World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk |
- Switzerland at risk of EU blacklist after Credit Suisse leak
- Colombia legalises abortion in move celebrated as ‘historic victory’ by campaigners
- ‘We’re quite fed up’: Britons on weathering the aftermath of three storms
- Britney Spears lands ‘record-breaking’ book deal for tell-all memoir
- Easter Island Moai statue begins journey home, 150 years after removal to Santiago
- Women outperform men in Japanese medical school entrance exams, years after testing scandal
- Mauritius asks Google to label Chagos Islands as part of its territory
- China accuses Australian defence force of ‘spiteful’ actions after laser accusation
- Abandoned burning ship ‘had $400m cargo of luxury cars’
- Journalists’ group ‘dismayed’ by treatment at Beijing Winter Olympics
- Covid restrictions and free mass testing to end in England on 1 April
- ‘People are dying on the floor’: healthcare workers tell of Covid devastation in Solomon Islands
- Two years have passed since the Covid pandemic began but New Zealand ICUs still aren’t ready | Alex Psirides
- Queen to speak to PM in weekly update from self-isolation
- ‘Dumb and lazy’: the flawed films of Ukrainian ‘attacks’ made by Russia’s ‘fake factory’
- In my 30 years as a GP, the profession has been horribly eroded | Clare Gerada
- The hidden life of a farmer: playful cows, imperious sheep – and a grinding struggle for survival
- ‘The police don’t care’: gun violence engulfs Israel’s Arab community
- Mellow yellow – how a feelgood buttery brick revived a decaying 1960s estate
- How we met: ‘She was giving out free footballs, and I thought she was really beautiful’
- The big idea: how can we adapt to life with rising seas?
- Police review chief says ‘Betamax police’ stuck in the past
- Ukraine-Russia crisis live news: UK decides on sanctions as Putin orders troops over border
- Zimbabwe’s striking teachers told to return to work or lose their jobs
- Indigenous nations sue North Dakota over ‘sickening’ gerrymandering
- Australia news live updates: transport union calls on PM to apologise for strike comments; 34 Covid deaths recorded
- ‘We’re all hip-hop family’: the artists fighting to get Afghan breakdancers to safety
- Kurdish transgender woman shot by brother had been hiding from family
- ‘We are afraid’: Erin Brockovich pollutant linked to global electric car boom
- ‘Insightful and courageous’: Gabon activist Hervé Mombo Kinga dies of Covid
- Somalis in crowded camps on ‘brink of death’ as drought worsens
- Putin’s absurd, angry spectacle will be a turning point in his long reign
- Covid cost-cutting will put blinkers on our best Covid research
- Tory row over testing casts shadow over PM’s Covid announcement
- As New Zealand police face criticism over parliament protests, Canada could provide lessons | Dominic O'Sullivan
- Russian 'peacekeeping' claim is 'nonsense', US envoy tells UN – video
- Zelenskiy tells Ukrainians 'we are not afraid of anyone' – video
- Footage from Ukraine appears to show column of military vehicles – video
- Putin signs decree recognising Ukraine's two breakaway regions – video
- Life on Ukraine’s eastern frontier – in pictures
- Helicopter crashes into ocean at crowded Miami Beach, injuring two – video
- Passenger missing after ferry blaze in Greece found alive – video report
| Switzerland at risk of EU blacklist after Credit Suisse leak Posted: 21 Feb 2022 06:58 AM PST Apparent due diligence failures by Swiss bank prompts centre-right calls for EU to review relationship with Switzerland
The fallout from a huge leak of Credit Suisse banking data threatened to damage Switzerland's entire financial sector on Monday after the European parliament's main political grouping raised the prospect of adding the country to a money-laundering blacklist. The European People's party (EPP), the largest political grouping of the European parliament, called for the EU to review its relationship with Switzerland and consider whether it should be added to its list of countries associated with a high risk of financial crime. Continue reading... |
| Colombia legalises abortion in move celebrated as ‘historic victory’ by campaigners Posted: 21 Feb 2022 05:05 PM PST Colombia has decriminalised abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, following rulings in Mexico and Argentina that improve access to abortion Colombia has decriminalised abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, adding to a recent string of legal victories for reproductive rights in Latin America. The South American country's constitutional court ruled five against four to decriminalise the procedure on Monday evening. The decision follows a series of rulings in Mexico and Argentina that lowered barriers to abortion. Continue reading... |
| ‘We’re quite fed up’: Britons on weathering the aftermath of three storms Posted: 21 Feb 2022 10:00 PM PST From waterlogged cars to crushed roofs and powerless homes, the UK has been in a state of climate siege Flooding, power cuts and destruction to homes continue to impact people in parts of the country after three named storms struck the UK in a week. In Ashford in the Water, Derbyshire, cars remain stuck in a flooded road after Storm Franklin hit on Sunday. Martin Crapper, 62, said people in "countless cars" were trapped "in the freezing cold flood water in the dark" on the main road from Matlock to Buxton. Continue reading... |
