Corax
The number of US troops in Afghanistan reduced to 2,500 in accordance with President Donald Trump’s plan presented in November, the lowest level of American forces in the country since 2001 according to Pentagon
World
The number of US troops in Afghanistan reduced to 2,500 in accordance with President Donald Trump’s plan presented in November, the lowest level of American forces in the country since 2001 according to Pentagon
Number of galaxies in universe far lower than previously thought, say NASA astronomers after studying data from space probe New Horizons, Milky Way has hundreds of billions of cousins rather than thousands of billions
Julian Assange denied bail by judge at Westminster Magistrates Court, citing risk of him trying to flee while US officials appeal UK judge's extradition ban, meaning Assange will continue to be held at Belmarsh high-security prison for at least two weeks
Australia changes National Anthem wording from "for we are young and free" to "for we are one and free" in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement to recognise the Aborigines as the oldest continued civilization in the world
Boeing 737 Max makes first US commercial flight since jet was grounded in March 2019 after two deadly crashes, approved by FAA following flight control updates, maintenance work and fresh pilot training, first worldwide passenger flight with revamped Max took place this month in Brazil
Iran has a longstanding campaign to amass foreign - particularly US and European — hostages so they can be used as pawns in future diplomatic deals with their countries, a European intelligence official described the agreement to release Kylie Moore-Gilbert as a way for the Iranians to reduce tensions with the US and Europe
China’s Coast Guard will be empowered to fire on foreign vessels that intrude into territorial waters and to protect the safety of “important islands and reefs, the exclusive economic zone as well as manmade islands and facilities constructed on the continental shelf” according to new draft legislation posted online
Miscellaneous
Long-tailed macaques who steal from tourists in Bali temple are able to estimate value of loot, demand more food to return more valuable goods, primarily try to snatch phones, wallets and glasses, according to researchers who spent nine months filming thefts and ransom negotiations
In newly unearthed interview tapes from the 1970s Oshima Hiroshi speaks about his role aligning Japan with Germany, as the Japanese ambassador to Germany before and during World War Two he expresses regret for only taking military prowess into account and not consider the overall strength of countries, from economics to industry, expecting Germany to prevail in the war
Worlds first underwater roundabout opens 72 meters under Skálafjørður in Faroe Islands, part of tunnel system which connects most populated island Streymoy with second most populous Eysturoy, roundabout decorated with green and blue lights in artistic creation likened to a jellyfish
Cipher created by the Zodiac Killer cracked 51 years after it was sent to San Francisco newspaper, international team of cryptographers solved the riddle with help from specialized software, two of the serial killer's four coded messages remain to be decrypted
Russian outrage over recommendation to abstain from alcohol two weeks before and four weeks after Covid-19 vaccination, many claim Russians are unable to stay sober for so long, creator of Sputnik vaccine says a glass of champagne doesn't hurt and the important thing is not drinking for three days before and after each injection
USA and Israel is in contact with and cooperates with extraterrestial beings, says Haim Eshed who is retired general and former chief of Israel space security program, Donald Trump was on the verge of disclosing the secret but was stopped by Galactic Federation which does not think humans are ready to know the truth about space and spaceships
IKEA ends seven-decade tradition and discontinues its catalogue which was first published in 1951 and reached its peak in 2016 when more than 200 million copies were distributed to households and IKEA stores in more than 50 countries
Singapore approves, as first country in the world, the sale of meat made in a laboratory to consumers, the product, created from animal cells without the slaughter of any chickens, will debut as a chicken bite with breading and seasoning in a single restaurant priced similar to premium chicken
Media
Twitter deletes Breitbart video of press conference held by America’s Frontline Doctors sharing their views on Covid-19 and the medical community’s treatment of the virus for violating social media's Covid-19 misinformation policy, also removes posts by President Trump and suspends Donald Trump Jr. for sharing video footage
John Malkovich blames social media idiocy for the death of comedy with its toxic outrage culture, says what is considered funny one day could well end an entertainer’s career the next, the ire of a generation a few clicks away from being sparked
Social media to be regulated through executive order by Donald Trump, could change interpretation of 1996 law which shields platforms from legal liability for content published by users
Dutch grandmother ordered to delete photos of grandchildren which she uploaded to social media against the wishes of parents, court finds GDPR applies despite exception for personal processing of data since pictures where made available to wider audience
Politics
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
EU arch-bureaucrat Josep Borrell tells Munich Security Conference the European Union must learn to embrace its oft-derided hegemonic structure by "developing an appetite for power", the EU must throw equivocation, dawdling and prudence to the winds and learn to act, a conciliatory EU won't be able to challenge U.S. dominance in global politics
Opinion
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
