Malaysia signs an agreement with Merck & Co. to obtain 150,000 courses of the experimental drug Molnupiravir as part of a transition towards the endemic phase and “living with the COVID-19”. (The Straits Times) 

Sunday, October 10th, 2021 

A study conducted by researchers from the University of Queensland concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant increase in diagnoses of generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder worldwide in 2020. (The Guardian) 

Russian authorities say that 29 people have died in Orenburg Oblast during the past week due to alcohol poisoning, after drinking a beverage mixed with methanol. (Reuters) 

Performer killed in on-stage accident at Moscow’s Bolshoi A performer at Moscow’s famous Bolshoi Theatre was killed on Saturday as a result of an on-stage accident during an opera, the theater said. The incident reportedly occurred during a set change. “The opera was immediately stopped and the audience was asked to leave,” the theater said. Investigators are probing the circumstances surrounding the death — at the moment, reporting from Russian news sources have not pinned down what caused the accident. The victim was reportedly a 37-year-old man, but the theater did not disclose his identity.  CNN 

Southwest Airlines cancels more than 1,000 flights and delays hundreds more over the Columbus Day weekend. The airline cites problems resulting from both air traffic control and the weather. (KGO-TV) 

A Let L-410 aircraft carrying a group of parachute jumpers, with 22 people on board, crashes after take-off from Menzelinsk Airport, Tatarstan, Russia. Sixteen people are killed and six others are injured. (Al Jazeera English) 

Boston Police Department sergeant Clifton McHale faces a 10-day suspension for boasting about “driving into protestors” during the George Floyd protests in Boston in May 2020. (WBUR) 

Italy surpasses its target to fully vaccinate 80% of its adult population. (RTÉ News and Current Affairs) 

In a National Day speech, President Tsai Ing-wen states that Taiwan will not bow to pressure from China, vowing to uphold the island’s sovereignty and democratic norms. (The Guardian) 

China denounces Tsai Ing-wen’s speech, saying that it incited confrontation and distorted facts. China also says that seeking Taiwanese independence closes the door to dialogue. (The Jerusalem Post) 

Thirty people storm a hospital in Rome, Italy, trying to free a wounded man under arrest due to his involvement in violent acts yesterday during an anti-Green Pass protest. Four people are injured during the incident. (The State) 

The personal doctor of Georgian politician Mikheil Saakashvili says that he needs hospital treatment as he continues his hunger strike after returning from exile and being arrested on October 1. Saakashvili’s condition has been described as “worsening”. (Reuters) 

Valtteri Bottas wins the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix at Istanbul Park. (Road & Track) 

Taiwanese president says country won’t bow to Chinese pressure Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Sunday said during a defiant speech that “there should be absolutely no illusions that the Taiwanese people will bow to pressure” from China, which is seeking to bring Taiwan into its fold. On Saturday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said peaceful reunification must happen, and throughout the last week, Beijing flew dozens of military jets into Taiwan’s national air defense zone in an attempt to intimidate the island it claims as its territory. Tsai said Taiwan will continue to bolster its defenses, though she added that she wants tensions to ease and clarified that her government will not “act rashly.” Xi’s government has refused to deal with Tsai despite her offer to talk. BBC

Lebanon shuts down 2 main state power plants Lebanon is now effectively without state-provided electricity after the country’s two main power plants went out of commission on Saturday. The Deir Ammar and Zahrani plants had been generating very limited electricity in recent months because of a diesel fuel shortage, Al Jazeera reports. Videos of Beirut show the city in nearly total darkness at night, while protests popped up around Lebanon. Authorities are reportedly scrambling to secure fuel from their reserve stock, and one shipment that was expected to arrive Saturday night will be unloaded early next week, with another on its way later this month. The fuel shortage has exacerbated Lebanon’s economic and health care crises.  AL JAZEERA 

Austrian chancellor steps down amid corruption allegations Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Saturday announced he would step down in the wake of accusations of corruption. Kurz, the leader of Austria’s moderate conservative People’s Party, maintains that the allegations against him are false, and he’s “convinced that I will be able to clarify the matter.” But he acknowledged he had little choice to resign from his post because his coalition partner, the Greens, have indicated they would no longer support the government with him at the helm. That said, it appears Kurz will remain in charge of the People’s Party and attempt a comeback before too long. The corruption claims suggest Kurz was part of a conspiracy that illicitly channeled taxpayers’ money from Austria’s finance ministry toward friendly media organizations in 2016 and 2017 when he was foreign minister. If true, that would indicate Kurz was buying positive press coverage, which could have helped push him into the chancellorship. THE FINANCIAL TIMES

