
By BY NICOLE HONG from NYT New York https://ift.tt/36tLLga
Preliminary meetings could have created world’s second biggest oil company amid crude price crisis during pandemic
The chief executives of American oil companies ExxonMobil and Chevron held preliminary talks in early 2020 to explore combining the two largest US oil producers in what would have been the biggest merger of all time, according to people familiar with the matter.
The discussions, which are no longer ongoing, are being seen as having tested the waters for the huge corporate marriage after the coronavirus pandemic shook the world last year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
Continue reading...Three years after the prime minister asked Māori to hold her to account, many are disillusioned with her government
In an oft-repeated story New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has recalled how growing up in the small, largely Māori town of Murupara, she would see children going to school hungry, and with no shoes on their feet.
It was these scenes of entrenched inequality and poverty, often along racial lines, that drove a teenage Ardern into the Labour party, where she has dedicated herself to combating child poverty.
Continue reading...Changes called for will require rapid and sweeping regulation in all areas of society from transport to forestry
The New Zealand Climate Change Commission has released their first package of advice for public consultation. The advice covers the first three carbon budgets (out to 2035) and provides a detailed plan on how to achieve them.
As many aspects of the country’s climate policies have been criticised as weak – from the “split gas” approach in which not all gases need to reach net zero emissions by 2050, to an over-reliance on commercial forestry, to a past failure to cut emissions and future projections that miss targets – the commission’s first major report has been keenly anticipated on all sides.
Continue reading...Country’s powerful military have previously threatened to ‘take action’ over alleged fraud in a November election
Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s president and other senior ruling party figures have been detained by the military in early morning raids, a party spokesman said on Monday.
Spokesman Myo Nyunt told Reuters that Suu Kyi, President Win Myint and other leaders had been “taken” early in the morning. “I want to tell our people not to respond rashly and I want them to act according to the law,” he said, adding he also expected to be detained.
Continue reading...AstraZeneca to increase EU vaccine deliveries by 30 percent; WHO mission at ground-zero Wuhan market; Israel extends lockdown as Covid variants offset vaccination drive
Israel extended a national lockdown on Sunday as Covid variants offset its vaccination drive and officials predicted a delay in a turnaround from the ongoing crisis.
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet voted to extend the five-week-old national lockdown until Friday, pending parliamentary approval, Israeli media reported.Highlighting the country’s challenges in enforcing restrictions, thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews attended the Jerusalem funerals of two prominent rabbis on Sunday, drawing criticism from Netanyahu’s coalition partners, Reuters reports.
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.
My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest news from around the world for the next few hours.
Continue reading...Rory Hooper, Swampy’s son, joins environmental activists to protest against environmental destruction
Veteran environmental activist Dan Hooper, known as Swampy, who is one of nine protesters in a tunnel in central London to raise the alarm about the environmental destruction they believe the high speed rail project HS2 will cause, is in the tunnel with his 16-year-old son, it has emerged.
The activists have been in the tunnel close to Euston station since Tuesday to raise awareness of the climate emergency and to try to halt work on the HS2 project which is under way in the Euston area. They argue that many ancient woodlands will be destroyed by the project. HS2 says it is planting 7m new trees.
Continue reading...Singer Eric Burdon pays tribute to the North Shields born guitarist who ‘didn’t just play but lived’ the band’s classic The House of the Rising Sun
Hilton Valentine, founding guitarist of the 60s group the Animals, has died aged 77.
Valentine’s death was confirmed by the band’s label ABKCO Music, who wrote in a statement on Twitter on Saturdy night: “Our deepest sympathies go out to Hilton Valentine’s family and friends on his passing this morning, at the age of 77.”
Continue reading...The family is providing DNA samples to Mexican authorities to help investigators identify the remains found in Tamaulipas
The family of a young Guatemalan woman believed to be among 19 victims of a massacre in northern Mexico is urging the Mexican government to bring those responsible to justice.
Authorities in Mexico’s Tamaulipas state bordering the US this month recovered the bodies, which some Guatemalan families said they feared were loved ones who had been trying to migrate to the US.
Continue reading...Treasurer Josh Frydenberg signals sector-specific support will replace the pandemic wage subsidy but dashes hopes of rise in jobseeker payment
Josh Frydenberg has signalled the jobkeeper wage subsidy will be terminated after March, and the government will also be reluctant to bake in a permanent, significant increase to unemployment benefits.
The treasurer used an appearance on the ABC on Sunday to flag that sector-specific support, like a package for tourism, would replace the popular pandemic wage subsidy after March “based on what we know today”, and he declared it was time for state governments to increase their fiscal support.
Continue reading...Germany delivers stark warning to vaccine companies; South Australia reopens its border to Sydney travellers; New South Wales warns virus could re-emerge
The Australian Capital Territory has confirmed zero new coronavirus cases. There are no active cases in the state.
In the past 24 hours, 228 tests returned negative results, but ACT Deputy Chief Health Officer, Dr Vanessa Johnston, has urged that people get tested if they have even the mildest symptoms after virus fragments were found in sewage at a wastewater site in Belconnen.