Norman Lewis: British media has united into an undifferentiated authoritarian mob demanding tough draconian action by the government, from restricting movement to shutting down the economy, and have become an indispensable part of the government’s propaganda bullhorn and surveillance
Bryan Caplan: 15.8% probability that Bernie Sanders is secretly a communist according to my calculation using Bayes' theorem, crypto-communism should be considered a serious risk as indicated in history by Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandela and Ho Chi Minh
Alexander von Schönburg: A subdued Germany once known for innovation and its industry is trapped in an EU obsessed with regulation and welfare, while looking fearfully and enviously at a confident Britain with a powerful economy and a strong leader in Boris Johnson moving towards a brighter future than the union they are leaving behind
Doug Casey: Civilisationer går under för att teknik och etik utvecklas i olika takt, moral utvecklas extremt långsamt eller inte alls medan ingenjörskonst utvecklas mycket snabbt och gör att skadliga idéer kan spridas ögonblickligen
Vicky Spratt: Baleful that the likes of Laurence Fox should publically boast about pruning 'woke women' from their social life, emblematic of the resurgent reactionary sentiment which prompted the murder of Jo Cox and the ousting of Meghan Markle
Jeff Deist: The left-wing college professor is not just a trope, surveys show virtually all tenured scholars are of a left-wing persuaion, think twice before enrolling
Tyler Cowen: Elizabeth Warren is touting the worst economic programme ever to have been put forth in my lifetime, proposed fracking ban would stall domestic industry and enrich Saudi Arabia at the expense of the environment – proposed policies for agriculture, taxes, student debt, education and healthcare equally inane
Europe
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
EU arch-bureaucrat Josep Borrell tells Munich Security Conference the European Union must learn to embrace its oft-derided hegemonic structure by "developing an appetite for power", the EU must throw equivocation, dawdling and prudence to the winds and learn to act, a conciliatory EU won't be able to challenge U.S. dominance in global politics
North America
Donald Trump acknowledges Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election while adding he is outraged by individuals who participated in the violence at the US Capitol and that those who broke the law will pay
Facebook blocks President Donald Trump's account for at least two weeks while Twitter locks the Presidents account for 24 hours, with Zuckerberg saying the risks of allowing the President to continue to use their service during this period are simply too great
Unarmed 14-year veteran Ashli Babbitt fatally shot in the chest by police at the Capitol after Trump supporters had stormed the building, Babbitt served four tours with the Air Force
Congress certifies the Electoral College vote early Thursday giving Joe Biden his presidential victory after Vice President Mike Pence had announced he would not overturn the will of voters
Democrats gains majority in the US Senate after two seats up for grabs in runoff elections in Georgia are called for Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, giving Democrats narrow control of both chambers of Congress
Head of major US business group urges senior officials to remove President Donald Trump from office after the storming of the US Capitol, the group represents 14,000 companies including Exxon Mobil Corporation, Pfizer Inc and Toyota Motor Corporation
ER nurse in San Diego tests positive for Covid-19 eight days after receiving Pfizer vaccine, Dr. Christian Ramers on US advisory panel for vaccine rollout says it's expected as it takes 10 to 14 days to develop protection and that it’s going to take a long time even with vaccines
Latin America
32-year-old Mexican doctor goes into convulsions within 30 minutes of being injected with the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, remains in intensive care after suffering from encephalomyelitis, an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, has a history of allergic reactions
91% of seats in Venezuelan legislature claimed by government allies after opposition boycotts election, the US and EU has disavowed elections as manipulated by Maduro regime
Argentina’s government is considering a one-off tax on the super-rich, the tax would start at 2% and rise depending on wealth starting at a fortune of 2.7 million USD affecting about 12 000 people
The Cuban government has turned 72 state-run shops into "dollar stores", shelves, unlike many regular supermarkets dealing in local currency, are well stocked with basic food and hygiene products but must be paid for in USD, the government denies the new stores are part of a "dollarisation" process turning the USD into the official currency as has happened in Panama, Ecuador and El Salvador
Jair Bolsonaro tests positive for covid-19, is said to have mild fever and receiving treatment including hydroxychloroquine and azitromycin
London court rules British government recognizes Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s president in case to decide which leader controls USD 2 billion worth of Venezuelan central bank gold stored in Bank of England, Nicolas Maduro’s lawyers say they will appeal judgement
Asia
Hundreds march in support of Donald Trump in Japan carrying American flags, alongside Japanese rising sun flags and South Korean national flags chanting anti-Chinese Communist Party and anti-media slogans, groups of Trump supporters have been popping up regularly in Japan since his election loss in November last year
South Korea’s population declines for the first time since the resident registration system was introduced in 1962, total registered Korean population in 2020 stood at 51.82 million, the number of newborns fell to 275,815 in 2020, the lowest level ever
Japan Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide says in pre-recorded radio interview that agnatic primogeniture should remain, will be the governments default position in upcoming talks about how to secure stable imperial succession
