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The total number of global coronavirus cases has surpassed 17.1 million, including more than 669,000 fatalities. More than 10,693,000 patients are reported to have recovered. Follow this breaking news blog for live updates on coronavirus pandemic as it continues to pose a challenge for health workers and scientists who are in a race against time to produce a vaccine/medicine.

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New top story from Time: President Trump Golfs as COVID-19 Relief and Government Shutdown Hang in the Balance

https://ift.tt/38AGnrK (PALM BEACH) — After tossing a grenade that threatens to blow up a massive COVID relief and government funding bill and force a government shutdown in the midst of a pandemic, President Donald Trump spent his Christmas Eve golfing in Florida. Failure to agree on the bill could deny checks to millions of Americans on the brink. Trump had no events on his public schedule on the first day of his winter vacation Thursday, but traveled to his Palm Beach golf club, where he was spotted by CNN cameras on the links. Reporters were given no details of his schedule for the day, but told that, “As the Holiday season approaches, President Trump will continue to work tirelessly for the American People. His schedule includes many meetings and calls.” Trump’s departure came as Washington was still reeling over his surprise, eleventh-hour demand that an end-of-year spending bill that congressional leaders spent months negotiating give most Americans $2,000 COVID r...

FOX NEWS: Teacher catches mother bear and cub playing on school playground Even bears like to play.

Teacher catches mother bear and cub playing on school playground Even bears like to play. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3ATd0he

New top story from Time: Facebook’s Ties to India’s Ruling Party Complicate Its Fight Against Hate Speech

https://ift.tt/3b0vAI8 In July 2019, Alaphia Zoyab was on a video call with Facebook employees in India , discussing some 180 posts by users in the country that Avaaz, the watchdog group where she worked, said violated Facebook’s hate speech rules. But half way through the hour-long meeting, Shivnath Thukral, the most senior Facebook official on the call, got up and walked out of the room, Zoyab says, saying he had other important things to do. Among the posts was one by Shiladitya Dev, a lawmaker in the state of Assam for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He had shared a news report about a girl being allegedly drugged and raped by a Muslim man, and added his own comment: “This is how Bangladeshi Muslims target our [native people] in 2019.” But rather than removing it, Facebook allowed the post to remain online for more than a year after the meeting, until TIME contacted Facebook to ask about it on Aug. 21. “We looked into ...

New top story from Time: DOJ Reportedly Investigating Whether New York Gov. Cuomo Manipulated Data on COVID-19 Nursing Home Deaths

https://ift.tt/3u8AJab (ALBANY, N.Y.) — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo faced mounting challenges to his leadership on the coronavirus pandemic Wednesday as state lawmakers threatened to strip him of the power to issue emergency orders and federal investigators scrutinized his administration’s handling of nursing home data. The U.S. Justice Department has been examining the governor’s coronavirus task force and trying to determine whether the state intentionally manipulated data regarding deaths in nursing homes, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The people, who weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Cuomo administration had not been cooperative with prosecutors, especially in the early stages of the probe, and for months had not produced documents and other data the Justice Department had requested. The inquiry began months ago in the Justice Department’s civil division, and parts of it have ...

Van Ness Improvement Project Nears Completion

Van Ness Improvement Project Nears Completion By Nehama Rogozen After years of planning and construction, work on the Van Ness Improvement Project is progressing rapidly and the end is in sight! Construction is projected to be finished by the end of this year, with Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service running on Van Ness Avenue from Mission to Lombard beginning in early 2022. Work on the red transit lanes between Broadway and Pacific is almost complete. Crews have been busy on Van Ness Avenue. You may have noticed them building new medians and sidewalks, paving the roadway and installing poles that provide lighting and power to the BRT system. Most recently they have installed the red lanes that will allow buses to move Muni and Golden Gate Transit riders quickly along the corridor, without getting stuck in traffic. To ensure durability and reduce fading, these red transit lanes are made from poured red concrete, as opposed to red paint or thermoplastic on top of concrete. We are als...

