Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
No one wants a noise complaint due to a vigorous home HIIT session. Here experts give their tips on how to proceed, from hula-hooping to brushing up on your yoga
With gyms in England closed for the second time this year, neighbourly relations may have been strained by YouTube workouts and online high-intensity interval training (HIIT) sessions. Is that thundering on the floor in the flat above ever going to stop, or is it just the short bit where your upstairs neighbour does a few burpees before collapsing (another thud) in a heap? If you are the one making the noise, does the weight of your guilt count as extra resistance? For the sake of indoor exercisers and flat-dwellers everywhere, here are some expert tips on keeping the noise down.
EasyJet has slumped to a £1.3bn full-year loss, the first in its 25-year history, but said bookings had been boosted by positive news on Covid-19 vaccines.
Johan Lundgren, the chief executive, said bookings had surged by 50% last week after the US drugmaker Pfizer and the German biotech firm BioNTech announced that their coronavirus vaccine was more than 90% effective. “Momentum has continued this week, as people have more confidence making travel plans going forward,” he said.
Are you worried your vision has grown worse this year? You’re definitely not alone. But from the 20-20-20 rule to changing the size of your text, there are simple ways to address it
In the pandemic, our eyes are working harder than ever. With the majority of our communication nonverbal, and all but the upper third of our faces covered by masks, we are more reliant on them to express tone, emotion and even individuality, with a recent explosion in online tutorials for “mask makeup looks” emphasising long lashes, bright eyeshadows and statement liner.
Yet as we rely on our eyes to do the talking, we may also be putting them under greater strain. In June, a survey by the College of Optometrists, the professional body in the UK, found that 22% of people polled believed their vision had worsened during lockdown. The reason why they might feel this way is obvious: when the mask comes off, most of the time our gaze is trained on a screen.
We want to hear from local people, schools and business about their experiences. We’re also interested in hearing from those who are working directly with the pandemic, whether it’s with the NHS or local test and trace.
South Korea has strengthened social distancing measures amid a rise in new coronavirus cases, with the country’s prime minister warning that action was needed to avoid a crisis with the arrival of the winter flu season.
The country has won widespread praise for preventing a serious Covid-19 outbreak through a combination of mass testing, vigorous track and tracing and isolation, coupled with social distancing and mask wearing.
‘The idea the president is still playing golf and not doing anything about it is beyond my comprehension. You’d think he’d at least want to go off on a positive note’, US president-elect, Joe Biden, said after a meeting with CEOs and labor leaders. ‘I find this more embarrassing for the country than debilitating for my ability to get started’, he said. Biden warned that if outgoing president Donald Trump continues blocking a US transition of power as the coronavirus pandemic worsens, 'more people may die'.
According to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, if Donald Trump wants a statewide recount, he will have to pay $7.9m.
The president lost the state by more than 20,000 votes - which means a recount is very unlikely to change the fact that he lost. Even if a recount, miraculously, left Trump ahead in the state, Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes are not enough to change the election outcome.
Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, told the Washington Post that senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina was among several members of his party who pressured him to toss out legally cast ballots so that Trump could win the state.
From the Post:
In a wide-ranging interview about the 2020 election, Raffensperger expressed exasperation with a string of baseless allegations coming from Trump and his allies about the integrity of the Georgia results, including claims that Dominion Voting Systems, the Colorado-based manufacturer of Georgia’s voting machines, is a “leftist” company with ties to Venezuela that engineered thousands of Trump votes not to be counted.
The atmosphere has grown so contentious, Raffensperger said, that both he and his wife, Tricia, have received death threats in recent days, including a text to him that read, “You better not botch this recount. Your life depends on it.”
SA will reintroduce coronavirus restrictions after the number of confirmed and probable cases rises to 20; NSW announces that residents will receive four $25 vouchers to spend on eating out and entertainment. Follow the latest updates
Returned travellers quarantining in an Adelaide hotel linked to a coronavirus cluster are being told they may have to re-quarantine in a new hotel, regardless of how many days they have already served.
It means some returned travellers may be forced to quarantine for up to 28 days.
Travellers quarantining in an Adelaide hotel linked to a Covid-19 cluster are being told they may have to re-quarantine in a new hotel. Those due to finish today may be forced to quarantine for 28 days. These documents were given to guests @GuardianAushttps://t.co/guSOkfaEWnpic.twitter.com/GrBY9211J6
It’s stressful, because they literally shove a letter under the door, but there was no knock or assistance to explain it to us ... People are due to leave this morning. Imagine being told you had to do it all again, imagine if you missed your flight.
Our room door has been closed since we moved in, nothing has been breached here. Moving us through and putting us on a bus, surely that brings more risk of spreading the virus?
The Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands (located in the remote north west of South Australia) will close their borders to for three weeks as the Covid-19 threat rises in South Australia.
The APY Board of Management closed the borders at midnight and says it will manage its borders via the legislated system of permits.
Territory had its first documented case in early November and on Monday officials announced 26 confirmed Covid-19 cases
The Canadian territory of Nunavut will enter lockdown as a surge in coronavirus cases threatens vulnerable communities in the Arctic.
The territory, which had its first documented case in early November, has since experienced a spike in Covid-19 infections. Officials on Monday announced 26 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the territory, an increase over the three announced last Friday.
