The medical team hiked for five hours in 'horrendous' terrain to reach village and deliver just 25 vaccines to small community, as Fiji battles devastating outbreak of Covid-19, with more than 5% of the country's population having tested positive for the virus.
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Thousands of kilometres from anywhere lies Point Nemo, a watery grave where space stations go to die
The space cemetery, named for the fictional captain in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, is where the International Space Station is likely to end up
At the furthest point from any landmass on earth, and 4km under the sea, lies the space cemetery.
When their outer space journeys come to an end, old satellites, rocket parts and space stations are sent to this desolate spot in the Pacific Ocean to rest on the dark seabed forever.
Continue reading...Angelina Jolie feared for her children’s safety during marriage to Brad Pitt
Actor and activist says her experiences made her realise importance of children’s rights
Angelina Jolie has told the Guardian she feared for the safety of her children during her marriage to Brad Pitt and criticised the US government for not doing more to protect the rights of minors.
In an interview with Weekend magazine, the actor and activist said her experiences in her relationship with Pitt made her realise the importance of children’s rights, which she is supporting with a new book, Know Your Rights.
Continue reading...US Capitol rioter photographed wearing horns pleads guilty
Jacob Chansley, of Phoenix, Arizona, pleaded guilty to obstructing an official proceeding when he took part in insurrection
The man who was photographed inside the US Capitol during the 6 January insurrection shirtless, wearing a horned headdress and furs, and heavily tattooed, pleaded guilty on Friday to obstructing an official proceeding when he took part in the assault by extremist supporters of then president Donald Trump.
Related: Capitol riot inquiry to investigate whether Trump’s White House was involved in attack
Continue reading...Biden says ‘no question’ Delta variant behind poor August jobs report numbers – live
- US adds 235,000 jobs in August amid Delta surge
- Biden urges Congress to ‘finish the job’ on passing his economic agenda
- Ida death toll in north-east nears 50
- Trump ‘about ready to announce’ 2024 run, says Jim Jordan
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A group of parents in Iowa are filing a lawsuit against the state for its ban on mask mandates, says the law discriminates against students with disabilities that make them more susceptible to Covid-19.
The plaintiffs in the case are asking the federal judge to block the ban on mask mandates and order to allow the states to allow mandates.
In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal published yesterday, Democratic senator Joe Manchin said that he will not pass the $3.5tn spending bill that progressive members of the party want to pass through reconciliation.
Manchin said that Democrats looking to pass the bill have “no regard to rising inflation, crippling debt or the inevitability of future crises.”
The Northeast is flooded after torrential rain.
The West Coast is on fire.
The Gulf is still reeling from the hurricane.
This is no time to pause or pull back. We need to pass the President's Build Back Better agenda and invest in urgent climate action NOW. Lives are at stake.
White House’s @KJP46 on the Manchin op-Ed: “Senator Manchin is an important partner to our administration. The president firmly believes that critical investment in our future should be paid for and if we do, economists tells us that they should not increase the inflation risk.”
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Denmark to give third jab to care home residents; UK watchdog rules out vaccine for children
Denmark has recorded a rise in cases in nursing homes; UK vaccines watchdog says not enough evidence to roll out Covid jabs to 12- to 15-year-olds; North Korea’s Kim Jong-un has ordered officials to fight Covid in ‘our style’
- Kim Jong-un rejects Covax vaccine offer as North Korea fights pandemic in ‘our style’
- New Zealand Covid update: new cases drop to 28 but ‘job is not done’, deputy PM warns
- ‘Concerned’ intensive care doctors warn Australia faces surge demand in coming months
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Consumers have been warned of an autumn rise in living costs from sharp increases in household energy bills and food prices, as Covid and Brexit disruption ripple through the UK economy.
Sounding the alarm for a wide range of products and services going up in price, business leaders said the UK was facing a “perfect storm” of worker shortages and problems with global supply chains that would lead to a burst of inflation within months.
Related: Inflation set to surge this autumn as Brexit and Covid combine
Here is a brief summary of all the big coronavirus news from so far today:
Continue reading...Martin Rowson on the possibility of nitrous oxide being criminalised – cartoon
‘It’s exactly like a puzzle’: experts on piecing together Roman fresco find
House in southern France yielded find of outstanding wall paintings dating from 1st century BC
On the right bank of the Rhône in the Provençal town of Arles, the Roman-built House of the Harpist is being hailed as a remarkable record of ancient architecture and interior decoration.
Now, experts have opened their workshop to reveal their painstaking attempts to piece together the vast jigsaw of magnificent and never before seen frescoes discovered in the property thought to date back more than two millennia.
Continue reading...Italy could soon make Covid-19 vaccines mandatory, says PM
Mario Draghi’s announcement sparks row in country where protests and violence from anti-vaxxers are on the rise
Italy’s prime minister has announced his government could make Covid-19 vaccines mandatory, sparking a row in the country that has seen a recent rise in protests and violence from anti-vaxxers.
During a press conference on Thursday, Mario Draghi said all Italians of eligible age could soon be obliged to get a shot, as soon as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gives its conditional approval for four vaccines.
Continue reading...Evidence contradicts Taliban’s claim to respect women’s rights
There are signs of a return to something worryingly close to the hardline restrictions of the past across Afghan life
When Taliban fighters moved into Herat city in western Afghanistan last month, one thing mattered more to some of them than the battle itself. As gunmen faced off around the governor’s office, a group of militants came to Shogofa’s* workplace and ordered all the women home.
“They hadn’t even taken all the city, but they came to our headquarters. The manager called an emergency meeting and they told all the women to leave,” she said.
