Author: LoveWorld UK

A top U.S. health official who publicly backed lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic defended his position during a deposition on Nov. 23, according to people who were present for the questioning. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, also said the inspiration for the lockdowns was communist-run China, one of the people said. Fauci sat for the seven-hour deposition in Bethesda, Maryland, where the headquarters for the institute’s parent agency are located. He was forced to answer questions under oath on orders from a federal judge who is set…

The White House’s COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha said that the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “zero-COVID” strategy is unrealistic amid the largest protests across China in decades. Thousands of demonstrators came out in Shanghai, Beijing, Urumqi, Wuhan, Chengdu, and other major Chinese cities over CCP-mandated lockdowns, mandatory COVID-19 tests, mask orders, and other rules. The CCP officially has pursued a “zero-COVID” policy for months and has shown no signs of stopping. In some areas, protesters chanted: “Xi Jinping! Step down! CCP! Step down!” Police in Shanghai, Beijing, and other major cities were called in to break up the demonstrations. “I think it’s going to…

Nigerian gunmen kidnapped at least 60 people in a remote community in northwestern Zamfara state who were mostly women observing Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, residents said on Thursday in the latest wave of abductions to hit the state. Armed gangs are rife across the country’s northwest where they rob or kidnap for ransom, and violence has been increasing as thinly stretched security forces often fail to stop attacks. That has raised concern about whether residents in the region will be able to vote in the February presidential poll to choose a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari, who is constitutionally barred from…

Facebook and Instagram have asked for government protection from Jacob Rees-Mogg’s bonfire of up to 4,000 EU laws on post-Brexit statute books. In a letter to a parliamentary committee to be published on Friday, the parent group, Meta, asks that laws underpinning social media firms are either “explicitly maintained elsewhere” or “removed from the scope” of the retained EU law (revocation and reform) bill. If they are not, groups like Facebook would be “less likely to operate in the UK”, wrote Richard Earley, the UK public policy manager at Meta. The Labour MP Stella Creasy said the bill could force social media companies…

Japanese football fans were spotted cleaning up the trash at the Khalifa International Stadium in Qatar after their team made a historic 2-1 victory over Germany in a FIFA World Cup match on Wednesday. Japan defeated the four-time World Cup champions Germany for the first time and will next face Costa Rica on Nov. 27. The FIFA World Cup posted a video on Twitter of Japanese fans packing trash into plastic bags and making sure the stadium was clean when they left it. The video has since gone viral, and their ethics won international praise. In another Twitter post, FIFA thanked the…

New Twitter owner Elon Musk said Thursday that he would begin granting “amnesty” for some previously banned accounts on the social media platform starting next week. The move marks a reversal from the site’s previous policies regarding content moderation. “The people have spoken,” Musk wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” he added, which translates to “the voice of the people, the voice of God” in Latin. Musk’s tweet was in response to a poll conducted on Wednesday in which he asked his Twitter followers if the platform should “offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged…

A laboured contest morphed into a thriller and, cutting through it all, Cristiano Ronaldo managed to own the story. That was hardly a surprise in the circumstances and it was certainly what the crowd, many dressed in Portugal shirts but a vast swathe clearly present to see one man only, demanded. Their loyalty was rewarded by an emphatically converted penalty that brought a moment in history. Ronaldo became the first male player to score at five different World Cups and, whether you loathe the circus or adore the fanatical drive and egoism that make him such excruciatingly hard work at 37, it…

Nurses across the UK will go on strike for the first time over two days in the fortnight before Christmas after ministers rejected their pleas for formal talks over NHS pay. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said its members would stage national strikes – the first in its 106-year history – on 15 and 20 December. Senior sources said the industrial action was expected to last for 12 hours on both days – most likely between 8am and 8pm. The unprecedented national industrial action will seriously disrupt care and is likely to be the first in a series of strikes over the winter…

Azerbaijan will be opening an embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, after its Parliament approved the decision on Nov. 18 in what officials say will help improve continued economic relations and cooperation between the two nations. The move would make Azerbaijan—which shares borders with Iran, Russia, Armenia, Georgia, and Turkey—the first Shiite majority country to do so. Both Azerbaijan and Israel share joint concerns over Iran, which has been steadily advancing its nuclear program. Israel’s Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, welcomed the move in a statement on Friday, stating that Azerbaijan is an “important partner of Israel and home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the Muslim…

Outgoing Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has congratulated Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, who was named his successor after the midterm elections, which her GOP opponent Kari Lake has not conceded while disputes play out. Ducey met with Hobbs on Wednesday, two weeks after Election Day, amid reports of widespread problems at voting sites in Maricopa County revealed in a memo written by attorney Mark Sonnenklar. Sonnenklar was one of 11 roving attorneys working with the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) Election Integrity program in Maricopa County. “Today I congratulated Governor-elect Katie Hobbs on her victory in a hard-fought race…