Corax
Teachers calls police on nine-year-old Donnan in Manchester for selling air fresheners, bought packet of four from pound shop then sold them for GBP 1 each outside Tesco petrol station, Sacred Heart Primary School say they contacted authorities over concerns of the boy, while Tesco spokesman said they were touched he raise money to buy little sister a Christmas present and made sure he was safe
World
Tennis star Novak Djokovic faces deportation from Australia after the Federal Court upholds the government's decision to cancel his visa, Chief Justice James Allsop stresses that the court is only ruling on the lawfulness and legality rather than the wisdom of the decision
WHO says more than half of Europeans are on track to contract the Omicron coronavirus variant in the next two months if infections continue at current rates, says it's too early to treat the disease as endemic despite reports of a higher degree of asymptomatic cases and lower proportion of hospitalisations for Omicron cases
Eight countries including Iran, Venezuela and Sudan lose UN voting rights due to unpaid membership dues
Vladimir Putin reiterates demand Nato deny membership to Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and roll back alliance’s military deployments, saying West is to be blamed for tensions building up in Europe and that Russia has been forced to respond at every step, adding that Russia needs more than verbal assurances and promises that Moscow can't trust
Dr Angelique Coetzee who is also board chair of the South African Medical Association says all Covid-19 Omicron variant symptoms so far in the country have been mild and that no patients have needed hospital admission, says that things might change but that there currently is no need for panic
EU temporarily halts funding to WHO in the Democratic Republic of Congo after an independent investigation identified more than 80 alleged cases of sexual abuse implicating 20 staff members in the country since 2018, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus apologizes to the victims and promises a profound transformation with zero-tolerance plan against sexual exploitation and abuse in crisis zones
Donald Trump slammed for stating that the late Colin Powell was a republican in name only and that he made many big mistakes including Iraq, critics say that he dances on Powell's grave and is just jealous, respect has been paid to Powell by current and former government officials and every other living president across the political spectrum
Record cold season at South Pole from April to September, minus-61 Celsius is lowest temperature ever noted at Amundsen-Scott station, 4.4 degrees lower than second lowest measurement in 40 years, average temperature during September also lowest ever, ice levels around Antarctica grow to fifth highest on record
Miscellaneous
Manchester United receives complaint about fans using discriminatory language over player's height during game against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Old Trafford, writes email to supporters warning about their conduct
Baby Shark becomes the first YouTube video to reach 10 billion views, the kids' tune was uploaded in 2016 and became the most viewed video on the platform in 2020
19-year-old Brit Emilio Santoro crowned Europe's Elvis tribute champion at the yearly championship held in Birmingham's Metropole Hotel around Elvis' birthday weekend, started imitating the artist at age 4
Monkeys kill at least 250 pups in a month in Indian city of Majalgaon and all pups in neighbouring village of Lavool after dogs killing a baby monkey, the monkeys catch the dogs and throw them from heights, small children and villagers trying to protect dogs also attacked
50-year-old Italian man reported to police for wearing a silicone mould over his real arm in hope of getting a Covid vaccination certificate without exposing himself to the substance, the man is reportedly a health worker suspended from his job due to being un-vaccinated, regional government head Albert Cirio calls the attempt unacceptable faced with the sacrifice that the entire community has paid during the pandemic
Yokozuna Terunofuji defeats maegashira 15 Abi to clinch the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament championship victory with one day to spare, securing his second straight yusho since becoming a Yokozuna and his sixth in total
King Athelstan named Britain's top monarch, reigned from 925 to 939 AD and united England after merging the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex and driving the Vikings out of Northumbria, also defeated the combined invasion forces of the kings of Scotland and Dublin at the Battle of Brunanburh, Elizabeth I in second place, according to poll with 84,000 votes run by the podcast The Rest is History
Media
Germany’s minister of justice Marco Buschmann calls for concerted EU action against Telegram over spread of extremist content, saying it's in Telegram’s own best interest to have uninterrupted access to the European market, while Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov made it the messenger’s policy not to cooperate with authorities in any country
