Society's Child

WHO bumps coronavirus threat assessment to 'very high' global risk - and other recent developments

RT
Fri, 28 Feb 2020 22:09 UTC

© Reuters / Denis Balibouse
World Health Organization holds daily news briefing on coronavirus, in Geneva on February 28.

World Health Organization (WHO) is now worsening its risk assessment of the coronavirus to a "very high" on the global level. The virus has already spread to at least 48 countries besides its hotbed, China.

"We have now increased our assessment of the risk of spread and the risk of impact of COVID-19 to very high at global level," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told media at the agency's headquarters in Geneva.

As of Friday, 4,351 cases, including 67 deaths, have been registered across 48 countries outside of China. While several nations are experiencing "linked epidemics of COVID-19," the majority of the coronavirus cases "can still be traced to known contacts or clusters of cases."

"Since yesterday, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Netherlands and Nigeria have all reported their first cases. All these cases have links to Italy," Ghebreyesus said.

Comment: The infected Iranian officials include: "A vice president, a deputy health minister, a former envoy to the Vatican, the head of a medical university, and at least four parliament members". The Mongolian president and his delegation were all put into quarantine after a state visit to China. Eight of the 16 states bordering Russia have reported cases, which has extended its visa ban to South Korea and Iran. US stocks saw their worst week since 2008. And Britain saw its first virus-related death: a tourist on board the Diamond Princess.

See also:

Pompeo dangles empty gesture of 'help' to Iran, despite years of sanctions

Assange defense team's chambers' connection to conman William Browder is cause for concern

Lucy Komisar
The Komisar Scoop
Tue, 25 Feb 2020 00:00 UTC

Edward Fitzgerald, QC, is on the defense team at the Julian Assange extradition hearings. He is co-head of London's Doughty Street Chambers and head of its Extradition section. Seems appropriate.

I wrote in November of my concern that several people connected to chambers with members working for Assange were also working for Assange's persecutor, the U.S. government. And that several were public supporters of a key U.S. asset in the promotion of Russiagate and Russophobia, the conman and fraudster William Browder.

I was lectured by social media posters on the fact that chambers are not law firms with direct involvement in cases, but rather like taxi dispatchers, matching lawyers with clients who call for services.

Now consider this Doughty Street publication from 2015. Fitzgerald's name is at the top. He writes, "Dear Colleague, Welcome to the first edition of the Doughty Street Chambers Extradition Bulletin." He explains this will provide useful information to British lawyers. So, this is presented not by an independent chambers lawyer, but by the chambers itself.

Up front is a dig at a useful enemy, and then we know where it is going: "Russia has always been a state which generates work for lawyers, and Malcolm Hawkes considers their use (or abuse?) of Interpol Red Notices. We hosted a seminar on this very topic last week." He is working on an issue, Russian "abuse" of red notices, that concerns Doughty Street Chambers enough to hold a seminar on it.

Comment: This Assange "trial" is a self-contradictory Kafkaesque nightmare

Mali & France square off after French 'anti-terrorist' troops accused of rowdy behavior

RT
Fri, 28 Feb 2020 07:25 UTC

© REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Troops from the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) and members of a French military medical unit conduct an assistance operation for the local population during the Operation Barkhane in Ndaki, Mali, July 29, 2019.

A Malian envoy to France has accused French troops that form part of a counterterrorism force in the country of rowdy behavior in its capital city. Paris has dismissed the allegations as "not only false, but unacceptable."

Comment: Not only false! Can you imagine this ever happening with Russian troops in Syria?

The rebuff was issued by Defense Minister Florence Parly's office on Thursday. Branding remarks by Malian Ambassador Toumani Djime Diallo as "indecent," it argued that the French troops are risking their lives to protect the West African country from terrorism.

"Rather than channeling and spreading false accusations, we expect the ambassador of Mali to devote all his energy to... achieving success for everyone," the statement read, as cited by AFP.

The allegations concerning bad behavior by French troops - those attached to its fabled Foreign Legion in particular - were made by Diallo on Wednesday. Speaking during a public hearing alongside his colleagues from Niger, Mauritania, Chad and Burkina Faso, the diplomat claimed that some soldiers of the elite military force's parachutist regiment had gone wild, causing trouble in the country's capital, Bamako.

Comment: As France has done the opposite to halting the spread of Islamist militants, Malians are growing increasingly impatient:

Disgruntled employee shoots dead 5 co-workers, turns gun on himself, at Milwaukee Miller brewery

Meg Jones and Sophie Carson
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Wed, 26 Feb 2020 14:43 UTC

In one of the worst shootings in Wisconsin history, a gunman killed five people — and then himself — during a rampage Wednesday afternoon on the Milwaukee campus of Molson Coors.

