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  • Deaths soar over births in some Brazil cities as Covid spirals

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  • Japan to release Fukushima water into sea

    Japan says it will release more than a million tonnes of contaminated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear station into the sea.On Tuesday, the government announced a plan to begin releasing the water in about two years.The plant's operator, TEPCO, will filter the water to remove harmful radioactive isotopes.Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga again made his country's argument that the water must be released to decommission the Fukushima plant."We will secure safety which is far above the regulation standards, and the government as a whole will conduct exhaustive measures against harmful rumours. We've judged that oceanic release is a realistic (option)."One isotope that has sparked anxiety is called tritium, as it is difficult to separate from water.However, it is considered to be relatively harmless because it does not emit enough energy to penetrate human skin.Suga says that even still, its concentration in the water Japan dumps would be reduced to around one-seventh of the drinking water standard defined by the World Health Organisation.Other plants around the world routinely pump water with lows levels of tritium into the ocean.But local fisherman have opposed dumping the water for years.And neighbours aren't happy either.China called the move 'extremely irresponsible' on Tuesday, and spokesman for South Korea called the decision unacceptable.Japan has been working closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency since the meltdown.Despite the outrage, the government has pointed out there is simply no more room at the site in the huge tanks that hold waste water.The Japanese government has been keen to stress the filtering and dilution processes.A senior government spokesperson emailed media outlets on Monday to request the term "contaminated" not be used in reporting, arguing it was misleading.

  • Ted Cruz gets more than $5m in donations despite Cancun scandal

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  • Boris Johnson could be seen as ‘truly historic figure’ in 100 years' time, says Anthony Seldon

    Boris Johnson could “very easily” be seen as “a truly historic figure” in 100 years’ time according to the unofficial biographer of 10 Downing Street. Sir Anthony Seldon, who has written biographies of Prime Ministers going back to Winston Churchill, said while "the jury is out," history was beckoning the Prime Minister. He added: "He could very easily be one of those figures who people still in 100 years talk about as a truly historic figure who made the weather. I mean, Boris Johnson is a weather maker.” Sir Anthony, widely acknowledged to be a national authority on all matters to do with 10 Downing Street, warned that “anyone who writes off Boris Johnson is, I think, letting their prejudice take over. “Historically, he has been in charge of the country at the time of Brexit and Covid, two massive events in British history. And he won a landslide. “You don't have to be well organised as PM. You just need to have people around you.” Speaking to today’s Chopper’s Politics podcast, Sir Anthony added: “Whatever one thinks about Brexit, it was a historic decision and execution. So the jury's out. “If he can stabilise the country, the economy and society, if he can do something for levelling up and also with COP 26 - Carrie Symonds very keen by his side on that, they're a very strong double act." Turning to the problems facing David Cameron, who is under fire for texting the Chancellor Rishi Sunak when he was working for financial company Greensill, Sir Anthony said: "I think that it is a service to have been Prime Minister and you have to give back to the country. I think you have a duty to ensure that you do something that is going to benefit people, in a not dissimilar way to the monarchy." Sir Anthony advised Mr Cameron "to find his niche, something that truly he believes in, which people can respect and admire and think is appropriate... he has to find something that gains respect and trust". Listen to the full interview with Sir Anthony Seldon on Chopper's Politics podcast, along with Tobias Ellwood MP, chairman of the Defence select committe, and Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, on the audio player at the top of this article or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast app.

  • A remote British island is now 100% vaccinated after all 45 adult residents got their second dose

    Fair Isle is a tiny island, smaller than three square miles. Each round of the vaccination programme for the adult population took one morning.

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  • Taliban Boycotts Key Peace Talks After U.S. Pull-Out Delay

