US hospitalizations from Covid-19 were at a record high on Sunday, at 125,544, as hospitals struggled to cope and providers made plans to ration care.
Related: Covid vaccine: Oxford man, 82, first in world to get Oxford/AstraZeneca jab
Continue reading...The US vice-president-elect said a phone call made by Donald Trump to Georgia's secretary of state in which he asked to reverse his 3 November election defeat is a 'bold abuse of power'.
Speaking at a rally in Savannah on Sunday, Harris said the call was 'the voice of desperation'.
The Washington Post obtained the recording of a conversation on Saturday between Trump and Brad Raffensperger.
Cheap, hygienic and sustainable, the mattresses made by Indian fashion designer Lakshmi Menon also generate income for rural women
At the height of the pandemic in the Indian state of Kerala, fashion designer Lakshmi Menon, 46, heard that every new Covid care centre had to have 50 beds. Mattresses were in short supply. Every time a patient was discharged, the mattress had to be incinerated. “I thought: that’s a lot of mattresses and a lot of burning,” says Menon.
Menon’s solution was to collect the mountains of plastic pieces from factories that make PPE – all the little bits left over after cutting. Women then braid the bits into rope-like plaits 6ft long. The braids are laid out in a zigzag and the ends tied together. The result is a light, soft, washable, hygienic mattress for just 300 rupees (£3) – half the price of a normal one.
Continue reading...Life was hard in this remote area of central Asia, until tourism offered new hope. Then Covid-19 struck and the visitors stopped coming
It has been over a decade since Umar Tashbekov saw his opportunity. His village, Sary-Mogol in Kyrgyzstan, at an altitude of 3,600 metres, is close to Lenin’s Peak, a popular mountain destination for tourists. If they were already hiking there, why not attract them to visit his village too?
Sary-Mogol is a three-hour drive from the nearest city of Osh, in the country’s south-east. Life here is not easy – short summers and unfavourable growing conditions make it hard to grow much more than potatoes and barley. The main source of work is the large livestock market in town. Others find employment as teachers or in the nearby coal mine. Out of its 5,200-strong population, about 500 people have left for Russia where companies welcome factory workers.
Continue reading...Conversation between president and Georgia’s secretary of state laid bare Trump’s determination to cling on to power
Donald Trump has been recorded pressuring Georgia’s secretary of state to overturn US president-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state, in a tape obtained by the Washington Post.
The conversation is mainly between Trump and Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, but Trump allies including Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, and attorney Cleta Mitchell were also present, as was Ryan Germany, Raffensperger’s general counsel. Here are the main points:
Continue reading...First two cases of new variant recorded in São Paulo; meeting to discuss Moderna vaccine ends without decision
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has not yet been able to reach a decision on the approval of Moderna’s vaccine, the Dutch national medicines authority has said.
Its human medicines committee (CHMP) had called an unscheduled meeting Monday afternoon to discuss Moderna’s vaccine, two days ahead of its originally planned meeting on Wednesday.
This is how it goes, of course we had hoped for more, but we knew it could be impossible to answer all questions in detail in one meeting. I hope there will be a decision on Wednesday. But I don’t know.
Brazil has confirmed its first two cases of the new coronavirus variant that has also been seen in the UK, São Paulo state’s health secretariat has said.
One of the people infected was a 25-year-old woman from the city of São Paulo in contact with travellers who had been to Britain, according to the state government. The other patient was another São Paulo resident, a 34-year-old man who had contact with her.
Continue reading...Tu Ching Liang’s videos of warbling passengers have been viewed millions of times
Tu Ching Liang adjusts his yellow novelty hat, as disco lights bounce off the medical mask across his face, and speeds up his taxi.
“No one is as lucky as me, walking out the door every day rushing to go to work and not make any money,” he says, laughing.
Continue reading...Former army major was UN’s second staff member after its founding in 1945 and worked as principal adviser to five secretaries general
Sir Brian Urquhart, the British diplomat who played a role in the establishment of the United Nations, has died aged 101.
Urquhart was the second staff member hired by the UN following its founding in 1945 and worked as a principal adviser to five UN secretaries general in his 41-year career.
Continue reading...Unprecedented letter calls on voted-out president to accept Joe Biden’s election victory amid growing fears over his behaviour
All 10 former US defence secretaries still living, including two who worked for Donald Trump, have called for the president and his supporters to accept he lost the election and warned against attempts to involve the military in his increasingly desperate efforts to overturn the result.
In an unprecedented joint letter published in the Washington Post, the defence secretaries addressed the worst fears of what could happen in 17 days of Trump’s administration remaining before Joe Biden’s inauguration: an attempt by Trump to foment a crises with the aim of triggering a military intervention in his last-ditch struggle to hold on power.
Continue reading...Tourist drawcards Kuta and Legian beaches are being overwhelmed by up to 60 tonnes of plastic rubbish every day
Bali’s beaches have been covered in tonnes of ugly rubbish as a result of the monsoon and chronic failings in Indonesia’s waste management system.
