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- Ukraine urges west to be ‘vigilant and firm’ in Russia talks
- ‘For the stability of Italy’: Sergio Mattarella could be re-elected president
- PM awaits Sue Gray report as Tory MP claims Met is ‘abusing power’
- Ash Barty beats Collins to end 44-year wait for home Australian Open winner
- Long Covid study finds abnormality in lungs that could explain breathlessness
- Splits in left are set to boost far-right TV pundit in Portugal’s snap election
- Myanmar’s junta torching ‘village after village’ in bid to quell opposition
- Pregnant New Zealand journalist stranded by quarantine rules says she turned to Taliban
- Nor’easter lashes eastern US with snow and wind gusts near hurricane force
- Superyacht sales surge prompts fresh calls for curbs on their emissions
- James Blunt jokes he will release new music on Spotify in Rogan protest
- Covid live: UK government reports a further 72,727 cases and 296 deaths; Russian daily infections above 100,000 for first time
- ‘We are so tired’: US parents and doctors say kids under five left behind in Covid vaccine race
- Beijing Winter Olympics reports jump in daily Covid cases
- How the UK government lost £4.9bn to Covid loan fraud
- What your smart TV knows about you – and how to stop it harvesting data
- Golden years: what was the greatest 12 months for pop culture?
- I reclaimed my birth name – and discovered why what we call ourselves really matters
- ‘This is just hysteria’: Russians unmoved by threat of Ukraine conflict
- ‘Beginnings got lost’: fabled Aboriginal art on show 40 years after disappearance
- ‘I’m really just high on life and beauty’: the woman who can see 100 million colours
- ‘The day I left was the saddest of my life’: EU nationals on the pain of leaving UK
- Two people killed by falling trees as Storm Malik hits northern parts of UK
- ‘More than wonderful’ … Gaza bookshop to reopen after unexpectedly successful global campaign
- Letter: Richard Leakey obituary
- Liborio review – fascinating account of a true-life Dominican folk hero
- ‘It has been three years’: Australian activist’s wife pleads for government help in freeing him from Vietnam jail
- ‘Stranded’: horror month for Australian homelessness services as Omicron ravages sector
- Protests flare across Poland after death of young mother denied an abortion
- ‘We just sleep and hope we don’t perish’: 2m in Tigray in urgent need of food – UN
- Illegal logging threatens Cambodia’s indigenous people, says Amnesty
- West accused of ‘climate hypocrisy’ as emissions dwarf those of poor countries
- Poland starts building wall through protected forest at Belarus border
- Childcare spending not your responsibility, senator? What fine Republican hypocrisy | Poppy Noor
- Thailand tries to contain 'disaster' oil spill from undersea pipeline – video
- Joe Biden visits Pittsburgh bridge, collapsed hours before infrastructure speech – video
- Storm Ana: heavy floods hit southern Africa after week of torrential rain – video
- NSW Covid update: 35 additional deaths in south-west Sydney aged care facilities this year – video
- Has China fallen into a Covid-zero trap?