Iraqis vote in early parliamentary election Iraqis headed to the polls to elect a parliament on Sunday. The vote is taking place a year earlier than planned in response to a popular uprising in Baghdad and Iraq’s southern provinces in late 2019, when tens of thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate against corruption, poor services, and high unemployment numbers. Those protests ended violently, with security forces firing live rounds at the crowds, though authorities did ultimately adhere to the calls for early elections. Despite encouragement to participate, there are concerns that Sunday will see lower turnout than the last elections in 2018, when only 44 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots. Per The Associated Press, streets were mostly deserted as of midday. Many Iraqis have said they were intentionally boycotting the process. REUTERS 

Czech opposition coalition narrowly defeats ruling party Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis’ centrist party suffered a surprising defeat in Saturday’s parliamentary election, with center-right and liberal opposition groups eking out a narrow victory. That means Babis, a billionaire with populist politics, could lose power, though it’s not a given. The liberal-conservative coalition took home nearly 28 percent of the vote, while Babis’ ANO party finished in second at just over 27 percent. Another opposition coalition, Pirates and Mayors, reeled in more than 15 percent, and will begin talks on forming the next government. Babis conceded defeat. Following the vote, Czech President Milos Zeman, who is 77, was taken to the hospital on Sunday morning for unspecified reasons. In the Czech Republic, the president is involved in the discussions to form a government and can ultimately appoint anyone as prime minister. DEUTSCHE WELLE

U.S. general who commanded forces in Iraq dies at 67 Retired Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, who commanded American and coalition forces during the Iraq War, has died, his family said Saturday. He was 67. In a statement, his family said Odierno had been battling cancer. Odierno served three separate tours in Iraq. In 2003-04 he was the commander of the 4th infantry division. During that period he faced some criticism for overly-aggressive tactics that were viewed as spurring an insurgency. He returned in 2006 for two years as commander of Multi-National Corps-Iraq, and in 2008 took over as the top overall American and coalition commander in Baghdad, a position he held until combat wound down in 2010. He retired from service in 2015. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Six people are killed and seven others are injured by a car bomb targeting the governor of Aden. Both the governor and a minister survive and are moved to a secure location. (Reuters) 

The End Monday 

China denounces Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen’s speech from yesterday, saying that it incited confrontation and distorted facts. China also says that seeking Taiwan independence closes the door to dialogue. (The Jerusalem Post) 

Iraqis head to the polls to elect the members of the Council of Representatives. (AFP via UrduPoint) 

Saturday, October 9th, 2021 

Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen rules out cooperation with the United States to fight the insurgency of IS-K in Afghanistan, saying that the Taliban “will be able to tackle Daesh independently”. (Taiwan News) 

The U.S. State Department confirms that the first face-to-face meetings with high representatives of the Taliban since the departure of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, will begin today in Doha, Qatar. A spokesperson for the State Department says that the U.S. will pressure the Taliban to “respect the rights of all Afghans, including women and girls” and form an inclusive government. The spokesperson also clarifies that this is not a recognition of the Taliban government by the U.S., saying that the Taliban will have to earn recognition by its actions. (France24) 

U.S., Taliban officials to talk in Qatar Representatives from the United States will hold formal talks in Doha, Qatar, with senior Taliban officials on Saturday and Sunday for the first time since American forces completed a planned withdrawal from Afghanistan in August. Officials from both sides confirmed the discussions, which will reportedly include topics like containing extremist groups in Afghanistan and the evacuation of foreign citizens and Afghans who are still in the country and seeking to leave. Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen also told The Associated Press the talks will revisit the agreement the group signed with the Trump administration in 2020 that cleared the way for the U.S. exit. Fighting terrorism will likely be a major focus, however, and the talks will take place just a day after the Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed nearly 50 people at a mosque in the northern part of the country. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The north face of the volcano collapses, generating three new lava flows. No new evacuations have been ordered as authorities call for calm. (El País) 

The Deir Ammar and Zahrani power stations shut down in Lebanon after running out of diesel fuel, leaving the entire country without electricity. According to a government official, power is not expected to be restored for several days. (BBC) (Al Jazeera) 

