Society's ChildS

Stock Down

World's third-busiest port remains partially shut in China, sixth consecutive day


Investing
Sun, 15 Aug 2021 11:45 UTC
Ningbo
© Qilai Shen/BloombergContainers sit stacked next to gantry cranes in this aerial photograph taken above the Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan in Ningbo, China, on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018. President Donald Trump wants to reach an agreement on trade with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 nations summit in Argentina later this month and has asked key U.S. officials to begin drafting potential terms, according to four people familiar with the matter.
China's Ningbo-Zhoushan container port, the world's third-busiest, remained partially closed for a sixth day Monday, amid ongoing concern over whether the shutdown will disrupt trade from the region longer term.

The port hasn't published any updates on its operations since Wednesday, when it halted all inbound and outbound container services at its Meishan terminal after one employee tested positive for Covid-19. Consultant GardaWorld estimated the terminal accounted for about 25% of container cargo through the port, though Ningbo-Zhoushan had said it would redirect ships to other terminals and adjust operating hours at other docks.

Comment: It's notable that just a month earlier a port and railway in South Africa was shut due to a major cyber attack. And earlier in March and then May there were issues with ships blocking the passage of the Suez canal. Should this pattern continue, it's possible the cumulative effect of these shutdowns and delays could soon cause significant disruptions to shipping logistics worldwide.

See also:

Read More...
Stock Down

Real estate developer sues Los Angeles over eviction moratorium, claims 'astronomical losses' in unpaid rent

Gina Martinez
Daily Mail
Thu, 12 Aug 2021 18:10 UTC
California, Evictions, rent, economy, foreclosures, protest
© AFP via Getty ImagesLos Angeles' moratorium states that residents who are not able to pay rent due to the pandemic cannot be evicted for at least 12 months after the local emergency period expires
A building management company has sued the City of Los Angeles for $100 million claiming they have lost $20 million in unpaid rent due to the eviction moratorium and predict their losses will triple before the ban ends.

The suit was filed by GHP Management Corp, which is owned by real estate developer Geoffrey Palmer.

GHP claimed that the 12 buildings under its management have experienced a combined loss of $20million in unpaid rental income as a result of the COVID-19 eviction moratorium, which stops landlords kicking out tenants.

Comment: Also see: Welcome to the Great Reset? Corporate landlords poised to snatch Americans' property after eviction moratorium expires

Read More...
Airplane

Evacuation of US Embassy in Kabul is complete, State Department says

Mychael Schnell
The Hill
Sun, 15 Aug 2021 10:04 UTC
Kabul Airport
© Sudhir Chaudhary/TwitterKabul Airport
The State Department announced on Sunday that the evacuation of personnel from its embassy in Kabul is complete, hours after the U.S. started pulling staff from the consulate amid the Taliban's takeover of the capital city. State Department spokesperson Ned Price wrote in a statement:
"We can confirm that the safe evacuation of all Embassy personnel is now complete. All Embassy personnel are located on the premises of Hamid Karzai International Airport, whose perimeter is secured by the U.S. Military,"
The news comes after the U.S. started evacuating personnel from the embassy Sunday morning, after the Taliban seized control of Kabul, which drove Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to leave the country.

He later wrote in a statement on Facebook that he fled to avoid confrontations in Kabul that could have led to more bloodshed.

The American flag was lowered from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul earlier on Sunday, marking the final step in the evacuation of personnel from the consulate.

Comment: This is insanity in motion...as all hell breaks loose:


Mass evacuation from Kabul airport validates decision to increase of US troops to support those leaving the city:
As Kabul international airport was plunged into chaos, becoming the only way out of the country for thousands of Afghans desperate to escape Taliban rule, the US announced it would be taking over air traffic control at the airport to speed up the evacuation of Americans as well as allied Afghans.

"Over the next 48 hours, we will have expanded our security presence to nearly 6,000 troops, with a mission focused solely on facilitating these efforts and will be taking over air traffic control."


The backup troops will be used to streamline the evacuation of "thousands" of Americans that have resided in Afghanistan, local US embassy employees, as well as "other particularly vulnerable Afghan nationals."

"Thousands of Afghans" that qualify for special immigrant visas will also be evacuated. All those who have passed security checks will be flown directly to the US, while others will be moved to "additional locations" where they can wait to be cleared.

