Hundreds of Ethiopian Jews have been airlifted to Israel – the first of several thousand waiting to emigrate there in a long-running saga. Most of their community has lived in transit camps in Ethiopia for years as questions over their eligibility has dogged the process. The immigrants are related to Ethiopian Jews brought to Israel decades ago in a series of secret operations. Israel had been accused of delaying bringing the remaining group in. The issue gained greater urgency in recent weeks as fighting between the Ethiopian government and local forces in the Tigray region threatened to spread south to Gondar city, where most of the Jews are now housed.

A US mayor who flew off by private jet on holiday while urging residents to stay home is the latest politician to be accused of Covid-19 hypocrisy. Steve Adler, leader of Austin, Texas, went on a family getaway to Mexico as he told people to keep indoors amid spiralling virus caseloads. He recorded a video from the beach resort instructing residents back home: “This is not the time to relax.” But Mr Adler, a Democrat, denied violating his own regulations. He told the Austin American-Statesman, which revealed his trip: “There was no recommendation for people not to travel during that period of time. “Someone could look at me and say, ‘He travelled.’ But what they could not say is that I travelled at a time when I was telling other people not to travel.” According to the Austin American-Statesman, Mr Adler last month hosted an outdoor wedding reception with 20 guests for his daughter at an upmarket hotel in the city.(BBC)…[+]

Pressure is mounting on the UK and EU negotiating teams to finalise a post-Brexit trade deal. Talks went on late into Wednesday evening at the business department in central London. The two sides are urgently seeking compromises in key areas before current trading rules expire at the end of December. Fishing rights, competition rules and how an agreement should be enforced remain outstanding issues. The two sides have been locked in talks since March to determine their future relations once the UK’s Brexit transition periods ends on 31 December.(BBC)…[+]

The captain of a scuba-diving boat that was destroyed by fire last year off California has been charged with 34 counts of seaman’s manslaughter. Jerry Nehl Boylan caused the deaths of those aboard the Conception “by his misconduct, negligence and inattention to his duties”, says the indictment. Prosecutors allege the 67 year old failed to have a night watchman or conduct fire drills as required by law. All 33 passengers and a crew member sleeping below deck died. Family of five among dead in California boat fire.  Mr Boylan was among five crew members who managed to escape the blaze on the 75-ft (23m) vessel off Santa Barbara on 2 September 2019. He is expected to surrender to the authorities at a later date. Each charge of seaman’s manslaughter carries up to 10 years in federal prison.(BBC)…[+]

One of President Donald Trump’s earliest and most controversial moves was a travel ban on people from certain nations he said were deemed a security threat to the US. Joe Biden has promised this will be one of the first policies he reverses. The ban – which now applies to 13 countries – has survived many legal challenges, but for some families it has meant years of separation.(BBC)…[+]

When Molly Gibson was born in October of this year, it was 27 years in the making. The new-born baby’s embryo was frozen in October 1992, and stayed that way until February 2020, when Tina and Ben Gibson of Tennessee adopted the embryo. Molly is believed to have set a new record for the longest-frozen embryo to have resulted in a birth, breaking a record set by her older sister, Emma.

“We’re over the moon,” Ms Gibson said. “I still get choked up.” “If you would have asked me five years ago if I would have not just one girl, but two, I would have said you were crazy,” she said. The family struggled with infertility for nearly five years before Ms Gibson’s parents saw a story about embryo adoption on a local news station. “That’s the only reason that we share our story. If my parents hadn’t seen this on the news then we wouldn’t be here,” Ms Gibson, 29, said. “I feel like it should come full-circle.”(BBC)…[+]

A car has ploughed through a pedestrian area in the western German city of Trier, killing four people including a nine-week-old baby, police say. The driver, a 51-year-old local man, has been arrested. The prosecutor said the suspect had drunk a significant amount of alcohol. Authorities said they were not working on the assumption that the incident was politically or religiously motivated.

The city’s mayor described the scene as “horrible”.  Witnesses said people screamed in panic and some were thrown in the air by an SUV travelling at high speed in Trier’s Brotstrasse and Simeonstrasse streets towards the city’s famous Roman gate, the Porta Nigra. The incident happened at around 13:45 local time (12:45 GMT), and the suspect drove for 1km (0.62 miles) “hitting people at random on his way” before being stopped by a police car, Trier police spokesman Karl-Peter Jochem said earlier. Among the victims were two women, aged 25 and 73, a 45-year-old man and the baby.(BBC)…[+]

A Danish court has jailed two brothers for 14 years for murdering a friend on the holiday island of Bornholm last summer. The killing of Phillip Mbuji Johansen, who had a Danish father and Tanzanian mother, had stirred fears of racism. However, no charges of hate crime were brought, even through prosecutors said they could not rule it out. Magnus and Mads Moeller were found to have inflicted a prolonged and brutal attack on their victim. They were found to have inflicted 39 separate wounds on their 28-year-old victim on 23 June. Johansen’s legs were broken and he suffered burns, stab wounds and brain damage in a sustained bout of violence that lasted at least 15 to 20 minutes, the court ruled. The brothers had beaten him with a wooden pole and a bottle, stabbed him with a knife and pressed a knee against his neck. The forensic pathologist said she had never seen such severe injuries.(BBC)…[+]

Children under 16 with gender dysphoria are unlikely to be able to give informed consent to undergo treatment with puberty-blocking drugs, three High Court judges have ruled. The case was brought against Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, which said it was “disappointed” but immediately suspended such referrals for under-16s. The NHS said it “welcomed the clarity” the ruling would bring. One of the claimants, Keira Bell, said she was “delighted” by the judgment. Ms Bell, 23, from Cambridge, had been referred to the Tavistock Centre, which runs the UK’s only gender-identity development service (GIDS), as a teenager and was prescribed puberty blockers aged 16. She argued the clinic should have challenged her more over her decision to transition to a male as a teenager. In a ruling, Dame Victoria Sharp, sitting with Lord Justice Lewis and Mrs Justice Lieven, said: “It is highly unlikely that a child aged 13 or under would be competent to give consent to the administration of puberty blockers.(BBC)…[+]

Moderna is filing for US and European emergency regulatory approval of its coronavirus vaccine so that it can be recommended for widespread use. Regulators will look at trial data for the mRNA vaccine and decide if it is safe and effective enough to recommend for roll out. Clinical studies show the jab is more than 94% effective at protecting people from becoming ill with Covid-19. Pfizer, which has a similar jab, has already filed for the same US approval. UK regulators are also reviewing data on the Pfizer vaccine, as well as another type of Covid vaccine from AstraZenca and Oxford University for emergency approval. Moderna says it hopes to gain UK approval soon, now that it has trial data from 30,000 volunteers – including high risk groups like the elderly – that suggests it works.(BBC)…[+]