Brazilian Amazon released more carbon than it absorbed over past 10 years

International team of researchers also found that deforestation rose nearly four-fold in 2019

The Brazilian Amazon released nearly 20% more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the past decade than it absorbed, according to a startling report that shows humanity can no longer depend on the world’s largest tropical forest to help absorb manmade carbon pollution.

From 2010 through 2019, Brazil’s Amazon basin gave off 16.6bn tonnes of CO2, while drawing down only 13.9bn tonnes, researchers reported Thursday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/30/brazilian-amazon-released-more-carbon-than-it-absorbed-over-past-10-years

Grammy organisers to end ‘secret’ nomination committees after rigging allegations

Recording Academy was slammed last year after The Weeknd got zero nominations despite top-selling album

The organisers of music’s Grammy Awards have announced an end to the “secret” committees that have led to allegations that the highest honours in the industry are open to rigging.

The Recording Academy said on Friday that nominations for the next Grammy Awards in January 2022 will be selected by all of its more than 11,000 voting members, instead of by committees of 15-30 industry experts whose names were not revealed.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/may/01/grammy-organisers-to-end-secret-nomination-committees-after-rigging-allegations

Ian Nepomniachtchi will not be able to play next to Russia flag against Carlsen

As Magnus Carlsen prepares for a two-day final with his old rival Hikaru Nakamura, Wada’s ban on Russia has reached chess

Ian Nepomniachtchi’s feat in qualifying as Magnus Carlsen’s official challenger in a €2m, 14-game world title series at Dubai in November was subsequently hit on two fronts. First, having won the Candidates with a round to spare, Nepomniachtchi lost Tuesday’s dead rubber in Ekaterinburg. A more significant blow came on Friday, however, when he learned that he is not allowed to play with the Russian flag beside him in Dubai, owing to his country’s ban imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Following Tuesday’s defeat by China’s Ding Liren, the 30-year-old Muscovite said that he lacked motivation for the game, a strange comment when a win would have raised his Fide world rating close to 2800, the super-elite level, while as it was Ding’s victory regained the No 3 spot in the ratings that he had briefly let slip a few days earlier.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/apr/30/magnus-carlsen-responds-to-ian-nepomniachtchi-challenge-with-26-game-unbeaten-run-chess

Maradona care ‘deficient and reckless’ before death, medical board report finds

• Footballing icon died of heart failure in Argentina in November
• The 60-year-old was ‘not properly monitored’, says report

A medical board appointed to investigate the death of Diego Maradona has concluded that the football icon’s medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless manner,” according to a copy of the report shared with Reuters on Friday.

Maradona’s death in November last year rocked Argentina, where he was revered, and prompted a period of mourning and finger-pointing about who was to blame after his long battle with addiction and ill health.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/may/01/football-diego-maradona-death-medical-report

‘Stealthing is rape’: the Australian push to criminalise the removal of a condom during sex without consent

ACT Liberal leader Elizabeth Lee is trying to change legislation to explicitly criminalise the act amid a rise in disturbing rhetoric

One in three women and one in five men globally have been the victim of “stealthing”, the non-consensual act of removing a condom during sex, yet the term has only recently entered public awareness – and courtrooms.

“Anecdotally, stealthing was something that felt yuck, confusing, violating and wrong,” the Australian Capital Territory’s Liberal opposition leader, Elizabeth Lee, says. “But victims of it didn’t even know it had a name, let alone that it negated their consent.”

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source https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/may/01/stealthing-is-the-australian-push-to-criminalise-the-removal-of-a-condom-during-sex-without-consent

Kelly Wilkinson’s alleged killer told of murder charges after awaking from coma

Brian Earl Johnston allegedly set his estranged wife on fire in Gold Coast backyard

The man accused of killing mother of three Kelly Wilkinson has awoken from his coma and been informed he has been charged with her murder.

Brian Earl Johnston was visited by police on Friday at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s hospital, where he had been in an induced coma and under guard for 10 days.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/01/kelly-wilkinsons-alleged-killer-told-of-charges-after-awaking-from-coma

Echo Show 10 review: this rotating Alexa display follows you around

Novel motorised smart screen tracks your movements to keep facing you for media and video calls

Amazon’s latest top-of-the-range Alexa smart display has a trick up its sleeve like no other: it can follow you around a room.

The third-generation Echo Show 10 costs £239.99 and is Amazon’s largest smart display, sitting above the smaller £100 Echo Show 8 with an 8in screen and £80 Echo Show 5 with a 5.5in screen.

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source https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/apr/30/amazon-echo-show-10-review-rotating-alexa-display-follows-you-around