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A fundraiser set up to help a Missouri man who served more than 42 years in jail for a triple murder he did not commit has reached $1.5m (£1.1m). Kevin Strickland was freed on Tuesday at the age of 62. He had maintained his innocence since his arrest at 18. It was the longest wrongful incarceration in state history, but under Missouri law he is not entitled to receive any financial compensation. So his lawyers launched a GoFundMe page to help with his living expenses.
Source: bbc.com
Leader of the incoming coalition government Petr Fiala has been named the Czech Republic’s new prime minister in an unusual ceremony, with COVID-stricken President Milos Zeman speaking from behind a plastic barrier. Fiala leads a bloc of five parties that controls 108 seats in the 200-member lower house of parliament.
Source: aljazeera.com
Fashion designer Virgil Abloh has died after suffering from cancer, it has been announced. The 41-year-old, who was the creative director for Louis Vuitton and Off-White, was living with cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare aggressive form of the disease, according to an announcement on his official Instagram page.
Source: theguardian.com
Thousands of Spanish police officers marched through Madrid on Saturday to protest against a proposed reform of a security law which they say will hamper their ability to do their work. Politicians from Spain's three main conservative parties joined police officers in the protest against proposed changes to the 2015 Citizens Security Law, which critics say violates the right to protest and limits free expression.
Source: reuters.com
At least two people are reported to have died as Britain was battered by severe weather with winds reaching speeds of over 144 km/h in some areas. The Met Office said Northumberland in northern England, was hit by overnight gusts of wind of 157 km/h and Devon in the southwest also experienced winds of 92 mph.
Source: cnn.com
Sixty-one people who arrived in Amsterdam on two flights from South Africa have tested positive for Covid-19, Dutch officials say. They have been placed in isolation at a hotel near Schiphol airport. They were among some 600 passengers held for several hours after arrival while they were tested for the virus. The Dutch authorities are carrying out further testing to see if there are any cases of Omicron, named on Friday as a variant of concern by the WHO.
Source: bbc.com
Tens of thousands of people across Britain were left without power overnight as Storm Arwen brought strong winds that gusted up to nearly 100 miles per hour (160 kph) parts of the country. Gusts of 98 mph hit Brizlee Wood in Northumberland, north-eastern England, according to the Met Office, which said amber and yellow warnings remained in place on Saturday across much of the country.
Source: reuters.com
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has renewed his pledge to consider “all options,” including acquiring enemy base strike capability to protect the country amid growing threats from China and North Korea. Kishida said security situation around Japan is changing fast and is more severe than ever.
Source: aljazeera.com
Adele's 30 has shot to number one, overtaking Abba to become the fastest-selling album of the year so far. Its 261,000 first-week chart sales mean it sped past the Swedish pop group's comeback album Voyage, which opened with 204,000 sales. However, Adele's sales figures are significantly lower than those of her previous album 25, released in 2015.
Source: bbc.com
Manufacturers are already testing how their vaccines work against omicron.
Source: nbcnews.com
A team of experts has found a mummy on Peru’s central coast, one of the archaeologists who participated in the excavation said. The mummified remains were of a person from the culture that developed between the coast and mountains of the South American country. The mummy, whose gender was not identified, was discovered in the Lima region, said archaeologist Pieter Van Dalen Luna on Friday.
Source: theguardian.com
Legendary US composer and songwriter Stephen Sondheim has died aged 91. His lawyer told the New York Times that Sondheim passed away on Friday at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. The New-York born composer won eight Grammy awards, nine Tony awards - including the special Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre - and one Academy Award. He also received a Pulitzer Prize. In 2015, US President Barack Obama bestowed Sondheim the Presidential Medal of Freedom - the highest civilian award - for his work.
Source: bbc.com
A Turkish court on Friday extended the imprisonment of the philanthropist Osman Kavala, whose case caused a diplomatic crisis with the US and other western countries after they called for his release. The court’s decision paves the way for the Council of Europe to launch infringement proceedings against Turkey. Kavala has been incarcerated without being convicted for more than four years, prompting claims of political persecution against the businessman amid international criticism of Ankara’s crackdown on opponents.
Source: theguardian.com
Ten police officers were injured and several journalists shot at on the French Caribbean island of Martinique overnight Thursday to Friday as protests sparked by Covid-19 vaccine measures spread.
Source: france24.com
Italian Premier Mario Draghi said that a bilateral treaty signed on Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron to strengthen bilateral cooperation would in turn strengthen the European Union, in such areas as defense. The treaty deepens cooperation “in crucial sectors, from security to justice, from research to industry,” Draghi told a press conference. That includes spending to create “a true European defense” that Draghi said “obviously is complementary to NATO” and doesn’t substitute the alliance.
Source: apnews.com
More than 2,000 old and iconic mobile phones are being showcased in a new online museum. The Mobile Phone Museum was set up by industry analyst Ben Wood who had collected thousands of phones as a hobby.
Source: bbc.com
An intricately decorated ivory pendant made from mammoth bone has been discovered in Poland, and may be the oldest example of ornate jewellery found in Eurasia yet. It features patterns of over 50 puncture marks in an irregular looping curve, and two complete holes, which could represent hunting tallies or lunar notations, according to the researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
More countries are tightening their travel restrictions after the discovery of a new coronavirus variant in South Africa earlier this week. The UK, Singapore and Japan are among those rushing in stricter quarantine measures and banning flights from South Africa and neighbouring countries. The EU is proposing to ban flights from the region across the whole bloc. Scientists still have much to learn about the variant, but there are concerns it may be the worst yet.
Source: bbc.com
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