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How the Woke stole Christmas

Crowds desperate to buy shirts designed by the mysterious street artist Banksy have been seen in Bristol, UK. They were released to support BLM protesters on trial for toppling a statue of the 17th century merchant Edward Colston, who was involved in the transatlantic slave trade. “All proceeds go to the defendants so they can go for a pint,” the artist wrote on Instagram.

Dramatic footage captures the moment the towers were demolished by explosion experts in Yorkshire, England – police closed roads and set a 350 meter exclusion zone around the site as some 40 security guards patrolled the perimeter. The coal-fired power station was decommissioned in 2018.

A basketball-playing robot stole the show at half-time in the USA’s shock defeat to France at the Tokyo Olympics over the weekend, inspiring awe but also no shortage of terror on social media. The robot was rolled out to show off its skills at the Saitama Super Arena, making a shot from the three-point line and then shifting back to half-court distance to sink a long-range effort.

Thousands of anti-lockdown activists marched through major Australian cities on Saturday, following an extension of Covid-19 restrictions. Multiple people were arrested and dozens charged with offenses after brawls broke out. Protesters chanted “Freedom” as they descended on downtown Sydney without wearing masks. They blocked traffic and walked through Haymarket, a suburb that was labeled a coronavirus hotspot by New South Wales’ (NSW) top health official, Jeremy McAnulty. NSW police declared the gathering illegal due to Covid-19 regulations that bar people from different households getting together. Scuffles broke out after mounted police and officers on foot were deployed to disperse the crowd. Australian media reported that some threw items at the officers and pepper spray was used against the protesters. Several demonstrators were pinned to the ground during arrests. One activist was filmed performing tricks with fire batons in front of a crowd. NSW Police Minister David Elliott said 57 were charged, some of them with multiple offenses, and more than 90 infringement notices were issued. “What we saw today was 3,500 very selfish boofheads – people that thought the law didn’t apply to them,” Elliott said, urging all participants to get tested for Covid-19. He added that blatant disregard for quarantine rules would only prolong the lockdown. The minister announced that a strike force of 22 detectives had been set up to identify and track down people attending Saturday’s rally. Similar protests were held in Melbourne, where flares were lit outside Parliament House and arrests were made, and also in Brisbane. The rallies included anti-vaccination activists. The strict lockdowns in Greater Sydney and the state of Victoria were recently extended until July 30 and July 27 respectively, after the situation regarding coronavirus cases failed to improve. On Friday, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian described the outbreak of the more contagious Delta variant as a “national emergency.” New South Wales, which includes Sydney, reported 163 locally transmitted cases on Saturday, marking a new daily record. Victoria, where Melbourne is located, registered 12 locally transmitted cases. As with previous public gatherings, officials actively tried to discourage people from rallying during the pandemic. Australian Health Minister Brad Hazzard said anyone attending anti-lockdown protests was “really silly.” “At the present time, we’ve got cases going through the roof, and we have people thinking that it’s OK to get out there and possibly be close to each other at a demonstration,” he said.

A group of investors led by the Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have financed the buyout of UK diagnostic technologies firm Mologic, which has developed a 10-minute coronavirus test. To make the acquisition, the group has launched Global Access Health (GAH), a social enterprise aiming to expand access to affordable medical technology. The members of the GAH are reportedly set on investing over $41 billion in the acquisition deal. The transaction will include the buyout of all Mologic’s existing shares, including those held by two private investment managers, Foresight Group LLP and Calculus Capital. “The COVID-19 pandemic has painfully demonstrated the fundamental inequities in global public health, and in particular the crucial importance of access to […] life-saving diagnostic tools. In this unique transaction, philanthropic funds and investors are working together […] to address at least one part of that failure by enabling a cutting-edge commercial business to focus all its resources on solving one of the world’s most pressing public health issues,” Sean Hinton, SEDF’s chief executive officer, has said, commenting on the deal. Mologic was founded in 2003 by Mark Davis and his father Professor Paul Davis, one of the creators of the world's first home pregnancy test, ClearBlue. Mologic develops tests for a variety of diseases at affordable prices and recently received a CE mark (Conformité Européenne) for its coronavirus disease Covid-19 tests, which the company plans to sell at just $1 each.