Families of the victims of the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires announce that they will appeal the ruling which acquitted former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of any wrongdoing. The memorandum aimed to make Iran cooperate in the investigation at the time that Argentina issued red notices against Iranian officials through Interpol. Relations between Argentina and Iran have been strained, with a recent condemnation by Argentina of the new cabinet of Ebrahim Raisi. (MercoPress) 

Guatemalan police recover 126 United States-bound Haitian, Nepali, and Indian migrants trapped inside an abandoned shipping container near Nueva Concepción, Escuintla, Guatemala. (AFP via The Straits Times) 

The opposition SPOLU party calls for the formation of a new government in view of the poor electoral result of prime minister Andrej Babiš’ ANO 2011 party. (Reuters) 

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz resigns amid a corruption inquiry against him, although he continues to deny any wrongdoing. (BBC) 

McConnell tells Biden that GOP won’t help raise debt ceiling again Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Friday sent a letter to President Biden in which he said Republicans will not aid Democrats again in raising the nation’s debt ceiling after a handful of GOP lawmakers broke a filibuster to advance a temporary lift, which eventually passed along a party line vote, earlier this week. In the letter, McConnell criticized Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for launching into a “rant” against Republicans after the vote, saying that his counterpart’s words “only further alienated the Republican members who helped facilitate this short-term patch.” Schumer had said that Republicans “played a dangerous and risky partisan game” by pushing the issue of the debt ceiling to the brink. THE WASHINGTON POST 

Jobs report disappoints again with 194,000 additions in September The Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. economy added 194,000 jobs in September. Economists expected the figure to be around 500,000. The unemployment rate declined 0.4 percentage points to 4.8 percent. “Notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, in professional and business services, in retail trade, and in transportation and warehousing,” the Labor Department said. This comes after the U.S. jobs report for August also came in significantly under expectations. The Labor Department said last month that 235,000 jobs were added in August when economists had expected around 720,000, though this number was revised on Friday to 366,000. Both reports came amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in the United States driven by the more contagious Delta variant. Infections have since started to decline. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Xi says peaceful ‘reunification’ with Taiwan must happen Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday said that “reunification” with Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, must be fulfilled. Xi suggested the process should happen peacefully and did not mention possibly using force to bring Taiwan into Beijing’s fold despite recent displays of aggression in the country’s air defense zone. However, he did say that “no one should underestimate the Chinese people’s staunch determination, firm will, and strong ability to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” adding that “Taiwan independence separatism is the biggest obstacle to achieving the reunification of the motherland, and the most serious hidden danger to national rejuvenation.” The Taiwanese government did not respond positively to the remarks, with President Tsai Ing-wen’s office reaffirming its sovereignty and vowing that “the nation’s future rests in the hands of Taiwan’s people.” REUTERS

Appeals court reinstates Texas abortion law A United States court of appeals on Friday ruled that Texas’ law that bans most abortions after six weeks should be temporarily reinstated after a federal judge blocked its implementation earlier this week. The Biden administration filed an emergency motion to stop Texas from enforcing the law, which allows private citizens to sue anyone they believe helped a woman obtain an abortion, in September, and a judge eventually ordered an injunction, writing that the Constitutional right to “obtain an abortion prior to fetal viability is well-established.” At the same time, the judge acknowledged Texas could appeal the decision, which the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton quickly did. FOX NEWS

Nearly 140 countries agree to global tax overhaul Nearly 140 countries on Friday agreed to a plan that sets a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15 percent in an attempt to curb tax avoidance from multinational corporations. The agreement is not binding, however, as it rests on lawmakers in the 136 countries that signed the pact to actually implement the minimum rate. The effort could certainly hit some roadblocks, including in U.S. Congress. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is a firm supporter of the minimum, arguing it will help the government pay for the expanded child tax credit and climate-change initiatives, among other policies touted by the Biden administration. Three lower-tax countries that had previously rejected the idea — Ireland, Estonia, and Hungary — came around to support the agreement, though there are still holdouts, including Nigeria, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 

2 fathers convicted in first university admissions scandal trial Gamal Aziz and John Wilson, the first parents to stand trial for their alleged role in the heavily-publicized university admissions scandal, were found guilty of bribery and fraud charges on Friday. The two men, who paid bribes to have their children falsely described as successful athletes so they could be accepted by elite universities, could face up to 20 years in jail. Their sentencing is scheduled for February. More than 50 parents (including some high profile celebrities), coaches, and school administrators are facing federal charges, though several have pleaded guilty rather than stand trial. Both Aziz and Wilson, who are expected to appeal their verdicts, argued that they had been duped by the mastermind of the plan, William Singer, and did not know the money they gave him would be used for bribes. BBC 