The shooter was identified as a 51-year-old man who worked for the company, the home of Miller Brewery for more than a century.

All of the shooting victims died. There were no reports of injuries.

The identities of the victims and the shooter were not released Wednesday. Police did say, however, that the victims' families have been notified.

Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales said at an early evening news conference that police were checking on the whereabouts of more than 1,000 employees. "We have to check off employees one by one," he said.

By 9:30 p.m., that had been done and all employees at the brewery had been allowed to go home, Morales said at a news conference.

"Milwaukee is grieving today," said the police chief.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett noted at the late evening news conference that the brewery has been a landmark in Miller Valley for 165 years. "It's the saddest day we have had" in that history, he said.

Comment: UPDATE February 28

The gunman has been identified as 51-year-old Anthony Ferrill, who was recently fired by the company and reportedly had quarreled with one of the electricians before the shooting.

A former co-worker claimed Ferrill had been showing signs of paranoia - he "believed he was being discriminated against because he was African American," and that he later became convinced that "brewery workers were coming into his home" and "bugging his computer."

Police and city officials have declined to say whether the shooting was racially-motivated as the investigation is in preliminary stages.

Mad Dog Erdogan opens borders to release stream of refugees towards central Europe

RT
Fri, 28 Feb 2020 01:27 UTC

Comment: And he's doing it ... just to spite Putin for not letting him blow Damascus to kingdom come.

Turkey is no longer able to contain millions of displaced Syrians and has reached "full capacity," Ankara's ruling AK party said in a fresh threat to open the floodgates into Europe as tensions over Idlib reach boiling point.

With Ankara vowing to go "all in" to halt a Syrian Army offensive to retake Idlib province from rebel militias, AKP spokesman Omer Celik suggested Turkey would soon allow hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees to pour into Europe, a threat repeatedly made by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the past.

"Turkey can not bear the pressure of the new refugees, we now say that Turkey is at full capacity," Celik told CNNTurk early on Friday. While the spokesman noted Turkey's refugee policy remains "the same," he said "We are no longer in a position to hold refugees" amid an expected influx of newly displaced Syrians.

An earlier report at Reuters cited an unnamed Turkish official who said much the same, although the official went further in stating that police, coast guard and border security officers had been ordered to "stand down" and allow the refugees to cross into Europe.

Comment: Asylum-seekers begin trek to Europe as Turkey opens the floodgates

Turkey has announced it will no longer hold back people who wish to go to Europe and seek asylum there amid an escalation in Syria. Some have been quick to rush towards coasts and borders before Ankara changes its mind.

Would-be irregular immigrants have started trickling closer to Europe. The hopefuls are gathering in the Edirne province, which borders Greece and Bulgaria, as well as on Turkey's Aegean coast close to the Greek island of Lesbos, AFP reported.

Anadolu Agency posted drone footage of groups of people walking across a field in Edirne, presumably filmed in the early hours of Friday morning.

Scenes of people carrying backpacks and waving to the cameras were shown by the Turkish media and spread on social media.

The ability of the potential migrants to reach Europe is not guaranteed even if Turkey does not reverse its decision. Bulgaria and Greece have erected walls along their land borders with Turkey in response to the migrant crisis. The EU stepped up maritime patrols in the Mediterranean to stop people from reaching its territory via sea routes.

Israel builds new Jews-only bypass road on more stolen Palestinian land

Middle East Monitor
Tue, 25 Feb 2020 02:05 UTC

Israel is building yet another bypass road for use by Jewish settlers only and, yet again, it is stealing Palestinian land to do so. The land in question is in Huwwara, to the south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

The 7-kilometre road will start from the village of Zaatara and pass through land owned by Palestinians in Huwwara, Beita and Odala. Until now, the access route in the area has been shared by Palestinians and Jewish settlers — whose presence is illegal under international law — who often use it to raid and terrorise the residents of the local villages.

Since the Israeli government decided to build the road last April, it has led to the seizure of more than 40 hectares of land from the surrounding Palestinian villages. According to Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official in charge of the settlements file in the northern West Bank, Israeli bulldozers have been razing everything on the land near a military checkpoint outside Huwwara.

The plans for the bypass of the village have been in the pipeline for years, although local activist Ghassan Najjar insists that the locals have been kept in the dark until a few days ago.

A 2019 report from settlement watchdog Peace Now said that the bypass is intended to serve four settlements — Yitzhar, Itamar, Har Brakha and Elon Moreh — which are home to a total of 7,132 settlers.