The problem with the Italian football team is that there’s just too many Italians on it, The Economist argued in a bizarre article linking Italy’s Euro 2020 victory to fascism, racism, and the defeat of multiculturalism. Italy beat England 3-2 in a nail-biting penalty shootout on Sunday night, winning the UEFA European Championships for the first time since 1968. However, while Italians erupted in celebration, some dismayed England fans turned their anger on their team’s three black players who missed their penalty kicks. Much has been written about the shameful racist abuse hurled at these players, but the day after the final, even as Italians were being physically attacked on British streets, The Economist managed to find a more obscure source of racism: the Italian team itself.

Europe aims to kill gasoline and diesel cars by 2035

The Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, issued an official statement to Cubans seeking to flee their country: "Allow me to be clear, if you take to the sea, you will not come to the United States ... Again, I repeat, do not risk your life attempting to enter the United States illegally. You will not come to the United States."

Police used tear gas as they tried to break up protests against access restrictions for unvaccinated citizens to public venues in Paris. Yesterday, President Macron had introduced the so-called sanitary pass, without which people won’t be allowed to enter places of recreation and culture from July 21, and from August to restaurants, nursing homes and airplanes.

Violent clashes have erupted in Paris as people mobbed streets in protest against the recently announced “health pass.” President Macron announced compulsory vaccinations for health workers as well as the “health pass” on Monday – citizens not permitted entrance into bars, restaurants, theaters, plus train services without it. Security forces can be seen using tear gas on protesters – with clashes breaking out across the country on the national holiday.

Speaking about the presidential election at the National Constitution Center, Joe Biden claimed that “no other election has ever been held under such scrutiny and high standards. The big lie is just that: a big lie.” His grand speech began on shaky footing when he proudly boasted that “150 Americans” voted - perhaps another recount might be needed after all?

Police use water cannon as protesters demand release of detainees in Santiago

A Trafalgar Group poll showed that 57% of Americans believe Joe Biden isn't fully executing the duties of president – and it’s not just a right-wing view. Nearly one in three Democrats think someone else is running the country.

Mount Etna's southeast crater spewed lava fountains as high as a THOUSAND metres on Friday

A huge fireball has been seen rising over a port in Dubai as the UAE’s largest city was rocked by a major blast. The blaze broke out within a container stored on a ship anchored in the Jebel Ali port, the city government has said. Local residents reported hearing a loud bang across the city late on Wednesday, with some eyewitnesses posting footage and photos of the blaze in the distance. It's not clear what caused the incident. The fire was so big it was seen from across the harbor, according to videos shared on social media.

Japanese police have charged a woman with attempting to extinguish the Olympic flame with a water pistol as anti-Games sentiment festers in the country, with organizers mulling new restrictions on fan attendance. Kayoko Takahashi was captured in footage which has since spread around social media apparently attempting to put out the flame with a child's water gun toy as the torch was being run through Mito, the capital of Japan's Iberaki prefecture. The brief clip shows the 53-year-old protestor shooting water at the torch as it made its way past her, shouting: "No Olympics" and "Stop the Games" - but Takahashi was unsuccessful in her bid to put out the flame, as the runner holding the torch passed her without any further incident.

As WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange turned 50 in prison, his longtime friend and supporter, Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters, hammered the “despicable” mainstream media for ignoring the growing movement to free him. Assange turned 50 on Friday, sitting in London’s Belmarsh Prison. The US government is seeking to extradite Assange and try him on espionage charges, relating to his publication of documents alleging US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, although a British judge ruled in January that he could not be extradited to the United States due to concerns over US prison conditions, he has not been granted bail. “I’ve sort of run out of expletives for these a**holes who have imprisoned Julian Assange,” Waters told RT on Tuesday. Waters has been a vocal advocate for Assange’s release since the WikiLeaks founder first took refuge in London’s Ecuadorian embassy in 2012, but admitted that the protests he’s led and spoken at haven’t moved politicians on either side of the Atlantic to release Assange. #WikiLeaks, #Assange, #RogerWaters,

Russian authorities are investigating after porn star Kristina Lisina, also known as Kris the Foxx, fell from a window on the 22nd floor of her apartment block in an apparent suicide. Her friends say she suffered from depression. She was 23-years-old.

