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What to know about the latest fight over Trump’s executive privilege claims

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The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol will vote Tuesday on whether to hold <a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-subpoenas-steve-bannon-cc5991e85781e1caa14188ffa021ec1c">Steve Bannon</a>, an adviser to former President Donald Trump, in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena.
The result of the vote will determine what further action the committee can take to secure testimony from Bannon about his role in the riot, and how much Trump knew about or encouraged the attacks. It will also help determine the efficacy of Trump’s claims of executive privilege over his conversations with Bannon, who had no role at the White House after 2017, and other aides, as well as over documents the committee has requested from the National Archives.
Bannon, along with former Trump officials Mark Meadows, Dan Scavino, and Kash Patel, was <a href="https://january6th.house.gov/news/press-releases/select-committee-subpoenas-individuals-tied-former-president-days-surrounding">subpoenaed</a> by the committee in late September. Of the four, only Bannon is currently facing contempt proceedings — potential depositions for Meadows, Scavino, and Patel <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/katy-tur/watch/jan-6-committee-agrees-to-postpone-deposition-from-patel-meadows-and-scavino-123554885893">have been delayed</a>.
Should the committee vote to hold Bannon in contempt — which it is almost sure to do, as a bipartisan majority on the committee has <a href="https://www.axios.com/adam-schiff-january-6-committee-witness-testimony-cb094b7c-6cb5-42bd-997d-fcf8e7035145.html">indicated</a> they would take such measures to secure testimony — it would also signal the renewed power of a congressional subpoena, which members of the Trump administration <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-impeachment-inquiry-donald-trump-ap-top-news-subpoenas-politics-48c57b063e3a4da699cd9a8ee8dbfe91">repeatedly flouted</a> during his tenure.
“This potential criminal contempt referral — or will-be criminal contempt referral for Steve Bannon — is the first shot over the bow,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), who serves on the committee, <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSotu/status/1449733372264296452?s=20">told CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union</a> Sunday. “It’s very real, but it says to anybody else coming in front of the committee, ‘Don’t think that you’re gonna be able to just kind of walk away and we’re gonna forget about you. We’re not.’”
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who serves on the Jan. 6 committee, says it’s appropriate for Pres. Biden to say the DOJ should prosecute those who defy congressional subpoenas.
“It’s appropriate. The President has every right to signal and make it clear where the administration stands.” <a href="https://t.co/BuL7jiOO9K">pic.twitter.com/BuL7jiOO9K</a>
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSotu/status/1449733372264296452?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2021</a></blockquote>
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If the committee does vote to move forward with contempt proceedings, the motion will then go to the whole House for a vote to determine whether Congress should refer the matter to the Justice Department. That vote, which could come as soon as this week, is also likely to succeed, according to <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/14/jan-6-committee-hold-bannon-in-contempt-516017">Politico’s Betsy Woodruff Swan and Kyle Cheney</a>.
What the Department of Justice will decide to do from there, though, is <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/10/16/1046779458/how-the-executive-privilege-claim-figures-into-jan-6-probe">a bit more opaque</a>.
“The Department of Justice will make its own independent decisions in all prosecutions based solely on the facts and the law. Period. Full stop,” DOJ spokesperson <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/15/doj-independence-biden-jan-6-prosections-516114">Anthony Coley</a> said Friday in response to Biden’s suggestion that the DOJ should prosecute Bannon and others who defy congressional subpoenas.
Bannon’s defiance is creating such an uproar because his testimony could prove particularly significant to the committee. He <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/23/us/politics/jan-6-committee-trump-white-house.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article">reportedly spoke with Trump in late December prior to the insurrection</a> and urged him to focus his varied efforts to overturn the 2020 election on January 6, the day Congress convened to certify the election results. As <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/18/politics/trump-bannon-stone-giuliani-capitol-riot-invs/index.html">CNN reported</a> in January, Bannon also told listeners of his podcast War Room on January 5 that “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”
