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Fri, 05 Nov 2021
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Roses

Cleaning staff find abandoned fetus blocking plane's toilet in South Africa

Airplane bathroom
© AFP/Kevork Djansezian
Cleaners found an abandoned fetus blocking the toilet of an plane in South Africa on Friday, the domestic FlySafair airline said, prompting the offloading of passengers and a police investigation.

The fetus was discovered by cleaning staff as the plane was being prepared and passengers boarded for an early morning flight from the coastal city of Durban to Johannesburg.

"Upon final preparations of the waste management system for the departure of flight, our technical crew discovered what appeared to be an abandoned fetus," the airline said in a statement.

Police confirmed the incident and said they were investigating. Passengers were asked to disembark the plane and their journeys were re-scheduled.

"We will be doing everything within our power to aid authorities in the necessary investigations and thank our loyal customers for their patience with the resultant delay," said FlySafair executive Kirby Gordon.

Blue Planet

EnvironMENTALism: Origins, Symptoms And Treatment of a Global Pandemic

climate protest london extinction rebellion
© AP
EnvironMENTALists being removed from a road block by police (eventually) after a controlled 'rebellion' in the City of London, April 2019.
A pandemic is sweeping across the globe. It affects people of all societies, regardless of gender, religion, age and number of social media likes. Those of the vegan or vegetarian persuasion tend to be more susceptible to it, but the culprit is an equal-opportunity virus so it also afflicts all who identify as 'progressive' lefties - from soy-fuelled Social Justice Warriors to latté-infused politicians to career journalists.

The disease is called environMENTALism. A person (male/female/gender fluid, or partially solid) who catches this takes on the persona of an environMENTAList.

eco nutters
How to identify an environMENTAList?

Those displaying advanced symptoms often gather in large groups, drink soy-shakes, bang drums out of tune and repeat various illogical mantras, such as "climate change is real", "stop cows farting", "rebel for life" and - occasionally, paradoxically - "don't have children... save the planet for future generations!"

Brick Wall

US-Mexico border sees illegal immigrants from 52 countries attempting to cross this year

African migrants cross mexico border
© Encarni Pindado
African and Haitian migrants cross the river on the border between Guatemala and Mexico on their journey to the US border.
The U.S. Border Patrol chief testified Thursday that migrants from 52 countries have illegally crossed the border this year as she described an agency "overwhelmed on a daily basis" by the escalating crisis.

"While smugglers primarily target the Northern Triangle, family units from 52 countries have illegally crossed the southern border so far this year," U.S. Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost told the House Homeland Security Border Security, Facilitation and Operations Subcommittee.

Her testimony points to the increasingly international nature of the migrant flows crashing against the U.S. border, further complicating efforts to remove those without valid asylum claims. Provost told lawmakers that the numbers from Africa have also increased.

"In just two weeks, more than 740 individuals from African nations - primarily family units -- have been apprehended in Del Rio sector alone, compared to only 108 who crossed the southern border in the first eight months of the fiscal year," she said.

No Entry

US military gets lost on way to war games, 'invades' small Romanian village, blames weather

us military equipment romanian farm field
© Inquam Photos/Ovidiu Micsik/via Reuters/ File
Farmers in idyllic rural Romania got a rather unwelcome surprise when they were suddenly swarmed by US soldiers, while armored combat support vehicles ran roughshod through their fields, destroying hectares of crops.

Apparently channeling former British PM Theresa May, US troops ran a tank, a Humvee and a Bradley infantry fighting vehicle through defenseless fields of wheat, sunflower and corn in Stelnica, a village on the Danube southeast of Bucharest. Thursday's agricultural onslaught seriously startled the locals, some of whom managed to capture the incident on camera.

Dollars

Malaysia looking to recover about US$5 billion in 1MDB-linked assets

malaysia bank run razak exchange fraud
© Reuters/Olivia Harris
Men walk past a 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) billboard at the fund's flagship Tun Razak Exchange development in Kuala Lumpur, Mar 1, 2015.
Malaysia is looking to recover about US$5 billion worth of foreign assets linked to state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), set up in 2009 by then prime minister Najib Razak and the subject of money laundering probes, an anti-graft official said on Friday (Jun 21).

Malaysian and US investigators believe about US$4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB by high-level officials of the fund and associates between 2009 and 2014.