A new Cato Institute poll suggests Joe Biden’s policies, which critics say encourage surging immigration may be out of step with public opinion, as Americans broadly prefer low levels of new residents flowing into the country. The poll, which was released on Monday, showed that 68% of Americans prefer a “low level” of immigration, compared with 23% who would tolerate a “high level.” In fact, respondents in every political category favored low immigration numbers, including 79% of Republicans, 58% of Democrats, 68% of independents and 58% of immigrants themselves. An additional 9% said they wanted immigration to be stopped entirely. Drilling down further into the numbers suggests that low-immigration sentiment may be even stronger than the survey responses indicate. The US typically admits about a million immigrants per year, and among those who said they’d tolerate a high level of immigration, 27% would prefer the inflows to be lower than they are currently. An additional 22% said they wanted the total to be kept at a million. In other words, only 51% of the 23% of Americans who said they favoured high levels of immigration actually wanted the yearly influx to increase, the Cato figures showed. And that’s coming from a research outfit that has advocated for expanded and deregulated immigration. The institute appeared to try to explain away those results, saying, “The fact that 1 million sounds like a large number may have influenced answers. However, out of 300 million people, 1 million is 0.33.” Public views on President Joe Biden's policies suggest that most Americans disagree with Cato’s immigration messaging, however. A Washington Post-ABC News poll released on Sunday showed that just 33% of Americans approve of how Biden has handled the US-Mexico border issue since taking office in January. Even among Democrats, while 94% of respondents said they approved of his overall performance, only 63% gave him a thumbs-up when it came to managing border matters. A separate poll, conducted by Harvard CAPS/Harris in mid-June, showed that 74% of registered voters consider the surge in illegal border crossings that has taken place since Biden took office to be a “crisis.” Apprehensions of illegal aliens near the southern US border jumped tenfold from a year earlier to more than 170,000 in April, then topped 180,000 in May. Texas state police reported an 800% surge in fentanyl seizures in the first four months of 2021, capturing enough of the drug to kill 21 million people, which was one of the reasons Governor Greg Abbott cited last month as the reason he vowed to build a border wall and start making mass arrests of illegal aliens. Biden has allowed all unaccompanied minors arriving at the border to stay in the country, which has led to a flood of child migrants. His administration's inability to cope with the influx has resulted in overcrowded detention facilities, where children have gone hungry, slept on concrete floors, and spent days on end without seeing the outdoors. The president has also taken steps to increase legal immigration, such as announcing plans to increase refugee admissions more than eightfold, to 125,000, from the historically low cap of 15,000 that former president Donald Trump set last year. Although 58% of Democrats in the Cato survey said they preferred low levels of immigration, many of those same respondents claimed those who wanted inflows to be reduced were motivated by racism. About 70% of Democrats said racist beliefs motivated those who wanted immigration to be reduced. Ironically, more than one in four of those who said they preferred high levels of immigration – who were primarily Democrats – separately said they wanted the yearly totals to be lower than the typical level of around a million. #TorhcTV, #immigration, #Americans, immigration news immigration lawyer immigration reform 2021

World banks may lose over $6 billion from the downfall of the US investment firm Archegos Capital, sources told Reuters. Regulators are closely monitoring the situation as panic spreads about the possible scale of the fallout. The sudden liquidation of the New York-based billionaire Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management ignited a fire sale of more than $20 billion in assets that has left some of the world’s biggest investment banks bearing billions of dollars of losses. According to billionaire investor Mike Novogratz, the collapse of Hwang’s Archegos fund could turn out to be “the most spectacular personal loss of wealth in history.” The problems started last week when a disappointing stock sale by media giant ViacomCBS triggered devastating bank margin calls for Archegos, three people familiar with the matter said. Shares in ViacomCBS plummeted 23% last Wednesday after the media company sold shares at a price that diluted its value. The shares continued to decline, setting off alarm bells at Archegos’ prime brokers and prompting them to offload stock in all of Archegos’ investments. According to the sources, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were quick to offload shares on Friday, forestalling a material financial impact. Meanwhile, investment banks Nomura and Credit Suisse warned investors that they were facing huge losses from their exposure to Archegos. Shares in Japan’s Nomura plunged 16% and Credit Suisse dropped 14% amid analyst speculations on how much money they could lose. Nomura has already warned it faces a possible $2 billion loss while Credit Suisse said its losses would be “highly significant and material.” Analysts estimate the Swiss bank’s losses could amount to $4 billion. In a statement, Credit Suisse said that “a significant US-based hedge fund defaulted on margin calls made last week,” and that meant it and other banks were forced into "the process of exiting these positions.” Deutsche Bank said it had significantly de-risked its Archegos exposure without incurring any losses and was managing down its “immaterial remaining client positions,” on which it did not expect to incur a loss.