    Andrew Renneisen/GettyHours after the Biden administration announced that the remaining 3,500 American troops will return from Afghanistan by the twentieth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, a Taliban spokesperson announced a refusal to join U.S.-facilitated peace talks between the Islamic group and the Afghan government.“Until all foreign forces completely withdraw from our homeland, the Islamic Emirate will not participate in any conference that shall make decisions about Afghanistan,” Mohammed Naeem, a spokesperson for the Taliban’s political arm, said on Tuesday.The boycott marks the latest blow to U.S. efforts to strike a deal between the militant group and the government ahead of a scheduled April conference in Istanbul that was viewed as pivotal to Washington’s residual vision for Kabul.Biden About to Make Huge, Last-Second Gamble on AfghanistanA formal Taliban response to the prospective U.S. pullout was not expected until Wednesday when President Joe Biden is slated to formally announce the withdrawal in a speech. Aides said that, following a policy review, Biden decided to zero out forces several months after the original May 1 deadline that resulted from last year’s accord with the Taliban.A crucial unknown in the U.S. withdrawal plan was whether the Taliban will consider Biden to have broken that deal by staying beyond the agreed-upon May 1 date. Biden is gambling that a four-month unilateral delay will not prompt the Taliban into a return to violence against departing U.S. forces.Chris Kolenda, a retired Army colonel who has personally negotiated with the Taliban, cautioned that the Taliban have heard promises of U.S. withdrawal before. He expected the Taliban to require some form of additional material concession to accept a summertime withdrawal.“What happens if four months becomes six, and six becomes eight?” Kolenda asked.An ex-Taliban minister told The Daily Beast that the “Taliban is seriously disappointed with the U.S. for not obeying the historical Feb. 29, 2020 [deal] in which the U.S. made a clear commitment to pull out U.S. troops by the end of April 2021.” He explained that “by prolonging its presence in Afghanistan, the U.S. has shattered the Taliban’s trust.”The ex-minister, who currently serves as a member of the Taliban military commission, asserted that “[The Taliban] is not tired of war. We have time. The U.S. should leave Afghanistan to Afghans.”But Laurel Miller, a former State Department special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, had expected the Taliban to accept the delay, provided they see real evidence of U.S. withdrawal coalesce imminently.“If it really looks certain that the U.S. is leaving by September, and the wheels will have to be in motion quickly—it will be in the interests of the Taliban to facilitate that, and that means not attacking U.S. forces on their way out,” Miller told The Daily Beast. “It’s also in their interest to preserve some possibility of good-enough relations with the U.S. and the rest of the world if and when they come to power.”Shortly after the U.S. withdrawal announcement, the United Nations, Turkey, and Qatar announced that they will hold a long-anticipated conference on Afghanistan peace in Istanbul from April 24 to May 4, beyond the timeframe of the 2020 U.S.-Taliban accord. That conference is crucial to the Biden administration’s hopes of reaching a power-sharing deal between the government of Ashraf Ghani and the Taliban and staving off an outright battlefield victory and regime change by the Taliban.Yet it is that conference that Naeem said the Taliban will not attend.Biden has sought to end the U.S.’ longest overseas war, a war that he treated with skepticism and antipathy as vice president due to the U.S. inability to triumph. Last month he told ABC News it would be “tough” to withdraw by the negotiated May 1 deadline and criticized the U.S.-Taliban peace deal, brokered by the Trump administration.Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are scheduled to be in Brussels on Wednesday for discussions with NATO allies. They are expected to brief coalition partners on U.S. plans to withdraw.It remains to be seen whether Republicans and hawkish Democrats on Capitol Hill will resist the withdrawal. Public opinion supports ending the war. Think tanks influential in Washington largely do not. Fears of a post-American collapse of the Afghan government and security forces, justified by Taliban military advances even after the deal and persistent security-force weaknesses, have driven elite discussion of Afghanistan since Biden took office.Sen. Jim Inhofe, the senior Republican on the armed services committee, objected to the withdrawal and called the peg to the 9/11 anniversary “not conditions based.” A senior administration official told reporters that was correct. “A conditions-based approach, which has been the approach of the past two decades, is a recipe for staying in Afghanistan forever,” the official said.Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), the only legislator to vote against the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force, the legal wellspring of the Afghanistan war and other aspects of the post-9/11 “forever wars,” praised the apparent pullout. “This is the result of decades of hard work by activists, advocates, and members of Congress committed to ending our forever wars,” she said in a statement.Miller said that while the U.S., the United Nations, and its allies will work diplomatically to sustain a peace effort with the objective of a power-sharing deal, “as soon as the words leave President Biden’s mouth and the effort turns to managing the withdrawal, the oxygen is going to be sucked out of the peace process. That probably suits the Taliban reasonably well at this stage.”The senior administration official also said that al Qaeda currently lacks “an external plotting capability that can threaten the homeland.” Representatives from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the CIA did not substantively respond to a query about whether they concur with that assessment. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and CIA Director Bill Burns are set to testify on Wednesday before the Senate intelligence committee—which will become the first forum for legislators to stake out their positions on Biden’s withdrawal.Restraining any residual al Qaeda presence on Afghan soil is the primary obligation of the Taliban under the 2020 accord. But the senior official indicated to reporters that while Afghanistan may soon no longer be a theater of the Forever War, Biden accepts that some version of the Forever War will continue. How much Biden will retain is the subject of a review currently underway by Jake Sullivan, his national security adviser.“In 2021, the terrorist threat that we face is real and it emanates from a number of countries—indeed a number of continents—from Yemen, from Syria, from Somalia, from other parts of Africa,” the official said. “And we have to focus on those aspects of a dispersed and distributed terrorist threat, even as we keep our eye on the ball to prevent the re-emergence of a significant terrorist threat from Afghanistan through these repositioned counterterrorism capabilities.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  • Biden picks up toy of slain Capitol officer’s daughter during emotional memorial service

    During a memorial service at the US Capitol Rotunda for Officer William Evans, President Joe Biden picked up a toy dropped by the officer’s daughter, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told his family that while “no words are adequate” to address their loss, “we hope it’s a comfort to you that so many now know about your dad and know he’s a hero”. “And that the President of the United States is picking up one of your distractions.” Officer Evans was killed outside the Capitol on 2 April after a driver struck two officers before slamming into a security barrier outside the Capitol, then exited the car with a knife, according to police.

  • Corporations Struggle to Back Voting Rights and Protect the Bottom Line

    If anyone has figured out how to position a corporation as a socially conscious neighbor who still chases profit while keeping useful lawmakers close without appearing to fund their disinformation, there’s money to be made in D.C. right now. How to do business in Georgia has become the latest flashpoint for the ongoing discussion in political circles about just what responsibilities corporations have in shaping the public debate.

  • Biden tells Putin to de-escalate troop build-up on Ukraine border and invites him to summit

    US president tells Russian counterpart he will not tolerate cyber-incursions or further election interference

  • Gaudreau scores in OT as Flames beat Maple Leafs 3-2

    Johnny Gaudreau scored 36 seconds into overtime and the Calgary Flames beat the first-place Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 Tuesday night. Juuso Valimaki and Elias Lindholm also scored for the Flames. Gaudreau and Lindholm each added an assist, and Jacob Markstrom stopped 24 shots.

  • Minnesota officer, police chief resign over Daunte Wright killing

    FOX News correspondent Mike Tobin has the latest developments on 'Special Report'