Tranding Video: November 2021

Tuesday, 30 November 2021

The Horrors of Irish Magdalene Laundries, Revisited

By BY LYDIA MILLET from NYT Books https://ift.tt/3Da15f2

‘Frozen in fear’: The accuser known as Jane said she was only 14 when Epstein started abusing her.

By BY BENJAMIN WEISER AND LOLA FADULU from NYT New York https://ift.tt/3d1bDTo

Jim Warren, Early Influencer in Personal Computing, Dies at 85

By BY STEVE LOHR from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/3ElGFkE

Robert Battle on Running Ailey: ‘This Is My Choreography Now’

By BY BRIAN SEIBERT from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/3I82vuf

He Helped St. Louis Land the Rams. He Squeezed the N.F.L. When They Left.

By BY JONATHAN ABRAMS AND KEN BELSON from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/3ljurS7

How do you say ‘Omicron’?

By BY CHRISTINE HAUSER from NYT World https://ift.tt/3xG1qVG

French police break up camp where Channel tragedy victims stayed

Shelters outside Dunkirk used by the 27 who died at sea dismantled in latest attempt to disperse refugees

Armed French police have broken up a makeshift migrant camp outside Dunkirk where the 27 people who died at sea last week stayed before they drowned in the Channel.

The basic site, by a canal outside the Grand-Smythe suburb, had no toilets or running water, but was nevertheless used by several hundred people, mostly Kurds from Iraq or Iran, hoping to travel illegally to the UK.

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Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz set to run for US Senate as Republican

Oz, upbraided in 2015 over promotion of ‘quack treatments’ for financial gain, planning to run for Pat Toomey’s Pennsylvania seat

Dr Mehmet Oz, the celebrity heart surgeon best known as the host of TV’s Dr Oz Show, is planning to run for Pennsylvania’s open US Senate seat as a Republican, according to two people familiar with his plans.

Should Oz run, he would bring unrivaled name recognition and wealth to a race expected to be among the nation’s most competitive and could determine control of the Senate next year.

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Italian football fan banned for 'slapping' journalist live on TV

Greta Beccaglia reported the man to the police after the incident outside a stadium in Florence.

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Four dead as storm tears through Turkey

Strong winds hit the country's western coast, destroying buildings and blowing ships ashore.

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U.S. Removes Colombia’s FARC Rebel Group From Terrorist List

By BY MICHAEL CROWLEY from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/31d0Va1

The State Department’s vaccine envoy is leaving after less than a year.

By BY LARA JAKES from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3ronvan

Meadows Agrees to Cooperate in Capitol Attack Investigation

By BY LUKE BROADWATER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/31hocXP

Jill Biden’s White House Christmas Looks Very … Normal

By BY VANESSA FRIEDMAN from NYT Style https://ift.tt/3d4o29e

Dorsey’s Twitter Departure Hints at Tech Moguls’ Restlessness

By BY KEVIN ROOSE from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/32Mv7t4

Chain reaction: Canadian MP complains about minister’s video bike backdrop

Conservative Ed Fast was mocked after accusing Steven Guilbeault of making ‘statement about his environmental cred’

A conservative Canadian MP has accused the country’s environment minister of breaching parliamentary protocol after his bicycle appeared on screen during a hybrid session of parliament.

Conservative MP Ed Fast said minister Steven Guilbeault’s purple bicycle, hung on the wall behind him, was a blatant attempt to “make a statement about his environmental cred”.

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All adults to be offered third Covid jab by end of January, says Boris Johnson

PM tells Downing Street press conference temporary vaccine centres will be ‘popping up like Christmas trees’

Every eligible adult in the UK should be offered a Covid booster by the end of January as ministers race to increase protection against the Omicron variant, Boris Johnson has announced.

“We’re going to be throwing everything at it, to ensure everyone eligible is offered a booster in just over two months,” the prime minister said, adding that he would be getting his own third vaccine on Thursday.