Covington Catholic student Nicholas Sandmann and NBC settles lawsuit over media giant's wrongful portrayal of the Kentucky student in controversy during interaction with Omaha tribe elder in 2019, Sandmann asked for USD 275 million in damages when filing suit
Jack Dorsey steps down as Twitter CEO effective immediately and will leave the board at the 2022 stockholders' meeting, says he left of his own accord and that he believes it to be severely limiting and a single point of failure for a company to be founder-led, former CTO Parag Agrawal appointed CEO
British newspaper The Independent criticized for claiming that Kyle Rittenhouse shot three black men despite all three attackers being white, Singaporean newspaper The Straits Times and Dutch news site NU.nl also described the rioters as black
Facebook blocks searches related to Kyle Rittenhouse who is currently on trial for shooting three people in self-defense during a 2020 riot in Wisconsin, the company comments that it deems the incident a mass murder and has removed Rittenhouse's Facebook and Instagram accounts
Facebook shuts down its face recognition system that automatically recognizes opt-in users in pictures and videos as well as automatically creates image descriptions for visually-impaired people, promises to delete more than a billion people's individual facial recognition templates, says that facial recognition is a powerful tool but that limiting its use is appropriate due to societal concerns and regulators still being in the process of providing a clear set of rules
Facebook changes its company name to Meta to reflect the vision for working and playing in a virtual world, Mark Zuckerberg comments that it's in the company DNA to build technology to connect people and that he hopes the metaverse will reach a billion people within the next decade
Doctors around the world report rise in cases of tics in young girls due to watching TikTok videos about Tourette syndrome, Texas Children's Hospital reported 60 cases of teen girls being admitted with tics since March 2020 compared to 1 or 2 the previous year, concerned parents are advised to encourage their kids to take a break from social media or block Tourette videos
Politics
Joe Biden reassures his allies that he plans to run for 2024 reelection, the message follows six-month stretch where his national approval rating has plummeted more than a dozen points into the low 40s amid growing inflation concerns, top donor John Morgan says he is unsure regarding Biden's future health despite recent health checkup showing the 79-year-old to be healthy and vigorous
Andrew Anglin: Antifa in Australia protests in support of more lockdowns and forced vaccination, obviously has no interest in “opposing the power structure” but supports every aspect of the agenda of the global ruling class
Japan prime minister Abe Shinzo resigns due to health concerns, recently became the longest sitting prime minister in the post world war two era, Abe has a brief stint as prime minister between 2006 and 2007 when he was also forced to resign due to chronic illness which was later claimed to have been successfully medicated
National Justice Party founded in US by members of alt-right, front man Mike "Enoch" Peinovich says in speech that freedom is a European concept and can not be upheld without European people, new party will work for rights of whites in US and the world
Orthodox Church locks horns with Montenegrin government over new anti-ecclesiastical legislation, law gives state leave to seize ecclesiastical property from churches who cannot produce ownership titles notarised before 1918, thousands march through streets of Podgorica amid clerical hymn chants decrying "[the State] ... snatching people's souls", gloves come off as President Milo Djukanovic attacks the Orthodox Church for undermining Montenegrin independence, The Church has 12 million followers in Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro
Greta Thunberg throws down the gauntlet at Bristol climate rally, rain-soused teenagers bellow "The ocean is rising and so are we" and other equally stirring slogans, Greta—donning her iconic yellow mac—attacks political complacency in face of impending climate apocalypse
Sweden's foreign ministry summons Chinese ambassador with the intention of demanding immediate release and consular access to Gui Minhai, apprehended and detained by Chinese authorities in 2018 for sale of literature vilifying the Chinese state apparatus
Donald Trump's adviser and confidant Roger Stone sentenced to 40 months' imprisonment, found guilty on five counts of obstructing House Intelligence Committee investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, Trump retweets Tucker Carlson segment calling for pardon, request for retrial filed by Stone's legal team
Arts Council England (ACE) threaten to withold public funding for museums and arts organisations who don't implement diversity quotas, appalled ethnic non-whites should be so woefully underrepresented in arts, report unearths a number of unnerving statistics - only 6% of workforce disabled as opposed to 21% in the national labour force
