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- IOC strips two Belarus Olympics coaches of accreditation over Krystsina Tsimanouskaya scandal
- Reduce methane or face climate catastrophe, scientists warn
- Tokyo 2020 Olympics: GB cycling gold, modern pentathlon and more – live!
- ‘A violation’: football star recounts having to strip during match to prove she was female
- Cop26 president Alok Sharma flew to 30 countries in 7 months
- Apple plans to scan US iPhones for child sexual abuse images
- Last month was worst July for wildfires on record, say scientists
- CNN fires three employees for coming to work unvaccinated
- Indonesia army signals end to ‘virginity test’ for female recruits
- Ethiopia suspends aid groups for ‘spreading misinformation’
- Google co-founder Larry Page is a New Zealand resident, government says
- Covid live: China cases surge; Wales first minister dismisses ‘freedom day’ talk after Saturday move to alert level 0
- Australia’s Covid crisis: Victoria enters 6th lockdown as New South Wales cases hit new record
- German minister’s plan to place restrictions on unvaccinated criticised
- ‘Deaf is not a costume’: Marlee Matlin on surviving abuse and casting authentically
- Experience: I accidentally bought a derelict house
- The cat-loving, beret-wearing Republican who wants to be mayor of New York
- Lotion in the ocean: is your sunscreen killing the sea?
- The return of Jimmy Cliff: ‘Rebel spirit is still in the Jamaican people’
- From Brangelina to Bogart and Bacall: the best on-screen chemistry
- Sky Brown helps ramp up UK girls’ interest in skateboarding
- Alt-milk maker Oatly loses trademark case against family-run UK firm
- Iran's decision-makers must shoulder the blame for its water crisis | Kaveh Madani
- Wildfire tears through northern California gold rush town – video
- ‘Mega-drought’ leaves many Andes mountains without snow cover
- North Korea floods damage more than 1,000 homes, state media reports
- Police deny knowing of plan to let armed group commit crime, Victorian inquest into robber’s death hears
- Saga of sprinter shows nothing in Belarus is outside politics
- A coup or not? Tunisian activists grapple with president’s power grab
- Greek prime minister says 'worst is yet to come' as wildfires rage around Athens – video
- The California Gold Rush town consumed by wildfire – in pictures
- Joe Biden: half of new vehicles sold in US to be electric by 2030 – video
- Vaccinated Britons can travel 'without looking over their shoulder', says Shapps – video
- WHO calls for Covid booster pause so those in poorer nations can be vaccinated – video
| IOC strips two Belarus Olympics coaches of accreditation over Krystsina Tsimanouskaya scandal Posted: 05 Aug 2021 07:19 PM PDT Artur Shumak and Yuri Moisevich leave 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games village as investigation into efforts to force sprinter home continue Two Belarus coaches allegedly involved in attempting to force sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya to return home have had their accreditation rescinded and been asked to leave the Olympic village. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Friday it had taken the action against Artur Shumak and Yuri Moisevich, who it says also face IOC disciplinary proceedings launched two days ago. Continue reading... |
| Reduce methane or face climate catastrophe, scientists warn Posted: 05 Aug 2021 11:00 PM PDT Exclusive: IPCC says gas, produced by farming, shale gas and oil extraction, playing ever-greater role in overheating planet Cutting carbon dioxide is not enough to solve the climate crisis – the world must act swiftly on another powerful greenhouse gas, methane, to halt the rise in global temperatures, experts have warned. Leading climate scientists will give their starkest warning yet – that we are rushing to the brink of climate catastrophe – in a landmark report on Monday. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will publish its sixth assessment report, a comprehensive review of the world's knowledge of the climate crisis and how human actions are altering the planet. It will show in detail how close the world is to irreversible change. Continue reading... |
| Tokyo 2020 Olympics: GB cycling gold, modern pentathlon and more – live! Posted: 06 Aug 2021 02:59 AM PDT
Cycling: Harrie Lavreysen beats his compatriot fairly easily to win. Jeffrey Hoogland settles for silver. It's a Dutch one-two and Britain's Jack Carlin gets bronze.
