NEW YORK: Most people arriving in New York state must quarantine for at least three full days before taking a coronavirus test, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Saturday (Oct 31) as he overhauled one of the strictest quarantine regimes for travellers in the United States. If that test comes back ...
Spain's prime minister on Saturday condemned a series of violent protests in cities across the country against restrictions imposed to curb the surge of COVID-19 after a six-month state of emergency came into action this week.
According to the head of bespoke buyer’s brokerage AWS Prime, which is setting up a new office in Singapore this month, heritage buildings provide a better return on investment (ROI) than buying off-plan new builds in bad locations.
PARIS: Some small shops and services, including a dog grooming salon, remained open on Saturday (Oct 31) in a small town outside Paris with support from their local mayor, amid signs of sporadic pushback against a new coronavirus lockdown in France. In Paris, mayor Anne Hidalgo also joined a ...
LEGAZPI, Philippines: Super Typhoon Goni slammed into the Philippines on Sunday (Nov 1) with authorities warning of "catastrophic" conditions in the region expected to receive the hardest hit, where nearly a million people have been evacuated. The strongest typhoon of the year so far made landfall ...
HARTFORD, Connecticut: The late Connecticut priest who founded the Knights of Columbus moved a step closer to possible sainthood with his beatification on Saturday (Oct 31), as authorised by Pope Francis. The celebration for the Rev Michael McGivney at the Cathedral of St Joseph in Hartford ...
Franco Smith praised "a good starting point" for his young Italy who pushed Six Nations champions England in the first half before falling to a 34-5 defeat and collecting a fifth wooden spoon in a row in Rome on Saturday.
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday (Oct 31) he respected Muslims who were shocked by cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad but that was no excuse for violence, as his officials ramped up security after a knife attack in a French church that killed three people this week. An ...
NEW YORK: Most people arriving in New York state must quarantine for at least three full days before taking a coronavirus test, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Saturday (Oct 31) as he overhauled one of the strictest quarantine regimes for travellers in the United States. If that test comes back ...
Spain's prime minister on Saturday condemned a series of violent protests in cities across the country against restrictions imposed to curb the surge of COVID-19 after a six-month state of emergency came into action this week.
According to the head of bespoke buyer’s brokerage AWS Prime, which is setting up a new office in Singapore this month, heritage buildings provide a better return on investment (ROI) than buying off-plan new builds in bad locations.
PARIS: Some small shops and services, including a dog grooming salon, remained open on Saturday (Oct 31) in a small town outside Paris with support from their local mayor, amid signs of sporadic pushback against a new coronavirus lockdown in France. In Paris, mayor Anne Hidalgo also joined a ...
LEGAZPI, Philippines: Super Typhoon Goni slammed into the Philippines on Sunday (Nov 1) with authorities warning of "catastrophic" conditions in the region expected to receive the hardest hit, where nearly a million people have been evacuated. The strongest typhoon of the year so far made landfall ...
HARTFORD, Connecticut: The late Connecticut priest who founded the Knights of Columbus moved a step closer to possible sainthood with his beatification on Saturday (Oct 31), as authorised by Pope Francis. The celebration for the Rev Michael McGivney at the Cathedral of St Joseph in Hartford ...
Franco Smith praised "a good starting point" for his young Italy who pushed Six Nations champions England in the first half before falling to a 34-5 defeat and collecting a fifth wooden spoon in a row in Rome on Saturday.
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday (Oct 31) he respected Muslims who were shocked by cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad but that was no excuse for violence, as his officials ramped up security after a knife attack in a French church that killed three people this week. An ...
Franco Smith praised "a good starting point" for his young Italy who pushed Six Nations champions England in the first half before falling to a 34-5 defeat and collecting a fifth wooden spoon in a row in Rome on Saturday.
WELLINGTON: America's Cup defenders Team New Zealand will appeal an independent arbitration panel decision that will limit fans' ability to watch next year's races from Auckland's waterfront. The panel earlier this month effectively cancelled the use of two of the five proposed race courses, which ...
Australia's bid for the 2027 Rugby World Cup got a boost on Saturday with an additional AUS$8.8 million (4.81 million pounds) in funding from the federal government as part of its wider efforts for post-coronavirus economic recovery.
Philadelphia's mayor has ordered a 9pm curfew for the second time in three nights to help quell riots, but he is delaying release of police bodycam footage of the shooting that led to the unrest until after the election.
The curfew will be in place until 6am Saturday, and only those who are going to work, seeking medical assistance or dropping off a mail-in ballot will be allowed to leave their homes, the city announced on Twitter. A similar curfew was imposed for Wednesday night, after Black Lives Matter protests escalated into riots that left 53 police officers wounded, dozens of businesses looted and ATMs around the city blown up on Monday and Tuesday.
A few updates on the recent unrest in our city and the safety preparations we are making: First, I have authorized a citywide curfew which will go into effect tonight at 9 p.m. through tomorrow at 6 a.m. https://t.co/vkiGux5tUL
The protests began after two police officers fatally shot a knife-wielding black man named Walter Wallace Jr. on Monday. Video recorded by a bystander shows the officers backpedaling as the 27-year-old Wallace moves toward them and ignores their commands to drop his knife.
Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police President John McNesby asked Wednesday that city officials quickly release all available evidence on the shooting to “support your officers, back your officers, and let's get a handle on this thing.” But Mayor Jim Kenney said Friday that he and the Wallace family agreed to release the bodycam footage and 911 audio of police being called to the scene on Nov. 4 “in the hope that it will provide enough time to ease tensions and release the recordings in a constructive manner.”
Kenney gave no explanation for why the day after Tuesday's election, specifically, was chosen for the release. The Wallace family, Kenney, Philadelphia's police commissioner and District Attorney Larry Krasner all agreed that releasing the evidence on Wednesday “is in the best interest of our city and its residents,” according to a joint statement.
Kenney has sought to appease protesters by blaming the unrest on “systemic racism” and promising actions to “bring true equity to our city.” Krasner was elected in 2017 with the help of $1.45 million in funding from billionaire George Soros and fired 31 prosecutors in his first week on the job as part of his plan to bring “transformational change” to Philadelphia's criminal-justice system.
The second curfew was ordered just as hundreds of Pennsylvania National Guard troops were setting up their positions in the city after being deployed by Governor Tom Wolf earlier this week. Kenney said the troops will be staged at government buildings and other infrastructure and may be sent to other key areas, such as business areas, as needed. He said their presence is unrelated to Tuesday's election, and the need for their continued deployment will be reviewed on a day-to-day basis.
