As Brazil becomes the one of the epicentres of the pandemic, president Jair Bolsonaro continues to push for normalcy, speaking against lockdown and social distancing measures. Brazil’s third Covid-19 wave is proving to be the country’s deadliest so far. On Wednesday, when the death toll reached its peak (2,841 deaths in 24 hours), the country completed 19 consecutive days of breaking its own records and surpassing the U.S. in a seven-day moving average. Brazil has been having a difficult time handling the pandemic. So far, the country has lost over 290 thousand lives to the virus and has over ..read more

The Chinese National Congress passed new law that will effectively obliterate Hong Kong’s general election process. The Chinese National Congress passed new legislation on Thursday which would give the Chinese Electoral Committee the authority to veto any elected officials, including those in Hong Kong’s territory, based on how patriotic they were towards China. The motion passed unanimously, with 2,895 votes to zero. Currently, Hong Kong’s parliament is composed of 70 seats, half of which are democratically chosen. In recent years, many of these seats were occupied by democratic advocates who ..read more

During a 2 hour CBS special, Oprah Winfrey interviewed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as they spoke about the events leading to their split from the royal family last month. Royal concerns regarding son Archie’s ‘skin color’ was a major factor, along with a lack of support regarding Meghan’s mental health. Questions were raised back in January 2020 as the couple announced they would be taking a step back from their royal obligations on a 12 month review period. Having passed the year, it’s now confirmed both Prince Harry and Meghan have officially split from the family and will not be returni ..read more

Italian Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio, insisted the delayed export of 250,000 vaccine doses to Australia was in response to a failed promise by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. Due to an EU regulation introduced on January 30, the Italian government was able to block a scheduled delivery of vaccine doses to Australia in order to cater to the distribution shortage in Italy. The British variant has seen a rise in COVID-19 cases across Italy, as 25,000 new cases were recorded over the past week, including 300 deaths. The Italian government feels the situation in Italy outweighs Australia’s ..read more

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been found guilty of corruption by a Parisian court, landing him behind bars for one year. The 66-year-old former French President will spend one year in prison with two years suspended. Nicolas Sarkozy was president of France from 2007 to 2012, and was found guilty of attempting to illegally obtain information from a senior magistrate in 2014 about a lawsuit he was entangled in. Sarkozy wasn’t the only one jailed, with his lawyer Thierry Herzog and former magistrate Gilbert Azibert were also found guilty and received the same sentence. This is the f ..read more

The Israeli government has reported that COVID-19 deaths have been reduced by 95% among citizens who have been given the Pfizer vaccine. Israel has vaccinated more of its citizens against COVID-19 than any other country, with almost half of the country’s population having been vaccinated. By comparison, the U.S. has a roughly 11% vaccination rate according to the CDC. Of course, Israel is a much smaller country than the United States, with a population of 9 million compared to the United States’ 328 million, which allows for Israel to vaccinate a larger share of its population much more quickl ..read more

The Senate acquitted Trump following his impeachment trial, but some Republicans admit that he was responsible. This article is a rebuttal to a previously written post on Australians.News, which you can find here. The Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump ended this week with 57 votes for conviction, including seven Republican votes, versus 43 votes for acquittal, which was less than the two-thirds of votes needed to convict. On Wednesday, February 10, during the impeachment trial, Congresswoman Madeleine Dean (D-Pennsylvania) said during an emotional statement, “If it wasn’t for Trump, thi ..read more

The US attorney in Brooklyn and FBI have recently conducted initial investigations into the way New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and his administration handled data on COVID19-related nursing home deaths.  Democratic leaders of the New York State Senate are also moving toward stripping Cuomo’s emergency powers that granted him the ability to override orders and regulations. These powers were given to him on March 3rd, just days after the first case of Coronavirus was reported in New York. Cuomo’s administration initially reported 8,500 deaths among New York nursing home residents amidst the ..read more

Facebook has banned news from being seen or posted by Australian accounts. In December 2020, The Australian Government released media legislation called the ‘Media Bargaining Law’ that sought to make Facebook pay news organisations for sharing their content. In response, Facebook today banned Australians from sharing and posting news content on the social media site, whether that news is Australian or even from international site. “The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content,” said William Easton, the Manag ..read more

Local health officials are dealing with a fresh Ebola outbreak after the country records seven new cases, including three deaths, with health chief Sakoba Keita declaring an ‘epidemic’ on Sunday.  “Very early this morning, the Conakry laboratory confirmed the presence of the Ebola virus,” Keita said in a statement. “Faced with this situation and in accordance with international health regulations, the Guinean Government declares one Ebola epidemic.”  The positive cases were diagnosed after patients suffered diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding after attending the funeral of a female nurs ..read more