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- Covid live news: WHO says ‘very high’ global risk from Omicron; Poland announces new restrictions
- Jack Dorsey steps down as Twitter chief executive
- Channel crossings are an English issue, says French minister
- Huge star atop Sagrada Família rekindles residents’ complaints
- Chinese could hack data for future quantum decryption, report warns
- EU border agency deported record number of people in first half of 2021
- Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking trial to go before jury on Monday
- Eitan Biran: cable car fall survivor must be returned to Italy, Israeli court rules
- Iran hopes to covertly advance its nuclear programme, says Israel
- Merkel’s punk pick for leaving ceremony raises eyebrows
- UK Covid live: Sajid Javid implies new restrictions will be abandoned if Omicron no more dangerous than Delta
- Nursing unions around world call for UN action on Covid vaccine patents
- Joe Biden says Omicron Covid variant a ‘cause for concern, not panic’ – live
- Novak Djokovic likely to skip Australian Open over vaccine mandate, says father
- Nurdles: the worst toxic waste you’ve probably never heard of
- ‘I wrote it from the perspective of a night light’: How They Might Be Giants made Birdhouse in Your Soul
- ‘He was a god for us’: actors on being side by side with Stephen Sondheim
- The big idea: Should we worry about artificial intelligence?
- Nelson, BLM and new voices: why Barbados is ditching the Queen
- The 20 best songs of 2021
- ‘I feel inspired here’: refugees find business success in Naples
- Storm Arwen: thousands in UK face fourth night without power
- Botswana upholds ruling decriminalising same-sex relationships
- Xiomara Castro declares victory in Honduras presidential election
- ‘They need an awful lot of help’: why jobseeker isn’t enough when you’re battling cancer
- What does appearance of Omicron variant mean for the double-vaccinated?
- Sajid Javid outlines changes to Covid vaccine booster programme – video
- Omicron Covid variant cases expected to rise, says UK health minister – video
- Omicron variant is vaccine inequality wake-up call, says South Africa's President Ramaphosa – video
- Sajid Javid: Christmas will be 'great' despite Omicron variant concerns – video
| Covid live news: WHO says ‘very high’ global risk from Omicron; Poland announces new restrictions Posted: 29 Nov 2021 09:21 AM PST WHO briefing says mutations 'concerning for potential impact on pandemic trajectory'; Poland introduces new measures to protect against Omicron
G7 health ministers are to hold an emergency meeting on Monday on the new Omicron Covid-19 strain, as experts race to understand what the variant means for the fight to end the pandemic, AFP reports. The meeting was called by G7 chair Britain, which is among a steadily growing number of countries detecting cases of the heavily mutated new strain. Continue reading... |
| Jack Dorsey steps down as Twitter chief executive Posted: 29 Nov 2021 08:15 AM PST
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has stepped down from his executive role at the social media company. Dorsey will be replaced by chief technology officer (CTO) Parag Agrawal, the company announced on Monday. Continue reading... |
| Channel crossings are an English issue, says French minister Posted: 29 Nov 2021 07:51 AM PST UK accused of having a labour market akin to modern slavery that encourages people to make risky crossings Senior French ministers have accused the UK of operating a labour market akin to slavery and called on London to open safe routes for migrants, as the two governments continued to deflect blame for last week's drownings in the Channel. The criticism came hours after France's interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, held a crisis meeting with European ministers and border agencies to discuss the migrant emergency around the Channel ports. Continue reading... |
| Huge star atop Sagrada Família rekindles residents’ complaints Posted: 29 Nov 2021 04:52 AM PST Locals in Barcelona accuse religious foundation in charge of Gaudí's masterpiece of highhandedness A gigantic 12-pointed star was installed on Monday on one of the main towers of the basilica of the Sagrada Família, Antoni Gaudí's masterpiece that has been a work in progress since 1882. But the star is unlikely to brighten the mood of local residents whose lives have been blighted for years by the city's biggest tourist attraction, which before the pandemic brought 60,000 visitors a day to the area. Continue reading... |
| Chinese could hack data for future quantum decryption, report warns Posted: 29 Nov 2021 08:36 AM PST 'Threat groups' could target valuable secrets with aim of unlocking them when computing power allows Chinese hackers could target heavily encrypted datasets such as weapon designs or details of undercover intelligence officers with a view to unlocking them at a later date when quantum computing makes decryption possible, a report warns. Analysts at Booz Allen Hamilton, a consulting firm, say Chinese hackers could also steal pharmaceutical, chemical and material science research that can be processed by quantum computers – machines capable of crunching through numbers at unprecedented speed. Continue reading... |
