Author: WTX News

Tuesday’s Briefing VIDEO: Covid-19 BLITZ – Angelina Jolie talks divorce – UK fashion industry’s warning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfAAtKiHuBE Covid-19: Test blitz to ‘find every case’ of South African variant Turkey arrests dozens of students at peaceful protest over LGBT rights Portugal to receive planeload of German doctors, hospital beds & ventilators to counter dire Covid-19 surge Lebanon hits Daesh terror cell in border town Iran’s Zarif proposes coordinated return to nuclear deal with US Dozens leave Republican Party, calling it a ‘Trump cult’ Republicans Hold ‘Useful’ Meeting with Biden on New Virus Relief Aid Brexit: UK fashion industry warns it faces…

Daily News Briefing Brief. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfAAtKiHuBE&t=17s&ab_channel=WTXNewsTeam The top stories Covid-19: Test blitz to ‘find every case’ of South African variantBBC News says a door-to-door testing blitz is getting under way in a bid to find “every single case” of the South African coronavirus variant in England.On-the-spot doorstep tests, home testing kits and mobile testing units will be deployed to try to reach 80,000 people in eight specific areas.It follows fears that the more infectious version may be spreading in communities in England.The health secretary said he wanted to “come down hard” on the variant.Read on………………..Turkey arrests dozens of students at peaceful…

Italy restaurants open as Italy eases restrictions as the country tries to return to some form of normality as restaurants and museums are allowed to reopen. Some regions – including Rome and Venice – have been downgraded from orange to “lower risk” yellow zones. As many European countries begin toughening up COVID-19 restrictions, Italy has started relaxing them. https://twitter.com/MindFly_67/status/1347896329532551168 The relaxation of the rules on Monday followed a warning from the World Health Organisation and other experts that it may be too soon. italy Coronavirus ‘Soft-Opening’ However, the easing of restrictions hasn’t pleased many business owners. Some of them have…

We all know the tragic loss of 2020. Most of the year was spent in lockdown, nevermind global travel. But we have hope for 2021 as we choose the safest airlines to fly on in 2021. For most the Covid pandemic made flying feel like a distant memory, and for those who managed to travel it became and alien and dicey proposition in 2020. For many travellers, and there’s no telling what the state of the airline industry will look like as COVID-19 continues to spread into the New Year. But for those planning to fly in 2021, We have…

Police arrested at least 488 people demonstrations in Brussels today, on Sunday against measures to curb rising infections of the coronavirus. Police broke up demonstrations in Brussels’ today near the central train station and the Mont des Arts area, Bruxelles. Sunday’s crowds were made up of both Dutch and French-speaking demonstrators, which included Yellow Vest protesters and football supporters who had gathered in central Brussels. The arrests occurred as police broke up demonstrations around Brussels’ central train station and the Mont des Arts area. No charges have been so far reported. Demonstrations in Brussels today were not approved Belgium’s Prime…

Urgent testing after the South African variant found in Surrey  Testing has begun in parts of England after the South African variant of coronavirus were found with no known links to travel or previous cases. Two cases were found in Surrey and testing will also take place in London, Kent, Hertfordshire and Walsall.  Previous cases in the UK were traced back to South Africa. Cases caused by the variant were identified as part of PHE’s random checks on tests.  They have begun testing 5% of all positive cases, which has produced a number of cases that were not directly linked…

Are we ready to discuss the Subway Tuna Sandwich drama?  What’s actually going on with this claim? We look into the lawsuit Two California residents recently filed a lawsuit against Subway alleging the tuna used in Subway wraps and sandwiches isn’t actually tuna, but instead “a mixture of various concoctions that do not constitute tuna, yet have been blended together by [Subway] to imitate the appearance of tuna.”  The Tuna fiasco has caused quite a stir online with most claiming the tuna is fake and gross and slamming Subway – with little evidence.  The problem with the lawsuit is it…

Monday’s Briefing VIDEO: Myanmar coup – Covid-19 – Vaccine row heightens https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhuzbWhgQgo Covid vaccine offered to all care homes in England Captain Sir Tom Moore admitted to hospital with coronavirus France & Germany threaten AstraZeneca with legal action if they favoured UK over EU when distributing Covid-19 vaccine Military coup in Myanmar as elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi is detained Egypt to launch satellite at end of 2021 More Brazil protests against Bolsonaro’s COVID-19 response Suspected suicide car bomb targets hotel in Somali capital Silver surges as Reddit army turns to commodities Brighton beat Spurs to go seven…