Friday,  October 8th, 2021 

The severity of the energy crisis in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces of China is reported as worsening, with power outages occuring every week and “notices … telling us which days the following week that they will cut the power”. Some factories report receiving power for only two or three days per week and are operating primarily on generators. China has also placed large bids for coal that are causing supply issues in locations as far away as Ukraine. (Nikkei Asia) 

The U.S. Navy reports that the USS Connecticut, a nuclear powered fast-attack submarine, struck an unidentified object while submerged in the South China Sea, causing 11 crew members to be injured. The extent of the damage to the Seawolf-class submarine is still being assessed although the submarine is noted as being “safe and stable”. (Bloomberg) 

Brazil surpasses 600,000 deaths from COVID-19. (VOA) 

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo announce that a 3-year-old boy who died last Wednesday in Beni tested positive for Ebola. The health minister could not confirm if this was related to the Kivu Ebola outbreak which ended in 2020 and killed more than 2,200 people, but said that they were closely monitoring 100 people who may have been exposed to the virus and that three boys, all of whom were neighbors of the toddler, were already showing symptoms of the disease. (Reuters) 

Iceland suspends the use of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine due to concerns of side effects, becoming the fourth European country to do so. (Bloomberg) 

At least 50 people are killed and more than 100 wounded when a suicide bomber targets a Shiite mosque in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan. IS–K claims responsibility for the attack. (BBC) 

Six migrants are shot dead by guards at a detention center in Tripoli, Libya. (Al Jazeera) 

Tata Sons is announced as the winning bidder for Air India, ending years of attempts by the government to privatise the loss-making airline. Tata Sons was the initial owner of the airline before it was nationalised. (NDTV) 

ITA – Italia Trasporto Aereo is announced as the new state-owned airline for Italy, following the closure of Alitalia due to bankruptcy. ITA is a reorganization of Alitalia under a new name signed by decree in October 2020. (CNN) 

Gas cylinders explode at a gold mine in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, killing seven people and injuring another. (Reuters) 

Journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to safeguard the freedom of expression”. (AFP via India Today) 

The Green Party, a left-wing member of the coalition, says that Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is “unfit” for the position as he is investigated for corruption. The party demands that Kurz step down, although Kurz has denied any wrongdoing. (Reuters) 

The United States House Oversight Committee releases documents showing that the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. accumulated $70 million in losses while public financial disclosures claimed that the hotel was producing an income of $156 million for former president Donald Trump. General Services Administration documents also showed that Trump received “undisclosed preferential treatment” from Deutsche Bank on a $170 million construction loan during his presidency. (CNN) (Reuters) 

Friday,  October 8th, 2021 

Novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah wins Nobel literature prize Zanzibar-born novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday. Gurnah has written 10 novels. His 1994 book Paradise, about a boy pawned off by his father to settle debts to a merchant, made the shortlist for the Booker Prize. He served as a professor of English and postcolonial literature at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England, until he retired. Gurnah was awarded the Nobel, which comes with more than $1 million in prize money, “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents,” the Swedish Academy announced Thursday morning. American poet Louise Glück won the 2020 Nobel literature prize. NPR 

Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah wins the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee”. Gurnah’s most renowned novel is Paradise, set in colonial East Africa during World War I. (The Economist) 

At least 28 people are killed when a suicide bomber targets a Shiite mosque in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan. The United Nations puts the number of casualties above 100 between the killed and wounded. (Reuters) 

The U.S. State Department confirms accusations made yesterday by Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodríguez, who blamed an alleged U.S. veto for not allowing Venezuela to receive IMF COVID-19 relief funds. The State Department says that only recognized governments can access these funds. (Reuters) 

but this is how the headline first appeared yesterday:

The U.S. State Department rejects accusations made yesterday by Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodríguez, who blamed an alleged U.S. veto for not receiving COVID-19 relief funds. The State Department says that only recognized government can access them. (Reuters) 

Victoria breaks the record for highest daily increase in new COVID-19 infections of any Australian state or territory since the beginning of the pandemic, with 1,838 new cases reported and five further deaths. (ABC News Australia) 

Journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to safeguard the freedom of expression”. (AFP via India Today) 

In his first speech, Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida vows to fight and end the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan and counter the Chinese and North Korean threats by bolstering Japan’s coastguard and missile defenses while maintaining the country peaceful. Kishida also vows to strengthen the alliance with the United States. (Al Jazeera) 

Senate passes short-term deal to prevent federal debt default The Senate on Thursday passed a deal to extend the federal debt ceiling into December and avert a looming catastrophic and historic default. After prodding by GOP leaders, 11 Republicans joined every Democrat in voting to advance the bill, narrowly beating a GOP filibuster. The agreement raises the debt limit by $480 billion, enough to last until Dec. 3. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) hammered out the agreement with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who proposed the short-term fix on Wednesday. McConnell said the reprieve would give Democrats time to work out a long-term debt limit increase on their own using a process called budget reconciliation, which would let them bypass a GOP filibuster. The House is expected to take up the bill on Tuesday. THE HILL 

Biden urges companies to lead on vaccine mandates President Biden on Thursday urged private companies to require coronavirus vaccinations for workers. Biden last month announced a vaccine mandate affecting 80 million workers at companies with more than 100 employees. A lengthy Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule-making process could prevent it from kicking in for weeks, but Biden said companies could take the initiative and get started now. “Businesses have more power than ever before to change the arc of this pandemic and save lives,” Biden said on a trip to Illinois. Data released in September indicated that unvaccinated people are 11 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than vaccinated people. A growing number of big companies have said they would enforce vaccine mandates, but several Republicans have vowed to challenge the mandate. THE NEW YORK TIMES 

Pfizer requests emergency approval for children’s COVID vaccine  Pfizer and BioNTech said Thursday that they were asking the Food and Drug Administration for emergency-use authorization to offer their COVID-19 vaccine to children ages 5 to 11. If the FDA signs off, the Pfizer vaccine would be the first available to children that young. Pfizer’s shots already are fully approved for those 16 and older, with emergency-use authorization for children ages 12 to 15. Pfizer last month reported that its Phase 2/3 trials showed that the vaccine was safe and highly effective in younger children. The dose was just 10 micrograms, making it significantly smaller than the 30-microgram dose for those 12 and older, but it still generated a “robust” immune response, Pfizer said. The FDA has said it could analyze the data with weeks. CNN 

Trump lawyers say he’ll assert executive privilege in Capitol riot inquiry Former President Donald Trump plans to invoke executive privilege to prevent testimony by his onetime aides in a congressional investigation into the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. In a letter sent to some potential witnesses subpoenaed by the House committee, Trump indicated that he would use the privileges to keep presidential communications from Congress, The Associated Press reported, citing a person who had seen the letter. The committee last month issued subpoenas to Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and other high-ranking aides in Trump’s White House. At a rally before the mob went to the Capitol on Jan. 6, Trump told supporters to “fight like hell” to prevent lawmakers from certifying his loss to Biden. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

2 journalists win 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia were awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said they stood out for their efforts to defend freedom of expression. “Free, independent, and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda,” Reiss-Andersen said. Ressa in 2012 co-founded the news website Rappler, which the Nobel committee credited with focusing “critical attention on the (President Rodrigo) Duterte regime’s controversial, murderous anti-drug campaign.” The committee said the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta that Muratov co-founded in 1993 has used “fact-based journalism and professional integrity” to provide “information on censurable aspects of Russian society rarely mentioned by other media.” THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Biden to restore national monument protections Trump scrapped President Biden on Friday plans to sign three proclamations restoring protections for Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts national monuments, Biden administration officials said Thursday. Former President Donald Trump in 2017 sharply reduced the size of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in southern Utah, allowing development, mining, and ranching on formerly protected land. Last year, Trump signed an order to allow commercial fishing within Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which former President Barack Obama designated as the Atlantic Ocean’s first marine monument in 2016. The Biden administration said restoring the protections would help “to better protect, conserve, and restore the lands and waters that sustain the health of communities and power our economy.” NPR 

Americans’ trust in media drops Americans’ trust in the media to “report the news fully accurately and fairly” fell by four percentage points from last year’s level in a Gallup survey released Thursday, hitting its lowest point since 2016 and its second-lowest on record. Just 36 percent of U.S. adults say they have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of confidence in newspaper, television, and radio news reporting, just 4 points above 2016’s record low of 32 percent. Following the bottoming out in 2016, trust in the media “rebounded” 13 points in two years, mostly due to “a surge among Democrats” amid former President Donald Trump’s administration and the resulting media scrutiny, Gallup said. But since 2018, that number dropped by nine points, with the trust level sliding among all party groups. GALLUP 

