News of the World

[kyonides]

USA Section

New Yorker fires Jeffrey Toobin for exposing himself on Zoom

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54912610
Some time ago the New Yorker had claimed Toobin was taking some time off work but now they finally admit he was dismissed.
What worries me is that he still works for CNN.

New York and its latest Lockdown

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54906483

New York has introduced new restrictions aimed at curbing coronavirus, with Mayor Bill de Blasio warning it was the city's "last chance" to stop a second wave.
Bars, restaurants and gyms must close by 22:00 and people can only meet in groups of 10 or less.
On Wednesday a member of President-elect Joe Biden's Covid-19 advisory panel said a four to six week lockdown could bring the pandemic under control.
Dr Michael Osterholm said that the government could borrow enough money to cover lost income for businesses during a shutdown.

The question now is can New York handle the consequences of another extreme lockdown?

The same day, US infectious disease chief Dr Anthony Fauci offered some hopeful news. He said the new Covid vaccine by Pfizer was expected to go through an emergency authorisation process in the next week or so. Human trials suggest it is 90% effective.

Wasn't Fauci the expert telling people there was no way they could get a vaccine this year?

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China and its Allies

Bolsonaro hails suspension of Chinese vaccine trial

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-54883383

President Jair Bolsonaro has declared the suspension of a Brazilian trial for a Chinese covid vaccine as a "victory".
The trial was halted after a "severe adverse incident" - reported to be the death of a volunteer.
Brazilian health regulator Anvisa said the incident had taken place on 29 October but gave no further details.
However the head of the institute conducting the trials has told local media the person's death was not linked to the medical trial itself.

Bolsonaro already expressed his disbelief in the Chinese vaccine effectiveness and doesn't plan to purchase any of them. His joy wouldn't last long enough for trials were resumed already.

Chinese Vaccine Trials Resumed

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-54908537

The head of the institute conducting the trial said the death had no connection to the vaccine.
In a statement on Wednesday, Anvisa said it now had "sufficient information to allow vaccination to resume".
[Bolsonaro] has also engaged in a political fight with the governor of São Paulo, João Doria, who has publicly backed the trial.
The vaccine, developed by Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech, is one of several in final-stage testing globally. Sinovac says it is "confident in the safety of the vaccine".
Brazil's president has been open about his preference for the vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca.

Well, at least AstraZeneca is used to comply with the related regulations as far as we know so I don't blame Bolsonaro for his reaction.

Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers resign after China ruling

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-54899171

All Hong Kong's pro-democracy lawmakers have resigned after Beijing forced the removal of four of their colleagues.
On Wednesday Beijing passed a resolution allowing the city's government to dismiss politicians deemed a threat to national security.
Shortly afterwards the opposition lawmakers said they would leave the city legislature in solidarity.
BBC China correspondent Stephen McDonnell says the legislature was already stacked in favour of the pro-Beijing camp.

Since the communists could not convince the legislators to comply with Beijing's demands, they're allowing local authorities to chase them down. And nope, judges are no longer needed to kick them out. Curiously, BBC found out that four lawmakers were moderate and had never supported Hong Kong's independence.

Speaking to the media, Ms Lam said the four council members who were disqualified had already failed to meet the requirements to stand in the now postponed elections next year.

In other words, Beijing and Lam made sure they couldn't continue making laws even if their disqualification had failed. Bastards, they don't care about people's rights and healthy discussions on vital issues.

Blackpink: Why a K-pop girl band's panda cuddle has angered Chinese

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54902618

The clip appears innocent enough, but the scenes have provoked fury in China, where the treatment of pandas overseas can be a sensitive issue.
As anger grew, the band's label said the video had been taken down.

Why do they yell at the KPop band?

Only trained professionals are allowed to handle them, [Chinese wildlife groups] say.
The China Daily newspaper said there was "a risk of transmitting zoonotic infections as some of the members own pet dogs and cats".
Others said the girls wore too much make-up and touched the panda's mother without wearing masks and gloves.
Weibo, China's version of Twitter, saw millions of views on posts using the hashtag "Blackpink touched panda cub wrongly".

Do they fear the girls can infect the pandas with ?
Anyway you should keep in mind Chinese people LOVE pandas. It's their national symbol so to say.

China to clamp down on internet giants

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54898357

The regulations suggest increasing unease in Beijing with the growing influence of digital platforms.
The new rules could affect homegrown tech giants like Alibaba, Ant Group and Tencent, as well as food delivery platform Meituan.
Chinese tech shares were sharply lower after the proposed regulations were released on Tuesday.
The new rules will attempt to stop companies from sharing sensitive consumer data, teaming up to squeeze out smaller rivals and selling at a loss to eliminate competitors.

