Qerro Media Service - QMS: October 2021

Time running out for LGBTQ+ Afghans hiding from Taliban, warn charities

Large numbers linked to previous administration are stranded in Afghanistan, with calls for the UK to broker rapid mass evacuation

Calls for the government to speed up the evacuation of gay, lesbian and transgender Afghans intensified on Saturday after the first LGBTQ+ group arrived safely in Britain but left many behind to face an uncertain fate.

The group of 29 is “hoped to be the first of many” in the coming months, the Foreign Office said, hours after the Taliban announced LGBTQ+ rights would not be respected.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/31/time-running-out-for-lgbtq-afghans-hiding-from-taliban-warn-charities

Reasons to be hopeful: the climate solutions available now

We have every tool we need to tackle the climate crisis. Here’s what some key sectors are doing

The climate emergency is the biggest threat to civilisation we have ever faced. But there is good news: we already have every tool we need to beat it. The challenge is not identifying the solutions, but rolling them out with great speed.

Some key sectors are already racing ahead, such as electric cars. They are already cheaper to own and run in many places – and when the purchase prices equal those of fossil-fueled vehicles in the next few years, a runaway tipping point will be reached.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/31/reasons-to-be-hopeful-the-climate-solutions-available-now

The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present by Paul McCartney review – a man of his words

From All My Loving to Your Mother Should Know, the former Beatle illuminates a life spent puzzling how to get from the beginning of a song to its end

At the beginning of this two-volume book, Paul McCartney says that while he has no intention of writing his autobiography and has never kept a diary, it has been his habit throughout his adult life to turn his life experiences into the words of songs, and so here are 154 of them. With that kind of introduction you’d be forgiven for expecting them in chronological order. Had they been so, most of the hits would be in the first book and a lot of people would hardly open the second. Chronological was obviously a non-starter.

Alphabetical it is, then, with each initial letter a fresh lottery. F is particularly solid, featuring Fixing a Hole, The Fool on the Hill, For No One and From Me to You. Unsurprisingly, almost everything under I dates from the Beatles’ personal-pronoun period – I Saw Her Standing There, I Wanna Be Your Man, I Want to Hold Your Hand, I’m Down, I’ll Follow the Sun and others – while the average reader may be a bit lost in the O section once they get past Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. As much space in this book is devoted to Magneto and Titanium Man as Michelle. This last turns out to have been half-written by a schoolteacher friend, which would guarantee it winding up in court if it were to happen today.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/31/the-lyrics-1956-to-the-present-by-paul-mccartney-review

Johnson’s foreign quarrels can’t conceal the truth about Brexit

Fishing rows notwithstanding, much of Europe looks on at the UK’s plight with astonishment – and even, still, sympathy

At the recent celebration of the life and achievements of my friend and fellow Remainer John le Carré, I was asked by a leading academic whether I was absolutely certain that we could rejoin the European Union.

The answer is that I am not. But as the evidence of the damage of that foolish referendum decision accrues, it is becoming more and more certain that we should try. At the very least, we should be repairing fences and attempting to re-establish as close a relationship as possible – a cause championed by Labour’s impressive shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/31/johnsons-foreign-quarrels-cant-conceal-the-truth-about-brexit

The big picture: incarcerated gang members in El Salvador

Tariq Zaidi’s powerful image of the overcrowded Chalatenango prison, which housed 1,637 inmates from the feared MS-13 criminal organisation

The British-based photographer Tariq Zaidi took this picture in Chalatenango prison in El Salvador in 2019. At the time, the prison held 1,637 inmates, all of whom were members of the MS-13 gang that has terrorised the country for decades. Zaidi arrived in El Salvador in 2018 and spent eight months negotiating access to the brutal world of MS-13 and its rival, Barrio 18. In the following two years, he visited six maximum security prisons and numerous bloody crime scenes and funeral processions. His aim, he suggests, in his book of the pictures, Sin Salida (No Way Out), was to document the vicious dystopia that parts of El Salvador had become: “When then-President Trump was calling Central American migrant caravans ‘criminals’ and the like, I wanted to explore what kind of life these people were leaving behind.”

The motto of MS-13 is “kill, rape, control”. It is estimated to have used violent extortion against 70% of El Salvador’s businesses. After a dozen years in which the murder rate was higher than any country outside a war zone, President Nayib Bukele, who styles himself as “the world’s coolest dictator”, won power in 2019 on a platform of zero tolerance of gang violence. His authoritarian “territorial control plan”, along with an alleged secret pact with MS-13 leaders, filled the country’s jails to more than triple capacity and dramatically cut the official murder rate.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/oct/31/the-big-picture-incarcerated-gang-members-in-el-salvador

Climate crisis is real but you wouldn’t know from watching Fox Weather

The new sister channel of climate denialist Fox News isn’t following suit – it’s just avoiding the subject altogether

When Fox News Media announced plans for a 24-hour weather channel, the company could hardly have predicted it would debut in a week marked by a bomb cyclone, several tornadoes and severe flooding across the north-east.

Yet that’s exactly what happened when Fox Weather launched on Monday last week, to much fanfare from its owners, but to serious trepidation from people concerned that the channel could match the infamous climate change scepticism of its sister channel Fox News.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/oct/31/fox-weather-24-hour-channel-climate-crisis

Liberty University faces new scrutiny over handling of sexual assault claims

The conservative Christian institution, already rocked by scandal of former president Jerry Falwell, faces claims by dozens of women and questions about its political activity

“I feel the Lord moving here,” remarks a visitor looking over Liberty University’s Disney World-tidy campus toward the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia.

But other, more temporal matters, none godly, now hang over the once powerful evangelical institution founded in 1971 by the television preacher Jerry Falwell Sr, the Baptist minister who, eight years later, created the Moral Majority that mobilized the Christian right to the services of the Republican party.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/31/liberty-university-handling-sexual-assault-claims

Why this governor’s race is shaping up as a referendum on the Biden presidency

The president won the state by 10 points but Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe has acknowledged Washington politics could hurt his campaign

Scott Knuth was dwarfed by the 16ft x 10ft flag that he waved to and fro on a street corner in Arlington, Virginia. “Trump won,” it falsely proclaimed, “Save America.”

But Donald Trump was not coming to town. Instead his successor, Joe Biden, was about to take the stage in a campaign rally at a dangerous inflection point in his young presidency.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/31/virginia-governors-race-biden-presidency-test-mcauliffe-youngkin

Hindu-Muslim violence crosses border from Bangladesh to India

Footage shared on social media blamed for igniting violence between communities that left seven dead, buildings torched and many living in fear

It was early morning when Achintya Das, a 55-year-old teacher in the city of Cumilla in Bangladesh, was woken by the ringing of his mobile phone. On the other end of the line was a fearful, stricken voice. Come quickly, the local told him, something very grave had happened. A Qur’an had been found in the shrine they had recently erected for the upcoming Hindu festival of Durga Puja. The Islamic holy book had been placed on a statue of the Hindu god Hanuman.