Thursday, October 7th, 2021 

A Saudi-backed consortium, funded through its sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund, officially purchases Newcastle United F.C. for £300 million. An agreement on its purchase was finalized upon last April, but impasses on the issue of ownership among the specific entities in the consortium prevented the deal from moving forward until recently. (ESPN) 

 

 The Indonesian Drug and Food Control Agency issues an emergency use authorization for the three dose Zifivax ZF2001 vaccine. (Antara News) 

The World Health Organization begins shipping essential COVID-19 medical supplies into North Korea via the Chinese port of Dalian and quarantine facilities in the seaport of Nampo, a possible sign of easing one of the world’s strictest pandemic border closures. (NPR) 

Finland suspends the usage of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for people born since 1991 due to unpublished reports of rare cardiovascular side effects such as myocarditis. (The Hill) 

Sweden temporarily suspends the use of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for people born since 1991 for precautionary reasons after reports of possible rare side effects, such as myocarditis. (CBS News) 

Denmark suspends the use of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for people under the age of 18 after reports of myocarditis and meningitis, which are rare side effects of the vaccine. (The Local Denmark) 

The Standing Committee on Vaccination recommends COVID-19 vaccine booster doses for people over the age of 70 and care home workers. The committee also recommends mRNA-based booster doses for people who previously received the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine. (Deutsche Welle) 

The Wall Street Journal reports a contingent of U.S. special forces soldiers have been deployed in Taiwan to train Taiwanese forces amid tensions with China. The military trainers were first deployed under the Trump administration. (The Guardian) 

The trial against a 100-year-old former SS concentration camp guard begins in Germany. The man is accused of collaborating in the murders of 3,518 people at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp between 1942 and 1945, when he was employed as a standing guard in the watchtower. (The Guardian) 

Dmytro Razumkov, the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, is dismissed following his disagreements with President Volodymyr Zelensky and his ruling Servant of the People party’s stances on legislation which aimed to reduce the influence of Ukrainian oligarchs. (Kyiv Post) 

A political party named the Norfolk Island Party is formed to advocate for the islanders’ self-determination from Australia. The party’s goal is to achieve sovereignty for Norfolk Island. (RNZ) 

The Polish Constitutional Tribunal rules that the Constitution of Poland takes precedence over EU laws, directly challenging the primacy of European Union law principle, escalating tensions around the Polish rule-of-law crisis and in particular around the country’s controversial judicial reforms. (The New York Times) (Politico) 

The End Friday

Thursday, October 7th, 2021 

The U.S. State Department reveals that the current stockpile of nuclear weapons is 3,750 warheads. (State.gov) 

NATO expels eight members of the Russian Mission to NATO, accusing the Russians of secretly operating as intelligence officers. NATO also reduces the number of Russian positions at the organization to 10. (Military.com) 

Case Breakers, a group of former law enforcement individuals, claim to have identified the Zodiac Killer as Gary Francis Poste, an individual who had passed away in 2018. The finding is vehemently disavowed by the FBI, who assert the case is “still very much open”. (The Independent) 

Biden approval rating drops to a new low President Biden’s approval rating dropped to 38 percent in a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. That’s down from 42 percent three weeks ago, and a low point in Biden’s presidency. Biden’s popularity was at a high of 50 percent in mid-February, but it has fallen as he faced criticism for the tumultuous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and as his economic agenda hit trouble in Congress. “Battered on trust, doubted on leadership, and challenged on overall competency, President Biden is being hammered on all sides as his approval rating continues its downward slide to a number not seen since the tough scrutiny of the Trump administration,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said. Eighty percent of Democrats approved of Biden’s performance, compared to 4 percent of Republicans. USA TODAY 

2 share Nobel Prize in chemistry for creating molecular tools David W.C. MacMillan of Princeton University and Benjamin List of the Max Planck Institute in Germany were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for their work creating tools for constructing molecules in a cheap, environmentally friendly way. The tools, known as organocatalysts, can be used to make new drugs, chemicals, and molecules that can capture light in solar cells. The broad range of products made from catalysis contribute an estimated 35 percent of global gross domestic product. Johan Aqvist, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said the concept was “as simple as it is ingenious.” “It is already benefiting humankind greatly,” said Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, a professor of chemical biology at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, during the news conference to announce the award. THE WASHINGTON POST 