| Britney Spears lands ‘record-breaking’ book deal for tell-all memoir Posted: 21 Feb 2022 05:12 PM PST Pop star's memoir was subject of a massive bidding war, and comes weeks after she sent a cease-and-desist letter to her sister over her own autobiography Britney Spears has landed a "record-breaking" publishing deal for a tell-all memoir about her rise to fame, her relationship with her family and her experience living under a conservatorship for more than a decade. Page Six reported on Monday that publisher Simon & Schuster had secured the deal for the pop star's memoir for as much as US$15m (£11m, A$20.8m) after a massive bidding war involving multiple publishers. Continue reading... |
| Easter Island Moai statue begins journey home, 150 years after removal to Santiago Posted: 21 Feb 2022 06:04 PM PST The return of the statue comes after a years-long campaign to have it returned to Rapa Nui, as Easter Island is known locally A huge Moai statue, one of the iconic stone monuments from Easter Island, began its journey back home on Monday, after being removed and taken to Santiago, where it has been housed since 1870. The return of the statue comes after a years-long campaign to have it returned to Rapa Nui, as Easter Island is known locally. Continue reading... |
| Women outperform men in Japanese medical school entrance exams, years after testing scandal Posted: 21 Feb 2022 08:04 PM PST More women qualified for places than men for first time since universities admitted to deliberately failing female applicants Japanese women have outperformed men in medical school entrance exams for the first time since universities admitted they had deliberately failed female applicants to inflate the number of male doctors. According to new government data, 13.6% of female candidates passed exams at 81 medical schools last spring, compared with 13.51% of men. Continue reading... |
| Mauritius asks Google to label Chagos Islands as part of its territory Posted: 21 Feb 2022 09:24 AM PST Row breaks out over Google Maps definition as UK insists it still maintains sovereignty When you are searching online for some of the remotest islands on the planet, it helps to get the name right. But a row has broken out over the labelling of the Chagos Islands on Google maps. The UK maintains that it still holds sovereignty over what it terms British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) – one of the smallest of red dots on the traditional cartographic globe. Continue reading... |
| China accuses Australian defence force of ‘spiteful’ actions after laser accusation Posted: 21 Feb 2022 03:53 PM PST Prime minister Scott Morrison says Australia makes 'no apology' for location of surveillance plane China's national defence ministry has accused the Australian defence force of "spiteful and provocative actions" as it brushed off the accusation that its warship had shone a laser at an Australian surveillance plane. But the Australian government hit back on Tuesday, confirming that the Australian plane had dropped buoys in the water to detect acoustic signals but only after the laser was detected. It said the Royal Australian Air Force had acted "within international law at all times". Continue reading... |
| Abandoned burning ship ‘had $400m cargo of luxury cars’ Posted: 21 Feb 2022 11:23 AM PST Estimate by insurers comes as Felicity Ace is 'still assumed to remain on fire south of the Azores' An abandoned ship that caught fire in the mid-Atlantic last week was carrying $401m (£295m) worth of cars, including Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini models, an insurance estimate has revealed. Felicity Ace, a specialist cargo ship carrying more than 4,000 cars, caught alight near the Azores on Wednesday evening. The vessel's 22 crew members were evacuated but the fire continued to burn for several days, fuelled by lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles on board. Continue reading... |
| Journalists’ group ‘dismayed’ by treatment at Beijing Winter Olympics Posted: 21 Feb 2022 07:26 AM PST Foreign Correspondents' Club of China says reporters tailed and manhandled by security despite assurances from Games officials Reporting conditions for journalists covering the Beijing Winter Olympics fell short of international standards despite assurances from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCCC) of China has said. The club said it was "dismayed" that at a time when global attention was trained on China more than ever the government and Olympic officials still failed to uphold their own rules on accredited foreign media. Instead "government interference occurred regularly during the Games", both inside and outside venues, when journalists tried to interview athletes and local residents. Continue reading... |
