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Could Google really leave Australia?

Google has threatened to pull out of the Australian market if a new law governing its relationship with news publishers goes ahead.
The government is introducing a law to address a long-bubbling row over whether tech giants should pay for news that appears in search or is shared on their platforms. The proposed law would mandate that Google has commercial agreements with every news organisation - or enter forced arbitration, something Google says is "unworkable". "If this version of the code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia," the regional director, Mel Silva, said. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Google: "We don't respond to threats".

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Coronavirus: UK variant 'may be more deadly'

Early evidence suggests the variant of coronavirus that emerged in the UK may be more deadly, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
However, there remains huge uncertainty around the numbers - and vaccines are still expected to work. The data comes from mathematicians comparing death rates in people infected with either the new or the old versions of the virus. The new more infectious variant has already spread widely across the UK. Mr Johnson told a Downing Street briefing: "In addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant - the variant that was first identified in London and the south east - may be associated with a higher degree of mortality. "It's largely the impact of this new variant that means the NHS is under such intense pressure."

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Covid-19: Amazon offers to help with US vaccine delivery

Amazon has offered to help distribute Covid-19 vaccines in the US, in a letter to new president Joe Biden.
The letter, penned by the firm's chief executive Dave Clark, said that the e-commerce giant stood "ready to assist you in this effort". Amazon has come in for criticism about its handling of the pandemic, with some staff claiming conditions in its warehouses were not safe. But it is also asking for vaccines for its workers to be prioritised. The firm has signed an agreement with an unnamed healthcare provider to administer vaccines on site at its warehouses around the US. It has requested that its 800,000 workers around the world be among the first to receive the doses, because they are unable to work from home. President Biden has vowed to deliver 100 million Covid-19 vaccinations to US citizens in the first 100 days of his administration. In the letter, Mr Clark wrote: "We are prepared to move quickly once vaccines are available."

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Biden to sign 10 executive orders to tackle Covid-19

President Joe Biden is set to sign 10 executive orders to boost the fight against Covid which has ravaged the US.
Vaccination will be accelerated and testing increased. Emergency legislation will be used to increase production of essentials like masks. In a break with former President Donald Trump, the policy stresses a national strategy rather than relying on states to decide what is best. The moves comes a day after Mr Biden was sworn in as the 46th president. The Trump administration was widely accused of failing to get to grips with the pandemic. In terms of total deaths from coronavirus, the US is the worst-hit country with more than 406,000 lives lost according to Johns Hopkins University. Nearly 24.5 million have been infected.

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E-scooters must follow rules of road 'same as bus'

An Isle of Wight woman is thought to be the first person to be banned from UK roads for drink-driving an e-scooter.
The magistrate told Kyah Jordan the vehicle was "the same as a moped, the same as a bus" in terms of rules the road and penalties for breaking them. The 20-year-old had hired the e-scooter after drinking with friends. The Met Police says fines and penalty points will be handed to e-scooter riders jumping a red light, using a mobile phone or riding on the pavement. It remains illegal to use a privately owned e-scooter on public roads, cycle lanes or pavements. And owners risk a £300 fine, six penalty points on their driving licence and an additional fine for not having insurance. But rentals, for which, government guidance says, the operating company will provide insurance, can be ridden - with a full or provisional driving licence - at up to 15.5mph on roads in regions where they are being trialled.

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US historians on what Donald Trump's legacy will be

At noon on Wednesday, President Donald Trump's term will end. It's been a whirlwind four years, so what might the legacy be of such a history-making president?
Matthew Continetti is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, focusing on the development of the Republican Party and the American conservative movement. Donald Trump will be remembered as the first president to be impeached twice. He fed the myth that the election was stolen, summoned his supporters to Washington to protest the certification of the Electoral College vote, told them that only through strength could they take back their country, and stood by as they stormed the US Capitol and interfered in the operation of constitutional government. When historians write about his presidency, they will do so through the lens of the riot.

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Github apologises for firing Jewish employee who warned about 'Nazis'

Software giant Github has apologised for firing a Jewish employee who warned co-workers to be careful about Nazis.
The employee was fired two days after using the word to describe participants in the US Capitol riots. But Github now says that decision was a mistake, and its head of HR has resigned over the scandal. The company says it has offered the fired employee his job back, and clarified that "employees are free to express concerns about Nazis". Microsoft-owned Github is one of the most popular software development tools in the world, with more than 50 million users. News of the internal row was first reported by Business Insider. People associated with a range of extreme and far-right groups and supporters of fringe online conspiracy theories stormed Congress. As it happened, the Jewish employee posted to an internal Github Slack channel: "Stay safe homies, Nazis are about."

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Covid vaccine: WHO warns of 'catastrophic moral failure'

The world faces a "catastrophic moral failure" because of unequal Covid vaccine policies, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was not fair for younger, healthy people in richer nations to get injections before vulnerable people in poorer states. He said over 39 million vaccine doses had been given in 49 richer states - but one poor nation had only 25 doses. Meanwhile, both the WHO and China were criticised for their Covid response. An independent panel commissioned by the WHO said the UN public health body should have declared an international emergency earlier, and also rapped China for not taking public health measures sooner.

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WhatsApp extends 'confusing' update deadline

WhatsApp has extended the deadline by which its two billion users must either accept its updated terms and conditions or stop using the service.
The original cut-off date was 8 February, but users now have until 15 May to take action. The firm was criticised for sending the notification, which seemed to suggest changes to the data it would share with its parent company Facebook. It said there had been "confusion" about its message. Since the announcement and notifications went out across its platform, millions of people around the world have downloaded alternative encrypted messaging apps such as Signal and Telegram. In a blogpost, WhatsApp said personal messages had always been encrypted and would remain private. It added that its practice of sharing some user data with Facebook was not new, and was not going to be expanded. "The update includes new options people will have to message a business on WhatsApp, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data," it said.

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India to begin first round of massive Covid vaccination programme

India will on Saturday begin one of the world's largest vaccination programmes, aimed at protecting more than 1.3 billion people from Covid-19.
Millions of doses of two approved vaccines - Covishield and Covaxin - have been shipped across the country. They will go first to health workers and frontline workers, then to other at-risk groups. India has recorded the second-highest number of Covid-19 infections in the world after the United States. An estimated 10 million health workers will be vaccinated in the first round, followed by policemen, soldiers, municipal and other front-line workers. Next in line will be people aged over 50 and anyone under 50 with serious underlying health conditions. India's electoral rolls, which contain details of some 900 million voters, will be used to identify eligible recipients. The government plans to vaccinate 300 million people by early August. This will happen in state-run health care centres, schools, colleges, community halls, municipal offices and wedding halls.