Earp Distilling Co. brings home four World Gin Awards

Having opened their doors a little over a year ago, Newcastle’s family-owned distillery, Earp Distilling Co. is already receiving international recognition.

Shining a spotlight on the quality and flavour of Australian craft gins, Earp Distilling Co. took home a total of four medals at the World Gin Awards for 2021.

The Awards received included;

Just Juniper receiving Gold in the London Dry Gin Category,

8 Dry Gin receiving Silver in the London Dry Gin Category,

Barrel Aged Portside Gin receiving Silver in the Matured Gin Category, and

Portside Gin receiving Bronze in the Navy Strength Gin Category

Founder and Distiller, Michael Earp said this recognition is an honour and a testament to their many years of hard-work and attention to detail.

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Ask Fuzzy: Are electronic cigarettes a gateway to tobacco smoking?

Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, have been growing in popularity in Australia and across the globe. While there has been significant interest in the direct health impacts of e-cigarettes, the potential for e-cigarettes to lead to tobacco smoking has also garnered much attention.

Accounting for more than 10 per cent of deaths worldwide, tobacco smoking is one of the greatest threats to health, known to cause cancer, diabetes and heart and lung disease. Due to the seriousness of the harms caused by tobacco smoking, helping smokers quit and preventing the uptake of smoking is a significant priority.

So, do e-cigarettes lead to smoking?

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UK's elite schools face a reckoning on rape culture

London (CNN)Nine years after being assaulted by a boy she alleges was a student at Eton College, Zan Moon can still remember the moment as if it was yesterday.

"I can picture the hallway where it happened, his hands around my neck choking me," she says. "Then he put his hands down my pants... It was painful. I told him to stop."

Moon says the five-hour attack took place outside of school in a secluded cottage on England's South Coast, rented for the weekend by a friend at the elite girls' boarding school she attended: Benenden. She was 15 then.

Boys from the two all-male schools the girls often socialized with -- Eton and Tonbridge -- were also there and saw her fight her aggressor off multiple times. Yet no one intervened, she says.

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Italy makes vaccines compulsory for health workers. But some are unconvinced

Rome (CNN)Italy's government has passed a decree making vaccination mandatory for all healthcare and pharmacy workers with the aim of protecting medical staff, patients and vulnerable people. Healthcare workers who refuse the vaccine will be reassigned where possible to roles where they are not in contact with patients. 

Where that is not an option they now face being suspended without pay. The Italian Federation of Doctors and Dentists argues that the government should have gone further and made the legal procedure to suspend non-vaccinated workers easier and faster. 

However, a minority in the healthcare community remain strongly opposed to compulsory vaccination. It remains unclear whether the decree is constitutional, and many believe that future legal cases on the Covid vaccines are likely.

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Capitol attack shatters sense of calm, raising fresh questions about security

The alert of another violent attack on the US Capitol grounds sent shockwaves through Washington, DC, Friday -- shattering the sense of relative calm at the start of the holiday weekend and reminding everyone that a nation just beginning to crawl out from under the pandemic's long shadow is also still under threat nearly three months after the January 6 insurrection.

In the weeks since former President Donald Trump left office and President Joe Biden took command, the seat of government had begun to take on a tenor of something akin to a humming efficiency. Covid-19 vaccinations are accelerating at an ever-increasing clip.

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Europe is torn over whether to take Putin's help on vaccines

Europe's lackluster vaccination program has presented one of the continent's greatest foes with a golden opportunity to score a serious diplomatic victory.

Earlier this week, the Kremlin released a readout from a video conference between French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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Capitol attack aftermath, Easter Sunday, NCAA tournaments: 5 things to know this weekend

Less than three months after rioters stormed the Capitol, police Chief Yogananda Pittman announced another loss in the department's rank on Friday. A man rammed a vehicle into a barricade shielding the property’s north side, killing officer William "Billy" Evans, an 18-year member of the force. Another officer was injured. "We know what a difficult time this has been for the Capitol, everyone who works there, and those who protect it," President Joe Biden said. The latest attack is expected to reignite a debate in Congress over how to fortify the nation's seat of democracy. 

Suspect in the attack: 25-year-old man went from jock to posting about paranoia, extremist groups

US Capitol complex locked down after car rams into security barricade

Friday's attack is the latest violence at the US Capitol, the site of shootings, bombings and riots over the last 50 years.

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COVID-19 vaccines may reduce transmission, experts say, but vaccinated Americans still need to wear masks in public. Here's why.

When COVID-19 vaccinations began, U.S. health officials encouraged vaccinated Americans to continue wearing masks in public because scientists were still unsure if they could carry the virus that causes the disease after being inoculated. 

Recent results from real-world studies show theCOVID-19vaccines protect against asymptomatic infection, suggesting they also drastically reduce virus transmission. 

But health experts still recommend wearing masks in public, regardless of vaccination status, as more research is needed to confirm whether vaccinated people can spread the virus, and asvariants become more prevalent in the U.S. and states see cases spikes.

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