| Covid restrictions and free mass testing to end in England on 1 April Posted: 21 Feb 2022 09:42 AM PST Announcement by Boris Johnson shows Rishi Sunak has won out over Sajid Javid in cabinet battle over funding Covid laws and free mass testing are to be swept away across England after Rishi Sunak won a cabinet battle on cutting the cost of the pandemic, prompting fears that the poor and vulnerable will pay the price. Boris Johnson announced plans to end free testing for the general public from 1 April, saying it was time for people to "get our confidence back". Contact tracing will end from Thursday and contacts of people testing positive will no longer have to test or isolate. Schools and other education settings will no longer be advised to test twice-weekly, with immediate effect. NHS and social care staff will no longer get asymptomatic testing but this is expected to continue for patients and care home residents. Covid passports will be scrapped from 1 April, with venues no longer recommended to use them. They will still be available for international travel. The Office for National Statistics survey of Covid in the community will be maintained but in a slimmed-down version. The Vivaldi study on care homes and Panoramic study on antivirals will continue, the government insisted, although it was not clear how they will be funded and whether enough testing is being done to support them. Continue reading... |
| ‘People are dying on the floor’: healthcare workers tell of Covid devastation in Solomon Islands Posted: 21 Feb 2022 12:00 PM PST The Pacific country was coronavirus-free until last month but an outbreak of thousands of cases is overwhelming the health system Frontline health workers in Solomon Islands have warned that its health system is on the brink of collapse as the country struggles to deal with a devastating outbreak of Covid-19. A senior doctor and two nurses at the National Referral Hospital (NRH) in the capital of Honiara have told of how there are no beds for Covid patients – leading to people dying on the floor of the wards – as well as a lack of facilities and staff shortages that have led to Covid-positive nurses being recalled to work and probationary nurses tending to critically ill patients solo, when they should be supervised by a more senior nurse. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 21 Feb 2022 08:11 PM PST The inconvenient truth of the scarcity of ICU beds has been partially addressed by altering their definition There is a meme from 2016 of a dog sitting in a room engulfed in fire proclaiming "THIS IS FINE". It feels increasingly relevant to healthcare. As the flames of Covid rose around the world, the response from New Zealand continued to invoke international admiration. We could smell the smoke, but there was no fire. Within the healthcare sector, business – mostly – continued as usual. We knew it would not always be this way. Overseas we witnessed patients and colleagues disappearing under successive waves of case numbers, hospitalisations, intensive care admissions and deaths. Many of us applauded our national response which stood in stark opposition to strategies chosen elsewhere. Continue reading... |
| Queen to speak to PM in weekly update from self-isolation Posted: 21 Feb 2022 10:10 AM PST UK monarch tested positive for Covid, which is manifesting in 'mild cold-like symptoms' The Queen is expected to speak to Boris Johnson on Wednesday for her regular weekly update from the prime minister as she continues to recover from Covid-19. Audiences with foreign ambassadors are expected to go ahead – also on a virtual basis – as the monarch remains in self-isolation at her home in Windsor. Continue reading... |
| ‘Dumb and lazy’: the flawed films of Ukrainian ‘attacks’ made by Russia’s ‘fake factory’ Posted: 21 Feb 2022 01:01 PM PST Bellingcat founder Elliot Higgins says Russia's propaganda films have got worse but that Russian viewers, especially the older generation, tend to believe fake TV footage The video shows a ghostly scene. A night-time battle is taking place in a forest. There are flashes and mysterious bangs. An unidentified figure cries out in pain. The wounded man is wearing a helmet. Otherwise there are few clues as to where the footage was shot, or what exactly is going on. A TV report by Russia's state-run channel one gave the answer. The man seen in eerie silhouette was a Ukrainian saboteur, it said. He was part of a diversionary team sent across enemy lines into pro-Russian separatist territory. His mission? To blow up a local chlorine plant in the rebel-held town of Horlivka, the channel said. Continue reading... |
