Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Calgary Zoo has warned that it may soon be unable to provide its two pandas with the 40kg of fresh bamboo they each need daily
A Canadian zoo is warning that its giant pandas could go without fresh bamboo as the Covid-19 pandemic limits imports from China and domestic supplies run short.
The twisted and mangled heap of steel that used to be Beirut’s port stretched to both horizons; to the left, battered skyscrapers seemed hunched in defeat and an empty highway strewn with wrecked cars led through a heat haze the other way.
A traffic barrier was covered in the bloody handprints of those who had somehow survived the cataclysmic blast and had staggered into the apocalyptic aftermath.
Customers stream into a central Wellington cafe, past a QR code posted on the door that allows people to check in on the New Zealand government’s Covid-19 tracing app. None pause to pull out their phones. Down the footpath outside, crosses of tape – denoting physical distancing measures for shoppers that ended months ago – feel like a reminder of a bad dream.
New Zealand has attained the status of one of the world’s safest countries when it comes to the coronavirus; there is no known community transmission in the country and life has largely returned to normal. But with one eye on nations where the virus was once quashed before spiralling out of control again, officials and the government have changed their language in recent days in order to fight a new battle – this time against complacency.
Police discover agents in stolen car with false plates while plot to kill woman was not part of duties
Preliminary attempted murder charges have been filed against two agents from France’s foreign intelligence agency over an alleged plan to kill a 54-year-old woman last month in the Creteil suburb of Paris, the city prosecutor’s office has said.
French media reported on Wednesday that the directorate-general for external security (DGSE) agents were believed to have been plotting to kill a target, but not as part of their job duties. The agency is the French equivalent of the CIA.
The 44-year-old nurse looks set to become the first Black woman to represent Missouri in Congress after her stunning primary win
Missouri activist Cori Bush ended a half-century political dynasty in Tuesday’s primary elections and is now on track to become the first Black woman to represent the state in Congress.
For years, sexual predators have infested the live comedy scene. But female comedians are demanding action. Is this British standup’s #MeToo moment?
‘If this was a normal office where, on your first day, someone higher up than you goes: ‘Here’s a list of guys in the office who might rape you,’ you would go straight to HR. But there’s no HR – there’s nowhere we can go to say this is happening,” says Laura Duddy, who started out in standup comedy last year.
“For new comics, it’s normal that a more established comic will give them a list of open-mic gigs to try,” says Ellie Calnan, who began standup 18 months ago. “Whereas for women, it’s: ‘Here’s the people and gigs to avoid.’”
Coronavirus may be more easily transmitted in school and summer camp settings than previously understood, after the emergence of new details of outbreaks in the US state of Georgia and in Israel that have underscored the risks of school reopenings.
A report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) into an outbreak at a summer camp in Georgia suggests children – even asymptomatic cases – may play an important role in community transmission of Covid-19.
The human destruction of natural ecosystems increases the numbers of rats, bats and other animals that harbour diseases that can lead to pandemics such as Covid-19, a comprehensive analysis has found.
The research assessed nearly 7,000 animal communities on six continents and found that the conversion of wild places into farmland or settlements often wipes out larger species. It found that the damage benefits smaller, more adaptable creatures that also carry the most pathogens that can pass to humans.
Beirut's port district was left a tangled wreck following a warehouse explosion on Tuesday that killed at least 100 people and injured thousands. The port area is the country's main route for imports, which are vital to help to feed a nation of more than 6 million people
Footage filmed during a Beirut church's livestream shows the moment it was struck by the blast while a priest was delivering mass. The cleric can be seen fleeing as debris and stained-glass windows fall from above. At least 100 people were killed and 4,000 injured by the explosion in the city's port area
A bride in Beirut was filmed posing for photographs moments before a massive explosion ripped through the city's port and surrounding areas, killing at least 100 people and injuring thousands more.
Israa Seblani, 29, was outside Le Gray Hotel, where she and husband, Ahmad Subeih, had planned to spend their first night as newlyweds, when the blast hit. In the video, filmed by Mahmoud Nakib, Seblani was seen running away from the scene with those around her, later telling reporters: 'It was not describable the devastation and the sound of the explosion. We are still in shock'.
The deadly explosion has been blamed on thousands of tonnes of the chemical ammonium nitrate, which had been lying unsecured in a warehouse since 2014
The New York prosecutors who are trying to access Donald Trump’s tax records have also subpoenaed his longtime lender, Deutsche Bank, the New York Times reports.
Manhattan district attorney Cy Vance subpoenaed the bank last year, the Times writes.
The subpoena to Deutsche Bank sought documents on various topics related to Mr Trump and his company, including any materials that might point to possible fraud, according to two people briefed on the subpoena’s contents.