| EU border agency deported record number of people in first half of 2021 Posted: 29 Nov 2021 07:38 AM PST Leaked Frontex report sparks concerns about people being sent back to face repression or war The EU border agency Frontex deported a record number of people in the first half of the year, according to a leaked document that has sparked concern about people being sent back to countries where they may face war or persecution. In a report issued to the EU Council of Ministers, Frontex said it had deported 8,239 non-EU nationals in the first six months of 2021, a record number and a 9% increase on the same period in 2019, before the pandemic hit global travel. Continue reading... |
| Ghislaine Maxwell sex-trafficking trial to go before jury on Monday Posted: 29 Nov 2021 07:16 AM PST Maxwell charged with six counts related to her alleged involvement in financier Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse of teen girls Ghislaine Maxwell's much-awaited sex trafficking trial in Manhattan will finally go before a jury on Monday, with opening statements. The panel of 12 jurors and six alternates that will weigh Maxwell's fate was decided around 10am local time. Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not guilty on six counts related to her alleged involvement in the late financier Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse of teen girls, some as young as 14. Continue reading... |
| Eitan Biran: cable car fall survivor must be returned to Italy, Israeli court rules Posted: 29 Nov 2021 09:05 AM PST Six-year-old boy has been at the centre of a bitter custody battle between relatives in Italy and Israel Israel's top court has ruled that a six-year-old boy who was the sole survivor of a cable car crash in northern Italy must be returned to relatives there within the next couple of weeks. Eitan Biran has been at the centre of a bitter custody battle between relatives in Italy and Israel since his parents were killed in the Stresa-Mottarone aerial tramway crash on 23 May. Continue reading... |
| Iran hopes to covertly advance its nuclear programme, says Israel Posted: 29 Nov 2021 07:37 AM PST Israeli foreign minister claims Tehran only agreed to restart talks to get sanctions removed Israel's foreign minister, Yair Lapid, has claimed his country's arch-enemy, Iran, had only agreed to restart nuclear negotiations to remove sanctions and covertly advance its weapons programme. Talks restarted in Vienna on Monday between Iran and the world's leading powers including Germany, France, the UK, China and Russia after a pause of five months. Continue reading... |
| Merkel’s punk pick for leaving ceremony raises eyebrows Posted: 29 Nov 2021 05:33 AM PST Outgoing German chancellor's choice of soundtrack for military tattoo hints at uncharted hinterland Angela Merkel has left Germans wondering how well they really know the chancellor who has governed them for 16 years, after picking a song by the punk rocker Nina Hagen as the soundtrack for her military leaving ceremony. Merkel, whose Social Democrat successor, Olaf Scholz, is expected to be sworn in as chancellor next week, will be given a customary military farewell in the courtyard outside the defence ministry on Thursday evening. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 29 Nov 2021 09:23 AM PST Health secretary says: 'If this variant is no more dangerous than Delta, then we won't keep measures in place for a day longer than necessary'
Sturgeon stresses that there is "a huge amount that we do not yet know" about the variant. The number of mutations suggest it might be more transmissible. But more data and analysis is required, and if it is more transmissible, they will have to find out by how much. Continue reading... |
| Nursing unions around world call for UN action on Covid vaccine patents Posted: 28 Nov 2021 10:00 PM PST Bodies in 28 countries file appeal for waiver of intellectual property agreement and end to 'grossly unjust' distribution of jabs Nursing unions in 28 countries have filed a formal appeal with the United Nations over the refusal of the UK, EU and others to temporarily waive patents for Covid vaccines, saying this has cost huge numbers of lives in developing nations. The letter, sent on Monday on behalf of unions representing more than 2.5 million healthcare workers, said staff have witnessed at first hand the "staggering numbers of deaths and the immense suffering caused by political inaction". Continue reading... |
| Joe Biden says Omicron Covid variant a ‘cause for concern, not panic’ – live Posted: 29 Nov 2021 09:20 AM PST
"If you are 18 years and older and got fully vaccinated before 1 June go get the get booster shot today," Joe Biden said today. "They're free and they're available at 80,000 locations coast to coast. A fully vaccinated booster person is the most protected against Covid. "Do not wait. Go get your booster if it's time for you to do so. And if you are not vaccinated, now is the time to go get vaccinated and to bring your children to go get vaccinated." Continue reading... |
| Novak Djokovic likely to skip Australian Open over vaccine mandate, says father Posted: 28 Nov 2021 08:23 PM PST