Das, a Hindu who organised the festival in Cumilla, felt dread rise up in him at the news of the desecration of Muslim holy scripture in their shrine. “It didn’t even take me a second to understand the gravity of the situation. I rushed there immediately,” he said.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/31/hindu-muslim-violence-crosses-border-from-bangladesh-to-india

Master of the Game review: Henry Kissinger as hero, villain … and neither

Martin Indyk’s well-woven biography is sympathetic to the preacher of realpolitik condemned by many as a war criminal

As secretary of state, Henry Kissinger nursed the 1973 Arab-Israeli war to a close. The disengagement agreements between Egypt and Israel ultimately yielded a peace treaty. The Syrian border remains tensely quiet. Unlike Vietnam, in the Middle East Kissinger’s handiwork holds.

The Sunni Arab world has gradually come to terms with the existence of the Jewish state. Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan have diplomatic ties with Jerusalem. Relations with Saudi Arabia are possible.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/31/master-of-the-game-review-henry-kissinger-martin-indyk-middle-east-israel

‘Road to recovery’: quarantine-free travel from New Zealand to Australia set to resume

Fully vaccinated visitors from New Zealand will be able to enter freely from Monday, as Australia prepares gradually reopen its borders

Quarantine-free travel from New Zealand to Australia will resume from Monday, Australia’s tourism minister has said, as the country readies itself for a partial reopening of its international borders for the first time since March 2020.

Vaccinated Australian citizens and permanent residents living in New South Wales, Victoria and the ACT will be free to fly internationally from Monday without the need for an exemption or to quarantine upon return.

Reuters and the Australian Associated Press contributed to this report

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source https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/31/new-zealand-australia-quarantine-free-travel-coronavirus

I don’t want my first polyamorous relationship to end | Ask Philippa

You could talk about it – and tell the other two that you won’t have secrets that make one of them feel not great

The question For 18 months I’ve been in a relationship with two other men. They’d been a couple for five years already. We made it work and moved in together. We are all in our early 30s. I have never had a relationship longer than a few weeks before this.

The attraction was equally sparkling for both of them at the start but, as time went by, I developed more of a sexual connection with ‘B’, many times being very spontaneous just between the two of us, always with almost a “cheating thrill”. We had threesomes as well.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/oct/31/ask-philippa-perry-i-do-not-want-my-first-polyamorous-relationship-to-end

Donald Trump chops with Atlanta Braves fans before World Series game

Former US president attends Game 4 of World Series in Atlanta
Trump does controversial tomahawk chop celebration at game

Only months after calling for a boycott of Major League Baseball, former US president Donald Trump did the tomahawk chop with Atlanta Braves fans at Game 4 of the World Series on Saturday night.

Trump stood beside his wife, Melania, as he chopped away with fans before the game between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros from a private suite.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/oct/31/donald-trump-world-series-braves-astros

New Zealand pledges to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030

With Cop26 climate summit about to begin, PM Jacinda Ardern says ‘it’s critical we pull our weight’

New Zealand has pledged to cut its net greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, toughening its previous ambitions to limit global warming on the eve of the United Nations Cop26 climate conference.

“While we are a small contributor to global emissions, as a country surrounded by oceans and an economy reliant on our land we are not immune to the impact of climate change, so it’s critical we pull our weight,” prime minister Jacinda Ardern said in a statement on Sunday.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/31/new-zealand-pledges-to-halve-greenhouse-emissions-by-2030

Australia’s net zero plan could cost far more than the $20bn allocated, Angus Taylor suggests

Energy minister refuses to detail full cost of reaching 2050 target as Cop26 summit looms

The Coalition’s “technology not taxes” plan for net zero emissions by 2050 could cost taxpayers much more than the $20bn allocated by the Morrison government.

The emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday that more will need to be spent beyond 2030 to reach the target.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/31/australias-net-zero-plan-could-cost-far-more-than-the-20bn-allocated-angus-taylor-suggests

US and EU reach peace deal on Trump-era tariffs on steel and aluminium

Agreement allows duty-free access for limited amounts of EU-made metals and fends off retaliatory EU tariffs due in December

The US and EU have agreed to end a festering dispute over US steel and aluminium tariffs imposed by former president Donald Trump in 2018, removing an irritant in transatlantic relations and averting a spike in EU retaliatory tariffs, US officials have said.

Commerce secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters on Saturday that the deal would maintain US section 232 tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% aluminium, while allowing “limited volumes” of EU-produced metals into the US duty free.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/31/us-and-eu-reach-peace-deal-on-trump-era-tariffs-on-steel-and-aluminium

‘Very upsetting’: Australian families fear navy shipwrecks will be desecrated

There are concerns rising metal prices will lead to more illegal scavenging unless the government acts to protect wrecks

Vera Ryan doesn’t know much about her uncle Jack. Petty officer Jack Messenger was one of 35 men who were on the HMAS AE1 submarine when it sank in the early days of the first world war.

But she knows the site of the wreck is an important place, a place of memories for her and the hundred-odd other descendants and families of the Australian and British sailors who died.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/31/very-upsetting-australian-families-fear-navy-shipwrecks-will-be-desecrated

Scott Morrison contradicts Biden’s comments on whether French were informed about Aukus

Australian prime minister defends move to ditch French submarine contract as ‘the right decision’ at G20 in Rome

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Scott Morrison has doubled down on Australia’s decision to ditch a multi-billion dollar French submarine contract, contradicting Joe Biden’s claims about whether Emmanuel Macron was informed about the move.

Speaking to reporters at the G20 summit in Rome on Saturday, the prime minister insisted Australia had made “the right decision” by ditching the French submarine contract, even though his management of the fracas has infuriated the French president and prompted an implicit public rebuke from Joe Biden.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/31/scott-morrison-contradicts-bidens-claims-that-french-werent-fully-informed-on-aukus

Germany fears fourth Covid wave as vaccination rates remain low

With a new governing coalition yet to be formed and jab refusal high, experts worry the country is unprepared for a surge in cases

Concerns are mounting in Germany about a rapidly growing and hard to predict fourth wave of Covid-19 this autumn, as the government is in transition and flatlining vaccination rates lag behind those in the rest of western Europe.

An increasingly mobile population, a largely dismantled pop-up testing infrastructure and reduced staffing at hospitals have led some experts to warn that the government is facing a resurgent virus with less resolve than at previous stages of the pandemic.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/30/germany-fears-fourth-covid-wave-as-vaccination-rates-remain-low

Australia news live update: international border set to reopen; Victoria records 1,036 Covid cases, NSW 177; Morrison defends Aukus deal

International border bans are set to end on Monday with Australians able to leave the country and return home; Scott Morrison defends the Aukus deal at G20 in Rome. Follow all the day’s news live

Speers is trying to work out exactly how much the government’s plan to reach net zero by 2050 will cost.