Opinion
Peter Hitchens: Just like the Red fanatics, the Green fanatics think they're too good and noble to possibly be wrong, but just like Soviet Union the UK will begin to get colder and darker as efficient nuclear and coal-fired power stations are dismantled and the country is made hopelessly reliant on expensive non-green gas and by autumn all will be paying hard cash to sustain the dogmatic lunacy of a power elite wholly gripped with Green zealotry
Paul A. Nuttall: Viktor Orbán's 5-question referendum on LGBTQ+ law is a brave move, if he wins it could be the end of Hungary's EU membership and if he loses it would be curtains for him as prime minister, EU doesn’t like referendums as it does not like to leave anything to chance, but will now make the referendum about Hungary's membership, confident its people will be cowed into voting against Orbán’s proposals
Matthew Crawford: When science is elevated to authority to rule society it is distorted into a scientistic religion, manipulation becomes necessary to make public opinion conform to official intepretation of research results, leads to unstable regime which provokes stronger and more militant counterreactions
Peter Hitchens: The West pushes for war with Russia, which is a broken former superpower with the economy of about the same size as Italy's, imagine how US would act if Soviet had won the cold war, engulfed the former Nato nations into the Warsaw Pact, encouraged Texas and California to form an independent Spanish-speaking nation hostile to the US and based troops along the American border
Peter Hitchens: Scotland Yard’s raid on Polish Church of Christ the King in Balham during Good Friday devotions proof of revolution where much we used to know and believe is being insistently destroyed, with Johnson Government’s contemptuous indifferent to how insulting their actions are to those who acknowledge a power higher than them, but if the police had come in with Communist emblems on their cap-badges the Poles probably would have thrown them out, but free countries are incredibly easy to turn into despotisms, because nobody can believe what is happening
Kevin Karp: EU press Northern Ireland’s onerous post-Brexit arrangement as key for the Good Friday Agreement, while using it as a political prop to claw the rest of Britain back into the EU regulatory straitjacket, whatever the damage this causes to peace in Northern Ireland, spurring the recent sectarian violence and validating EU’s condescending disregard for British interests
Hans-Hermann Hoppe: Political exploitation of Covid-19 frighteningly successful, the state kills and makes ill more people than it saves with protective measures, at the same time local leaders are given opportunities to challenge central power and the critical importance of decentralized decision making is demonstrated
Ricardo Duchesne: White men are the most resented group because they are responsible for almost 100% of the greatest achievements in all fields of human endeavor in all of history, created all fields of academic study, were the foremost thinkers, artists, statesmen and explorers
Peter Hitchens: The lockdown and destruction of statues show the pillars of freedom and civilization are rotten as police chiefs and political leaders kneel like conquered slaves to the new gods of woke, and while the Left controls every lever of power, ignorant armies seek the final abolition of Britain as we face nothing less than a regime change
Europe
Teachers calls police on nine-year-old Donnan in Manchester for selling air fresheners, bought packet of four from pound shop then sold them for GBP 1 each outside Tesco petrol station, Sacred Heart Primary School say they contacted authorities over concerns of the boy, while Tesco spokesman said they were touched he raise money to buy little sister a Christmas present and made sure he was safe
British Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries says BBC licence fee will be scrapped after 2027 and freezes annual GBP 159 fee for the next two years in her last licence fee announcement, adding that the days of elderly being threatened with prison sentences and bailiffs knocking on doors are over
Some 560,000 French people lose their Covid pass due to the government changing the requirement to three jabs, outdoor mask mandate abolished after court ruling it an infringement of personal freedom
Marks and Spencer rebrands retro sweets Midget Gems as Mini Gems to please dwarf lobbyist Dr Erin Pritchard who says the word midget is a form of hate speech and contributes to the prejudice that people with dwarfism experience on a daily basis
