World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk |
- Covid live news: Netherlands confirms at least 13 Omicron cases; Austria and Australia report first cases
- EU ministers meet in Calais over Channel crisis but without UK
- ‘Shocking’ that UK is moving child refugees into hotels
- Lucian Freud painting denied by artist is authenticated by experts
- Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking trial finally to begin in earnest
- A new German era dawns, but collisions lie in wait for coalition
- Fury as Nadine Dorries rejects fellow Tory’s groping claim against PM’s father
- Magnus Carlsen v Ian Nepomniachtchi: World Chess Championship Game 3 – live!
- Brexit leaves EU-bound Christmas presents out in the cold
- Searches for Gucci label soar after release of murder film starring Lady Gaga
- Tensions run high as Swiss vote on Covid vaccine certificate law
- Omicron’s full impact will be felt in countries where fewer are vaccinated
- Early action against Omicron is imperative to avoid devastating consequences | Ewan Birney
- Scientists sharing Omicron data were heroic. Let’s ensure they don’t regret it | Jeffrey Barrett
- When kids’ games get serious: the adults competing at tag, conkers and hide and seek
- I have fun with my girlfriend, but she has no prospects | Ask Philippa
- The world is watching: TV hits around the globe
- The 20 best gadgets of 2021
- Goodbye to job: how the pandemic changed Americans’ attitude to work
- Dying to Divorce: Turkish women’s campaign against domestic violence is set for Oscars
- House of Gucci review – Lady Gaga steers a steely path through the madness
- Thousands still without power as Storm Arwen fallout continues
- Israel bans foreign visitors as Omicron Covid fears rise around the world
- Can the Gambia turn the tide to save its shrinking beaches?
- How Manchin and Sinema’s status as Senate holdouts is proving lucrative
- Honduras presidential election: a referendum on the nation’s corruption and drugs
- Tonga’s drug crisis: Why a tiny Pacific island is struggling with a meth epidemic
- Australian government’s ‘anti-troll’ legislation would allow social media users to sue bullies
- Channel crossings: who would make such a dangerous journey – and why?
- ‘We will start again’: Afghan female MPs fight on from parliament in exile
- ‘Taste this, it’s salty’: how rising seas are ruining the Gambia’s rice farmers
- Myanmar junta accused of forcing people to brink of starvation
- Tanzania to lift ban on teenage mothers returning to school
- Nothing can stop Iran’s World Cup heroes. Except war, of course…
- Priti Patel blames ‘evil’ gangs for Channel crossings but the reality is far more complicated
- Omicron: everything you need to know about new Covid variant
- What should the UK do now? Experts on responses to the new Covid variant
- Two cases of Omicron Covid variant detected in Britain, says health secretary – video
- State-affiliated TV purports to show Ethiopian PM on the battlefront against Tigray rebels – video
- Macron attacks Johnson for trying to negotiate migration crisis via tweets – video
- Sajid Javid on latest Covid variant: 'Our scientists are deeply concerned' – video
| Posted: 28 Nov 2021 04:38 AM PST At least 13 of 61 cases on two flights into Netherlands are new variant; Austria becomes latest country to detect Omicron; Sajid Javid says UK should still plan for Christmas 'as normal'
China could face more than 630,000 Covid-19 infections a day if it dropped its zero-tolerance policies by lifting travel curbs, according to a study by Peking University mathematicians, Reuters reports. In the report by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the mathematicians said China could not afford to lift travel restrictions without more efficient vaccinations or specific treatments. Continue reading... |
| EU ministers meet in Calais over Channel crisis but without UK Posted: 28 Nov 2021 03:34 AM PST France seeks greater European co-operation, but talks exclude Priti Patel after diplomatic row EU ministers are meeting in Calais on Sunday to discuss how to stop people crossing the Channel in small boats, but without the UK home secretary, Priti Patel, whose invitation was rescinded following a diplomatic row with France. France has invited representatives from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the European Commission to the meeting, which was called last week after 27 people hoping to claim asylum in the UK died making the perilous crossing. Continue reading... |
| ‘Shocking’ that UK is moving child refugees into hotels Posted: 28 Nov 2021 04:28 AM PST Children's Society criticises practice of placing unaccompanied minors in hotels with limited care Record numbers of unaccompanied child asylum seekers who arrived in the UK on small boats are being accommodated in four hotels along England's south coast, a situation that the Children's Society has described as "shocking". About 250 unaccompanied children who arrived in small boats are thought to be accommodated in hotels, which Ofsted said was an unacceptable practice. Continue reading... |
