumo wrestler has died a month after suffering a concussion during a bout, as the ancient sport's authorities come under renewed pressure to rethink their outdated approach to head injuries. Hibikiryu, a 28-year-old rikishi in one of the lower divisions, died from acute respiratory failure, the Japan Sumo Association said, despite earlier showing signs that he was recovering from his injuries. Continue reading... |
| Dutch couple move into Europe’s first fully 3D-printed house Posted: 29 Apr 2021 09:00 PM PDT New home in shape of boulder is first legally habitable property with load-bearing walls made using 3D-printing technology A Dutch couple have become Europe's first tenants of a fully 3D printed house in a development that its backers believe will open up a world of choice in the shape and style of the homes of the future. Elize Lutz, 70, and Harrie Dekkers, 67, retired shopkeepers from Amsterdam, received their digital key – an app allowing them to open the front door of their two-bedroom bungalow at the press of a button – on Thursday. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 30 Apr 2021 02:37 AM PDT First US Covid emergency aid supplies arrive in India; vaccine offered to all over-40s in England; UK reduces international aid from £14.5bn to £10bn
A Cambodian court has jailed three people, including a top police general, for more than a year for violating Covid-19 restrictions by attending a party, a court official said on Friday. Reuters report that Major General Ung Chanthuok, deputy chief of staff of the national police, was sentenced on Thursday to 12 months in prison over a party he organised earlier this month, while two other attendees received 18-month terms. Ung Chanthuok was sacked after his arrest.
British bank Barclays says it has rushed out £1m ($1.4m) worth of medical supplies to India in the last week to help communities there tackle the surge in Covid-19 cases. "We are very focused on India right now, which is our second biggest employee location," chief executive Jes Staley told Reuters after a briefing announcing the bank's first quarter results. |
| AstraZeneca revenues up as it delivers jab to 120 countries via Covax Posted: 30 Apr 2021 01:58 AM PDT Quarterly results from Anglo-Swedish producer of Covid vaccine show better-than-expected 15% rise AstraZeneca has generated $275m (£197m) in revenues from its Covid vaccine in the first three months of the year and shipped 48m doses to 120 countries through the global vaccine-sharing initiative Covax. Most of the vaccine sales ($224m) were in Europe – as the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker reported overall quarterly revenues up 15% to $7.3bn, better than analysts had expected. New medicines, such as the diabetes drug Farxiga, contributed more than half of revenues. The firm made a pre-tax profit of $1.6bn, up 72% year-on-year. Continue reading... |
| UK economy rebounds as hopes grow for end to Covid crisis Posted: 29 Apr 2021 10:00 PM PDT Our latest snapshot of key economic indicators finds business activity booming, but borrowing reaching record levels
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| Eurozone falls into double-dip recession amid pandemic – business live Posted: 30 Apr 2021 02:44 AM PDT Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
Looking ahead, says CNBC, economists are confident that the eurozone economy will recover this year. Countries in the region are due to start receiving EU-wide Covid support funds in the second half of the year, and the vaccination campaign has accelerated significantly since the start of 2021. The European Union expects to have 70% of the adult population vaccinated this summer and tourism-reliant countries are hoping that a larger number of vaccinated people will allow them to have a more successful summer season this year. Eurozone GDP continued to contract in Q1, falling 0.6% and signaling double-dip recession: https://t.co/UOBCNFyaKE pic.twitter.com/LFAkoFP16R
The eurozone's fall back into recession also show the importance of vaccinating its population, so that economies can reopen and tourism can restart this summer. Robert Alster, CIO at wealth manager Close Brothers Asset Management, says: "Put simply, the EU is dragging its feet when it comes to its economic recovery. However, speed aside, it is moving in the right direction – particularly as the vaccine roll out gathers pace. The summer months are crucial for southern Europe's road to recovery, with countries such as Spain, Italy and Greece heavily reliant on tourism. Hospitality businesses in particular will be banking on some sort of rebound, if not we could see a late summer of discontent aimed at Brussels. Continue reading... |
| ‘Nature is hurting’: Gojira, the metal band confronting the climate crisis Posted: 30 Apr 2021 01:00 AM PDT With stirring songwriting that considers grief, philosophy and ecological collapse, the French quartet have become one of the world's greatest heavy bands. They discuss their journey so far Joe and Mario Duplantier grew up in a calm idyll – perhaps surprisingly for two of metal's most forthright rabble-rousers. Born to a sketch-artist father and yoga teacher mother, the brothers were raised in Ondres, a remote commune on France's western coast. Their house was so rural that, when a journalist visited, he compared it to a "hermitage". Music was always playing, from folk to Mike Oldfield; it only stopped when poets and painters stayed the night and the children overheard the grownups discussing international philosophies. The pair often passed the time on the beach. Joe collected wood and stones – only to come home to find his hands black with crude oil. Mario, meanwhile, had plastic bags flying in his face when he was out surfing. The serenity of the fairytale upbringing cracked. "We were confronted by nature hurting all the time, and nature hurting hurts you," says Joe, the elder brother. Continue reading... |