Should Bannon be held in contempt of Congress, consequences could include, potentially, jail time, but only if the DOJ pursues charges against him. Technically, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/whats-stake-trump-allies-facing-contempt-congress-2021-10-14/">according to Reuters,</a> Congress also has the authority to arrest witnesses who refuse to comply with subpoenas, without the involvement of the DOJ. That hasn’t happened in nearly 100 years, however, and it’s unlikely that Congress will pursue this tactic.
<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/white-house-pushes-release-jan-documents-trump-bannon/story?id=80568817">As ABC reported Wednesday</a>, Bannon’s attorney, Robert J. Costello, has written to committee chair Rep. <a href="https://january6th.house.gov/news/press-releases/thompson-statement-cooperation-witnesses">Bennie Thompson</a> (D-MS) that his client won’t comply with the subpoena.
“Until such a time as you reach an agreement with President Trump or receive a court ruling as to the extent, scope and application of the executive privilege, in order to preserve the claim of executive and other privileges, Mr. Bannon will not be producing documents or testifying,” Costello wrote.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Steve Bannon team has fired off another letter to Jan 6 committee repeating that they will not cooperate citing Trump executive privilege claims. Letter obtained by <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ABC</a> below —-> <a href="https://t.co/BU0F9MuFv0">pic.twitter.com/BU0F9MuFv0</a>
— John Santucci (@Santucci) <a href="https://twitter.com/Santucci/status/1448426706973433857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 13, 2021</a></blockquote>
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In addition to Bannon and other Trump officials, the committee has also issued a subpoena to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/10/13/1045774976/jan-6-panel-issues-subpoena-for-trump-ally-ex-doj-official-jeffrey-clark">Jeffrey Clark</a>, a DOJ official who backed Trump’s false claims of voter fraud. Trump attempted to install Clark as acting attorney general when <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/13/rosen-jan-6-committee-515910">Jeffrey Rosen</a>, who was in the role from December 2020 to January 2021, refused to involve the DOJ in efforts to overturn the election.
Trump has also been attempting to apply this argument to documents sought by the committee. Earlier in October, as <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/08/bannon-jan-6-subpoena-515681">Politico</a> reported at the time, Trump attempted to block 45 specific documents from the committee, citing “executive and other privileges, including but not limited to the presidential communications, deliberative process, and attorney-client privileges” in a letter to national archivist David Ferriero.
Trump’s letter is not an official invocation of executive privilege, as PBS NewsHour’s <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/white-house-blocks-donald-trump-from-withholding-documents-on-jan-6-attack">Yamiche Alcindor</a> points out. In these cases, the sitting president — Biden — has the final say over whether the privilege should apply, unless the courts say differently.
The Biden administration blocked that request, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/white-house-blocks-donald-trump-from-withholding-documents-on-jan-6-attack">with White House counsel Dana Remus writing to Ferriero</a> that “President Biden has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the United States, and therefore is not justified as to any of the documents.”
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-joe-biden-us-supreme-court-congress-capitol-siege-13803c23a094992233df3b6880d2808b">As the AP reported</a> last week, Trump does plan to challenge Biden’s decision in court, and it could go in his favor — other former presidents have been able to exercise executive privilege.
However, given the extraordinary nature of the January 6 riots, the norm of confidentiality, which covers former presidents’ records for five years following their term, may be subverted, as it was during Watergate and after the terrorist attacks of September 11.
That won’t stop Trump from <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/08/bannon-jan-6-subpoena-515681">attempting to use the same defense</a> to shield other documents from the committee; he has indicated that he will try to protect much of the information they subpoena by invoking executive privilege.
It’s unclear whether Trump actually has any grounds to claim that privilege, particularly when it comes to his communications with Bannon. Trump is no longer president, and Bannon was acting as a private citizen and not an official White House adviser during the period the committee is investigating.
