At least three companies close to revealing results of phase three trials, but to be approved for use safety has to be ensured
The race for a Covid vaccine is reaching a crucial stage, with the glimmer of a possibility that one of the leading contenders will be approved by Christmas.
In an interview with the Guardian, Kate Bingham, who heads the UK’s vaccine taskforce, said the UK was in “a very good place”.
Continue reading...Military chiefs keen to stay out of the way – a decisive result lowers risk of prolonged crisis and the protests it could generate
Federal laws and longstanding custom generally leave the US military out of the election process.
Continue reading...Complaints of ‘white saviourism’ and harassment at the group led to the review, which found no individual responsible
The results of an investigation into allegations of racism and harassment at one of the world’s most high profile women’s rights organisations has been described as a “slap in the face” to those who complained.
Investigators concluded this week that no single person was responsible for the “challenges” at the group, Women Deliver, which had undergone a period of rapid growth “during which its policies and practices lagged behind”. The report added the workplace culture had been “too demanding, urgent, and high-pressure”.
Continue reading...A strikingly-designed centre reminiscent of Rajasthan’s famous forts will soon be opening its doors in conservative Jaisalmer
“Don’t even try,” friends told Michael Daube, when he said he wanted to coax women in Jaisalmer to embroider yoga bags to help them earn some income.
For the most part, at least in rural areas, this is Federico García Lorca territory, where marriage for a woman, as a character in the Spanish poet’s play Blood Wedding describes it, is “a man, children, and as for the rest a wall that’s two feet thick”. Rajasthan is one of the most conservative states in India, where ancient customs circumscribe a woman’s freedom and in turn any chance of economic independence.
Continue reading...Italy also records 199 further deaths; US record surge killing nearly 1,000 Americans a day; Moscow creates vaccination network
Continue reading...
Moore-Gilbert, who has Australian and British citizenship, had been held in Qarchak, widely regarded as the worst female prison in Iran
The detained British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert has been moved back to Tehran’s Evin prison, sources with knowledge of her case have confirmed to the Guardian.
Moore-Gilbert is understood to be back in the secretive ward 2A of Tehran’s largest prison, where she had spent much of the past two years under the control of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Continue reading...Results must be enacted by the new Labour government by November 2021, but second referendum on legalising cannabis fails to find support
New Zealanders have voted to legalise euthanasia for those with a terminal illness, in a victory for campaigners who say people suffering extreme pain should be given a choice over how and when to bring their life to a close.
The decision on whether to legalise euthanasia appeared as a referendum question on the 17 October general election ballot paper, alongside a second referendum question on whether to legalise cannabis – which did not succeed, according to preliminary results.
Continue reading...Judge declines to dismiss case against Huawei CEO but says assertion that US misrepresented evidence for extradition has ‘air of reality’
A judge has blocked an attempt by Canada’s attorney general to dismiss parts of the extradition case against Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, according to a ruling released on Thursday.
However, the judge sided with the attorney general in agreeing that Meng’s arguments were not strong enough to warrant an immediate dismissal of the case to extradite to the US for trial on fraud charges.
Continue reading...Nigerians arrested after SBS stormed Nave Andromeda are still detained by Border Force
Seven Nigerian men detained after British special services stormed an oil tanker off the Isle of Wight have been bailed, police have said.
The raid was carried out by around 16 members of the Special Boat Service (SBS), backed by airborne snipers, who secured the Nave Andromeda tanker in around nine minutes.
Continue reading...Leonard Shoulders was waiting for bus in the Bronx when concrete cracked open and he fell into hole, unable to scream for help
A New York City man has fallen through a sinkhole in a sidewalk, landing directly on to a pack of rats and leaving him unable to scream for help out of a fear that they might crawl into his mouth, local media have reported.
In a city long used to tall tales of urban horror, like crocodiles in the sewers, the real-life terror experienced by Leonard Shoulders, 33, appeared to strike an appalled chord with denizens of the Big Apple.