Speers wants to find out how much the plan is going to cost taxpayers, which Taylor disputes; the government’s line on climate action has for a long time been “technology not taxes” (even though government spending comes from taxpayer dollars).

I understand that’s what you’re hoping, but just to be clear, what are taxpayers going to have to pay under your plan to get to net zero?

Taxpayers are not paying anything, we are not raising taxes. That’s the important point here.

You are using taxpayers’ dollars, right, which could either be used to pay off debtor spend on hospitals or whatever. You are using taxpayers’ dollars. $20 billion you mentioned to get to2030. To get to net zero by 2050, what’s the cost to taxpayers?

Well, let’s be clear about what that $20billion is. That is money that we have invested through the CSIRO, the climate Solutions Fund, a range of different sources to bring down the costs of those technologies so they can raise productivity, strengthen the economy and grow the economy.

Well, the whole purpose of the plan is to avoid imposing costs on Australians by deploying technology which has been the great engine behind human history, and achieving, solving hard problems, avoiding imposing those costs by deploying technology and not deploying taxes.

Now, we are investing $20bn in targeted expenditure. We’ve been laying that out, prioritising clean energies like clean hydrogen, low-emissions steel and aluminium ... to carbon capture and storage, stored energy. These are the technologies we know cannot just reduce emissions for Australia, but reduce emissions around the world, David, and that’s why we are focused on those technologies. That’s how we do this.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2021/oct/31/australia-news-live-update-international-borders-covid-travel-cop26-scott-morrison-travel-environment-biden-aukus-victoria-newsouthwales-

Alec Baldwin breaks silence on Rust shooting: ‘She was my friend’

Actor tells reporter ‘this is a one-in-a-trillion episode’, in first remarks since fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on film set

Halyna Hutchins: a talented and passionate cinematographer

In his first public comments since accidentally fatally shooting the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of a film, Rust, in New Mexico earlier this month, Alec Baldwin said on Saturday: “She was my friend.”

The actor spoke to a reporter from BackGrid, a “global celebrity news agency”, in Vermont, where he was photographed having lunch with his wife.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/30/alec-baldwin-rust-shooting-halyna-hutchins

National Trust sees off culture war rebellion in an AGM of discontent

After the worries over ‘wokeness’, hunting was the day’s big issue

Those who care deeply about the stately homes of Britain tuned in on Saturday from a dozen countries around the world to watch a peculiar spectator sport: the National Trust annual general meeting.

The stage was set for a tournament that promised one victor: either the reforming board of the National Trust, determined to move with the times, or a rebellious contingent calling for a return to first principles of preservation and established scholarship.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/30/national-trust-sees-off-culture-war-rebellion-in-an-agm-of-discontent

Tucker Carlson condemned over ‘false flag’ claim about deadly Capitol attack

Congresswoman Liz Cheney and Anti-Defamation League president denounce Fox News host’s ‘lies’ as he plugs new series

The conservative Republican Liz Cheney and the chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League led condemnation of Fox News and Tucker Carlson, after the primetime host announced a series about the supposed “true story” of the deadly attack on the US Capitol on 6 January.

They denounced Carlson for spreading dangerous conspiracy theories in the latest scandal to engulf a man whose popularity belies his record of racist and untrue statements on issues from immigration to racial justice.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/oct/30/tucker-carlson-condemned-capitol-attack-liz-cheney

Capitalism is killing the planet – it’s time to stop buying into our own destruction | George Monbiot

Instead of focusing on ‘micro consumerist bollocks’ like ditching our plastic coffee cups, we must challenge the pursuit of wealth and level down, not up

There is a myth about human beings that withstands all evidence. It’s that we always put our survival first. This is true of other species. When confronted by an impending threat, such as winter, they invest great resources into avoiding or withstanding it: migrating or hibernating, for example. Humans are a different matter.

When faced with an impending or chronic threat, such as climate or ecological breakdown, we seem to go out of our way to compromise our survival. We convince ourselves that it’s not so serious, or even that it isn’t happening. We double down on destruction, swapping our ordinary cars for SUVs, jetting to Oblivia on a long-haul flight, burning it all up in a final frenzy. In the back of our minds, there’s a voice whispering, “If it were really so serious, someone would stop us.” If we attend to these issues at all, we do so in ways that are petty, tokenistic, comically ill-matched to the scale of our predicament. It is impossible to discern, in our response to what we know, the primacy of our survival instinct.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/30/capitalism-is-killing-the-planet-its-time-to-stop-buying-into-our-own-destruction

Blind date: ‘I should have stopped drinking before I said I was Charlotte Brontë in a previous life’

Fred, 26, PhD student, meets Laurine, 24, French teaching assistant

Fred on Laurine

What were you hoping for?
A genuine human connection, be it romantic or platonic.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/oct/30/blind-date-i-should-have-stopped-drinking-before-i-said-i-was-charlotte-bronte-in-a-previous-life

Dining across the divide: ‘I thought, bloody hell, this is ridiculous’

Astrology, the royal family, immigration: can two strangers agree on anything?

• Click here if you’d like to dine across the divide

Nickie, 68, Stockport

Occupation Setting up an astrology company, after a career in sales

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source https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/oct/30/dining-across-the-divide-i-thought-bloody-hell-this-is-ridiculous

Banana price war in UK supermarkets is hurting farmers, growers warn

Retailers accused of ignoring soaring production costs to keep prices low, with Aldi singled out as leading way

The huge popularity of bananas makes them a weapon in UK supermarket price wars, but the tactic is hurting farmers amid soaring production costs, growers have said.

The major supermarket chains are ignoring the impact of higher raw material and freight costs because they want to offer the “cheapest bananas on the market”, according to a joint statement from Latin American producers and exporter associations.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/30/banana-price-war-uk-supermarkets-hurting-farmers-growers-warn

Cop26: the time for prevarication is over | Katharine Viner

Glasgow 2021 must be the moment when the promise of Paris 2015 becomes real – history will not forgive us otherwise

Summits do not always live up to the name. They can get bogged down in detail and disagreement, never really reaching altitude.

That is often the case with the annual UN climate summits known simply as the Cop, which have earned a reputation since the first was held 26 years ago for being bewildering marathons that overrun and underdeliver.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/30/cop26-the-time-for-prevarication-is-over

Stella Creasy on her lonely maternity cover battle: ‘Women should be able to have kids and do politics’

The Labour politician is used to fighting battles – but can she win her latest: convincing her colleagues to back proper maternity cover for fellow members?

Stella Creasy is dodging people on the pavement as we talk. She apologises for the background noise but it’s hard finding time for a conversation when you have a newborn son, a toddler daughter, and no proper maternity leave from a full-time job as Labour MP for Walthamstow; this walk to an appointment is the only window she has. Last month, she spoke in a Commons debate on childcare, baby Pip in a sling, sounding astonishingly composed for someone who had given birth four weeks earlier. I ask how she’s feeling and she laughs briefly and says: “Tired as hell, mad as anything.”