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Outrage as Fox News commentator likens Anthony Fauci to Nazi doctor

Lara Logan compares top US infectious diseases expert to Dr Josef Mengele who experimented on Jews in concentration camps

A Fox News commentator stoked outrage by comparing Dr Anthony Fauci, Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, to Josef Mengele, the Nazi “Angel of Death”.

Lara Logan, a host on the Fox Nation streaming service, was discussing Omicron on Fox News Prime Time on Monday night, amid fears that the new variant will trigger a new wave of Covid cases and further deepen political divisions over how to respond. Fox News has consistently broadcast misinformation about Covid and measures to contain it.

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Lust actually: Christmas movies are everywhere – and this year they’re horny

Move over, Miracle on 34th Street and Elf. As we face another troubled festive season, there will be some surprisingly saucy viewing

Name: Blue Christmas films.

Age: New.

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Security forces of Chechnya ‘behind attack on dissident blogger’ last year

Tumso Abdurakhmanov assault traced to Russia, says spy agency report examined by Swedish TV

A secret European intelligence report has concluded that Chechnya’s security services most likely stand behind the attempted murder in Sweden, in 2020, of a dissident Chechen blogger.

Tumso Abdurakhmanov, an exiled critic of Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s leader, barely survived the hammer attack last year in a bizarre assassination attempt that investigators say they traced to Russia.

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Monday, 29 November 2021

With Political Memes, the Medium Matters

By BY RHONDA GARELICK from NYT Style https://ift.tt/3E6KtX6

Virgil Abloh, Ambassador and Infiltrator

By BY JON CARAMANICA from NYT Style https://ift.tt/3o1CuFc

Movie theaters must ‘urgently’ rethink the experience, a study says.

By BY BROOKS BARNES from NYT Business https://ift.tt/31cxfcX

Ghislaine Maxwell ‘exploited young girls’ and ‘served them up’ to Epstein, a prosecutor said.

By BY REBECCA DAVIS O’BRIEN from NYT New York https://ift.tt/3pcXE2w

‘No red flags’ yet: South African scientists caution against panic over the new variant.

By BY LYNSEY CHUTEL from NYT World https://ift.tt/31eMiT5

House of Gucci is ‘painful and insulting’, says Gucci family

Heirs of Aldo Gucci issue statement taking issue with Ridley Scott’s film but have stopped short of legal action

Surviving family members of the Gucci fashion dynasty have expressed unhappiness with their representation in the new film House of Gucci.

In a statement issued on Monday, the heirs of Aldo Gucci – who ran the fashion house for 33 years until the mid-1980s – said they were aggrieved by the lack of consultation by film-makers, as well as their portrayal as “thugs, ignorant and insensitive to the world around them”.

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Preloved and perfect! The seven essential rules for secondhand presents

For a thoughtful, less consumerist Christmas, make sure to tell the truth about your purchases, spritz musty clothes with vodka and invest in vintage wrapping paper

It’s not a pair of box-fresh Bottega Veneta boots, or cashmere spun from the wool of a rare-breed yak, that will ensure you strike gifting gold with fashion fans this Christmas: it’s the revelation that you bought their present secondhand.

Once a dirty word, secondhand is an increasingly valued quality (the global “preloved” fashion market alone is worth $130bn). A survey conducted by the online secondhand marketplace Vinted found that one in six of us are committed to giving preloved only this Christmas, and buying secondhand can also help to combat the £42m worth of unwanted Christmas gifts sent to landfill each year.

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14-year-old among teenagers jailed for murder of schoolboy Keon Lincoln

Four sentenced for the murder of the 15-year-old who was fatally shot and stabbed outside his home

A 14-year-old boy has been jailed for at least 16 years for the murder of schoolboy Keon Lincoln, who was stabbed and shot outside his home. Keon, 15, was fatally wounded in a “short and brutal” attack by a group of youths in Handsworth, Birmingham, on 21 January, the trial heard.