The delay in releasing bodycam footage and 911 audio marks just the latest blow for Philadelphia police, who have been pelted with bricks and rocks this week and have seen at least 17 emergency vehicles torched or otherwise damaged. One officer was purposely run over by a large pickup truck. And Thursday, the City Council voted to ban police from using tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets during protests, leaving officers few options for non-lethal crowd-control tools.
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EU member states will be allowed to use only official EU-approved Covid-19 vaccines, Brussels said in response to remarks by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban that Budapest was negotiating for shots with Russia and China.
“There is no question that any vaccine that is, or could be, made available on the territory of the European Union would have to comply both with the quality standards that are expected for these types of products in the EU and follow the approval procedures” currently in effect, European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said at a press conference on Friday, asked about Orban’s comments.
While not calling out Orban by name, Mamer’s comments came after Hungarian PM said Budapest was talking to Beijing and Moscow and hoping to have two to three different vaccines by early next year.
The first shipment of vaccines should arrive in December or January, and Hungary will be able to “declare victory over the pandemic” by next spring, Orban said Friday in a radio interview.
It appears that Brussels will not allow Hungary to do so, however, as the bloc has signed agreements with AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, and Johnson and Johnson for “safe and effective vaccines” against the coronavirus, once they complete the clinical trials.
“We are not in negotiations with either Russian or Chinese companies,” Mamer added. “That is the European vaccine strategy. All member states have signed up to this process.”
Johnson & Johnson had paused its trials in mid-October, citing an “unexplained illness” in one of the participants. AstraZeneca had also halted their trials over a UK volunteer experiencing complications, but restarted them even after a Brazilian volunteer died on October 20.
Russia was the first in the world to register a coronavirus vaccine. Dubbed ‘Sputnik V,’ it is based on the adenoviral vector platform previously studied and considered safe, and is currently undergoing phase three trials. Moscow has applied for the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Emergency Use Listing program, which would allow accelerated approval of the vaccine for use.
Brussels and Washington have objected to the Russian vaccine, ostensibly on the grounds of safety. The US also appears to have leaned on governments to pressure them away from ‘Sputnik V’. On October 16, the US embassy in Kiev announced that Ukraine “will NOT be buying Russia’s [Covid-19] vaccine, which has not passed clinical trials for safety!”
Meanwhile, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed distrust of Western pharmaceutical companies, accusing them of being “all about profit.” Duterte said he would seek a deal to buy the vaccine from China or Russia, which Manila was prepared to pay for.
Some 2,000 doses of the Russian vaccine were sent to Venezuela in early October, after the authorities in Caracas asked for help due to US and EU sanctions ravaging the country’s healthcare system.
The virus, which was first detected in China in December 2019, quickly spread around the world, with the WHO declaring a pandemic in March. Almost 45.5 million people have been infected so far, with 1.18 million deaths attributed to the virus. Much of Europe and the US have locked down in an effort to slow the spread, with disastrous economic consequences.
The EU’s Mamer did acknowledge that “at some point” vaccines produced outside the bloc “may” be considered for distribution, but declined to elaborate.
Dunkin' Brands Group Inc has agreed to be acquired by Inspire Brands for US$11.3 billion including debt, the Wall Street Journal reported https://on.wsj.com/2TBt1o5 on Friday, bringing chains like Arby's and Dunkin' Donuts under the same umbrella in one of the largest restaurant deals.
Some investors are betting the technology and communications stocks that drove a massive rebound in U.S. markets this year will face a tougher slog in coming months, no matter whether Republican President Donald Trump or Democratic challenger Joe Biden wins Tuesday's election.
Australia's bid for the 2027 Rugby World Cup got a boost on Saturday with an additional AUS$8.8 million (4.81 million pounds) in funding from the federal government as part of its wider efforts for post-coronavirus economic recovery.
Dunkin' Brands Group Inc has agreed to be acquired by Inspire Brands for US$11.3 billion including debt, the Wall Street Journal reported https://on.wsj.com/2TBt1o5 on Friday, bringing chains like Arby's and Dunkin' Donuts under the same umbrella in one of the largest restaurant deals.
Some investors are betting the technology and communications stocks that drove a massive rebound in U.S. markets this year will face a tougher slog in coming months, no matter whether Republican President Donald Trump or Democratic challenger Joe Biden wins Tuesday's election.
Australia's bid for the 2027 Rugby World Cup got a boost on Saturday with an additional AUS$8.8 million (4.81 million pounds) in funding from the federal government as part of its wider efforts for post-coronavirus economic recovery.
Australia's bid for the 2027 Rugby World Cup got a boost on Saturday with an additional AUS$8.8 million (4.81 million pounds) in funding from the federal government as part of its wider efforts for post-coronavirus economic recovery.
Walmart has reversed course on a decision to yank firearms and ammunition from sales displays less than 24 hours after announcing the move amid a spate of looting in US cities. The company now says the unrest remained “isolated.”
The retail giant noted the about-face on Friday, saying guns would be returned to store shelves just one day after they were pulled, initially deemed a precautionary measure as heated anti-police brutality protests across the country erupted into riots and looting.
“After civil unrest earlier this week resulted in damage to several of our stores, consistent with actions we took over the summer, we asked stores to move firearms and ammunition from the sales floor to a secure location in the back of the store in an abundance of caution,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
As the current incidents have remained geographically isolated, we have made the decision to begin returning these products to the sales floor today.
Demonstrations in Philadelphia this week over the fatal police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr., a black suspect killed during a confrontation with officers, ignited several days of rioting and unrest in the city, which saw at least one Walmart location targeted for looting.
It is unclear what prompted the abrupt reversal from Walmart, as its announcement on Thursday also referred to “isolated civil unrest,” however as protests have begun to calm in Philadelphia and National Guard troops hit the streets, the company has apparently determined its vast cache of firearms and munitions is safe from plunder.
Fact-checkers appear to have been invoked only as an excuse to shadowban the New York Post story about Hunter Biden’s laptop, according to Facebook’s own statement and leaked internal moderation documents.
Earlier this month, the Post had obtained a hard drive belonging to the son of the current Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, and cited emails they found as indication of troubling business deals in Ukraine. Twitter responded by locking their account, but Facebook said it would “temporarily reduce distribution” of it.
According to Andy Stone, Facebook’s policy communications director, the story would have to be looked at by fact-checkers, which was part of a “standard process” to reduce the spread of “misinformation.”
On Friday, however, a Facebook statement seemed to confirm that no such review actually took place.