Specifically, as University of Kentucky law professor Jonathan Shaub <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/executive-privilege-and-jan-6-investigation">wrote for Lawfare</a> last month, Trump can’t actually compel anyone to withhold information from the committee; Bannon and other former officials are private citizens now, and the Trump administration has no legal authority over any documents or knowledge in their possession.
And as former federal prosecutor and Brown University professor Jeffrey Robbins told the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/14/us/politics/jan-6-capitol-riot-bannon.html">New York Times</a>, Trump’s arguments for executive privilege are “patently bogus” and lack justification, such as protecting national security.
“It’s open contempt of a subpoena without an apparent basis,” Robbins said.
The actual validity of Trump’s arguments, though, might have less bearing on events than their ability to slow down the process.
“Really what Trump is trying to do, he’s trying to run out the clock on the January 6 select committee,” Punchbowl News co-founder John Bresnahan <a href="https://twitter.com/TheSundayShow/status/1449764179464925192?s=20">told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart on Sunday</a>. “And they need to move as quickly as they can on this.”
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
“The question is really what Trump is trying to do, he’s trying to run out the clock on the January 6th select committee. And they need to move as quickly as they can on this,” <a href="https://twitter.com/bresreports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@bresreports</a> says of the Jan. 6 investigation. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SundayShow?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SundayShow</a> <a href="https://t.co/AWAZDkMBe0">pic.twitter.com/AWAZDkMBe0</a>
— The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart (@TheSundayShow) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheSundayShow/status/1449764179464925192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Trump’s attempts to stymie the January 6 investigation underscore exactly why the committee’s efforts are so crucial. Months after Biden took office, Trump and his allies are still using the same tactics that led up to the insurrection to try and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-2024-campaign-candidacy/2021/10/03/73af3b12-21f8-11ec-b3d6-8cdebe60d3e2_story.html">propel him back to power</a>.
At a recent rally in Richmond, Virginia, for example, Trump persisted in claiming that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-glenn-youngkin-virginia-governor-election-ef10f05ada241421ed40e1d1fbf355cc">the AP reports</a>. Attendees also <a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-richmond-virginia-election-2020-campaign-2016-89962366d97191095dd04c6b123b2cc2">pledged allegiance</a> to a flag that was reportedly carried at the January 6 Trump rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol.
This month, Trump also <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/576194-trump-wishes-ashli-babbitt-happy-birthday-calls-for-doj-to-reopen">recorded a birthday message</a> for Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed attempting to storm the Capitol on January 6.
“Together we grieve her terrible loss. There was no reason Ashli should have lost her life that day,” Trump said in the video, which was played at a gathering of Babbitt’s friends and family last week. “We must all demand justice for Ashli and her family.”
In the video, Trump also called for the DOJ to reopen an investigation into her death; the department <a href="https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/548225-federal-prosecutors-will-not-bring-charges-against-officer-who-shot">declined to bring charges</a> against the officer who shot Babbitt as she climbed over a barricade near the House chambers during the attack.
As the tempo of Trump’s ongoing rhetoric demonstrates — as recently as Friday, he was calling for 2020 election results in Arizona’s second-most populous county to be <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/trump-switches-arizona-audit-focus-pima-county-demands-loss-biden-decertified-1639613">decertified</a> — neither he nor his allies intend to stop amplifying the kind of lies that led to the January 6 riot.
And lawmakers say that is the reason the January 6 committee’s work, including in securing testimony from former Trump officials, is so important: to establish the truth of what actually happened before, during, and after the attack.
“This is about the 10-year argument,” Kinzinger <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSotu/status/1449733372264296452?s=20">told Tapper</a> on Sunday. “What are our kids going to think when they read the history books? Who’s going to win that argument? And I’ve always believed since I’ve been a kid in Sunday school that truth needs to win out.”
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/10/17/22731028/january-6-committee-bannon-trump-contempt-executive-privilege">https://www.vox.com/2021/10/17/22731028/january-6-committee-bannon-trump-contempt-executive-privilege</a>