Continue reading...Iranian fuel tanker heading for Syria poses test for US sanctions
Contents will be trucked to Lebanon to ease energy crisis, a plan that could challenge US resolve towards two foes
An Iranian tanker carrying fuel bound for Lebanon was at anchor in the Red Sea on Friday ahead of the final leg of a voyage to Syria, which is set to pose the biggest test yet to US sanctions imposed on two arch regional foes.
The tanker is expected in the Syrian port of Baniyas early next week, in defiance of US sanctions that prevent oil exports from Iran and imports to Syria, which have both been subject to stringent US-imposed restrictions on trade. The imminent arrival is being hailed by the Lebanese militant group turned political bloc, Hezbollah, as a sanctions-busting solution for an energy crisis that has brought Lebanon to a standstill and led to widespread blackouts.
Continue reading...‘My homeland, my only love’: fleeing Afghans embrace 1998 song
Lyrics to My Homeland strike powerful chord with new generation of refugees from war-torn country
As yet another generation of Afghans fled their homeland over the past fortnight, one song has resonated as a poignant anthem for the exodus.
My Homeland – Sarzamin i Man in Farsi – was written in 1998 by the singer Dawood Sarkhosh, who himself had to leave Afghanistan in the civil war that erupted following the Soviet withdrawal.
Continue reading...New Zealand attack suspect ‘found with IS propaganda earlier this year’
Judge said court report suggested man shot dead by police posed high risk of reoffending
The man shot dead by police after stabbing six people in an Islamic State-inspired attack on Friday was reportedly sentenced by a New Zealand court earlier in the year for possessing IS propaganda that encouraged acts of violence and terrorism.
The man, whose name is covered by legal suppression orders and who is referred to only as “S” in court proceedings, was reportedly found guilty by a jury of possessing objectionable material, and failing to assist a police officer exercise a search power.
Continue reading...Paris attack survivors await start of France’s biggest ever criminal trial
20 men accused of involvement in 2015 massacre, but it is unclear whether the key accused will break their silence
Deep inside Paris’s historic law courts on the bank of the River Seine, builders were putting the finishing touches to an extraordinary architectural structure described as a cross between a high-security bunker and modern church.
Its sleek pale wood and white lighting were chosen by the French justice ministry to create “a sense of calm” in contrast to the horrific events which will soon be examined there. This temporary structure will from next week host the biggest criminal trial ever held in France, when 20 men are accused of planning, aiding and carrying out the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks on a stadium, bars and restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall.
Continue reading...‘You’ve never faced these choices’: Jen Psaki tells reporter on anti-abortion question – video
The White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, made an earnest retort to a journalist questioning Joe Biden's support for abortion. The US president condemned the supreme court decision not to consider a Texas law that in effect bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
'It's a woman's body and it's her choice. I know you've never faced those choices, nor have you ever been pregnant,' said Psaki adding that the president believed a woman's choices should be respected
Continue reading...‘Monsters at the door’: migrant workers trapped in UN Afghan compound
Security contractors among hundreds from the Philippines, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka stuck without clear plans for evacuation
When Taliban fighters started to kick at the door of a UN compound in a northern province 250 miles (400km) from the Afghan capital, Kabul, Rajesh* was certain he was going to be killed.
The Taliban had taken control of the area on that day. Rajesh, a UN security contractor from India, hurried with his colleagues into an emergency steel-doored room. Before they sealed themselves in, they saw a group of seven or eight heavily armed men.
Continue reading...Delivering babies in a Nigerian camp: ‘I’ve had to use plastic bags as gloves’
After seeing a woman die in childbirth, Liyatu Ayuba stepped in and has now delivered 118 babies in a community cut off from public health services
Having watched a woman and her baby die needlessly after being refused admission to a hospital over a lack of money, Liyatu Ayuba wanted to never let it happen again.
The 62-year-old is one of Nigeria’s nearly 3 million internally displaced people (IDPs) – driven out of their homes by the violence of the Boko Haram Islamist militants. Ayuba fled Gwoza in the north-eastern state of Borno in 2011 with her family. After her husband was killed by Boko Haram and her teenage son badly wounded, she went to the makeshift Durumi 1 IDP camp, in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, where about 500 families live.
Continue reading...How street art is helping young migrants paint a brighter future in Italy
An innovative community project has brightened buildings, ‘brought people together’ and provided an emotional outlet after traumatic journeys
Jadhav*, 18, from Bangladesh, arrived in Italy 10 months ago, but is still haunted by memories of his journey with people smugglers across the Mediterranean Sea.
“There were 156 people packed into a small boat. There were women and children,” says Jadhav in broken Italian and Bengali translated on a smartphone app. “Waves were coming over the side. People were weeping. There was no hope of survival.”
Continue reading...New Zealand: Covid-positive escapee had tried to flee hotel quarantine three times, officials say
Man’s mother said she had called police on her son when he left home in Auckland after receiving his positive test result
A man who tested positive for Covid-19 before absconding from a quarantine facility in Auckland on Thursday had attempted to escape three times before he was successful, health officials report.
New Zealand police arrested the man at a south Auckland address on Thursday afternoon, roughly 10km from the Novotel Ibis hotel in Ellerslie, where he was quarantining. He had been in the community for at least 12 hours at the time of his arrest.
Continue reading...US regulator grounds Virgin Galactic space planes as it investigates July flight
- Flight to edge of space veered off course during descent
- Virgin criticizes ‘misleading characterizations’ of incident
Virgin Galactic space planes, which the British billionaire Richard Branson used to launch his journey into space in July, have been temporarily grounded by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) while it conducts an investigation into an issue that occurred during the 11 July flight.
“Virgin Galactic may not return the SpaceShipTwo vehicle to flight until the FAA approves the final mishap investigation report or determines the issues related to the mishap do not affect public safety,” the FAA said in a statement to the Guardian on Thursday.
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