Death toll rises in U.S. tornadoes
At least 90 folks had been killed by devastating storms throughout six states on Friday night time, together with at the very least 80 in Kentucky. The largest of the tornadoes, which left greater than 220 miles of devastating destruction, will “ultimately be the longest tornado in certainly U.S. history,” Andy Beshear, Kentucky’s governor, stated. Follow the newest updates right here.
Scores of individuals remained unaccounted for final night time, and there was dwindling hope of discovering them alive as restoration staff throughout the center of the nation resumed their search efforts. The tornadoes tore by way of components of Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee, the National Weather Service stated.
At least 300 National Guard members had been going “door to door, though many of these communities don’t have doors anymore,” Beshear stated. Instead, he added, they had been in search of survivors by “going rubble to rubble.” More than $2 million has been donated to assist with restoration efforts, and the primary grants will go towards funeral prices, he stated.
Britain will speed up its Covid booster marketing campaign
Britain will pace up its COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine booster program to counter the quickly spreading Omicron variant, Boris Johnson, the prime minister, introduced final night time. The authorities goals to supply booster pictures to everybody eligible — adults over 18 for whom three months has elapsed since their second pictures — by Jan. 1.
To attain the brand new objective, the National Health Service should defer another medical procedures between now and the tip of the yr, Johnson stated. The authorities plans to deploy 42 navy planning items to assist with the hassle.
The first real-world research of how vaccines maintain up in opposition to the Omicron variant, printed by British authorities scientists on Friday, indicated that third vaccine doses supplied appreciable protection in opposition to Omicron, although there was a big drop in safety after solely two doses.
Alert degree change: The authorities raised the Covid alert degree from three to 4 — its second-highest degree — amid indicators that Omicron was spreading quickly all through the nation.
Political local weather: The announcement comes forward of a doubtlessly perilous week by which Johnson faces a tough vote in Parliament on Covid restrictions that he introduced final week, in addition to an election by which the Conservative Party is prone to shedding a once-safe seat.
Here are the newest updates, maps and details about Omicron.
In different developments:
Cyril Ramaphosa, the chief of South Africa, the place instances are persevering with to rise, examined constructive for the COVID-19 coronavirus with gentle signs. He is absolutely vaccinated.
Many of Africa’s vaccination packages are hobbled by weak well being care infrastructure.
‘Our boat was surrounded by dead bodies’
The boat filled with migrants was about midway throughout the English Channel, with its engine starting to fail, when Zana Hamawandani, one of many passengers, noticed two orange life jackets bobbing within the tough seas. Only once they bought nearer was it clear that the vests contained useless our bodies. Soon, different corpses started to appear.
“Our boat was surrounded by dead bodies,” stated Karzan Mangury, one other migrant aboard the boat. Mangury’s account, and people of others on the boat, are among the many solely witness descriptions of the final minutes of the catastrophe by which at the very least 27 individuals are believed to have died — the largest lack of life within the channel since 2014, when information started.
Their descriptions additionally inform a narrative of hours of frantic and futile requires assist to the French and English authorities because the migrant boat was sinking. The British Coast Guard finally rescued these on the struggling vessel, and a French fishing boat picked up two survivors of the sunken boat.
Back story: Reporters at The Times first heard about Hamawandani from his household, who feared he was among the many victims of the catastrophe. A location app later indicated he and Mangury had been at a migrant middle in Crawley, a city in southern England.
Context: The catastrophe has injected a brand new sense of urgency into efforts by European international locations to regulate high-risk channel crossings higher. Activists say the deaths spotlight the failures of the partnership between Britain and France to rescue migrants in misery.
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Yoko and the band
If you’ve watched “The Beatles: Get Back,” Peter Jackson’s documentary concerning the making of the album “Let It Be,” you’ll have observed Yoko Ono, sitting by John Lennon’s facet and performing mundane duties like opening mail.
“At first I found Ono’s omnipresence in the documentary bizarre” The Times’s Amanda Hess writes. But as extra of the footage performed, “I found myself impressed by her stamina, then entranced by the provocation of her existence and ultimately dazzled by her.”
Some individuals are seeing the documentary as proof that Ono wasn’t chargeable for the band’s 1970 breakup, a rumor that, Amanda writes, was all the time tinged with misogyny and racism.
“What’s clear from the footage from these studio sessions,” Liz Kocan writes at Decider, “is that Yoko, despite her constant presence, didn’t try to make anything about her and doesn’t steer John away from the band at any point.”
But Ono was vigilant about not being a typical artist’s spouse, Amanda writes. Or, as Ono herself stated about ladies in rock in a 1997 interview: “My first impression was that they were all wives, kind of sitting in the next room while the guys were talking. I was afraid of being something like that.”
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