- NSW Covid-19 update: Hazzard says it’s ‘ridiculous’ not enough people getting their booster – video
| Ukraine urges west to be ‘vigilant and firm’ in Russia talks Posted: 29 Jan 2022 10:32 AM PST US president announces small troop deployment to eastern Europe amid fears of invasion Kyiv has urged the west to remain "vigilant and firm" in its talks with Russia, as Joe Biden announced a small troop deployment to eastern Europe amid fears Moscow could invade Ukraine. Washington's top defence officials warned on Friday that the Kremlin had massed enough troops and hardware at the border to threaten the whole of Ukraine, but called for further diplomatic efforts to avert a "horrific" conflict. Continue reading... |
| ‘For the stability of Italy’: Sergio Mattarella could be re-elected president Posted: 29 Jan 2022 06:26 AM PST 80-year-old says he does not want a new term, but political divisions risk leaving the country without direction Sergio Mattarella could be re-elected as Italy's president, ending days of a farcical parliamentary voting process that has exposed deep divisions within the governing coalition. Mattarella has been asked by leaders of the ruling parties to stay on as head of state after they failed to reach agreement on a candidate who could secure broad support from the 1,009 parliamentarians and regional representatives electing the president. Continue reading... |
| PM awaits Sue Gray report as Tory MP claims Met is ‘abusing power’ Posted: 29 Jan 2022 04:06 AM PST Redacted version reportedly to be sent to Johnson over weekend amid further calls for it to be released in entirety The inquiry into Downing Street parties could be shared with Boris Johnson as soon as this weekend as cross-party demands mount for the report to be published in its entirety after an intervention by Scotland Yard. The timeline for the publication of the long-awaited report by the senior civil servant Sue Gray on alleged lockdown breaches at Downing Street and Whitehall was thrown into question this week when the Metropolitan police announced on Tuesday that a criminal investigation had been launched. Continue reading... |
| Ash Barty beats Collins to end 44-year wait for home Australian Open winner Posted: 29 Jan 2022 02:17 AM PST
When Ash Barty took her first steps on to Rod Laver Arena for her first Australian Open final, there was already no doubt about the completeness of her game, the integrity with which she carries herself and the historic career she is building before our eyes. But it still remained to be seen how she would handle and digest a moment like nothing before it. She did so with the composure of a champion who could go on to win so much more. Before a crowd that lived every moment with her, Barty calmly navigated the fire of Danielle Collins, recovering from a 5-1 second-set deficit to win 6-3, 7-6 (2) and clinch the Australian Open for the first time. She is the first Australian to win an Australian Open singles title since Chris O'Neil in 1978. She did not drop a set. With three grand-slam titles to her name, Barty has joined Serena Williams as the only active women's players to hold grand slam titles on all three surfaces. Continue reading... |
| Long Covid study finds abnormality in lungs that could explain breathlessness Posted: 28 Jan 2022 10:00 PM PST Findings raise possibility Covid may cause microscopic damage not detected by normal tests Abnormalities have been identified in the lungs of long Covid patients that could offer a potential explanation for why some people experience breathlessness long after their initial infection. The findings, from a pilot study involving 36 patients, raise the possibility that Covid may cause microscopic damage to the lungs that is not detected using routine tests. Continue reading... |
| Splits in left are set to boost far-right TV pundit in Portugal’s snap election Posted: 29 Jan 2022 04:33 AM PST As support grows for André Ventura, Socialist party has lost ground to centre-right PSD after row over budget with its allies Between greeting regulars at the busy Lisbon bakery where she has worked for two decades – and reaching instinctively for their orders as soon as they cross the threshold – Susana Santos offers her thoughts on an imminent, and altogether less welcome, encounter. Like many of her compatriots, she does not relish the idea of Sunday's snap general election, which arrives amid a stubbornly lingering pandemic and during a time of economic upheaval and political uncertainty. Continue reading... |
| Myanmar’s junta torching ‘village after village’ in bid to quell opposition Posted: 29 Jan 2022 07:00 AM PST After a year in power, evidence is growing of regime scorched-earth tactics to terrorise the civilian population On the morning of 6 January, Boi Van Thang set out on a motorbike across the mountainous terrain of Chin state in western Myanmar. He would travel to a nearby village, he told his wife, and bring back meat for her and their seven children. He never returned. Three days later his wife, Thida Htwe, received a call. Boi Van Thang's body had been found. The bodies of eight other men and one boy had also been discovered. Continue reading... |