And then it all comes tumbling out: the night before that debate, she’d been in hospital with an infection she thinks was brought on by doing too much. The day after her caesarean, she was dialling into meetings with the defence secretary from hospital – she has had about 200 cases in her London constituency of people seeking help getting family members out of Afghanistan – and has barely stopped since. “There wasn’t any alternative,” she says. “These are people ringing up my staff threatening to kill themselves because they’re so worried about family members. You can hear the terror in their voices.” Meanwhile, she’s grappling with “the mum guilt” for not taking more time off, while struggling to be patient with people in parliament who ask how she is, only to back away when answered honestly. Having lost a battle with the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) this summer over the maternity leave cover she wanted, Creasy refuses to draw a polite veil over the consequences. And if that means breaking the working mother taboo against admitting that everything is not in fact fine, then so be it.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/oct/30/stella-creasy-lonely-maternity-cover-battle-women-should-be-able-have-kids-do-politics

‘A deliberate, orchestrated campaign’: the real story behind Trump’s attempted coup

A startling memo, a surreal Oval Office encounter – just some of the twists in the unfolding story of Trump’s bid to cling to power, which critics say was no less than an attempted coup

On 4 January, the conservative lawyer John Eastman was summoned to the Oval Office to meet Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence. Within 48 hours, Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election would formally be certified by Congress, sealing Trump’s fate and removing him from the White House.

The atmosphere in the room was tense. The then US president was “fired up” to make what amounted to a last-ditch effort to overturn the election results and snatch a second term in office in the most powerful job on Earth.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/30/trump-2020-election-steal-presidency-coup-inside-story

Pumice stones from undersea volcano wash ashore in Japan – video

Drone footage shows vast amounts of pumice pebbles, spewed out months ago by an undersea volcano, clogging up a fishing port in Kagoshima prefecture, in southern Japan. The pumice has so far affected 19 ports in Kagoshima, and 11 on Okinawa, putting hundreds of fishing boats out of action and damaging the tourism industry.

Japan ports swamped by pumice spewed from undersea volcano

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2021/oct/30/pumice-stones-from-undersea-volcano-wash-ashore-in-japan-video

Queensland police seize Nazi flag flown near Brisbane synagogue

Swastika seen hanging from Margaret Street apartment complex in city’s CBD

Congregants at a Brisbane synagogue were confronted by the sight of a Nazi flag flying from a nearby apartment window on Saturday.

Visitors to the synagogue reported seeing the swastika symbol hanging from a UniLodge complex on Margaret Street in the central business district on Saturday morning, the Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies vice-president, Jason Steinberg, said.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/30/queensland-police-seize-nazi-flag-flown-near-brisbane-synagogue

Japan ports swamped by pumice spewed from undersea volcano

Dozens of fishing vessels and ports have been damaged, with tonnes of the floating pebbles being removed from coastlines every day

Vast amounts of pumice pebbles, spewed out months ago by an undersea volcano, has clogged dozens of ports and damaged fishing boats along Japan’s southernmost coastlines.

Deputy chief cabinet secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki said on Friday that the pumice had so far affected 11 ports on Okinawa and 19 others in the Kagoshima prefecture, on Japan’s southernmost island of Kyushu, and forced the central government to establish a disaster recovery task force.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/30/japan-ports-swamped-by-pumice-spewed-from-undersea-volcano

Rail commuting in Great Britain at less than half pre-pandemic level

Number of commuter trips made in mid-October was just 45% of pre-Covid figure, industry says

The number of train journeys made by commuters in Great Britain remains at less than half of pre-pandemic levels, figures show.

The industry body Rail Delivery Group (RDG) said in mid-October the number of railway journeys made by those going to work was just 45% of what it was before the coronavirus crisis.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/30/train-rail-commute-great-britain-less-than-half-pre-pandemic-levels

Biden’s agenda remains unrealized as Democrats fail to close deal again

Pelosi forced to postpone infrastructure vote on Thursday ahead of Biden’s meeting with world leaders in Rome

Joe Biden’s nearly $3tn domestic agenda remains unrealized after an 11th-hour push to rally Democrats around a pared-down package that he framed as historic, failed to close the deal in time for his meeting with world leaders in Rome at the G20 summit.

But after a dramatic Thursday of bold promises and dashed hopes, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, was forced to postpone a vote on a $1tn infrastructure bill for a second time in a month, as progressives demanded more assurances that a compromise $1.75tn social policy plan would also pass.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/29/joe-biden-domestic-agenda-democrats-infrastructure-bill

Sudan coup: call for ‘march of millions’ to challenge military takeover

Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan claims he will appoint technocrat prime minister to rule alongside generals

Sudan’s six-day old military junta will face its most serious challenge on Saturday with pro-democracy groups, civilian politicians and trade unions calling for mass demonstrations against Monday’s coup.

As Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the Sudanese general leading the coup, announced he would appoint a technocrat prime minister to rule alongside the generals, the scale of the opposition’s “march of millions” will be seen as a key indicator of the military’s grip.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/30/sudan-coup-call-for-march-of-millions-to-challenge-military-takeover

Vigilante surveillance: the rise of Beijing’s neighbourhood patrols

Red-armbanded ‘Chaoyang masses’ likened to KGB and MI6 have become a common sight on streets of China’s capital

They are often seen wearing a red armband patrolling residential neighbourhoods of Chaoyang, the biggest district of Beijing, which is home to nearly 3.5 million people. On a sunny late autumn afternoon, they will sit with a group of retirees in the sun and chat away. But when an individual of interest turns up, their attention quickly diverts to them.

In Chinese media and official police statements, these vigilante neighbourhood watchers are called the “Chaoyang masses”. Last week, the state-owned Global Times went a step further, quoting internet users as saying the mysterious group “could match four famous intelligence [agencies], the CIA, MI6, KGB and Mossad”. Some jokingly called it “the fifth largest intelligence agency in the world”.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/30/vigilante-surveillance-the-rise-of-beijings-neighbourhood-patrols

Two weeks after Cleo Smith vanished from an Australian campsite, police still hunt for clues

The search for the missing four-year-old has captured the world’s attention, but police have yet to make a breakthrough in the baffling case

The days are long for Det Supt Rod Wilde, the man tasked with unravelling what happened to four-year-old Cleo Smith at the Blowholes campsite in Western Australia.

With 40 years of policing under his belt, including 18 with the major crime squad, Wilde is no stranger to missing children cases or working under the glare of media scrutiny.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/30/two-weeks-after-cleo-smith-vanished-from-an-australian-campsite-police-still-hunt-for-clues

First group of LGBT+ Afghans fleeing Taliban arrive in the UK

Students and activists in group that British foreign ministry hopes will be ‘the first of many’ in coming months

A group of LGBT+ Afghans has arrived in Britain, the first since the Taliban’s return to power in August caused panic among gay and transgender Afghans, who feared persecution and even death under the Islamists’ rule.