“As our CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified to Congress earlier this week, we have been on heightened alert because of FBI intelligence about the potential for hack and leak operations meant to spread misinformation,” a company spokesman said in a statement to the Guardian. “Based on that risk, and in line with our existing policies and procedures, we made the decision to temporarily limit the content’s distribution while our fact-checkers had a chance to review it.”
When that didn’t happen, we lifted the demotion.
The spokesman did not clarify whether the fact-checkers even attempted to verify the materials published by the Post, but no results of such a review have ever been published.
Moreover, the Guardian cited internal moderation documents that someone at Facebook leaked to them, indicating that the shadowban wasn’t part of a regular process. Instead, the documents purportedly showed the existence of a policy under which stories can be “manually enqueued” for suppression, citing the upcoming US elections as an “issue of importance” that justified such actions.
Who elected these people guardians of what is true?Facebook leak reveals policies on restricting New York Post's Biden story | Technology | The Guardian https://t.co/Tbng1r4Cdf
The documents also say that the standard practice is for Facebook AI to predict which content might contain misinformation, based on signals “including feedback from the community and disbelief comments,” in a sort of pre-crime enforcement straight out of dystopian science fiction.
There is also a de-facto “whitelist” of some 5,000 media outlets, called the “Alexa 5K,” whose content the AI ignores by default “under the assumption these are unlikely to be spreading misinformation.” The Post was apparently on that list, so the decision to suppress the story was made by actual Facebook employees, not an AI system flagging potential misinformation.
It worked, too. Data compiled by research firm NewsWhip and published in Newsweek last week showed that Facebook’s soft suppression was far more effective than Twitter’s outright censorship of the Post’s account, which was finally overturned on Friday.
On Facebook, the story reached only half as many readers as similar anti-Trump bombshells pushed by the mainstream media. Neither the claims by the New York Times about the president’s taxes nor the Atlantic’s repeatedly-refuted story about Trump calling US troops “suckers and losers” were flagged for fact-checking by either human moderators or Facebook’s AI.
Stone, Facebook’s policy director who announced the shadowban, is open about his history with the Democrats. His Twitter biography shows him working in the past for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Senator Barbara Boxer and Rep. Jerry McNerney, among others.
The ongoing protests against Covid-19 restrictions threaten “internal security,” Thuringia PM Bodo Ramelow told German media, suggesting terrorism and pogroms were taking shape at the hands of a right-wing/‘anti-vaxxer’ alliance.
The massive demonstrations against Berlin’s tightening pandemic control measures are starting to resemble “terrorism,” Ramelow told Tagesspiegel on Thursday, insisting the protests – and the fringe interests they brought together – were “a threat to internal security in our country.”
Ramelow, who is a member of The Left (Die Linke), pointed to a protest in which some marchers carried large photos showing Chancellor Angela Merkel and virologist Dr. Christian Drosten in concentration camp uniforms and chanted for them to be hung from lampposts as evidence the opposition to Merkel’s coronavirus regime was getting out of control.
Especially dangerous has been the way in which the demonstrations bring together far-right “Reichsburgers” (a fringe group of German monarchists) with “lateral thinkers” (Querdenken, a reference to a free-thinker group that has organized numerous protests against lockdowns) and “corona-deniers” with “anti-vaccination activists,” Ramelow continued.
The volatile mixture, he said, was “very dangerous.” He dismissed the notion that Germans would be vaccinated against their will and seemed disturbed that anyone would even consider the idea that Microsoft founder and billionaire vaccine evangelist Bill Gates was “now trying to force-vaccinate us.”
I observe pogrom-like moods in all these networks and conspiracy myths.
In the interview, Ramelow attempted to link last weekend’s arson attack on the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s federal disease control agency, to the anti-lockdown movement. However, the attackers – who were seen by security guards throwing molotov cocktails at the facility – have not been caught and no evidence has been produced to indicate a political motive. The facility was reportedly targeted with a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack by hackers several days before the firebombing.
The leftist politician also sought to link the anti-lockdown protesters to a bizarre act of vandalism earlier this month on Berlin’s Museum Island, a crime German media strove to pin on conspiracy theorists and the QAnon movement. Dozens of artworks and artifacts, including a reconstruction of an ancient Greek Pergamon altar, were defaced with an unknown “oily substance.”
Ramelow claimed the beliefs of the anti-lockdown protesters were part of an insidious undercurrent of “irrationalism” which was responsible for wild stories about the island.
“They say the Pergamon Altar is the Witches’ Sabbath,” the politician pointed out. Indeed, “they” say much more than that – former vegan celebrity chef Attila Hildmann has claimed that the altar is actually the nexus of the “global satanism scene,” even accusing Chancellor Angela Merkel of performing “human sacrifices” on it with her globalist pals. It is unclear how all this is related to the anti-lockdown protests, however.
German officials have sought to label anti-lockdown protesters as security threats before, in particular after the August incident in which a small faction of protesters marching in Berlin leaped over metal barricades and evaded riot police to “storm” the Reichstag building. To add to the political outrage that followed, some of the intruders were brandishing the imperial German flag popular with the Reichsburgers.
While the splinter group received the lion’s share of media attention, including grandstanding denunciations from Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and its political allies, this happened during a much larger demonstration. Tens of thousands more protesters massed near the Brandenburg Gate to show their opposition to the strict controls placed on Germans amid the pandemic, and mass protests mostly went without incident.
While Merkel pledged late last month not to enact a second economy-destroying nationwide lockdown, her government has steadily been applying more pressure as cases creep up. A partial lockdown is set to take effect next week, with restaurants, theaters, gyms, and swimming pools closing and private gatherings limited to 10 people. Schools will remain open.
Berlin has pointed to a steep uptick in Covid-19 cases to justify the crackdown, even though the rise has not been accompanied by a surge in deaths as happened during the initial wave of cases. A Bavarian testing lab was found to be churning out a stream of false positives earlier this week, with 58 of 60 tests wrongly diagnosed as infected. Economic Minister Peter Altmaier downplayed the issue, suggesting it was only a problem at that one facility.
SINGAPORE: 8,000 migrant workers will be housed in seven new Quick Build Dormitories (QBDs) that have improved living conditions, with eight more such dorms to be built by the second half of next year. The latest facilities, which are located at Kranji, Admiralty and Choa Chu Kang, began ...
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wound up a visit to Asia in Vietnam on Friday after a tour marked by his repeated calls for help for the United States in confronting security threats posed by China.
SINGAPORE: 8,000 migrant workers will be housed in seven new Quick Build Dormitories (QBDs) that have improved living conditions, with eight more such dorms to be built by the second half of next year. The latest facilities, which are located at Kranji, Admiralty and Choa Chu Kang, began ...
