CDC Issues Mandatory Mask Mandate for Planes and All Public Transportation
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has made it mandatory for people to wear face masks on planes and all forms of public transportation
$10bn was set aside by Congress to help care providers pay for staffing, protective gear, care for uninsured individuals, and vaccine distribution
An explosives team visited the site in the town of Bovenkarspel, 55 km (35 miles) from the capital, where police said a metal cylinder involved in the explosion had been recovered. It "must have been placed" there, police spokesman Menno Hartenberg told Reuters. A security guard in the testing centre alerted police to a "loud blast" that broke several windows shortly before 7 a.m., a police statement said.
Nicola Sturgeon is facing calls to resign after two witnesses in the Alex Salmond scandal corroborated his version of key events and provided damning evidence she repeatedly misled parliament. In a potentially devastating development for the First Minister, ahead of her appearance before a Holyrood inquiry on Wednesday morning, a pair of former special advisers contradicted her claims about two meetings in 2018. Ms Sturgeon has told parliament she only found out about the allegations when Mr Salmond visited her home on April 2, 2018 and but she refused to intervene. Last week she denied during First Minister's Questions the identity of one of the women was shared with Geoff Aberdein, Mr Salmond's chief of staff, "to the best of my knowledge". But Duncan Hamilton, a former SNP MP and junior counsel, said the name of a complainant was given to Mr Aberdein by a senior official shortly after Mr Salmond was informed of the government's investigation into sexual misconduct claims on March 7, 2018.
We watch as businesses and lives are being ruined by Brexit – and yet not a single apology from those who championed the cause
NHS staff: how would you feel if a Covid vaccine was compulsory for work?We would like to hear from NHS and care home staff about how they feel if a Covid vaccine was made compulsory A close-up of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in a fridge at a mass vaccination centre. Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images
Piers Morgan has declared he’s ‘done seeing naked, pregnant celebrities’ and claims women are doing it ‘just for clicks’ after seeing Emily Ratajkowski’s naked bump pics. The Good Morning Britain host was back on a rant this morning, noting Emily’s latest Instagram naked photos of her baby bump progress. While Susanna Reid looked on the photo favourably, saying that the model was ‘celebrating her body’, Piers took a far more dim view of the pics, saying she was using her pregnancy ‘for clicks’.
Former White House press secretary branded a ‘serial liar’ by critics
The residents of the largest US state will not follow the mask mandate from 10 March
Nicola Sturgeon facing calls to resign as witnesses back Alex Salmond's evidence on key meetings Tom Harris | The cynical SNP has shattered any faith in the Scottish constitution Nicola Sturgeon has come out fighting in her long-awaited appearance before the Holyrood inquiry into her government's unlawful investigation of Alex Salmond, amid calls for her to resign. The First Minister apologised for the "serious mistakes" made in the handling of Mr Salmond's alleged sexual harassment claims, but insisted that she was not out to "get" her predecessor. She said there is not "a shred of evidence" to support her former mentor's claim there was a "malicious and concerted" attempt to see him removed from public life and she has consistently denied breaching the ministerial code. Ms Sturgeon is facing calls from the Scottish Conservatives to step down after two witnesses backed up Alex Salmond's claim that she misled parliament about a meeting with her predecessor. The Scottish Government launched an investigation into the former first minister after a number of women came forward with allegations of sexual harassment. But a successful judicial review by Mr Salmond resulted in the investigation being ruled unlawful and "tainted by apparent bias", with a £512,250 payout for legal fees. Mr Salmond was later acquitted of 13 charges following a criminal trial at Edinburgh's High Court. Follow the live updates below.
The first digital vaccine certificate is set to be launched by the world's airlines this month as part of a four-step plan for summer holidays being considered by the Department for Transport (DfT). The Travel Pass app, developed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), will allow passengers to present pre-departure test or vaccine certificates on arrival at their destination, enabling them to sidestep quarantine or other restrictions. IATA is in talks with the DfT over the app, to which immunity certificates for those who have had Covid but have not been vaccinated could be added. It will be trialled by 10 airlines including IAG, which owns BA, Qantas and Singapore Airlines, starting initially with pre-test data but ready to be adapted to include vaccine certificates once they are digitised. At present, most countries are using paper to confirm people's inoculations, which the airlines are concerned could delay the introduction of a travel pass with both vaccinations and test data and lead to lengthy queues at airport immigration desks. The app is part of a four-stage approach IATA has proposed to the DfT that would see international travel restart in May, with pre-departure testing or vaccines being used for entry to a country before the eventual removal of all restrictions to allow free travel between "green list" countries. It proposes three tiers of countries including a "red list", where there may still be quarantine and pre-departure testing, an "amber list" where quarantine is replaced by tests or vaccine certificates, and a "green list" where travel corridors between low-risk countries could allow unrestricted travel.
After a study called it a Chinese cyber-sabotage attempt, India said outage was caused by ‘human error’
A Biden aide puts the campaign strategy as: ‘You put your dumb uncle in the basement’
Is it the end?
Comment goes further than ‘roadmap’ - which said review will decide, based on progress over next three months
A directive from the Catholic church body says the J&J vaccine was produced with abortion-derived cell lines
The For the People Act – also known as HR1 – aims to make voting in federal elections easier
QAnon followers believe that on 4 March, which was once the inauguration date of US presidents, Donald Trump will become president again
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Antibody presence correlated with BMI, age and sex, pre-review research suggests