At least 23 people are killed and about 200 more are wounded as a 5.9 magnitude earthquake strikes Harnai, Balochistan, Pakistan. (Al Jazeera) 

An earthquake, with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 hits Tokyo, Japan and surrounding areas, stopping train lines but without immediate reports of damage. According to Japan’s system, it was labeled as a “strong-5 earthquake”. (Reuters) 

India begins the use of commercial drones to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to remote areas to speed up the country’s vaccination drive. (BBC News) 

 

WHO recommends use of 1st malaria vaccine The World Health Organization announced Wednesday that it would recommend the rollout of the first malaria vaccine. Pilot testing has shown it to be safe, and that it could be administered in remote and rural settings. “I started my career as a malaria researcher, and I longed for the day that we would have an effective vaccine against this ancient and terrible disease,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva. “Today is that day, an historic day.” Tedros said the vaccine could save tens of thousands of lives. The vaccine, RTS,S, was developed by GSK. It is administered in four doses, giving it a complexity seen as a potential concern in countries with limited health-care resources.  STAT NEWS 

White House to buy $1 billion worth of rapid COVID tests  The White House announced Wednesday that it would buy $1 billion worth of rapid, at-home coronavirus tests, potentially quadrupling the number of tests available to the public by December. “This is a big deal,” said Scott Becker, chief executive officer of the Association of Public Health Laboratories. “The White House is beginning to take testing as seriously as they’ve taken vaccinations.” Becker said up to now, shortages of rapid tests had made it hard to track and counter a surge in coronavirus cases driven by the highly infectious Delta variant. The move came after the Food and Drug Administration on Monday decided to allow the sale an Acon Laboratories’ antigen test. The Biden administration also plans to double President Biden’s commitment to expand the number of pharmacies participating in the federal government’s free testing program. THE WASHINGTON POST 

Colorado hospital system halts transplants on unvaccinated A Colorado hospital system said Wednesday that it wouldn’t perform transplant surgery on unvaccinated patients because they face an elevated risk of fatal COVID-19. “For transplant patients who contract COVID-19, the mortality rate ranges from about 20 percent to more than 30 percent,” UCHealth said in a statement to CBS Denver. “This shows the extreme risk that COVID-19 poses to transplant recipients after their surgeries.” The new policy had an immediate impact. Leilani Lutali, who has stage 5 renal failure, was supposed to get a new kidney in months, but she is now looking for a new hospital because neither she nor her donor, Jaimee Fougner, are vaccinated. Fougner, who met Lutali in Bible study, said she had not been vaccinated due to religious objections. CBS NEWS 

Wednesday, October 6th, 2021 

Taliban soldiers raid an IS–K hideout in Kabul, arresting four militants. Meanwhile, ISIL claims responsibility for the murder and beheading of a Taliban soldier in Jalalabad. (Reuters) 

Dozens of armed bandits on motorbikes storm a village in Zamfara, killing 18 civilians, burning shops and cars, and forcing many residents to flee. (Reuters) 

Russia reports a record 929 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, thereby bringing the nationwide death toll to 212,685. (Gulf News) 

Kazakhstan signs an agreement to purchase four million doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine which will be delivered in the fourth quarter of this year. (KAZINFORM) 

The World Health Organization endorses the mass rollout of the malaria vaccine RTS,S across Sub-Saharan Africa and other countries affected by the disease after pilot programs with the vaccine in Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi reduced malaria-related hospitalization and death rates among children by 70%. (The Guardian) 

Turkey ratifies the Paris Climate Accords, an international treaty on climate change, becoming the last G20 country to do so. (MSN) 

Four people are wounded as a gunman opens fire at an high school in Arlington, Texas, United States after a fight. The suspected attacker escaped from the scene, but was arrested several hours later. (The Daily Beast) 

Peruvian President Pedro Castillo announces the resignation of Prime Minister Guido Bellido. Mirtha Vásquez is sworn-in to replace Bellido. (Reuters)] (Andina) 

Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, tells U.S. lawmakers that the company’s sites and apps “harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy”. (BBC News) 

Chemists Benjamin List of Germany and David MacMillan of the United States are awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on molecular engineering through organocatalysis. (AFP via Gulf News) 

The End

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