San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco on Tuesday will lift indoor mask requirements for offices, gyms and other so-called “stable cohorts” where everyone is vaccinated - bringing the city’s mask rules for these settings back to where they were in December, before the omicron variant of the coronavirus spread.
This time, everyone in those settings must also be boosted, if eligible, in order to go maskless. Prior to the omicron wave, people had to be fully vaccinated but not boosted.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court appears ready to narrow the scope of the Clean Water Act, eliminating protections for many inland streams and wetlands that feed rivers, lakes and bays. But California is also ready - thanks to former president Donald Trump.
When Mr Trump tried to roll back federal regulation of inland waterways toward the end of his term, California stepped in with new pollution controls designed to protect those waters within the state’s borders - regulations that would largely fill the gap the Supreme Court seems poised to create by mid-2023.
New Zealand Herald
Air New Zealand pilots were reportedly stuck on a damaged aircraft in Hong Kong for hours after being forced to divert to the territory.
Authorities refused entry of the crew into Hong Kong - which has strict entry protocols - after the Boeing 787 freight flight diverted from Guangzhou on the Chinese mainland with a cracked windscreen. The aircraft had taken off from Christchurch on Wednesday.
While the crew is now back home, New Zealand Air Line Pilots Association president Andrew Ridling described the situation as challenging. "The unexpected arrival of an aircraft and its crew into Hong Kong presented some serious challenges with how the crew were subsequently handled. The Hong Kong authorities refused to process the crew which left them in a position of having to remain on the aircraft until a suitable extraction opportunity was presented."
Corriere Della Sera, in Italy
Prime minister Mario Draghi has reportedly phoned tycoon and former leader Silvio Berlusconi to wish him a speedy recovery after an illness. Mr Berlusconi has apparently been hospitalised in San Raffaele due to a urinary tract infection, but his conditions are not considered serious.
On the phone he is said to hear from very few people, but he remains in contact with the faithful to be informed about the news regarding the election of a new president of the republic.
Before this hospitalisation, Mr Berlusconi had announced his candidacy for president. According to the newspaper, his brother Paolo went to visit him, having just recovered from Covid. He is reported as saying: "We talked about Monza [football team], which means that he is better after the blow."
The Canberra Times, Australia
The newspaper reports that "fruit loop" politicians who undermine federal election results "using tactics seen in recent overseas elections" will be called out for "pathetic" behaviour, according to the electoral commission head.
Robust integrity measures and a healthy nationwide trust in strong democratic systems should leave Australians confident the election is in good hands, Tom Rogers said.
The Australian Electoral Commission is preparing for all possibilities and remains on stand-by as it prepares to undertake the most expensive federal election to date in the coming months. It will also mark the first federal election to be held during the Covid-19 pandemic when it is called ahead of a May 21 deadline.
Le Soleil, a French language newspaper in Quebec, Canada
One of the paper's lead stories is about a waste incinerator plant. It says: "The Bureau of Public Hearings on the Environment (BAPE) believes that the City of Quebec should monitor the toxic discharges from its waste incinerator much more closely.
"Also study the long-term effect on the health of neighbourhood residents. This at the very moment when the administration admits that there have been failures, that non-standard levels of nitrogen oxide, chlorobenzene, dioxins and furans have been detected."
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