| Lucian Freud painting denied by artist is authenticated by experts Posted: 27 Nov 2021 11:00 PM PST The artist insisted he did not paint Standing Male Nude, but three specialists have concluded it is his work Almost 25 years ago, a Swiss art collector bought a Lucian Freud painting – a full-length male nude – at auction. He then received a call from the British artist, asking to buy it from him. The two men did not know each other, and the collector politely refused, as he liked the picture. Three days later, he claims he received another call from a now furious Freud who told him that, unless he sold it to him, he would deny having painted it. Continue reading... |
| Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking trial finally to begin in earnest Posted: 27 Nov 2021 10:00 PM PST British socialite faces six counts alleging that she helped recruit and groom teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse Ghislaine Maxwell's sex-trafficking trial is scheduled to start in earnest in federal court in Manhattan on Monday with opening statements about the eagerly awaited case. The first arguments will set the stage for a six-week trial in which the British socialite's alleged involvement in Jeffrey Epstein's crimes will be aired in grueling detail, outlining how prosecutors and defense attorneys will approach the proceedings. Continue reading... |
| A new German era dawns, but collisions lie in wait for coalition Posted: 28 Nov 2021 02:00 AM PST The 'traffic light' parties all want progress but have different ideas about what that means on business and green issues In Unterleuten, a bestselling novel by the German novelist Juli Zeh, the inhabitants of a village outside Berlin are shocked to find out that a plot of land on their doorstep has been earmarked for a gigantic wind farm. One of the characters, a birdwatcher called Gerhard Fliess, knows what to do: he calls an old friend at the local environment ministry to remind him that the countryside around Unterleuten is the habitat of an endangered species of sandpiper. Surely that will halt the bulldozers. Continue reading... |
| Fury as Nadine Dorries rejects fellow Tory’s groping claim against PM’s father Posted: 28 Nov 2021 01:45 AM PST Women in Westminster rally to support Tory MP Caroline Nokes after culture secretary's denial Nadine Dorries was embroiled in a row with fellow Tory MP Caroline Nokes this weekend after the culture secretary dismissed her allegations of inappropriate touching against the prime minister's father. Dorries said she had known Stanley Johnson for 15 years and described him as a gentleman. She rejected Nokes's claim that he had "smacked her on the backside" at the Conservative party conference in 2003. "I don't believe it happened," she said in an interview with the Daily Mail. "It never happened to me. Perhaps there is something wrong with me." Continue reading... |
| Magnus Carlsen v Ian Nepomniachtchi: World Chess Championship Game 3 – live! Posted: 28 Nov 2021 04:53 AM PST
Carlsen thinks for more than five minutes before settling on 10. ... Re8. Another rare move by the world champion! That's the fifth most popular choice (after Na5, Nd7, Qd7 and h6). For the third straight game to open this world title tilt, Carlsen is the first player to mix things up with an unusual move. Nepomniachtchi takes more than four minutes before responding with 11. Nf1. Carlsen counters with 11. ... h6. Continue reading... |
| Brexit leaves EU-bound Christmas presents out in the cold Posted: 28 Nov 2021 02:45 AM PST An increase in red tape and charges means headaches for those sending gifts to Europe People preparing to send Christmas parcels to family and friends in Europe face being caught out by post-Brexit red tape and charges that threaten to take some of the joy out of gift-giving. A warning has also been sounded that some of those who have sent gifts to the EU this year have encountered problems ranging from delays and unexpected charges to items going missing. Continue reading... |
| Searches for Gucci label soar after release of murder film starring Lady Gaga Posted: 28 Nov 2021 12:15 AM PST Designer brand reaps the benefit of Ridley Scott's movie telling the story of the killing of firm's ex-boss When is murder good for business? When it is made into a Hollywood movie, for one – and when that film stars Lady Gaga. House of Gucci, the Ridley Scott feature released last week to mixed reviews, has sent interest in the Gucci brand soaring. Searches for Gucci clothing were up 73% week on week, according to e-commerce aggregator Lovethesales.com on Friday, with a leap of 257% for bags and 75% for sliders. The figures suggest that the luxury brand stands only to gain from Hollywood's telling of the story ofthe glamorous Patrizia Reggiani, who hired a hitman in 1995 to kill her ex-husband Maurizio Gucci, the former head of the fashion label. Continue reading... |