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wound up a visit to Asia in Vietnam on Friday after a tour marked by his repeated calls for help for the United States in confronting security threats posed by China.
McDonald's Corp was hit on Thursday with a potentially multi-billion dollar lawsuit by Black franchise owners who accused the fast-food giant of racial discrimination for steering them to underperforming stores.
With Universal Studios Singapore's HHN cancelled, why not try a walking tour of Singapore’s war sites, complete with creepy real-life tales. Don't forget to watch the video!
The cancellation of England's game against the Barbarians because of COVID protocol breaches made rugby a laughing stock and his team have a responsibility to put the smile back on fans' faces, England coach Eddie Jones said on Thursday.
A charity bout between former champions Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. next month is being billed as an exhibition but both boxers described it as war on Thursday, promising to hold nothing back even if they have to fight under women's rules.
Amazon.com Inc on Thursday reported record profit for the second consecutive quarter and forecast a jump in holiday sales, as consumers continued to shop more online during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
SINGAPORE: A 35-year-old woman and a five-week-old infant were found dead at the foot of a block of flats in Bedok on Thursday (Oct 29). The police were alerted to the incident at Block 81, Bedok North Road at around 5.45pm, the police told CNA early on Friday in response to queries. The woman ...
As he did every day, Vincent Loques, sexton of the Notre Dame church in the French city of Nice opened up the doors around 8.30am. There were few people around; the first Mass of the day was not due to start for another two hours.
New Zealand has revealed one of its citizens was among the women subjected to invasive pelvic examinations at Doha airport, labelling the action "completely unacceptable".
McDonald's Corp was hit on Thursday with a potentially multi-billion dollar lawsuit by Black franchise owners who accused the fast-food giant of racial discrimination for steering them to underperforming stores.
With Universal Studios Singapore's HHN cancelled, why not try a walking tour of Singapore’s war sites, complete with creepy real-life tales. Don't forget to watch the video!
China Evergrande Group has taken to seeking loans at above-average interest rates in the shadow banking market, where caution even there over its cash flow hints at an increasingly fraught effort to reduce the property sector's biggest debt.
A knife-wielding man killed three people at a church in southern France on Thursday (Oct 29), practically beheading a 60-year-old woman in what President Emmanuel Macron called an "Islamist terrorist attack".
The cancellation of England's game against the Barbarians because of COVID protocol breaches made rugby a laughing stock and his team have a responsibility to put the smile back on fans' faces, England coach Eddie Jones said on Thursday.
A charity bout between former champions Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. next month is being billed as an exhibition but both boxers described it as war on Thursday, promising to hold nothing back even if they have to fight under women's rules.
Amazon.com Inc on Thursday reported record profit for the second consecutive quarter and forecast a jump in holiday sales, as consumers continued to shop more online during the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The cancellation of England's game against the Barbarians because of COVID protocol breaches made rugby a laughing stock and his team have a responsibility to put the smile back on fans' faces, England coach Eddie Jones said on Thursday.
A charity bout between former champions Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. next month is being billed as an exhibition but both boxers described it as war on Thursday, promising to hold nothing back even if they have to fight under women's rules.
Former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has agreed to act as a consultant for struggling Australian rugby league side Canterbury Bulldogs in what the club called "an amazing coup".
Former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has agreed to act as a consultant for struggling Australian rugby league side Canterbury Bulldogs in what the club called "an amazing coup".
Asian stocks were set to join a global sell-off on Thursday as worries about surging coronavirus cases in Europe and the United States sent investors scrambling for safe-haven assets.
A US official on Wednesday played down China's threats to punish US companies for selling arms to Taiwan, saying that Beijing, not Washington, was jeopardizing regional stability.
SINGAPORE: Sengkang Town Council (SKTC) said on Wednesday (Oct 28) night it was unable to receive cash payments at its offices for service and conservancy charges due to IT issues. The Workers' Party (WP) took over the management of Sengkang GRC on Wednesday, following the handover of several ...
Exxon Mobil Corp on Wednesday kept its fourth-quarter dividend flat at 87 cents a share, signaling 2020 will be the first year since 1982 that the U.S. oil producer has not raised its shareholder payout.
Officials in the US city of Philadelphia announced a nighttime curfew Wednesday following two nights of unrest over the latest police killing of a Black man whose family said suffered from mental health issues.
NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks plunged on Wednesday (Oct 28) on rising worries about coronavirus lockdowns as France and Germany announced tough new restrictions and US cases continued to climb. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 3.4 per cent, or more than 940 points, to 26,519.95. The broad ...
IKEA's shopping malls business, one of the world's biggest, said its expansion plans remained on track with visitors quickly returning to its premises after the lifting of coronavirus-related lockdowns which had forced stores to close.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel ordered their countries back into lockdown on Wednesday (Oct 28), as a massive second wave of coronavirus infections threatened to overwhelm Europe before the winter.
Former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has agreed to act as a consultant for struggling Australian rugby league side Canterbury Bulldogs in what the club called "an amazing coup".
Asian stocks were set to join a global sell-off on Thursday as worries about surging coronavirus cases in Europe and the United States sent investors scrambling for safe-haven assets.
A US official on Wednesday played down China's threats to punish US companies for selling arms to Taiwan, saying that Beijing, not Washington, was jeopardizing regional stability.
SINGAPORE: Sengkang Town Council (SKTC) said on Wednesday (Oct 28) night it was unable to receive cash payments at its offices for service and conservancy charges due to IT issues. The Workers' Party (WP) took over the management of Sengkang GRC on Wednesday, following the handover of several ...
Exxon Mobil Corp on Wednesday kept its fourth-quarter dividend flat at 87 cents a share, signaling 2020 will be the first year since 1982 that the U.S. oil producer has not raised its shareholder payout.
Officials in the US city of Philadelphia announced a nighttime curfew Wednesday following two nights of unrest over the latest police killing of a Black man whose family said suffered from mental health issues.
NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks plunged on Wednesday (Oct 28) on rising worries about coronavirus lockdowns as France and Germany announced tough new restrictions and US cases continued to climb. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 3.4 per cent, or more than 940 points, to 26,519.95. The broad ...
IKEA's shopping malls business, one of the world's biggest, said its expansion plans remained on track with visitors quickly returning to its premises after the lifting of coronavirus-related lockdowns which had forced stores to close.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel ordered their countries back into lockdown on Wednesday (Oct 28), as a massive second wave of coronavirus infections threatened to overwhelm Europe before the winter.
Hungarian side Ferencvaros fought back from two-goals down to grab a well-deserved 2-2 draw against 10-man Dynamo Kyiv with substitute Franck Boli netting a late equaliser in their Champions League Group G clash on Wednesday.