The judge at Birmingham crown court lifted restrictions on naming the 14-year-old boy who was accused of firing the fatal shot as Yussuf Mustapha. Three others were also sentenced for murder.

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Biden advises ‘concern, not panic’ over Omicron and says no to lockdowns

President says boosters and vaccines are best protection against variant and that additional restrictions are not required just yet

Coronavirus: live coverage

Joe Biden on Monday said the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus was a “cause for concern, not a cause for panic”, as the US implemented restrictions on travel from South Africa and several other countries.

In remarks from the White House, Biden urged all Americans to get vaccinated, including booster shots, saying it was the best protection against the new variant.

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Morning mail: committee says Porter didn’t break rules, David Dalaithngu dies, Dungeons & Dragons

Wednesday: Christian Porter didn’t break rules over secret donors, but MPs should provide the ‘greatest’ transparency regarding source of gifts, committee says. Plus: legendary Indigenous actor dies

Good morning. Tributes are flowing in for legendary Indigenous actor David Dalaithngu, who died last night. Rules that let Christian Porter keep his legal fee donors secret should be overhauled, says the committee that found he did not breach any regulations. And if you’re feeling anxious about heading out into the post-lockdown world, you might find some solace and new communities playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Christian Porter’s declaration that part of his legal fees in a defamation case were paid by a “blind trust” did not breach parliamentary rules, a privileges committee has concluded. A report by the committee calls for the rules to be overhauled to uphold the “intent and integrity” of the register of interests and says MPs should provide the “greatest” transparency on the source of gifts. Porter maintains he has properly disclosed his interests in accordance with both the rules and the ministerial standards, but he resigned as a minister in September on the basis the issue had become an “unhelpful distraction” for the government.

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Covid: Biden urges calm over Omicron fears

No cases of the strain have been detected in the US, but Mr Biden called its arrival "inevitable".

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‘No red flags’ yet: South African scientists caution against panic over the new variant.

By BY LYNSEY CHUTEL from NYT World https://ift.tt/3FZvoqG

Xiomara Castro lidera en Honduras con una promesa de cambio a pesar de sus vínculos al pasado

By BY ANATOLY KURMANAEV from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/3FXSPkl

Biden Urges Vaccinations Amid Omicron Variant Concerns

By BY THE NEW YORK TIMES from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3xx5Tu0

‘Looking for the Good War’ Says Our Nostalgia for World War II Has Done Real Harm

By BY JENNIFER SZALAI from NYT Books https://ift.tt/3xE2xoX

Sweden Elects Its First Female Leader — for Second Time in a Week

By BY CORA ENGELBRECHT AND CHRISTINA ANDERSON from NYT World https://ift.tt/3lj3NsT

November Subscriber Digest

By Unknown Author from NYT Admin https://ift.tt/3llmiN7

Black Friday sales were up, but reflected the challenges facing retailers.

By BY SAPNA MAHESHWARI from NYT Business https://ift.tt/3xy6dIS

De Blasio reminds New Yorkers to wear masks indoors.

By BY DANA RUBINSTEIN from NYT New York https://ift.tt/3I7e4BZ

Leaked papers link Xinjiang crackdown with China leadership

Secret documents urge population control, mass round-ups and punishment of Uyghurs

Excerpts from previously unpublished documents directly linking China’s crackdown on Uyghur Muslims and other minorities in Xinjiang province to speeches by the Chinese leadership in 2014 have been put online.

The documents – including three speeches by Chinese president Xi Jinping in April 2014 – cover security, population control and the need to punish the Uyghur population. Some are marked top secret. They were leaked to the German academic Adrian Zenz.

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Sunday, 28 November 2021

Relations with Honduras, shaped by immigration, have differed under Trump and Biden.