Cycling: As I try to get a long overdue look in on the women's modern pentathlon and women's bouldering (climbing), the cycling keeps getting in the way. It's the men's sprint decider in the best of three between Jeffrey Hoogland and Harrie Lavreysen from the Netherlands. Continue reading... |
| ‘A violation’: football star recounts having to strip during match to prove she was female Posted: 05 Aug 2021 11:00 PM PDT Tabitha Chawinga, a Malawi international who plays in China, has called for greater safeguards against abuse in her home country The international footballer Tabitha Chawinga is calling on Malawi's football authorities to introduce safeguards to protect women from abuse at all levels of the game. Chawinga, who became the first woman from Malawi to sign for a European football team when she joined the Swedish club Krokom/Dvärsätts IF in 2014, said that she had been forced to strip in public during a match to prove she was female and was regularly trolled on social media about her looks. Continue reading... |
| Cop26 president Alok Sharma flew to 30 countries in 7 months Posted: 05 Aug 2021 04:00 PM PDT Minister responsible for climate conference travelled mainly during winter and spring and did not isolate The government minister responsible for this year's UN climate change conference in Glasgow has flown to 30 countries in the past seven months, it has been reported. Alok Sharma, who was appointed as president of Cop26 in January, has visited countries including Brazil, Indonesia and Kenya since February, according to the Daily Mail. Continue reading... |
| Apple plans to scan US iPhones for child sexual abuse images Posted: 06 Aug 2021 02:08 AM PDT Security researchers fear neuralMatch system could be misused to spy on citizens Apple will scan photo libraries stored on iPhones in the US for known images of child sexual abuse, the company says, drawing praise from child protection groups but crossing a line that privacy campaigners warn could have dangerous ramifications. The company will also examine the contents of end-to-end encrypted messages for the first time. Apple's tool, called neuralMatch, will scan images before they are uploaded to the company's iCloud Photos online storage, comparing them against a database of known child abuse imagery. If a strong enough match is flagged, then Apple staff will be able to manually review the reported images, and, if child abuse is confirmed, the user's account will be disabled and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) notified. Continue reading... |
| Last month was worst July for wildfires on record, say scientists Posted: 06 Aug 2021 01:20 AM PDT Burning of land released 343 megatonnes of carbon, with wildfire season yet to peak in many areas Last month was the world's worst July for wildfires since at least 2003 when satellite records began, scientists have said, as swaths of North America, Siberia, Africa and southern Europe continue to burn. Driven by extreme heat and prolonged drought, the ignition of forests and grasslands released 343 megatonnes of carbon, about a fifth higher than the previous global peak for July, which was set in 2014. Continue reading... |
| CNN fires three employees for coming to work unvaccinated Posted: 05 Aug 2021 06:59 PM PDT In company memo, CEO says there is 'zero tolerance policy' for reporting to the office without Covid-19 inoculation CNN has fired three employees who violated company policy by coming to work unvaccinated against Covid-19. Jeff Zucker, the media company's president, told staff members of the firing in a memo sent Thursday that reminded them that vaccines were mandatory if they report to the office or out in the field where they come into contact with other employees. Continue reading... |
| Indonesia army signals end to ‘virginity test’ for female recruits Posted: 05 Aug 2021 04:53 PM PDT Human rights groups welcome chief of staff's apparent decision to end the decades-long, 'abusive' practice Human rights organisations have welcomed the Indonesian army's apparent decision to end the "abusive" and long-criticised "virginity testing" of female recruitments. The procedure is known in Indonesia as "the two-finger test", because during the examination the doctors would insert two fingers inside the woman's vagina to check whether the hymen is still intact or not. Those declared not to be a virgin would be rejected for recruitment. Continue reading... |
| Ethiopia suspends aid groups for ‘spreading misinformation’ Posted: 05 Aug 2021 10:20 PM PDT Médecins Sans Frontières and Norwegian Refugee Council, active in war-torn Tigray, in talks over ban The Ethiopian government has suspended the work of two international aid organisations for three months, including in the conflict-hit Tigray region, accusing them of spreading misinformation. Ethiopia Current Issues Fact Check, a government-run website focused on Tigray, accused Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) of violating several rules. Continue reading... |