Sevilla picked up their first Champions League win of the season with a 1-0 victory over Stade Rennais on Wednesday after outclassing the French side but managing to convert only one of the numerous clear chances they carved out.
Substitute Marcus Rashford scored a quickfire hat-trick for Manchester United as they overwhelmed Germany's RB Leipzig 5-0 at Old Trafford in Champions League group H on Wednesday.
Joaquin Correa scored early for a depleted Lazio but his side were held to a 1-1 draw by Club Brugge in an entertaining Champions League Group F clash at the Jan Breydel Stadion on Wednesday.
WASHINGTON: The presidential campaign of Donald Trump says its official website was defaced earlier on Tuesday (Oct 27) and that it is working with law enforcement to investigate the source of the attack. The campaign said in an emailed statement there was "no exposure to sensitive data because ...
The outlook for the U.S. economy has dimmed in the run-up to the presidential election, according to a Reuters poll which showed that a recent resurgence in novel coronavirus cases ran a high risk of halting the economic recovery.
Firefighters in Southern California reported little headway on Tuesday (Oct 27) against two explosive, wind-whipped wildfires that forced the evacuations of tens of thousands of residents and badly injured two crew members on the front lines.
WASHINGTON: First Lady Melania Trump on Tuesday (Oct 27) hit the campaign trail for her president husband for the first time on her own this year, praising him as a "fighter" and offering support to pandemic victims. Trump, 50, has been only a rare presence at her husband's campaign events, but ...
Firefighters in Southern California reported little headway on Tuesday (Oct 27) against two explosive, wind-whipped wildfires that forced the evacuations of tens of thousands of residents and badly injured two crew members on the front lines.
WASHINGTON: First Lady Melania Trump on Tuesday (Oct 27) hit the campaign trail for her president husband for the first time on her own this year, praising him as a "fighter" and offering support to pandemic victims. Trump, 50, has been only a rare presence at her husband's campaign events, but ...
The White House on Tuesday tamped down expectations for a major coronavirus relief package to be agreed upon by the Nov 3 US presidential election, saying House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was seeking too much.
MELBOURNE: Australia will kick off its international summer with limited overs series against India in Sydney and Canberra from Nov. 27 before the first test starts in Adelaide on Dec. 17, Cricket Australia said on Wednesday. Australia will play a three-match one-day international series followed ...
US President Donald Trump’s website has been taken offline after a fake ‘seizure’ notice was posted on multiple pages, claiming the president had ‘spreaded’ fake news and was ‘involved in the origin’ of the Covid-19 pandemic.
While it featured the FBI and Justice Department logos, the announcement was written in broken English and without capitalizations, according to screenshots posted on Tuesday evening.
“[We] have evidence that completely discredits mr trump as president,” the notice said, “proving his criminal involvment [sic] and coorperation [sic] with foreign actors manipulating the 2020 election.”
Trump's Campaign website hacked/defaced by someone who is sick of the "fake news spreaded daily" by the president. pic.twitter.com/035neUv7kc
It also claimed that “most internal and secret conversations strictly classified information is exposed proving that the trump-gov [sic] is involved in the origin of the corona virus.”
The hackers left a messaging blaming Trump for the origin of COVID
This has been a key message of Chinese disinformation all year
The notice appeared on multiple pages of the donaldjtrump.com site. Whoever was behind it posted two links to accounts of the cryptocurrency Monero, offering the public to pay them to share the alleged secret information, or not.
It was not up for long, however, as the site was quickly taken offline. As of 23:30 GMT, it was operational again, with no trace of the scam.
Soon after the website was restored, Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh acknowledged the hack, saying the site was “defaced,” but that “there was no exposure to sensitive data,” as none is actually stored on the campaign page. He added that the Trump team is now working with law enforcement to “investigate the source of the attack.”
NEW: Trump campaign says they their website was “defaced” and they are working with authorities to “investigate the source of the attack.”@TimMurtaugh says no sensitive information was compromised because “none of it is actually stored on the site.” pic.twitter.com/fi3jrw2FRC
The attack on the campaign website comes amid a series of alternative media stories accusing Trump’s rival Joe Biden of being involved in shady business arrangements in China spearheaded by his son Hunter. Mainstream media outlets have denounced the story as “Russian disinformation,” even though the US director of national intelligence said there was no evidence that was the case.
Last Monday, DNI John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Chris Wray accused Iran of sending fake emails posing as ‘Proud Boys’ and threatening Democrats in Alaska and Florida, and said Tehran had accessed some US voter information.
Back in 2016, Democrats accused Russia of hacking the DNC emails as well as the private email account of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta, which were released by WikiLeaks ahead of the election. The accusations set off years of witch-hunting for “foreign meddling” in US politics.
Back in August, someone had redirected the domain Antifa.com to point to Biden’s campaign site. The prank quickly attracted conspiracy theories about – what else – Russian involvement.
The White House on Tuesday tamped down expectations for a major coronavirus relief package to be agreed upon by the Nov 3 US presidential election, saying House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was seeking too much.
MELBOURNE: Australia will kick off its international summer with limited overs series against India in Sydney and Canberra from Nov. 27 before the first test starts in Adelaide on Dec. 17, Cricket Australia said on Wednesday. Australia will play a three-match one-day international series followed ...
Asian markets looked set for another weaker open on Wednesday as worries about a surge in coronavirus cases and dwindling hopes for a U.S. stimulus package kept investors gloomy.
Joe Biden flayed US President Donald Trump on Tuesday accusing his rival of surrendering to a surging pandemic, as the Democrat took his campaign to the Republican stronghold of Georgia one week before the US election.
As Tesla touts the cutting-edge nature of its new Full Self Driving software, rival Mercedes-Benz says it has developed a similar system but stops short of allowing members of the public to take it on urban roads.
The White House on Tuesday tamped down expectations for a major coronavirus relief package to be agreed upon by the Nov 3 US presidential election, saying House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was seeking too much.
MELBOURNE: Australia will kick off its international summer with limited overs series against India in Sydney and Canberra from Nov. 27 before the first test starts in Adelaide on Dec. 17, Cricket Australia said on Wednesday. Australia will play a three-match one-day international series followed ...
Asian markets looked set for another weaker open on Wednesday as worries about a surge in coronavirus cases and dwindling hopes for a U.S. stimulus package kept investors gloomy.
Joe Biden flayed US President Donald Trump on Tuesday accusing his rival of surrendering to a surging pandemic, as the Democrat took his campaign to the Republican stronghold of Georgia one week before the US election.