| Tensions run high as Swiss vote on Covid vaccine certificate law Posted: 28 Nov 2021 03:04 AM PST Police increase security around several politicians and anticipate protests after result on Sunday People in Switzerland are voting on a Covid vaccine certificate law, after a campaign characterised by unprecedented levels of hostility in a country renowned for its culture of compromise. As in much of Europe, Switzerland has seen growing anger over restrictions aimed at reining in the pandemic, and pressure to get vaccinated. Continue reading... |
| Omicron’s full impact will be felt in countries where fewer are vaccinated Posted: 27 Nov 2021 07:04 AM PST Analysis: the new coronavirus variant seems highly transmissible, but the big question is whether it causes severe disease. Either way, poorer nations will be hit hardest In early August Gideon Schreiber and a team of virologists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel began playing around with the spike protein of the Sars-CoV-2 virus – the protein that allows the virus to enter our cells – to see if they could predict future mutations that could yield dangerous new variants of Covid-19. At the time, Schreiber noted with concern that there were a variety of ways in which the spike protein could evolve. If all of these mutations occurred at once, it could yield a variant that was both extremely transmissible and potentially capable of evading some of the body's immune defences, blunting the efficacy of the vaccines. Continue reading... |
| Early action against Omicron is imperative to avoid devastating consequences | Ewan Birney Posted: 27 Nov 2021 11:19 AM PST Scientists have sprung into action to identify the new Covid variant. We don't yet know if it is a major threat - but we should not take any chances It was only a matter of time before a new Sars-CoV-2 variant of concern emerged, requiring an urgent global response. It would seem that the Omicron variant, identified by scientists across Africa, including the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), poses the next major threat in the course of the pandemic. Early evidence from their genomic surveillance suggests that this new variant is a serious cause for concern and it is imperative that we act fast in response to this new information. The variant has also been detected in Botswana and Hong Kong, and will undoubtedly continue to arise in other territories in the coming days; travel-related cases have appeared in Belgium and Israel. Two cases of the new variant have been detected in the UK at the time of writing. Continue reading... |
| Scientists sharing Omicron data were heroic. Let’s ensure they don’t regret it | Jeffrey Barrett Posted: 28 Nov 2021 01:00 AM PST The teams in Africa who detected the new Covid genome moved quickly. Their actions should not result in economic loss • Coronavirus – latest updates • See all our coronavirus coverage One of the positive experiences during two years of pandemic gloom has been the speed of scientific progress in understanding and treating Covid. Many effective vaccines were launched in less than a year and rapid large-scale trials found a cheap and effective drug, dexamethasone, that saved thousands of lives. The global scientific community has also carried out "genomic surveillance" – sequencing the genome of the virus to track how it evolves and spreads at an unprecedented level: the public genome database has more than 5.5m genomes. The great value of that genomic surveillance, underpinned by a commitment to rapid and open sharing of the data by all countries in near-real time, has been seen in the last few days as we've learned of the Covid variant called Omicron. Continue reading... |
| When kids’ games get serious: the adults competing at tag, conkers and hide and seek Posted: 28 Nov 2021 02:00 AM PST Tag, conkers, Simon Says and hide and seek are not just for children, there are adults who take them very competitively, too. Amelia Tait meets the competitors for whom kids' games have become a career. One, two, three… Steve Max has no memories of playing Simon Says as a kid. He probably did – the centuries-old command game is beloved by adults who need children to be quiet (and put their hands on their head) for a little while – but Max only recalls playing Duck, Duck Goose and kickball at summer camp. No matter. At the ripe old age of 59, Max now plays Simon Says at least two or three times a week. Max is one of a handful of professional Simon Says callers across the globe. He leads the game after First Holy Communion ceremonies, in the middle of corporate all-staff meetings, and even during America's National Basketball Association (NBA) games. "If you think about it, there's really only one rule: only do it if my command is preceded by 'Simon Says'," Max says over the phone from New York, "And yet people are just terrible." Continue reading... |
