7 Apr, 2020 00:21 Australia’s highest court has tossed conviction of Cardinal George Pell, found guilty of historic child sex crime and sentenced to 6 years in prison. The cardinal, former Vatican treasurer, was once a close aid to Pope Francis. Source
World
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American pharmaceutical firms are meeting in London to work out treatments for coronavirus-stricken British PM Boris Johnson, who was sent to intensive care after his condition deteriorated over the weekend, the US president said. “We’re very saddened to hear that [Johnson] was taken into intensive care this afternoon. Americans are all praying for his recovery,” President Trump said at a press briefing on Monday, adding that […]
The suggestion by two French medical experts to test coronavirus vaccines in Africa is racist, appalling and a relic of colonial mentality, head of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said. Jean Paul Mira and Camille Locht brought up the issue during an appearance on the French TV channel LCI last week, pointing to the lack of masks, treatments and ventilators on the continent. […]
Uranus’ mysterious rotation pattern and its unusual rings have long puzzled scientists, but new research says that the planet’s peculiar properties are explained by a massive collision when the solar system was still young. The icy giant stands out in the solar system as it is the only planet that doesn’t rotate with its poles at 90 degrees to the axis of gyration, instead marching to […]
As The World Tackles COVID-19, The US Raises Pressure On Venezuela By Vijay Prashad, Paolo Estrada, Ana Maldonado and Zoe PC, Counterpunch. April 6, 2020 As The World Tackles COVID-19, The US Raises Pressure On Venezuela2020-04-062020-04-06https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/popres-shorter.pngPopularResistance.Orghttps://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2020/04/doj.jpg200px200px Above photo: William Barr speaks at the Department of Justice press conference on March 26, 2020. DOJ website. TAKE ACTION: Take a photo of yourself holding a sign that calls for […]
The EU is facing the biggest trial in its history, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned, urging impatient citizens to put aside thoughts of ending coronavirus-related restrictions and focus on survival as a bloc. “Germany can only do well if Europe is also doing well,” Merkel told reporters on Monday. “The answer can only be: more Europe.” EU member states have quarreled over border closures, medical […]
For those looking to brighten up their Wednesday evening on lockdown, literally and figuratively, there’s some good news coming over the horizon; the biggest and brightest of the spring’s full supermoons is due this week. A supermoon is a full moon or new moon that occurs when the satellite is within 90 percent of its closest approach to Earth, appearing seven percent larger and 15 percent […]
Hopes are growing that lockdown measures in Spain may be relaxed after figures suggested the country has “passed the peak” as tentative optimism moves across Europe. Spain will extend coronavirus testing to people showing no symptoms as new infection rates slow in the country, the country’s foreign minister announced. On Sunday, 647 deaths were reported over 24 hours – half the rate recorded during the previous […]
Small shops and markets in Austria could reopen under certain conditions next week, although tight lockdown restrictions will remain in place, the country’s chancellor has said, while other businesses could follow next month. Sebastian Kurz has rolled out a plan to “gradually open our society” after weeks of tough restrictions aimed at containing the spread of Covid-19. While the international situation is still “dramatic,” Austria could […]
The worldwide coronavirus pandemic has killed over 70,000 people to date, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally. With some 270,000 recovered cases globally, the number of active infections now stands at around 1.1 million. It took the virus just two days to pass yet another grim milestone, claiming another 10,000 lives globally since Saturday, and infecting some 150,000 more people, the JHU data shows. In a […]
Germany is pushing for the creation of a smartphone app that will monitor Covid-19 cases across the European Union. Its own plan to create a nationwide system has already raised eyebrows. The government is working with developers and testers to get the high-tech tool “to the point that we can bring it into widespread use among the population in the coming days or weeks,” Head of […]
Israeli authorities have announced that they will produce custom-made face masks to protect the religious in the country, who sport beards as part of their faith, from the coronavirus. In a move that will no doubt come as a relief to Israel’s religious faithful, there will be no orders issued by government to mow down their mutton chops, or curtail their chin curtains. Israeli authorities have […]