Continue reading...More than 2.6 million without power in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, with life-threatening weather to continue
More than 2.6 million customers were without power on Thursday morning across several southern states and at least six people had been killed after Hurricane Zeta howled ashore in Louisiana with winds over 100mph then weakened to a tropical storm and raced through the region.
According to the website PowerOutage.us, shortly after dawn at least 2 million were without electricity in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, and the number grew from there. Georgia has the most outages, with more than 800,000 people in the dark.
Continue reading...National assembly votes to extend rule to primary schools as national lockdown starts
Children in France aged six and over will have to wear face masks in the classroom to keep schools open, the prime minister said on the eve of a second national lockdown.
Speaking before the national assembly backed the new restrictions by 399 votes to 27, Jean Castex said the mandatory use of masks was being extended to primary school pupils on the advice of public health officials. Only children over 11 have had to wear masks in school until now.
Continue reading...Parishioners of the Notre-Dame Basilica in Nice, where a woman was beheaded and two others were killed by a knife attacker on Thursday, have paid tribute to the victims. 'I'm so shocked. I still imagine him, I still see him walking, lighting up the candles,' said Laura Male, as she remembered the church warden
Continue reading...The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said on Thursday that he would step up the deployment of soldiers to protect places of worship and schools after a knife attack in Nice in which three people were killed. Speaking from the scene, a defiant Macron said France had been attacked 'because of our values, our taste for freedom, the possibility there is here to believe freely'
Continue reading...Search teams believe locals must have known about site in Salvatierra, Guanajuato state
Search teams are excavating a site in the central Mexico state of Guanajuato where 59 bodies have been found in clandestine graves in the past week.
The striking aspect of the discovery is that the site is not a desolate area far out in the countryside, but the town of Salvatierra.
Continue reading...France will not give in to terrorism, Emmanuel Macron has said in a call for firmness and unity after the country’s latest terrorist attack left three people dead.
On Thursday morning, a man armed with a knife killed two women and a man at the Notre-Dame Basilica in the city centre of Nice on the Côte d’Azur
Continue reading...European commission president says key issues are level playing field and fisheries
Trade and security negotiations between the UK and the EU are making good progress, Ursula von der Leyen has said in the most optimistic comments to date on the state of the Brexit talks.
As the negotiations moved to Brussels after seven days in London, the European commission president said: “We’re making good progress but [there are] two critical issues: level playing field and the fisheries, [where] we would like to see more progress.
Continue reading...Many of the factors in the surge in violence of a few years ago have gone but some still remain
The “vision of horror” in Nice, as police described the scene of a fatal knife attack in a church on Thursday, is a serious challenge for Emmanuel Macron. The French president has promised a crackdown on Islamist extremism, including shutting down mosques and other organisations accused of fomenting radicalism and violence, and said France was engaged in an existential battle against radical Islamic ideologies and separatism. His hardline interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, has spoken of extremists as the enemy within.
There was also a stabbing outside the French consulate in Saudi Arabia on Thursday and an incident in the French city of Avignon involving a man armed with a knife who tried to attack police. It follows the murder two weeks ago of a schoolteacher in Conflans on the outskirts of Paris after he had shown students a caricature of the prophet Muhammad, and the wounding of two people outside the former offices of Charlie Hebdo.
Continue reading...President calls for firmness and unity after man with knife kills three people in church
France will not give in to terror, Emmanuel Macron has said, in a call for firmness and unity after the country’s latest terrorist attack left three people dead.
The president issued a sombre but defiant message after a man armed with a knife killed two women and a man in the Notre-Dame basilica in central Nice, the second such attack in France in less than a fortnight.
Continue reading...A video captured the sound of gunfire as police responded at the scene of a deadly church attack in the French city of Nice on Thursday. A man armed with a knife has killed three people – two women and a man – during the terrorist attack inside the Notre-Dame Basilica in the city centre. Police described the scene as a 'vision of horror'. The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said the attacker had said 'Allahu Akbar' several times while he was being arrested and handcuffed by police
Continue reading...