| ‘A blur of legs, arms and adrenaline’: the astonishing history of two-tone Posted: 29 Apr 2021 10:00 PM PDT As a new exhibition documents the UK ska-pop sound, stars including the Specials, Elvis Costello and Pauline Black recall how it opened up music, fashion and racial understanding 2 Tone Records began in a Coventry flat in 1979 and peaked two years later, when the Specials' era-defining Ghost Town went to No 1 as riots blazed around a UK in recession. The label launched the Specials and the Selecter from the current City of Culture, plus Londoners Madness, Birmingham's the Beat and others, all to chart success, but also ended up naming an entire movement: dance crazy, sharp-suited, political, multi-racial ska-pop that reverberates to this day. As a major two-tone exhibition comes to the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry, the Guardian spoke to the people who were at the centre of a multicultural revolution. Continue reading... |
| From Line of Duty to Lost: 10 of the best TV twists Posted: 30 Apr 2021 01:00 AM PDT Office romances, festive misery, an almighty family fall-out – here are some of the small screen's most audacious rug-pulls Jessica Raine's arrival in the cast of Jed Mercurio's anti-corruption police drama was at the heart of the publicity leading up to the show's second series. The opening episode constructed DC Georgia Trotman's character: dedicated, perhaps overly fond of a drink. And then, oops, a bent copper threw her out of a fifth-storey hospital window and she was gone. Trotman, we barely knew you … Continue reading... |
| Experience: I knit with pet hair Posted: 30 Apr 2021 02:00 AM PDT A customer asked me to make a replica out of her cat's fur when it died. She took the knitted cat to bed and slept well for the first time since her loss I was born in the former Soviet Union, where my mother taught me to knit when I was very young. It was a skill every Russian woman had when I was growing up, because clothes were in short supply. After moving to Boston, Massachusetts, in the 1990s, I quickly fell out of the habit: why knit a cardigan you could easily pick up for $20 in a store? It was adopting a cat that led to me taking it up again. I had always thought of myself as a dog person, but when I was offered a beautiful ragdoll cat called Mittens, I couldn't resist him. Ragdolls have soft, silky coats, and Mittens loved to be brushed. His hair was so beautiful that rather than throw away the loose strands that came away in the brush, I started collecting them. Eventually, I had enough to fill a shoebox. That's when I wondered if it might be any good as yarn. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 29 Apr 2021 07:13 PM PDT Fox News chat leaves vague impression that FBI raid on ex-mayor's apartment was somehow Hunter Biden's fault Rudy Giuliani guilty? That's what they want you to think! And who are they? The sinister cabal of Hunter Biden, the Lincoln Project and Department of Injustice, of course. That would have been the impression of Fox News viewers on Thursday night when Giuliani gave his first TV interview since federal agents seized mobile phones and computers from his New York apartment, part of an investigation into his dodgy Ukrainian dealings. Continue reading... |
| Echo Show 10 review: this rotating Alexa display follows you around Posted: 29 Apr 2021 11:00 PM PDT Novel motorised smart screen tracks your movements to keep facing you for media and video calls Amazon's latest top-of-the-range Alexa smart display has a trick up its sleeve like no other: it can follow you around a room. The third-generation Echo Show 10 costs £239.99 and is Amazon's largest smart display, sitting above the smaller £100 Echo Show 8 with an 8in screen and £80 Echo Show 5 with a 5.5in screen. Continue reading... |
| People with dyslexia have skills that we need, says GCHQ Posted: 29 Apr 2021 11:00 AM PDT UK surveillance agency says it has long valued neuro-diverse analysts – including Alan Turing Apprentices on GCHQ's scheme are four times more likely to have dyslexia than those on other organisations' programmes, the agency has said, the result of a drive to recruit those whose brains process information differently. GCHQ says those with dyslexia have valuable skills spotting patterns that others miss – a key area the spy agency wants to encourage as it pivots away from dead letter drops and bugging towards high-tech cybersecurity and data analysis. Continue reading... |
| African photography CAP prize 2021 shortlist – in pictures Posted: 29 Apr 2021 11:00 PM PDT The CAP Prize has announced 25 shortlisted projects with the highest ratings at the online showcase Award Winning African Photography - photo basel Takes a Closer Look. Here we take a look at a selection of the shortlisted photographers work.