| Pregnant New Zealand journalist stranded by quarantine rules says she turned to Taliban Posted: 29 Jan 2022 10:21 AM PST Charlotte Bellis says group offered her safe haven while quarantine backlog prevented return home A pregnant New Zealand journalist says she has had to turn to the Taliban for help after being prevented from returning to her home country due to quarantine rules. In a column published in the New Zealand Herald on Saturday, Charlotte Bellis said it was "brutally ironic" that she had once questioned the Taliban about their treatment of women and she was now asking the same questions of her own government. Continue reading... |
| Nor’easter lashes eastern US with snow and wind gusts near hurricane force Posted: 29 Jan 2022 10:34 AM PST
A powerful nor'easter storm swept up the US east coast on Saturday, bringing deep snow and wind gusts near hurricane force, causing coastal flooding and threatening widespread power outages. Forecasters warned conditions would worsen as the day went on. Parts of 10 states and major population centers including Philadelphia, New York and Boston took heavy hits. Continue reading... |
| Superyacht sales surge prompts fresh calls for curbs on their emissions Posted: 29 Jan 2022 09:03 AM PST Campaigners say a superyacht can produce 1,500 times more carbon than a typical family car, and the polluters should pay The rising fortunes of the world's billionaires during the pandemic helped fuel a record £5.3bn in superyacht sales last year, prompting calls for new curbs on their emissions. New figures reveal that 887 superyachts were sold in 2021, an increase of more than 75% compared with the previous year. Yachting brokers say some of the demand has been from wealthy clients seeking a secure refuge from the pandemic. Continue reading... |
| James Blunt jokes he will release new music on Spotify in Rogan protest Posted: 29 Jan 2022 07:52 AM PST Singer-songwriter adds his own twist to boycott by Joni Mitchell and Neil Young over platform's promotion of anti-vax podcasts James Blunt has jokily threatened to release new music on Spotify if the audio streaming service does not remove a podcast by the US commentator Joe Rogan that has been criticised for promoting anti-vax views. The English singer-songwriter wrote on Twitter on Saturday: Continue reading... |
| Posted: 29 Jan 2022 11:29 AM PST Daily figures for UK are lowest since mid-December; Japanese infections set record for fifth consecutive day
In the UK, a heavily redacted report by the senior civil servant Sue Gray on parties at Downing Street will be published imminently, the Guardian understands. It comes after Scotland Yard provoked fury and confusion by revealing it had demanded key details of the worst offending be removed. MPs labelled the Metropolitan police a broken organisation after the force admitted it had asked Gray to make "minimal reference" in her inquiry report to matters its officers were now investigating. Continue reading... |
| ‘We are so tired’: US parents and doctors say kids under five left behind in Covid vaccine race Posted: 29 Jan 2022 02:00 AM PST Child Covid cases have increased dramatically due to Omicron, yet no vaccine seems on the horizon for this age group Four-year-old Joanna Gillikin likes to watch Ada Twist, Scientist, a Netflix children's show about a young girl with a giant interest in science. So when Matthew Gillikin and his wife, Shannon, enrolled Joanna in a trial in Charlottesville, Virginia, for the Pfizer vaccine against Covid-19, they described it to her as a science experiment, like the ones Ada does. Continue reading... |
| Beijing Winter Olympics reports jump in daily Covid cases Posted: 29 Jan 2022 02:08 AM PST Number of infections rises by 19 as Games organisers warn of more cases in coming days China has reported a jump in Covid cases among athletes and team officials at the Beijing Winter Olympics. The number of daily Covid infections rose to 19 on Friday from two a day earlier, and Games organisers said more cases could be expected in the coming days. Continue reading... |
| How the UK government lost £4.9bn to Covid loan fraud Posted: 28 Jan 2022 11:00 PM PST The race to fund the lockdown economy ensured speed trumped due diligence, leaving the taxpayer wide open to fraud In the final days of April 2020, bankers and Treasury officials were huddled over laptops in makeshift home offices across the country, negotiating the terms of what is fast becoming the most controversial of the government's pandemic rescue schemes. The country was in its sixth week of national lockdown after the Covid outbreak, and the Treasury's head of banking and credit, David Raw, was leading video calls with more than 20 senior staff from across government and the City – including the big banks HSBC, NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds, Santander, Virgin Money and AIB – to try to push through the chancellor Rishi Sunak's ambitious plan for a more accessible, 100% government-backed small business loan scheme. Continue reading... |