Sweden’s digitization minister blamed a flurry of anti-5G comments on the usual suspect – “Russian trolls” – but a closer look revealed that a local granny opposed to wireless radiation was behind the campaign. The controversy dates back to late-December 2019, when Anders Ygeman, the Swedish energy and digital development minister, lamented that he had fallen victim to some “Russian trolls.” Who else could flood his […]
The following letter was sent by Bob Rodriguez to his friends and colleagues yesterday, as well as to Bob Huebscher. Bob Rodriguez has graciously allowed us to publish it. Robert L. Rodriguez was the former portfolio manager of the small/mid-cap absolute-value strategy (including FPA Capital Fund, Inc.) and the absolute-fixed-income strategy (including FPA New Income, Inc.) and a former managing partner at FPA, a Los Angeles-based […]
The coronavirus pandemic calls for self-distancing, but people can still come together to do a good deed – one Georgian farmer and a group of local medics can vouch for that. Kako Jeiranashvili was in despair. The 63-year-old man had been growing tulips on his lot in Georgia’s eastern Kakheti region for years. The beautiful red flowers, which he sent to capital Tbilisi every spring, have […]
Authored by Gareth Porter via TheAmericanConservative.com, Just like today, brass and bureaucrats ignored warnings, and sent troops overseas despite the consequences. The U.S. military has been forced by the coronavirus pandemic to make some serious changes in their operations. But the Pentagon, and especially the Navy, have also displayed a revealing resistance to moves to stand down that were clearly needed to protect troops from the […]
A Berlin senator who accused the US of “piracy” by diverting a shipment of protective masks bound for the German capital has backtracked, and now says that no American firm was involved in the mix-up. But the masks remain missing. According to Berlin’s Senator for the Interior, Andreas Geisel, a shipment of protective masks left a 3M factory in China last week and arrived in Bangkok, […]
Some people just don’t get it when it comes to bans on partying and loitering amid the Covid-19 pandemic — you’ve certainly heard of this type in your country. Zambia’s police just found a “creative” way to force them to comply. Surrendering freedom — even in the face of a global pandemic — is a difficult thing to do. From the American spring breakers who brought […]
Half of humanity is currently under some form of lockdown, and governments the world over have handed out harsh penalties for anyone breaking the quarantine. But some officials seem to think the rules don’t apply to them. The Covid-19 coronavirus has infected more than 1.2 million people worldwide and killed 66,000. In an effort to slow the spread of the disease, governments have granted themselves unprecedented […]
By Gareth Wilson, award-winning journalist who’s covered South African news for 15 years. He specializes in security issues and has written for several publications globally and nationally. The South African ecotourism industry, globally popular for hunting and wildlife viewing, has been plunged into crisis amid the global shutdown, which can lead to a spike in wildlife poaching and farm attacks. The sudden stop in cash flow […]
As the world quests for Covid-19 panacea, treating actual patients with plasma harvested from those who recovered is touted as a promising cure for the fatal disease — but it still comes with big challenges, scientists say. It’s been months since the novel coronavirus started to rage across China, spilling over to other countries and infecting over a million people around the world, but there is […]
Perhaps the most under-reported statistic in the entire coronavirus pandemic passed an important milestone on Sunday as 250,000 were marked as having recovered from the illness. The onward march of the death toll and number of confirmed cases has prompted countless hours of media coverage, as the virus spread around the globe. However, the number of people who are officially recorded as having recovered from the […]
Rome is set to cautiously relax some of its lockdown restrictions when the pandemic slows down or stops its spread, while at the same time boosting health services to keep coronavirus at bay. Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza has outlined a five-step plan to allow his Covid-stricken country to outlast the fatal disease, which has claimed 15,362 lives to date. “There are difficult months ahead. Our […]
Christian evangelist Franklin Graham used an appearance on Fox News to suggest that the coronavirus is divine punishment for humanity turning its back against God. Speaking with Jeanine Pirro on Saturday night, Graham was asked to make sense of Covid-19’s worldwide devastation, and the Fox host wondered “How could God allow this thing to happen?” “Well, I don’t think it’s God’s plan for this to happen. […]