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  • China says Taiwan pineapple ban not about politics as war of words escalates

    China on Monday denied accusations by Taiwan that a ban on pineapples from the island was about politics, saying it was purely a matter of biosecurity, in an escalating war of words that has added to existing tensions. China announced the ban last week, citing "harmful creatures" it said could come with the fruit, threatening China's own agriculture. Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, says there is nothing wrong with its pineapples and that Beijing is using the fruit as another way to coerce the island.

  • Biden to meet with Mexican president amid migration issues

    President Joe Biden plans a virtual meeting Monday with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — a chance for the pair to talk more fully about migration, confronting the coronavirus and cooperating on economic and national security issues. Mexico's president has said he intends during the meeting to propose to Biden a new Bracero-style immigrant labor program that could bring 600,000 to 800,000 Mexican and Central American immigrants a year to work legally in the United States. A senior Biden administration official declined to say whether the U.S. president would back or oppose the proposal, saying only that both countries agree on the need to expand legal pathways for migration.

  • Countries urge drug companies to share vaccine know-how

    In an industrial neighborhood on the outskirts of Bangladesh’s largest city lies a factory with gleaming new equipment imported from Germany, its immaculate hallways lined with hermetically sealed rooms. It is one of three factories that The Associated Press found on three continents whose owners say they could start producing hundreds of millions of COVID-19 vaccines on short notice if only they had the blueprints and technical know-how. The factories are all still awaiting responses.

  • Fact-checking the wildest claims from Trump’s CPAC speech

    The president returned to some of his favourite debunked theories about the election, and much more

  • Huawei daughter back in Canada court in US extradition case

    A senior executive for Chinese communications giant Huawei Technologies was returning to a Canadian courtroom Monday to begin a series of hearings in which her lawyers will argue her extradition to the U.S. should be halted because her rights have been violated. Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei’s founder and the company’s chief financial officer, at Vancouver’s airport in late 2018. It says Meng, 49, committed fraud by misleading the HSBC bank about the company’s business dealings in Iran.

  • European Commission raises hopes of coronavirus vaccine passports to ease travel for work and tourism

    European Union plans for a coronavirus vaccine passport could be opened up to British tourists and other non-EU holidaymakers, Brussels said on Monday.. Ursula von der Leyen said the EU-wide “Digital Green Pass” would be proposed this month and that it could be a first step towards a virus passport for travel from outside the bloc. "The Digital Green Pass should facilitate Europeans‘ lives. The aim is to gradually enable them to move safely in the EU or abroad - for work or tourism,” the European Commission president said. The chief spokesman for the European Commission said the process would be done "step by step". “We work on a European solution now, this is where we start and then anything else would need to come after,” he said. "We’re of the view that in collaboration with the World Health Organisation there should be a way to scale this up globally." The UK said it was looking into the idea. “The Department for Transport will work and speak to countries across the world in terms of how they may look to introduce passports," the Prime Minister’s spokesman said in London. The Green Pass will include information such as whether the carrier has ever had coronavirus, been tested or vaccinated and is aimed at “facilitating safe free movement in the European Union.” The legislation will be put forward on March 17. Spanish Tourism Minister Reyes Maroto said that work should be speeded up to save the summer season and enable safe travel from the UK. “It is important to have the tools ready to start mobility and make Europe a safe travel destination again as soon as the virus incidence data allows for this,” Ms Maroto said at a meeting of EU tourism ministers in Lisbon.

  • Prince Harry tells Oprah he worried history would repeat itself

    Prince Harry, who shocked Britain last year when he and his wife Meghan stepped back from royal duties, told U.S. interviewer Oprah Winfrey that he had worried about history repeating itself, according to excerpts released on Sunday. The CBS broadcast network released two brief clips from Winfrey's interview of the couple, which is scheduled to air on March 7. "My biggest concern was history repeating itself," Harry said, apparently referring to his mother Princess Diana, who was hounded by the British press and died at age 36 in a car crash in Paris after her divorce from Prince Charles.

