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BlackBerry phones to lose all functionality


RT
Sat, 01 Jan 2022 17:53 UTC
BlackBerry phones
© InTech/BlackBerryThe once-pioneering devices will no longer be guaranteed dependable.
BlackBerry, whose smartphones attracted a devoted following for features like built-in keyboards and high security even as Apple and Google gradually poached its customers, is finally giving up the ghost, the company has revealed.

Any phones or tablets running BlackBerry operating systems "will no longer reliably function" starting January 4, the company declared in a recent press release. That rules out phone calls, texts, data use, SMS connections, or emergency 911 calls.

Specifically, while more recent BlackBerry devices running Android operating systems will continue to function, smartphones and other devices running BlackBerry 7.1 OS and earlier, BlackBerry 10, or the company's tablet operating system, BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1, will cease to operate with any degree of reliability.

Perhaps fittingly given that BlackBerry's initial attractions included its comparatively beefy security profile, parent company BlackBerry Limited has switched to selling cybersecurity software and internet of things systems.
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People 2

Massachusetts denies teacher union's request to keep schools closed for COVID-19 testing

Olafimihan Oshin
The Hill
Fri, 31 Dec 2021 06:13 UTC
MTAssoc announcement
© CBSBoston.com
Massachusetts officials have denied a teacher union's request to keep schools closed for COVID-19 testing.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association made the request to close schools for COVID testing with the input from their environmental health and safety committee and public health experts, according to a report by the Associated Press.

But Massachusetts' Executive Office of Education spokesperson Colleen Quinn told the AP that the department will not close schools on Monday. Quinn said in a statement:
"The commissioner is not going to close schools Monday, and asks teachers to be patient as we work to get tests in their hands this weekend. It is disappointing that once again the MTA is trying to find a way to close schools, which we know is to the extreme detriment of our children."
Schools set to resume classes after a holiday break next week are doing so as the highly-contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus hits the United States hard.

Comment: Teachers Unions do not have the final say:
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has consistently said keeping children in school is of paramount importance.

"There are a lot of tools and capabilities available to keep kids and adults safe in school, and we should do everything in our power to make sure that kids stay in school."


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Fire

Fire devastates South African Parliament, cause not yet known


Deutsche Welle
Sun, 02 Jan 2022 15:42 UTC
south africa parliament fire
Firefighters were on hand to battle the blaze in the heart of Cape Town
Firefighters are battling a blaze in the national Parliament buildings that caused the roof of the old National Assembly to collapse. The cause is not yet known, although a person has been detained for questioning.

A fire broke out at the South African Parliament building in Cape Town in the early hours of Sunday morning, and spread to the wing housing the current National Assembly, where parliament sits, causing widespread damage.

In a statement, President Cyril Ramaphosa said, "This is devastating, coming as it does a day after our send-off for Archbishop Desmond Tutu."

He praised the firefighters who "worked to stop Parliament from being razed to ashes," but said "it is very clear that this fire has devastated the parliamentary precinct and its contents and assets, including Parliament's historical treasures of heritage."

Comment: This comes just a few days after a small fire at Old Parliament House in Canberra, Australia.

See also:

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Arrow Down

US population grew at record-setting slow rate in 2021

Hannah Nightingale
The Post Millennial
Sun, 02 Jan 2022 00:43 UTC
baby ward
In 2021, the American population saw its slowest population growth since the founding of the nation.

The US Census Bureau Vintage 2021 Population Estimates state that the United States population grew by just 0.1 percent in 2021, with the slow pace being exasperated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and following the downward trend seen in the 21st century.

For the first time since 1937, the US population grew by under 1 million people, "featuring the lowest numeric growth since at least 1900, when the Census Bureau began annual population estimates."

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Four killed after gas explosion tears through apartment block in Belgium


RTE
Sat, 01 Jan 2022 12:00 UTC
gas explosion belgium
Four people died in a gas explosion that shattered two apartment blocks in northern Belgium on New Year's Eve, a local official has said.

Two women survived the blast - one of whom spent 14 hours under the rubble - and are in hospital "doing OK", said Paul Van Miert, mayor of the town of Turnhout, east of Antwerp and close to the border with the Netherlands.

He said he was unable to give identities, genders or ages of the fatalities as police were still contacting next-of-kin, but added that all were adults.

The explosion occurred early yesterday, blowing a hole in one four-storey block containing 16 apartments and shattering windows in another one nearby.

Comment: Other explosions in the news recently:

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Newspaper

Hundreds clash with police on New Year's Eve in Leipzig, Germany, France detains hundreds after 847 cars torched


RT
Sat, 01 Jan 2022 15:52 UTC
leipzig nye protest
© Global Look Press / Sebastian Willnow
The German city of Leipzig saw its streets turn into an arena for intense clashes between police and rioters on New Year's Eve as hundreds gathered in the city's east.