vox What to know about the latest fight over Trump’s executive privilege claims

The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol will vote Tuesday on whether to hold Steve Bannon , an advi...

Britain's Ineos Announces Over 2 Billion Euros Green Hydrogen Investment

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Britain's Ineos Announces Over 2 Billion Euros Green Hydrogen Investment" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-10/0s5pg5mc_ineos-hydrogen_625x300_18_October_21.jpg" title="Britain's Ineos Announces Over 2 Billion Euros Green Hydrogen Investment" /></div>
Ineos announced it will invest more than 2 billion euros in zero-carbon green hydrogen in Europe.
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London:
British petrochemicals manufacturer Ineos on Monday announced it will invest more than 2 billion euros in zero-carbon green hydrogen production in Europe.
Ineos will invest in emissions-free production using electrolysis -- an electrical current passing through water -- with wind, solar or hydro-electric power providing the electricity.
Ineos chairman, British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, said in a statement that "Europe is crying out for more investment in green hydrogen".
Monday's announcement "shows our determination to play a leading role in this important new fuel," he added.
While burning hydrogen as a fuel emits just water vapour, most of the gas is made in a process that produces harmful emissions.
Companies and governments are increasingly putting emission-free green hydrogen at the centre of efforts to de-carbonise economic sectors that rely most on fossil fuels for their energy needs.
Ineos said its investment in electrolysis will be the largest ever in Europe, building plants in Norway, Germany and Belgium in the next decade.
Investment is also planned in Britain and France and the hydrogen business will be headquartered in Britain, the group said.
Ineos operates businesses in the chemical, oil and gas industries, including extracting gas in the North Sea. It is also venturing into the automotive industry and launching manufacture of a 4x4 off-road vehicle.
The group is already Europe's largest operator of the electrolysis technology and has "extensive experience" in storing and handling hydrogen, according to its statement.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/britains-ineos-announces-over-2-billion-euros-green-hydrogen-investment-2578806">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/britains-ineos-announces-over-2-billion-euros-green-hydrogen-investment-2578806</a>

news world Britain's Ineos Announces Over 2 Billion Euros Green Hydrogen Investment

Ineos announced it will invest more than 2 billion euros in zero-carbon green hydrogen in Europe. London: British petrochemicals manufa...

Israel Expects 2,000 Rockets A Day In Any War With Hezbollah: Army

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Israel does not want war with Lebanon's Hezbollah, a military official said.
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Ramla, Israel:
Israel does not want war with Lebanon's Hezbollah but is prepared to face about 2,000 rockets a day from the armed group if conflict breaks out, a senior Israeli military official told AFP.
In May this year, the Israeli army fought an 11-day war against Palestinian armed groups in the Gaza Strip, who fired around 4,400 projectiles towards the Jewish state.
Israel says its Iron Dome defence system, which has been in use for around a decade, intercepted around 90 percent of the rockets headed for populated areas, while just under 300 hit inhabited districts.
The rate of fire surpassed that seen in Israel's 2006 war against Hezbollah, when a similar number of rockets were launched from Lebanon -- but over the course of around a month -- the Israeli army said.
In May, cities like Tel Aviv and Ashdod experienced the "highest number of fire towards them in the history of Israel", said Uri Gordin, chief of the army's Home Front Command.
"We saw a pace of more than 400 rockets fired towards Israel on a daily basis."
He said that in the case of "conflict or a war with Hezbollah, we expect more than five times the number of rockets fired every day from Lebanon to Israel".
"Basically we are looking between 1,500 and 2,500 rockets fired daily towards Israel," he told AFP.
'Wake-up call'
Set up in 1992 after the first Gulf War, Gordin's Home Front Command is in charge of civil defence, meaning it is responsible for readying the country in case of threat, conflict or disaster.
The unit was criticised for its response to the 2006 war with Hezbollah, which killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, the majority of them soldiers.
That war was a "wake-up call" for the Home Front Command, Gordin said, adding that it had since beefed up its liaison units, which are now active across 250 Israeli municipalities to provide assistance in case of any attack.
The Home Front Command uses computer projections to predict a rocket's trajectory after it has been launched, and advises the public, within a specific range, to head to bomb shelters.
During the Gaza conflict in May, this allowed emergency services to "go to every incident within less than five minutes", Gordin said from the control room of the unit's headquarters in Ramla, near Tel Aviv.
He said preparations had been made for any incidents on the border with Lebanon.
'Source of instability'
An Israeli security source said the Israel army hoped for "stability" in its northern neighbour, which is mired in a crippling economic crisis and on Thursday saw deadly sectarian clashes in the capital Beirut that left seven dead, including Hezbollah members.
Iran-backed Hezbollah was "the source of instability in Lebanon", the security source said, adding that the group "exploits the state's resources for Iranian interests".
Iran is "closer to creating fissile material for nuclear weapons than they ever were in the past" but would still need two years to obtain a bomb, the source said, echoing a timeframe cited by other Israeli officials.
Tehran insists its nuclear program is for civilian purposes.
"We are preparing for all options and scenarios, including military capabilities," the security source said.
Israel has been staunchly opposed to the revival of a nuclear deal agreed between Tehran and world powers in 2015.
The agreement has been on life support since then president Donald Trump withdrew the US in 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions.
But Israel could accommodate a new deal if it ensured Tehran would never obtain a nuclear bomb, some Israeli officials have suggested recently, as top Israeli ally the US seeks to push Iran back to the negotiating table after months of suspended talks.
However, US President Joe Biden's administration also hinted on Wednesday that it could resort to force if diplomacy fails, rallying more closely than ever behind Israel warnings on the possibility of military action.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/israel-expects-2-000-rockets-a-day-in-any-war-with-hezbollah-army-2578804">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/israel-expects-2-000-rockets-a-day-in-any-war-with-hezbollah-army-2578804</a>