Daily News Briefing Brief. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXLMP8NTNMw The top stories Covid vaccine offered to all care homes in England BBC News says a Covid vaccine has been offered to residents at every eligible care home in England, the NHS has announced. Boris Johnson described the achievement, expected to be confirmed by official figures on Monday, as a “crucial milestone”. A target of 15 February has been set for the UK to vaccinate care home residents and carers, people over 70 and frontline care workers. On Saturday a record 598,389 first jabs were given across the UK. Read on ……………….. Captain Sir Tom…

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is reportedly under pressure to resign her post, after a disastrous and short-lived where the EU President took a decision to block vaccines travelling to the UK. The call to block vaccines entering the UK, after a dispute with drugmaker AstraZeneca vaccine over a shortage of supply, would have breached the Belfast Good Friday peace agreement by creating an internal border on the island of Ireland. The EU quickly retreated from its position after a global backlash, with Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove saying Brussels had recognised its “mistake”. AstraZeneca vaccine shortages The…

The German government slashed this year’s economic growth predictions to 3% on Wednesday citing the impact of coronavirus lockdowns, a drop from last autumn’s 4.4% forecast. Chancellor Angela Merkel and state leaders agreed last week to extend the shutdown until mid-February. GDP Growth forecast “We are currently seeing a flattening of the number of infections, which is giving hope,” said Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said. The economy shrank by a smaller-than-expected 5% last year, which marked the second-biggest economic plunge in the country’s post-war history. The record slump of -5.7 came in 2009 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Altmaeir said Germany…

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has said he met with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over plans to force tech giants to pay for news sourced from local media outlets, but the Facebook chief executive and founder was unable to shift the position of the leaders. Mr Frydenberg said he and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher met with Mr Zuckerberg last week after the Facebook chief executive “reached out” to the ministers to discuss the matter in more detail. Facebook wants to post without paying But the facebook founder was unable to move the Government’s position on the code. It has been alleged…

Myanmar’s military has taken control of the country after detaining de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other politicians in the early hours. Following election Fraud allegations. The armed forces in Myanmar have confirmed that they have carried out a coup d’etat, their first against a civilian government since 1962, and in apparent violation of the constitution which the military promised to honour as recently as last Saturday. But allegations by the army of widespread voter fraud, which the electoral commission denies, have led to the most direct confrontation yet between the civilian Government and the military, who share power…

Hedge fund Melvin Capital lost 53% in January, as wall street feels the hurt from Gamestop stock gamble, according to media reports. The latest surge in silver comes as the damage to one Wall Street firm becomes clearer. However, the firm received commitments for fresh cash from investors in the last days of January and ended the month with $8bn (£5.8bn) in assets after having started the year with roughly $12.5bn, according to Reuters. The firm had bet that ailing video game retailer GameStop’s stock, which traded at less than $5 five months ago, would fall further. But retail investors,…

Silver stock prices leapt to a five-month high on Monday on social media calls to buy the metal and emulate the frenzy that drove up GameStop shares. The recent GameStop surge, which was also fuelled by retail investors, was also seen as a revolt against large institutional investors. Demand for silver is going crazy and rippling through to other commodities and stocks. Shares in a handful of smaller Australian mining firms surged as small-time traders bought en masse. Coin-selling websites also reported unprecedented demand and flagged delays in delivering silver. Silver rose as much as 7% to $28.99 an ounce,…

Queen Elizabeth is set to host President Joe Biden and a slate of other world leaders at Buckingham Palace before the Group of Seven (G7) summit in June. The United Kingdom is set to host the first in-person G7 summit since 2019 in June in Cornwall, England. The G7 is composed of the U.K., the U.S., Germany, France, Canada, Italy and Japan. The queen will be joined by fellow members of the royal family, including Charles, the Prince of Wales, and his wife, Duchess of Cornwall Camilla Parker Bowles, in addition to Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, and his…

Abu Dhabi-based a thriving Gulf Startup FinTech company, Nymcard has raised $7.6 million funding in its opening series. The first round led by Shorooq Partners to fuel its growth within the Gulf and MENA region. OTF Jasoor Ventures and Venture Souq also participated in the round. Nymcard focuses on processing transactions and issuing cards, including online cards, on behalf of banks, financial institutions and FinTechs that connect to mobile platforms. It does not compete with payment giants like MasterCard and Visa, but works with them, enabling digital and mobile-first applications to process payments. https://twitter.com/NymCard/status/1305475623914295297 The Middle East Sees a booming…

