Worldwide Updates

On this day in 1948 Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated “Great Soul” assassinated Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi —considered the father of his country and internationally esteemed for his doctrine of nonviolent protest (satyagraha) to achieve political and social progress—was assassinated on this day, 30th January 1948.

With pressure mounting to get Covid-19 vaccine doses into arms as quickly as possible, many overburdened city health departments across the country have turned to partnerships with hospitals, nonprofit organizations and pharmacies. In Philadelphia this week, one such deal went awry after the city leaned on a start-up led by college students who were eager to get involved but had little experience. The start-up is an organization called Philly Fighting Covid, which was founded last year by a 22-year-old graduate student, Andrei Doroshin. The group quickly won plaudits for volunteering to run free testing sites, and for using 3-D printers to make face shields that it supplied free to health care workers. So when Philadelphia began receiving shipments of vaccine and needed help administering doses on a large scale, the city health department turned to Philly Fighting Covid to operate what would be the largest vaccination site in the state, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. It took le

After the tech giant threatened to take its search engine offline in Australia, I’ve been looking into some alternatives. The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. Sign up to get it by email. It’s the first port of call for any random question that pops into our heads. The repository of basically all knowledge on the internet. The search engine so ubiquitous it’s a verb. And last week, Australians were forced to consider a future without it, after Google threatened to take its search engine offline if it can’t settle a bitter dispute with the Australian government over the country’s new media code. I’ve had a bit more time to think about it than most. For the past two weeks, I’ve been among a small number of Australians affected by Google’s new “experiment” where it hides or pushes down links to some local commercial media outlets. The move, ostensibly to “measure the impacts of news businesses and Google Search on each other,” has been interpreted by some

About 300,000 people are expected to leave Hong Kong for Britain using a new visa route which opens on Sunday. Hong Kong's British National (Overseas) passport holders and their immediate dependants will be able to apply for the visa using a smartphone app. Boris Johnson said the move honoured the UK's "profound ties of history and friendship" with the ex-British colony. The visa was announced in July after China imposed a new security law in Hong Kong. Beijing has previously warned the UK not to meddle in domestic issues. Those who apply and secure the visa will be able to apply for settlement after five years and then British citizenship after a further 12 months. Although there are 2.9 million citizens eligible to move to the UK, with a further estimated 2.3 million dependants, the government expects about 300,000 people to take up the offer. The prime minister said: "I am immensely proud that we have brought in this new route for Hong Kong BNOs to live, work

Ford is to start building its iconic Mustang cars in China for the first time. The US carmaker said its Mustang Mach-E will start being produced there later this year as it looks to tap into China's electric vehicle (EV) market. Earlier this month, Tesla started delivering its Model Y to Chinese customers from its Shanghai factory. Western brands are aggressively targeting China, where EV sales are expected to grow strongly. Volkswagen said it would soon begin delivering vehicles produced at two newly-built Chinese factories dedicated to electric cars. China is the world's biggest car market with more than 20m vehicles sold each year. On Thursday, Germany's Daimler posted strong company results for 2020, off the back of a strong recovery in the global car market led by China. Daimler boss Ola Källenius hailed the company's rebound in China as almost "too good to be true". Ford is also hoping to capitalise on China's economic recovery and the Chinese govern

On This Day Calendar Search 1st Winter Olympics Einar Landvik, Nordic skier from Norway, competes in the first-ever Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France, 1924 Historical Context The Winter Olympics are now a major international event, in many ways just as popular as the Summer Olympics, but it didn't start out this way. In 1924, the French Olympic committee organised the 'International Winter Sports Week' to be held in Chamonix, southern France, in the same year as the Summer Olympics in Paris. There were only a few events at this Olympics; including bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey and various versions of Nordic skiing. Despite the small nature of the event, it was considered a big success by the International Olympic Committee, who retroactively designated it the first Winter Olympics. Norway won the most Gold medals, with 4, for a tally of 17 overall. The practice of holding the Winter Olympics in the same year as the Summer Olympics would continue until 1992, when they wer

A Washington hospital system apologized after The Seattle Times reported that it had offered vaccines to wealthy donors while others went without the coveted shots. Overlake Medical Center & Clinics sent an email to about 110 donors who gave more than $10,000 to the hospital system, telling them they could register for open appointments “by invite” only. The report drew a rebuke from Gov. Jay Inslee, who said during a news conference on Tuesday that the practice was “simply unacceptable.” Overlake’s president and chief executive, J. Michael Marsh, apologized in a statement, adding that even those donors would have been required to show that they were eligible for the vaccine under state guidelines. “We recognize we made a mistake by including a subset of our donors and by not adopting a broader outreach strategy to fill these appointments, and we apologize,” Mr. Marsh said. The hospital’s conduct mirrors that of other facilities that have made news for prioritizing wealthy donors o

Tottenham's Harry Kane could be out for a "few weeks" after injuring both ankles in the Premier League defeat by Liverpool, says his boss Jose Mourinho. Kane, 27, needed treatment on his left ankle after landing awkwardly following a challenge with Jordan Henderson. The England captain also hurt his right ankle in an earlier tackle by Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara. The striker, who has a history of ankle issues, continued before being replaced by Erik Lamela at half-time. "The second injury was worse than the first one," said Mourinho. "He was coping with one but couldn't cope with both. "For Harry to leave a game when the team is losing is not a nothing injury. "There are some players you can't replace. When it happens it happens, but I believe we have to fight against it, we cannot do anything else." Kane has spent considerable time on the sidelines with a number of serious ankle injuries in recent seasons. The striker was r

Nigeria has been exempted from a list of countries which the United Kingdom placed a travel ban on as part of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. . This is according to a statement on the website of the British government titled, “Coronavirus restrictions on travel and transport to England.” . The statement updated on January 22 outlined 30 countries banned form entry into the UK. . The countries include Angola, Argentina, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador and Eswatini. . Others include French Guiana, Guyana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Portugal (including Madeira and the Azores). Seychelles, South Africa, Suriname, Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela Zambia, Zimbabwe were also included in the list. . The statement promised that travellers without proof of a COVID-19 test will be fined £500. . The statement read, “You must have valid proof of a negative coronavirus test to travel

A man called Taiwo took his social media to share the touching note his 6 years old daughter left him before leaving for school on her birthday. She's got a thousand of Nigerians emotional 📸:@longe_taiwo (Twitter)

Seasoned Nollywood actress, Opeyemi Aiyeola has adopted a daughter. Aiyeola who has two sons with her husband added a daughter named Blessing to her family. The actress announced on Instagram that in addition to Samuel and David, she’s also mother to a girl named Blessing and she shared a photo she took with the newest addition to her family. The excited and proud mother wrote; “Pls don’t call me mum SnD call me mum SDnB❤️💗 blessed mum of 3 champs. My princess is finally here n off to school💃🏾😘. Lord pls bless my champs n continue to grant me grace to be world’s best mum🙏🏾😇. My daughter is fyner than urz😘💗 @olasexcy dad SDnB thanks for ur support. We finally have a daughter to call ours💗❤️💃🏾🎉🍾”