By BY NATALIE KITROEFF from NYT World https://ift.tt/316wzpo

‘Encanto’ Reaches No. 1, but Moviegoers Are Tough to Lure Back

By BY BROOKS BARNES from NYT Movies https://ift.tt/3E48tKf

Phil Saviano, Survivor of Clergy Sex Abuse, Dies at 69

By BY KATHARINE Q. SEELYE from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3cUTRRt

Stephen Sondheim, as Great a Composer as He Was a Lyricist

By BY ANTHONY TOMMASINI from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/32G7gv3

Israel and Morocco impose blanket bans on all foreign travelers.

By BY ISABEL KERSHNER from NYT World https://ift.tt/3FUcVfb

Virgil Abloh: Off-White designer dies at 41

The fashion maverick, also creative head at Louis Vuitton, had been suffering from an aggressive form of cancer for two years

Fashion designer Virgil Abloh has died after suffering from cancer, it has been announced.

The 41-year-old, who was the creative director for Louis Vuitton and Off-White, had cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare, aggressive form of the disease, according to an announcement on his official Instagram page.

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Australia Covid live update: Omicron detected in NSW, states tighten border restrictions

Passengers on flight with two passengers who tested positive to the new coronavirus variant told to isolate for two weeks. Follow all the news live

Welcome to the last sitting week of – and possibly, until the next election.

Who knows.

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Covid: South Africa's president calls for lifting of Omicron travel bans

Cyril Ramaphosa says the action by countries including the UK and US is discriminatory and unnecessary.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/31bhaDW

‘Daddy at Your Service:’ Candidates promise a new era, but are tied to the past.

By BY ANATOLY KURMANAEV from NYT World https://ift.tt/3p566AU

Hondurans seek a break from graft and despair in an election with repercussions for the United States.

By BY ANATOLY KURMANAEV from NYT World https://ift.tt/3xAlOaP

‘Papi a la orden’: los candidatos prometen una nueva era, pero están atados al pasado

By BY ANATOLY KURMANAEV from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/3xv3dx1

Los hondureños buscan un alivio de la desesperación en unas elecciones con repercusiones para Estados Unidos

By BY ANATOLY KURMANAEV from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/3rf6lvR

Virgil Abloh, Bold Designer of Men’s Wear, Dies at 41

By BY VANESSA FRIEDMAN from NYT Style https://ift.tt/3liQfNM

New Zealand’s secondary art market is booming – now artists want a share

Without a resale royalty scheme, struggling artists are missing out on much needed money for their work

This month New Zealand artist Ayesha Green watched in surprise as one of her artworks fetched $48,000 at auction – $29,000 more than she sold it for just a year earlier. The hammer price was sizeable for an artist who describes herself as somewhere between emerging and mid-career, and if the country had a resale royalty scheme for artists in place, Green would have taken home a healthy paycheque to put towards her practice.

But, like all local artists whose work sells at auction, Green gets nothing.

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Australia’s Future Fund invested in weapons manufacturers that have sold arms to Myanmar military

Sovereign wealth fund’s holdings include 14 companies that have done business with military which has killed more than 1,200 since coup

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Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Future Fund, has invested in a Chinese state-controlled weapons manufacturer that has sold combat aircraft to the Myanmar military, which is accused of crimes against humanity.

A weapons company controlled by India is also among companies the fund has invested in that are linked with the Myanmar military, documents released under freedom of information laws show.

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Virgil Abloh: Designer and Off-White founder dies aged 41

Abloh, who was Louis Vuitton's artistic director, had been suffering from a rare form of cancer.

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Elecciones presidenciales en Honduras: ¿qué está en juego hoy?

By BY OSCAR LOPEZ from NYT en Español https://ift.tt/3paVtwc

Jennifer Nettles Had Sung ‘She Used to Be Mine.’ But Not While Crying.

By BY ELISABETH VINCENTELLI from NYT Theater https://ift.tt/3Iczi1F

Listen to Stephen Sondheim’s 20 Essential Songs

By BY ERIC GRODE from NYT Theater https://ift.tt/32KJU7H

South Africa, whose scientists detected Omicron, is an outlier on the least vaccinated continent.