| In my 30 years as a GP, the profession has been horribly eroded | Clare Gerada Posted: 21 Feb 2022 10:00 PM PST As I finished the final house calls of my long career in general practice, it struck me how detached I am from my patients now – and that it was not always like this. Where did we go wrong, and what can we do to fix it? In December, I did my last day on call. My last ever out-of-hours session in general practice. In a 13-hour shift on Boxing Day, I did a lot of home visits, during which I offered advice and treatment for rashes, pains, Covid, injuries and infections. I saw newborn babies and I certified deaths. In addition to the usual workload, the pandemic meant filling in for absent colleagues who were shielding or infected with the virus. From 8am to 9pm, at the out-of-hours centre and on home visits, I didn't stop. The plastic container of leftover Christmas dinner I had brought with me remained unopened. This last day was in many ways symptomatic of the changes I have seen over the course of 30 years. Today, with advances of medicines and technology, patients are living longer, often with three or even four serious long-term conditions, so having one patient with heart failure, chronic respiratory problems, dementia and previous stroke is not at all unusual, whereas 30 years ago the heart failure might have carried them off in their 60s. This makes every patient much more complex, and it can be much harder to manage them and to get the balance of treatments right. Continue reading... |
| The hidden life of a farmer: playful cows, imperious sheep – and a grinding struggle for survival Posted: 21 Feb 2022 10:00 PM PST The UK has some of the cheapest food in the world, but thanks to spiralling costs and the effects of Brexit, farmers like Rachel Hallos are on the edge. She explains why she could soon lose the way of life she loves – and her family depends on The stereotype is that farmers are up with the crowing cockerel, but that's only really dairy farmers. Most days it is not until 7.45am that you'll find Rachel Hallos swinging open the door of Beeston Hall Farm in Ripponden, Yorkshire. Beeston Hall is a hill farm overlooking Baitings reservoir, which lies in the valley of the River Ryburn. The 800-hectare (2,000-acre) farm consists of steep fields demarcated by dry stone walls that crumble in a squall. The hill is crested by heather-covered moorland that turns purple in summer and copper in autumn. Hallos lives in a traditional Pennines farmhouse made out of handsome slabs of grey Yorkshire gritstone. A Brontë house, for Brontë country. Inside, wan light streams through single-pane windows on to a well-trodden oak staircase that creaks. Hallos steps outside, dressed in a padded waterproof coat and wellies. She is met by a cacophony of noise. Her terrier Jack yaps with shrill urgency. Jim, a border collie, barks incessantly. Hallos feeds the dogs and then the two scrawny black-and-white cats, which sleep in the outbuildings and yowl for treats at the kitchen window. She fills a sack with hay that is sweet-smelling and almost yeasty, from the fermentation process that takes place when it is stored in plastic for the winter months. She hoists the sack on to her shoulder like Father Christmas and takes it to feed Aiden and Danny, her dun geldings. The farm overlooks West Yorkshire moorland. Continue reading... |
| ‘The police don’t care’: gun violence engulfs Israel’s Arab community Posted: 21 Feb 2022 06:52 AM PST Number of Palestinians killed rises year on year as firearms stolen from Israeli military proliferate on streets There has been a break in the rain, and the sun is shining on the orange groves of Bir al-Maksur, a quiet Bedouin village near Nazareth in Israel's north. Three-year-old Ammar would have loved splashing in the winter puddles outside the Hujarat family's home, his aunt said. But two days before, the little boy was shot and killed in a playground by a stray bullet fired during a car chase, and the grieving family is trying to make sense of the way his life ended. Continue reading... |
| Mellow yellow – how a feelgood buttery brick revived a decaying 1960s estate Posted: 21 Feb 2022 10:00 PM PST A revolutionary, no-nonsense cooked clod of clay has given South Kilburn a new lease of life. But can the rest of the rundown estate live up to its refreshed streetscape? If 1960s housing was known for concrete panels, the 1980s for cartoonish pediments, and the 2000s for tacky (sometimes fatal) clip-on cladding, the current epoch will be remembered for bricks. But not just any old brick. It is a yellowish, biscuity brick, whose particular patina falls somewhere between a digestive and a Hobnob. It is a brick that summons strains of the traditional London stock and Cambridge gault, suggesting a crunchy, crumbly, wholesome goodness, no matter what actually lies behind the facade. It is the comforting Hovis ad of cladding choices, a no-nonsense cooked clod of clay, which comes with an unlikely name: Mystique. The irrepressible rise of the Mystique brick can be traced back to its use on one particular housing project in Cambridge, which won the Stirling prize in 2008. With its combination of terraced streets, mews houses and courtyards, the Accordia development was a refreshing bolt of common-sense design that would influence the next decade and more of British housing. In an age when new blocks of flats looked increasingly cheap, the low-rise buttery brickwork suggested a new era of weight, depth and permanence, a return to front doors on the street, housing as it used to be. Continue reading... |
