Senior Victorian police defend their tactics, including the pushing of a journalist and the use of pepper spray, during protests outside a mining conference, saying officers are ready to respond the same way tomorrow.
Two more cases of coronavirus are confirmed in Victoria overnight, as Daniel Andrews encourages people to be tested for COVID-19 and tells parents to prepare for term two to remain online.
A patient who had emergency surgery at Sunshine Hospital tests positive for COVID-19, sending two dozen staff into self-isolation, while a Melbourne childcare centre closes following a suspected positive test.
The number of coronavirus cases in Victoria continues to inch up as a paramedic tests positive to the virus and health authorities investigate a cluster at a meat processing plant.
Residents at a Victorian aged care facility where a staff member tested positive for coronavirus earlier this week have been given the all-clear.
MORNING BRIEFING: Police have arrested 38 people following a climate change protest on Monday, and there have been more than 240 major crashes on the roads over the long weekend.
The Nationals are hoping to cling on to their seats, including a few held on very slim margins, and add to their tally by winning a three-cornered contest. But the country-based party has problems, and some say they're at risk of losing a handful of seats.
DAILY BRIEFING: Premier Will Hodgman says it is "improbable" mining exploration licences or leases will be granted to companies looking for coal on agricultural land, and the Hobart City Council is one step closer to drug testing councillors.
Maritime collector Jamie Verhoeven dons a 70kg dive suit from the 1960s in shark-infested waters near Port Lincoln.
The Swan Hill and Robinvale regions produce more $800 million in agricultural goods each year, but a "dangerous" C-class road connects them to Melbourne. The community says the lack of funding is a "human rights issue" and the system "needs to change".
There has been widespread disruption and confusion for passengers at Adelaide Airport as taxi drivers protest against Uber offering its services there. The airport announced yesterday that it reached a deal to allow ride-sharing services to collect people from the terminal, ending a monopoly by the taxi industry. But with most taxi drivers refusing to accept fares, weary passengers are being left stranded and told to catch buses or find other transport.
Leaks from one of Adani's most significant contractors for its Carmichael coal mine, engineering firm GHD, show it has been rocked by internal dissent and management has been bombarded with complaints and questions about its work on the mine.
A deadly pig disease that has decimated herds across Asia has spread closer to Australia with the Philippines confirming it has tested positive to African swine fever.
Astronaut screening programs have inspired a group of Australian scientists to study the individual personalities of 50 native rats and how they cope with environmental stresses.
The Government is offering free PCR and antibody testing to the general public beginning Saturday, May 9th between 2pm – 7pm at the Southside...
By Sammy Caiola
Where jobs and the economy were at front of mind during last Friday's protest at California’s Capitol, Thursday’s demonstration against the stay-at-home order also focused on closed churches and government-mandated vaccinations.
The microphone passed from person-to-person, who each attempted to encourage the few hundred within earshot. One woman said she was honored to be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with those in attendance. The next person to speak took the microphone and said a prayer.
People who oppose mandatory childhood vaccinations have been a driving force in recent protests against California’s stay-at-home orders. Many who are passionate about the issue say they haven’t vaccinated their children yet.
“I don’t vaccinate my children because I’ve done research on it and from experiences,” said Yvette Apfel of Modesto. “A lot of the people who don’t vaccinate because of experiences and that is not taken into account when they give their account of what’s happened.”
Generally, concerns about childhood vaccines stem from the debunked belief that vaccines can cause autism or otherwise injure children.
Democratic state Senator Dr. Richard Pan, who has authored several of California’s major childhood vaccine laws, said the messaging at these COVID-19 protests parallels what he’s seen from vaccination opponents in the past.
“We call them the anti-vaccine movement because they came out to oppose vaccination,” he said. “There’s no vaccine for COVID-19, but they’re also opposing essentially every public health measure we have that will allow us to resume our activities safely. So they’re opposed to the stay-at-home orders.”
At a hearing of the state’s Special Committee On Pandemic Emergency Response Wednesday, some people spoke up against public health measures such as contact tracing and testing.
He says he’s heard them preach the concept of “natural immunity,” which comes with a dangerous implication that everyone should acquire COVID-19.
“We often talk about ‘community immunity’ in relation to vaccination, because vaccines are safe,” he said. “So getting a vaccine doesn’t cause people to get hospitalized and die in the process of achieving it. If you try to achieve it through ‘natural immunity,’ you are talking about a lot of suffering and death.”
This is not the first time California’s been an epicenter of the anti-vaccination movement during the past few years.
In 2015, California became one of the first states to eliminate “personal belief” vaccine exemptions for students attending public and private schools. These were previously allowed for families that opposed vaccination on religious, moral or other grounds. Under Senate Bill 277, only children with a medical exemption form signed by a doctor can opt out of mandatory vaccines.
As the bill moved through the Legislature, large crowds of vaccination opponents descended on the Capitol for rallies and public hearings. Pan received violent threats from people who feel the government should not have the authority to require vaccines for kids.
In 2019, Pan’s office raised the alarm about doctors who were reportedly writing false medical forms for children who did not meet the federal criteria for an exemption. After the personal belief ban took effect in 2016, the rate of kindergartners with medical exemptions quadrupled, according to the California Department of Public Health.