Novak Djokovic is unlikely to play at the Australian Open if rules on Covid-19 vaccinations are not relaxed, the world No 1's father, Srdjan Djokovic, said. Organisers of the year's first grand slam have said that all players will have to be vaccinated to take part. Continue reading... |
| Nurdles: the worst toxic waste you’ve probably never heard of Posted: 28 Nov 2021 11:15 PM PST Billions of these tiny plastic pellets are floating in the ocean, causing as much damage as oil spills, yet they are still not classified as hazardous When the X-Press Pearl container ship caught fire and sank in the Indian Ocean in May, Sri Lanka was terrified that the vessel's 350 tonnes of heavy fuel oil would spill into the ocean, causing an environmental disaster for the country's pristine coral reefs and fishing industry. Classified by the UN as Sri Lanka's "worst maritime disaster", the biggest impact was not caused by the heavy fuel oil. Nor was it the hazardous chemicals on board, which included nitric acid, caustic soda and methanol. The most "significant" harm, according to the UN, came from the spillage of 87 containers full of lentil-sized plastic pellets: nurdles. Continue reading...This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 29 Nov 2021 07:52 AM PST 'I'm completely happy that we fall within the noble tradition of the one-hit wonder in the UK' We had played the showcase night at New York's CBGB, but didn't stand out, so we tried instead playing alongside performance artists in East Village. People showing up to watch avant garde performance art bought our cassette, and we became part of this groovy little scene of really enthusiastic people. Continue reading... |
| ‘He was a god for us’: actors on being side by side with Stephen Sondheim Posted: 29 Nov 2021 08:22 AM PST Musical theatre stars Jenna Russell, Daniel Evans and Janie Dee remember working with their hero, and the unique demands and rewards of his songs So much of his work is about love. People talk about it being cold but as a teenage girl all I could feel from it was warmth. The songs are ridiculously rich. I'd play the original cast recording of Company again and again, in the front room. I remember my mum came in with her rubber gloves on and tears streaming down her face. She said: "Oh my god, I get it!" The song was Being Alive. Continue reading... |
| The big idea: Should we worry about artificial intelligence? Posted: 29 Nov 2021 12:00 AM PST Could AI turn on us, or is natural stupidity a greater threat to humanity? Ever since Garry Kasparov lost his second chess match against IBM's Deep Blue in 1997, the writing has been on the wall for humanity. Or so some like to think. Advances in artificial intelligence will lead – by some estimates, in only a few decades – to the development of superintelligent, sentient machines. Movies from The Terminator to The Matrix have portrayed this prospect as rather undesirable. But is this anything more than yet another sci-fi "Project Fear"? Some confusion is caused by two very different uses of the phrase artificial intelligence. The first sense is, essentially, a marketing one: anything computer software does that seems clever or usefully responsive – like Siri – is said to use "AI". The second sense, from which the first borrows its glamour, points to a future that does not yet exist, of machines with superhuman intellects. That is sometimes called AGI, for artificial general intelligence. Continue reading... |
| Nelson, BLM and new voices: why Barbados is ditching the Queen Posted: 28 Nov 2021 09:00 PM PST Michael Safi reports from the ground as island nation prepares to declare itself a republic The first time, he stumbled on it by accident, after following a dirt track through fields of sugar cane that came to a clearing. There was a sign, Hakeem Ward remembers, beneath which someone had left an offering. "The sign said it was a slave burial ground," he says. "We went and Googled it, and then I realised it was actually one of the biggest slave burial grounds in the western hemisphere." Continue reading... |
| Posted: 28 Nov 2021 10:00 PM PST We celebrate everything from Lil Nas X's conservative-baiting Montero to Wet Leg's instant indie classic – as voted for by 31 of the Guardian's music writers Continue reading... |
| ‘I feel inspired here’: refugees find business success in Naples Posted: 29 Nov 2021 03:28 AM PST From designing homewares to recording music, many who fled to Europe are building independent lives against the odds Pieces of fabric of various vibrant shades fill the Naples studio where Paboy Bojang and his team of four are working around the clock to stitch together 250 cushions for their next customer, The Conran Shop. They are not long from dispatching their first orders to Selfridges and Paul Smith, and with requests for the distinctive cotton cushions with ruffled borders flooding in from around the world, they will be busy for months to come. Continue reading... |
| Storm Arwen: thousands in UK face fourth night without power Posted: 29 Nov 2021 08:43 AM PST More than 150,000 homes without power on Monday, with damage thought to be worst since 2005 More than 150,000 homes across the UK were facing a fourth night without power after Storm Arwen wreaked havoc, bringing down trees and electricity lines. The Energy Networks Association (ENA) said damage caused by Friday's storm was some of the worst since 2005. More than a million homes lost power with 155,000 nationwide still waiting to be reconnected on Monday afternoon. Continue reading... |