The evacuation of the 29 Afghans is “hoped to be the first of many” in the coming months, Britain’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday, hours after a Taliban spokesman said LGBT+ rights would not be respected.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/30/first-group-of-lgbt-afghans-fleeing-taliban-arrive-in-the-uk

‘Momentum for peace’: Pope Francis urged to visit North Korea by Moon Jae-in

South Korean president meets pontiff and gives him a cross made of barbed wire taken from demilitarised zone

The South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, has made a fresh attempt to have Pope Francis visit North Korea, at a meeting at the Vatican where the two leaders discussed peace efforts, Yonhap news agency said.

Moon gave Francis one of 136 crosses created with barbed wire from a fence in the demilitarised zone, the division across the peninsula for the past 68 years.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/30/pope-francis-north-korea-moon-jae-in-visit-south-korea

Prince Andrew asks US judge to dismiss lawsuit alleging sexual abuse

Duke of York says Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of forcing her to have sex when she was 17, failed to state claim warranting relief

Prince Andrew has asked a US judge to dismiss Virginia Giuffre’s civil lawsuit accusing him of sexually abusing her when she was 17.

In a filing with the US district court in Manhattan on Friday, the Duke of York said the case should be dismissed because Giuffre failed to state a claim warranting relief.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/29/prince-andrew-virginia-giuffre-lawsuit

Trudeau files last-ditch appeal against billions for Indigenous children

Tribunal ordered Canadian government to pay compensation to children who suffered discrimination in welfare system

Justin Trudeau’s government has launched a last-minute court appeal against a ruling that would require it pay billions of dollars to First Nations children who suffered discrimination in the welfare system.

Minutes before a court deadline on Friday afternoon, the government filed papers indicating it planned once again to fight a human rights tribunal decision ordering the compensation payment.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/oct/29/trudeau-government-canada-indigenous-children

Guantánamo prisoner details torture for first time: ‘I thought I was going to die’

Al-Qaida courier, who could be freed next year despite 26-year sentence, tells court of interrogators’ horrific treatment

For the first time, a Guantánamo Bay prisoner who went through the brutal US government interrogation program after the 9/11 attacks has described it openly in court, saying he was left terrified and hallucinating from techniques that the CIA long sought to keep secret.

Majid Khan, a former resident of the Baltimore suburbs who became an al-Qaida courier, told jurors considering his sentence for war crimes that he was subjected to days of painful abuse in the clandestine CIA facilities known as “black sites” as interrogators pressed him for information.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/29/going-die-guantanamo-prisoner-torture-testimony

We know who caused the climate crisis – but they don’t want to pay for it | Vanessa Nakate

My country, Uganda, and much of Africa has been battered by climate-related disasters. Cop26 is a chance for the biggest polluters to set up a compensation fund

Read more in our Crisis Nigeria series

While walking with a friend through central Kampala last month, we saw a police truck go by, a body in the back.

It’s a sight that has become more common in Uganda. The life of that person, and many others, was taken by a heavy downpour in my home city. Uganda has been battered by floods in recent years, as well as droughts and plagues of locusts. So much has been damaged and lost here as a result of the climate crisis.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/oct/29/we-know-who-caused-the-climate-crisis-but-they-dont-want-to-pay-for-it

Conversion therapy to be restricted but not banned in proposed bill

Equalities minister Liz Truss will consult on plans to allow counselling for non-vulnerable adults

Consenting adults should be able to undergo so-called conversion therapy, the government has recommended.

Setting out proposals for how they plan to crack down on “coercive and abhorrent” practices that seek to change sexual orientation or gender identity, the Government Equalities Office said: “We recognise there is a plurality of experience in this area and that there are adults who seek counselling to help them live a life that they feel is more in line with their personal beliefs.”

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/29/conversion-therapy-to-be-restricted-but-not-banned-in-proposed-bill

Kristen Stewart on playing Diana: ‘I believe in a lingering energy. I took her in’

The actor is an uncanny likeness, but – with its creepy equerries and mountains of pastries – director Pablo Larraín has created a gothic horror out of the princess’s life. They tell us how they made Sandringham her Overlook Hotel

Spencer, the new film about Princess Diana, is very definitely not The Crown. Not for director Pablo Larraín the comforting grandeur of Peter Morgan’s Netflix series, whose tapestried locations are the scene of inner turmoil as private desires hit the buffers of public duty. Spencer, the imagined story of which takes place over three ghastly days at Sandringham in 1991, veers far more gothic. The Norfolk stately home becomes a kind of Overlook Hotel from Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic The Shining, through whose endless, confusing corridors the camera harries and chivvies Kristen Stewart’s Diana as her psyche crumbles.

Stewart and Larraín are with me in a Zoom room: the director has his camera off, a mere black square and a courteous Chilean voice; Stewart, a relaxed, enthusiastic presence in a depersonalised domestic space, wearing a baggy red top, her hair loose and blond.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/oct/29/kristen-stewart-on-playing-diana-i-believe-in-a-lingering-energy-i-took-her-in

Cop26: Meet nine fashion designers making real change

From upcycling to educating, Fashion Open Studio has enlisted nine pioneering designers for a series of online workshops to mark the United Nation Climate Change Conference

Is it actually possible to reduce the fashion industry’s impact on the environment? Nine pioneering designers from five continents are showing that it is. Masterminding a series of solutions to some of the challenges facing their own communities, they demonstrate what we can learn from local indigenous knowledge and how to work within the limits of our natural resources.

In the lead up to Cop26, the designers were asked to respond to the climate change talks’ themes of adaptation, resilience and nature for a series of online workshops created by Fashion Open Studio (the initiative set up by Fashion Revolution) in partnership with the British Council. If you happen to be in Glasgow between November 4 to 11, you can take part in workshop events around the city, or to watch previous events and find out about upcoming workshops online, check out fashionopenstudio.com/events. In the meantime, here are the nine names to know:

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source https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2021/oct/29/cop26-meet-nine-fashion-designers-making-real-change

‘Witches are icons’: Americans embrace their family ties to Salem trial victims

Genealogists looking for standout ancestors proud to claim connection to 17th-century ‘witches’

What do Hollywood actor Humphrey Bogart, Senator Mitt Romney and half the US presidents have in common?