Marine Le Pen protests against Emmanuel Macron replacing national flag with that of the EU on the Arc de Triomphe for Paris's presidency of the bloc, calls it an attack on the nation's identity because monument honours its military victories and houses the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Josef Fritzl undergoes psychological tests to determine whether he can be freed from prison in 2024 after serving 15 years for keeping his daughter locked in a dungeon from 1984-2008, raping her thousands of times and fathering seven children with her, it is deemed highly unlikely he will pass the tests or that a judge would grant his freedom
EU drafting law allowing Brussels to seize private property during pandemic emergency, the Single Market Emergency Instrument to have a toolbox which will include controls on exports and powers to obtain information from companies on production, stockpiles and their supply chains as EU will not allow corporate interests to interfere with the greater interest of the European people
European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič says relationship with Switzerland could collapse as the country resists attempts to force it to yield trading sovereignty to Brussels under new draft trade deal as the bloc wants Switzerland to align its laws with EU law, economic ties currently governed by more than 100 bilateral agreements stretching back to 1972
Germany is trying to turn EU into a German Fourth Reich and if Poles agree they will be degraded in different ways, says one of Poland's deputy prime ministers Jarosław Kaczyński, adding that EU's Court of Justice is being used as an instrument for federalist ideas while former German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Poland must fully and completely implement EU law
North America
60-year-old man stops carjacking attempt in Philadelphia by shooting the 16-year-old perpetrator multiple times, thanks God for protecting him during the shoot-out and advices criminal youth to get an education and work hard, 91 carjackings in the city so far this year and more than 750 last year
Quebec father temporarily loses the right to see his 12-year-old child as long as he does not vaccinate against Covid-19, the judge says his visits would not be in the child's best interest
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says those not vaccinated against covid-19 are often racist and misogynistic, calls them very small group of people who don’t believe in science or progress but who take up some space, asks whether they should be tolerated
Inventor of mRNA vaccine technology Doctor Robert Malone on Joe Rogan says public officials cover up known early treatments of Covid-19 and that healthcare facilities receive federal payments in exchange for Covid death receipts, weeks after world-renowned cardiologist Doctor Peter McCullough’s visit where he sounded the alarm over the US public health bureaucracy purposefully suppress treatments in order to push the experimental vaccines
Canadian court rules mandatory math proficiency test unconstitutional as non-white candidates have been disproportionately unsuccessful and those who fail to pass it numerous times should not be prohibited from teaching children, ordering Ontario College of Teachers to grant certification to failing teacher candidates
Missouri Supreme Court orders Blue Springs School District to pay USD 4 million to a female student who was denied access to boys' locker rooms and restrooms after her sex change at the age of nine, a spokesperson for the district says they disagree with the verdict and will look into appealing
Latin America
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro says the identities of the officials who authorized Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccinations for 5-year-olds will be revealed despite the country's health regulator stating death threats have been received, comments that everyone has the right to know the names and to form their own judgment
El Salvador plans issuing USD 1 billion in tokenized Bitcoin bonds and build Bitcoin City, 10% VAT to be the only tax, nearby Conchagua volcano to provide energy for Bitcoin mining
At least 68 dead after eight-hour gun battle between rival gangs inside Ecuador's largest prison, more than 300 prisoners have died in clashes in penitentiaries across the country this year, authorities say overcrowding as well as inmates' access to guns constitute major problems but that pardons and international aid will help the situation
25 suspected bankrobbers killed by Brazilian police in offensive during the early hours of Sunday, police spokesperson calls the raid the biggest ever and compares the heavily armed gang to the cangaço outlaws who roamed the country's north-eastern backlands in the early 20th century
Colombian coca growers take 180 soldiers hostage during attempt to eradicate the illegal crops, General Omar Sepulveda says six plutoons were kidnapped in Tibu after being surrounded by farmers armed with sticks and machetes, the office of Colombia's human rights ombudsman has sent a delegation to try and secure the soldiers' release
Venezuela launches new bolívar with six fewer zeroes, the currency lost three zeros in 2008 and another five in 2018, the country's GDP has plummeted by 80 percent since 2013 and IMF estimates that the inflation rate at the end of 2021 will be at 5,500%