Angela Merkel has said she does not have backing among state leaders for new restrictions to give Germany’s “soft” lockdown a harder bite, postponing any decision until a further meeting between the chancellor and 16 state premiers next week.
The chancellor had been in favour of people limiting social interactions in private to only one set second household, and forgo any kind of party until Christmas Eve, according to a draft proposal cited by several news outlets including Der Spiegel.
More than 1 billion people could be immunised against coronavirus by the end of next year with shots from the first two companies to reveal positive results, after the latest vaccine was shown to be nearly 95% effective in trials.
With the US’s top infectious diseases official, Anthony Fauci, hailing “the light at the end of the tunnel”, the US biotech firm Moderna announced impressive results for its mRNA vaccine on Monday, a week after interim results for a Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine showed 90% effectiveness.
Hopes are rising for the Covid jab being developed by Oxford University, after Moderna became the second company to reveal impressive results from its vaccine trials.
Dawn raids in Puglia lead to about 40 arrests of suspected members of the ‘fifth mafia’
An emerging mafia that ran a protection racket extorting €50 (£45) a coffin from funeral homes has been raided by hundreds of police in one of the largest ever such busts in the southern Italian region of Puglia.
Dawn raids centred on the city of Foggia led to the arrest of some 40 alleged members of a criminal organisation described by Italian authorities as the country’s “number one public enemy”.
From a charming cockatiel to cuddly guinea pigs, here are some of the pets you welcomed into your homes during lockdown
My wife was firmly in the ‘cats, not dogs’ camp but our children wanted a dog. When lockdown came chinks appeared in my wife’s armour and I picked up Juno the goldador (a cross breed between a golden retriever and a labrador). It was love at first sight. My wife mocks my devotion. In particular, she laughs at the adoring gaze, once reserved for her, that she says crosses my face several times a day. I have already spent more time picking up poo than I had ever envisaged I might do in my life. But I rarely complain. Our lives were full of joy before Juno, now there’s just a little more around. Adam Montgomery, 54, leadership trainer and coach, Malvern
The success of Moderna’s vaccine against Covid-19 is reason for the whole world to cheer. The results from an interim analysis of the trial data are remarkably similar to those of Pfizer/BioNTech a week ago. Most people – Moderna says 94.5% in its trial, Pfizer said more than 90% – were protected from illness.
It’s fantastic news. It means the concept works. Pfizer’s results were not a flash in the pan. Both vaccines have been developed using a new technology that has never produced a licensed vaccine before, called messenger RNA (mRNA), which some hail as the future of all vaccines. It has the potential to deliver vaccines for all sorts of diseases cheaply and safely, enthusiasts say. And, crucially for the time being, they are likely to help us out of the Covid pandemic.
The four other Conservative MPs present at the meeting last week with Boris Johnson and Lee Anderson, the Tory who has subsequently tested positive, are also self-isolating.
According to the BBC, they are: Katherine Fletcher, Andy Carter, Lia Nici and Brendan Clarke-Smith.
I have been contacted by NHS Test and Trace following a work meeting last week with Lee Anderson MP and the Prime Minister.
As a result I will be self-isolating in line with the rules. I currently have no symptoms and will be working from home
Yes, I had a call from test and trace yesterday following a work meeting at 10 Downing Street last Thursday. In line with the rules I am self isolating. https://t.co/IZLWwqBytO
Residents in a dozen Scottish council areas, including Glasgow, Stirling and Inverclyde, face a two-week lockdown from later this week after the failure of Scottish government efforts to suppress Covid-19 across the country.
Business leaders were warned on Friday the 12 highly-populated areas were likely to be put at the highest level, tier 4 of the Scottish government’s Covid restrictions, from 6am on Friday morning.
Glasgow has 90 out of the top 100 Covid infection hot spots. So in schools in those catchment areas, we think you have to look seriously at closing them as part of the community mitigation to drive down infection levels.
Our default position is we should be looking at remote learning at level 4, but given the Scottish parliament has voted against that, we want at the very least to look at individual schools to see what action should be taken.
Use the COVID Alert SA app to protect yourself, your loved ones and your community. Start using this privacy preserving app today. Add your phone to the fight! Download the Covid Alert SA app now! https://t.co/8YKEqaiiRFpic.twitter.com/MwMJovMXA9
The Australian state of Victoria has recorded its 18th day without a new coronavirus case or death.
We have more from Reuters on the tough new measures expected to be agreed in Germany, in a meeting between state leaders and the chancellor, Angela Merkel, later on Monday.
Earlier we reported how they would include compulsory mask-wearing at schools and drastic restrictions on household gatherings. A draft document of the measures, seen by Reuters, also said people would be urged to avoid private parties completely in coming weeks.
Hullo! This is Damien Gayle taking the reins on the live blog now for the rest of the working day here in the UK.
If you have any interesting coronavirus-related news, suggestions or comments from your part of the world, that you think is worth our including on the blog, please drop me a line, either via email to damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or via Twitter DM to @damiengayle.
A string of Conservative MPs are self-isolating following a meeting inside Downing Street that has forced Boris Johnson to spend a potentially crucial political week holed up inside No 10.
The prime minister, who was seriously ill with coronavirus in April, has insisted he is fine and that his body “is bursting with antibodies” after being ordered to self-isolate following a meeting with northern Tory MPs on Thursday.