| Google co-founder Larry Page is a New Zealand resident, government says Posted: 05 Aug 2021 07:19 PM PDT Billionaire's status was confirmed after report he had been granted entry to New Zealand during the pandemic despite closed borders Billionaire and Google co-founder Larry Page is a New Zealand resident, and visited the country in the midst of Covid-19 border restrictions. The government confirmed Page's residency after New Zealand outlet Stuff broke the story on Thursday that Page had been in the country earlier this year, accompanying his child who fell ill in Fiji. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 06 Aug 2021 02:59 AM PDT China records highest daily Delta count; biggest easing of coronavirus measures in Wales since the pandemic began
In a matter of just six minutes, a factory worker from a Mexican border city stepped off a bus in Texas last week, received the Covid-19 vaccine and was heading back home across the international bridge to Mexico. The vaccination took place near El Paso, the west Texas city where the coronavirus was raging so relentlessly nine months ago that jail inmates were being used to load bodies into mobile morgues because funeral homes were overflowing. Related: Mexican factory workers cross Texas border in Covid-19 vaccine outreach effort
Japan reached the milestone of 1m coronavirus cases on Friday, Japanese media reported, as infections soared in Olympic host Tokyo and other urban areas, with the country struggling to contain the Delta variant. Continue reading... |
| Australia’s Covid crisis: Victoria enters 6th lockdown as New South Wales cases hit new record Posted: 05 Aug 2021 10:26 PM PDT Three largest states under strict controls as Delta variant spread worsens and Sydney warned to expect more bad news in coming days The Australian state of Victoria has entered its sixth lockdown to join the country's two other largest states under varying degrees of coronavirus restrictions as the Delta variant continues to spread. Lockdowns have been enforced across the east coast, including Australia's three largest cities – Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane – putting more than 60% of the country's 25 million population under strict stay-home orders. Continue reading... |
| German minister’s plan to place restrictions on unvaccinated criticised Posted: 05 Aug 2021 08:17 AM PDT Coalition partners among those to oppose Covid proposals to bar people from restaurants and other facilities Plans by Germany's health minister to place restrictions on Germans who have not been vaccinated against coronavirus are facing stiff resistance from his coalition partners and the opposition. Several Social Democratic party (SPD) politicians have called Jens Spahn's proposals to exclude people from restaurants, gyms and other facilities who had failed to take up a vaccine offer "unworkable" and say they risk undermining the public health campaign to dampen the spread of the virus. Continue reading... |
| ‘Deaf is not a costume’: Marlee Matlin on surviving abuse and casting authentically Posted: 06 Aug 2021 01:00 AM PDT The only deaf actor to win an Academy Award discusses going to rehab, speaking out about William Hurt and starring in deaf drama Coda When early financial backers of Marlee Matlin's new film, Coda, expressed their preference for hiring big-name actors to play the roles of two major deaf characters – her onscreen husband and son – she threatened to quit. She told them that deaf actors should play characters written as deaf. "I said: time out. This is not right. It's not authentic and it's not going to work. If you go down that route, I'm out, because I don't want to be part of that effort of faking deaf. I'm glad they listened." I can't imagine anyone not listening to Matlin. Speaking from her home in Los Angeles, she is funny and warm, but there is something intense about her, almost intimidating. She sits straight-backed, her focus sharp. She is not a woman to mince her words – which are translated from American Sign Language (ASL) by her longtime interpreter and producing partner, Jack Jason, who is also on the call from his front room. The pair have been working together since 1985, just before she won the best actress Oscar at 21 for her first film role, playing a young deaf woman in the 1986 drama Children of a Lesser God – beating Sigourney Weaver (who was up for Aliens), Jane Fonda, Kathleen Turner and Sissy Spacek. Continue reading... |