news world Israel Expects 2,000 Rockets A Day In Any War With Hezbollah: Army

Israel does not want war with Lebanon's Hezbollah, a military official said. Ramla, Israel: Israel does not want war with Lebanon...

10,000 Jobs In EU: Facebook's Big "Metaverse" Virtual Reality Plan

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="10,000 Jobs In EU: Facebook's Big 'Metaverse' Virtual Reality Plan" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2020-08/0psfrbvg_facebook-generic-reuters_625x300_21_August_20.jpg" title="10,000 Jobs In EU: Facebook's Big 'Metaverse' Virtual Reality Plan" /></div>
Facebook announced plans to hire 10,000 people in the European Union.
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Paris:
Facebook on Monday announced plans to hire 10,000 people in the European Union to build the "metaverse", a virtual reality version of the internet that the tech giant sees as the future.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been a leading voice in Silicon Valley hype around the idea of the metaverse, which would blur the lines between the physical world and the digital one.
The technology might, for example, allow someone to don virtual reality glasses that make it feel as if they're face-to-face with a friend -- when in fact they are thousands of miles apart and connected via the internet.
"The metaverse has the potential to help unlock access to new creative, social, and economic opportunities. And Europeans will be shaping it right from the start," Facebook said in a blog post.
"Today, we are announcing a plan to create 10,000 new high skilled jobs within the European Union (EU) over the next five years."
The European hires will include "highly specialised engineers", but the company otherwise gave few details of its plans for the new metaverse team.
"The EU has a number of advantages that make it a great place for tech companies to invest -- a large consumer market, first class universities and, crucially, top quality talent," the blog post said.
Distraction from bad news?
The announcement comes as Facebook grapples with the fallout of a damaging scandal, major outages of its services, and rising calls for regulation to curb its vast influence.
The company has faced a storm of criticism over the past month after former employee Frances Haugen leaked internal studies showing Facebook knew its sites could be harmful to young people's mental health.
The Washington Post last month suggested that Facebook's interest in the metaverse is "part of a broader push to rehabilitate the company's reputation with policymakers and reposition Facebook to shape the regulation of next-wave Internet technologies".
But Zuckerberg also appears to be a genuine evangelist for the advent of the metaverse era, predicting in July that Facebook will transition from "primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company" over the next five years.
Facebook bought Oculus, a company that makes virtual reality headsets, for $2 billion in 2014 and has since been developing Horizon, a digital world where people can interact using VR technology.
In August it unveiled Horizon Workrooms, a feature where co-workers wearing VR headsets can hold meetings in a virtual room where they all appear as cartoonish 3D versions of themselves.
Blurring the lines
Metaverse enthusiasts point out that the internet is already starting to blur the lines between virtual experiences and "real" ones.
Stars such as pop diva Ariana Grande and the rapper Travis Scott have performed for huge audiences, watching at home, via the hit video game Fortnite.
In Decentraland, another online platform widely seen as a forerunner to the metaverse, you can already get a job as a croupier in its virtual casino.
"No one company will own and operate the metaverse. Like the internet, its key feature will be its openness and interoperability," Facebook said in its blog post.
It is not the only company pouring millions into developing the technology that could turn a fully-fledged version of the metaverse into reality.
Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, announced earlier this year that it had raised $1 billion in new funding, with some of that money set to support its vision of the metaverse.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/facebook-metaverse-facebook-europe-facebook-announces-10-000-jobs-in-european-union-to-build-metaverse-2578791">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/facebook-metaverse-facebook-europe-facebook-announces-10-000-jobs-in-european-union-to-build-metaverse-2578791</a>