China is backing away from its initial financial promises to Pakistan under the Belt and Road Initiative, lending from China has declined from a peak of $75 billion in 2016 to just $4 billion last year, of 122 announced China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects only 32 have been completed as of the third quarter of 2020 amid corruption and security concerns
Demonstrations calling for the restoration of the monarchy and a Hindu state are set to ratchet up in Nepal led by the right-wing Rastriya Prajatantra Party, royalist groups and pro-monarchy citizens, the ruling Nepal Communist Party has become unpopular lately because it is embroiled in infighting and corruption and has failed to control the pandemic
Algerian-born convicted terrorist prisoner Abdul Nacer Benbrika has Australian citizenship cancelled making him the first individual to have lost citizenship onshore
North Korean gymnast defects to South Korea by vaulting the three-metre fence seperating the countries, South Korean officials were so taken aback by his feat that they asked him to demonstrate twice how he was able to accomplish it
MIDDLE EAST
Saudi Arabia officially bans Turkish products, the Saudi government has been reported to contact individual businesses and order them not to trade with Turkish companies or buy any products made in Turkey, it has also launched a campaign to discourage its citizens from travelling to Turkey
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Hassan Diab set to announce the resignation of his government after the explosion in Beirut which killed at least 163 people and has stirred public outrage and spurred a string of ministers to step down
At least 10 dead and hundreds wounded in a massive explosion at Beirut's port, General Abbas Ibrahim said it appears the explosion was caused by highly explosive material confiscated years ago stored in a warehouse
Southern Yemen separatists Southern Transitional Council announces having seized government facilities and military bases on the main island of Socotra, Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi condemns the action as a full-fledged coup, Socotra governor Ramzi Mahroos accuses coalition leaders Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of turning a blind eye
Egyptian military in North Sinai kills 21 jihadi terrorists planning attacks later in May, the Armed Forces says 126 terrorists have been killed earlier this month in 22 raids and 12 operations in Central and North Sinai
19 Iranian sailors killed and 15 wounded when Iranian frigate Jamaran accidentally strikes support ship Konarak with a missile during an exercise in the Gulf of Oman
UAE-backed Yemeni separatists Southern Transitional Council declare state of emergency and say they will self-govern southern provinces, the Saudi-backed government says the move violates the November Riyadh agreement where the respective sides were to join a new national cabinet and place all forces under governmental control
Africa
More than 270 elephants have mysteriously collapsed and died in Botswana since early May, poaching has been ruled out while Covid-19 has not, the country is home to around 130,000 elephants which is a third of Africa’s total
Opposition activists in Zimbabwe say torture and sexual abuse is used by state security services to discourage protests, MDC members claim to have been arrested at roadblock and subjected to humiliating treatment for two days before being released
Libyan government forces retake eight cities west of Tripoli from militias loyal to warlord Khalifa Haftar, secure the road from the Tunisian border to the Abu Grein area, more than 1,000 government soldiers killed by Haftar's forces since last April
Democratic Republic of Congo records second Ebola death in days following seven weeks without a new case, WHO reports, had been due on Sunday to mark end to outbreak, a group of angry men threw stones at team attempting to decontaminate first victim's home and trace his contacts
Zimbabwe’s police use water cannon to disinfect markets and exterior of a block of residential flats in highly populated areas of Harare, the country has recorded one death from nine cases of Covid-19 and went into a 21-day lockdown on Monday
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni proclaims Ugandans and other Africans will stay poor if they keep splitting their time between sleeping and doing "things without mathematics", says he's very happy that Archbishop John Baptist Odama together with other church leaders have joined his campaign against sleeping
Dozens of Chinese factories produce thousands of tonnes of zombiefying metarhizium fungus to help fight locust swarms in East Africa, UN warns of worst situation in decades and that the swarms might result in famine affecting 13 million people, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization also works with the Somalian government to prepare a custom metarhizium species in what is described as the largest ever use of biopesticides against the insects
Economy
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
Japan decides on USD 930 cash handout for every citizen to lessen the economic Covid-19 blow, originally planned on giving 300,000 yen to qualified households that had lost income but changed that as the payments were seen as too complicated and too small
Bill Gates resigns from boards of Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway, states intention to focus more on philantropic efforts, remains involved in Microsoft which he founded 45 years ago and where he remains a top shareholder with 1.36% of shares
Bank of England bid to thwart Covid-19 recession drives Euro Zone banks index .SX7E 1.5% higher by kindling hope of ECB following suit, precarious 6% gain dashed as U.S. stock market opens sharply lower, British minister of finance say he will do "whatever it takes" to protect the UK economy, BoE gives UK banks provisional leave to tap capital reserves