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| Biden’s world: how key countries have reacted to the US president’s first 100 days Posted: 30 Apr 2021 02:00 AM PDT The new administration has signalled a sharp break in foreign policy from the Trump era – but how is that playing globally? At the opening of Joe Biden's online climate summit last week, Europe's relief was was palpable: "It is so good," gushed the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, "to have the US back on our side." Continue reading... |
| Venezuela’s ‘doctor of the poor’ to be beatified – in pictures Posted: 29 Apr 2021 11:00 PM PDT On Friday José Gregorio Hernández, doctor, scientist, university professor and pioneer of bacteriology, will be beatified, a step toward sainthood in the Roman Catholic church, after 72 years of efforts by Venezuela's Catholics Continue reading... |
| Covid breach at Brisbane airport after traveller tests positive – as it happened Posted: 30 Apr 2021 02:39 AM PDT Two separate cases involving breaches of trans-Tasman travel bubble reported, one in Brisbane and one in Perth. This blog is now closed
The main news on 30 April, 2021:
A breach of the trans-Tasman travel bubble has been reported by Air New Zealand after a man travelled from the Cook Islands to Perth without completing quarantine in New Zealand. New Zealand website Stuff first reported the breach, which occurred on a flight on Friday morning. We have been made aware of a passenger on board NZ175 Auckland–Perth today who is ineligible for quarantine-free travel to Australia. We are working with the relevant authorities on both sides of the Tasman and will follow their guidance. Continue reading... |
| Ending Tigray conflict will test UK’s claim to be ‘force for good’ Posted: 29 Apr 2021 10:30 PM PDT Key parliamentary committee says government has duty to end violence and rights abuses in Ethiopia The British government's claims that its new development strategy would make it a "force for good" will be tested by whether it helps to end the conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, a parliamentary select committee said on Friday. Failing to act would be "devastating" to the claim that the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) could lead the world by combining diplomacy and development, the MPs said in their report on the humanitarian situation in Tigray. Continue reading... |
| ‘Devastating for women and girls’: UK cuts 85% in aid to UN family planning Posted: 29 Apr 2021 04:48 AM PDT UNFPA says £130m being withheld would have helped prevent 250,000 child and maternal deaths in poorest countries The British government is slashing its funding to the UN population fund (UNFPA) in a move described as "devastating" for women and girls. The agency confirmed on Wednesday that the UK, its largest donor, is cutting funding for contraceptives and reproductive health supplies by 85% this year – from £154m to £23m – and cutting core funding from £20m to £8m. Continue reading... |
| Joe Biden's 100 days in office interrupted by protesters – video Posted: 30 Apr 2021 12:27 AM PDT During a speech at a drive-in rally in Duluth, Georgia, to mark 100 days in office, Joe Biden was briefly interrupted by protesters calling for an end to private prisons, a demand that Biden agreed to, saying that the US was 'working to close all of them'. The president praised the conviction of Derek Chauvin, the police officer found guilty of killing George Floyd, and declared that 'America is on the move again, choosing hope over fear, truth over lies, light over darkness'. Georgia is a particularly important state for Biden after he became the first Democrat to win there since Bill Clinton in 1992 Continue reading... |
| World’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge Arouca 516 opens in Portugal – video Posted: 29 Apr 2021 08:28 PM PDT The world's longest pedestrian suspension bridge has been completed in Portugal. The bridge, Arouca 516, sits 175 metres above the River Paiva in the north of the country. Its 516 metre-long walkway breaks the record previously held by the Charles Kuonen Bridge in the Swiss Alps. Located near the tiny town of Arouca and within the Unesco-recognised Arouca Geopark, the bridge took two years to construct and is held up by steel cables and two large towers on each side Continue reading... |
| Chaotic scenes as crush kills dozens at religious festival in Israel – video Posted: 29 Apr 2021 07:27 PM PDT At least 44 people have been killed in a crowd crush at a Jewish religious gathering in northern Israel attended by tens of thousands of people, in one of the country's worst peacetime disasters. Emergency services and ambulances also said that more than 150 people had been injured at the Lag Baomer gathering at the foot of Mount Meron. The event was the first large-scale religious gathering held legally since Israel lifted Covid-19 restrictions |
| 'The situation in India can happen anywhere,' says WHO Europe director – video Posted: 29 Apr 2021 10:53 AM PDT The World Health Organization (WHO) said the kind of struggle India was having against a devastating resurgence in Covid cases could happen anywhere in the world, during a briefing on Thursday. Hans Kluge, the WHO regional director for Europe, said relaxing measures and allowing mass gatherings should be avoided, especially where vaccination coverage was low and there were contagious variants. The B.1.617 coronavirus variant – thought to be partly responsible for India's crisis – is now considered a 'variant of interest' by the WHO Continue reading... |
| 'I'm a creepy skeleton': Alexei Navalny appears in court after hunger strike – video Posted: 29 Apr 2021 09:33 AM PDT Alexei Navalny has made his first public appearance since staging a 24-day hunger strike. Navalny, who was fined 850,000 roubles (£8,200) in February for defaming a second world war veteran who backed a 'reset' of Vladimir Putin's presidential terms, has said the case against him was concocted to further damage his reputation among Russians. In a courtroom speech, Navalny accused the government of turning 'Russians into slaves' and called Putin a 'naked king', a reference to Hans Christian Andersen's folktale The Emperor's New Clothes. Navalny is serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence on an embezzlement conviction from 2013. He was arrested in January upon his return to Russia from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from a nerve agent poisoning he blames on the Kremlin – accusations Russian officials reject. Continue reading... |
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