As Tesla touts the cutting-edge nature of its new Full Self Driving software, rival Mercedes-Benz says it has developed a similar system but stops short of allowing members of the public to take it on urban roads.
MELBOURNE: Australia will kick off its international summer with limited overs series against India in Sydney and Canberra from Nov. 27 before the first test starts in Adelaide on Dec. 17, Cricket Australia said on Wednesday. Australia will play a three-match one-day international series followed ...
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump's administration on Monday (Oct 26) slapped fresh sanctions on Iran's oil sector including over sales to Syria and Venezuela, reducing Joe Biden's room for maneuver if he wins next week's election. The Trump administration has since 2018 enforced sweeping ...
The United States on Monday announced it had approved a $2.4 billion sale of 100 Harpoon coastal defence systems to Taiwan, a move sure to anger Beijing following Washington's US$1 billion missile deal last week with the self-ruled island.
The Senate has confirmed Judge Amy Coney Barrett as the ninth justice of the US Supreme Court. The largely party-line vote comes a week before the election and fills the seat vacated by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Barrett was confirmed on Monday evening in a vote that was largely expected, with no Democrats in favor and most Republicans in favor, enough to clear the Senate in which President Donald Trump’s party enjoys a slight majority.
The final vote was 52 in favor to 48 opposed, with only Susan Collins (R-Maine) joining the Democrats to vote “no.”
Her swearing-in ceremony was already scheduled for later in the evening at the White House, presided over by Justice Clarence Thomas. Barrett is expected to join her colleagues on the bench as early as Tuesday.
Trump nominated Barrett after Ginsburg, a liberal stalwart on the court, suddenly passed away from cancer last month. Democrats opposed any nomination on principle, arguing that the nomination should go to the winner of the upcoming November 3 election. Republicans responded that with both the White House and the Senate majority, they had every right to fill the seat, and that even if Trump loses he will still hold office through January.
Democrats have tried to block the nomination through procedural votes and boycotting the October 22 Judiciary Committee meeting, but ran out of options over the weekend, when Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) successfully held a vote to end debate.
Barrett had already been confirmed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 55-43 vote in October 2017, when three Democrats voted to support her. She is Trump’s third justice on the Supreme Court, after Neil Gorsuch – appointed to replace the late Antonin Scalia in 2017 – and Brett Kavanaugh, who filled the seat left open by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy in October 2018.
Gorsuch’s appointment was greeted bitterly by the Democrats, as Republicans had blocked President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to fill the seat left by Scalia’s sudden death. Kavanaugh’s confirmation was almost derailed by allegations of sexual misconduct that Democrats made public after his committee hearings were done, but which they could ultimately not prove. The bitter fight to confirm the justice led to Republicans gaining two seats in the Senate in the 2018 midterms.
Responding to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York), who has repeatedly called Barrett’s confirmation “illegitimate,” McConnell said right before the floor vote that the US is a constitutional republic where “legitimacy does not flow from their feelings.”
While Joe Biden has denied wanting to “pack” the court – expand its size beyond nine – a number of prominent Democrats have called on their presidential candidate to do just that should he win next week.
Washington will “eliminate” any long-range missiles shipped to Venezuela from Iran, the US envoy to both countries warned after an arms embargo on Tehran expired this month – but offered no evidence a single sale has taken place.
“The transfer of long-range missiles from Iran to Venezuela is not acceptable to the United States and will not be tolerated or permitted,” Elliott Abrams, the State Department Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela told Fox News on Monday.
We will make every effort to stop shipments of long-range missiles, and if somehow they get to Venezuela they will be eliminated there.
While providing no evidence that such arms transfers have already occurred and unable to show that any shipments are imminent, Abrams nonetheless insisted Venezuela would be an “obvious target” for Iranian weapons sales, as the “two pariah regimes” have “a relationship.”
The envoy’s threat comes as Washington also slapped sanctions on “key actors” in Iran’s oil sector on Monday – including the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum – citing their alleged support for the country’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite military unit the US classifies as a terrorist group.
Treasury Department officials charged that an “IRGC-led network” used Iranian vessels to ship some 10 million barrels of crude oil, “mostly destined for the [Bashar] Assad regime” in Syria. The department also designated four individuals accused of involvement in “the recent sale of Iranian gasoline to the illegitimate Maduro regime in Venezuela,” as well as the UAE-based Mobin International Limited, which it said had ties to Caracas’ state-owned oil firm.
The stepped up sanctions follow the creation of Venezuela’s “Scientific and Technological Military Council,” announced by President Nicolas Maduro on Friday in a move he said would protect his country’s “independence” in the face of US sanctions.
“Despite all the blockade and sanctions, we continue to equip the Armed Forces to be ready for the military defense of our land,” Maduro said last week.
On Friday, Iran blacklisted a trio of American diplomats over “terrorist acts” – citing their support for the crippling US sanctions regime and involvement in the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani earlier this year – Tehran’s latest act of retaliation in a tit-for-tat scrap with Washington in recent weeks.
Tensions have flared between the two countries since a 13-year UN arms embargo on Iran expired on October 18, an event hailed as a “momentous day” by the Islamic Republic. The lapse of the weapons ban came as a blow to the Trump administration, which exerted enormous pressure in the UN Security Council to keep the embargo alive, including efforts to revive dormant “snapback” sanctions on Iran. The attempts ultimately failed, however, with most Security Council members refusing to go along with Washington’s push to extend the embargo indefinitely.
The Trump administration has similarly pursued a pressure campaign on Caracas, imposing a steady stream of sanctions on the country while openly supporting Maduro’s political opposition, led by figurehead Juan Guaido, who for a time was accepted as Venezuela’s “interim president” in Washington. The US State Department, moreover, has offered a $15 million reward for any information leading to Maduro’s arrest, after the Department of Justice charged the Bolivarian leader with “narco terrorism.”
Charles Schwab Corp said on Monday it is laying off about 1,000 positions in the combined workforce of Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade to streamline and reshape their branch network.
The United States on Monday announced it had approved a $2.4 billion sale of 100 Harpoon coastal defence systems to Taiwan, a move sure to anger Beijing following Washington's US$1 billion missile deal last week with the self-ruled island.
Asian markets look set to continue a downward path on Tuesday after soaring global coronavirus cases and shrinking hopes for a U.S. stimulus deal took a toll on Wall Street and drove up the U.S. dollar.
Residents will now be allowed to collect their TraceTogether tokens only from their own constituency community centres, said the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO) in a news release late on Monday (Oct 26).