At the end their proposed changes don't really matter because the CCP can still access customer's private data at request based on their current legislation.

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International Section

Nagorno-Karabakh: Protesters in Armenia condemn 'treacherous' peace

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54903868

Protesters in Armenia's capital Yerevan have set a midnight (21:00 GMT) ultimatum for the prime minister to quit after he agreed a deal to end the fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Pressured by the opposition parties, the Armenian parliament is expected to hold an emergency session on Nikol Pashinyan's political future.
Under the Russian-brokered deal, Azerbaijan keeps areas it has captured.
Hundreds of Russian peacekeepers are already deployed in the disputed area.
Turkey's president said on Wednesday it had signed a deal with Russia to take part in "joint peace forces" to monitor the agreement.
In the past six weeks of fighting Azerbaijan has not only recaptured areas around the enclave but it has taken the key town of Shusha inside it too.

Even if rallies are forbidding, they keep asking for their president's resignation. Turkey's involvement worries me now.

Russian Covid vaccine shows encouraging results

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-54905330

Early results from trials of a Covid vaccine developed in Russia suggest it could be 92% effective.
The data is based on 20 cases of Covid-19 from 16,000 volunteers given the Sputnik V vaccine or a dummy injection.
The Sputnik V vaccine, developed at the National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology in Moscow, is currently going through phase III clinical trials in Belarus, UAE, Venezuela and India.

Poor Venezuelans! They've become Russia's guinea pigs or lab rats.
The only advantage the Russian solution offers would be that it doesn't need to be stored at very low temperatures. Pfizer's vaccine has to.

EU buys 300m doses of BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54902056

Deliveries are expected to start by the end of this year, the companies said.
But the EU refused to provide details on how the vaccine would be rolled out, insisting that "a number of steps" needed to be followed beforehand.
The companies plan to apply for emergency approval to use it by the end of November - and a limited number of people may get the vaccine this year.

European Health Commissioner clearly stated they would only distribute the vaccine once it's proven it's safe. Others think this process will start next quarter.

Tigray crisis: Local residents ordered to defend against Ethiopia army

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54911009
Now Tigray's authorities tell its people to arm themselves and face the federal government's troops. Ethiopian PM disregarded any requests for peace talks. And he was last year's Nobel Peace Prize winner...

Several wounded in Remembrance Day bomb attack at Saudi cemetery

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-54889545

Several people have been wounded in a bomb attack at a Remembrance Day ceremony attended by foreign diplomats in the Saudi city of Jeddah.
The embassies of France, Greece, Italy, the UK and the US said an improvised explosive device blew up at a cemetery for non-Muslims on Wednesday morning.
A joint statement strongly condemned the "cowardly attack".
Saudi authorities confirmed that a Greek consulate employee and a Saudi security officer had been hurt.
The BBC understands one British person suffered minor injuries.
Last month, a guard at the French consulate in Jeddah was stabbed and injured by a Saudi man

Now they gotta be urged to arrest people involved in the bomb attack or else those countries could take measures that might hurt Arabia's international credibility and investments.

Mexico women's protest: Outrage after police fired shots

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-54888105

There has been outrage in Mexico after police in the beach resort of Cancún fired shots during a protest against the killing of women.
Two people were injured by bullets and two more protesters were also hurt in the chaos which ensued.
The demonstrators were protesting following the murders of two women in Cancún over the weekend.
The police opened fire when the protesters tried to gain access to the city hall.
Video shows some of the protesters ripping off plywood boards which had been installed to barricade the entrance to the building.

I'm not in favor of police officers that shot people but let's take in consideration they wanted to force their entry into the city hall. They should have known that wouldn't be allowed, especially during a pandemic.

Child abuse: Australian police find 46 victims of 'global network'

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-54897937

Australian police say they have rescued 46 children and arrested 14 men after an investigation into an international child abuse network.
The victims were allegedly subjected to crimes including sexual abuse and other forms of exploitation.
The investigation also led to three arrests in the US and had identified suspects in Europe, Asia, Canada and New Zealand, authorities said.
All victims were aged between 16 months and 15 years old, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said. Sixteen of the victims had attended one childcare centre.
The 14 men faced a total of 828 child exploitation charges, as well as bestiality charges involving four animals.

I'm speechless.