Brisbane has entered a three-day lockdown after a cleaner at a quarantine hotel was diagnosed with the COVID-19 variant first identified in the UK. Australia’s third largest city – and its surrounding areas – will also see the introduction of compulsory face masks for the first time, the Queensland state government said. Queensland chief health
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A radical cleric linked to the Bali bombings has been released from an Indonesian prison. Abu Bakar Bashir, 82, is the former head of Jemaah Islamiyah – an al Qaeda-linked group responsible for the 2002 attack on the popular holiday island. Two bomb blasts killed 202 people – many of them foreign tourists – with
Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong has been arrested in jail on a new charge, while a detained American lawyer has been granted bail. Mr Wong, 24, was arrested on Thursday morning on suspicion of violating the controversial national security law imposed on Hong Kong last June, his friends and family said. The leading activist,
US President Donald Trump has turned on his deputy, accusing him of lacking courage after Mike Pence said he would not intervene in the election result. In a tweet, the president wrote: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a
Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for use by the EU’s drug regulator. The decision by the European Medicines Agency came on the same day as the Netherland’s began administering its first doses against coronavirus. EMA executive director Emer Cooke said: “This vaccine provides us with another tool to overcome the current emergency.” The decision,
Critics of the National Security Law (NSL) imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong have described its powers as sweeping – and today authorities swept wide. More than 50 pro-democracy figures have been arrested under the law. It is the largest, most high profile, most significant crackdown since the NSL came into force in June last
A dog has been found alive in the rubble of a deadly landslide in Norway, boosting hopes among rescuers who are still searching for missing people. The landslide, which carried away homes in the Norwegian village of Ask, took place on 30 December. Seven people have died, and three others remain missing. The dog was
Two Democratic members of Congress have asked the FBI to open an “immediate criminal investigation” after Donald Trump was heard pleading with an election official to “find” him some more votes in Georgia. Representatives Ted Lieu and Kathleen Rice have written to FBI Director Christopher Wray, saying they “believe Donald Trump engaged in solicitation of,
At least 100 people are now known to have been killed in attacks by suspected jihadists on two villages in Niger, the country’s prime minister has said. Brigi Rafini said 70 people were killed in the village of Tchombangou and 30 others in Zaroumdareye, both near Niger’s western border with Mali, on Saturday. During remarks
Donald Trump’s hour-long call urging Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to “find 11,780 votes” sounded desperate and deluded. The recording was a worrying insight into the president’s state of mind – seemingly convinced by the many conspiracy theories about why he lost the election, and unwilling to listen to the facts from members of his
“Putin seems to be just hysterical”. So tweeted Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin‘s most prominent political opponent, in response to the decision by Russia’s investigative committee to open a case against him last week on charges of large-scale fraud. It follows hot on the heels of a legal summons demanding he return to Moscow or face
Three bodies have been recovered and seven people are still missing after a landslide in Norway. Rescue teams in the village of Ask, near Oslo, have yet to find any signs of life after the disaster tore down buildings in the area on Wednesday. Two bodies were recovered from the rubble on Saturday after the
More than 2,500 people have attended an illegal rave in France, clashing with police who attempted to stop the event. The rave, held in a disused warehouse at Lieuron near Rennes in Brittany, started on New Year’s Eve and came to an end on Saturday morning. Mass gatherings are not allowed under French COVID-19 restrictions
The Australian national anthem has been changed to reflect the nation’s “spirit of unity” and its indigenous population, the country’s prime minister has said. The one-word change to Advance Australia Fair, from “For we are young and free” to “For we are one and free” takes effect on Friday. Speaking on New Year’s Eve, Scott
The opening scene of the Nutcracker is the Christmas none of us had. Guests pour in from a multitude of different households to the Stahlbaum family home, mingling and making merry beneath a gigantic Christmas tree. Little Clara is entranced by the Nutcracker doll she’s given and when she falls asleep, her dreams take her
Britain and Spain have reached an initial agreement over Gibraltar’s post-Brexit status, Spain’s foreign minister has said. Under the deal the territory will remain part of European Union agreements such as the Schengen free movement area, Arancha Gonzalez Laya told reporters. London and Madrid had been negotiating how to police the land border between Spain