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Fri, 05 Nov 2021
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NPC

Hypocritical glitterati flock to Google summit on climate change in private jets and mega-yachts

dicaprio prince harry obama
© Associated Press ; Getty Images
Leonardo DiCaprio, Prince Harry and Barack Obama are attending Google's climate gabfest
The world's rich and famous have flocked to a posh Italian resort to talk about saving Mother Earth — but they sure are punishing her in the process.

The billionaire creators of Google have invited a who's who of A-list names — including former President Barack Obama, Prince Harry, Leonardo DiCaprio and Katy Perry — to the Sicilian seaside for a mega-party they've dubbed Google Camp.

The three-day event will focus on fighting climate change — though it's unknown how much time the attendees will spend discussing their own effect on the environment, such as the scores of private jets they arrived in and the mega yachts many have been staying on.

Popcorn

Indians Twitter-roast man who complained his order was delivered by a Muslim: 'Food has no religion'

food seller india
© Global Look Press / ZUMAPRESS / Azhar Khan
A Hindu man who complained on Twitter about his food order being delivered by a Muslim has been shamed by his fellow Indians, with even the founder of the food delivery app he used telling him that his business won't be missed.

Twitter user @NaMo_SARKAAR on Wednesday ignited a powder keg of social media outrage after publicizing that he had been prevented from canceling an order on Zomato after discovering that his food was being delivered by a "Muslim fellow."

In a series of tweets, the dissatisfied customer grumbled about how the food delivery app had "allocated a non-Hindu rider" for his order.

"@ZomatoIN is forcing us to take deliveries from people we don't want," he declared, adding that he had uninstalled the app and would "discuss the issue with my lawyers."

Cowboy Hat

China irrigates 74 million hectares, an area larger than France - Largest transformation of any land mass in the world. Ever

farmland
© Reuters / Jason Lee
China has the largest expanse of irrigated lands in the world, which helps ensure food security at home, a water resources official has said.

China has an irrigated area of 74 million hectares, covering half of the country's farmlands, said Ni Wenjin, an official with the Ministry of Water Resources, at a Belt and Road forum on irrigation and drainage on Tuesday.

"The development of irrigation and drainage is one of the priorities of the ongoing rural vitalization and agricultural modernization drive in China," said Ni.

Comment: The scale at which everything China does is breathtaking.


Magnify

UK watchdog warns of perils of unregulated cryptocurrencies

bitcoin
Britain's markets watchdog said on Wednesday that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value and offer consumers few protections, but added that such coins fall outside the scope of its powers.

The Financial Conduct Authority said crypto markets were highly dysfunctional, with the onus on consumers to understand the risks associated with investing in unregulated assets.

"A combination of market immaturity, volatility, and a lack of credible information or oversight raises concerns about market integrity, manipulation and insider dealing within cryptoasset markets," the FCA said in a statement.

Despite those flaws, the FCA said existing rules did not apply to bitcoin and other tokens such as second-biggest coin ethereum, or to firms like exchanges and trading platforms.

Star of David

Vatican accuses Israel of risking monks' lives in recent wildfire

Church of the Transfiguration israel
© Gil Eliahu
The Church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, August 28, 2017.
The Church of the Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor has asked Israel repeatedly for basic services, including running water, but has been refused. A wildfire Friday caused significant damage due to this "negligence."

The Vatican's custodian of holy sites in Israel accused Israeli authorities of risking the lives of monks at a Mount Tabor monastery after a wildfire broke out Friday. The fire raged until early Saturday and required the evacuation of the Franciscan Church of the Transfiguration, which does not have running water.

The fire, which started on Friday evening and was only extinguished on Saturday morning, reignited an ongoing dispute between the Vatican representatives, Custodia Terrae Sanctae, and Israel over connecting the early 20th century church to water and sewage systems. For many years, the church has asked Israel to ensure it has running water, but the authorities demand that the church foot the bill for the infrastructure works, and several rounds of negotiations with officials at the Tourism Ministry and National Infrastructure Ministry have failed to bring results.

