Tag: prime minister

New UK Strain of Coronavirus More Infectious, Say Government Scientists

Reuters reports: A new strain of coronavirus identified in the United Kingdom is up to 70% more infectious but it is not thought to be more deadly and vaccines should still be effective, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and scientists said on Saturday…. “This is early data and it’s subject to review. But it’s the best that we have at the moment…

Australia Demands Apology From China After Fake Image of Soldier Posted On Social Media

hackingbear writes: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an apology after a senior Chinese official posted a “fake image” of an Australian soldier holding a knife with blood on it to the throat of an Afghan child, calling it “truly repugnant” and demanding it be taken down. The Australian government has asked Twitter to remove the image, posted on Monday by…

India Enters Recession as Virus Pummels No. 3 Asian Economy

India entered an unprecedented recession with the economy contracting in the three months through September due to the lingering effects of lockdowns to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. From a report: Gross domestic product declined 7.5% last quarter from a year ago, the Statistics Ministry said Friday. That was milder than an 8.2% drop forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey, and…

Google, Facebook and Twitter Threaten To Leave Pakistan Over Censorship Law

Global internet companies Facebook, Google and Twitter and others have banded together and threatened to leave Pakistan after the South Asian nation granted blanket powers to local regulators to censor digital content. From a report: Earlier this week, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan granted the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority the power to remove and block digital content that pose “harms, intimidates or…

UK 10-point climate plan bans new petrol and diesel car sales by 2030

The UK will ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, ten years earlier than planned, under prime minister Boris Johnson’s ten-point plan for more ambitious action on climate change Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2260042-uk-10-point-climate-plan-bans-new-petrol-and-diesel-car-sales-by-2030/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

Rolls Royce Plans 16 Mini-Nuclear Plants For UK

A consortium led by Rolls Royce has announced plans to build up to 16 mini-nuclear plants in the UK. The BBC reports: It says the project will create 6,000 new jobs in the Midlands and the North of England over the next five years. The prime minister is understood to be poised to announce at least 200 million pounds for the…

Trudeau Promises To Connect 98% of Canadians To High-Speed Internet By 2026

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says its government is now on track to connect 98% of Canadians to high-speed internet by 2026. CBC.ca reports: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and a handful of cabinet ministers held a news conference in Ottawa to launch the $1.75 billion universal broadband fund — a program unveiled in the federal government’s 2019 budget and highlighted on…

Denmark Plans To Cull 15 Million Minks After Coronavirus Mutation Spreads To Humans

A Slashdot reader writes: Denmark plans to cull its entire population of roughly 15 million minks in farms after the animals spread a mutation of the coronavirus to humans. The country’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said at a press conference Wednesday that the mutated virus could spread to other countries and it “may pose a risk to the effectiveness of a…

Japan’s New Leader Sets Ambitious Goal of Carbon Neutrality by 2050

Japan will be carbon neutral by 2050, its prime minister said this week, making an ambitious pledge to sharply accelerate the country’s global warming targets, even as it plans to build more than a dozen new coal-burning power plants in the coming years. From a report: The prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, laid out the goal during his first major policy speech…