Wednesday, October 6th, 2021 

Facebook boosts profits with harmful content 

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen on Tuesday testified to the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection that the company’s platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, harm children, and spread misinformation and hate. “Facebook’s products harm children, stoke division, and weaken our democracy,” said Haugen, a data scientist hired at Facebook’s civil integrity unit in 2019. “The company’s leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer but won’t make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people.” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called coverage of Haugen’s claims misleading, saying it would be “deeply illogical” for Facebook to prioritize harmful content because that would drive away advertisers. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who led the hearing, said he would call for federal regulators to investigate Facebook.THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Missouri executes man despite pope’s plea Missouri conducted its first execution since May 2020 on Tuesday night, killing Ernest Lee Johnson, 61, with a lethal injection at the state prison in Bonne Terre. Gov. Mike Parsons (R) on Monday night had declined pleas to commute Johnson’s death sentence, including from Pope Francis and two members of Missouri’s congressional delegation. In a final statement shared by the Missouri Department of Corrections, Johnson expressed remorse for killing three people during a 1994 convenience store robbery and thanked those who supported him. Johnson’s lawyers had argued that executing him was unconstitutional, citing a 2002 Supreme Court ruling, because he was intellectually disabled since birth, noting his IQ was between 67 and 77, and his mental capacity declined further after 20 percent of his brain tissue was removed in a 2008 surgery to remove part of a tumor. ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 

Capitol Police pull man out of suspicious SUV outside Supreme Court Capitol Police on Tuesday pulled a man out of a “suspicious vehicle” parked near the Supreme Court and detained him. The arresting officers closed roads in the area and deployed a flash bang device before taking the man into custody. “One of our teams just moved in and extracted the man from the SUV,” Capitol Police said on Twitter. “Everyone is safe.” The Supreme Court returned Monday to start a new term with several critical issues on the docket, including a challenge to the Roe v. Wade decision that established the constitutional right to an abortion. Other issues coming before the court, now with an expanded 6-3 conservative majority, include gun rights and the separation of church and state. CNN 

Controversial N.Y. police union head steps down after FBI raid The board of the New York Police Department’s Sergeants Benevolent Association, one of the city’s main police unions, said Tuesday it had requested the resignation of its controversial president, Ed Mullins, who is “apparently the target” of a federal investigation. Mullins agreed to step down. Earlier Tuesday, the FBI had raided the SBA’s Manhattan headquarters and Mullins’ home on Long Island. Agents removed at least 11 large cardboard boxes from the union office. The FBI said its agents “were conducting a law enforcement operation pursuant to an ongoing investigation,” without providing details. The search was part of an investigation by the FBI and public corruption unit of the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, The New York Times reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. THE NEW YORK TIMES 

Biden trims agenda as Democrats seek agreement Democrats on Tuesday started narrowing their differences over President Biden’s $3.5 trillion proposal to expand the social safety net. Biden suggested trimming it to $1.9 trillion to $2.2 trillion. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), leader of the influential Congressional Progressive Caucus, reportedly countered by saying the spending plan should be no smaller than $2.5 trillion, with $2.9 trillion necessary to cover key programs. Moderate Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who has called for spending no more than $1.5 trillion, reportedly have hinted they would go up to $1.9 trillion to $2.2 trillion. The back and forth came after disagreements over the larger bill forced House Democratic leaders to postpone a separate-but-linked $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. THE WASHINGTON POST 

3 win Nobel physics prize for work on climate change Three scientists — Syukuro Manabe of Princeton University, Klaus Hasselmann of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg, Germany, and Giorgio Parisi of the Sapienza University of Rome — received the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for their work on climate change. Manabe in 1967 came up with a computer model that confirmed carbon dioxide’s link to warming. Hasselmann’s model connected rain and other kinds of weather to long-term changes like ocean currents. Mann’s work helped show how climate change influenced such events as droughts and heat waves. “The discoveries being recognized this year demonstrate that our knowledge about the climate rests on a solid scientific foundation, based on a rigorous analysis of observations,” said Thors Hans Hansson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics. THE NEW YORK TIMES 

Trump falls off ‘Forbes’ list of richest Americans Former President Donald Trump’s fortune has fallen to about $2.5 billion, enough to get him bumped off of Forbes‘ list of America’s richest people. Trump was $400 million short of enough to make the list, which was released Tuesday. It was the first time in 25 years he failed to make the cut. Trump was on the top half of the list from 1997 to 2016. Trump’s financial decisions played a role in his fall. For example, he decided to hold onto his assets when he took office in 2017, costing him about $2 billion. If he had put his money into an index fund, he could have piled up $4.5 billion by 2021. The coronavirus pandemic also reduced his wealth, much of which is in big-city properties that were hit hard by lockdowns that kept people out of offices. FORBES 

