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Covid-19 deaths four times more likely among black adults than those of white ethnicity, new ONS analysis suggests

Shadow justice secretary David Lammy responded to the figures by calling for an urgent investigation into the disproportionate number of deaths.




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Food For London Now: Chefs stage a big Wembley takeover

You can donate at virginmoneygiving.com/fund/FoodforLondonNOW




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Finsbury Park incident: Police officers attacked after group 'acting suspiciously became violent' in Blackstock Road

A number of police officers have been injured after responding to reports that men were "acting suspiciously" in Finsbury Park.




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Food For London Now: This is the biggest crisis since the war... thanks to the heroes feeding the vulnerable

Londoners who lived through World War II have hailed the "heroes" behind the emergency food operation helping people in the capital get through the current crisis.




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Rail chiefs 'plan to hike rail services to 70 per cent of normal timetable' in days




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Coronavirus pandemic leading to a 'tsunami of hate' and 'contemptible memes', UN chief says

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has called for an "all-out effort to end hate speech globally" amid what he called a "tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scare-mongering" unleashed during the coronavirus pandemic.




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Man hiding from police blows cover with fart




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Brexit trade timeline 'virtually impossible', says Deputy Irish Premier

Deputy Irish Premier Simon Coveney has said the Covid-19 pandemic has made the timeline for a UK-EU trade deal "virtually impossible".




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Streatham crash: Cyclist, 16, fighting for life after 'double hit-and-run' in south London




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Food For London Now: KSI hails the 'amazing' work of Felix Project after lending a hand to feed the vulnerable

British YouTube star KSI joined the Evening Standard's campaign to feed London during the coronavirus crisis, hailing it as "amazing".









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Deleted tweet might mean a new campaign finance problem for Ilhan Omar





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Facebook Oversight Board On Removing Objectionable Content Announces Members

The company has faced criticism in recent years for its handling of issues ranging from user privacy to policing hate speech to stopping the spread of disinformation.







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Incredible video shows Hayabusa2 pogo-bouncing off asteroid

A new paper analyzes what we know about the sample the probe grabbed last year.




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China’s new spacecraft—which resembles a Crew Dragon—just landed

China now has a capsule potentially capable of returning from the Moon.




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Hubble telescope delivers stunning 30th birthday picture

The veteran telescope celebrates three decades in orbit with a colourful image of star formation.





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Hubble telescope's Universe revealed in 3D

New techniques are being used to transform images from Hubble into spectacular 3D visualisations.





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NASA puts Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX on the list for lunar lander development program

NASA has selected teams led by Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX to develop lunar landing systems capable of putting astronauts on the moon by as early as 2024. "We want to be able to go to the moon, but we want to be a customer," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told reporters today during a teleconference. "We want to drive down the costs, we want to increase the access, we want to have our partners have customers that are not just us, so they compete on cost and innovation, and just bring capabilities that we've never had before." Fixed-price contracts totaling… Read More





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Dancing gargantuan black holes perform on cue

Scientists predict the explosive behaviour of two supermassive black holes almost to the hour.





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'Nearest black hole to Earth discovered'

An unseen object is found to be lurking in a double-star system a mere 1,000 light-years from Earth.





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Astronomers found the closest black hole to Earth — and there could be millions more like it

Scientists usually find black holes by detecting X-rays they emit as they devour nearby stars. But this one was quietly hidden 1,000 light-years away.





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No TV, no sat nav, no internet: how to fix space's junk problem – video

As Elon Musk's Starlink and Jeff Bezos's Project Kuiper race to create high-speed internet using satellites orbiting Earth, there's a small problem that could get in the way: debris. From dead spacecraft that have been around since the dawn of the space age to flecks of paint smashing windows on the International Space Station, rubbish is clogging up our orbits. And with objects moving as fast as 15,500mph (25,000 kmph), the satellite services we've come to depend on are at constant risk of collision. So how to fix the problem with junk in space? Ian Anderson investigates

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No 10 scientific advisers warned of black market in fake coronavirus test results

Sage told widespread use of antibody tests could lead to criminal behaviour, papers reveal

Downing Street’s scientific advisers feared people might intentionally seek to contract coronavirus and that a black market in fake test results could emerge if employers allowed workers to return only when they had a positive antibody test.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, known as Sage, was warned last month by its behavioural psychology subgroup that the widespread introduction of antibody tests could lead to a range of potentially dangerous and even criminal “negative behavioural responses” if not handled well.

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Genetics in focus after coronavirus deaths of siblings and twins

Recent deaths have stood out, but scientists say they must be interpreted with caution

Amid the steady stream of stories on the lives lost to coronavirus are cases that stand out as remarkable. In the past month, at least two pairs of twins have died in Britain and two pairs of brothers, all within hours or days of each other. But do the deaths point to genetic factors that make some more likely than others to succumb to the disease?

Most scientists believe that genes play a role in how people respond to infections. A person’s genetic makeup may influence the receptors that the coronavirus uses to invade human cells. How resilient the person is to the infection, their general health, and how the immune system reacts will also have some genetic component.

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Black hole found 1,000 light years from Earth

Object found in HR 6819 system is the closest to Earth yet known – and is unusually dark

Astronomers say they have discovered a black hole on our doorstep, just 1,000 light years from Earth.

It was found in a system called HR 6819, in the constellation Telescopium.

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Black people four times more likely to die from Covid-19, ONS finds

Official figures show that wide disparity not just due to health and economic differences

Black people are more than four times more likely to die from Covid-19 than white people, according to stark official figures exposing a dramatic divergence in the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in England and Wales.

The Office of National Statistics found that the difference in the virus’s impact was caused not only by pre-existing differences in communities’ wealth, health, education and living arrangements.