By BY DECLAN WALSH AND LYNSEY CHUTEL from NYT World https://ift.tt/3DWvuil

Channel migrants: France wants 'serious' talks with UK

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin says France will not be held hostage by domestic British politics.

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Saturday, 27 November 2021

Niger: two killed and 17 injured in clash with French military convoy

Force used against protesters who blocked vehicles amid rising anger over France’s presence in former colonies

At least two people were killed and 18 injured in western Niger on Saturday when protesters clashed with a French military convoy they blocked after it crossed the border from Burkina Faso, Niger’s government said.

The armoured vehicles and logistics trucks had crossed the border on Friday after being blocked in Burkina Faso for a week by demonstrations there against French forces’ failure to stop mounting violence by Islamist militants.

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Met police charge man, 19, with six counts of sharing extremist material

Elias Djelloul was arrested in east London on Friday and will appear in court on Monday

A 19-year-old man will appear in court next week accused of sharing extremist material.

Elias Djelloul was arrested at an address in east London on Friday, the Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism command said.

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‘Atmospheric rivers’ threaten new floods in hard-hit Washington state

Western areas still assessing millions of dollars’ worth of damage from flooding earlier this month

Residents in Washington state were on Saturday preparing for possible flooding as “atmospheric rivers” once again threatened parts of the US north-west, which saw heavy damage from such extreme weather earlier this month.

Flood watches were issued for much of western and north-central Washington and the National Weather Service (NWS) warned that flooding was possible through Sunday in north-western Washington.

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‘False hope’: family violence program could be putting women at greater risk, critics say

The federal project offers women up to $5,000 to help escape violence, but workers say getting the money is too onerous and complex

Vulnerable women attempting to escape domestic violence are being offered “false hope” by a government program that potentially could be putting them at greater risk, frontline service workers say.

The two-year $145m escaping violence payment trial was billed as a one-off payment of up to $5,000 to “help women establish a life free of violence”. It was announced as part of the government’s “landmark $1.1bn women’s safety package” in the May budget.

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Fundraiser for US man exonerated after 43 years in prison tops $1.4m

Kevin Strickland, 62, wrongly convicted of 1978 triple murder
Says criminal justice system ‘needs to be torn down and redone’

By mid-afternoon on Saturday, a fundraiser for a man who spent 43 years in prison before a judge in Missouri this week overturned his conviction in a triple murder had raised more than $1.4m.

The Midwest Innocence Project set up the GoFundMe page as it fought for the release of Kevin Strickland, 62, noting that he would not receive compensation from the state and would need help paying basic living expenses while struggling with extensive health problems.

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While Americans mark Thanksgiving, Republicans panned over Harris attack

Criticism of vice-president over French cookware purchase backfires as people point out Donald Trump’s presidential largesse

An attack on Kamala Harris for buying expensive French cookware rebounded on the Republican party over Thanksgiving, moving social media users to compare the vice-president’s culinary outlay with the cost to taxpayers of Donald Trump’s four years in power.

On a visit to Paris earlier this month, Harris reportedly spent more than $500 on cookware at E Dehillerin, a shop near the Louvre museum. She told reporters she was making the purchase with Thanksgiving cooking in mind, prompting laughter when she said her husband, Doug Emhoff, was her “apprentice” in the kitchen.

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Australia’s spy agency predicted the climate crisis 40 years ago – and fretted about coal exports

In a taste of things to come, a secret Office of National Assessment report worried the ‘carbon dioxide problem’ would hurt the nation’s coal industry

The report was stamped CONFIDENTIAL twice on each page, with the customary warning it should “not be released to any other government except Britain, Canada, NZ and US”.

About 40 years ago this week, the spooks at Australia’s intelligence agency, the Office of National Assessments (ONA), delivered the 17-page report to prime minister Malcolm Fraser.