| I have fun with my girlfriend, but she has no prospects | Ask Philippa Posted: 27 Nov 2021 10:00 PM PST People are more than the job that they do. Don't let your friends and family decide for you – let this relationship run its course The question I'm a 24-year-old guy studying for my masters while working part-time for a management consultancy and I'm also a qualified associate accountant. I recently met a woman on a dating app after being single for a year since the start of the pandemic. She's a similar age to myself and we've been dating for two months. She's very attractive and nice, and we have a good time together – she can make me laugh. There is a red flag, though. Although she is in her mid-20s she still lives at home and seems to have no plans or ambitions to move to living independently. Plus, despite having a part-time job, she doesn't contribute to the household bills. Now I understand that rent is high and people are staying with their parents for longer, but she isn't even planning on going to college or progressing further in her career. She spends most of her money on going out with friends, holidays and hobbies. Continue reading... |
| The world is watching: TV hits around the globe Posted: 28 Nov 2021 03:00 AM PST A Spanish trans woman's memoirs, a Mumbai gangster drama, Israeli sisters in trouble… the Covid era is a rich moment for TV drama. Critics from Spain to South Korea tell us about the biggest shows in their countries Continue reading... |
| Posted: 28 Nov 2021 12:00 AM PST From smartphones to folding skis, the year's top gizmos selected by tech experts from the Guardian, iNews, TechRadar and Wired Cutting-edge tech is often super-expensive, difficult to use and less than slick. Not so for Samsung's latest folding screen phones. The Z Fold 3 tablet-phone hybrid and Z Flip 3 flip-phone reinventions are smooth, slick and even water-resistant, packing big screens in compact bodies. The Fold might be super-expensive still, but the Flip 3 costs about the same as a regular top smartphone, but is far, far more interesting. Samuel Gibbs Continue reading... |
| Goodbye to job: how the pandemic changed Americans’ attitude to work Posted: 27 Nov 2021 11:00 PM PST Millions of workers have been leaving jobs that offer long hours and low pay – and for many the release has been exhilarating One morning in October, Lynn woke up and decided she would quit her job on the spot that day. The decision to quit was the climax of a reckoning that began at the start of the pandemic when she was first laid off from a job she had been in for three years. "I've always had the attitude of being a really hard worker," Lynn said, explaining that she believed her skills made her indispensable to this company. "That really changed for me because I realized you could feel totally capable and really important when, really, you're expendable." Continue reading... |
| Dying to Divorce: Turkish women’s campaign against domestic violence is set for Oscars Posted: 28 Nov 2021 02:15 AM PST Two British film-makers have shone a light on a campaigning lawyer and her clients in an expose of misogyny and dangerous politics Once, not that long ago, Kubra and Arzu were healthy young Turkish mothers, looking forward to raising their children. Today, sadly, this is no longer all these charismatic, determined women have in common. They are now both among the many damaged survivors of violent attacks at the hands of husbands who believed it was their right to inflict potentially lethal injury on their wives. This autumn, the two mothers are the impressive stars of Dying to Divorce, a British-made documentary, out last week, that has just been selected to represent Britain at the Oscars as the official entry in the Best International Feature Film category. The film is a startling, sensitively made exposé of the murderous misogyny and dangerous politics behind an epidemic of femicide in Turkey, a country where an astonishing one in three women is subjected to some form of domestic violence. Continue reading... |
