Suburban Denver police officers will not be charged after detaining four black girls at gunpoint this summer and handcuffing two after wrongly suspecting they were riding in a stolen car, prosecutors said on Friday.
Related: 'He was inspired by everything': friends and family pay tribute to Elijah McClain
Continue reading...North Korea should ‘further advance nuclear technology’ and develop more flexible attack capability, leader tells party congress
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has called the United States his nuclear-armed nation’s “biggest enemy” and revealed that plans for a nuclear-powered submarine are complete, state media said.
Kim’s declaration on Saturday also included a call to develop smaller, more adapatable nyuclear warheads, comes less than two weeks before the inauguration of Joe Biden as US president, and after a tumultuous relationship between Kim and the outgoing Donald Trump.
Continue reading...World Health Organization chiefs urged rich countries to stop striking bilateral deals with vaccine manufacturers as low and middle-income countries are not yet receiving supplies of Covid inoculation.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called on countries that have ordered excess doses to immediately hand them over to the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility
House speaker called Gen Mark Milley, chairman of joint chiefs of staff, ‘to discuss available precautions’
Nancy Pelosi spoke to the head of the US military on Friday, seeking assurance that Donald Trump will not be able to launch a nuclear strike during his last days in office.
Related: Effort to impeach Trump again gathers pace after 'attempted coup' at Capitol
Continue reading...Lawsuit argues that New Brunswick’s refusal violates both the law and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Human rights activists in Canada have filed a lawsuit against the province of New Brunswick for its refusal to fund abortion services in private clinics – as they are in the rest of the country.
The lawsuit suit filed by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) argues that the refusal violates both the law and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms – Canada’s constitution.
Continue reading...Chin’ono tweeted that police had taken him from his home, charged with ‘communicating falsehoods’
Police in Zimbabwe have arrested the prominent journalist Hopewell Chin‘ono, for the third time in six months, his lawyer said.
Doug Coltart said he was en route to the police station to confirm the charges against his client.
Continue reading...South Korean firm backtracks on statement confirming ‘early discussion’ with US company
Hyundai’s value surged by $9bn (£6.6bn) on Friday after reports that it could join with Apple in developing a driverless electric vehicle – despite confusion as it backtracked on a statement acknowledging “early discussion” with the iPhone manufacturer.
Investors sent the South Korean carmaker’s share price on the Seoul exchange up almost 20%, as local media reported a possible tie-up on electric cars and batteries with Apple, which has been developing its own vehicle technology.
Continue reading...A sinkhole measuring 2,000 sq metres has opened up in the visitors' car park of a hospital in Naples, forcing the temporary closure of a nearby residence for recovering coronavirus patients because of a power cut.
A number vehicles fell into the sinkhole in the otherwise empty car park, but the hospital remained operational and no injuries were reported
Continue reading...Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and Japan are among those that won’t start vaccinating for months, in part to see how other populations react to the jab
They are the nations that have been held up as shining examples of coronavirus management. In Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan, daily Covid infections are in the single digits and outbreaks are quickly suppressed.
But there is one area where these nations lag well behind the pack in vaccination. Countries with some of the most enviable healthcare systems in the world – including Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea – will not begin to inoculate until the end of February or later.
Continue reading...Despite virus spread, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei forbids what he calls ‘untrustworthy’ jabs
Vaccines produced by the US and UK will be banned from entering Iran, its supreme leader has said, even though his country has suffered the worst virus outbreak in the Middle East.
“Imports of US and British vaccines into the country are forbidden ... They’re completely untrustworthy,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a live televised speech. “It’s not unlikely they would want to contaminate other nations.
Continue reading...Latest updates: Sadiq Khan declares major incident in capital with ‘spread of virus out of control’; seven million doses of Moderna vaccine ordered
Making the announcement in London, Sadiq Khan said: “We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point.
“If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people will die.
BREAKING: I have declared a major incident in London because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point.
One in 30 Londoners now has COVID-19. If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people will die.https://t.co/OjV7SZ4BgQ
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has declared an effective emergency in the city, as it grapples with soaring coronavirus case numbers and hospitals struggling to cope with the influx of patients.
