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Russia to suspend ALL rail passenger services with China over coronavirus outbreak from Monday


RT
Mon, 03 Feb 2020 00:12 UTC
train china
© Eugene OdinokovA passenger wearing a protective mask walks past a train to Beijing at a railway station, in Moscow, Russia
All passenger trains between China and Russia, including a direct Moscow-Beijing link, will stop running from Monday due to the coronavirus outbreak, Russian Railways has announced. It's unclear when the ban will be lifted.

The company, Russia's largest state-run transport operator, announced on Sunday that it is expanding the temporary suspension of passenger trains connecting China and Russia to include a direct link between the capitals of the two countries.

The measure came into effect at midnight on Monday, Moscow time [9:00pm GMT Sunday].

Trains that embarked on their journey from Moscow to Beijing on Saturday would go no further than Zabaykalsk, a city in Russia located on the Sino-China border, the operator said.

Comment: Although the coronavirus hasn't yet proven to be more deadly or virulent than the flu, countries worldwide are enforcing more stringent border controls, repatriating citizens and stopping flights:

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Fire

Gunmen blow up gas pipeline supplying Egypt from Israel


RT
Sun, 02 Feb 2020 20:41 UTC
explosion gas
© AP/Khaled Kandil
Armed insurgents have blown up a gas pipeline in the northern Sinai connecting Egypt and Israel, according to media reports.

Al-Jazeera Arabic reported the apparent sabotage attack on Sunday evening, citing local sources. Follow-up reports suggested that the pipeline remained "functional."

The attack took place in the Bir al-Abd region of the Sinai area, where gas pipelines have been frequent targets before. In 2011, the Egypt-Israel pipeline was blown up on three separate occasions.

Egypt began supplying gas to Israel and Jordan in 2008, but the agreement was met with widespread public opposition, due to Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Comment: Sputnik reports that no group has claimed responsibility and that the new deal signed between Egypt and Israel involved Delek Drilling and a Houston-based company called Noble Energy.

One of the fields involved was the Leviathan gas field that is reported to be one of the largest recently-discovered gas reserves in the world. Another field supplying these countries is the Tamar gas field, located in Israel's exclusive economic zone, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Haifa. It is considered to have proven reserves of 200 billion cubic meters.

The Sinai Peninsula remains a hotbed of terrorist activity.

See also:

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Pistol

Police identify three men killed in shooting at Toronto Airbnb condo

Codi Wilson
CTV News
Sun, 02 Feb 2020 14:43 UTC
toronto triple homicide
© Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun/Postmedia NetworkThree young men were killed and two others injured when gunfire erupted during a party at an Airbnb condo at 85 Queens Wharf Rd. in Toronto on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020.
Toronto police have identified the three men who died after gunfire erupted inside a downtown condo building on Friday night.

Police were called to the area of 85 Queens Wharf Rd., located near Lake Shore Boulevard and Bathurst Street, shortly before 10:30 p.m. for a report of gunshots.

Officers arrived to find multiple people shot inside a condo complex.

Comment: Yet more evidence that Toronto is unraveling.

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Attention

First lethal case outside China: WHO confirms death of coronavirus patient in Philippines


RT
Sun, 02 Feb 2020 03:16 UTC
Philippines coronavirus
© REUTERS/Eloisa LopezA long queue is formed outside a medical supply store that sells face masks in Manila, Philippines, January 31, 2020.
A man has died in the Philippines after testing positive for coronavirus, becoming the first lethal case of the outbreak outside China. The deceased recently returned from Wuhan, the center of the crisis.

The 44-year-old man died on Saturday after losing his battle with the deadly virus, which has claimed the lives of 304 people in China. The man, a resident of Wuhan, was admitted to a local hospital after displaying flu-like symptoms such as a cough and sore throat, the World Health Organization said.

Dr Rabi Abeyasinghe, WHO representative in the Philippines, confirmed at a press briefing on Saturday that the man's demise was the first caused by the coronavirus outside China.

"This is the first reported case outside of China. However, we need to keep in mind that he came from Wuhan, China."


Comment: See also:

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Light Sabers

Transgender cop vs. disabled teenager: A courtroom drama for our time

Graham Dockery
RT
Sat, 01 Feb 2020 06:15 UTC
lgbt police
© Flickr / Adrian SnoodA police officer pictured at London's LGBT Community Pride parade in 2015
A transgender police officer and a teenager with Asperger syndrome walk into a courtroom. It's not a joke, and it ends with the disabled teen under house arrest for a hate crime. Welcome to intersectional Britain.

PCSO Connor Freel was born a woman, but now identifies as a man. A transgender activist and police officer, Freel was on foot patrol in the northern Welsh town of Mold last October when he was heckled by 19-year-old Declan Armstrong, who shouted "Is it a boy or is it a girl?" at him.

Insulting? Yes. Insensitive? Yes. A hate crime? Yes, Mold Magistrates' Court decided this week.

The court heard how Freel was left "vulnerable, distressed and embarrassed" by the incident. Armstrong was found guilty of violating the Welsh Public Order Act 1986 by "using abusive or insulting words with intent to cause harassment." The teen was ordered to pay £590, including £200 in compensation to PCSO Freel, and was slapped with a curfew order for 12 weeks.