| House of Gucci review – Lady Gaga steers a steely path through the madness Posted: 28 Nov 2021 12:00 AM PST Gaga rules in Ridley Scott's at times ridiculous drama based on the true-life sagas of the Italian fashion dynasty "The most Gucci of them all" is how Patrizia Reggiani described herself in a 2014 interview and, judging by this entertainingly ripe, comedically tinged tragedy, she has a point. Variously known as "Lady Gucci" and "Black Widow", Reggiani became the centre of a very 1990s scandal involving lust, money, fashion, murder… and a clairvoyant. To that tabloid-friendly cocktail, Ridley Scott's latest "true story" potboiler adds a dash of pop superstardom, with Lady Gaga (Oscar- nominated for her close-to-home performance in A Star Is Born) relishing the chance to find the human cracks beneath a larger-than-life, femme fatale surface. Adapted by screenwriters Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna from the nonfiction book by Sara Gay Forden, House of Gucci charts a crowd-pleasing course from the Milanese party scene of the 1970s to a high-profile, end-of-the-century trial. At its heart is the doomed romance between Patrizia and Maurizio Gucci, the latter played behind stylishly studious glasses by cinema's sexy nerd de nos jours, Adam Driver. "I want to see how this story goes," says Patrizia, embarking upon a twisted fairytale romance with the grandson of Guccio Gucci that starts with masked balls and talk of midnight chimes and pumpkins and ends with family back-stabbings, jealous rages and deadly rivalries. Continue reading... |
| Thousands still without power as Storm Arwen fallout continues Posted: 28 Nov 2021 04:48 AM PST Met Office predicts more wintry conditions for Scotland and north of England after three people killed Storm Arwen continues to rage over the UK, leaving thousands of people without power. Three people have been killed by falling trees as wind speeds of nearly 100mph were recorded in some parts of the country. Continue reading... |
| Israel bans foreign visitors as Omicron Covid fears rise around the world Posted: 28 Nov 2021 04:53 AM PST Red-listing of 50 African countries and use of phone monitoring technology among measures approved by Israel Israel is barring entry to all foreign nationals as countries around the world tighten controls against the new Omicron strain of coronavirus that it is feared may render vaccines less effective. In the world's most far-reaching effort to keep the Omicron variant at bay, Israel's coronavirus cabinet has authorised a series of measures including banning entry by foreigners, red-listing travel to 50 African countries, and making quarantine mandatory for all Israelis arriving from abroad. Continue reading... |
| Can the Gambia turn the tide to save its shrinking beaches? Posted: 28 Nov 2021 05:00 AM PST In a developing country reliant on its tourist industry, the rapidly eroding 'smiling coast' shows the urgent need for action on climate change When Saikou Demba was a young man starting out in the hospitality business, he opened a little hotel on the Gambian coast called the Leybato and ran a beach bar on the wide expanse of golden sand. The hotel is still there, a relaxed spot where guests can lie in hammocks beneath swaying palm trees and stroll along shell-studded pathways. But the beach bar is not. At high tide, Demba reckons it would be about five or six metres into the sea. "The first year the tide came in high but it was OK," he says. "The second year, the tide came in high but it was OK. The third year, I came down one day and it [the bar] wasn't there: half of it went into the sea." Continue reading... |
| How Manchin and Sinema’s status as Senate holdouts is proving lucrative Posted: 27 Nov 2021 11:00 PM PST The Democratic senators have received a flood of money from conservative donors, leading some to raise concerns of corruption Two Democratic senators threatening to derail Joe Biden's agenda have been condemned by anti-corruption watchdogs for accepting a flood of money from Republican and corporate donors. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema present the last hurdle to the US president's social spending and climate package after it was passed by Democrats in the House of Representatives earlier this month. Continue reading... |
| Honduras presidential election: a referendum on the nation’s corruption and drugs Posted: 28 Nov 2021 02:00 AM PST The next congress will have the opportunity to elect a new supreme court, attorney general and state auditors Hondurans head to the polls on Sunday in the first general election since US federal prosecutors laid out detailed evidence of intimate ties between drug smugglers and the Honduran state. The country's past three presidents, as well as local mayors, legislators, police and military commanders have been linked to drug trafficking in what US prosecutors have described as a narco-state. Continue reading... |
| Tonga’s drug crisis: Why a tiny Pacific island is struggling with a meth epidemic Posted: 27 Nov 2021 11:00 AM PST Spike in drug use has caused problems across Tongan society, with arrests doubling in two years and children severely affected After more than four decades spent living in New Zealand, Ned Cook knew it was time to return to his home country of Tonga. His country was in the grip of a methamphetamine epidemic that was ripping families apart and overrunning the country's hospitals and jails. Cook, a trained drug and alcohol abuse counsellor, with a history of drug abuse himself, had been preparing for years to return to Tonga to combat it. Continue reading... |
