The first units of the medical special forces arrived at the Russian military police base near Kobane in northern Syria, where they will provide assistance to the local population.

Special forces medics arrived near Kobane on a Mi-8 helicopter along with equipment, medicines, dressing materials.

According to surgeon Sergey Ponomarev, local residents have not had adequate medical care for a long time.

"Chronic diseases are neglected, acute [diseases], respectively, too ... We are ready to work here all the way ... After some time, the full medical team will arrive. I think we will be able to take about 100 people a day", Ponomarev told reporters.

The first medical aid point was deployed just three hours after the arrival. It has drugs and equipment for all occasions. For example, there is a telemedicine device that can connect to an X-ray, an ultrasound machine and, through a satellite, convene consultations with specialists from Russia in real-time.

As capital controls and banking restrictions continue to affect various populations worldwide, standing in the way of individuals and their hard-earned savings, some are looking to safer options and even cryptocurrencies. Lebanon, Zimbabwe, and India are just a few of the countries to deal with centralized restrictions on access to money in recent times, but anyone that's ever had to so much as wait in a long line at the bank knows that when it comes to your money, the more direct and immediate the control, the better.

Bad News Banking

Recent headlines involving major banks have showcased a fact perhaps few would like to face: when it comes to your money in the bank, the bank ultimately has the final say. Roelof Botha, former CFO of Paypal, announced on Twitter Monday that his 20-year banking relationship with Bank of America had been abruptly cut short by the institution with no reason given. One commenter bit back at Botha by saying the same thing happened to him with Paypal, and noting the problems with both centralized institutions stated:

Singapore political figure Brad Bowyer on Monday corrected a Facebook post questioning the independence of state investment firms following a government request, in the first use of the country's new "fake news" law.

Bowyer used "false and misleading" statements alleging the government influenced decisions made by state investors Temasek Holdings and GIC, according to a statement on the official government fact-checking website.

Bowyer said he had placed a correction notice with a link to the government statement above his Facebook post following a request to do so under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA).

"I have no problem in following that request as I feel it is fair to have both points of view and clarifications and corrections of fact when necessary," Bowyer said in a statement on Facebook.

On Monday, 4 November 2019, Australian media outlets announced a historic deal brokered between the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) and the Professional Footballers Association after a year of negotiations. This new arrangement will see the Matildas (the Australian women's soccer team) and the Socceroos (the Australian men's soccer team) evenly splitting the sport's commercial revenue, rather than each team receiving a cut of their own generated revenue. This follows a number of other nations arranging similar collective bargaining agreements.

This change has been described as a major win for women's sport, but detractors have been quick to point out some logical and ethical inconsistencies. Chief among these is the Matildas' highly publicised 7-0 loss to a team of teenage boys from Newcastle in 2016 which raised questions about the standards of Australian women's soccer. At that time, goalkeepers Melissa Barbieri and Mark Bosnich engaged in an online exchange, during which Barbieri argued it was not the intention of female soccer players to be paid the same as their male counterparts.


This debate is an addition to the growing list of global gender-based sporting controversies that span decades. In 1973, retired 55-year-old self-styled tennis hustler, Bobby Riggs lost to Billie Jean King in a match dubbed the "Battle of the Sexes" — the subject of a 2017 feature film of the same name. 44 years later, outspoken former tennis champion John McEnroe attracted criticism for disputing that Serena Williams was the world's greatest tennis player. Speaking to multiple outlets, McEnroe suggested that Williams would be ranked 700 on the men's circuit. In recent years, gender issues have been complicated further by an array of transgender controversies in sports such as Australian football, martial arts, and teenage wrestling. There have also been persistent attempts to exclude Caster Semenya from women's athletics for having high levels of naturally produced testosterone.

Iran will destroy the United States and its allies if they cross Tehran's red lines, the head of the country's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said in his address to a pro-government rally denouncing last week's violent protests over the rise in fuel prices.

Addressing thousands of demonstrators in the capital on Monday, General Hossein Salami accused the US, the United Kingdom, Israel and Saudi Arabia of stoking the unrest, in which dozens were killed by Iran's security forces.

"We have shown restraint ... we have shown patience towards the hostile moves of America, the Zionist regime [Israel] and Saudi Arabia against the Islamic Republic of Iran ... but we will destroy them if they cross our red lines."