| How we met: ‘She was giving out free footballs, and I thought she was really beautiful’ Posted: 21 Feb 2022 03:00 AM PST Nick met Tess in Bordeaux while watching Wales in the Euros. But it was only when she made a dash to their airport to see him off that they shared their first kiss In January 2016, Nick's mother died. He had only been living in Bristol for six months when it happened. "It was difficult because I didn't know many people," he says. A week later, his girlfriend dumped him by text. "It was a really bad time. I'd relocated from my home town of Wrexham to be a theatre operations manager, but I was lonely," he says. He decided to cheer himself up with a trip to France to watch Euro 2016, so, that summer, he travelled to Bordeaux with a friend. "We weren't able to get tickets, but the city had set up massive fan zones with huge screens for watching the games," he says. "We were supporting Wales in their game against Slovakia." All around, there were promotional stands giving out free merchandise. That's when Nick spotted Tess, a French student who was working as a host at the event. Continue reading... |
| The big idea: how can we adapt to life with rising seas? Posted: 21 Feb 2022 04:30 AM PST Traditional defences may fail, and migration won't be possible for everyone. But we may yet find more creative ways to live
Where will all those people, warehouses, water treatment plants and rail lines move to, given that the interior of large land masses will have become drier? The forced migration of hundreds of millions of people will undoubtedly lead to serious international conflict over space and basic resources like fresh water. Conflict is another word for war. Continue reading... |
| Police review chief says ‘Betamax police’ stuck in the past Posted: 21 Feb 2022 02:49 PM PST Chair of forthcoming strategic review says force must modernise to tackle blockchain-era criminals A "crisis of confidence in policing" can only be put right through fundamental reform or risk the end of policing by consent, the head of a review of the police service will warn on Tuesday. Sir Michael Barber, the chair of the Strategic Review of Policing in England and Wales, will say that a "Betamax police force" is unsuccessfully pursuing "blockchain-enabled criminals" as he urges modernisation of crime-fighting technology and new training for officers. Continue reading... |
| Ukraine-Russia crisis live news: UK decides on sanctions as Putin orders troops over border Posted: 21 Feb 2022 10:23 PM PST US ambassador to UN says Putin's claims about 'peacekeeping' operation are 'nonsense'; No 10 to hold emergency meeting; Ukraine president calls for peace and vows not to cede territory
Ukraine's defence minister says his country is "ready and able" to defend itself from Russia and says the world cannot be silent. "Sanctions? Another brick in the wall? New Berlin Wall?" Oleksii Reznikov tweeted Tuesday morning local time. Continue reading... |
| Zimbabwe’s striking teachers told to return to work or lose their jobs Posted: 21 Feb 2022 05:45 AM PST Government sets deadline for 135,000 teachers to end pay strike, ignoring court order, after year of school closures due to Covid The classrooms of Kambuzuma high school are deserted, with no staff to be seen and Tanaka Mupasiri*, 16, and his friends are milling around the school yard. It is 9am on a Thursday, normally a time when the school, in a high-density suburb or township on the outskirts of Harare, would be a hive of studious activity but Zimbabwe's national teachers' strike has thrown the education system into crisis. Teachers in state schools have not been at work since 7 February and face a government deadline of Tuesday to return or lose their jobs. Continue reading... |
| Indigenous nations sue North Dakota over ‘sickening’ gerrymandering Posted: 21 Feb 2022 02:27 PM PST The suit charges that diluting Indigenous power violates their voting rights and will handicap tribe members who run for office Days before a new legislative map for North Dakota was set to be introduced in the state house, leaders of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and Spirit Lake Nation sent a letter to the governor and other state lawmakers urging them to rethink the proposal. "All citizens deserve to have their voices heard and to be treated fairly and equally under the law," they wrote, arguing that the proposed map was illegal, diluting the strength of their communities' voice. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 21 Feb 2022 10:19 PM PST NSW government drops case against rail workers' union; Australia closes embassy in Lviv, Ukraine; political parties should 'stand as one' in condemning Russia, Labor says; Clive Palmer cancels press club appearance; at least 34 Covid deaths recorded. Follow the latest updates live
Jumping back to the Sydney train situation for a moment and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary, Alex Claassens, is discussing the return of limited train services with ABC News Breakfast: Apparently, where we ended up late last night was we negotiated an outcome where trains will run today. We finally managed to get the management team to see some common sense and today they will be operating a service roughly around the half-hour to 15-minute mark. They will then try and improve on that during the day. We will work together as much as we can to try to get as many trains on the tracks as we can, and you can imagine our disappointment yesterday morning when we got up like everybody else in Sydney to realise some genius had made a decision to cancel all of our train services. Continue reading... |