| What your smart TV knows about you – and how to stop it harvesting data Posted: 29 Jan 2022 09:00 AM PST Modern TVs gather data that can be monetised. How much of this surveillance can you avoid without turning your smart TV dumb? Watching TV feels like a benign pastime, but as all TVs become "smart" – connected to the internet via your router – they are gaining the ability to watch you too. As soon as you switch them on, smart TVs made by the likes of LG, Samsung and Sony are gathering data from the TV itself, as well as from the operating system and apps. Then there are the devices you plug into your TV, such as Google's Chromecast, Apple TV and Amazon's Fire Stick. A TV is no longer just a device for showing you content – it has become a two-way mirror allowing you to be observed in real time by a network of advertisers and data brokers, says Rowenna Fielding, director of data protection consultancy Miss IG Geek. "The purpose of this is to gather as much information as possible about your behaviour, interests, preferences and demographics so it can be monetised, mainly through targeted advertising." Continue reading... |
| Golden years: what was the greatest 12 months for pop culture? Posted: 28 Jan 2022 10:00 PM PST Is it 1965, with Dylan, the Stones and James Brown? 1984, with Eddie Murphy and Madonna? Or 1999, with The Sopranos and Britney v Christina? Writers and critics stake their claim for the most important ever Continue reading... |
| I reclaimed my birth name – and discovered why what we call ourselves really matters Posted: 29 Jan 2022 08:00 AM PST For the first 25 years of my life everyone called me Mandy – and it felt completely wrong My name is Camilla, so why, for the first 25 years of my life, did everyone call me Mandy? My Jamaican mother loathed the name Camilla. She said my Nigerian father chose the name, but she thought Camilla sounded too damn serious and upper-class. And she was right. Growing up in Luton in the 70s and 80s, there weren't too many Camillas knocking about the council estates of Bedfordshire. My friends' names were plain and simple. They were called Debbie, Tracey, Jean. They were easy on the ear. Or their names were culturally appropriate – Jyoti, Shabana, Patience. But Camilla? It might have been the name written on my birth certificate, but my mother had other ideas. She had a plan. And it was hatched in the months after my birth – a new name. But there were caveats. Unlike Camilla, the new name had to be popular, jolly and understated, with preferably two syllables. So, she drew up a list of potentials: Donna, Paula, Charmaine, Joanne. Then bingo, she came up with the name: Mandy. Not Amanda, but Mandy. Plain. Simple. Easy on the ear, Mandy. Camilla wasn't changed by deed poll, instead, my unofficial "new name" seeped into everyday life. Mandy seamlessly embedded itself on to the register at primary and secondary school, university and around the water cooler. The name Camilla became a relic of the past, a family joke, dragged out at Christmas like eggnog. Continue reading... |
| ‘This is just hysteria’: Russians unmoved by threat of Ukraine conflict Posted: 28 Jan 2022 09:00 PM PST As Russia approaches war, in Moscow it feels as if the public has barely taken note Choral music wafted through the nave of the Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces as Alexei Rozhkov, a visiting priest, considered the question: was Russia standing on the precipice of a new great conflict in Ukraine? "There won't be a war – there can't," he said quickly, glancing up at the skylights of stained glass depicting Soviet medals and religious symbols on the ceiling. Continue reading... |
| ‘Beginnings got lost’: fabled Aboriginal art on show 40 years after disappearance Posted: 29 Jan 2022 11:00 AM PST Important paintings lay forgotten in storage since the early 80s until their discovery, muddy and mouldy, but intact Balgo is Country for all of us now. We were all born here, these generations here today. We are Wirrimanu kids. We belong to Balgo. That's what we paint. That's why we paint. This is our story." John Carty opened his email and downloaded the images. They were photos of paintings, found in a shipping container somewhere in the Kimberley. They were muddy and water damaged, but recognisable. Continue reading... |
| ‘I’m really just high on life and beauty’: the woman who can see 100 million colours Posted: 29 Jan 2022 11:00 AM PST As a kid, Concetta Antico was always 'a bit out of the box', but it took decades for her to discover just how differently she was seeing the world