They are all alleged descendants of someone involved the 1692 Salem witch trials, in which an infamous outbreak of religious hysteria resulted in 19 early settlers hanged and one pressed to death.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/29/salem-witch-trials-americans-embrace-family-ties

Best podcasts of the week: Nicola Coughlan’s corking comedy

The Bridgerton star joins forces with Camilla Whitehill for a glorious send-up of rural Ireland. Plus: an absorbing investigation in Mississippi Goddam, and Esther Perel returns

Whistle Through the Shamrocks (from 1 Nov)
Nicola Coughlan teams up with Camilla Whitehill for a glorious comedy podcast that exploits all the Brit-bashing, potato-munching cliches of rural Ireland. While waiting for a call from supposed star guest Andrew Scott, Coughlan and an all-star cast (Susan Wokoma, Ed Gamble) tell the tale of a hard-working family whose simple chip-making lives are shattered by a greedy lord. All this, and Jonathan Van Ness as a banshee.
Hannah Verdier

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source https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/oct/29/best-podcasts-of-the-week-nicola-coughlans-corking-comedy

2021 European wildlife photographer of the year – winners

The winners of the European wildlife photographer of the year awards, run by the German Society for Nature Photography, have been chosen, with a shot by Angel Fitor of Spain pipping 19,000 entries

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source https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2021/oct/29/2021-european-wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-winners

Mocking Meta: Facebook’s virtual reality name change prompts backlash

The rebrand comes as the company faces a series of public relations crises

The announcement by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg that the social media giant will change the name of its holding company to Meta in a virtual-reality rebrand has prompted dismay and bemusement.

On Thursday, Zuckerberg said Meta would encompass Facebook as well as apps such as Instagram, WhatsApp and the virtual reality brand Oculus.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/29/mocking-meta-facebooks-virtual-reality-name-change-prompts-backlash

Evergrande averts default with interest payment – reports

Once China’s top-selling developer, the company is reeling under more than $300bn in liabilities

The Chinese property developer Evergrande has reportedly made an interest payment for an offshore bond before a grace period expired on Friday, narrowly averting a catastrophic default for the second time in a week.

Evergrande, once China’s top-selling developer, is reeling under more than $300bn in liabilities, fuelling worries about the impact of its fate on the world’s second-largest economy as well as on global markets. It staved off a default last week by securing $83.5m for the last-minute payment of interest on a bond, and needed to make $47.5m in coupon payments to bondholders by Friday.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/29/evergrande-averts-default-with-interest-payment-reports

Enter the metaverse: the digital future Mark Zuckerberg is steering us toward

The company, now rebranded Meta, already has a foothold in the digital world. How far will it go to see it succeed?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday outlined his vision for the future of the social media giant, formalising the company’s focus on the metaverse.

In a presentation at the company’s annual Connect conference, Zuckerberg announced the company is rebranding as Meta and detailed how his company aims to build a new version of the internet.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/28/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-meta-metaverse

Victoria and South Australia lashed by severe storms – video

Thousands of people across Victoria and South Australia have woken without power after thunderstorms and wild winds lashed the state overnight. Melbourne’s eastern suburbs and Ballarat and Bendigo were hardest hit by damaging rain and wind

Victoria and South Australia storms: thousands without power with more wild weather forecast

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source https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2021/oct/29/victoria-and-south-australia-lashed-by-severe-storms-video

‘Existential challenge’: G20 draft climate communique commits to 1.5C goal – report

Before Cop26 in Glasgow, draft document indicates leaders meeting in Rome will pledge to take urgent steps to limit global warming

A draft G20 communique says that world leaders who are gathering for talks in Rome will pledge to take urgent steps to reach the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C.

The communique, which was seen by Reuters and is subject to negotiation and changes, indicates the world’s 20 richest countries are on track to commit this weekend to tackling the existential threat of climate change, paving the way for more detailed action at the UN Cop26 climate change summit next week.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/29/g20-draft-climate-communique-15c-goal

Dierdre Wolownick, mother of Alex Honnold, makes history with El Capitan climb

This is the second time the 70-year-old made the journey, this time breaking her previous record in honor of her birthday

Dierdre Wolownick, mother of the renowned climber Alex Honnold, has become the oldest woman to climb Yosemite’s El Capitan, breaking her own record after scaling the rock face for a second time on her 70th birthday.

Wolownick summited El Capitan last month. She had previously completed the climb with her son in 2017, a journey that took her 13 hours up and six hours down on the Lurking Fear route, which typically takes four days to complete. Still, this climb was grueling, Wolownick said.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/28/dierdre-wolownick-oldest-woman-climb-el-capitan

Auckland, closed to the world by Covid, tops Lonely Planet’s list of best cities to visit

New Zealanders react with amusement at travel guide’s optimistic ranking for 2022

In further evidence that we all want what we cannot have, Auckland has taken out the top spot in Lonely Planet’s “best cities to visit” rankings – despite currently being in lockdown, the centre of a Covid outbreak, and off-limits to both the rest of the country and the world.

The announcement generated some amusement in New Zealand, given anyone who now attempts to visit the locked-down city risks being slapped with a hefty fine or prison term. “It is kind of a lonely planet in lockdown level 3,” one resident wrote on social media. “Probably means the rest of the world is in a really bad place,” responded another.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/29/auckland-closed-to-the-world-by-covid-tops-lonely-planets-list-of-best-cities-to-visit

Inmate executed in Oklahoma’s first lethal injection in six years

John Marion Grant, convicted of stabbing a prison cafeteria worker, was the first since a series of flawed executions in 2014 and 2015

Oklahoma has executed a man for the 1998 stabbing death of a prison cafeteria worker, the state’s first lethal injection following a six-year moratorium, after the US supreme court on Thursday cleared the way for the execution to proceed.

John Marion Grant, 60, was declared dead at 4:21pm after being strapped to a gurney inside the execution chamber and given a lethal injection of three drugs.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/28/john-marion-grant-executed-oklahoma-lethal-injection

India: over 100 million people fail to turn up for second Covid vaccine

Fears rise of a resurgence in the spread of coronavirus despite daily cases reaching their lowest for months

More than 100 million Indians have not turned up for their second coronavirus vaccine dose, official data showed, raising concerns of a resurgence in the disease despite a relatively low infection rate.

Apart from leaving these people at risk of catching Covid-19, their “vaccine truancy” endangers India’s target of inoculating all adults by 31 December, a target that is in any case unlikely to be met owing to the earlier shortage of vaccines at the start of the inoculation campaign.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/28/india-over-100-million-people-fail-to-turn-up-for-second-covid-vaccine

Ed Sheeran: = review – calculated, craven, corny … or brilliantly crafted?

(Asylum)
One of the world’s biggest pop stars only slightly tweaks the formula for an album that many will already have decided they either love or hate

Ed Sheeran’s new album contains a song called 2step. It features a pummelling sub-bass and the sound of the singer-songwriter rapping, this time at warp-speed. Amid the lyrical declarations of love for his wife, there’s a line that seems to address his plethora of critics: “Sometimes,” he says, “the words cut deep.”