| Australian government’s ‘anti-troll’ legislation would allow social media users to sue bullies Posted: 27 Nov 2021 11:30 PM PST Laws would require companies to reveal users' identities but experts say focus on defamation will not help curb rates of online bullying
The Australian government is set to introduce some of the toughest "anti-troll" legislation in the world, but experts say its focus on defamation will not help curb the rates of online bullying or cyberhate. On Sunday prime minister, Scott Morrison, announced his government would introduce legislation to parliament this week that would make social media companies reveal the identities of anonymous trolling accounts and offer a pathway to sue those people for defamation. Continue reading... |
| Channel crossings: who would make such a dangerous journey – and why? Posted: 27 Nov 2021 11:30 PM PST Most of the people who reach the UK after risking their lives in small boats have their claims for asylum approved Last week's tragedy in the Channel has reopened the debate on how to stop people making dangerous crossings, with the solutions presented by the government focused on how to police the waters. Less has been said about where those people come from, with most fleeing conflicts and persecution. About two-thirds of people arriving on small boats between January 2020 and May 2021 were from Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Syria. Many also came from Eritrea, from where 80% of asylum applications were approved. Continue reading... |
| ‘We will start again’: Afghan female MPs fight on from parliament in exile Posted: 27 Nov 2021 04:00 AM PST From Greece the women are advocating for fellow refugees – and those left behind under Taliban rule It is a Saturday morning in November, and Afghan MP Nazifa Yousufi Bek gathers up her notes and prepares to head for the office. But instead of jumping in an armoured car bound for the mahogany-lined parliament in Kabul, her journey is by bus from a Greek hotel to a migrants' organisation in the centre of Athens. There, taking her place on a folding chair, she inaugurates the Afghan women's parliament in – exile. "Our people have nothing. Mothers are selling their children," she tells a room packed with her peers. "We must raise our voices, we must put a stop to this," says Yousufi Bek, 35, who fled Afghanistan with her husband and three young children after the Taliban swept to power in August. Some around her nod in agreement; others quietly weep. Continue reading... |
| ‘Taste this, it’s salty’: how rising seas are ruining the Gambia’s rice farmers Posted: 26 Nov 2021 11:15 PM PST The farmers, mostly women, once grew enough but must now buy imported rice as the climate crisis edges them into poverty In the sweltering heat of the late-morning west African sun, Aminata Jamba slashes at golden rice stalks with a sickle. "The rice is lovely," she says, music playing in the background as her son, Sampa, silently harvests the grain. But even if the quality is high, the quantity is not. While once Jamba could have expected to harvest enough rice to last the whole year, this year she reckons it will last three to four months. After that, she will have to look elsewhere for a way to feed her family and make enough money to live. Continue reading... |
| Myanmar junta accused of forcing people to brink of starvation Posted: 26 Nov 2021 05:58 AM PST Advisory group say military has destroyed supplies, killed livestock and cut off roads used to transport food since February coup Myanmar's military junta has been accused of forcing people to the brink of starvation with repeated offensives since it seized power in a coup earlier this year. The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar said the junta had destroyed food supplies and killed livestock while cutting off roads used to bring in food and medicine. Continue reading... |
| Tanzania to lift ban on teenage mothers returning to school Posted: 26 Nov 2021 02:10 AM PST Girls to have two years in which to return to school after giving birth, but will still be excluded whilst pregnant The Tanzanian government has announced it will lift a controversial ban on teenage mothers continuing their education. Girls will have two years in which to return to school after giving birth, the ministry of education said. However, the move is not legally binding and girls will continue to be banned from class while pregnant. Continue reading... |