Comment: see also:

Massive fire erupts near Paris train station Gare de Lyon; protesters at nearby Congolese concert suspected

RT
Fri, 28 Feb 2020 17:18 UTC

A major fire has broken out in the vicinity of the iconic Paris train station, Gare de Lyon. The blaze prompted the evacuation of the station, while the public is advised to avoid the area.

The fire erupted near the station late on Friday. Footage from the scene shows open flames in the street outside the landmark, as well as a large plume of black smoke billowing over the area.

B'Tselem reports at least 19 Palestinians have lost an eye from Israeli fire during Gaza protests

Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss
Thu, 27 Feb 2020 18:16 UTC

palestinian lose eye protests Gaza IDF Israel

Since the Great March of Return began in Gaza two years ago, an estimated 19 Palestinians have lost an eye as a result of Israeli fire, Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said in a new report this week.

B'Tselem collected testimony from three Palestinians who were injured in their eyes during the Great March of Return in order to highlight Israel's use of "crowd control" measures as lethal weapons.

The report details the cases of a 20-year-old young woman named Mai Abu Rawida, 10-year-old boy Muhammad Abu Raidah, and 28-year-old Saed Mahani, who all lost one of their eyes after being shot by Israeli forces in the face with "crowd dispersal" measures.

Comment:

Brazen unmasked thieves nonchalantly raid London electronic store in broad daylight

Bryony Jewell
Daily Mail
Wed, 26 Feb 2020 21:01 UTC

Three brazen thugs have been filmed ripping electrical gadgets from their displays at a Currys PC World in Orphington, Greater London, with their faces on full display. Members of staff (far right) can be seen standing close to the group but unable to stop them walking out

This is the shocking moment a group of brazen thugs rip thousands of pounds of electrical equipment from displays at a Currys PC World store.

A member of the public recorded them walking into the Orpington, Greater London, branch on Wednesday and taking tablets, mobile phones and laptops.

The men, who appear to be in their late teens or early 20s, are seen ripping products from the stands, with one shouting he will kill anyone who tries to stop them.

Comment: It's worth noting that he doesn't have an English accent.

During the incident members of staff can be seen standing close to the group but unable to stop them walking out with the gadgets.

Comment: Crime of all kinds appear to be on the rise in the UK, and in London in particular: 3 men killed in London stabbing frenzy - Knife crime doubled since 2014

The boss who put everyone on 70K, five years on

Stephanie Hegarty
BBC
Fri, 28 Feb 2020 00:00 UTC

In 2015, the boss of a card payments company in Seattle introduced a $70,000 minimum salary for all of his 120 staff - and personally took a pay cut of $1m. Five years later he's still on the minimum salary, and says the gamble has paid off.

Dan Price was hiking with his friend Valerie in the Cascade mountains that loom majestically over Seattle, when he had an uncomfortable revelation.

As they walked, she told him that her life was in chaos, that her landlord had put her monthly rent up by $200 and she was struggling to pay her bills.

It made Price angry. Valerie, who he had once dated, had served for 11 years in the military, doing two tours in Iraq, and was now working 50 hours a week in two jobs to make ends meet.

Comment: What a wonderful idea, it seems to have been successful in more ways than Price could've imagined and a lesson for him personally. See also: What really happened at Gravity Payments with its $70,000 minimum wage

If you read the linked white house statement try not to puke.

sbc

Let's go, Brandon! Fucking asswipe, worthless, POS. Fraud! Argh! 😤

slbeaudry

I don't think this new requirement has undergone proper public review. There are procedures codified for this sort of thing. If some sort of...

Buffalo_Ken

First it will be 100 employees,then 50, then one. Masses are collectively powerful against the intolerant vocal minority and it is time to wipe...

Bezel Bub

I most certainly would not park my arse on a plane full of vaccinated people and have them infect me with their mutated virus. Whilst my...

Winternights3

Society's Child

WHO bumps coronavirus threat assessment to 'very high' global risk - and other recent developments

Assange defense team's chambers' connection to conman William Browder is cause for concern

Mali & France square off after French 'anti-terrorist' troops accused of rowdy behavior

Disgruntled employee shoots dead 5 co-workers, turns gun on himself, at Milwaukee Miller brewery

Mad Dog Erdogan opens borders to release stream of refugees towards central Europe

Israel builds new Jews-only bypass road on more stolen Palestinian land

Massive fire erupts near Paris train station Gare de Lyon; protesters at nearby Congolese concert suspected

B'Tselem reports at least 19 Palestinians have lost an eye from Israeli fire during Gaza protests

Brazen unmasked thieves nonchalantly raid London electronic store in broad daylight

The boss who put everyone on 70K, five years on

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