Even if you’re inclined to the belief that pop stars – particularly those who have shifted 150m records in the space of ten years or whose last tour was the highest-grossing in history – should take their lumps when it comes to criticism, you can see why it might rankle him. As soon as Sheeran arrived in the mainstream consciousness he became subject to a particular kind of opprobrium that goes beyond bad reviews, to a disproportionate point where dislike becomes performative and the artist in question a kind of living shorthand for all that’s wrong with popular music. A decade, four multi-platinum albums and umpteen hit singles later, he still is: no one seems to have come along to seize that particular position from him.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/oct/29/ed-sheeran-review-calculated-craven-corny-or-brilliantly-crafted

Gladys Berejiklian Icac hearing live updates: former premier giving evidence on relationship with Daryl Maguire

Berejiklian faces hearing a day after the inquiry heard a series of recordings from tapped phone conversations between her and Daryl Maguire. Follow all the evidence live

Did you regard him as part of the family?

Gladys Berejiklian:

I never regarded him as family in terms of the ministerial code; we didn’t share any finances.

Not in a legal sense, no.

But you are my family.

I had those feelings but I was never assured of a level of commitment which in my mind would have required me to introduce him to my parents, or introduce him to my sisters, or regard it as sufficiently significant.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2021/oct/29/gladys-berejiklian-icac-hearing-live-updates-news-former-nsw-premier-daryl-maguire

Benedict Cumberbatch to play poisoned Soviet spy in HBO series

The actor will star in Londongrad as Alexander Litvinenko, who was fatally poisoned by a radioactive isotope in 2006

Benedict Cumberbatch will play the Soviet spy Alexander Litvinenko in Londongrad, an HBO limited series, Variety reported on Thursday.

Based on the book The Terminal Spy by Alan Cowell, Londongrad will feature the Sherlock Holmes actor as Litvinenko, the former KGB agent turned defector who was fatally poisoned by the radioactive isotope polonium-210 in 2006.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/oct/28/benedict-cumberbatch-hbo-series-alexander-litvinenko-spy-londongrad

Amazon profits suffer largest percentage drop in four years

Share price down 4% in after-hours trading on news that third-quarter earnings fell to $3.2bn compared with $3.6bn last year

Amazon’s profits declined by the largest percentage in more than four years as the online giant said it has spent heavily on coping with the pandemic and delivered a downbeat forecast for the holiday season.

The news sent Amazon’s share price down 4% in after-hours trading.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/28/amazon-profits-jeff-bezos-earnings-revenues

Sexual misconduct complaint filed against ex-New York governor Cuomo

Complaint filed in Albany court against Cuomo, whose departure followed inquiry that found he had sexually harassed 11 women

A misdemeanor complaint has been filed against former New York governor Andrew Cuomo in a court in Albany, the state’s capital, a spokesman for the New York state courts said on Thursday.

Cuomo’s departure followed an inquiry that found that the Democrat had sexually harassed 11 women and capped a remarkable fall from grace for a powerful politician once seen as a likely contender for the White House.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/28/andrew-cuomo-new-york-governor-misdemeanor-complaint

Australia live news update: Gladys Berejiklian to front NSW Icac hearing; Melbourne, ACT lift more Covid restrictions

Former NSW premier to appear at anti-corruption hearing after Daryl Maguire gave evidence about their relationship on Thursday. Follow updates live

The AAP is reporting the NSW government will begin trialling COVID-19 rapid test kits at schools in Albury, near the Victorian border, next week.

The NSW government plans to introduce coronavirus rapid test kits in all state schools, if a trial is successful.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said she hoped the tests would reduce covid related disruptions:

I want to see disruption to our students’ education from COVID reduce, while still keeping schools safe places to learn.

This requires us to deploy every tool available to balance the risk.

This is about living with a virus and getting back to normal life while ensuring the community is confident in their safety on school sites,” Ms Mitchell said in a statement.

Our best line of defence against this pandemic remains vaccinations, and until all students are eligible for one we must continue using measures like [rapid test] kits to keep schools safe.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2021/oct/29/australia-live-news-update-coronavirus-vaccination-new-south-wales-scott-morrison-climate-change-cop26-daniel-andrews-melbourne-act-lift-more-covid-restrictions

‘Rare find’: amphitheatre dig in Kent paints picture of Roman town

Finds at Richborough include skeleton of cat nicknamed Maxipus and potential evidence of figurative arena panels

A big night out for the people of the Roman settlement at Richborough on the Kent coast about 2,000 years ago might have involved gladiatorial contests, wild beast hunting or the occasional execution of a criminal.

Taking place in a vast amphitheatre, seating up to 5,000 people, on the western edge of the settlement, such an event was a “special occasion, drawing people from Richborough town and its surrounds”, said Paul Pattison, a senior properties historian at English Heritage. “These were public spectacles, the equivalent of going to a big blockbuster film, in our terms.”

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source https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/28/amphitheatre-dig-kent-roman-town-richborough

Coronavirus live: Singapore sees ‘unusual surge’ in cases; Europe Covid deaths rise 14% in a week

Singapore investigates abnormally high number of new cases, the most since the pandemic began; Europe the only major region to report an increase in both cases and deaths, says WHO

Hong Kong tightens restrictions to fall in line with China’s Covid-zero
Australia bins 30,000 AstraZeneca doses, neighbouring countries struggle
New Zealand to start easing border restrictions
Europe only region in world to see increase in both Covid cases and deaths
Australia eases travel advice for US, UK and Canada as border opens
See all our coronavirus coverage

Welcome back to our rolling coverage of all things coronavirus from around the world.

I’m Samantha Lock reporting to you from sunny Sydney, Australia, and I’ll be with you for the next short while delivering all the Covid headlines.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/oct/28/coronavirus-live-singapore-sees-unusual-surge-in-cases-europe-covid-deaths-rise-14-in-a-week

China’s hypersonic missile test ‘close to Sputnik moment’, says US general

Gen Mark Milley says reports about breakthrough missile have ‘all our attention’, and says US working on same weapons

China recently conducted a “very concerning” test of a hypersonic weapon system as part of its aggressive advance in space and military technologies, America’s top military officer has confirmed.

Gen Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, was the first Pentagon official to confirm the nature of a test this year by the Chinese military that was reported as a nuclear-capable hypersonic weapon that was launched into space and orbited the Earth before re-entering the atmosphere and gliding toward its target in China.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/28/chinas-hypersonic-missile-test-close-to-sputnik-moment-says-us-general

World is failing to make changes needed to avoid climate breakdown, report finds

Pace of emissions reductions must be increased significantly to keep global heating to 1.5C

Every corner of society is failing to take the “transformational change” needed to avert the most disastrous consequences of the climate crisis, with trends either too slow or in some cases even regressing, according to a major new global analysis.

Across 40 different areas spanning the power sector, heavy industry, agriculture, transportation, finance and technology, not one is changing quickly enough to avoid 1.5C in global heating beyond pre-industrial times, a critical target of the Paris climate agreement, according to the new Systems Change Lab report.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/28/world-failing-make-changes-avoid-climate-breakdown-report

Third of Chinese developers could face debt problems as Evergrande contagion grows – report

Even if the embattled property giant manages to avoid default again, many other firms are heading the same way, warns S&P

One third of China’s property developers will struggle to repay their debts in the next 12 months, according to a new report, as the sector reckons with increasingly serious headwinds from falling sales, restricted access to credit and a wider downturn.