KUALA LUMPUR: The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) will maintain its support for Muhyiddin Yassin's government, it said early Tuesday morning (Oct 27) after a supreme council meeting on Monday night. UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that the council agreed the party would ...
The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) on Monday delayed a decision in a trade secrets case involving South Korean battery makers LG Chem Ltd and SK Innovation Co Ltd to Dec. 10.
The US Environmental Protection Agency is considering changes to labels for gasoline containing higher blends of ethanol, or E15, in an effort to appease the biofuel industry's concerns that current labels discourage use of the fuel, according to four sources familiar with the matter.
Charles Schwab Corp said on Monday it is laying off about 1,000 positions in the combined workforce of Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade to streamline and reshape their branch network.
The United States on Monday announced it had approved a $2.4 billion sale of 100 Harpoon coastal defence systems to Taiwan, a move sure to anger Beijing following Washington's US$1 billion missile deal last week with the self-ruled island.
Asian markets look set to continue a downward path on Tuesday after soaring global coronavirus cases and shrinking hopes for a U.S. stimulus deal took a toll on Wall Street and drove up the U.S. dollar.
Residents will now be allowed to collect their TraceTogether tokens only from their own constituency community centres, said the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO) in a news release late on Monday (Oct 26).
KUALA LUMPUR: The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) will maintain its support for Muhyiddin Yassin's government, it said early Tuesday morning (Oct 27) after a supreme council meeting on Monday night. UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said that the council agreed the party would ...
The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) on Monday delayed a decision in a trade secrets case involving South Korean battery makers LG Chem Ltd and SK Innovation Co Ltd to Dec. 10.
The US Environmental Protection Agency is considering changes to labels for gasoline containing higher blends of ethanol, or E15, in an effort to appease the biofuel industry's concerns that current labels discourage use of the fuel, according to four sources familiar with the matter.
Serie A leaders AC Milan dropped their first points of the season, despite a Zlatan Ibrahimovic brace, when a defiant AS Roma came from behind three times to draw 3-3 in an enthralling game at San Siro on Monday.
The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a body blow to the quantitative model-based style of investing, with a majority of the firms using such strategies negatively impacted, a study by Refinitiv has found.
US President Donald Trump's administration has insisted on the need to ban TikTok due to national security concerns in a new court filing ahead of a plan to make the video app unavailable on November 12.
Australia's Victoria state said on Monday (Oct 26) it had gone 24 hours without detecting any new COVID-19 cases, a milestone last achieved four months ago, raising hopes that a stringent lockdown of Melbourne will be eased.
DOHA: Female passengers flying from Qatar were subjected to invasive searches after a premature baby was found abandoned in an airport bathroom, in an incident labelled "offensive" and "grossly inappropriate" by Australia's government. Airport officials have not denied the incident, saying women ...
The US State Department said on Sunday (Oct 25) it has suspended employee training programs related to diversity and inclusion, confirming a Reuters exclusive a day before, but affirmed its commitment to fostering a more diverse workplace.
US President Donald Trump's administration has insisted on the need to ban TikTok due to national security concerns in a new court filing ahead of a plan to make the video app unavailable on November 12.
Australia's Victoria state said on Monday (Oct 26) it had gone 24 hours without detecting any new COVID-19 cases, a milestone last achieved four months ago, raising hopes that a stringent lockdown of Melbourne will be eased.
DOHA: Female passengers flying from Qatar were subjected to invasive searches after a premature baby was found abandoned in an airport bathroom, in an incident labelled "offensive" and "grossly inappropriate" by Australia's government. Airport officials have not denied the incident, saying women ...
The US State Department said on Sunday (Oct 25) it has suspended employee training programs related to diversity and inclusion, confirming a Reuters exclusive a day before, but affirmed its commitment to fostering a more diverse workplace.
US President Donald Trump's administration has insisted on the need to ban TikTok due to national security concerns in a new court filing ahead of a plan to make the video app unavailable on November 12.
Australia's Victoria state said on Monday (Oct 26) it had gone 24 hours without detecting any new COVID-19 cases, a milestone last achieved four months ago, raising hopes that a stringent lockdown of Melbourne will be eased.
DOHA: Female passengers flying from Qatar were subjected to invasive searches after a premature baby was found abandoned in an airport bathroom, in an incident labelled "offensive" and "grossly inappropriate" by Australia's government. Airport officials have not denied the incident, saying women ...
The US State Department said on Sunday (Oct 25) it has suspended employee training programs related to diversity and inclusion, confirming a Reuters exclusive a day before, but affirmed its commitment to fostering a more diverse workplace.
US President Donald Trump's administration has insisted on the need to ban TikTok due to national security concerns in a new court filing ahead of a plan to make the video app unavailable on November 12.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday (Oct 25) called for global solidarity in the rollout of any future coronavirus vaccine, as the number of cases soared across the world.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Sunday (Oct 25) the cabinet would discuss King Al-Sultan Abdullah's rejection of his request that a state of emergency be declared in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The king said earlier on Sunday that he did not see the need for ...
Nigerian authorities struggled to halt looting across the country on Sunday as crowds defied curfew orders to ransack government warehouses in the latest in a wave of unrest sweeping Africa's most populous nation.
ABU DHABI: Khabib Nurmagomedov called time on his mixed martial arts career following a second-round submission win over Justin Gaethje on Saturday (Oct 24), leaving his gloves in the centre of the octagon to fulfil a promise to his mother. He wore down his opponent with his constant forward ...
World number three Justin Thomas birdied two of his final three holes to grab a one-shot lead over Jon Rahm at the Zozo Championships on Saturday and set up a final round showdown with the Spanish world number two.
ABU DHABI: Khabib Nurmagomedov called time on his mixed martial arts career following a second-round submission win over Justin Gaethje on Saturday (Oct 24), leaving his gloves in the centre of the octagon to fulfil a promise to his mother. He wore down his opponent with his constant forward ...
SYDNEY: Victoria state, Australia's COVID-19 hotspot, on Sunday (Oct 25) delayed the eagerly awaited removal of strict lockdown restrictions for cafes, restaurants and pubs in the capital Melbourne because of an outbreak in the northern suburbs. The restrictions have kept most retail businesses in ...
SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook has demanded that New York University pull the plug on a research project into the platform's targeting practices for political ads, saying it is a violation of terms to collect user data. "A week ago, Facebook sent me a (cease and desist order) asking us to take down ...
World number three Justin Thomas birdied two of his final three holes to grab a one-shot lead over Jon Rahm at the Zozo Championships on Saturday and set up a final round showdown with the Spanish world number two.