Tuesday,  October 5th, 2021 

Microsoft launches Windows 11, its latest version of the Microsoft Windows operating system. The upgrade to Windows 11 will be free for Windows 10 users. (BBC News) 

A report by Amnesty International says that the Taliban has executed 13 Hazaras, including eleven former members of the government, shorty after the fall of Kabul. The Taliban denies that they were behind the killings. (Al Jazeera) 

Russian actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko launch into space onboard Soyuz MS-19 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan. They intend to film scenes for The Challenge, which will be the first feature-length movie filmed in outer space, on the International Space Station over one week before returning to Earth. (AFP via The Moscow Times) 

Two further Chinese real-estate developers, Fantasia Holdings and Sinic Holdings, with liabilities of $12.8 billion and $14.2 billion respectively, both fail to make bond payments amid tightening resource availability after Evergrande raised investor concerns, and were both downgraded to “CCC” or “substantial credit risk”. (CNBC) 

Russia reports a record 895 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 211,696. (Interfax) 

Prime Minister Jacinda Arden announces the details of the COVID-19 vaccine certificates, which showing full vaccination status, in order to enter large-scale events. The vaccine certificate is expected to come into use in November. (TVNZ) 

UK special envoy Simon Gass meets with Taliban Deputy Prime Ministers Abdul Ghani Baradar and Abdul Salam Hanafi in Kabul for the first time since the takeover of the country to discuss Afghanistan’s growing humanitarian crisis and terrorism, and to guarantee safe passage to those wishing to emigrate. Taliban Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi also said they discussed the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations, with him saying the foreign ministry wishes to “begin a new chapter of constructive relations”. (Al Jazeera) 

Two prison guards are taken hostage at a prison in Condé-sur-Sarthe, Normandy, France. One of the hostages is injured. The hostage-taker later surrenders. (Reuters) 

Nine barracks at the former Auschwitz concentration camp, now the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, are vandalized with Holocaust denial graffiti. (MSN) 

Prosecutor General of Moldova Alexandru Stoianoglo is suspended from his positions by President Maia Sandu, and is detained by security forces following allegations of corruption. (Reuters) 

The Romanian government is dissolved following a no confidence vote against the centrist government of Prime Minister Florin Cîțu. (Reuters) 

The Libyan House of Representatives votes to postpone the parliamentary elections initially scheduled for December 24, alongside the presidential election, until January 2022. (AFP via Al Jazeera) 

Climatologists Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann and theoretical physicist Giorgio Parisi are awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work towards the understanding of physical systems through climate models. (AFP via NDTV) 

Francis Collins to step down as head of NIH  National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, 71, plans to announce his resignation as the agency’s leader on Tuesday, according to media reports. Collins, who has led the NIH for 12 years, will return to his lab at the National Human Genome Research Institute, which is part of NIH, The Washington Post said. A physician-geneticist, Collins led efforts to map the human genetic code. More recently he helped lead the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. A former atheist who converted to Christianity as a young adult, he has crafted some pro-vaccine messaging for religious Americans. In September, he referred to the vaccine as “what you could call an answer to a prayer,” adding, “why wouldn’t you say, ‘Thank you, God,’ and roll up your sleeve?” POLITICO

Two prison guards are taken as hostages at a prison in Condé-sur-Sarthe, France. One of the hostages is reported injured. (Reuters) 

A court in the Holy See agrees to return to the investigative phase of an ongoing trial against Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu for alleged embezzlement, abuse of power and fraud, among other charges. Becciu was fired from his position in the Vatican by Pope Francis in 2020 for alleged nepotism, which Becciu also denies. (Reuters) 

