Albert Wagner 
Downing Street takes the case of Michelle Mone “incredibly seriously”, Rishi Sunak has said, as Labour called for a Commons statement after the former Tory peer admitted she lied when denying involvement with a company that won UK government deals to provide personal protective equipment during the pandemic. Pressure is increasing for action on Mone, … Read more
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A cruise operator that failed to cancel a voyage from Sydney that led to a major COVID-19 outbreak was ruled negligent in its duty of care to passengers in an Australian class-action case Wednesday. The Ruby Princess ocean liner left Sydney on March 8, 2020, with 2,671 passengers aboard for a … Read more
SANTA FE, N.M. – Like Christmas trees, Santa and reindeer, the poinsettia has long been a ubiquitous symbol of the holiday season in the U.S., Canada and across Europe. But now, nearly 200 years after the plant with the bright crimson leaves was introduced in the U.S., attention is once again turning to … Read more
Boris Johnson’s Downing Street was so “macho and egotistical” that women’s voices were heard for as little as 10 minutes in five hours of meetings during a key week of coronavirus policy, the Covid inquiry has heard. Three weeks into the first lockdown, the most senior female civil servant in No 10 emailed a group … Read more
The world of public health is witnessing an unanticipated trend: a surge in online searches related to diarrhea. While initially attributed to the high-profile Delta Air Lines incident in 2023, a closer look reveals interest in this most unpleasant of symptoms has been rising for many years. From September 2018 to September 2023, search volumes … Read more
The controversial social media platform Parler says it’s planning a comeback after shuttering in April following a string of controversies related to hate speech rules and illicit content. Parler is relaunching in the first quarter of 2024 to “return to its roots as a robust marketplace of ideas,” according to a company statement, emerging … Read more
Michelle Mone has condemned Rishi Sunak after he expressed concern at her admission she lied about involvement in a company that won lucrative deals during Covid, saying the government “knew about my involvement from the very beginning”. After the former Conservative peer admitted in a BBC interview on Sunday that she had been untruthful in … Read more
A few years ago, certain panic-inducing symptoms ― like loss of taste and smell, for instance ― were synonymous with a COVID-19 infection. But those symptoms have changed with time. “I think the good news is most patients we’re seeing with COVID seem to have milder and upper respiratory symptoms,” said Dr. Jonathan D. Grein, … Read more
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip – Hamas’ top leader arrived in Cairo on Wednesday for talks on the war in Gaza, where the militant group is putting up stiff resistance after more than 10 weeks of heavy Israeli bombardment and fierce urban combat that has killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians. The visit by Ismail Haniyeh … Read more
The Michelle Mone affair stinks. It shows that, under Boris Johnson, the British government was unfit for purpose, and is scarcely better today. While the Covid inquiry descends into a lawyers’ carnival, the PPE procurement scandal festers on. In the spring of 2020, when the pandemic first broke, Wales’s first minister, Mark Drakeford, announced that … Read more