It would be easy to look at the vivid array of colour contained in the paintings of artist Concetta Antico and assume she is using artistic licence. The trunks of her eucalyptus trees are hued with violet and mauve; the yellow crest on her cockatoo has hints of green and blue; the hypercolour of a garden landscape looks almost psychedelic. "It's not just an affectation and it's not artistic licence," says Antico. "I'm actually painting exactly what I see. If it's a pink flower and then all of a sudden you see a bit of lilac or blue, I actually saw that." Continue reading... |
| ‘The day I left was the saddest of my life’: EU nationals on the pain of leaving UK Posted: 29 Jan 2022 02:00 AM PST They miss the trees, the curry, the friends … but most of all, they miss feeling the UK was somewhere they could call home Everyone misses something. For some, it's quite specific: PG Tips, Branston pickle, proper curry. For many, it's more intangible: the atmosphere of an English pub; that greenness, everywhere; tolerance; and British openness. Then they pause. Actually, many formerly British-resident EU nationals say, what they miss is an idea. Or, to be precise, the idea of Britain they had before 24 June 2016: all of them remember, in painful, pin-sharp detail, how they felt, and what they did, the morning after. Continue reading... |
| Two people killed by falling trees as Storm Malik hits northern parts of UK Posted: 29 Jan 2022 10:47 AM PST Winds of more than 100mph reported in parts of Scotland, with widespread disruption to travel and power supplies Two people have been killed by falling trees as Storm Malik battered northern parts of the UK on Saturday, cutting off power from thousands and causing widespread disruption. A nine-year-old boy died in hospital after a tree fell on him and a man in Winnothdale, near Stoke. Emergency services were called at 1pm on Saturday, and they were taken to the Royal Stoke university hospital. The man is still receiving treatment. Continue reading... |
| ‘More than wonderful’ … Gaza bookshop to reopen after unexpectedly successful global campaign Posted: 28 Jan 2022 08:23 AM PST After it was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes, Samir Mansour's beloved book store has been rebuilt and restocked, as tens of thousands of books flood in from around the world Tens of thousands of donated books have started to arrive at the new location of a Gaza bookshop that was destroyed by Israeli air strikes last year, and owner Samir Mansour now plans to reopen its doors next month. The two-storey Samir Mansour bookshop, which was reduced to rubble last May, had been founded by the Palestinian Mansour 22 years ago and was a beloved part of the local community. Its destruction during the 11-day conflict, which killed more than 250 people in Gaza and 13 in Israel, prompted a campaign that raised $250,000 (£187,000) to help rebuild it, plus donations of 150,000 books. The Israeli military has said that the store was not its target, claiming that the building that housed it also contained a Hamas facility for producing weapons and intelligence-gathering. Continue reading... |
| Letter: Richard Leakey obituary Posted: 28 Jan 2022 08:02 AM PST Through my father, Kenneth Oakley, a palaeontologist most famous for helping expose the Piltdown skull hoax, I met all manner of distinguished scientists and other significant figures, but none made as much impression as Richard Leakey, and that was when he was just a kid. Leakey's parents, Louis and Mary, had been invited to lunch at our home in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, and a somewhat resistant Richard had been brought along in tow. A couple of years older than me, he ignored me completely, but I could see even then that he had charisma and would go far. Continue reading... |
| Liborio review – fascinating account of a true-life Dominican folk hero Posted: 29 Jan 2022 03:24 AM PST A faith healer in the Dominican Republic falls foul of the US in this arresting, ambiguous drama Here's a striking and mysterious debut from the Dominican Republic, where film-maker Nino Martínez Sosa recounts a fascinating true-life story of occupation and resistance from the turn of the last century. Olivorio Mateo was a peasant and faith healer who became known to his disciples as Papa Liborio; he built a self-sufficient community in the mountains. But when US forces occupied in the 1910s, Liborio was branded a bandit, and killed. Not that you'd know any of the historical facts from watching this, which is set squarely in the arthouse endurance-test genre: there is little to no scene-setting or explainers, with the kind of pacing often euphemistically described by critics as "deliberate". It begins after Liborio vanishes from his village during a hurricane, presumed dead. When he is found alive, he claims to have returned from God with healing powers and takes a band of followers up into the mountains. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 29 Jan 2022 11:00 AM PST Chau Van Kham's family urges Australian government to intervene as 72-year-old remains in prison for his pro-democracy work The Vietnamese New Year, Tet Nguyen Dan, is a time of family reunion and feasting, of wishes of good fortune and health. For three years now, Quynh Trang Truong has spent the Tet festival without her husband, Chau Van Kham, who languishes in a Vietnamese prison on terrorism charges, described by human rights groups as a "travesty of justice". Continue reading... |
