Every month, streaming services in Australia add a new batch of movies and TV shows to its library. Here are our picks for October. OCTOBER 2 ‘Dick Johnson Is Dead’ When documentarian Kristen Johnson realized her father, Dick, was in declining mental and physical health, she proposed an idea: What if they…
Month: September 2020
Presidential Debate, Coronavirus in Sweden, Aleksei Navalny: Your Wednesday Briefing
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good morning. We’re covering the first U.S. presidential debate, surprisingly low coronavirus numbers in Sweden and how Australia became a leader in solar energy. ImagePresident Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr. faced off on Tuesday in their first presidential debate, in Cleveland.Credit…Doug…
Meron Benvenisti Dies at 86; Urged One State for Jews and Palestinians
Meron Benvenisti, a prominent Israeli-born political scientist who argued that the profusion of Jewish settlements on the West Bank precluded the possibility of a separate Palestinian state and that Palestinians and Jews could coexist peacefully only in a single, binational homeland, died on Sept. 20 in his home in Jerusalem. He was…
Trump’s Taxes, Coronavirus, China’s Economy: Your Tuesday Briefing
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good morning. We’re covering the second part of The Times’s investigation into President Trump’s federal tax returns, the growing numbers of virus conspiracy theorists in Europe and the stirring signs of China’s economic rebound. ImageProtesters gathered in Trafalgar Square in London at…
Swami Agnivesh, Crusader Against Labor Abuses in India, Dies at 80
Swami Agnivesh, a revered longtime campaigner against child labor and indentured servitude in India, died on Sept. 11 in New Delhi. He was 80. His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by an associate, Zayauddin Jawed, who said the cause was multiple organ failure. A pacifist Hindu monk who renounced worldly possessions…
In Proud Corners of Afghanistan, New Calls for Autonomy
BAZARAK, Afghanistan — His face juts alongside the single-lane roads carved into the remote and forbidding Panjshir Valley, and looms over twisted hulks of Soviet tanks and the patchwork of cornfields. Seemingly everywhere, billboards carry the image of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the admired and assassinated military commander from this region, and quotes…
Trump’s Tax Returns, Coronavirus Deaths, Charlie Hebdo: Your Monday Briefing
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good morning. We’re covering the takeaways from more than two decades of President Trump’s tax returns, the global death toll from the coronavirus and the death of a man who ate one to two large bags of black licorice a day for…
Switzerland Votes to Approve Paternity Leave
ZURICH — Swiss voters on Sunday agreed to adopt a law mandating paternity leave, making it the last nation in Western Europe to do so and beating back strong conservative opposition to the proposal. Fathers in the country had been allowed one day off for the birth of a child — the…
Melbourne Eases Virus Lockdown Restrictions
“We are ahead of schedule. We have made more progress than we had hoped to make at this point in time. Now that is something that we can all be pleased about. But it doesn’t mean this is over.” “In terms of public gatherings that are outside, a household or a limit…
Canadian Police Charge Man With Faking Terrorist Activity
OTTAWA — The police in Canada have arrested a Toronto-area man who asserted he was an ISIS executioner, accusing him of perpetrating a hoax that he was involved in terrorist activities. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the man, Shehroze Chaudhry, 25, “claimed he traveled to Syria in 2016 to join the…
Leader of India Says Country’s Vaccine Industry Will ‘Help All Humanity’
Here’s what you need to know: Video transcript Back transcript India’s Vaccine Industry Will ‘Help All Humanity,’ Modi Says In a recorded address to the United Nations General Assembly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India said the country’s vaccine production and delivery capacity would help fight the coronavirus pandemic. [none] In a…
In Melbourne, Springtime Ushers in a New Sense of Hope
ImageSpringtime in Melbourne’s Carlton GardensCredit…Besha Rodell The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. This week’s issue is written by Besha Rodell, a columnist with the Australia bureau. There are blossoms on the trees in Melbourne and days of cold rain and blustering wind, but also days of sweet-smelling…
Ang Rita, Who Conquered Everest Again and Again, Dies at 72
KATHMANDU, Nepal — Ang Rita Sherpa, who earned global fame by climbing the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, 10 times without the use of supplemental oxygen, died on Monday at his daughter’s house in Kathmandu. He was 72. His death was confirmed by his family and by Nepal’s mountaineering associations. No cause…
Justin Trudeau Offers Wide Array of Promises With Few Specifics
One thing became clear during the 54 minutes it took Governor General Julie Payette to read the throne speech this week: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is back to making lots of big promises, after pulling back on pledges during last year’s election. ImageJulie Payette, Canada’s governor general, delivering the throne speech.Credit…Pool photo…
Ukrainian Military Plane Crashes, Killing 22
MOSCOW — A military transport plane carrying air force cadets crashed and burst into flames near a highway in northeastern Ukraine on Friday evening, killing at least 22 people on board, officials said. The Antonov An-26 aircraft crashed while trying to land during a training exercise, the military said in a statement,…
Germany Dismisses Military Intelligence Official After Neo-Nazi Scandals
BERLIN — After a series of scandals involving far-right extremists in the German military, the government on Thursday dismissed the head of its military counterintelligence service, the body tasked with monitoring extremism inside the armed forces. Christof Gramm, who has led the agency since 2015, will take early retirement next month, according…
Famine Emerges as U.N. Theme, Crystallized by Yemen Disaster
The coronavirus scourge is a prevailing theme at this year’s United Nations General Assembly, forcing the gathering to be conducted largely online. But the pandemic is also fueling another crisis preoccupying the organization and humanitarian groups: the strong prospect of famine in some of the world’s most destitute places. Nowhere is famine…
Britain Introduces a Scaled-Back Wage Support Plan
The British government, battling a second wave of coronavirus cases, on Thursday announced a slew of new and extended economic measures to support jobs and businesses. But the centerpiece, a wage-support program, is less generous to workers and employers than the furlough program it is replacing, which expires next month. And that…
Breonna Taylor, Coronavirus Vaccine, Belarus: Your Thursday Briefing
(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good morning. We’re covering protests after a decision in the Breonna Taylor case, the final round of testing for a U.S.-made coronavirus vaccine and Finland’s canine front line against the pandemic. ImageJohnson & Johnson will recruit participants for its vaccine trial in…
U.S. Ambassador to Netherlands Faces Questions About Political Interference
BRUSSELS — One of President Trump’s most outspoken ambassadors has found himself in a new controversy after co-hosting a fund-raiser for a populist far-right Dutch political party in the American Embassy in the Netherlands. The act appears to breach diplomatic protocol because of its involvement with domestic politics in the host nation.…