| Experience: I accidentally bought a derelict house Posted: 06 Aug 2021 02:00 AM PDT We wanted to bid on a property. But auctioneers speak quickly, and this one had a strong Glaswegian accent My girlfriend Claire and I had both been to Scotland just once before: me as a kid; Claire for a medical school interview. I'm English, she's Canadian, and we met in the French Alps in 2016, quickly grew close, travelled around Europe, then got it into our heads that we should move to Glasgow. Wanting a project, we looked at auction listings and found an apartment in Pollokshields, Southside. It needed some love, but the starting price was £10k. Before deciding to bid, I'd spent a few nights sleeping in my van across the street from it. I liked it. With Claire away, I ventured to the sale alone. It was my first time at a property auction. I took my seat and waited patiently. The problem was auctioneers speak fast, and this one had a strong Glaswegian accent: I was really struggling to follow. Thankfully, a brochure on my seat contained the details for every lot, while a screen behind the stage displayed its corresponding number. I ticked off each sale in my copy as we went, counting down. Continue reading... |
| The cat-loving, beret-wearing Republican who wants to be mayor of New York Posted: 05 Aug 2021 11:00 PM PDT Curtis Sliwa, 67, faces Eric Adams in November's election. Can the attention-loving founder of the Guardian Angels upset the odds? Curtis Sliwa has a lot of cats. On a recent Tuesday afternoon, there were 16 felines packed into the Manhattan apartment that Sliwa, the Republican candidate for mayor of New York City , shares with his wife. Continue reading... |
| Lotion in the ocean: is your sunscreen killing the sea? Posted: 05 Aug 2021 10:01 PM PDT Up to 14,000 tonnes ends up in coral reef areas each year, but scientists are divided on how we can best protect our skin without harming the environment Autumn Blum was 5 metres underwater, scuba diving off the Pacific island of Palau, when she looked up towards the surface and saw a rainbow. "I thought maybe it had been raining," she says. "As I got closer, I saw that it wasn't a rainbow: it was actually an oily sheen that was coming off a group of snorkellers." Continue reading... |
| The return of Jimmy Cliff: ‘Rebel spirit is still in the Jamaican people’ Posted: 05 Aug 2021 10:00 PM PDT As he releases new music at the age of 77, one of reggae's foundational figures charts his astonishing life in music, via swinging London, Brazilian samba and the chaotic bravado of The Harder They Come Even on his parents' rural Jamaican farm, Jimmy Cliff dreamed big. "When I was a very small boy, my cousins and me would look after my family's cows and goats, and I would talk about towns and countries I wanted to go to. Although they would laugh at me, I always had that kind of thinking." Cliff's new single, Human Touch, released today, Jamaican Independence Day, marks more than 60 years in music from a man who has always looked beyond local life to move himself – and Jamaican music as a whole – on to a much larger stage. Cliff-penned songs such as Wonderful World, Beautiful People and You Can Get It If You Really Want are some of Jamaica's most enduring pop music, and he is one of a few surviving musicians – after the recent deaths of stars such as Toots Hibbert and U-Roy – who can draw a line from ska at the start of the 1960s to today's global reggae. "Ska did not develop until the time I came," he says. "There were a few artists prior to that, but they were singing a version of rhythm and blues, Jamaican blues I would call it. I turned up in Kingston at just the right time – at the beginning of the real Jamaican music." Continue reading... |
| From Brangelina to Bogart and Bacall: the best on-screen chemistry Posted: 06 Aug 2021 01:00 AM PDT A sizzling spark between actors can elevate a film, as these amorous double acts show This was the film that sparked a virtual supermarket tabloid-gossip industry. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie play an outwardly respectable married couple, each with a secret kept from the spouse: they are both professional assassins. Then each gets a commission to kill the other. The film is a bit silly, but you can see the dark and dangerous spark between the since-estranged Jolie-Pitts. Continue reading... |
| Sky Brown helps ramp up UK girls’ interest in skateboarding Posted: 06 Aug 2021 02:13 AM PDT Thirteen-year-old's Olympic bronze medal adds to boom in number of people picking up a board Millions watched as Sky Brown flew around the Olympic skatepark in Tokyo this week. Not only did the performance earn a bronze medal for the 13-year-old, it also sparked a newfound interest in the sport, with more people flocking to skate shops and searching online for skateboarding lessons. Brown's success is adding to what has already been a great year for the sport, with the pandemic prompting a boom in the number of people – particularly girls – picking up a board. Continue reading... |