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Tonga’s drug crisis: Why a tiny Pacific island is struggling with a meth epidemic

Spike in drug use has caused problems across Tongan society, with arrests doubling in two years and children severely affected

After more than four decades spent living in New Zealand, Ned Cook knew it was time to return to his home country of Tonga.

His country was in the grip of a methamphetamine epidemic that was ripping families apart and overrunning the country’s hospitals and jails. Cook, a trained drug and alcohol abuse counsellor, with a history of drug abuse himself, had been preparing for years to return to Tonga to combat it.

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Death in the Channel: ‘My wife and children said they were getting on a boat. I didn’t hear from them again’

The human stories of some of the 27 who died attempting to cross from France to the UK

According to his friends, Harem Pirot was an excellent swimmer. In the summer of 2019 he and a neighbour Anas Muhammad set off from their home in the Iraqi Kurdistan town of Ranya to nearby Lake Dukan, a popular picnic and boating spot.

“Harem was a really good person. He could swim well in deep water,” Anas said yesterday. “Our families knew each other well. A great guy. He was 25.”

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North Carolina’s Furniture Hub Is Booming. What Comes Next?

By BY JEANNA SMIALEK from NYT Business https://ift.tt/3185HFu

Alice Waters Helps a Museum Cater to the Tastes of Art Lovers

By BY ADAM NAGOURNEY from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/3cWazjG

Republicans Have a Golden Opportunity. They Will Probably Blow It.

By BY ROSS DOUTHAT from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/3FTO77i

A safe haven: refugee builders are being helped to a job by one of their own

Hedayat Osyun’s construction company is the kind of social enterprise he would have benefited from when he came to Australia to flee the Taliban

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When a group of fellow refugees asked for help navigating the construction industry because they believed they were being exploited, Hedayat Osyun decided to go one step further.

He started his own construction company as a social enterprise, now known as CommUnity Construction, that solely hires and trains recently arrived refugees and asylum seekers. It’s the kind of safe haven he would have benefited from as a teenager who escaped the Taliban in 2009 and arrived in Australia.

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I write while my children steal cars and rob houses: the awful human cost of racist stereotypes | Thomas Mayor

Contrary to claims of failed responsibility of Indigenous parents, we in fact are calling for greater responsibility. We want to change this country for the better

As I write this article, my children are stealing cars and robbing houses, I suppose. I am an Indigenous father – so, doesn’t that tell you everything you need to know about me as a parent, and about my children’s capacity to understand right from wrong?

I know you sense the sarcasm in this. Well, a great, great majority of Australians would. But there is a certain type of person I am implicating here. The type who have an ignorance so deeply ingrained, that it is a wonder they haven’t wandered off into the dark recesses of our colonial history and followed each other off the edge of a cliff. Shouldn’t they be extinct?

Proportionately, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future. These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness.

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Asylum in the UK: the key numbers

So often in debates about asylum, statistics are used out of context to back up a politically motivated point, or as fuel in the government’s culture war against asylum seekers. Here are the key statistics about the UK’s asylum system in context

13,210. The number of people the UK granted protection to via asylum or resettlement routes in the year to September 2021 This is significantly lower than before the pandemic hit in March 2020.

64%. The proportion of initial asylum applications that were successful in the year ending September 2021. This rate has increased in recent years. In addition, almost half of unsuccessful applications are granted on appeal.

17th. The UK’s ranking against EU countries in terms of the number of asylum applications it gets, adjusted for population. The UK’s asylum application per capita rate is almost half the EU average. Germany received 122,015 asylum applications in the year ending March 2021; France, 93,475.

37,562. The number of asylum applications in the UK in the year ending September 2021. This is 18% higher than last year, which saw a dip as a result of the pandemic, and less than half the peak of 84,312 that was seen in the early 2000s.

25,700. The number of people who have arrived in the UK so far this year after making the dangerous Channel crossing in small boats. This is three times the total number who arrived via this route in 2020.

