Up to 2 million people in and around New Orleans were without power after Hurricane Ida, a 150mph monster storm that was the most powerful ever to hit Louisiana. At least one person was killed, by a falling tree, but the governor, John Bel Edwards, warned that the death toll will probably rise
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EU removes six countries including US from Covid safe travel list
Travellers from Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro, and North Macedonia also affected by move
The EU has removed six countries, including the US, from a Covid “white list” of places whose tourists should be permitted entry without restrictions such as mandatory quarantine.
A majority of EU countries had reopened their borders to Americans in June, in the hope of salvaging the summer tourism season although most required a negative test ahead of travel. The move was not, however, reciprocated by the US.
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: WHO expects 236,000 more Covid deaths in Europe by December; Philippines reports record high for new infections
Europe has registered around 1.3 million Covid deaths to date; Philippines sees 22,366 new cases; New Zealand’s largest city sees curbs extended by two weeks
- Global trade recovery starting to wane as Asian cases flare
- US states see sharp rise in fatalitie
- Sydney nurses increase sedation of patients to ease workload
- See all our coronavirus coverage
With the return to school in the UK imminent, the Welsh education ministry said on Monday that all schools, universities and colleges in Wales would be supplied with ozone disinfecting machines.
Once a room has been disinfected, the machine, each the size of a suitcase, converts the ozone back to oxygen. But ozone is so toxic that no one will be allowed inside the room when the machine is operating.
It is like the use of chlorine, you don’t want to be in an environment where chlorine is dispersed at high concentration. Ozone smells but people are not allowed to smell it. That is extremely important from a safety point of view.”
Related: Concerns over plan to disinfect classrooms in Wales with ozone
Britain has reported 26,476 new cases of Covid-19 between 24 August and 30 August, 1.8% increase on the previous seven days.
A further 48 people were reported as having died within 28 days of a positive test for Covid-19, taking the seven-day increase to 14.8%.
Continue reading...US school students return amid threat of Delta disruption – live
- First day of school for students in some parts of America
- Over 180,000 Covid cases in children between 12 and 19 August
The Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, is monitoring the latest updates on Afghanistan.
Responding to repeated questions about civilian casualties from a drone strike on Kabul on Sunday, the Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby said: “We are not in a position to dispute it right now, and ... we’re assessing, and we’re investigating.”
The US health department is preparing to launch an office focused on the climate crisis as a public health issue, something it outlined in a January executive order.
The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources, said resources for the new Office of Climate Change and Health Equity are being assembled now. The WSJ reports:
The new office is likely to spur initiatives touching on many aspects of healthcare, according to people briefed on the planning and White House releases. It is expected to offer protections for populations most at risk—including the elderly, minorities, rural communities and children—and could eventually lead to policies compelling hospitals and other care facilities to reduce carbon emissions, the people said.
Continue reading...US intercepts rockets targeting Kabul airport as key diplomats fly out
Islamic State claims responsibility for attacks in final hours of western evacuation of Afghanistan
US anti-missile defences have intercepted as many as five rockets targeting Kabul airport as key American diplomats flew out of the Aghan capital in the final hours of the western evacuation under the threat of further Islamic State attacks.
Officials told Reuters that core US diplomats had on Monday joined the 122,000 foreign nationals and Afghans to be evacuated since mid-August, although it was not clear whether the acting ambassador, Ross Wilson, was among them.
Continue reading...China urges nations to ‘actively guide’ Taliban government
US should work with international community to help Afghanistan run government functions, Wang Yi says
China’s top diplomat has urged the international community to engage with Afghanistan’s new Taliban government and “guide it actively”, in a phone call with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
Wang Yi, Chinese state councillor and foreign minister, also said that Washington should work with the international community to help the new regime run governmental functions normally, according to a statement. He added that the US’s “hasty withdrawal” could allow terrorist groups to “regroup and come back stronger”.
Continue reading...New Orleans battered by Hurricane Ida as storm claims first victim in Louisiana
A million households without power as governor says system of levees overhauled after Hurricane Katrina will face ‘most severe test’
One person has died as Hurricane Ida, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the US, knocked out power to all of New Orleans, reversed the flow of the Mississippi River and blew roofs off buildings across Louisiana.
Related: Hurricane Ida live updates: first death in Louisiana as New Orleans loses power
Continue reading...International talks aim for consensus on Taliban government
Western G7 powers are meeting Turkey, Qatar and Nato in Doha to discuss how Kabul airport could be reopened
Talks are due in Doha and New York to try to reach an international consensus on the conditions for recognising the Taliban government in Afghanistan. There are signs of tensions between superpowers after Russia called on the US to release Afghan central bank reserves that Washington blocked after the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul earlier this month.
“If our western colleagues are actually worried about the fate of the Afghan people, then we must not create additional problems for them by freezing gold and foreign exchange reserves,” said the Kremlin’s envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov.
Continue reading...Chaos as Caldor fire forces unprecedented evacuation of Tahoe tourist town
Cal Fire chief warns of ‘fire activity that we have never seen before’ as fleeing residents clog roads
Thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate the tourist town of South Lake Tahoe as the raging Caldor fire draws closer, prompting chaotic scenes and clogged roads as residents rush to leave the area.
Monday’s fresh evacuation orders, unheard of in the city, came a day after communities several miles south of the lake were abruptly ordered to evacuate as the wildfire raged nearby.