Pan authored Senate Bill 276 to give the state final say on medical exemption forms. Hundreds of opponents packed into the halls of the Capitol to protest. Several weeks later, an opponent shoved Dr. Pan.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom ultimately signed the bill, with some changes. It takes effect January 2021.
Now, vaccination opponents seem to be mobilizing again, not around childhood immunizations but around the idea that the government can require people to vaccinate themselves.
On social media, some Californians have said they will not get vaccinated for COVID-19 when that immunization eventually becomes available. They’ve expressed concerns about the safety of vaccines developed during a crisis response. Some at the protest Thursday said they were worried the vaccine would be used as a tracking device.
“I think it’s more to the whole government issue about the vaccine being a tracer,” said Mary Paris, an unemployed nail salon worker from the Bay Area who drove to Sacramento for the protest. “Whoever gets it, then we’re gonna separate you. So I really think this go-around I’m not gonna do it.”
PolitiFact investigated the claims about government tracking in vaccines in April and found them to be false. They also looked into claims some about the Bill Gates Foundation related to vaccines and tracing and found them to be false, saying "There’s no evidence that implanted microchips are being contemplated in a serious way to fight the coronavirus."
A look by Reuters at the claims about “tracing” and Bill Gates found the technology being referred to is not a microchip or implant that would allow an entity to track your whereabouts. Instead it is a die that would provide patient vaccine records for doctors and nurses in places without medical records.
The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission vote 8 - 3 Thursday in favor of approving a ban on organized wildlife contests.
Health officials in El Paso County recently confirmed rabies in a skunk, the third positive test for the disease this year in the county.
Colorado emergency officials and King Soopers pharmacy and nursing crews will offer free COVID-19 drive-thru testing for about 500 people on the Auraria campus in Denver this week.
The Trump administration has repeatedly claimed that there are enough COVID-19 tests for states to begin reopening their economies. While that may be true for select locations, experts say more tests are needed, even if they don’t agree on a particular number.
The post How Many COVID-19 Tests Are ‘Needed’ to Reopen? appeared first on FactCheck.org.
Goedemorgen to you all . We would have probably woken up in Belgium this morning having dined on waffles or frites last night . I am sure that the sun would be shining as we rose . The sun has arrived here so the chances are Belgium would have been just as
To help end the protests in Hong Kong, the Chinese government is pressuring foreign companies doing business in the country to toe the official position. Any firm that doesn't can expect punishment -- and even ostensibly progressive German conglomerates are playing along. By DER SPIEGEL Staff
A member of the U.S. Navy who serves as one of President Trump’s personal valets has tested positive for coronavirus.
Officers killed three civilians in three separate incidents within hours of each other.
Four Sampdoria players, including one who had previously recovered, and three from Fiorentina have tested positive for coronavirus, the two Serie A clubs announced on Thursday.
The employee, who works at 320 Jay St. in Downtown Brooklyn, tested positive for the illness Thursday night, prompting the Vera Institute to tell a majority of their employees to work from home.
New Dorp High School and the Richard H. Hungerford School were being shut down out of “an abundance of caution,” the DOE said on Twitter early Friday.
The staffer hasn’t been working out of the agency’s Tweed Courthouse headquarters for nine days and is currently quarantined out of state. The employee alerted close colleagues as a precaution, according to sources.
A member of the U.S. Navy who serves as one of President Trump’s personal valets has tested positive for coronavirus.
Clippers guard Patrick Beverley has been invited to participate in the Skills Challenge and Lakers center Dwight Howard will compete in the Slam Dunk Contest.
Rob Pelinka, the Lakers' general manager and top basketball executive, discusses the uncertain future of the NBA and potential title chase for the team.
Agricultural employers and state health authorities need to act immediately before COVID-19 becomes a major crisis among workers who provide our food supply.
Former Angels and Cardinals standout Jim Edmonds announces on social media he's in the hospital and undergoing testing for the coronavirus.
One of Vice President Mike Pence's closest aides tested positive for the coronavirus Friday, making her the second White House staffer known to have become infected this week and raising questions about keeping the president and his family safe.
The Tyson Foods plant in Waterloo, Iowa, reopened Thursday after a coronavirus outbreak there. Black Hawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson says he'd support a second shutdown if the changes aren't enough.
The release Friday of a 2005 videotape of Donald Trump making vulgar comments about women tested The Times' language standards and its print production deadlines.
A player on the Ottawa Senators has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, the club said in a statement late Tuesday, the first NHL player known to have tested positive for the virus.
The second Ottawa Senators player who tested positive for the coronavirus was with the team when it played the Kings, Ducks and Sharks in California.
A player on the Colorado Avalanche has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, making him the third NHL player known to have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Ottawa Senators radio analyst Gord Wilson has tested positive for COVID-19. He is the third member of the NHL team's traveling party to have done so.
The four NHL players known to have tested positive all faced the Kings at Staples Center in the last few days before the NHL suspended play March 12.
A member of the U.S. Navy who serves as one of President Trump’s personal valets has tested positive for coronavirus.
Officers killed three civilians in three separate incidents within hours of each other.