news world 10,000 Jobs In EU: Facebook's Big "Metaverse" Virtual Reality Plan

Facebook announced plans to hire 10,000 people in the European Union. Paris: Facebook on Monday announced plans to hire 10,000 people i...

Faster-Than-Expected Vaccinations Help Australia's Sydney Ease Covid Curbs

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Faster-Than-Expected Vaccinations Help Australia's Sydney Ease Covid Curbs" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-10/r7sb2hoo_sydneylockdownendsafp_625x300_12_October_21.jpg" title="Faster-Than-Expected Vaccinations Help Australia's Sydney Ease Covid Curbs" /></div>
Australia has struggled to contain outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant in Sydney.
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Sydney:
Thousands of children returned to Sydney's schools on Monday after nearly four months of home learning as Australia's largest city eased more restrictions just a week after lifting its COVID-19 lockdown amid a surge in vaccination levels.
A faster-than-expected vaccine uptake brought forward further lifting of restrictions by several days as New South Wales (NSW), home to Sydney, topped the 80% double-dose immunisation rate over the weekend in people above 16. Authorities had pledged to begin easing curbs as rates reached 70%, 80% and 90%.
Masks will be off in offices, while more people can gather at homes and outdoors as Sydney readies to live with COVID-19 after spending large parts of this year virus-free until a Delta outbreak in mid-June. Retail stores, pubs and gyms can allow more vaccinated patrons and nightclubs can reopen for seated drinking, while weddings can have unlimited guests.
Students in preschool and years 1 and 12 returned to the classroom, while all others will get back next week.
Daily infections in New South Wales continued their downward trend on Monday as cases fell to the lowest level in 10 weeks, at 265, well down from the pandemic high of 1,599 in early September.
Neighbouring Victoria reported 1,903 new cases, up from 1,838 a day earlier. State authorities disclosed on Sunday that Melbourne, the state capital, will exit its lockdown on Friday as the state looks poised to reach its 70% vaccination target within days.
Melbourne's 5 million residents have been enduring an extended lockdown since Aug. 5, the sixth in the pandemic, and have already spent around nine months under strict stay-home restrictions since March 2020 - the longest in the world, according to Australian media.
Australia has moved away from its COVID-19 suppression strategy after admitting the Delta strain was too virulent to contain. But some virus-free states have flagged they may delay even after more inoculations because of fears a precipitous reopening could overwhelm their health systems.
With some 143,000 cases and 1,531 deaths, Australia's coronavirus numbers are relatively low.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/coronavirus-coronavirus-australia-faster-than-expected-vaccinations-help-ease-sydneys-covid-curbs-2578789">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/coronavirus-coronavirus-australia-faster-than-expected-vaccinations-help-ease-sydneys-covid-curbs-2578789</a>

news world Faster-Than-Expected Vaccinations Help Australia's Sydney Ease Covid Curbs

Australia has struggled to contain outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant in Sydney. Sydney: Thousands of children returned to...