| Botswana upholds ruling decriminalising same-sex relationships Posted: 29 Nov 2021 07:58 AM PST Court of appeal decision hailed as victory for LGBTQ+ community that could encourage other African countries to follow suit Gay rights campaigners expressed joy at the Botswana court of appeal's decision to uphold a ruling that decriminalised same-sex relationships, saying the country's judiciary had set an example for other African countries. The government had appealed a 2019 ruling that criminalising homosexuality was unconstitutional. The ruling had been hailed as a major victory for gay rights campaigners on the continent, following an unsuccessful attempt in Kenya to repeal colonial-era laws criminalising gay sex. Continue reading... |
| Xiomara Castro declares victory in Honduras presidential election Posted: 29 Nov 2021 08:58 AM PST Castro, expected to be country's first female president, has vowed to fight corruption and relax abortion laws The opposition candidate Xiomara Castro appears poised to become the first female president of Honduras in a landslide victory 12 years after her husband was forced from power in a military-backed coup. With results counted from just over half of precincts on Monday, Castro held a commanding 20-point lead over her nearest rival, Nasry Asfura of the ruling National party. Continue reading... |
| ‘They need an awful lot of help’: why jobseeker isn’t enough when you’re battling cancer Posted: 29 Nov 2021 08:30 AM PST The AMA has joined a growing push for better welfare for those with incapacitating but 'unstabilised' conditions such as cancer or poor mental health Since he was diagnosed with cancer in the middle of the year, Tim Hurley has been relying on the support of family and friends to get him to hospital five times a week. They've also brought him meals and helped cover the cost of medication and other essentials. Continue reading... |
| What does appearance of Omicron variant mean for the double-vaccinated? Posted: 28 Nov 2021 05:12 PM PST We find out how much protection Covid vaccines may offer amid speculation new variant could be more resistant The emergence of Omicron has prompted widespread speculation that it may be more resistant to Covid-19 vaccines than existing variants, including Delta. But what does that mean for the average double-vaccinated person? All the vaccines currently available in the UK work by training the immune system against the coronavirus spike protein – the key it uses to infect cells by binding to the ACE2 receptor. Omicron possesses more than 30 mutations in this protein, including 10 in the so-called "receptor-binding domain" (RBD) – the specific part that latches on to this receptor. Delta has two RBD mutations. Continue reading... |
| Sajid Javid outlines changes to Covid vaccine booster programme – video Posted: 29 Nov 2021 08:50 AM PST Sajid Javid has announced changes to the UK's coronavirus vaccine booster programme, including advising that all adults in the country should be offered third doses from just three months after their second vaccinations. Speaking in the Commons, the health secretary outlined this and other changes aimed at speeding up booster vaccinations as the government scrambles to limit the spread of the new Omicron variant Continue reading... |
| Omicron Covid variant cases expected to rise, says UK health minister – video Posted: 29 Nov 2021 03:15 AM PST The UK health minister, Edward Argar, has said he expects cases of the new Omicron Covid variant to rise after a number of infections were confirmed in Britain. New restrictions are being imposed this week in an attempt to limit the spread of the variant, first identified in South Africa, which scientists fear could be highly transmissible and evade some vaccine protections. Argar reiterated comments that ministers were hopeful that 'swift, precautionary steps' would mean no extra measures would be needed to combat the new variant.
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| Omicron variant is vaccine inequality wake-up call, says South Africa's President Ramaphosa – video Posted: 28 Nov 2021 01:05 PM PST South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has expressed disappointment at countries that have imposed travel bans on southern African countries after the emergence of a new Covid-19 variant. Omicron, named a 'variant of concern' by the World Health Organization on Friday, saw its first cases in South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong and is potentially more contagious than previous variants, although experts do not know yet if it will cause more severe illness Continue reading... |
| Sajid Javid: Christmas will be 'great' despite Omicron variant concerns – video Posted: 28 Nov 2021 04:45 AM PST Speaking on Sky's Trevor Phillips on Sunday programme, the health secretary said the government's measures, including compulsory masks on public transport and in shops, were 'proportionate and balanced' Continue reading... |
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