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Lawyers: Investigators recommend whistleblower is reinstated

Federal investigators have found “reasonable grounds” that a government whistleblower was punished for speaking out against widespread use of an unproven drug that President Donald Trump touted as a remedy for COVID-19, his lawyers said. Dr. Rick Bright headed the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, a unit of Department of Health and Human Services that focuses on countermeasures to infectious diseases and bioterrorism. The OSC is an agency that investigates allegations of egregious personnel practices in government.





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US blocks vote on UN's bid for global ceasefire over reference to WHO

Security council had spent weeks seeking resolution but Trump administration opposed mention of organizationThe US has blocked a vote on a UN security council resolution calling for a global ceasefire during the Covid-19 pandemic, because the Trump administration objected to an indirect reference to the World Health Organization.The security council has been wrangling for more than six weeks over the resolution, which was intended to demonstrate global support for the call for a ceasefire by the UN secretary general, António Guterres. The main source for the delay was the US refusal to endorse a resolution that urged support for the WHO’s operations during the coronavirus pandemic.Donald Trump has blamed the WHO for the pandemic, claiming (without any supporting evidence) that it withheld information in the early days of the outbreak.China insisted that the resolution should include mention and endorsement of the WHO.On Thursday night, French diplomats thought they had engineered a compromise in which the resolution would mention UN “specialized health agencies” (an indirect, if clear, reference to the WHO).The Russian mission signaled that it wanted a clause calling for the lifting of sanctions that affected the delivery of medical supplies, a reference to US punitive measures imposed on Iran and Venezuela. However, most security council diplomats believed Moscow would withdraw the objection or abstain in a vote rather than risk isolation as the sole veto on the ceasefire resolution.On Thursday night, it appeared that the compromise resolution had the support of the US mission, but on Friday morning, that position switched and the US “broke silence” on the resolution, raising objection to the phrase “specialist health agencies”, and blocking movement towards a vote.“We understood that there was an agreement on this thing but it seems that they changed their mind,” a western security council diplomat said.“Obviously they have changed their mind within the American system so that wording is still not good enough for them,” another diplomat close to the discussions said. “It might be that they just need a bit more time to settle it amongst themselves, or it might be that someone very high up has made a decision they don’t want it, and therefore it won’t happen. It is unclear at this moment, which one it is.”A spokesperson for the US mission at the UN suggested that if the resolution was to mention the work of the WHO, it would have to include critical language about how China and the WHO have handled the pandemic.“In our view, the council should either proceed with a resolution limited to support for a ceasefire, or a broadened resolution that fully addresses the need for renewed member state commitment to transparency and accountability in the context of Covid-19. Transparency and reliable data are essential to helping the world combat this ongoing pandemic, and the next one,” the spokesperson said.While the force of the resolution would be primarily symbolic, it would have been symbolism at a crucial moment. Since Guterres made his call for a global ceasefire, armed factions in more than a dozen countries had observed a temporary truce. The absence of a resolution from the world’s most powerful nations, however, undermines the secretary general’s clout in his efforts to maintain those fragile ceasefires.Talks will continue next week at the security council to explore whether some other way around the impasse can be found.





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Colombian company creates bed that can double as coffin

A Colombian advertising company is pitching a novel if morbid solution to shortages of hospital beds and coffins during the coronavirus pandemic: combine them. ABC Displays has created a cardboard bed with metal railings that designers say can double as a casket if a patient dies. Company manager Rodolfo Gómez said he was inspired to find a way to help after watching events unfold recently in nearby Ecuador.





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Coronavirus forces Russia to hold slimmed down Victory Day in blow to Putin




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Putin calls for 'invincible' unity as Russians mark Victory Day on lockdown

President Vladimir Putin told Russians they are "invincible" when they stand together as the country on Saturday marked the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in lockdown from the coronavirus. With cases surging and authorities urging Russians to stay in their homes, celebrations of this year's Victory Day were muted after the Kremlin grudgingly postponed plans for a grand parade with world leaders. Instead of columns of military hardware and thousands of troops marching through Red Square as planned, Putin walked alone to lay flowers at the Eternal Flame outside the red brick walls of the Kremlin.





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AP FACT CHECK: Trump is not credible on virus death tolls

Truth can be a casualty when President Donald Trump talks about deaths from the coronavirus in the United States. Pushing to get the country back to normal, Trump also suggested that children are safe from the coronavirus. Germany has done very good.





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“Chickens**t” whistleblower firings are “poison,” resigning Amazon VP says

Firings highlight “toxicity running through the company culture,” Bray said.




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CenturyLink still hasn’t met 2019 FCC deadline, now faces pandemic roadblocks

Pandemic disrupts broadband progress as cities halt construction.




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Temperature screening not always reliable to mitigate coronavirus risk, experts say

Canada's chief public health officer Theresa Tam was quick to shut down the approach during the daily ministerial update on Monday.





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Science news in brief: from making blue dye with red beetroot, to giant plasma bubbles

And other stories from around the world.




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Raw meat dog foods pose 'international public health risk' due to high levels of drug-resistant bacteria, scientists warn

Uncooked pet food could be source of pathogens dangerous to humans, research suggests




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Coronavirus causing doubts among some anti-vaxxers but others doubling down on denial, experts say

Covid-19 could be 'antidote to complacency' among those on the fence about vaccines, scientists say




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Unearthed Ancient British chieftain and probable shaman reveal secrets about old burial rituals

Exclusive: The key evidence for his high status is the unusually fine material buried with him for his journey to the next life, writes David Keys




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First credible evidence emerges of person being killed by meteor

Researchers find official records documenting fatal strike in Iraq in 1888




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Coronavirus: Experts unable to confirm or deny airborne transmission as multiple studies fail to reach verdict

'We propose that Sars-Cov-2 may have the potential to be transmitted via aerosols,' researchers say