Authorities say that between 30 and 60 tonnes of trash is being collected from the island’s most famous beaches each day.
Continue reading...In an hour-long phone call on Saturday, Donald Trump pressed Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to overturn Joe Biden’s victory there in the election the president refuses to concede.
Related: Healthcare to the electoral college: seven ways 2020 left America exposed | Robert Reich
Continue reading...Dr Anthony Fauci has called out Donald Trump, who claimed on Twitter on Sunday morning that case numbers were being exaggerated. 'Go into the trenches,' Fauci told NBC’s Meet the Press. 'Go into the hospitals, go into the intensive care units and see what is happening. Those are real numbers, real people and real deaths.'
Continue reading...Juliana Notari’s hillside sculpture sparks clash between Bolsonaro-supporting right and leftwing cultural community
A 33-metre reinforced concrete vagina has sparked a Bolsonarian backlash in Brazil, with supporters of the country’s far-right president clashing with leftwing art admirers over the installation.
The handmade sculpture, entitled Diva, was unveiled by visual artist Juliana Notari on Saturday at a rural art park on the grounds of a former sugar mill in Pernambuco, one of Brazil’s most culturally vibrant states.
Continue reading...Role of train operator removed from government’s register of jobs deemed harmful to women’s health
The Moscow metro has hired female drivers for the first time in its recent history, following changes in Russian legislation prohibiting women from many professions.
The Russian capital’s transport system, which oversees the sprawling metro network, said in a statement that “the first female electric train drivers in modern history started working for the Moscow metro.”
Continue reading...US experts warn against plan to give different second jab if supplies run low
The UK is setting the pace around the world in the approval and use of Covid vaccines but, while other countries watch intently, not all are yet prepared to embrace what looks like public health pragmatism rather than strict adherence to evidence.
Britain is the first country in the world to approve and use the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, just as it was first with Pfizer/BioNTech’s. In a further trailblazing decision, it is giving everyone a first shot of either of those vaccines, with the second shot delayed to 12 weeks afterwards instead of the three- or four-week interval in the trials.
Continue reading...Cryptocurrency passes $30,000 as financial institutions express growing interest
Bitcoin has surged to a record high amid rising interest from investors and claims that the volatile cryptocurrency is on the way to becoming a mainstream payment method.
Having quadrupled in value during 2020, bitcoin began 2021 strongly by breaking through the $30,000 (£22,000) mark for the first time, less than three weeks after first trading above $20,000.
Continue reading...Latest updates: Labour leader says bring in restrictions within the next 24 hours; UK sees 54,990 new cases and 454 more deaths; South Korea had over 600 new cases on Saturday
Essex County Council has become the latest local authority to issue a statement about school closures, announcing that primary schools in Uttlesford, Colchester and Tendring are to remain closed to pupils until 6 January.
The council tweeted that the decision had been taken to allow the council “to clarify the government position on primary schools in these areas reopening, given the rates of infection in these areas and pressures on NHS”.
Slough Borough Council has shared a statement confirming some schools in the area have decided they are unable to open due to “individual circumstances”.
The statement confirmed that “Government advice and direction is primary schools in Slough will be reopening this week as expected”.
Continue reading...The country should not be held up as a shining example in its response to the pandemic, writes Dr Hilary Francis, who points to the failure to provide accurate data and firing of health workers
John Perry (Letters, 31 December) suggests that we should learn from the Nicaraguan government’s management of Covid. He doesn’t mention that 700 Nicaraguan health professionals wrote an open letter begging the government to acknowledge the extent of the crisis, or that at least 10 health workers have been fired for criticising the government response. In the absence of accurate government data, an independent citizen observatory has been established, which attempts to keep track of the rate of infection. They estimate 11,935 cases in the period to 23 December, nearly double the official number.
On 21 December, Nicaragua’s national assembly passed a law that gives President Daniel Ortega the right to unilaterally declare that citizens are “traitors to the homeland” and ban them from running for office. The new legislation ensures that elections, scheduled for November 2021, will not be free and fair. There are no lessons to be learned from Ortega’s policies, but Nicaragua’s descent into dictatorship demands much closer attention.
Dr Hilary Francis
Northumbria University
Stephen Greenhalgh said executives should not ‘hide behind’ rarely used French law
The UK government has demanded that executives who supplied combustible cladding to Grenfell Tower “step up to the plate” after their refusal to give evidence to the public inquiry into the disaster provoked anger among the bereaved and survivors.
On Sunday, Stephen Greenhalgh, the building safety minister, escalated a legal and diplomatic dispute over the position taken by three current and former executives at the French division of the US company Arconic. He told them to stop hiding behind an arcane French law.
Continue reading...All 12 Republican senators who have pledged not to ratify the electoral college results on Wednesday, and thereby refuse to confirm Joe Biden’s resounding victory over Donald Trump in the presidential election, declined to defend their move on television, a CNN host said on Sunday.
Related: Ted Cruz and other Republican senators oppose certifying election results
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