Asia
Tonga covered in ash and cut off from communication after massive explosion triggered 7.4-magnitude underwater volcanic eruption and sent huge tsunami waves crashing into homes and buildings, in explosion volcano capable of producing roughly every thousand years, death toll unknown
North Korea bans leather coats to stop craze copying Kim Jong-un's signature look, police calls it an impure trend to challenge the authority of the Highest Dignity, follows decision to ban mullets and skinny jeans for representing Western decadence
Yahoo pulls out of China and shuts down all remaining business, cites increasingly challenging business and legal environment, the move is largely symbolic as key Yahoo services has already been blocked by Beijing
Knife-wielding man setting a fire aboard a Tokyo train injures at least 17 people, 24-year-old man dressed as The Joker arrested
North Korea starts breeding black swans on an industrial scale to overcome chronic food shortages, follows Kim Jong Un speech telling the citizens to expect to eat less food until the country re-opens its borders with China in 2025
Islam will no longer be the state religion of Bangladesh as the government has decided to revert to its 1972 Constitution, two constitutional amendments during successive military regimes between 1978 and 1990 instituted Islam as the state religion, Bangladesh is battling a spurt of Islamist violence after a picture
on social media showed the Holy Quran at the feet of Hindu God Hanuman at a Durga Puja pandal in Comilla town
MIDDLE EAST
Iran agrees to replace damaged cameras at the Karaj nuclear facility after agreement with the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA
Turkey investigates 31 Syrians of which 11 is arrested and 7 to be deported on charges of provocatively eating bananas in social media posts, the viral trend began after a Turkish man complained about not affording bananas while the Syrians bought kilos, the arrested are charged with the crime of inciting or insulting the public to hatred and hostility
Israel's decision to label six Palestinian NGOs as terror organizations based on being PFLP fronts criticized internationally, UN Human Rights Office in Ramallah says the decision includes entirely peaceful activities and EU says the funding will continue, at least two of the organizations have denied the allegations
Turkey is building a wall along its border with Iran to prevent a new refugee flow, a 5 km section of the 3 metre-high wall is under construction and Turkey is aiming to build a 295 km-long wall on its Iranian border, beefed up by barbed wires and trenches
Hard-line Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi wins Iran presidential election in landslide victory amid lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic's history after a panel under the watch of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei disqualifies Raisi's strongest competition
Yamina leader Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid reach deal to form new governing coalition consisting of partners that span the Israeli political spectrum, ending the record-setting 12-year rule of Benjamin Netanyahu, the agreement still needs to be approved by the Knesset
Requests for permits to carry a weapon spike in Israel after the riots in Lod and Ramla, normally, 270 applications are made weekly, but between May 10 and May 16, 1,926 were received, all Israeli citizens can apply for a license to carry a firearm once they reach the eligible age
Israel Defence Forces announce it killed five senior Hamas leaders in targeted strikes, the dead include head of Hamas military intelligence security department and head of the military intelligence counterespionage department, adding "looks like our intel was better"
Africa
Nigeria lifts ban on Twitter after seven months For its 200 million people, the ban followed a censoring of a President Buhari post where he threatened to handle separatist rebels "in the language they will understand", Twitter reportedly to open an office in Nigeria, appoint a country head and meet its tax obligations according to the deal
Archbishop Desmond Tutu dies aged 90, won 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his struggle against apartheid in South Africa, condemned President Jacob Zuma over corruption and in 2014 admitted he did not vote for the ANC on moral grounds
Scientists mystified that Africa make up just 3% of the global total Covid-19 deaths despite low vaccination rates and less resources to fight the virus, high rates of malaria exposure and low average age mentioned as possible reasons, Nigeria with 3000 deaths so far among its 200 million population begins campaign to inoculate half the population before February
FW de Klerk dead at 85 following a struggle against mesothelioma, was the president of South Africa between 1989 and 1994, shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela for helping to negotiate an end to apartheid