83,733. The number of people awaiting an initial decision on their asylum application at the end of September 2021. Delays in the asylum system have increased rapidly since 2018: this is 41% higher than a year ago.

86%. The proportion of refugees worldwide who live in low-income countries neighbouring their country of origin. A very small proportion choose to travel to Europe. The UK is home to just 1% of the 26.4 million refugees who have been forcibly displaced from their home country across the world. Around half of the world’s refugees are under the age of 18.

£39.63. The amount that people seeking asylum get per week to subsist on in the UK. In France, it’s £42.84, and in Germany £65.63. In Germany, they are allowed to work 3 months from making their applications, in France it’s 6 months. In the UK they’re not allowed to work at all regardless of how long it takes for their application to be processed.

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Security guard for TV news crew killed during Oakland robbery attempt

Kevin Nishita shot dead while protecting Kron-TV crew covering smash-and-grab theft in California city

A security guard died after he was shot while protecting a San Francisco Bay Area TV news crew covering a smash-and-grab theft, part of a rash of organized retail crime in the region.

“We are devastated by the loss of security guard and our friend, Kevin Nishita,” Kron-TV’s vice-president and general manager, Jim Rose, said in a statement on Saturday.

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Perth mother may have to quit work to care for autistic son after NDIS package cut by 70%

Labor accuses Coalition of ‘stealth’ cuts to disability funding as other families complain about recent changes

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A Perth mother fears she will have to quit her job to care for her autistic son after his national disability insurance scheme package was cut by about 70%, in the latest example of what the opposition is labelling “stealth” cuts to the program.

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) insists there is no “directive to reduce funding to NDIS participant plans” and that its so-called Sustainability Action Taskforce – dubbed a razor gang by critics – is “no longer active”.

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A Tale of Culinary Reconciliation, Beside the Eiffel Tower

By BY ROGER COHEN from NYT World https://ift.tt/3xsI5Hw

The Mets Bolster Their Offense With Three Free Agents

By BY TYLER KEPNER from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/311D6SC

Priti Patel blames ‘evil’ gangs for Channel crossings but the reality is far more complicated

Analysis: The UK government’s own experts say many journeys are actually organised directly by desperate families

The government repeatedly insists that sophisticated criminal networks are driving the Channel crossings by people seeking asylum in Britain. Of all the contested claims advanced by the home secretary on the issue, it remains among the most pervasive.

True to form, in the aftermath of Wednesday’s drownings, Priti Patel wasted little time reiterating her determination to “smash the criminal gangs” behind such crossings.

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Boris Johnson tightens rules on travel and mask-wearing over Omicron concerns

Travellers to UK must take PCR tests and masks to be made mandatory in shops and on public transport

Boris Johnson has announced fresh measures to curb the spread of coronavirus including mandatory masks in shops and PCR tests for travellers entering the UK after two cases of the Omicron variant were detected in the country.

Amid mounting global concern over Omicron, named a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization on Friday, the prime minister set out a series of steps the UK is taking to maximise its defence against Covid-19.

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‘Christmas will not be cancelled’ despite tree shortage fears, Americans told

American Christmas Tree Association, which represents artificial tree industry, makes pledge amid reports of looming problems

Days after reports of shortages of Thanksgiving turkeys proved premature, the American Christmas Tree Association was moved to promise Americans that “Christmas will not be cancelled”, amid reports of looming problems.

The statement from ACTA, which represents the artificial tree industry, came amid concern that supplies of both plastic trees and live Noble, Frazer and Balsam firs will be subject to supply chain issues and the effects of the climate crisis.

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Friday, 26 November 2021

Long lines but not too many deals.

By BY SARAH BAHR from NYT Business https://ift.tt/3FWdENb

United States will place travel restrictions on South Africa and 7 other countries.

By BY ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS from NYT World https://ift.tt/3xt4rsH

Merck says its antiviral pill is less effective in a final analysis.