| Alt-milk maker Oatly loses trademark case against family-run UK firm Posted: 06 Aug 2021 02:30 AM PDT Swedish company took legal action against Cambridgeshire-based Glebe Farm Foods over oat drink A family-run company sued by Oatly for alleged trademark infringement has won a legal battle against the multimillion-pound firm. The Swedish oat milk company Oatly brought legal action against Glebe Farm Foods, a Cambridgeshire-based company that specialises in producing gluten-free oats, accusing them of attempting to take "unfair advantage" of Oatly's trademarks with their oat drink called PureOaty. Continue reading... |
| Iran's decision-makers must shoulder the blame for its water crisis | Kaveh Madani Posted: 05 Aug 2021 08:07 AM PDT Invoking climate change as the sole cause of terrible shortages lets those in authority off the hook
Iran's water bankruptcy has been in the news lately, prompting deadly protests in Khuzestan province that also garnered the attention of global media. But this kind of problem is neither new or unique in the country. Drying rivers, vanishing lakes, shrinking wetlands, declining groundwater levels, land subsidence, sinkholes, desertification, soil erosion, dust storms, air, water and waste pollution, biodiversity loss, deforestation and wildfires are among the other familiar signs of Iran's environmental devastation. Khuzestan, in south-west Iran, is known globally for its rich oil and gas resources. But this wealthy province's contribution to Iran's development is not just its oil and gas revenue. Khuzestan is also water-rich compared with most of the country. So, its large rivers have been blocked by gigantic dams to store water for agriculture, industrial and domestic uses and hydroelectricity production. Considerable amounts of water have been also transferred from its rivers' tributaries to dry regions in central Iran. Continue reading... |
| Wildfire tears through northern California gold rush town – video Posted: 06 Aug 2021 12:33 AM PDT The fast-moving Dixie fire has continued to burn through northern California, leaving much of the gold rush town of Greenville in ashes. The three-week-old fire has burned more than 500 sq miles and destroyed dozens of homes. Greenville was previously damaged by a significant fire in 1881 but maintained some buildings that were more than a century old Continue reading... |
| ‘Mega-drought’ leaves many Andes mountains without snow cover Posted: 05 Aug 2021 05:19 PM PDT Satellite images confirm snow decrease spurred by climate crisis as glaciers recede and communities reliant on mountain water face shortages The Andes mountain range is facing historically low snowfall this year during a decade-long drought that scientists link to global heating. Scant rain and snowfall are leaving many of the majestic mountains between Ecuador and Argentina with patchy snow cover or no snow at all as dry, brown earth lies exposed. Continue reading... |
| North Korea floods damage more than 1,000 homes, state media reports Posted: 05 Aug 2021 10:02 PM PDT Fears of crop damage and impact on food supplies rise as forecaster reports more than 500mm of rain has fallen in three days More than 1,100 homes in North Korea were damaged, thousands of people evacuated and farms and roads washed away after days of heavy rains brought flooding, state media reported. The reports come as concern grows about damage to crops and the possible impact on food supplies in North Korea, which is cut off from most foreign imports and aid by self-imposed border restrictions aimed at preventing a coronavirus outbreak, as well as by international sanctions. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 06 Aug 2021 02:11 AM PDT Court hears Troy Van Den Bemt was shot dead at a bottle shop by an undercover officer who was monitoring him Undercover police officers tailing a group of suspected armed robbers deny they knew of a plan to allow the men to commit a crime if they could not be safely arrested first, the Victorian coroner's court has heard. Coroner Jacqui Hawkins is holding an inquest into the death of Troy Van Den Bemt, who was killed in 2018 by an officer who had been monitoring the armed robber and his associates as part of an operation in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. Continue reading... |