London has been the worst-hit area of the UK so far in the winter peak of Covid-19 cases.
Related: Sadiq Khan declares Covid emergency in London
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McConnell says impeachment action unlikely until after Trump is out of office
Senator Mitch McConnnell said in a memo to fellow Senators on Friday that if impeachment articles against Trump are filed this week, the earliest the Senate will address them would be Jauary 19 - the day before Biden’s inauguration.
Congress members pen inquiry to FBI and DHS over how it handled online warnings of this week’s insurrection
Today 35 Congress members have signed a letter addressed to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security requesting more information on how extremist threats leading up to Wednesday’s riot at the Capitol were handled.
NEW: We are demanding to know whether @FBI and @DHSgov considered online extremist threats credible leading up to this week's insurrection.
Law enforcement was woefully unprepared despite ample posts spread online—it can’t happen again. pic.twitter.com/ZQdcshshZY
Nearby Italian residence for Covid-19 patients had to close temporarily because of electricity cuts
A giant sinkhole has opened up in the car park of a hospital in Naples, Italy, forcing the temporary closure of a nearby residence for recovering Covid-19 patients because the electricity was cut.
Operations at the Hospital of the Sea were not affected, and firefighters said no one appeared to be injured. The sinkhole consumed a few cars in the hospital’s otherwise empty visitors’ car park on Friday.
Continue reading...WHO urges rich countries to stop making bilateral deals with manufacturers; Denmark to restrict entry from all countries after today
The United States has set a new daily record for new coronavirus cases, with 290,000 cases reported in 24-hours, according to the Johns Hopkins global tally.
Some 3,676 people in the US died with the virus in the same period.
Mexico has reported 14,362 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and 1,038 deaths.
It is one of the highest daily case increases and brings the total number of cases in Mexico since the pandemic began to 1,507,931, with 132,069 deaths.
Continue reading...The visuals show 13 countries have recorded community transmission of UK variant, as 24 experience rising case rates
Forty-five countries have so far identified the UK coronavirus variant, with experts warning that more countries could report sharp increases in cases in the coming weeks.
Thirteen of these nations have recorded community transmission of the B117 variant, which spreads faster and has helped pushed England into a third lockdown.
Continue reading...More than a dozen politicians, political aides and public health figures have flouted their own advice to avoid foreign travel
Across Canada, December was a month of cancelled gatherings with friends and family and holidays spent alone. Vacations to escape snow and frozen rain were put on hold as Covid-19 cases surged again.
The message across the country had been clear: a shared sense of solidarity and sacrifice was necessary to fight the coronavirus.
Continue reading...No one has yet been charged as some pro-democracy figures say they were arrested for political reasons
Hong Kong authorities have released all but three people arrested in Wednesday’s unprecedented roundup of opposition figures.
Amid heated debate about the legal premise of the accusations against the group, police are yet to lay any charges.
Continue reading...Truck drivers tell of long delays for checks at the Eurotunnel as trade barrier goes up between UK and EU
Roger White arrived in France at 2.30pm on Tuesday with a truckload of hard cheese from Somerset.
Before Brexit he would have rolled off the Eurotunnel train and carried on up the A16 to Belgium, unloading his wares a few hours later at his ultimate destination in Utrecht.
Continue reading...IOC’s Dick Pound voices concern after host city declared state of emergency due to third wave of coronavirus
Dick Pound, a senior member of the International Olympic Committee, has said he “can’t be certain” that the delayed Tokyo 2020 Games will go ahead this summer, as a coronavirus state of emergency was declared in the host city.
Asked about the prospects that the Games will open on 23 July, the Canadian told the BBC: “I can’t be certain because the ongoing elephant in the room would be the surges in the virus.”
Continue reading...Rise in cases reported after workers returned from South Africa for Christmas, with many crossing illegally to avoid tests
A Covid-19 disaster is threatening the small southern African kingdom of Lesotho after revelations that the government released people who had tested positive for the virus from quarantine early.
Government sources this week said they had been sending Covid-19 patients home from as far back as last June over cost concerns.
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