| ‘Stranded’: horror month for Australian homelessness services as Omicron ravages sector Posted: 29 Jan 2022 11:00 AM PST Amid staff shortages and rapid test requirements services say they feel frustrated by lack of government support Stephanie Oatley recalls a day in late December when she needed to get a whole unit of young people experiencing homelessness tested for Covid. "We had a young person who started showing symptoms, and a second young person got an itchy throat," says Oatley. "In the van they hopped. There was only one place open … They got there at 9am, and waited for nine hours." Continue reading... |
| Protests flare across Poland after death of young mother denied an abortion Posted: 28 Jan 2022 05:10 AM PST Family of Agnieszka T say they want to 'save other women in Poland from a similar fate', as case met with anger over restrictive termination laws Protests are under way across Poland after the death of a 37-year-old woman this week who was refused an abortion, a year since the country introduced one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe. On the streets of Warsaw on Tuesday night, protesters laid wreaths and lanterns in memory of Agnieszka T, who died earlier that day. She was pregnant with twins when one of the foetus' heartbeat stopped and doctors refused to carry out an abortion. In a statement, her family accused the government of having "blood on its hands". Further protests are planned in Częstochowa, the city in southern Poland where the mother-of-three was from. Continue reading... |
| ‘We just sleep and hope we don’t perish’: 2m in Tigray in urgent need of food – UN Posted: 28 Jan 2022 04:05 AM PST Aid workers call for 'humanitarian pause' so crucial supplies can be delivered, after first assessment of hunger in the region since war broke out At least 2 million people in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray are suffering from an extreme lack of food, with the 15-month conflict between rebel and government forces pushing families to the brink, the UN's emergency food agency has found. In the first comprehensive assessment the World Food Programme (WFP) has carried out in Tigray since the start of the war, 37% of the population were found to be severely food insecure, meaning they had at times run out of food and gone a day or more without eating. Continue reading... |
| Illegal logging threatens Cambodia’s indigenous people, says Amnesty Posted: 28 Jan 2022 01:54 AM PST Country's 'corrupt' approach to conservation leaves protected forests facing 'oblivion', human rights watchdog warns Rampant illegal logging of protected forests is threatening the cultural survival and livelihoods of indigenous people in Cambodia, according to Amnesty International. Members of the Kuy people, one of the largest of Cambodia's 24 indigenous groups, told Amnesty how deforestation in two protected forests, along with government restrictions on access have undermined their way of life and violated their human rights. Continue reading... |
| West accused of ‘climate hypocrisy’ as emissions dwarf those of poor countries Posted: 27 Jan 2022 11:30 PM PST Average Briton produces more carbon in two days than Congolese person does in entire year, study finds In the first two days of January, the average Briton was already responsible for more carbon dioxide emissions than someone from the Democratic Republic of the Congo would produce in an entire year, according to analysis by the Center for Global Development (CGD). The study, which highlights the "vast energy inequality" between rich and poor countries, found that each Briton produces 200 times the climate emissions of the average Congolese person, with people in the US producing 585 times as much. By the end of January, the carbon emitted by someone living in the UK will surpass the annual emissions of citizens of 30 low- and middle-income countries, it found. Continue reading... |
| Poland starts building wall through protected forest at Belarus border Posted: 27 Jan 2022 08:58 AM PST Barrier will stretch for almost half the length of the border and cost 10 times migration department's budget Poland has started building a wall along its frontier with Belarus aimed at preventing asylum seekers from entering the country, which cuts through a protected forest and Unesco world heritage site. The Polish border guard said the barrier would measure 186km (115 miles), almost half the length of the border shared by the two countries, reach up to 5.5 metres (18ft) and cost €353m (£293m). It will be equipped with motion detectors and thermal cameras. Continue reading... |