| ‘We’re all hip-hop family’: the artists fighting to get Afghan breakdancers to safety Posted: 21 Feb 2022 12:45 AM PST Nancy Yu, AKA Asia One is drawing on the hip-hop movement's activist roots to help a group of artists and their families escape the Taliban A veteran of the hip-hop scene and internationally celebrated breakdancer, Nancy Yu – AKA Asia One – has her fair share of people contacting her looking for advice. But the message she received in 2019 from a young Afghan was a little different. Frustrated by his breakdancing crew's inability to get visas to perform internationally, Moshtagh* was wondering if Asia could help. "He felt they were really good, but they felt, like, invisible to the world," she says. "I liked him. He wasn't trying to bug me or say 'we need this right now' … He seemed rather humble and honest." Continue reading... |
| Kurdish transgender woman shot by brother had been hiding from family Posted: 20 Feb 2022 10:30 PM PST Friends of Doski Azad said the 23-year-old makeup artist had received repeated death threats from male family members The Kurdish transgender woman Doski Azad shot dead by her brother last month had been living in hiding from her family after repeated death threats, friends have said. According to friends, Azad had had to move home regularly after several death threats by male members of her family. Continue reading... |
| ‘We are afraid’: Erin Brockovich pollutant linked to global electric car boom Posted: 18 Feb 2022 11:00 PM PST Exclusive: Investigation uncovers evidence of contaminated air and water from one of Indonesia's largest nickel mines A Guardian investigation into nickel mining and the electric vehicle industry has found evidence that a source of drinking water close to one of Indonesia's largest nickel mines is contaminated with unsafe levels of hexavalent chromium (Cr6), the cancer-causing chemical more widely known for its role in the Erin Brockovich story and film. The investigation also found evidence suggesting elevated levels of lung infections among people living close to the mine. Continue reading... |
| ‘Insightful and courageous’: Gabon activist Hervé Mombo Kinga dies of Covid Posted: 18 Feb 2022 04:01 AM PST Celebrated blogger had suffered ill health after spending 17 months in prison for speaking out against president Ali Bongo Hervé Mombo Kinga, the pro-democracy activist and celebrated blogger who spent 17 months in jail for insulting the Gabonese president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, was not impressed when he saw the pictures of the leader limping up the stairs of France's presidential palace. Kinga, who died last week at 47 after contracting Covid, was infuriated by the episode – widely shared in the west African country of Gabon, despite the embarrassment it caused the president, whose family has held power for more than five decades. Continue reading... |
| Somalis in crowded camps on ‘brink of death’ as drought worsens Posted: 17 Feb 2022 10:30 PM PST UN warns of looming catastrophe as hundreds of thousands more arrive at settlements that do not have enough food or water Somalia's displacement camps are coming under intense pressure with more than 300,000 people leaving their homes in search of food and water so far this year as the country experiences its worst drought in decades. People have been walking miles to camps, already home to those escaping the country's protracted violence, after three consecutive failed rainy seasons since October 2020 that have decimated crops and livestock. Somalia has more than 2,400 such settlements, which already lack resources. Continue reading... |
| Putin’s absurd, angry spectacle will be a turning point in his long reign Posted: 21 Feb 2022 12:30 PM PST This was a supreme leader marshalling his minions for a decision that will change the security architecture in Europe and may well lead to horrific war Sitting alone at a desk in a grand, columned Kremlin room, Vladimir Putin looked across an expanse of parquet floor at his security council and asked if anyone wished to express an alternative opinion. He was met with silence. Continue reading... |
| Covid cost-cutting will put blinkers on our best Covid research Posted: 21 Feb 2022 12:20 PM PST Analysis: several world-leading studies to guide future Covid care depend on widespread testing now threatened by government cuts After a bruising two years in which the UK failed to prove its resilience to a pandemic, the government hopes to re-cast the nation as a scientific superpower: a country that has built on the lessons of the crisis to deliver better research, more precision healthcare, and a more streamlined pathway to new drugs and vaccines. But the government's decision to substantially cut back on free Covid testing, as part of Boris Johnson's "living with Covid" strategy, already threatens to undermine pioneering trials and coronavirus surveillance that are the envy of other nations. Together, they are crucial for understanding how drugs keep patients out of hospital, how immunity is holding up in vulnerable care homes and hospitals and how the epidemic is unfolding around us. Continue reading... |