Deutsche Bank complied with the subpoena. Over a period of months last year, it provided Mr Vance’s office with detailed records, including financial statements and other materials that Mr Trump had provided to the bank as he sought loans.
Facebook has removed a post from Donald Trump’s Facebook page for spreading false information about the coronavirus, a first for the company that has been harshly criticized for repeatedly allowing the president to break its content rules.
The post included video of a Trump falsely asserting that children are “almost immune from Covid-19” during an appearance on Fox News. There is evidence to suggest that children who contract Covid-19 generally experience milder symptoms than adults do. However, they are not immune, and some children have become severely ill or died from the disease.
#BREAK Facebook removes post from President Trump's page for breaking its rules on Covid-19 misinformation.
The post was a clip of his interview with Fox & Friends this morning where he made claims about children and Covid-19 immunity pic.twitter.com/tPYPAVLYY8
The final weeks of Joe Biden’s search for a running mate have had all the usual trimmings: leaks from unnamed Democratic party officials, last-minute suggestions of outsider names and a trail of vague hints from the candidate himself.
But this year is different. Biden promised to select a female running mate, setting up a historic nomination process that many prominent Democratic women say is being overshadowed by the increasingly nasty – and unmistakably sexist – debate over who he should choose.
Test results for a man suspected of being North Korea’s first coronavirus case were inconclusive, but authorities have quarantined more than 3,635 primary and secondary contacts, according to a World Health Organization official.
On 26 July, the country said it had declared a state of emergency and locked down the border city of Kaesong after a person who defected to South Korea three years ago returned across the fortified border with what state media said were symptoms of Covid-19.
France’s prime minister, Jean Castex, has said vineyards are facing “major difficulties” due to a drop in exports during the pandemic.
He tweeted that state support “must continue and intensify” to save the wine industry from collapse.
Contexte international, crise sanitaire, baisse des exportations : notre filière viticole est confrontée à d’importantes difficultés. La mobilisation de l’État doit se poursuivre et s’intensifier. Avec @J_Denormandie, j’échange dans le Cher avec les professionnels du secteur. pic.twitter.com/G6qIEojyMw
Foundation stone laid for temple to Lord Ram at site where mosque was razed 28 years ago
The Indian town of Ayodhya welcomed Narendra Modi for a ceremony marking the start of construction of a temple on the site where a mosque was razed to the ground by a Hindu mob 28 years ago.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party has campaigned for years for the temple to be built at the spot considered to be the birthplace of the Hindu deity Lord Ram. The issue has divided Indians, alienated Muslims, helped propel the BJP to power and thrown its rivals into disarray.
Change was made after a classics student pointed out that the phrase on the original cover of Live Free or Die made no sense
The Latin motto on Fox News anchor Sean Hannity’s new book has been changed after the original was described as “complete and utter gobbledygook” by a classics student.
Hannity’s Live Free or Die: America (and the World) on the Brink, which argues “now is an All Hands on Deck moment to save the Republic”, was published on Tuesday. But as Business Insider pointed out, the Latin motto it uses as a subtitle has been quietly changed from the original jacket.
Campaigners fear supreme court will reinterpret centuries-old law used by foreign victims of human rights violations
US corporations could be able to commit human rights violations overseas with almost no legal sanction, effectively turning the US into a “safe haven” for corporate abusers, campaign groups fear.
Human rights activists are concerned that the US supreme court is gearing up to reinterpret a centuries-old law that has been widely used by foreign victims of slavery, trafficking and other abuses to claim redress in US courts.
Merdan Ghappar’s texts and videos reveal shocking conditions in Xinjiang internment camps
Rare footage and text messages secretly sent by a detained Uighur man show chilling evidence of human rights violations by China, as global scrutiny of the situation in Xinjiang grows.
According to reports by the BBC and the Globe and Mail, Merdan Ghappar, a successful model on thee-commerce platform Taobao, was detained after having spent over a year in prison on a drugs charge his supporters said was trumped up.
Lebanon is in mourning and surveying the damage to its capital, Beirut, after a massive explosion ripped through the city’s port and surrounding areas on Tuesday. At least 100 people were killed and 4,000 injured, with many still feared trapped under rubble
A senior US official is to lead a delegation to Taiwan in the highest-level visit since 1979 to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and to “celebrate the shared values” of the two democracies – prompting China to urge the US not to “send the wrong signals to Taiwan secessionists”.
The US health secretary, Alex Azar, said he would be the first cabinet member to visit in six years, in the most significant trip there since the US formally cut diplomatic ties decades ago to pursue relations with the Chinese Communist party. Taiwan said the visit would take place in the coming days.