Panicked residents, fearing repercussions under Taliban rule, clogged city streets with cars in a last-minute attempt to reach the airport. Footage circulating online shows large groups of people flocking to the airport's entrance as shots rang out in the background. The gunfire reportedly led to the suspension of all commercial flights, leaving it up to military planes to evacuate stranded residents. Armored trucks were spotted on the tarmac, cruising through the crowds, as US servicemen were seen establishing a security ัordon around the airport.
See also:

Read More...
Footprints

Watch; Traffic jams, chaos at Kabul airport as thousands try to flee Taliban takeover


RT
Sun, 15 Aug 2021 22:33 UTC
Taliban Kabul AP
© Reuters/StringerTaliban outside Hamid Karzai International Airport
The downfall of the Afghan government and rapid advancement of the Taliban who entered the country's capital taking over key locations, has sent thousands fleeing in a desperate bid to escape before the takeover is complete.

The Taliban began entering Kabul on Sunday as it reached the ultimate destination of its countrywide offensive that has gained momentum in the past two weeks. The encirclement of the city prompted the collapse of the government, with President Ashraf Ghani announcing his resignation and fleeing the country.

The impending full takeover by the Taliban has caused full-blown traffic chaos across the capital. Footage circulating online shows the city's street packed with cars, as people tried to either reach their homes - or the city's airport, the last option remaining to escape.

Comment: Hundreds of Afghans flee to the airport as Taliban enter the city:
According to Associate Press, the jumble at the airport started on Saturday in anticipation of the Taliban's approach, with many in the city hoping to fly out of the country. The same day, all commercial flights from the airport were suspended, with only military aircraft allowed to fly.

NATO said in a statement on Sunday that it would continue carrying out operations at the Kabul airport to keep Afghanistan connected with the world, and to "facilitate and coordinate evacuations," according to a tweet from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.


Several people have been killed after attempting to hold on to a plane ferrying evacuees out of Afghanistan's capital:


Criticism on the home front increased for the Biden Administration:
Biden, who said Afghan forces had to fight back against the Islamist Taliban, was due to speak on Afghanistan at 1945 GMT (3:45 p.m. EDT) after returning from the presidential retreat at Camp David.

He is facing a barrage of criticism, from even his own diplomats, over his handling of the U.S. exit, pulling out troops and then sending back thousands to help with the evacuation.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Twitter:
"If President Biden truly has no regrets about his decision to withdraw, then he is disconnected from reality when it comes to Afghanistan."
Republican Representative Jim Banks, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told Fox News:
"We have never seen an American leader abdicate his responsibilities and leadership like Joe Biden has. He's in hiding. The lights are on at the White House, but nobody's home. Where is Joe Biden?"
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said U.S. forces were working with Turkish and other international troops to clear Kabul airport to allow international evacuation flights to resume.


Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Haiti quake death toll rises to 1,297, hospitals are overwhelmed with some 5,700 injured


RT
Mon, 16 Aug 2021 18:51 UTC
haiti earthquake 2021 damage
© REUTERS/Ralph Tedy ErolA damaged car is pictured under debris after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in August 15, 2021.
At least 1,297 people have been killed in the devastating Haiti quake that struck the Caribbean nation's southern peninsula on Saturday, leaving a trail of destruction and hundreds of injured residents in its wake.

The new toll represents a dramatic increase from at least 724 deaths that were reported earlier on Sunday, up from a previous count of 304. Many of the casualties, including an estimated 2,800 injuries, occurred in southwestern Haiti, near the earthquake's epicenter.

Comment: Major magnitude 7.1 earthquake hits Haiti - At least 304 dead, hundreds injured (UPDATES)

Read More...
Family

Who will save us from racist AI?

Zachary Robert Caverley
Quillette
Sun, 15 Aug 2021 16:22 UTC
medical diagnosis artificial intelligence
Artificial Intelligence is becoming an essential component of medical diagnosis
In recent years, a wealth of literature has emerged exploring how AI and machine learning (ML) can improve diagnostic precision in medicine. Combined with deep learning (a subset of ML), this research has the potential, inter alia, to advance cancer detection, streamline treatment algorithms, and enhance our ability to predict the risk of disease development. In brief, ML is the process by which AI can be trained to mimic the way humans learn, thereby improving its own accuracy over time.

As with any professional paradigm shift, controversy and spirited debates on ethics abound. Topics have included physician concerns that expert clinical decision-making may be forfeited to a computer algorithm with limited interpretability, the problem of ML systems often "overfitting" data (when an algorithm starts to measure sheer randomness rather than observable characteristics),1 and the integration of bias into any given ML program.2 The discussion of how medical bias relates to racial disparities in medicine is of particular concern in the modern era. However, a recent study regarding diagnostic imaging offers a reminder that this topic remains fraught with taboos and confusion.
Read More...
Sherlock

They knew everything and did nothing. Revisiting the DOJ efforts to protect Epstein


Techno Fog
Tue, 10 Aug 2021 07:56 UTC
Jeffrey Epstein prison cell
It has been two years since Jeffrey Epstein died.

