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Witnesses report knife and gun attacks and children shot by armed men after PM warning over continuing ethnic conflicts
More than 100 people have been killed in Ethiopia’s western region of Benishangul-Gumuz, in the latest massacre along ethnic lines in the country.
Witnesses and officials said that at least 102 people were killed in the attack early on Wednesday in the Metekel zone.
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More areas of England moved up into tiers 4 and 3; UK has highest recorded daily rise in cases; new variant discovered in travellers from South Africa
New York has started requiring international visitors to quarantine on Wednesday to safeguard against the new variant of Covid-19 coming from the UK.
As the city’s next group of essential workers, paramedics and first responders, lined up to get the vaccine, Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters that travellers would receive a city order via certified mail.
#BREAKING: Mayor Bill de Blasio announces new “tough rules” for UK travelers: “We’re going to have sheriff’s deputies go to the home or the hotel of every single traveler coming in from the UK.” pic.twitter.com/DDo7RfpkFZ
Peru is set to receive a “significant batch” of vaccines from the Covax alliance during the first quarter in 2021, the interim president, Francisco Sagasti, said on Wednesday.
The Covax global alliance was designed to help secure Covid-19 vaccines to poor and middle-income countries. It hopes to deliver at least 2bn doses by the end of 2021.
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Ofcom imposes £20,000 penalty on Republic TV for highly derogatory comments on talk show
A rightwing Indian news channel known for its strong pro-government stance and firebrand host has been fined by UK regulator Ofcom for broadcasting hate speech about Pakistan.
Republic TV was fined £20,000 for airing a segment on its UK service, which conveyed the view that all Pakistani people are terrorists, including “their scientists, doctors, their leaders, politicians […] Even their sports people”.
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Exclusive: experts sign letter warning against slashing spending on public-private programmes
Experts fear a push to cut the UK’s aid budget will slash spending on global health research, handicapping international public-private programmes that have helped combat the world’s deadliest diseases over the last decade.
In a letter addressed to the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, last week, prominent parliamentarians sought reassurance that the planned cuts would not lead to “dramatic reductions” in investment for devastating diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/Aids and a clutch of neglected tropical diseases.
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More areas of England moved up into tiers 4 and 3; UK has highest recorded daily rise in cases; new variant discovered in travellers from South Africa
Israel has detected four cases of the new, highly infectious variant of the coronavirus that emerged in the UK, the Israeli health ministry said.
A summary of the increased restrictions for England:
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The past 12 months has been a year of non-stop headlines – coronavirus aside. The Guardian’s editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, joins Anushka Asthana to reflect on the stories of 2020. There was the killing of George Floyd and the global anti-racism movement Black Lives Matter, and then the US election in which Americans voted president Donald Trump out of office. And the biggest story of all: the continuing climate crisis which, despite a pandemic-induced reduction in travel, resulted in only a 7% drop in global emissions
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New variant already in ‘great majority if not all’ European countries, says Professor Neil Ferguson; UK R number rises to between 1.1 and 1.3
Africa needs about $9bn to fund enough Covid-19 vaccines to halt the pandemic on the continent, but a bigger problem is accessing that supply amid the global race for doses, an African Export Import Bank official said on Wednesday.
African nations cannot compete with wealthier governments that have secured huge supplies of inoculations, Hippolyte Fofack, Afreximbank chief economist, told Reuters.
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Citizens are finally getting the urban patios and parks promised when the cramped medieval city was extended in the 1900s
At the turn of the 20th century, the Catalan engineer Ildefons Cerdà had a revolutionary idea for extending Barcelona beyond the cramped confines of its medieval walls. In the grid system of the extension he planned, each city block would be built around a large open space or patio, designed to be a park for residents.
When he began his work, the old city was hemmed in physically and psychologically, desperately overcrowded and disease-ridden, with frequent outbreaks of cholera and a lower life expectancy than London or Paris.
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Preliminary data suggest viral loads higher in new variant, says Nervtag professor; UK entrants to France must have negative test
The Irish Government has said a member of the Cabinet has tested positive for Covid-19.
All other ministers will now restrict their movements pending coronavirus tests and results.
A member of Cabinet has tested positive for Covid-19,” said a Government statement.
“In line with public health advice, all ministers are restricting their movements while awaiting a Covid test and result.”
French President Emmanuel Macron is showing signs of improvement after testing positive for Covid-19 last week, his office said.
Macron, 43, is in quarantine at the presidential retreat of La Lanterne, close to the Palace of Versailles.
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Norwegian health minister says decision whether to further extend ban will be made on 26 December; UK entrants to France must have negative test; Europe had nearly half world’s weekly deaths
China’s biggest airline has become the latest company to halt direct flights to and from London after the emergence of a highly infectious new coronavirus strain.
China Southern Airlines will suspend travel from 24 December to 7 January, state radio reported on Wednesday. The airline has been operating a weekly flight between its hub Guangzhou and London.
Bulgaria is set to resume flights from the UK from 10am on Wednesday, the government has announced.
The Balkan country is one of more than 40 nations that suspended travel from the UK amid a new coronavirus strain spreading across the country, closing its borders on Sunday.
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