| Childcare spending not your responsibility, senator? What fine Republican hypocrisy | Poppy Noor Posted: 27 Jan 2022 01:27 PM PST Ron Johnson doesn't believe the state should give help to parents – but he's very keen to stop a woman's right to choose Ron Johnson, the US senator for hot takes, famed for such hits as "[the Capitol riot] seemed like a peaceful protest to me" and "mouthwash has been proven to kill the coronavirus", is at it again. On Wednesday, Johnson, the senior Republican senator from Wisconsin, told local news station WKBT: "People decide to have families and become parents. That's something they need to consider when they make that choice." He continued: "I've never really felt it was society's responsibility to take care of other people's children." Continue reading... |
| Thailand tries to contain 'disaster' oil spill from undersea pipeline – video Posted: 29 Jan 2022 09:29 AM PST A beach in eastern Thailand has been declared a disaster area as oil leaking from an underwater pipeline in the Gulf of Thailand continues to wash ashore and blacken the sand. The leak, from a pipeline owned by Star Petroleum Refining, started late on Tuesday and was brought under control a day later after spilling an estimated 50,000 litres (11,000 gallons) of oil into the ocean about 12 miles (20km) from the country's industrialised eastern seaboard Continue reading... |
| Joe Biden visits Pittsburgh bridge, collapsed hours before infrastructure speech – video Posted: 28 Jan 2022 02:38 PM PST Joe Biden visited the site where one of Pittsburgh's major car bridges collapsed hours before speaking about it in an infrastructure schedule speech in Pennsylvania, on Friday. At about 7am, the 477ft-long bridge on Forbes Avenue caved in, leaving a mass of concrete rubble and twisted metal as a visual metaphor for America's crumbling infrastructure. At least 10 people were injured, three taken to hospital, and a bus and several cars left stranded in the wreckage Continue reading... |
| Storm Ana: heavy floods hit southern Africa after week of torrential rain – video Posted: 28 Jan 2022 05:07 AM PST The death toll from tropical Storm Ana, which struck three southern African countries, has risen to 77 as emergency teams work to repair damaged infrastructure and help tens of thousands of people. Ana made landfall in Madagascar on Monday before tracking across Mozambique and Malawi during the week, bringing high winds and torrential rain Continue reading... |
| NSW Covid update: 35 additional deaths in south-west Sydney aged care facilities this year – video Posted: 27 Jan 2022 07:18 PM PST New South Wales has reported 35 deaths in people with Covid-19 overnight, 2,737 people in hospital and 13,333 new cases. Kerry Chant said another 35 people, in addition to those previously reported, had died in aged care facilities in south-western Sydney between 2 and 20 January. There was a delay in reporting those deaths to the health department, she said ► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube
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| Has China fallen into a Covid-zero trap? Posted: 27 Jan 2022 07:00 PM PST From the beginning, China's response to coronavirus has been to quash outbreaks with ultra-strict lockdowns. But has the Omicron variant left its leaders trapped in the wrong strategy? Ever since the first Covid-19 outbreak was detected in Wuhan, China has countered the virus with incredibly harsh social measures designed to restrict interpersonal contact and eliminate opportunities for the disease to spread. Closed borders, mass testing and entire neighbourhoods and cities quarantined in response to a single case – that's what it has taken to maintain China's strict "Covid zero" policy. And it's been successful: officially, China's lost fewer than 5,000 people to coronavirus since the start of the pandemic – that's fewer than the number of people in the US killed by the virus in the past week. As our China affairs correspondent, Vincent Ni, tells Michael Safi, for Chinese leaders, Covid zero isn't just a policy – it's a major achievement for their authoritarian system of government. But with the mutation of the Omicron variant now causing shutdowns in cities across the country, Covid zero is presenting officials with a new dilemma: what's the exit strategy? Continue reading... |
| NSW Covid-19 update: Hazzard says it’s ‘ridiculous’ not enough people getting their booster – video Posted: 26 Jan 2022 06:26 PM PST NSW health minister Brad Hazzard said the number of people turning up to get their Covid-19 boosters 'are not where we need them to be'. Addressing the media outside Sydney's Royal North Shore hospital, he said, 'there are seven people in ICU and not one of them has had the booster'. Hazzard said it was 'ridiculous' that health staff were being diverted to work in vaccine hubs when only a handful of people were turning up. NSW Health deputy secretary Susan Pearce said appointments were 'going begging' but that doses were not being wasted ► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube Continue reading... |
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