What are COVID vaccines made of and are they effective?

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  • Australia abandons COVID-19 vaccination targets after new advice on AstraZeneca shots

    Australia has abandoned a goal to vaccinate nearly all of its 26 million population by the end of 2021 following advice that people under the age of 50 take Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine rather than AstraZeneca's shot. Australia, which had banked on the AstraZeneca vaccine for the majority of its shots, had no plans to set any new targets for completing its vaccination programme, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a Facebook post on Sunday afternoon. "While we would like to see these doses completed before the end of the year, it is not possible to set such targets given the many uncertainties involved," Morrison said.

  • Cambodia criticises edited photos of Khmer Rouge victims

    Some of the images colourised by an Irish artist appear to have been edited to show them smiling.

  • Canadians are flocking to US border cities to take advantage of a travel loophole - and it's creating lucrative opportunities on both sides of the closed border

    Lucrative niche industries including flying helicopters over the border and international car rides are booming in cities like Buffalo, New York.

  • Top official admits Chinese vaccines have low effectiveness

    In a rare admission of the weakness of Chinese coronavirus vaccines, the country's top disease control official says their effectiveness is low and the government is considering mixing them to get a boost. Chinese vaccines “don’t have very high protection rates,” said the director of the China Centers for Disease Control, Gao Fu, at a conference Saturday in the southwestern city of Chengdu. Beijing has distributed hundreds of millions of doses abroad while trying to promote doubt about the effectiveness of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine made using the previously experimental messenger RNA, or mRNA, process.

  • French government disgusted by attack on Muslim centre

    The French government on Sunday condemned the defacing of an Islamic cultural centre in western France with Islamaphobic slogans, and said an attack on Muslims was an attack on the Republic. The tags, daubed on the side a building used as a prayer room in the city of Rennes, were found shortly before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins in France on Tuesday. Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said it was a disgusting attack against the fundamental freedom to believe in a religion and that Muslims deserved the same protection as any other religious group in France.

  • Corporate America is still dangerously delusional about what the GOP has become

    The party of big business has taken to policing corporate America's speech now, and that's not going to change anytime soon.

  • Prince Philip's funeral plans are released

    Buckingham Palace has released details of the funeral of Britain's Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's husband who died on Friday aged 99.The prince will have a ceremonial funeral on Saturday April 17 - without any public access or public procession.It will take place at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle and will begin with a national minute of silence. Philip's son and heir-to-the-throne, Prince Charles, and other members of the royal family will take part in the procession on foot behind the coffin.PRINCE CHARLES: "My dear Papa was a very special person who I think above all else would have been amazed by the reaction and the touching things that have been said about him and from that point of view we are, my family, deeply grateful for all that. It will sustain us in this particular loss and at this particularly sad time."The funeral will be broadcast live and will be followed by two weeks of royal mourning by the family.Prince Harry plans to attend - though his pregnant wife, Meghan, has be advised not to by her physician - who said she should avoid traveling.In line with government COVID-19 guidelines, the guest list for the funeral will be limited to 30 - and attendees will be required to wear masks.

  • Prince Charles breaks the royal family's public silence after Prince Philip's death: 'I miss my father enormously'

    The Prince of Wales is the first of Queen and Prince Philip's four children to share a statement after the death of their father.

  • Prince Philip put Land Rover hearse he designed himself at heart of funeral

    The Duke of Edinburgh’s coffin will be carried through the grounds of Windsor Castle in a modified Land Rover that he designed for the occasion himself. The funeral will take place next Saturday at 3pm, following a short procession in which the Prince of Wales and senior members of the Royal family will follow the coffin on foot as it is driven to St George’s Chapel. The Queen will not take part in the procession. It will be a royal funeral like no other, with Royals adhering to Covid-19 guidelines by wearing masks throughout the ceremony and maintaining social distancing. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson confirmed that it would not be a state occasion, in accordance with the Duke’s wishes, but a ceremonial royal funeral in line with the Queen Mother’s funeral in 2002. Her Majesty gave final approval to the plans, which “very much reflect the personal wishes of the Duke" who died peacefully at home in Windsor Castle on Friday morning. Who are the 30 guests likely to attend Prince Philip's funeral?

  • Cambridge children 'unlikely to be present' at Prince Philip's funeral

    The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's three children are not expected to be among the 30 mourners who attend the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral, The Daily Telegraph understands. The Cambridges have been careful to protect Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, two, from the public gaze, and made clear from the outset that they would shield them from the pressures of royal life while they were young. While the ceremony on Saturday will be very much a family occasion, the children are understood to be considered too young to join the procession that will follow the Duke's coffin on foot within the grounds of Windsor Castle. Their attendance would also take three coveted spots for older relatives who have known the Duke for most of their lives. A Buckingham Palace spokesman has confirmed that the Duke's children and grandchildren would all attend alongside Her Majesty. With spouses, if all attend, they would number 20 in total. The remaining ten are thought likely to comprise the Queen's cousins, including Princess Alexandra, 84, who remains a working royal, although she has not undertaken an official engagement since last July.