Facebook apps return after hours-long outage Facebook and its apps, including WhatsApp and Instagram, went down worldwide on Monday, as did the internal systems used by the social media giant’s employees. “This is epic,” said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis for network-monitoring company Kentik Inc. The services were out for hours, far longer than the last major internet outage, which occurred in June and kept the world’s top internet sites offline for less than an hour. The company said its engineers found that changes to the internet infrastructure of its servers disrupted network traffic between its data centers, “bringing our services to a halt.” Facebook eventually restored service by resetting server computers at a data center in Santa Clara, California. “We’re sorry,” the company said. “Thank you for bearing with us.” THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Andrew Yang announces departure from Democratic Party  Andrew Yang, who ran unsuccessful campaigns for president and New York City mayor, announced Monday that he was leaving the Democratic Party, which he joined in the 1990s in support of then-President Bill Clinton’s reelection effort. Yang said in a blog post that joining the party back then was “a no-brainer to me,” but that he came to feel that the affiliation was “something of an odd fit.” “I’ve been a Democrat my entire adult life,” Yang wrote. “And yet, I’m confident that no longer being a Democrat is the right thing.” Politico reported last month that Yang planned to form a third party because he believed neither Democrats nor Republicans addressed the needs of many Americans. The announcement came days ahead of the release of Yang’s book, Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy. The new party is expected to be called the Forward Party. POLITICO 

Supreme Court rules against appeal for D.C. House vote  The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an effort to give District of Columbia residents a voting representative in Congress. The justices upheld a lower court ruling against 11 Washington residents who argued that the Constitution gives Congress the power to grant D.C. residents voting representation in the House of Representatives. “Residents of the District of Columbia are the only adult American citizens subject to federal income taxes who lack voting representation in Congress, except for felons in some states,” the plaintiffs told the justices in a brief earlier this year. A three-judge panel rejected that position, citing a decision in an earlier case that found that the Constitution says House members should be chosen by “the people of the several states,” which leaves out D.C. because it isn’t a state. USA TODAY 

J&J to ask FDA to authorize its COVID booster shot Johnson & Johnson plans to ask the Food and Drug Administration this week to authorize the company’s coronavirus vaccine booster shot, The New York Times reported Monday, citing officials familiar with the plans. Johnson & Johnson, which makes a one-dose vaccine, will be the last of the three federally-authorized vaccine providers to start a push for a booster. The push comes as trials show that at least older adults and people in high-risk groups could benefit significantly from more protection. Federal officials have grown concerned that the more than 15 million Americans who got Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine are at too great a risk of severe COVID-19. Pfizer’s booster has been authorized for some people, and regulators are considering clearing Moderna’s booster. THE NEW YORK TIMES 

Monday,  October 4th, 2021 

Fauci says ‘too soon to tell’ if Americans can gather for holidays Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that the United States was “turning the corner” on the current coronavirus surge driven by the Delta variant, but that it’s “just too soon to tell” if Americans will be able to safely gather in larger groups during the coming holiday season. Fauci, President Biden’s top public adviser, told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on Sunday’s edition of Face the Nation that if the country stays “laser focused” on getting COVID-19 cases down that it may be possible, adding that increasing the number of vaccinations and booster shots (where applicable) could go a long way toward achieving that goal. The comments come a day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its latest recommendations for celebrating the holidays, urging people to keep windows open for better air circulation if gathering indoors. CBS NEWS 

Farmers vow to intensify their protest against laws aimed at liberalising agriculture, after four farmers were rammed and killed yesterday in Uttar Pradesh by a vehicle owned by Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra. Three members of the party and the driver of the vehicle were then killed by protesters. A journalist was also found dead today near the scene of the violence. (Al Jazeera) 

The Taliban says it has “destroyed an IS–K cell” in Kabul following yesterday’s bombing at a mosque during the memorial for the mother of Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. Mujahid says that a special Taliban unit carried out the operation and that the base was destroyed and everyone inside was killed. (Deutsche Welle) 

Chinese state-run tabloid Global Times reports that Chinese property developer Evergrande Group will sell 51% of its property service arm to rival company Hopson Development for US$5 billion. The report comes as both Hopson and Evergrande suspended trading in their shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the morning, pending an announcement about a “major transaction”. (CNBC) (AFP via The Jakarta Post) 

The main cone of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma collapses, increasing the lava flow into the Atlantic Ocean. The main lava flow is now 1.2 km across at its widest point. (El Pais) 

The Australian government signs an agreement with Merck Sharp & Dohme to buy 300,000 courses of the antiviral drug molnupiravir, pending regulator clearance, which would be the first pill to treat COVID-19 patients. (9 News) 

The parliament of Singapore passes a law aimed to outlaw foreign interference in domestic affairs. Opponents of the measure have expressed concerns regarding the broadness of certain provisions that may potentially hinder some civil liberties. (AFP via The Guardian) 

Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus experience an extended global outage that began at 15:39 UTC. Some experts believe that the outage was caused by a BGP update from Facebook. (CNN) (Cloudfare) 

Scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian are awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch”. (Reuters) 

Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. wins the rain-shortened YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, becoming the first African-American to win a NASCAR Cup race since 1963. 