| Tory row over testing casts shadow over PM’s Covid announcement Posted: 21 Feb 2022 11:59 AM PST Analysis: cabinet colleagues horrified over wrangling between Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid Cabinet ministers were already waiting in No 10 on Monday morning when it became clear the sign-off for the prime minister's much-anticipated end to Covid regulations was not going to be as perfunctory as they had imagined. A festering row between Rishi Sunak's Treasury and Sajid Javid's health department was responsible, first reported by the Guardian last week and still unresolved. Continue reading... |
| Posted: 20 Feb 2022 08:34 PM PST Ottawa police have abandoned their policy of de-escalation against anti-Covid mandate demonstrators Today's action to cordon off the occupation of parliament's grounds and prevent it growing might go some way to restoring public confidence in the police, which has appeared to be eroding since the protests began a fortnight ago. So far, police have pursued a de-escalation strategy, but there have been calls for firmer action. The whole event has raised important questions about the relationship between the police and government, and about police independence and accountability. The police are an instrument of the crown […] but in the two principal roles of detecting and preventing crime and keeping the Queen's peace they act independently of the crown and serve only the law. Continue reading... |
| Russian 'peacekeeping' claim is 'nonsense', US envoy tells UN – video Posted: 21 Feb 2022 10:04 PM PST US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told an emergency UN security council meeting that Vladimir Putin's claim that Russian troops would take on a 'peacekeeping' role in the Donetsk and Lugansk areas was 'nonsense'. The late-night meeting took place after Putin recognised separatist areas of eastern Ukraine as independent. Member states called for diplomacy while Ukrainian representative Sergiy Kyslytsya called for an immediate withdrawal of occupation troops. 'The United Nations is sick. It has been hit by the virus spread by the Kremlin.' Continue reading... |
| Zelenskiy tells Ukrainians 'we are not afraid of anyone' – video Posted: 21 Feb 2022 08:00 PM PST Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Ukraine is 'not afraid of anyone or anything' after Russian president Vladimir Putin recognised separatist regions of eastern Ukraine as independent and then ordered in forces. 'Ukraine most certainly considers these last Russian actions as the violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country,' he said. 'All responsibility for all the consequences connected with the decision mentioned above lies on the Russian political leadership' Continue reading... |
| Footage from Ukraine appears to show column of military vehicles – video Posted: 21 Feb 2022 03:37 PM PST Video released by Ukraine appears to show a column of military vehicles with their headlights on moving in convoy along a road. The officials said it was not possible to tell if the troops belonged to the regular Russian army, or were from Russian-controlled separatist units Continue reading... |
| Putin signs decree recognising Ukraine's two breakaway regions – video Posted: 21 Feb 2022 01:11 PM PST Vladimir Putin has said Russia will recognise the independence of two territories of eastern Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). Following a televised address aired on the country's state-run news channel, Putin joined the leaders of the LPR and DPR to sign a decree recognising the independence of the two territories
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| Life on Ukraine’s eastern frontier – in pictures Posted: 20 Feb 2022 11:00 PM PST Alienated civilians, ruined homes and Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline Continue reading... |
| Helicopter crashes into ocean at crowded Miami Beach, injuring two – video Posted: 20 Feb 2022 05:55 PM PST A helicopter has crashed into the water off Miami Beach, just a few feet away from swimmers in a crowded stretch popular with tourists. A video shared by police captured the chopper descending over the ocean and crashing into the water as sunbathers packed the beach and others swam. Two of the three passengers onboard were taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition, police said, adding that no one else appeared to be injured Continue reading... |
| Passenger missing after ferry blaze in Greece found alive – video report Posted: 20 Feb 2022 09:10 AM PST A passenger listed as missing after a blaze swept through a ferry sailing from Greece to Italy has been found alive by rescuers, a Greek shipping ministry official said on Sunday. The Greek coast guard rescued 280 of the 292 passengers and crew onboard when the blaze broke out on the Italian-flagged Euroferry Olympic early on Friday. It was en route from the Greek port of Igoumenitsa to the Italian port of Brindisi. According to the ferry operator and Greek authorities, 11 passengers are still missing Continue reading... |
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