Covid: Gyms and all shops to reopen after English lockdown

Look for new uptick in cases and deaths as Boris blows managing Covid again – https://ift.tt/372Exiz

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The PM is due to unveil the latest Covid plans on Monday, including mass testing for all tier three areas.

Coronavirus: cluster at Hong Kong dance clubs balloons to 80 cases after warning of ‘super-spreader’ event | South China Morning Post (there is no letting up)

Hong Kong dance clubs has mushroomed into the second-largest outbreak of the pandemic after another 46 people linked to the venues were confirmed as infected, taking the total to 80.

The carriers were among 68 new cases confirmed on Sunday, the highest daily figure in about three months. More than 50 people have also tested preliminary positive.

Authorities had earlier warned of a  linked to the 14 dance clubs located across the city, including the Wan Chai Starlight Dance Club, Heavenly Dance in Sheung Wan and Dance Culture in Causeway Bay.

Source: Coronavirus: cluster at Hong Kong dance clubs balloons to 80 cases after warning of ‘super-spreader’ event | South China Morning Post

English Gyms Find Themselves on the Front Lines of Lockdown Revolt – The New York Times (hard to get by but government needs to step up with support but Boris is not up to it)

“The highest daily number of positive Covid cases was recorded in the U.K. last week, and we had to make it clear that everyone has to work together and follow the legislation put in place to contain the spread of the virus,” said Joseph Ejiofor, leader of Haringey Council, which includes Wood Green.

“I understand why the owner felt passionately about staying open, but the law is the law and it applies to everyone,” he added.

Cleveland coronavirus cases up 1,200 percent since early October | TheHill

Cleveland coronavirus cases up 1,200 percent since early October

Cleveland coronavirus cases up 1,200 percent since early October
© Getty Images

The Cleveland area has seen its number of coronavirus cases skyrocket by 1,259 percent in the past seven weeks according to the Ohio Department of Health, as cases across the country continue to climb.

Source: Cleveland coronavirus cases up 1,200 percent since early October | TheHill

Facebook condemned for hosting neo-Nazi network with UK links | Facebook | The Guardian

Ukraine-based Azov Battalion in Kyiv A white supremacist network with more than 80,000 followers and links to the UK far right, including a student charged with terrorist offences, is being hosted by Facebook and Instagram, putting the world’s largest social media company under fresh pressure to tackle extremism. The network, which includes more than 40 neo-Nazi sites, offers merchandise including NaziSS symbols and stickers praising Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager under investigation for shooting dead two Black Lives Matter protesters in Wisconsin in August.

Source: Facebook condemned for hosting neo-Nazi network with UK links | Facebook | The Guardian

U.S. criminal investigators were told to take ‘no further action’ on Caterpillar, ex-client of Attorney General Bill Barr

Much was at stake for Caterpillar: Since 2018, the Internal Revenue Service has been demanding $2.3 billion in payments from the company in connection with the tax matters under criminal investigation. The company is contesting that finding.

A week after Barr was nominated for the job of attorney general, Justice officials in Washington told the investigative team in the active criminal probe of Caterpillar to take “no further action” in the case, according to an email written by one of the agents and reviewed by Reuters.

“I was instructed on December 13, 2018,” wrote the agent, Jason LeBeau, “that the Tax Division and the Office of the Deputy Attorney General jointly came to the decision that no further action was to be taken on the matter until further notice.” LeBeau, an inspector general agent at the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, declined interview requests from Reuters.

Since then, a source close to the case says, the investigation has “stalled.” The order to freeze the Caterpillar investigation has not been previously reported.

 

Source: U.S. criminal investigators were told to take ‘no further action’ on Caterpillar, ex-client of Attorney General Bill Barr

Republican Michigan congressman: ‘The people have spoken’ | TheHill

When discussing Biden’s lead in the state, Upton on Sunday noted the president-elect was not leading by “a razor-thin margin,” but by more than 150,000 votes. “You have to let those votes stand. People know the process. … I voted absentee. So did my wife. So did my parents. So did my brother and his wife. The process has been in place for a long time. It works. And there’s no issues of fraud anywhere,” he said. “So, 154,000 votes, I mean, … my own county commission race was a dead-even tie. Then [had] a draw to see who won because it was exactly the same, 154,000 votes is too many to overcome,” he stated.  According to The Associated Press, which called the race in Michigan for Biden earlier this month, the former vice president currently leads Trump by 155,629 votes.

Source: Republican Michigan congressman: ‘The people have spoken’ | TheHill

Coronavirus Upends Thanksgiving for Many, While Others Ignore Warnings – The New York Times

Ginger Floerchinger-Franks typically invites 10 people to her home in Boise, Idaho, for Thanksgiving dinner and cooks the entire meal herself, including her specialty, pumpkin soup. But the pandemic has forced her to devise a new plan: a socially distant potluck. Three households will each prepare a dish, and Ms. Floerchinger-Franks will shuttle the platters between their homes. Then they will gather on Zoom to savor each other’s food. “This is kind of an adventure,” she said.

Coronavirus in Israel: Infection spiking as country reopens – The Jerusalem Post (Wrong time to roll the dice again)

There will be no changes in the plans to return more students to school on Tuesday, despite reports by health officials that reducing restrictions could lead to a spike in serious patients and ultimately a third lockdown. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the cabinet on Sunday that fifth- and sixth-grade students will return to their classrooms on Tuesday and students in grades 11 and 12 next week.

Source: Coronavirus in Israel: Infection spiking as country reopens – The Jerusalem Post