By BY REBECCA ROBBINS from NYT Science https://ift.tt/3cRWljD

U.S. officials are consulting with South African scientists on the variant.

By BY SHERYL GAY STOLBERG from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/3cPWIuX

Omicron variant spreads to Europe as UK announces countermeasures

Experts stress importance of delaying import of new Covid variant to UK to avoid Christmas mixing

An alarming new Covid variant spread to Europe on Friday, with scientists warning it would inevitably reach Britain while ministers faced calls to urgently speed up the vaccination programme.

Thousands of travellers were left stranded or with their plans in disarray amid flight bans targeting countries across southern Africa, where the variant was discovered. Hotel quarantine and enhanced testing will be brought in across the UK, the health secretary, Sajid Javid, said.

Thousands of UK nationals face paying thousands of pounds for mandatory hotel quarantine on their return from South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia after Sunday. Non-UK and Irish nationals from those countries will be banned, while people arriving before Sunday at 4pm will have to take PCR tests and quarantine at home.

The EU agreed there was a need to suspend flights from southern African countries following restrictions announced by countries including the UK, Japan, Germany, Italy and Spain.

South Africa said it was “unjustified” for other countries to impose travel bans and Boris Johnson held a call with the country’s president Cyril Ramaphosa to discuss the restrictions.

The FTSE 100 had its worst day since June 2020, closing down 3.6%, with £72bn wiped off the index. British Airways owner IAG ended the day nearly 15% lower, while Rolls-Royce slumped more than 11%.

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South Africa accuses UK and others of ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to new variant

Travel restrictions on southern African states imposed by countries after discovery of B.1.1.529 already harming economy

South Africa has angrily condemned travel restrictions imposed by countries including Britain as “knee-jerk and draconian” as it scrambled to assess the potential for the new Covid-19 variant to unleash a deadly fourth wave.

In a heated press conference on Friday, the health minister, Joe Phaahla, said his country had acted transparently by alerting the world to the B.1.1.529 variant, which was detected by its scientists earlier this week.

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Post haste: Alabama police investigate mystery of ravine full of FedEx packages

‘River of boxes’ numbering up to 400 found dumped, prompting rush to rescue and deliver the mail – and to find culprit

An Alabama sheriff was on Friday trying to figure out how hundreds of FedEx packages ended up dumped in the woods.

An estimated 300 to 400 packages of various sizes were found in a ravine near the small town of Hayden on Wednesday, the Blount county sheriff said.

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The era of Judith ‘Crusher’ Collins ends in a blaze of fury

Known for her political ruthlessness and a fondness for going on the offensive, Collins was unable to unite the caucus behind her

In the end, Judith Collins’s tenure at the top of the National Party ended on the same notes that have sounded throughout her political career: fighting words, a refusal to back down, and one last attempt at crushing a foe.

The MP, nicknamed “Crusher” for a policy that physically crushed the cars of traffic-code-violating ‘boy racers’, was never one to walk away from a battle easily. As the dust settles from her latest, leadership-ending altercation, New Zealand’s opposition will be left scrambling for leadership for the fifth time in about as many years – and commentators say the party’s turmoil risks creating a vacuum at the right of the country’s political spectrum.

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Wedding cakes, tweets and gay teachers: how will the religious discrimination bill actually work?

The proposed law has implications for multiple areas of public life but may not overcome some constitutional issues

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The Coalition’s religious discrimination bill was introduced on Thursday, almost three years after it was promised, and has implications for multiple areas of public life, from schools and workplaces to churches and hospitals.

In the explanatory memorandum (EM) that accompanies the bill, the government sets out some examples of how it is designed to function. As some experts have pointed out, however, the bill is complex and may not overcome constitutional issues. This means that anyone attempting to argue a breach of the law – or defend being charged with one – may be able to make a case. Here is how the proposed law could apply to some scenarios:

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