| Nothing can stop Iran’s World Cup heroes. Except war, of course… Posted: 28 Nov 2021 01:00 AM PST The 'Persian Leopards' are going great guns on the football field, but at nuclear talks in Vienna a far more dangerous game is being played There is a strikingly topsy-turvy, Saturnalian feel to recent qualifying matches for the 2022 football World Cup. Saudi Arabia (population 35 million) beat China (population 1.4 billion). Canada lead the US in their group. Four-time winners Italy failed to defeat lowly Northern Ireland. Pursuing an unbeaten run full of political symbolism, unfancied Iran are also over the moon after subjugating the neighbourhood, as is their habit. Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the UAE all succumbed to the soar‑away "Persian Leopards". Continue reading... |
| Priti Patel blames ‘evil’ gangs for Channel crossings but the reality is far more complicated Posted: 27 Nov 2021 09:02 AM PST Analysis: The UK government's own experts say many journeys are actually organised directly by desperate families The government repeatedly insists that sophisticated criminal networks are driving the Channel crossings by people seeking asylum in Britain. Of all the contested claims advanced by the home secretary on the issue, it remains among the most pervasive. True to form, in the aftermath of Wednesday's drownings, Priti Patel wasted little time reiterating her determination to "smash the criminal gangs" behind such crossings. Continue reading... |
| Omicron: everything you need to know about new Covid variant Posted: 26 Nov 2021 10:52 AM PST Key questions answered about coronavirus variant first detected in southern Africa The variant was initially referred to as B.1.1.529, but on Friday was designated as a variant of concern (VOC) by the World Health Organization because of its "concerning" mutations and because "preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant". The WHO system assigns such variants a Greek letter, to provide a non-stigmatising label that does not associate new variants with the location where they were first detected. The new variant has been called Omicron. Continue reading... |
| What should the UK do now? Experts on responses to the new Covid variant Posted: 26 Nov 2021 08:33 AM PST Analysis: From the red list to winter plan B, scientists consider what tools are best to counter B.1.1.529 Despite the UK's much-vaunted vaccination programme, and scientists' ever-growing understanding of Covid-19, Britain and the rest of the world face the challenge of a new, potentially more transmissible variant just a month before Christmas. While Sajid Javid, the health secretary, announced the red-listing of six southern African countries and said "we must act with caution", he ruled out immediate new Covid measures including triggering winter plan B – which would involve working from home, mask-wearing and Covid passports. Continue reading... |
| Two cases of Omicron Covid variant detected in Britain, says health secretary – video Posted: 27 Nov 2021 07:04 AM PST The first cases of the new B.1.1.529 Covid variant have been identified in the UK. Two people found to be infected with the Omicron variant are self-isolating, according to the health secretary, Sajid Javid Continue reading... |
| State-affiliated TV purports to show Ethiopian PM on the battlefront against Tigray rebels – video Posted: 26 Nov 2021 09:03 AM PST Footage purporting to show Abiy Ahmed on the battlefront of the country's year-long war against Tigray forces has been broadcast, four days after he announced he would direct the army from there. Wearing military uniform, Abiy said: 'The enemy doesn't know our capabilities and our preparations … Instead of sitting in Addis, we made a change and decided to come to the front' Continue reading... |
| Macron attacks Johnson for trying to negotiate migration crisis via tweets – video Posted: 26 Nov 2021 04:37 AM PST The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has reprimanded Boris Johnson for trying to negotiate with him about stopping people crossing the Channel in public, via Twitter. He said he was 'surprised' by Johnson's decision to communicate with him in this way, because it was 'not serious'. He added: 'We don't communicate by tweets'
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| Sajid Javid on latest Covid variant: 'Our scientists are deeply concerned' – video Posted: 26 Nov 2021 02:09 AM PST The health secretary, Sajid Javid, has announced the UK will temporarily ban flights from several African countries, after the discovery of the B.1.1.529 Covid variant in the region against which vaccines might be less effective. Officials characterise the variant, which has double the number of mutations as the currently dominant Delta variant, as the 'worst one yet'. Flights from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Eswatini will be banned from Friday afternoon, and returning British travellers from those destinations will have to quarantine
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