But many of the assets sought by investigators may have since increased in value, and include those linked to 1MDB's former subsidiary SRC International, Azam Baki, a deputy commissioner at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), told reporters.

Cell Phone

Hungary has no evidence of Huawei threat, plans rapid 5G rollout

huawei
Hungary has no evidence that equipment from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei poses a security threat, a government minister said on Thursday, adding that Budapest was mulling incentives to accelerate the rollout of a high-speed 5G network.

The United States and some of its Western allies believe Huawei Technologies' equipment could be used for espionage, and see its expansion into central Europe as a way to gain a foothold in the European market. Huawei denies the accusations.

Washington is concerned in particular about the expansion of Huawei, the world's biggest maker of telecoms equipment, in Hungary and Poland.

Budapest has so far shrugged off the security concerns and on Thursday Innovation and Technology Minister Laszlo Palkovics told Reuters that Hungary had yet to receive any evidence beyond what he called accusations leveled at Huawei.

Dominoes

India looks to Russian crude as Iranian imports crash

oil refinery
India and Russia continue to bolster their energy cooperation, and now India is looking at ways to establish oil shipping routes from Russia's Far East India's east coast.

During the meeting (between India's Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan with Yury Trutnev, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister and the Russian president's top envoy to Russia's Far East), India and Russia discussed the opening of "new frontiers of co-operation" between India and Russia's Far East, especially in the oil and gas sector, Pradhan tweeted.

"We had substantive discussions on new opportunities for energy sector emerging from establishment of shipping routes from Far Eastern Russia to east coast of India," the minister added.

India also invited Russian companies to invest in future city gas networks across the country and expressed India's interest in boosting its oil and gas investments in Russia, including in the Far East, Pradhan said.

Stock Up

Bitcoin extends monster rally as it confidently moves toward $10,000

bitcoin
© Global Look Press / Klaus Ohlenschläger
The price of Bitcoin has surged, exceeding its one-year high. The world's most popular cryptocurrency was trading at nearly $9,900 on Friday, continuing its 2019 rally that has seen its value nearly triple.

Bitcoin jumped around six percent and reached $9,872.47 at 13:18 GMT on Friday, setting a new record for the year, according to data from CoinDesk. The new highs come after the cryptocurrency saw its price drop to below $9,000 on June 18 before bouncing back.

Other digital currencies also rose on Friday, as typically happens when Bitcoin rallies. The third and second largest cryptocurrencies, Ethereum (ETH) and XRP, were up 7.79 and 4.25 percent correspondingly.

Bitcoin has more than doubled in price since the start of the year, when it was trading at $3,689 per coin. Since January 1, the price of the cryptocurrency has risen around 267 percent.

Some Bitcoin bulls have already predicted that this upward move may signal that Bitcoin can soon reach the psychological level of $10,000. Not everyone is so positive, however, with the CEO of Euro Pacific Capital Peter Schiff calling the trend "a sucker's rally."

Nuke

China could build 30 Silk Road nuclear reactors by 2030

nuclear power plant
© Global Look Press / S. Ziese
Beijing needs to take full advantage of the opportunities provided by the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and give more financial and policy support to its nuclear sector, senior Chinese industry official Wang Shoujun said.

"Going with nuclear power has already become a state strategy, and nuclear exports will help optimize our export trade and free up domestic high-end manufacturing capacity," he said at the China People's Political Consultative Conference.

According to the official, China has to improve research and development, localize the production of key nuclear components, and grow both the domestic and foreign nuclear markets to make the most of the country's "comprehensive advantages" in costs and technology.

Fire

Fire 'like a nuclear bomb' rips through Philadelphia refinery

refinery explosion
© MATT ROURKE / AP
Firefighters were working to bring under control a massive fire at Philadelphia Energy Solutions Inc's refinery on Friday that has resulted in damage that could keep the affected unit shut for an extended period, according to Philadelphia city officials and company sources.

Philadelphia fire officials said several explosions sent a massive fireball into the sky, engulfing the surrounding areas in smoke after 4 a.m. EDT (0800 GMT), following the ignition of a fire that started in a butane vat at the 335,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refining complex, the largest and oldest on the U.S. East Coast; there has been a plant on the site since 1870.

There were four injuries reported, according to a company statement, and all workers were treated on-site. The extent of the damage is unknown, but appears to be more serious than a previous fire less than two weeks ago in a different unit at the complex.