The demonstrators, waving the Iranian flag and banners that read "Death to America" and "Death to Israel", descended on Enqelab (Revolution) Square. Some in the crowd set fire to American flags.

Beijing has said that the outcome of the municipal vote that saw opposition taking nearly 90% of the seats won't change Hong Kong status, while warning against any attempts to disrupt the situation.

Preliminary results of the election reported by local broadcaster RTHK suggest that about 390 seats out of 452 that were up for grabs in 18 district councils have been claimed by the anti-government candidates.

Asked to comment while the vote count was ongoing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that regardless of the outcome, Hong Kong will remain an unalienable part of the Chinese state.

"It's not the final result yet. Let's wait for the final result, OK? However, it is clear that no matter what happens, Hong Kong is a part of China and a special administrative region of China. Any attempt to mess up Hong Kong, or even damage its prosperity and stability, will not succeed."

Hong Kong administrator Carrie Lam, meanwhile, said that the semi-autonomous city's government would respect the results of the district poll.

The US-funded broadcasters Voice of America and Radio Free Asia are about to join forces to establish a new media structure, tasked with providing Chinese citizens with an 'alternative' to their own state media, a report claims.

Against the background of a seemingly never-ending US-China trade war, Washington has, apparently, decided to reach out to some ordinary Chinese people and to provide them with no less than a brand new "alternative" to their domestic state media, which, it says, only promote Beijing's "narratives, values and misinformation."

At least that's what a report in the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) claims. The report suggests that Voice of America and Radio Free Asia plan to work together to create a totally new "digital brand" operating 24/7 in Mandarin on social media, on the internet and through various other broadcasting platforms.

The new network is reportedly expected to focus particularly on Chinese youth, both in China and beyond. The news comes as the US Agency for Global Media - a newly founded governmental entity tasked with coordinating the work of all of the US' state-funded media - proudly reported about the growing demand for that sort of content in China, saying that the number of people tuning in weekly to VOA and RFA rose by more than six percent in total in 2018.

The California Restaurant Association (CRA) sued on Thursday the City of Berkeley over a ban on the use of natural gas in newly built buildings, in order to protect Berkeley's businesses and consumers from having to pay higher energy bills.

In July, the city council in Berkeley, California, passed an ordinance requiring all new homes to be all-electric with no gas hook-ups beginning in January 2020. Berkeley's primary motivation for the gas hook-up ban was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote the use of clean energy.

But according to the restaurant association in California, "the ban, which violates both state and federal law, will impact both residential and commercial construction, and will have uniquely negative impacts on restaurants."

The association argued in the lawsuit that not only is the city of Berkeley violating the federal Energy Policy and Conservation Act and California's Energy Code and Building Standards Code, but it is also acting irresponsibly by banning an option for Californian consumers.

"It's impossible to overstate how irresponsible this is at a time when millions of Californians find themselves in the dark due to planned power outages. The citizens of California need reliable and affordable energy that allows them to choose what appliances they have in their homes and businesses," Jot Condie, President and CEO of the California Restaurant Association, said.

Uber was stripped of its license to operate in London on Monday by the city's transport regulator, which cited a "pattern of failures" that put passengers at risk.

The San Francisco-based company immediately said that it plans to appeal Transport for London's decision, labeling the move "extraordinary and wrong." Shares of Uber fell over 1% after the ruling.

Because of the appeal, nothing will change for passengers and drivers who the use the Uber app for the time being. But the ban represents a huge blow to the ride-sharing firm, which has worked to improve its reputation as a friend rather than foe to regulators under current CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

TfL had previously suspended Uber's license in 2017, flagging concerns with the company's approach to safety. Following that initial decision, Uber was twice granted a temporary license to continue operating in the city — the first, a 15-month reprieve issued by a judge last year, and the second, a two-month permit granted by TfL in September.

Inmates at several West Virginia prisons are getting free electronic tablets to read books, send emails, and communicate with their families — but there's a catch.

Any inmates looking to read Moby Dick may find that it will cost them far more than it would have if they'd simply gotten a mass market paperback, because the tablets charge readers by the minute.

Under a 2019 contract between the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (WVDCR) and Global Tel Link (GTL), the company that is providing electronic multimedia tablets to 10 West Virginia prisons, inmates will be charged 3 cents a minute to read books, even though the books all come from Project Gutenberg, a free online library of more than 60,000 texts in the public domain.