Indian farmers have vowed to intensify their protest against laws aimed at liberalising agriculture, after four farmers were rammed and killed yesterday in Uttar Pradesh by a convoy of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Three members of the party and the driver of the vehicle were then killed by more protestors. The federal minister’s son has been charged for the farmers’ deaths. Also, a journalist has been found dead today near the scene of the violence. (Al Jazeera) 

The Taliban claims to have “destroyed an ISIL-K cell” in Kabul following yesterday’s bombing at a mosque during the memorial to the mother of Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. Mujahid says that a special Taliban unit carried out the operation and that the base was destroyed and all of those inside of it were killed. (Deutsche Welle) 

Twelve Burkinabe soldiers are killed and five others wounded in an attack in the northern Sanmatenga Province. No group has claimed responsibility for the ambush assault. (Reuters) 

A UN report blames all warring sides in Libya of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly agains detainees, migrants, and the extrajudicial executions of prominent women. (Al Jazeera) 

Police in Cyprus have arrested a man suspected of “planning attacks against Israeli people”. Israel have accused Iran of orchestrating the plot. Iran has denied the allegations. Other reports suggest that the plot’s target was businessmen Teddy Sagi and might be linked to business disputes involving him. (BBC) 

China’s state-run tabloid Global Times reports that Chinese property developer Evergrande Group will sell 51% of its property service arm to rival company Hopson Development for US$5 billion. The report comes as both Hopson and Evergrande suspended trading in their shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the morning, pending an announcement about a “major transaction”. (CNBC) (

Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus experience an extended global outage that started at 15:45 UTC. The issue is still unfixed. Some experts say that it is caused by BGP misconfiguration on Facebook’s side. (CNN) 

Authorities in Orange County, California blame a 41-year-old oil pipeline for yesterday’s spill, releasing as of today 3,000 barrels of oil into the Pacific Ocean and severely damaging coasts in Southern California. (Reuters) 

The Australian government signs an agreement with Merck Sharp & Dohme to buy 300,000 courses of promising antiviral drug molnupiravir, if cleared by regulators, which would be the first pill to treat COVID-19 patients. (9 News) 

New Zealand drops elimination strategy to combating COVID-19 in favour of a new model that contains vaccination rates amid persistent outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant. (The Guardian) 

The Public Health Agency of Sweden recommends children aged 12 to 15 years old to be vaccinated against COVID-19 using the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. (The Straits Times) 

Insulate Britain held a sit-in protest in three major routes into London, including Blackwall Tunnel. The group have stated that they will not stop protesting until the government have concrete plans to retrofit around 29 million buildings which according to the group has insufficient insulation. (ITV News) 

Kosovo and Serbia today are starting to implement the sticker regime by which they are covering national symbols and country abbreviations on their respective vehicle license plates with a sticker when they are in the non-host country, agreed on 4 days prior in Brussels, with normal traffic on their border fully resuming. (Exit News) 

The North and South Korean governments reinstate the Seoul–Pyongyang hotline after the former severed connection in early August, in protest against the latter’s military exercises with the United States. (AFP via France 24) 

Deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi asks to reduce her time in court appearances saying her health has deteriorated. The judge is set to make a decision on her request later. Suu Kyi faces multiple charges ranging from corruption to money laundering. (The Guardian) 

American scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian are awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch”. (Reuters) 

 
Oil spill shuts down Southern California’s Huntington Beach Oil from an offshore spill reached the coast of Southern California on Sunday, threatening wildlife and forcing authorities to shut down Huntington Beach. The Pacific Airshow’s final day was canceled to avoid complicating the cleanup, and people were urged not to swim or surf nearby. The city said workers were using skimming equipment and booms to prevent the oil from reaching the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve and Huntington Beach Wetlands. The U.S. Coast Gard reported the spill on Saturday. Huntington Beach Mayor Kim Carr said 3,000 barrels, or about 126,000 gallons, leaked from an oil production facility about 4.5 miles offshore. ABC NEWS 