| Saga of sprinter shows nothing in Belarus is outside politics Posted: 05 Aug 2021 09:22 AM PDT Analysis: Krystsina Tsimanouskaya stunned, but Lukashenko regime's brutal suppression of all criticism is proving pervasive The saga of the sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya has shown how the Belarusian government's brutal suppression of all criticism has politicised the lives and actions of even those hesitant to openly oppose the country's president, Alexander Lukashenko. "I am stunned that this situation has become a political scandal," Tsimanouskaya said during a press-conference in Warsaw, where she arrived from Tokyo via Vienna on Wednesday. "This situation was only about sport … all that I wanted was for people to take responsibility." Continue reading... |
| A coup or not? Tunisian activists grapple with president’s power grab Posted: 05 Aug 2021 04:43 AM PDT While Saied's shutdown of parliament has outsiders worried, in Tunisia he has 87% support and civil society remains strong Outside Tunisia, the president's sacking of the prime minister and shutdown of parliament looked like a coup. Inside, however, activists and journalists are still struggling to define what is happening to their country – and what to do about it. "The day after the president acted, we had a conversation in the newsroom about whether it was a coup," said Thameur Mekki, the editor-in-chief of the influential media platform Nawaat. Other news outlets aired programmes debating the "coup" question, and activist groups started worrying. But then, said Mekki, the president, Kais Saied, personally called leading civil society groups and "gave assurances about their freedom to operate". Continue reading... |
| Greek prime minister says 'worst is yet to come' as wildfires rage around Athens – video Posted: 05 Aug 2021 03:28 PM PDT Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday that emergency services faced a difficult night ahead as wildfires north of Athens leaped back to life and westerly winds were set to strengthen. 'Unfortunately the worst is yet to come and the night ahead seems menacing. Tomorrow we expect strong western winds in many areas of our country,' the Greek prime minister said in a special televised address. Mitsotakis urged people to comply with evacuation orders and avoid unnecessary trave. Authorities warned of more blazes on Friday as temperatures hovered around 40C. Continue reading... |
| The California Gold Rush town consumed by wildfire – in pictures Posted: 05 Aug 2021 02:07 PM PDT The northern California town of Greenville was devastated by the Dixie fire, currently the largest wildfire in the state. The town dates back to the Gold Rush era with buildings more than a century old. Firefighters did all they could against the flames but the fast-moving blaze left many structures in ashes Continue reading... |
| Joe Biden: half of new vehicles sold in US to be electric by 2030 – video Posted: 05 Aug 2021 01:47 PM PDT Joe Biden is setting a goal for half of all new US vehicle sales to be electric by 2030 while at the same time tightening pollution standards for cars and trucks, in a barrage of action aimed at reducing the largest source of planet-heating gases in America. On Thursday, the White House outlined its plan to tackle the climate crisis by cutting emissions from vehicles. Biden is set to sign an executive order demanding that 50% of all new cars and trucks sold by the end of the decade be powered by electric batteries Continue reading... |
| Vaccinated Britons can travel 'without looking over their shoulder', says Shapps – video Posted: 05 Aug 2021 04:15 AM PDT Fully vaccinated Britons will not have to quarantine on return from France and Spain for the next three weeks, bringing much needed business to the struggling tourism sector, according to the transport secretary. But Britons will need to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 'for evermore' in order to travel between countries, Grant Shapps has predicted, suggesting that quarantine restrictions for some arrivals in England will remain in place into the autumn. Shapps said it was vital to 'protect the domestic unlocking' after the latest changes were announced to the traffic light system that grades destinations according to their case, vaccine and variant numbers Continue reading... |
| WHO calls for Covid booster pause so those in poorer nations can be vaccinated – video Posted: 05 Aug 2021 02:43 AM PDT The World Health Organization has asked the world's richest countries to delay rolling out booster shots to their populations before at least 10% of the world is vaccinated. 'We cannot accept countries that have already used most of the global supply of vaccines using even more of it, while the world's most vulnerable people remain unprotected,' said the WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The WHO said the moratorium would help towards the goal of vaccinating at least 10% of every country's population by the end of September, and would help fight a pandemic that has killed more than 4.25 million people worldwide
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