According to the judge, the "transphobic" nature of Armstrong's comments was an aggravating factor, and elevated his punishment from a low-level one to a medium.
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Pistol

Shooting after Florida funeral leaves 2 dead, including teen boy

Minyvonne Burke and Dennis Romero
NBC News
Sun, 02 Feb 2020 23:22 UTC
police church shooting florida
© WPTVPolice in Riviera Beach, FL respond to church shooting
One of those killed at Victory City Church in Riviera Beach was 15 years old.

Three people were shot, two of them fatally, following a funeral Saturday afternoon at a church in Riviera Beach, Florida, police said.

The shooting was reported just after 2:30 p.m. outside Victory City Church.

A 15-year-old boy and a man were pronounced dead at the scene. A woman was treated for a non-life threatening injuries, Riviera Beach police said in a press release. The dead man was later identified as 47-year-old Royce Freeman. Police said they were not identifying the other victims.
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Star of David

Journalist injured as press BARRAGED by Israeli tear gas canisters while covering Ramallah protests


RT
Sun, 02 Feb 2020 18:50 UTC
journalist tear gas ramallah israel
© RT/screencapture
A group of journalists reporting from the scene of clashes between Palestinian protests and Israeli soldiers came under fire from the Israeli side, which apparently targeted them with a barrage of tear gas canisters.

The incident happened amid the so-called 'days of rage' — a series of protests against Donald Trump's proposal to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. One of the demonstrations against the plan was held on Saturday outside of Ramallah, near the city of Al-Bireh in the West Bank.

The confrontation between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers was quite intensive. The demonstrators pelted the Israeli side with stones and burned tires, as the soldiers fired tear gas grenades. At one moment, a barrage of gas canisters landed right next to where a group of journalists covering the event stood, sending them fleeing and scurrying for gas masks.

Comment:

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Binoculars

Irish election 2020: Shock poll shows Sinn Féin are poised for power

Senan Molony
Sunday Times (UK)
Sat, 01 Feb 2020 21:34 UTC
sinn fein varadkar macdonald
Make no mistake, this poll is seismic. And if replicated on this day next week, it would represent Sinn Féin's greatest breakthrough in over a century.

Mary Lou McDonald and her party are heading for government, and soon, if not this time around.

It was on December 14, 1918, that old Sinn Féin swept the board across Ireland and consigned the Irish Parliamentary Party to oblivion. That was, ironically, the last time a general election was held on a Saturday in Ireland.

The poll, carried out by Panelbase for The Times, puts Sinn Féin in second place on 21 per cent support; the very stuff of Republican dreams. It emulates a previous 21 per cent rating found by an Irish Times poll last month.

But sweeter still is consigning their bitter enemies in Fine Gael to an embarrassing third place, meaning that the Sinn Féin day — always coming, according to their Irish-language slogan — has more or less arrived.
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Bomb

Kashmir: Grenade attack in Srinagar's Lal Chowk; 2 CRPF troopers, 4 civilians hurt


Hindustan Times
Sun, 02 Feb 2020 00:00 UTC
Terrorists hurled the grenade on the CRPF personnel near Pratap Park area of the city, a police official said.
CRPF personnel at Lal Chowk in Srinagar
© Hindustan TimesGrenade attack on CRPF personnel at Pratap Park, Lal Chowk in Srinagar
Two security force personnel and four civilians were injured when terrorists lobbed a grenade on a patrolling party of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Srinagar's busy Lal Chowk area on Sunday, police said.

Terrorists hurled the grenade on the CRPF personnel near Pratap Park area of the city, a police official said.

A CRPF spokesperson, Pankaj Singh, confirmed to HT that two troopers of Charlie 121 company have received minor injuries.
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Gift 3

A pivot to China, a stronger economy or total collapse? What's next for the UK post-Brexit


RT
Fri, 31 Jan 2020 20:38 UTC
brexit pins
© Reuters / Toby MelvillePro-Brexit pins are seen on a supporter's jacket at Parliament Square, on Brexit day in London
A pivot to China, a stronger economy or total collapse?

With Brexit done, where is Britain headed next? Will London allign with Washington, Beijing, or both? Will the departure usher in a new era of prosperity, or the collapse of the UK itself? RT spoke to experts and politicians. Business as usual, but pivoting to China

John Laughland, academic and author:
Boris Johnson is, you know, very close to Donald Trump. Trump may well be reelected, and that means that for four years Johnson will have in Trump a strong political ally, and he will seek to capitalize on that.

I think it's pretty unlikely that relations with Russia will improve. Johnson was foreign secretary during the Skripal affair, and he at that time spoke in very strong terms against Russia. Shortly after he became foreign secretary, he went to Moscow in an attempt to improve relations, and as he sees it, Moscow's response was to poison people in Salisbury, so he took it as a personal affront. He even said, after he'd left office as foreign secretary, "I hate that regime," referring to Russia.

For some years now, including under David Cameron, Britain has been operating a pivot towards China. There's a nuclear plant station built in Britain, which will be owned by China, the mobile telephone network is going to be built by Huawei, in spite of US protests. So there's a long-term pivot towards China, and when you think about it, this is possibly the economic logic behind Brexit. If Brexit is to be summed up in one simple slogan it's that Britain is leaving the low-growth zone of the European Union, and is pivoting towards the high-growth economies of America and China.
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