Continue reading...Rand Paul: ‘Hatred for Trump’ blocks Covid study of horse drug ivermectin
Kentucky senator tells constituents he is ‘in the middle’ on use of deworming medication FDA has implored Americans not to take
Federal researchers will not objectively study ivermectin as a treatment for Covid-19, the Kentucky senator Rand Paul claimed, because “hatred for Donald Trump” has tainted their view of those who say the drug used to deworm horses can aid the fight against the pandemic.
Related: Florida radio host who called himself ‘Mr Anti-Vax’ dies of Covid-19
Continue reading...Hurricane Ida: flooding and devastation as historically powerful storm makes landfall – video report
One person has died as Hurricane Ida, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the US, knocked out power to all of New Orleans, reversed the flow of the Mississippi River and blew roofs off buildings across Louisiana. Across the state, more than a million households were without power, and the outage in New Orleans had left the city more vulnerable to flooding – 16 years after Hurricane Katrina caused devastation.
- New Orleans battered by Hurricane Ida as storm claims first victim in Louisiana
- Hurricane Ida live updates: first death in Louisiana as New Orleans loses power
Cape Cod: eight great white sharks seen feeding on humpback whale carcass
- Expert marvels at ‘biggest smorgasbord a shark could dream of’
- Researchers monitor unusual humpback mortality event
For those aboard a recent whale watching cruise off Cape Cod, the decomposing carcass of a year-old humpback calf floating in the waters of the Stellwagen Bank national marine sanctuary made for a heartbreaking sight.
Related: Experience: I was attacked by two sharks at once
Continue reading...Locked-off camera shows devastating power of Hurricane Ida – video
Video footage caught on a locked-off camera at a dock in Port Fourchon, Louisiana shows the immense power of Hurricane Ida as it made landfall off the US south coast. The category 4 storm moved through the state northward, causing structure damage and downed trees.
Continue reading...‘Selling a promise’: what Silicon Valley learned from the fall of Theranos
The company’s collapse has changed the startup environment, but some say the industry still hasn’t faced a ‘true reckoning’
A charismatic young leader, billions of dollars in valuations and a technology that promised to change the world but failed to deliver: the meteoric rise and fantastic fall of the medical tech startup Theranos has been seen by many as an indictment of the hype-train attitude of Silicon Valley.
Nearly 20 years after Theranos’s launch, its CEO, Elizabeth Holmes, is headed to trial, charged with defrauding clients and investors. Silicon Valley is facing a public that’s wary of its methods and intentions – but the verdict is still out on whether startup culture has fundamentally changed.
Continue reading...Biden meets remains of 13 troops killed in Kabul as US promises more strikes
- Secretary of state to bereaved father: ‘I’m deeply sorry’
- Adviser: US will help people leave after deadline
- Afghanistan – live coverage
The White House on Sunday reasserted its promise to capture or kill the perpetrators of the deadly attacks on Kabul airport, as Joe Biden travelled to Delaware for the repatriation of the bodies of the 13 US troops who died.
Related: Pentagon names troops killed in Kabul – some were babies at time of invasion
Continue reading...Ed Asner, who played Lou Grant in two hit shows, dies aged 91
- Actor shone in The Mary Tyler Moore Show and spin-off
- Spell as Screen Actors Guild president ended over liberal views
Ed Asner, a burly and prolific character actor who became a star in middle age as the gruff but lovable newsman Lou Grant, first in the hit comedy The Mary Tyler Moore Show and later in the drama Lou Grant, died on Sunday. He was 91.
Related: Ed Asner obituary
Continue reading...Porcelain seized by Nazis goes up for auction in New York
Prized collection smuggled across Europe by Jewish owners in 1930s expected to fetch more than $2m
A collection of prized Meissen porcelain smuggled across Europe after its Jewish owners were forced to flee the Nazis and later procured for Hitler before being uncovered in a salt mine by the “Monuments Men”, is to be auctioned in New York next month.
The extraordinary journey that the 18th-century artworks have undergone, reflecting the turmoil of the second world war years, has been reconstructed by art historians and restitution lawyers before their sale by Sotheby’s, the international auction house.
Continue reading...California: mother fights off mountain lion with bare hands to save 5-year-old son
The mountain lion, which dragged the boy across his front lawn, was later killed by wildlife officers
A mountain lion that attacked a 5-year-old boy in southern California has been shot and killed by a wildlife officer, authorities say.
The 65-pound (30kg) mountain lion attacked the boy while he was playing near his house on Thursday in Calabasas and “dragged him about 45 yards” across the front lawn, said Captain Patrick Foy, a spokesman with the California department of fish and wildlife, on Saturday.
Continue reading...Forget the Alamo review: dark truths of the US south and its ‘secular Mecca’
Three Texas authors expose the myth that the 1836 battle at a San Antonio mission was about freedom. It was about slavery
As the ancient American struggle over how much truth to tell about the traditional oppression of minorities bubbles over, with arguments over everything from the teaching of Critical Race Theory to the mention of anything gay in the presence of anyone under 18, this engaging new book about the history of the Alamo arrives at the perfect moment.
Related: Our Own Worst Enemy review: a caustic diagnosis of America after Trump
Continue reading...Republicans scent blood as Biden assailed over Afghanistan pullout
The chaotic evacuation has dented the president’s image of empathy and competence but political attacks may have limited shelf life
For Republicans it was a day of thoughts and prayers – and political opportunity.
Related: Kabul airport atrocity offers a glimpse of the chaos to come in Afghanistan
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