Bahrain marked the completion of its UAE-funded Bahrain International Airport expansion project with a flight to Abu Dhabi to “thank colleagues and friends” at the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) on Thursday. The new expansion of Bahrain International Airport builds on a 94-year history of being the region’s first airport and aviation hub. The expansion, to which the UAE contributed $3.7 billion, has the capacity to accommodate 14 million passengers annually. “We completed the project in record time, some four years from inception to operation,” he said. The new terminal at Bahrain International Airport is four times the size…

Brief. BrIEf.Me In today’s briefing update, we look at Sunday’s top stories. Most papers focus on the vaccine showdown, Covid-19 frontline workers and the possibility gambling logos will be removed from Sport’s jerseys. Also featured: The latest Covid-19 figures, Sports, business and entertainment news.  …………………………….. Several papers set out details of what the Sun on Sunday calls Boris Johnson’s “seven hour showdown” with EU chiefs. A senior government official tells the Sunday Times and the Sun that the phone calls to  President Ursula von der Leyen were “pretty spicy”. The Mail on Sunday suggests contingency plans were drawn up to…

Why do men get sucked into Covid conspiracies more than women?  Men are twice as likely to die from Covid-19 than women.  It also appears men are more likely to believe in Covid-19 conspiracies. Anti-mask demonstrations and online discussions seem to show a gender-based trend when it comes to conspiracy theories – which is terrifying considering men are twice as likely to die in the UK from Covid than women.  A lot of the more prominent Covid deniers and conspiracy theorists on a public stage appear to be men too.  A few months back, Right Said Fred – the one-hit…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgN5EAGdvm8&t=28s Friday’s Briefing Video: Novavax vaccine 89% effective – Amateur traders fight Wall Street Covid-19: Novavax vaccine shows 89% efficacy in UK trials UK economy suffering most damage since first wave of Covid-19 UK launches visa scheme for Hong Kong citizens Poles take to the streets in renewed protest against abortion restrictions Jordan presses Israel to vaccinate Palestinians Lebanon: Funeral held for demonstrator killed in Tripoli protests North America’s Largest Cemetery Struggles to Cope with COVID Deaths GameStop: Meet the amateur traders fighting Wall Street Liverpool end winless run with victory at lacklustre Tottenham Khloe Kardashian begs Tristan Thompson for…

Daily News Briefing Brief. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgN5EAGdvm8&t=28s The top stories Covid-19: Novavax vaccine shows 89% efficacy in UK trialsBBC News says a new vaccine has been shown to be 89.3% effective in large-scale UK trials.The Novavax jab is the first to show it is effective against the new variant of the virus discovered in the UK. The PM welcomed the “good news” and said the UK’s medicines regulator would now assess the vaccine.The UK has secured 60 million doses of the jab, which will be made in Stockton-on-Tees.Read on………………..UK economy suffering most damage since first wave of Covid-19The Guardian says Britain’s economy…

Covid not a ‘once in a century event’ COVID-19 is being referred to as a “once in a century event” – but the next pandemic is likely to hit sooner than you think. In the next few decades, we will likely see other pandemics. We can predict that with reasonable confidence because of the recent increased frequency of major epidemics (such as SARS and Ebola), and because of social and environmental changes driven by humans that may have contributed to COVID-19’s emergence. Another pandemic is coming — it’s time to prepare TribLive says even as we confront a still-surging covid-19…

Rita Ora: Venue was paid to breach Covid rules, police tell committee Pop star Rita Ora celebrated her 30th birthday breaking lockdown rules. Her team offered a restaurant £5,000 to break rules so she could celebrate, according to police.  Her security team also asked for CCTV cameras to be turned off during the party at Casa Cruz, in Notting Hill, on 28 November, during the second national lockdown, police said.  CCTV hard drives were wiped two days later, a licensing hearing at Kensington and Chelsea Council heard. Rita Ora declined to comment but has previously apologised for the party.  She…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw8b2-VBRRg Thursday’s News Briefing: Covid-19 rates dropping – NHS pressure- Boris off to Scotland Boris Johnson to visit Scotland despite Nicola Sturgeon warning Covid cases in England ‘must fall faster to ease NHS pressure’ EU seeks access to AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccines produced at UK plants ‘Military grenades’ injure 9 soldiers during clashes with anti-lockdown protesters in Lebanon’s Tripoli Dubai updates entry requirements as UAE COVID-19 cases surge Indian farmers call off parliament march after deadly violence US issues heightened terrorism threat alert from domestic extremists US Indicts Oath Keeper Members Over Plot to Storm Capitol Record iPhone sales for Apple…