Soon after the clock struck midnight, the Leipzig police began receiving the first reports about violence and property damage. Officers had to respond to almost 170 calls in Leipzig and its surrounding areas in just over two hours on Saturday night, police said in a statement. They called it a "sharp increase" in comparison to an "ordinary Friday night."

A crowd comprising "hundreds" of people gathered at Eisenbahnstrasse Street in the city's east, with the area quickly becoming an arena for clashes between rioting revelers and law enforcement. Police vehicles were pelted with various objects, including firecrackers. The rioters also set up barricades from shopping carts and set them on fire.

Comment: Reports from both Italy and the Netherlands allege that a ban on fireworks resulted in the following reply from citizens:



In Scotland reports are coming in that the authorities banned dancing on NYE because 'coronavirus', which led to the police breaking up an otherwise civilized and harmless gathering:




The restrictions in Scotland caused a mass exodus of partygoers to England:


Peaceful protests against lockdown continued in Munich, and Paris:





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Wreath

SOTT Focus: Merry Christmas to All Our Readers! Donate Here to Receive Your 2022 SOTT Desktop Calendar

Sott Editors
Sott.net
Thu, 02 Dec 2021 17:14 UTC
FJB christmas lights biden brandon
As we approach the end of 2021, the Sott.net team would like to wish all our readers a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Truly, a happy new year! As depressing and foreboding as the general climate is right now, we remember that there is much to be thankful for, not least the friendships and fellowship we discovered and made along the way to building this global network of courageous truth-seekers!

It seems like an age ago now, but the year actually began with hope that the 2020 US presidential election could be 'un-rigged', until a bunch of naive 'revolutionaries' were led up the garden path and straight into the heart of Congress, a trap laid for them by Federal agents who used it to cement the regime's re-taking of the presidency, finally silence Donald Trump, and replace majority with 'minority rule'.

The US presidency has been restored to its purely ceremonial role (and the incumbent can't even carry that out half-decently), and since then everything has just gone downhill real fast. It's a veritable 'sign of our time' that the 'will of the people' has been so thoroughly side-lined - and not just in the US, but right across the world. We all live under the planetary regime of 'Pandemia' now. And it feels like we're in the 'end game'.
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Pistol

Two injured after 'shooting incident' at Mall of America, police say

Adam Sabes
Fox News
Sat, 01 Jan 2022 10:54 UTC
Mall of America
Bloomington, Minnesota, USA, August 23, 2011: Mall of America sign above the south main visitor entry.
Two people are injured after a "shooting incident" at the Mall of America in Minnesota on Friday evening, according to police.

According to the Bloomington Police Department, there was a "shooting incident" at the Mall of America, where two people sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

After a short lockdown, the mall has resumed normal operations and the scene is secure, the police department said on Twitter.

Comment: More from RT:
Footage from the scene shows officers running towards the entrance, as shoppers flee the scene. Although most evacuees appear to be relatively calm, several people can be heard screaming in the background.


Another clip shows paramedics attending to an apparent victim of the shooting as several onlookers watch.




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Bad Guys

Reflections on another year of Covidian lies and how the truth will ultimately prevail

Rob Slane
The Blogmire
Fri, 31 Dec 2021 00:01 UTC
rear view mirror
As we come to the end of the second year in Covidia, I reflect on just how much the instigators of the entire scam have managed to reshape reality in an amazingly short timeframe, such that what was considered normal 12 months ago is now considered abnormal, and what was considered abnormal 12 months ago is now seen as normal.

For instance, had one predicted 12 months ago that after "vaccinating" the elderly and those considered vulnerable, which was the "route back to freedom", the Johnson Regime and countless others around the world would:
  1. Proceed to push the injection onto all adults
  2. Move on to getting it into children
  3. Make thousands jobless who do not wish to partake in the experiment
  4. Begin the introduction of Vaccine Passports
  5. Announce that the allegedly 95% effective products wane so quickly they'll need to be taken every few months
  6. Start talking about the possibility of mandatory jabs
  7. Reintroduce the restrictions that these injections were supposed to do away with

Comment: See also:

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Airplane

UAE bans unvaccinated from leaving country


RT
Sat, 01 Jan 2022 16:02 UTC
UAE airport security
© AFP / Mohamad Ali Harissi
The United Arab Emirates has allowed international travel to the jabbed and boosted only.

Unvaccinated UAE citizens will be banned from traveling abroad starting January 10, according to local media, citing the country's crisis management agencies. Only the fully-vaxxed and boosted will be permitted to leave.

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation announced the decision in partnership with the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority on Saturday.

Comment: See also:

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