India's Recycling Project Bags Prince William's Earthshot Environment Prize

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="India's Recycling Project Bags Prince William's Earthshot Environment Prize" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-10/1c32sf34_earthshot-prize_625x300_18_October_21.jpg" title="India's Recycling Project Bags Prince William's Earthshot Environment Prize" /></div>
Prince William presented the inaugural Earthshot prizes at a ceremony in London.
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London:
Queen Elizabeth II's grandson Prince William presented the inaugural Earthshot prizes at a ceremony in London on Sunday, with projects from Costa Rica, Italy, the Bahamas and India picking up prizes.
The new annual awards were created by Prince William to reward efforts to save the planet in the face of climate change and global warming.
Five winners were announced, each receiving a million pounds ($1.4 million).
The build-up to the televised event - -- featuring the renowned naturalist David Attenborough and performances by Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and others -- was marked by royal displeasure at world leaders' inaction on climate change.
William hopes it will help propel the fight against climate change leading up to the COP26 summit, which opens in Scotland at the end of the month, calling those on the shortlist "innovators, leaders and visionaries".
In a short film recorded for the ceremony in the London Eye and released ahead of the event on Sunday, William warns that the "actions we choose or choose not to take in the next 10 years will determine the fate of the planet for the next thousand".
"A decade doesn't seem long, but humankind has an outstanding record of being able to solve the unsolvable," he says.
"The future is ours to determine. And if we set our minds to it, nothing is impossible."
Winning initiatives
The Republic of Costa Rica was one of the winners on Sunday picking up the "Protect and Restore Nature" award for its efforts to protect forests, plant trees and restore ecosystems.
"We receive this recognition with pride but humility, what we have achieved in this small country in Central America can be done anywhere," said Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado.
Indian company Takachar won the "Clean our Air" prize for the creation of a portable machine which turns agricultural waste into fertiliser so that farmers do not burn the waste and cause air pollution
The other winners included Coral Vita, from the Bahamas, for a project to grow coral in tanks, 50 times quick than coral normally grows.
The northern Italian city of Milan won the "Food Waste Hubs" award for collecting unused food and giving it to people who need it most.
The "Fix our Climate" laureate went to a joint Thai-German-Italian team for the AEM Electrolyzer, which uses renewable energy to make clean hydrogen by splitting water into its constituent elements.
Each of the finalists -- chosen by experts from more than 750 nominations -- will be given help from companies to develop their projects.
Prince William announced that the 2022 edition of the Earthshot Prize will be held in the United States.
In a BBC interview this week, William took a potshot at wealthy space tourists, for neglecting problems closer to Earth, while his father and grandmother have also weighed in this week on climate change.
Opening the Welsh legislature in Cardiff on Thursday, the 95-year-old monarch was overheard upbraiding world leaders who "talk" but "don't do" enough about the planetary crisis.
The queen complained that not enough leaders had confirmed their attendance at COP26, with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi among the key players in doubt.
Royal double standards?
William's father, long-time environmentalist Prince Charles, meanwhile told the BBC that he worried the leaders coming would "just talk", rather than implement "action on the ground".
However, campaigners alleged climate hypocrisy from the royal family, which is Britain's biggest landowner, including large tracts of Scotland given over to hunting and farming.
Last weekend, TV presenter and environmentalist Chris Packham led a children's march to Buckingham Palace in London to deliver a petition with more than 100,000 signatures asking the queen to rewild royal lands.
"If they were to do so it would be a very powerful message that would resonate with people all over the world," he said.
The Earthshot Prize, launched in October last year, was inspired by US president John F. Kennedy's "Moonshot" project in the 1960s to put a man on the moon.
It covers five areas: how to protect and restore nature; clean our air; revive our oceans; build a waste-free world; and fix our climate.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
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news world India's Recycling Project Bags Prince William's Earthshot Environment Prize

Prince William presented the inaugural Earthshot prizes at a ceremony in London. London: Queen Elizabeth II's grandson Prince Willi...