Parents who refuse to vaccinate their children against measles in Germany could be punished with fines of up to €250,000 (£213,000), according to a draft law presented by the health minister, Jens Spahn. The law, which is set to come into effect from 1 March 2022 if it passes through parliament before the end of…
‘Our ticket to Europe’: North Macedonia elects pro-western president
North Macedonia’s pro-western candidate, Stevo Pendarovski, won a run-off presidential vote after a campaign dominated by divisions over a change to the country’s name that was agreed to mollify Greece and open the way for EU and Nato membership. The State Election Commission results based on 99.5% the votes counted showed 51.7% of the votes…
‘Battle for America’s soul’: Biden comes out swinging at first 2020 event
In the inaugural speech of his third campaign for the White House, the former vice-president Joe Biden returned to his native state of Pennsylvania and implored voters to reject Donald Trump’s presidency in what he framed as a “battle for America’s soul”. “If I’m going to beat Donald Trump in 2020, it’s going to happen…
Comically surreal: how Dali’s film with Marx brothers came to life
Giraffes on Horseback Salad, an improbable project dreamed up by the most unorthodox of creative talents, Salvador Dalí and the Marx Brothers, still features regularly on lists of the most tantalising movies never made. But now the feature film that would have marked the only collaboration between the great Spanish surrealist and the most popular…
Trump tweets support for far-right figures banned by Facebook
Donald Trump criticized social media companies after Facebook banned a number of far-right and other extremist figures, declaring that he was “monitoring and watching, closely!!” The president, who at the weekend tweeted and retweeted complaints, including complaints from rightwing figures themselves, said he would “monitor the censorship of AMERICAN CITIZENS on social media platforms”. Meanwhile,…
Pompeo insists North Korea nuclear deal still possible despite weapons test
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted Sunday that a nuclear disarmament deal between the US and North Korea was still possible, despite the country’s launch of several short-range projectiles into the sea one day earlier. “There’s an opportunity to get a negotiated outcome, where we get fully verified denuclearization” and said the US hopes to…
Boeing boss rejects accusations about 737 Max jets that crashed
The boss of Boeing has denied accusations that its two 737 Max aircraft involved in fatal crashes lacked an optional safety feature, which might have alerted the pilots to technical malfunctions that partly caused the accidents. “We don’t make safety features optional,” Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing’s chairman and chief executive, said at the company’s annual meeting…
Italians try to crack Leonardo da Vinci DNA code with lock of hair
Two Italian experts are set to perform a DNA test on a lock of hair that they say might have belonged to Leonardo da Vinci. The hair strand was found in a private collection in the US and will go on display for the first time at the Ideale Leonardo da Vinci museum in Vinci…
Facebook could have 4.9bn dead users by 2100, study finds
Facebook may eventually have more dead users than living ones. If Facebook continues to grow at its current rate, the site could have 4.9 billion deceased members by 2100, according to a study by Oxford researchers. Even if growth had stopped entirely last year, the study finds, Facebook would be looking at about 1.4 billion…
Craving cannabis: is marijuana addictive?
As marijuana goes mainstream, there is a persistent belief that it’s not addictive. That is in part because addictive behavior emerges more slowly than with substances such as opioids – and cannabis withdrawal isn’t the living hell of getting off those drugs. But the truth of the matter is clear: “There is no debate that…