ABU DHABI: Khabib Nurmagomedov called time on his mixed martial arts career following a second-round submission win over Justin Gaethje on Saturday (Oct 24), leaving his gloves in the centre of the octagon to fulfil a promise to his mother. He wore down his opponent with his constant forward ...
SYDNEY: Victoria state, Australia's COVID-19 hotspot, on Sunday (Oct 25) delayed the eagerly awaited removal of strict lockdown restrictions for cafes, restaurants and pubs in the capital Melbourne because of an outbreak in the northern suburbs. The restrictions have kept most retail businesses in ...
SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook has demanded that New York University pull the plug on a research project into the platform's targeting practices for political ads, saying it is a violation of terms to collect user data. "A week ago, Facebook sent me a (cease and desist order) asking us to take down ...
GENEVA: An international treaty banning nuclear weapons has been ratified by a 50th country - Honduras - allowing it to enter into force after 90 days, a UN official said Saturday (Oct 24). While nuclear-armed powers have not signed up to the treaty, its proponents hold out hope that it will ...
CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio: United States President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden gave starkly contrasting messages on Saturday (Oct 24) about the COVID-19 pandemic, taking their campaigns for the White House on the road to swing states where COVID-19 cases are surging again. Trump ...
SYDNEY: Victoria state, Australia's COVID-19 hotspot, on Sunday (Oct 25) delayed the eagerly awaited removal of strict lockdown restrictions for cafes, restaurants and pubs in the capital Melbourne because of an outbreak in the northern suburbs. The restrictions have kept most retail businesses in ...
SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook has demanded that New York University pull the plug on a research project into the platform's targeting practices for political ads, saying it is a violation of terms to collect user data. "A week ago, Facebook sent me a (cease and desist order) asking us to take down ...
GENEVA: An international treaty banning nuclear weapons has been ratified by a 50th country - Honduras - allowing it to enter into force after 90 days, a UN official said Saturday (Oct 24). While nuclear-armed powers have not signed up to the treaty, its proponents hold out hope that it will ...
CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio: United States President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden gave starkly contrasting messages on Saturday (Oct 24) about the COVID-19 pandemic, taking their campaigns for the White House on the road to swing states where COVID-19 cases are surging again. Trump ...
GENEVA: An international treaty banning nuclear weapons has been ratified by a 50th country - Honduras - allowing it to enter into force after 90 days, a UN official said Saturday (Oct 24). While nuclear-armed powers have not signed up to the treaty, its proponents hold out hope that it will ...
CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio: United States President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden gave starkly contrasting messages on Saturday (Oct 24) about the COVID-19 pandemic, taking their campaigns for the White House on the road to swing states where COVID-19 cases are surging again. Trump ...
BOGOTA: Colombia on Saturday (Oct 24) surpassed the benchmark of 1 million cases of COVID-19 registered in the country since the beginning of the pandemic, the health ministry announced. The last 24 hours saw 8,769 new infections, bringing the total to 1,007,711 since the first case was detected ...
The British Home Office has reportedly launched an investigation after students in Coventry raised questions about whether their new classmate – an asylum-seeker who is balding and looks about 40 – is really 15 as claimed.
Parents' fears were raised after students came home from school earlier this month saying the new pupil, purported to be a boy from Gambia, looked far too old to be in their class, the Sun newspaper reported. The issue came to a head after teachers summoned the mother of a girl who posted photos of the man on social media and questioned his age.
The teachers were concerned that posting the images might be considered bullying.
According to the Sun, the girl's mother told the teachers, "You can't really blame the children. He looks about 40."
She added, "He's got a receding hairline for God's sake."
Under government guidelines, individual asylum-seekers who show up in the UK without a passport or birth certificate and claim to be under 18 are typically treated as minors unless their appearance and demeanor suggest they are over 25. The system is rife for abuse because child refugees receive more support than adults, including being allowed to attend school, and can't be forcibly removed from the country until they turn 18.
One such case involved an Iranian asylum-seeker who claimed to be 15 and attended school in Ipswich for six weeks, until being outed as an adult in 2018. He was only removed from the school after parents of his upset classmates threatened a boycott. He attended the school with children as young as 11. Other students reportedly found pictures of the man on Facebook, where he was bearded, had a hairy chest and held a bottle of beer in his hand.
The Home Office is investigating the Coventry case, involving the student from Gambia, "urgently," the Sun reported. A government spokesperson, cited by the tabloid, acknowledged that the asylum system is "broken and in drastic need of reform."
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Police have ruined what was slated to become a massive fetish party in downtown Berlin, swooping on the gathering as it was in full swing. Officers said that the participants were in violation of the Covid-19 restrictions.
“For around 600 guests at a fetish party in Mitte [a central borough in Berlin], it probably ended unsatisfactorily,” police reported in a tongue-in-cheek message on Twitter late on Saturday.
Local law enforcement pooled forces with the federal police to swoop on the party, which was taking place both inside and outside the venue.
Apparently, not all the revellers took the notice immediately, with Berlin police saying that their colleagues from the federal law enforcement were forced to “make it clear again that it was time to go home.”
While it’s unclear if the event was official, and if any tickets or invitations had been distributed in advance, the organizer of the party is expected to be served with a complaint, Der Tagespiegel reported, citing police.
Police, which have ramped up its onslaught on those violating the coronavirus restrictions during night hours, accused the party goers of running afoul of hygiene measures imposed to stem the spread of the disease.
The revellers reportedly did not wear masks and failed to follow social distancing guidelines, with too many of them congregating in far too narrow a space.
Not all the netizens, however, were not in a hurry to take police allegations at face value, with some quick-witted commentators arguing that they can hardly imagine a “fetish party” without such a befitting accessoire as a face mask.
“Masks are certainly worn at fetish party,” a commenter said.
Some, however, took the incident quite seriously, suggesting that merely sending the offenders home is not enough of a punishment.
“Just go home? Hopefully after the personal details have been established,” one commenter said, responding to the police statement.
“People have been practicing social distancing for months, avoiding meetings with friends and family - and then seeing this horde of "lacquer" monkeys ... unbelievable,” another charged.
Up to 1,000 people can gather for public events held indoors in Berlin, provided they follow social distancing and hygiene rules. The number of participants at outdoor events is capped at 5,000.
At the same, there are no limits on the number of people allowed at religious gatherings or protests. Face masks are compulsory if more than 100 people are expected to turn out at a rally, however.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) disease control center described the coronavirus situation in Germany as “very serious” on Thursday, as the number of daily infections has been on the rise. Some 418,005 people tested positive for Covid-19 in Germany since the start of the pandemic as of Saturday, including more than 10,000 people who succumbed to the disease.