Supreme Court starts new term with abortion, guns on the docket  The Supreme Court will convene Monday to hear its first in-person arguments since the March 2020 coronavirus lockdown. The high court, with a newly expanded 6-3 conservative majority, has a politically charged docket. The court will consider trimming or eliminating the constitutional right to an abortion established in the landmark Roe v. Wade case. The justices also will hear cases that could lead to expanded gun rights and a narrowing of the separation between church and state. Chief Justice John Roberts, who once firmly guided the court as its ideological center, now has five more conservative justices to his right, with the replacement of liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Polls show Americans increasingly see the court as partisan rather than impartial. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Facebook whistleblower reveals identity on ’60 Minutes’  A Facebook whistleblower who released internal research indicating the company was aware its social media platforms, including Instagram, could harm teens revealed her identity Sunday night on CBS’ 60 Minutes. “The thing I saw at Facebook over and over again was there were conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook, and Facebook over and over again chose to optimize for its own interests, like making more money,” said the whistleblower, Frances Haugen, a 37-year-old former Facebook product manager who worked on civic integrity issues. Facebook has called the allegations “misleading.” “To suggest we encourage bad content and do nothing is just not true,” said Facebook spokesperson Lena Pietsch. CBS NEWS 

Bomb kills at least 5 outside Kabul mosque A roadside bomb exploded outside a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul, killing at least five civilians, the Taliban said Sunday. The blast occurred at the gate of the Eid Gah Mosque during a memorial service for the mother of chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid. The Taliban committed many similar attacks over the course of a 20-year insurgency they waged after being driven from power by a U.S.-led invasion, but since they returned to power in mid-August they have faced bombings and shooting sprees blamed on rival groups. Three suspects were arrested for the Sunday explosion, which reportedly didn’t injure any members of the Taliban. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Report: Pandora Papers show how world leaders hide wealth The Washington Post reported Sunday that millions of private financial records shared with the newspaper showed that members of the global elite, including King Abdullah II of Jordan and other country leaders, used a secretive offshore system to hide billions of dollars from tax authorities, creditors, criminal investigators, and others. The documents detailed the Jordanian king spent more than $100 million on luxury homes in Malibu, California, and other places. Leaders of the Czech Republic, Kenya, Ecuador, and other nations hid millions of dollars’ worth of property and cash. The trove of documents, called the Pandora Papers, was far larger than the Panama Papers disclosed in an investigation five years ago. THE WASHINGTON POST 

Japanese lawmakers elect Fumio Kishida as prime minister Japan’s parliament formally elected Fumio Kishida as the country’s new prime minister on Monday. The selection of the former foreign minister to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was all but guaranteed after he was elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party last week. Kishida, who is the country’s 100th prime minister, is stacking his Cabinet with allies of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, although 13 of the 20 members have no previous Cabinet experience. He inherits an economy battered by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as intensifying security threats from China and North Korea. Suga decided not to seek another term as leader of his party following a rough year in which his popularity sank over complaints about his government’s response to the pandemic. CNN 

Biden to promote infrastructure in trip to Michigan President Biden plans to travel to Michigan this week to rally support for his economic agenda as Democrats continue to fight internally over the legislation, the White House said Sunday. “I believe I can get this done,” Biden said over the weekend. Biden’s Build Back Better agenda includes a $1 trillion infrastructure bill with $550 billion in new spending, and a $3.5 trillion spending package that would expand the social safety net and fund climate initiatives, all largely paid for by raising corporate and wealth taxes. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) last week delayed a vote on the infrastructure bill as Democrats fought over the size of the larger spending package. THE HILL 

Merkel urges Germans to unite to protect democracy  Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans to keep fighting to strengthen the country’s democracy in an address marking the 31st anniversary of the reunification of East and West Germany. “Democracy isn’t simply there,” Merkel said in what was likely to be one of her last major speeches after a decade and a half in power. “Rather, we must work for it together, again and again, every day.” Merkel warned that the current climate of misinformation threatened the progress the country had made since the Soviet-allied East German, where she grew up, reunified with West Germany at the end of the Cold War. Merkel cited such incidents as the killing of one of her party’s regional politicians, an assault on a synagogue in the eastern city where she spoke, and the recent fatal shooting of a gas station clerk who told a customer to wear a mask as examples of dangerous radicalization. REUTERS 

Tom Brady sets record in triumphant return to New England Superstar quarterback Tom Brady made football history Sunday night as he led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 19-17 win over his former team, the New England Patriots, in his first game back in Foxborough, Massachusetts, since leaving his old team in 2020. On the Buccaneers’ second offensive series of the night, Brady became the NFL’s career leader in passing yards when he completed a 28-yard pass to Mike Evans, pushing him past Drew Brees’ mark of 80,358 yards. Brady also became only the fourth NFL quarterback — along with Brees, Brett Favre, and Peyton Manning — to lead his team to victory against all 32 NFL teams. Brady said his former teammates and rookie Patriots quarterback Mac Jones “have a really good football team and made us earn it.” NBC SPORTS 

The End