Federal Reserve takes flak from President Trump for not cranking out the stimulus necessary to thwart looming Coronavirus downturn, insists the US take a leaf out of Europe's playbook and set the "lowest rates in the world"
Scheming bureaucrats flock to G20 to hatch new strategy for mulcting Big Tech, issued communique projects proposed legislation will yield governments worldwide an additional $100 billion dollars in tax revenue, rules will prohibit tech companies from secreting revenue in tax-havens, taxes must be paid locally and not where subsidiaries are registered, "There is no time to wait for elections" intones German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz
Technology
Apple develops car and plans to start production in 2024, started designing the vehicle from scratch in 2014 and project lead is Doug Field who previously worked for Tesla, key component is unique battery technology which is said to be less expensive and increase range
Lockheed U-2 remains leading spy plane after 65 years in service and now gets 30 years extension after beating modern planes and drones in competition for development resources
Segway ends production of iconic self-balancing transportation device which was hailed as revolutionary but remained a curiosity, brand name lives on as well as thousands of patents used in e-scooters, hoverboards and other successor technologies
Texas Instruments removes support for C-based and assembly-based programs on the TI-84 Plus CE and the TI-83 Premium CE to minimize security risks and impede cheating, the development community views the decision as the end of an era
Linus Torvalds switches from Intel processors after 15 years and upgrades his main computer with a 32-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970x, writes that while he has not yet switched to ARM, the allmodconfig test builds are now three times faster
Elon Musk tweets Tesla will move to Texas and Nevada from California as home of Fremont plant, Alameda County says lockdown will remain while rest of state will allow manufacturers to reopen, Musk has criticized the lockdown and stay-at-home orders calling them fascist
Drones capable of measuring body temperature from 58 meters away as well as detecting sneezing, coughing, heart and breathing rates to be tested by the police in Westport, Connecticut, to provide better support for at-risk groups, police says that the drones will only be used outside individual private yards and will not use facial recognition technology
Google and Apple announce joint effort to create tracing tool in order to assist governments and health agencies in managing Covid-19 pandemic, Bluetooth-based platform is said to be opt-in with user privacy and security central to the design, the project also involves releasing APIs enabling interoperability between Android and iOS devices using public health authority apps
Dyson designs and builds entirely new ventilator in 10 days and plans selling 10,000 units to the UK government as well as donating 5,000 units to international efforts, UK firm Gtech is also working to produce ventilators and has submitted two examples to the government for assessment, in the US Ford has announced working together with 3M and GE Healthcare to produce medical equipment and GM as well as Tesla have pledged to make ventilators
World Athletics rules controversial patented Nike Vaporfly shoes saving elite marathon athletes up to two minutes legally allowable, puts "indefinite moratorium" on future technology advances as well as soles thicker than 40mm with more than one rigid embedded plate and only allows shoes that has been available on open retail market for four months, the AlphaFly shoes Eliud Kipchoge used when running a marathon distance under two hours in Vienna in October to be banned under new rules
Science
Method for blocking sunlight developed by balloon test over northern Sweden although first version will not disperse darkening particles, Harvard scientist are behind project which is controversial as it may decrease interest in cutting greenhouse gas emissions
Sharing bed with dogs beneficial for length and quality of sleep say researchers who surveyed 962 American women, dogs disturb less than human bed fellows and give stronger feelings of comfort and security, cats as disruptive as humans and the least comfort inducing of the three species studied
Previously unknown whale species discovered in waters west of Mexico, US marine biologists were looking for beaked whales when they notice individuals with unusual teeth placement and unique calls, water samples taken in hope of doing DNA analysis
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus, which essentially eliminated post-transfusion hepatitis
The Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Roger Penrose for the discovery that black hole formation is a prediction of the general theory of relativity and to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy
Hundreds died or developed heart failure in Britain as result of not seeking treatment for their heart attack due to Covid-19 fears, with 5,000 fewer admissions with heart attack than expected by the end of May, according to University study published in The Lancet
22-year-old Grey parrot outperforms 21 Harvard students and 21 6- to 8-year-old children in complex version of shell game where participants needed to track locations of fluffy pom-poms hidden under cups that swapped places an increasing number of times
Magnetic north pole shifting with increasing speed from Canada toward Siberia due to changes in underground blobs of molten iron, blob under Canada split in two about 20 years ago and largest part is now shifting toward corresponding blob under Siberia
Female mosquitoes carrying the microbe Microsporidia MB are protected from being infected with malaria, 295 out of 4270 mosquitoes in Kenya tested postitive for the microbe while none were of these were infected with malaria study published in Nature Communications says, seen as potential for controlling spread of disease to humans
DO YOU WANT MORE?
Join Corax Premium and get full access to the archive with 65285 links!