  • 'The Crown,' 'Schitt's Creek' take Golden Globes TV honors

    Netflix Inc's British royal drama "The Crown," which focused its most recent season on the troubled marriage of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, led the television honors at Hollywood's Golden Globe awards on Sunday. "The Crown" was named best TV drama, one of four awards in total, including best actress for Emma Corrin, who played the young Diana struggling to adapt to life in the royal family. "Most of all, thank you so much to Diana," a surprised Corrin said as she accepted her award at the largely virtual ceremony via video.

  • Here are all of the Golden Globes 2021 winners

    Chadwick Boseman won best actor in a drama while "The Crown," "The Queen's Gambit," and "Nomadland" were all big winners.

  • Trump's supporters boo Mitch McConnell despite his saying he'd 'absolutely' support the former president in 2024

    Former President Donald Trump took credit for Mitch McConnell's reelection but prompted a round of jeers and boos from his supporters.

  • Minneapolis approved funding to hire social media influencers to spread information about ex cop Derek Chauvin's trial

    Minneapolis is hiring social media influencers to spread information about the trial of the cop, Derek Chauvin, who knelt on George Floyd's neck.

  • 'The Walking Dead' showrunner says the show's new villains were originally part of the plan for season 11

    Angela Kang tells Insider the reapers were supposed to be introduced on season 11. The pandemic changed that.

  • Girl dies after being caned during 'exorcism' in Sri Lanka

    Police in Sri Lanka said Monday they have arrested two people in connection with the death of a 9-year-old girl who was repeatedly beaten during a ritual they believed would drive away an evil spirit. The two suspects — the woman performing the exorcism and the girl's mother — appeared in court on Monday to hear charges over the girl's death, which occurred over the weekend in Delgoda, a small town about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo. According to police spokesperson Ajith Rohana, the mother believed her daughter had been possessed by a demon and took her to the home of the exorcist so a ritual could be performed to drive the spirit away.

  • China said to speed up move to more survivable nuclear force

    China appears to be moving faster toward a capability to launch its newer nuclear missiles from underground silos, possibly to improve its ability to respond promptly to a nuclear attack, according to an American expert who analyzed satellite images of recent construction at a missile training area. Hans Kristensen, a longtime watcher of U.S., Russian and Chinese nuclear forces, said the imagery suggests that China is seeking to counter what it may view as a growing threat from the United States. The U.S. in recent years has pointed to China's nuclear modernization as a key justification for investing hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming two decades to build an all-new U.S. nuclear arsenal.

  • Is Donald Trump a declining parody or a terrifying threat? Mastio & Lawrence on CPAC 2021

    Can we agree with Trump? Yes, we are in 'a historic struggle for America’s future, America’s culture, and America’s most cherished principles.'

  • Prince Harry: Split from royal life 'unbelievably tough'

    Prince Harry says the process of separating from royal life has been very difficult for him and his wife, Meghan. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Harry invoked the memory of his late mother, Princess Diana, who had to find her way alone after she and Prince Charles divorced. Diana was shown in a photo holding toddler Harry as he made the comments.

  • All the looks celebrities wore to the 2021 Golden Globes

    At the 2021 Golden Globe Awards, stars attended in their finest red-carpet attire, from Cinderella-like gowns to couture blazers and dresses.

  • Biden news – live: Kamala ‘favourite to win in 2024’ as Trump hints at future presidential run

    Latest updates from Washington DC and beyond

  • Hyatt Hotels said it is taking claims the CPAC stage was inspired by a Nazi rune 'very seriously' and called hate symbols 'abhorrent'

    CPAC 2021 took place in the Hyatt Regency in Orlando, Florida. Critics said the shape of the event's stage resembled one used by white supremacists.

  • New test results show what many feared: NC students aren’t doing well during pandemic

    The majority of North Carolina high school students failed state end-of-course exams in the fall semester.