Author: James Martin
All legal Covid restrictions in England have ended, and Scotland is also removing its legal requirements. Source link
The academic study found that admission rates increased from 1,535 to 3,143 per 100,000 people between 1999 and 2019, before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe. The most common cause was influenza or pneumonia, chronic lower respiratory disease, or other acute lower respiratory infections. Source link
Brisbane residents face an anxious morning with the Bureau of Meteorology issuing a major flood warning overnight, after a “rain bomb” dumped more than 400mm of rain on parts of the already-sodden city on Sunday.Floodwaters in the Brisbane CBD are expected to peak at 4.0 metres at high tide, slightly below the peak of 4.46 metres recorded in 2011, but authorities warned the two flood events were very different, and some suburbs have already experienced worse damage than in 2011.Meanwhile, major flood warnings are also in place for areas from Gympie to Grafton in northern NSW, as the intense rain…
Ukrainian forces have repelled a Russian attempt to seize Kharkiv, the city’s governor has claimed, after fierce fighting and street battles with advancing Russian troops.Kharkiv’s governor, Oleh Synyehubov, said Ukrainian soldiers were “cleaning up” the eastern city. He said Russian soldiers were surrendering in groups of five to 10 and throwing their equipment in the middle of the road. “Control over Kharkiv is completely ours,” Synyehubov posted on Facebook. “A complete cleansing of the city from the enemy is happening. The Russian enemy is absolutely demoralised.”Earlier on Sunday, the governor said Russian light military vehicles had broken “into the city”,…
The Biden administration on Sunday condemned Vladimir Putin’s decision to place Russia’s nuclear deterrence forces on high alert. The White House also faced growing calls from senior Republicans to target Russia’s energy sector with new sanctions.As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its fourth day, the US also expressed guarded optimism over talks between delegations from the two countries set to take place inside Ukraine, near the Belarusian border, on Monday.Speaking on ABC’s This Week, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, described the nuclear deterrence announcement as an example of Putin “manufacturing threats that don’t exist in order to justify…
When the air raid sirens wail, Natalya Tyshchuk feels relatively lucky. She only has to get herself and her daughter Mia – born three months premature in December but no longer in a cumbersome incubator – down to the basement that serves as a bomb shelter for the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in central Kyiv.Racing down the stairs beside them are nurses and families of premature babies in intensive care, who have to be rushed underground with their life support machines, oxygen canisters, and all the tubes and wires monitoring their fragile young lives.‘The hardest thing is having to do it…
Ukrainian officials have published dozens of videos of what they say are captured Russian soldiers, as the brutal fighting in Ukraine enters its fourth day.In one of the videos, published early on Sunday morning on the Telegram channel Find Your Own, set up by Ukraine’s interior ministry, a visibly injured soldier identifies himself as Leonid Paktishev, the commander of a sniper unit based in the Rostov region.The Telegram channel, which first went live on Saturday, has posted numerous videos and photos showing captured Russian troops, which have led to an outcry from their families who say they were shocked to…
BP is exiting its 19.75% shareholding in Russian oil giant Rosneft following pressure from the UK government.The oil firm’s chief executive Bernard Looney is also resigning from the Rosneft board with “immediate effect”, it said in a statement.It came after business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng held a call with Looney for around 20 minutes on Friday to discuss the company’s position.BP’s chair, Helge Lund, said: “Russia’s attack on Ukraine is an act of aggression which is having tragic consequences across the region.“BP has operated in Russia for over 30 years, working with brilliant Russian colleagues. However, this military action represents a…
The Home Office is expected to ease the rules for Ukrainians wanting to seek refuge in the UK after a minister provoked outrage by saying that people fleeing the war might be able to benefit from a visa scheme for fruit pickers.In an interview on Sunday morning, the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said the UK would be welcoming refugees from the conflict and that a further announcement would be coming “very shortly”.Ministers have already announced minor changes to visa rules to help Ukrainians who are in the UK and unable to return home and people in Ukraine with British relatives.But…
Turkey’s foreign ministry has signalled that it intends to block Russian warships from passing through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits that lead to the Black Sea, a shift in Turkey’s formerly neutral position where officials underlined alliances with both Russia and Ukraine. “We came to the conclusion that the situation in Ukraine has turned into a war,” said Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. “We will apply the Montreux provisions transparently.” Turkey controls both straits under the Montreux convention, granting it the power to block the passage of Russian and Ukrainian warships, providing they are not returning to their permanent bases…