Even if the embattled developer Evergrande manages to meet its latest debt repayment on Friday and head off a potentially disastrous default, analysts at the credit rating agency S&P warned that many other property companies could be heading towards bankruptcy.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/28/third-of-chinese-developers-could-face-debt-problems-amid-evergrande-contagion-report

Gladys Berejiklian Icac inquiry live updates: Daryl Maguire says he ‘encouraged’ former premier ‘to take a close interest’ in grants

The former Wagga MP also tells hearing he was in love with Berejiklian and discussed marriage and having a child

While we’re at lunch, I just want to revisit something that occurred at the beginning of Daryl Maguire’s evidence this morning.

The Icac was played a recording of a tapped phone call between the former Wagga Wagga MP and his friend and business associate, William Luong.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2021/oct/28/icac-inquiry-gladys-berejiklian-daryl-maguire-nsw-live-updates-news

Facebook tells staff to preserve documents amid heated inquiries

Several agencies are investigating the company’s workings post former employee Frances Haugen’s extensive document leak

On Tuesday, Facebook told its employees to preserve internal documents and communications for legal reasons, as governments and regulators have opened inquiries into its operations amid an onslaught of revelations from whistleblower documents.

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that the company sent a legal hold notice to all personnel for documents. “Document preservation requests are part of the process of responding to legal inquiries,” the spokesperson added.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/oct/27/facebook-staff-preserve-documents-inquiries-latest

‘Hey, big spenders’: what the papers say about Sunak’s 2021 autumn budget

Chancellor’s spending plans and cuts to taxes on draught beer get top billing in today’s newspaper front pages

Chancellor limits spending to start building election war chest

Images of Rishi Sunak raising either a pint glass or a Budget box dominated Thursday’s front pages as editors sought to parse the chancellor’s big spending plans in the wake of Britain’s unexpectedly strong economic recovery this year.

The Guardian describes Sunak’s post-Covid plan as “spend now, cut taxes later” with the intention to cut taxes before the next general election. The paper also notes Sunak has been criticised for a lack of “green measures” ahead of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/28/hey-big-spenders-what-the-papers-say-about-sunaks-2021-autumn-budget

‘Not a solution itself’: India questions net zero targets ahead of Cop26

Third largest emitter of greenhouse gases committed to ‘being part of the solution’ but calls on rich countries to acknowledge ‘historic responsibility’

Setting net zero carbon emissions targets is not the solution to climate change, India’s federal environment minister said days before world leaders meet at the Cop26 climate summit.

Instead, rich countries need to acknowledge their “historic responsibility“ for emissions and protect the interests of developing nations and those vulnerable to climate change, said the minister, Bhupender Yadav.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/28/not-a-solution-itself-india-questions-net-zero-targets-ahead-of-cop26

DNA from Sitting Bull’s hair confirms US man is his great-grandson

Study is the first time DNA from a long-dead person was used to demonstrate a familial link between a living individual and a historical figure

A sample of Sitting Bull’s hair has helped scientists confirm that a South Dakota man is the famed 19th-century Native American leader’s great-grandson using a new method to analyse family lineages with DNA fragments from long-dead people.

Researchers said on Wednesday that DNA extracted from the hair, which had been stored at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, confirmed the familial relationship between Sitting Bull, who died in 1890, and Ernie LaPointe, 73, of Lead, South Dakota.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/28/dna-from-sitting-bulls-hair-confirms-us-man-is-his-great-grandson

Hong Kong doubles down on Covid restrictions to fall into line with mainland China

Carrie Lam appears willing to sacrifice city’s reputation as an international business centre to please Beijing’s push for zero Covid

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It used to be an international business centre, the bustling, vibrant commercial gateway to China and the rest of Asia.

But after weeks of lobbying by Hong Kong’s global business community for the government to ease border restrictions and harsh mandatory quarantine to bring it into line with other trading hubs, the authorities have instead responded with even tougher measures.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/28/hong-kong-doubles-down-on-covid-restrictions-to-fall-into-line-with-mainland-china

Long Beach school safety officer who shot teenager charged with murder

Eddie Gonzalez, a former school officer, shot into a vehicle near a high school, striking the 18-year-old who died a week later

California authorities have filed murder charges against a former school safety officer who fatally shot an unarmed 18-year-old girl, a rare prosecution for an on-duty killing by an officer.

The Los Angeles district attorney announced Wednesday that Eddie Gonzalez, who had worked as a school officer in Long Beach, was facing one count of murder after he shot into a vehicle near a high school on 27 September, striking 18-year-old Manuela Rodriguez. The teenager, who went by Mona and had a five-month-old boy, was taken to a hospital and put on life support before she died a week later.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/27/california-school-safety-officer-murder-charges

Will methane cuts cause cattle culls and ruin the gas industry? Or is it just hot air from the Coalition?

The Morrison government released its net zero plan and Angus Taylor penned a scary piece about methane, but both lacked substance

Temperature Check is a weekly column examining claims about climate change made by governments, politicians, business and in the media. See the latest column and follow the series here
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Will cutting emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane by a third really spark mass culls of Australian cattle, ruin the gas industry and “make life harder for everyday Australians”?

If you ask the the emissions reduction minister Angus Taylor, the answer is a resounding yes, smothered in extra scary sauce.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/oct/28/will-methane-cuts-cause-cattle-culls-and-ruin-the-gas-industry-or-is-it-just-hot-air-from-the-coalition

I used to be a compulsive liar. Should I reach out to someone I hurt or leave it in the past? | Leading questions

Try not to apologise just to soothe the shame and fear, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith – sometimes you have to have the dignity to be disliked

I was, I think, a compulsive liar in my late teens and early 20s. I had, in some ways, a pretty awful adolescence. I was fortunate to meet a young man who was kind, attentive and exactly who I needed at that time. He loved me dearly and I abused that. I lied to him with claims at which, looking back, I’m truly disgusted. I was racked with guilt at the time but I couldn’t seem to control it. I can only think that I was desperate for attention. The lies spread to my friend circle and drew a wedge between my boyfriend and me until we finally, very messily (again, mostly due to my immaturity), broke up.

In the nearly 10 years since, I’ve come clean to my friends, apologised and tried to move on. My friends have forgiven me, for which I’m so grateful. I tried to apologise to my ex at the time, and he tried to forgive me, but understandably his trust in me had been broken beyond repair. I look back at that time and feel some pity for my younger self but mostly so much guilt and shame.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/oct/28/i-used-to-be-a-compulsive-liar-should-i-reach-out-to-someone-i-hurt-or-leave-it-in-the-past

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