I refuse to say he committed suicide because that would require trust in the DOJ's investigation into his death. Not that it's inconceivable that Epstein committed suicide. He was facing serious charges that would have resulted in serious time. He revised his will two days before he died. (Indicative of planning his death or being fearful he'd be killed, however you want to look at it.) Rather, it's that we've learned from the Epstein saga that the DOJ, which serves the broader interests of the US government, can't be trusted.

Two years gone and we still have no good answers about Jeffrey Epstein's ties to intelligence.

There are sources telling Vicky Ward of Rolling Stone that "Epstein's dealings in the arms world in the 1980s had led him to work for multiple governments, including the Israelis." Ward's sources said that Epstein "was known in the intelligence world as a 'hyper-fixer,' somebody who can go between different cultures and networks."

As to the allegations that Epstein was dealing arms in the 1980s - if true, then likely in conjunction with US or Israeli intelligence - that might explain why he had an Austrian passport that was used to enter France, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia in the 1980s.

Comment: See also:

Read More...
Gold Coins

PM Modi announces Rs 100 lakh crore infra development programme 'Gatishakti'


The Economic Times
Sun, 15 Aug 2021 14:15 UTC
PM Modi India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced a Rs 100 lakh crore (100 trillion) 'Gatishakti' initiative to bring employment opportunities for the youth and to help in holistic infrastructure growth.

Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on India's 75th Independence Day, he said India will launch the 'Pradhan Mantri Gatishakti National Master Plan'. Gatishakti, he said, will help local manufacturers turn globally competitive and also develop possibilities of new future economic zones.

India imported mobile phones worth USD 8 billion seven years ago and is now exporting USD 3 billion worth of mobile phones, the prime minister said.
Read More...
Brick Wall

Australia's biggest city toughens harsh stay-at-home lockdown orders


Breitbart
Sat, 14 Aug 2021 00:01 UTC
australia lockdown
© Brook Mitchell/Getty Images
Australia's biggest city announced tighter Covid restrictions including heavier fines and tighter policing on Saturday as authorities battled to contain a Delta outbreak and said they were seeing the "most concerning day of the pandemic" so far.

After months of pursuing a "Covid Zero" strategy, Australia has been struggling to bring a resurgence of coronavirus cases under control, with more than 10 million people under lockdown in its two largest cities and the capital Canberra.

Residents of Sydney, going into an eighth week under stay-at-home orders, will now face heftier fines for flouting rules or lying to contact tracers, with current restrictions proving insufficient to stop the spread.

Comment: Meanwhile, in Iran (from the Guardian):
Iran says it will impose a six-day-long "general lockdown" in cities across the country after being hit by what it describes as its fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, state media has reported.

The lockdown includes all bazaars, markets and public offices, as well as movie theatres, gyms and restaurants in all Iranian cities. It will begin on Monday and will last through to Saturday.

The national coronavirus taskforce, which issued the decision, also ordered a travel ban between all Iranian cities from Sunday to Friday.
...

So far, authorities have avoided imposing heavy handed rules on a population badly equipped to bear them. Iran, which has had the worst virus outbreak in the region, is reeling from a series of crises: tough US sanctions, global isolation, a heat wave, the worst blackouts in recent memory and ongoing protests over water and electricity shortages.

Iran'ssupreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, in January slammed shut any possibility of vaccines made in the US or UK entering the country, calling them "forbidden".

For now, the majority of Iranians receiving vaccines rely on foreign-made shots. A health ministry spokesperson said Iran could import western vaccines "as long as they're not produced in the US or Britain".


Read More...
Cross

MSNBC's Joy Reid riles up conservatives after she claims US 'religious right' dreams of Taliban-like 'theocracy'


RT
Sat, 14 Aug 2021 23:46 UTC
afghans
© ReutersAfghans who fled their homes in northern provinces as Taliban forces approached are shown taking shelter in a Kabul park earlier this week.
MSNBC host Joy Reid was blasted for using the tragedy unfolding for those Afghan women and girls who were raised on Western values to demonize US Christian conservatives, likening them to the Taliban.

Reacting on Saturday to a Twitter post from BBC anchor Yalda Hakim reporting that women in Taliban-controlled Herat were turned away from their offices and university, Reid called the news "the real-life Handmaid's Tale." She added, "[It's] a true cautionary tale for the US, which has our own far religious right dreaming of a theocracy that would impose a particular brand of Christianity, drive women from the workforce and solely into childbirth, and control all politics."

Comment: See also:

Read More...