A woman accused of refusing to wear a face mask in an Uber taxi and then assaulting the driver with pepper spray in San Francisco has been arrested. Malaysia King, 24, is facing charges including violating the city’s health and safety laws, police said. Ms King is one of three passengers captured in dashcam footage, one of whom appears to cough over the driver. Police said that a second suspect, 24-year-old Arna Kimiai, had informed them that she would hand herself in. “We’re glad to hear that Ms Kimiai intends to do the right thing,” said Lt Tracy McCray of the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), adding: “We hope it happens promptly.” The SFPD said that Ms King was arrested on Thursday with the assistance of Los Angeles police officers. It said the investigation into the incident on the afternoon of Sunday 7 March was ongoing.

Two brothers involved in the Brussels suicide bombings murdered an elderly man earlier to see what killing was like, according to a Belgian report. Ibrahim El-Bakraoui blew himself up at Zaventem airport in 2016, murdering 11 people. His brother Khalid left another 20 dead at a metro station. The pair told fellow attackers they had shot dead Paul-André Vanderperren, 76, on the street at random, De Morgen newspaper reports.

Vanderperren was murdered in 2014. He was shot while returning home from a cafe in the Jette area of Brussels after watching his football club Anderlecht on TV on a Sunday night. His murder has never been solved. Brussels prosecutors appealed for witnesses in May 2018 to try to determine who killed him but they have told the BBC they closed the case in October 2020. Vanderperren’s widow told De Morgen she was told last year via her lawyers that the Bakraoui brothers had almost certainly been linked to the crime. “I’m still left with plenty of questions but in a way it’s a relief,” she is reported as saying.(BBC)…[+]

President Joe Biden has said he is hopeful that America can “mark independence” from Covid-19 on 4 July if people get vaccinated. In his first primetime address as president, Mr Biden said he would order states to make all adults eligible for vaccinations by 1 May. Current measures prioritise people by age or health condition.

Mr Biden was speaking exactly a year to the day after the outbreak was classified a global pandemic. Half a million Americans have since died – more than the death toll from World War One, World War Two, and the Vietnam War combined. Schools have been closed, businesses shuttered and people kept apart. Last year many Americans were forced to forgo the elaborate parades, fireworks displays and parties that feature in the national holiday on 4 July, which marks independence from Britain. In his speech, President Biden said he did not expect large events to be able to go ahead, but he hoped small groups could meet again. “If we do this together, by 4 July, there is a good chance you, your family and friends can get together in your backyard or in your neighbourhood and have a cookout or a barbecue and celebrate Independence Day,” he said. “After a long, hard year, that will make this Independence Day truly special – where we not only mark our independence as a nation but we begin to mark our independence from this virus.”(BBC)…[+]

A mining firm has paid a record $2bn (£1.4bn) fine over a huge oil spill that caused one of Russia’s worst environmental disasters. Norilsk Nickel, the world’s leading nickel and palladium producer, said it had paid the fine on Wednesday. The fuel spill last May saw 21,000 tonnes of diesel pour from one of the company’s storage tanks into rivers and lakes in Russia’s Arctic north.

It prompted President Vladimir Putin to declare a state of emergency. “I ask you to ensure that this [money] is used primarily to improve the environmental situation in [the city of] Norilsk itself and the surrounding region,” President Putin told a government meeting. The penalty is the biggest ever issued for environmental damage in Russia, officials say. Norilsk Nickel, also known as Nornickel, was told to pay the fine by a Russian court in February and chose not to appeal.(BBC)…[+]

The number of patients in intensive care has reached a new high in the Czech Republic, as several Central European countries struggle with a new wave of the virus. Czech authorities on Tuesday sent the first patient abroad for treatment in Poland as facilities struggled to cope.  In Hungary, meanwhile, the number of cases in the current wave has surpassed the previous peak in December. Schools and most shops were closed on Monday amid rising infections. Cases are also on the rise in Poland, where the government recorded the highest number of daily cases since late November on Wednesday, with 17,260 new infections. A health ministry spokesman complained of “increased looseness” among Poles towards anti-Covid measures.(BBC)…[+]

Health systems in most of Brazil’s largest cities are close to collapse because of Covid-19 cases, its leading health institute warns. More than 80% of intensive care unit beds are occupied in the capitals of 25 of Brazil’s 27 states, Fiocruz said. Experts warn that the highly contagious variant in Brazil may have knock-on effects in the region and beyond. “Brazil is a threat to humanity,” Fiocruz epidemiologist Jesem Orellana told AFP news agency. The country has recorded more than 266,000 deaths and 11 million cases since the pandemic began.

Joe and Jill Biden’s German shepherds have been removed from the White House after the younger dog, Major, reportedly bit a security agent. According to US media, the pets have been sent back to the Biden family home in Wilmington, Delaware. It follows Major’s aggressive behaviour towards White House staff. The Bidens adopted three-year-old Major in 2018. He became the first dog from an animal shelter to live in the White House. Their other dog, Champ, is 13. Anonymous sources told CNN that Major had been jumping, barking and charging at White House staff and security. Both dogs moved into the White House four days into Joe Biden’s presidency. His wife, Jill, told The Kelly Clarkson Show last month she was focused on getting the dogs settled.

Dozens of Myanmar anti-coup protesters who had been cornered overnight by security forces in Yangon have escaped from the area where they were trapped. About 200 people were caught in a four-street area in Sanchaung district which the police sealed off. At least 40 people were arrested and taken away but others managed to escape as police numbers dwindled overnight, a local resident told BBC News. More demonstrations are being staged in Myanmar’s biggest city on Tuesday. Mass protests have been seen across the south-east Asian nation since the military seized power on 1 February in a coup. At least 54 people have died in the protests, which are calling for an end to military rule and the release of the country’s elected government leaders – including Aung San Suu Kyi – who were overthrown and detained in the coup.(BBC)…[+]

Hospitals in and around Paris have been told to reduce non-Covid treatments by 40%, as demand for intensive care beds (ICU) neared saturation point. On Monday take up of ICU beds for Covid patients was just 83 short of the 1,050 capacity set aside for the region. France has tried to speed up its slow vaccination campaign but remains dogged by high infection rates. It has tried to avoid major lockdowns and its health director said on Tuesday one in Paris would be a “last resort”. Jérôme Salomon told RTL radio on Tuesday this was “not on the agenda” but that the situation was being monitored “day by day”.The head of the regional health authority in the Île de France, or greater Paris, region – France’s most populous at 12 million – said on Monday that it was “very tense”.(BBC)…[+]