  • Pentagon chief declares 'ironclad' US commitment to Israel

    U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday declared an “enduring and ironclad” American commitment to Israel, reinforcing support at a tense time in Israeli politics and amid questions about the Biden administration's efforts to revive nuclear negotiations with Israel's archenemy, Iran. Austin's first talks in Israel since he became Pentagon chief in January come as the United States seeks to leverage Middle East diplomatic progress made by the Trump administration, which brokered a deal normalizing relations between Israel and several Arab states.

  • Bitcoin tops $60,000 and sets new high over the weekend as Elon Musk aims towards the "moon"

    With tightening supply, an upcoming Coinbase IPO, and a tweet from crypto's most famous billionaire advocate, Bitcoin is flirting with all time highs.

  • John Boehner says that Mitch McConnell 'holds his feelings, thoughts, and emotions in a lockbox'

    For Boehner, a jovial, backslapping politician who is known to publicly cry, McConnell's steely and to-the-point demeanor is quite a contrast.

  • Florida cops who responded to a noise complaint at house party 'cowered away' after finding out their boss was a guest

    Police officers in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, were responding to a noise complaint at a party when they were told their boss was a guest.

  • Mrs. World says she's 'ready to hand over the crown' after being arrested for snatching tiara off Mrs. Sri Lanka during beauty pageant

    Reigning Mrs. World Caroline Jurie and model Chula Padmendra were arrested on Thursday with simple hurt and criminal force in Sri Lanka.

  • Bristling tensions with Prince Harry remain, but Royal family will wear the mask of unity at Duke’s funeral

    The subtle briefings were designed to give Prince Harry the softest possible landing on his arrival back in the UK ahead of his beloved grandfather’s funeral on Saturday. From sources suggesting he was “united in grief” with the rest of the Royal family following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, to the couple’s unofficial spokesman Omid Scobie insisting – should anyone be in doubt – that “Harry was incredibly close to Philip”, the Sussex spin machine was in evidence as the displaced Prince prepared for his first transatlantic flight in 13 months. Members of the Royal family also sought to calm serves ahead of what is feared could be a difficult reunion for the House of Windsor, with a palace source suggesting that the Prince of Wales was particularly looking forward to seeing his youngest son. “It’s been more than a year,” they pointed out.

  • A 911 dispatcher in Louisiana was arrested after authorities say she refused to return $1.2 million that was accidentally deposited into her account

    According to a lawsuit filed last week, Charles Schwab & Co. mistakenly transferred the woman more than $1.2 million. It meant to transfer $82.56.

  • 'I hate this home now:' California couple finally changes the locks on their dream house after previous owner refused to leave for over a year

    Myles and Tracie Albert bought their home with cash in January 2020. But the seller used a legal loophole during the pandemic to remain in the house.

  • Youngest royals give the Queen reason to smile as she faces life as a widow

    They are the two great-grandchildren that Prince Philip never got to meet. Born just 40 days apart, Princess Eugenie and her cousin Zara Tindall paid special tribute to their grandfather before his death by naming their newborn sons after him. Eugenie’s firstborn, August Philip Hawke Brooksbank, born on February 9, and Zara’s third child, Lucas Philip Tindall, born on March 21, will forever bear the hallmark of their royal heritage. For the Queen, as she faces life as a widow at nearly 95, the babies will bring welcome joy at a time of great sorrow. Having not been able to see much of her elder grandchildren when they were growing up because she spent so much time overseas when the likes of William and Harry were young, the sovereign now relishes family time. Over recent years, she has grown especially close to her youngest grandchildren, the Earl and Countess of Wessexes’ children, Lady Louise Windsor, and James, Viscount Severn, who are regular visitors to Windsor Castle, living just 10 miles away at Bagshot Park. Royal aides used to speak of stepping over tricycles and roller skates as the youngsters would spend precious weekends with “Granny and Grandpa”. The arrival of no less than 10 great-grandchildren over the past decade has delighted the Queen – not least when many are already showing signs of sharing her passion for dogs and horses. Her eldest grandchild Peter Phillips’s daughters, Savannah, 10, and Isla, eight, are already keen amateur riders, along with his sister Zara Tindall’s eldest daughter, Mia, seven.

  • An ‘unwritten rules’ debate arose as the Rangers were being no-hit by the Padres

    The Rangers and Padres have a brief history with ‘unwritten rules’