The Belconnen testing site covers wastewater from Aranda, Belconnen, Bruce, Charnwood, Cook, Dunlop, Evatt, Florey, Flynn, Fraser, Giralang, Hall, Hawker, Higgins, Holt, Kaleen, Latham, Lawson, Macgregor, Macquarie, McKellar, Melba, Page, Scullin, Spence, Strathnairn and Weetangera.
All other locations in the ACT had negative sample results on 27 January.
Back in Australia, a week-long, $5m advertising blitz encouraging Australians to travel domestically in 2021 will kick off on Sunday, AAP reports.
The government wants locals to holiday in Australia, including areas impacted by last summer’s bushfires, to give the embattled industry a boost.
Jeff Bezos’s company is set for sales topping $100bn last quarter, and while rivals are nibbling, its position looks secure
The earliest references to the “one-stop shop” emerged during the first decades of 20th century as the fast-growing US economy spurred rapid retail innovation. A single location for various products provides obvious benefits: removing the hassle of travelling around town to visit different stores.
Jeff Bezos redefined that logic for the internet age, making Amazon a dominant (and perhaps ambivalent) force first in selling books, and then in pretty much everything else. Before 2020 Amazon was a phenomenon, but the coronavirus pandemic has made it all but ubiquitous.
Continue reading...The Football Association has vowed to work with the government and social media platforms to eradicate racist abuse after a succession of incidents. The Chelsea defender Reece James, West Brom’s Romaine Sawyers and the Manchester United duo Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial were all targeted this week and on Saturday night Marcus Rashford said he had received offensive messages after United’s draw at Arsenal.
In a series of tweets, Rashford said he chose not to share screenshots of the messages he had been sent as “it would be irresponsible to do so … I have beautiful children of all colours following me and they don’t need to read it.”
Continue reading...The dramatic struggle over video game chain’s shares suggests markets must now contend with a breed of angry, young, networked investors
When Ben, 28, a software engineer from Leeds, bought two shares in US games retailer GameStop for £460, it was for one reason, he says: “When they make the film about this in years to come, I’ll know I was there at the frontline with a bunch of idiots on the internet, trying to bring down Wall Street.”
For Emma Rivers from East Sussex, who invested £1,400 in the same company – having known little about it a few weeks ago – it has all been about sending a message that capitalism has had its day.
Continue reading...Two journalists with decades of experience gave evidence this week in the supreme court trial of 27 media companies, reporters and editors
It did not take long for word to reach Australian newsrooms: at 3.44pm on 11 December 2018, a jury found George Pell guilty of child sexual abuse.
But the verdict was treated quite differently to other significant breaking news stories, which would usually spark a fevered rush to publish.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Dennis Harvey, the critic whose review of Promising Young Woman prompted outrage from its star and an apology from his editors, has spoken out
Dennis Harvey, the veteran film critic whose review of Promising Young Woman has sparked a furore across the industry, has hit back at accusations of misogyny amid calls for Variety to fire him.
Harvey’s review was published more than a year ago, following the film’s premiere at the Sundance film festival. Largely positive, it called Mulligan’s performance “skilful, entertaining and challenging” while also querying the central casting. While “a fine actress”, wrote Harvey, Mulligan “seems a bit of an odd choice as this admittedly many-layered apparent femme fatale”.
Continue reading...Impact in some ethnic minority groups equivalent to being 20 years older than actual age, study says
The health impact of belonging to some ethnic minority groups is equivalent to being 20 years older than your actual age, England’s largest ever study of health inequalities in BAME communities has found.
Not only are people from these groups often poorer and more likely to suffer from underlying health conditions, they are also more likely to report worse treatment when visiting their GP surgery, and insufficient support from local services, such as housing and social care.
Continue reading...Navigating this year’s Waitangi Day celebrations is proving a challenge for Jacinda Ardern amid fears of a Covid-19 outbreak
Tensions between Jacinda Ardern’s government and Māori interests over Waitangi have been highlighted before it has even begun, following the withdrawal of the Māori party and iwi leaders from the event over coronavirus concerns.
In the light of positive Covid-19 cases identified in the Bay of Islands, Māori leaders opted to pull out of attending the five days of talks and celebrations marking the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Continue reading...Rangers are investigating mystery deaths at Djoudj bird sanctuary, a migratory pitstop for hundreds of bird species
Seven hundred and fifty pelicans have been found dead in a Unesco world heritage site in northern Senegal that provides refuge for millions of migratory birds, the country’s parks director has said.
Rangers found the pelicans on Saturday in the Djoudj bird sanctuary, a remote pocket of wetland near the border with Mauritania and a resting place for birds that cross the Sahara into west Africa each year.
Continue reading...With a vaccine-hesitant public and jabs yet to begin, there are fears immunisations are off the pace
Japan was among the first countries to report cases of Covid-19 after the world was alerted to the virus in December 2019. But just over a year later, it is the last major economy to deploy a vaccine – a measure widely acknowledged as the best hope for a return to something resembling normal life.
The first round of jabs is not expected to begin in Japan until the end of February, months after the US and UK – which have recorded far higher death tolls and caseloads – began their vaccination programmes.
Continue reading...Alexander Stubb – who played golf with Trump this weekend – suggested deadline and US sanctions package Donald Trump is losing patience wit...