New top story from Time: More Protests Erupt in Portland Outside a Police Precinct After Mayor Decries Violence

https://ift.tt/3gGbDs4 (PORTLAND, Ore.) — Violent clashes between protesters and police in Portland, Oregon, this week have ratcheted up tensions in the city days after an agreement between state and federal officials appeared to bring calm. More demonstrations were rallying Thursday night, hours after the city’s mayor decried the unrest that has roiled Portland since George Floyd was killed. “You are not demonstrating, you are attempting to commit murder,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said Thursday in a hastily called news conference alongside Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell. Wheeler also warned that the city anticipated more “attacks on public buildings” in the immediate future. Thursday night, Portland police declared an unlawful assembly outside a precinct and protesters were ordered to leave. They had said earlier that they believed the intent of the crowd was to vandalize and burn the precinct. “Don’t think for a moment that if you are participating in this activity, you ...

New top story from Time: Facebook Blocks Australians From Viewing and Sharing News

https://ift.tt/3bbjMTQ (CANBERRA, Australia) — Facebook announced Thursday it has blocked Australians from viewing and sharing news on the platform because of proposed laws in the country to make digital giants pay for journalism. Australian publishers can continue to publish news content on Facebook, but links and posts can’t be viewed or shared by Australian audiences, the U.S.-based company said in a statement. Australian users cannot share Australian or international news. International users outside Australia also cannot share Australian news. “The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content,” Facebook regional managing director William Easton said. “It has left us facing a stark choice: attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship, or stop allowing news content on our services in Australia. With a heavy heart, we are choosing the latter,” Easton add...

New top story from Time: The Quetta Bombing Shows That China’s Growing Global Presence Comes With Risk

https://ift.tt/3tGI1kT On Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a online speech at the Bo’ao Forum, touted as Asia’s version of the World Economic Forum at Davos. In it, he once again talked up his signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—a $1 trillion transcontinental trade and infrastructure network—hailing it as a “public road open to all” that will help “create a future of shared benefits.” A fiery riposte came a day later in the Pakistani city of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province near the Afghan border, where a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the luxurious Serena Hotel around 10:30pm local time, killing at least 4 and wounding 12. The Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, Nong Rong, had checked-in to the hotel and was the presumed target, although he was not in the building at the time of the explosion. An “initial probe suggests it was an IED planted in one of the vehicles,” said Azhar Ikram, a senior police official in the city. Balochistan...

New top story from Time: “Anarchy, Madness, and Chaos”: How Trump Plans to Counter the Democrats’ Convention Message of Hope

https://ift.tt/3aJomYW The ad has Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s names written in jagged, horror-movie script. Images of burning cars and protestors scroll behind their heads. “Don’t let them ruin America,” reads the title. As Republicans put the finishing touches on their convention slated to start Monday, the Trump campaign blitzed social media and streaming services with a nearly $10 million ad buy to counter the Democrat’s feel-good convention program , according to a campaign official, running video clips in front of millions of Americans who visited YouTube, watched Hulu, or browsed their Facebook feeds. The series of ads scrolled through clips showing Democrats as beholden to the “radical leftist mob,” questioning Biden’s mental acuity, his record on race, and accusing him of being unwilling to stand up to China. At the end of one, an older woman is shown dialing the police while someone dressed in all black breaks into her house. “You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s ...

24x7 RTGS for high-value transactions from December 14. Check details https://ift.tt/37TLyCy

The Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) for high-value transactions will be available 24x7 on all days from December 14. This would make India one of the few countries to operate the system round-the-clock. "RTGS 24x7x365 will be launched with effect from 00:30 hours on December 14, 2020," the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a statement. In October, the central bank had announced that RTGS will be available 24x7 on all days of the year. The RBI said India will become one of the few countries in the world to operate its RTGS system round-the-clock throughout the year.

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