Addis Ababa city authorities ask residents to register their weapons and organise by blocks and neighbourhoods after Tigrayan forces indicated they might advance on the city, Tigreans claim to have captured the strategic towns of Dessie and Kombolcha including the highway linking the capital of the landlocked nation to the port of Djibouti in the last few days
South African cricket player Quinton de Kock out of the T20 World Cup game against West Indies after refusing to take a knee before the game, Cricket South Africa notes that de Kock refused the global gesture against racism despite it being mandatory and that they await a further report from team management before deciding on the next steps
Economy
Royal Dutch Shell is acquiring ubitricity the owner of the UK’s largest public electric vehicle charging network, for an undisclosed amount marking the oil giant's expansion into the fast-growing on-street EV charging market
Idaho legislators introduce House Bill 7 allowing state funds to be held in physical gold and silver to help secure state assets against the risks of inflation and financial turmoil, South Carolina and Wyoming are considering similar measures
Record sales of Christmas trees in Australia leads to tree farms closing earlier than planned, four-year production cycles cause difficulties balancing supply and demand when sales peak
Scandinavian airline SAS signs SEK 3.3 billion three-year revolving credit facility agreement where 90% is guaranteed by the Swedish and Danish states approved by the European Commission, the company says it will further its dialogue with the Norwegian government regarding NOK 1.7 billion state guaranteed funding and that it will seek additional governmental support to ensure its providing of critical Scandinavian airline infrastructure
Technology
Mullvad VPN announces diskless servers as first step toward solution where users can verify what software is running on machines, part of long-term project to achieve maximum trustworthiness through system transparency
Apple to scan iPhone user’s private photos and report child abuse imagery found to the authorities, bypassing any end-to-end encryption, describing privacy activists as "the screeching voices of the minority", Edward Snowden among signatory of petition on Github against Apple's plan
Virgin founder Richard Branson makes trip to suborbital space on the Virgin Galactic Unity 22 spaceplane on Sunday, narrowly beating Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos to travel away from Earth, who argues it does not count as it failed to pass the Kármán line, which at 100km above sea level is considered by many to be the true boundary of space
Kawasaki Heavy Industries builds world’s first of 80 planned tankers for liquified hydrogen, the tanker is 116 meters long and can transport 75 tons of liquified hydrogen kept at temperatures of minus 253 degrees Celsius, the Japanese government’s plan for 2050 is having hydrogen and ammonia serve as the fuel for 10 percent of electric power generation
Third of staff quit as software company Basecamp refuses to let internal work tools become platform for political activism and shuts down employee committee formed to promote diversity, equity and inclusion
Science
Chinese nuclear fusion reactor research facility in Anhui runs at 70 million degrees Celsius for over 17 minutes which lays a solid scientific and experimental foundation towards the running of a fusion reactor, according to researcher Gong Xianzu at the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Nasa launches USD 10 billion James Webb Space Telescope on to its one-million-mile voyage into solar orbit to give widest ever spectrum view to be able to peer back in time 13.5 billion years to a point within a 100 million years of the Big Bang, lifted off from European Space Agency's base in French Guiana
Researchers discoveres well-preserved 72-to 66-million-year-old embryo inside 17-cm long fossilised dinosaur egg, found in the rocks of Ganzhou in southern China and belongs to toothless theropod dinosaur group called oviraptorosaur, the embryo posture is similar to that seen in modern-day bird embryos
New planet detection algorithm used to identify 366 new exoplanets, including one planetary system that comprises a star and at least two gas giant planets, could help understand what building blocks are needed for successful planet formation, according to astronomers at University Of California
Researchers should be banned from using the word Caucasian because it is associated with a racist and pseudo-scientific classification of humans, instead the term "the European-associated principal component analysis cluster" should be used, according to paper written by five Cambridge and University College London scientists
Norwegians have as much sex as they had 20 years ago, unlike rest of the West where sexual activity is generally declining, according to survey with 4,000 participants
Chinese Tianwen-1 spacecraft successfully lands on Mars' surface on the vast plain Utopia Planitia on Saturday, leaving its orbit where it's been since March, the rover Zhurong is later to depart from its platform to conduct inspections on the ground