NPC

Blinding whiteness of 'party of diversity' spawns #DemDebateSoWhite hashtag

dem debate
© AFP / Justin Sullivan
Amid a chorus of Orange Man Bad echoing from the Democratic debate stage, another color was on some voters' minds as Twitter gadflies highlighted the absurdity of 10 white candidates fighting over who'd best represent minorities.

Critics of the achingly PC identity-politics wing of the Democratic Party could hardly believe their luck as the first night of round two of the Democratic primary debates kicked off without a single nonwhite candidate on stage (despite three remaining in the race). A graphic calling out the melanin-challenged slate was soon spreading across social media behind the hashtag #DemDebateSoWhite.

"Remember every one of them calls the president a racist, as they stand on stage without one black person in sight," one user tweeted. Another slammed the Democrats' hypocrisy, pointing out that if 10 white Republicans had shared the stage, an equivalent hashtag would be #1 on Twitter.

Bullseye

Democratic presidential hopeful Marianne Williamson wins over internet after denouncing 'dark psychic force' taking hold in US

marianne williamson
© Reuters / Lucas Jackson
Democratic presidential hopeful Marianne Williamson became the most-searched candidate on Google after her second primary debate, in which she condemned the "dark psychic force" that Donald Trump allegedly unleashed upon the US.

Williamson, an author and celebrity spiritual adviser, was dismissed by many as a fringe candidate when she announced her bid for the White House. But in the second round of the primary debates, she dazzled voters with a zinger-filled performance that diverged from the usual Democratic talking points.

She dominated Google searches following the debate. Before the debate began, Williamson was the top searched candidate in only two states.

Her comments about the worrying state of America's social and political climate were particularly well received.

Bomb

5 killed, 38 injured in blast targeting police vehicle in Pakistan

Balochistan map
© Katehon.com 2016
A powerful blast targeting a police vehicle in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province has killed five people, including two security personnel, and injured 38 others, a top police official said on Wednesday.

The blast took place close to a police vehicle at the Bacha Khan Chowk in the remit of the City Police Station on Tuesday, Quetta's Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) of police Abdul Razzaq Cheema said.

The target of the blast appeared to be the Station House Officer (SHO) of the area who received some injuries and has been shifted to a hospital, the DIG told reporters.

"The bomb went off as soon as SHO Shaffat got down from his vehicle," he said, adding that the condition of the SHO is said to be critical.

Cheema said it was too early to confirm whether it was a suicide attack or the blast caused by a remotely triggered device.

People 2

Surprise, surprise? Americans think of media as even more destructive than banks and corporations

cameras
© REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
A recent survey has revealed that most Americans believe that the news media, more than any other institution, have a negative impact on their country - findings that are hardly surprising, according to media analyst Lionel.

Conducted by the Pew Research Center, the poll found that 64 percent of Americans believe that the media has a damaging effect on the United States - making them more loathed than other often-demonized institutions such as banks (39 percent) and large corporations (53 percent).

"This doesn't surprise anybody," media analyst Lionel told RT.
The media are not here to provide information ...so that you can make intelligence decisions. No, that's not what the media are. The media are corporate tools.
But numbers don't lie and the news media shouldn't feel singled out. With growing distrust in corporations - especially tech companies - America's establishment institutions can take solace in the fact that none of them enjoy majority support.


NPC

Twisted: US Soccer Federation says women's team who complained about gender pay gap earned more than their male counterparts

national soccer team
© MenVincent Carchietta
Earlier this year, the US women's team filed a lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation over years of alleged 'gender discrimination', seeking equal pay with their male colleagues.

The US Women's National Team has been paid more than the country's Men's National Team over the past decade: the women received $34.1 million in salaries and game bonuses, while the men were paid $26.4 million, the US Soccer president, Carlos Cordeiro, said in a letter released on Monday.


Cordeiro explained that the pay structures for male and female players are different but not because of gender. In fact, the women have a guaranteed salary plus bonuses for the matches while the men have no fixed salary and are only paid for the training camps they attend and the games they play, plus game bonuses. Apart from this, women players enjoy a package of benefits (for example, healthcare) that are not provided to the men, the US Soccer president said.

Comment: This is the 'gender gap' in a nutshell.