When Moscow announced on 11 August it had registered the first vaccine against Covid-19 and was naming it Sputnik V, the message was hard to miss. Back in 1957, the Soviet Union had launched the Sputnik satellite and won the race for space. Now, Russia was saying it was pushing […]
Health
Big names from the world of entertainment, sport and politics are paying tribute to American actor Chadwick Boseman, who has died aged 43. The Black Panther star was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016 but had never spoken about it publicly. His family said he had filmed many of his […]
Authorities in Belarus have withdrawn the accreditation of a number of journalists who have been reporting on post-election protests there for foreign media outlets. Two journalists with the BBC’s Russian service are among those affected. In a statement, the BBC said it condemned “in the strongest possible terms this stifling […]
World number one Novak Djokovic has resigned as president of the ATP player council to front a new association aiming to increase the power of the players. But he faces opposition from Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, who remain members of the council. Britain’s Andy Murray has not yet joined […]
President Donald Trump says he has heard Democratic running mate Kamala Harris “doesn’t qualify” to serve as US vice-president, amplifying a fringe legal theory critics decry as racist. Ms Harris was born to a Jamaican father and Indian mother in Oakland, California, on 20 October 1964. But a conservative law […]
The release of annual results at Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group – formerly Sports Direct – have been delayed for the second year running. The group’s profit and sales figures for the last 12 months were due to be published on Thursday 13 August, but have been put back a week. […]
The devastating explosion in Beirut is a grim reminder of a deeply troubling fact: the thousands of tonnes of ammonium nitrate unsafely stored in that city’s port is not the only site at risk of spontaneous detonation. In the Philippines, Ukraine, Georgia, Libya and Guinea-Bissau there are dangerous dumps of […]
US country music star Dolly Parton has come out in support of Black Lives Matter, in a rare comment on politics. She told Billboard Magazine: “Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!” With a broad fan base that spans the right and the […]
Jayne, Emily and Laura have one thing in common – they all have scars. Aimee, for her part, has flare-ups of psoriasis that can leave her face covered in red patches. But all four have come to feel comfortable in their own skin. ‘My legs looked like I’d come straight […]
New Zealand has reported 14 new Covid-19 cases a day after its biggest city, Auckland, went back into lockdown. The detection of four new infected family members earlier this week shocked a country that had recorded no locally transmitted cases for more than three months. Of the new cases, 13 […]