Big Orange Drop On New Year’s Eve Canceled Due To COVID: Report

Associated Press
Hungary and Serbia's autocratic leaders to roll out red carpet for China's Xi during Europe tour
Chinese leader Xi Jinping will spend the bulk of his five-day tour in Europe this week in two small countries at the continent’s eastern half, a region that Beijing has used as a foothold for its expanding economic ambitions in Europe. Following a stop in Paris on Monday to kick off his first European trip in five years, Xi will then travel to Hungary and Serbia, two nations with autocratic leaders that are seen as China-friendly and close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. As mainstream European leaders have pursued more protectionist policies to limit Beijing and Moscow’s reach on the continent, the governments of nationalist conservative leaders Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Aleksandar Vučić of Serbia have vigorously courted economic ties with China, inviting major investments in infrastructure, manufacturing, energy and technology.
AFP
Philippines, US fire at 'invasion' force in South China Sea war games
US and Filipino troops fired missiles and artillery at an imaginary "invasion" force during war games on the Philippines' northern coast Monday, days after their governments objected to China's "dangerous" actions in regional waters.Filipino troops followed up by firing rockets aimed at wearing down the attackers, before the two forces finished the job with machine guns, Javelin missiles and more artillery rounds.
AFP
EU's Green Deal target of disinfo ahead of June vote
The EU's Green Deal has been the target of virulent online disinformation ahead of European parliament elections in June, such as fabricated claims that Brussels plans to introduce a "carbon passport" or ban repairs of cars older than 15 years.This has been seized upon by many as an attack on individual freedoms, with social media users across Europe sharing misleading claims that Brussels wants to ban the repair of vehicles over 15 years old, or even seize and scrap them.
AFP
Bodies of murdered Australian, US surfers identified in Mexico
Relatives on Sunday identified the bodies of two Australians and an American shot dead in a suspected robbery in Mexico, authorities said, marking a tragic end to the search for the missing surfers.The state prosecutor's office later confirmed that the bodies had been formally identified as those of the missing surfers.
Associated Press
Stock market today: Asian shares track Wall St's advance fueled by cooler jobs data
Asian shares were mostly higher on Monday after Wall Street ended last week with the stock market's best day in over two months in a rally backed by the cooler-than-expected U.S. employment data. The Japanese yen weakened slightly after its value swung from a low of 160.25 to the U.S. dollar to 151.86 late last week following suspected government intervention. The dollar bought 153.93 yen, up from 152.90 yen.
Associated Press
Macron sets Ukraine as top priority as China's Xi Jinping pays a state visit to France
French President Emmanuel Macron will seek to press China's Xi Jinping to use his influence to move Russia toward ending the war in Ukraine during a two-day state visit to France. Macron’s office said talks about diplomatic efforts to support Ukraine and put pressure on Russia are a top priority for France.
Associated Press
Heavy rains ease around Houston but flooding remains after hundreds of rescues and evacuations
Floodwaters closed some Texas schools on Monday after days of heavy rains pummeled the Houston area and led to hundreds of rescues including people who were standed on rooftops. Houston is one of the most flood-prone metro areas in the country. In one soggy area of Houston, school officials in Channelview canceled classes and said a survey of their employees found many of them had experienced circumstances that would prevent them from coming to work.
Associated Press
Prosecutors move deeper into Trump's orbit as testimony in hush money trial enters a third week
Prosecutors in Donald Trump's hush money trial are moving deeper into his orbit following an inside-the-room account about the former president's reaction to a politically damaging recording that surfaced in the final weeks of the 2016 campaign. Hope Hicks, a former White House official and for years a top aide, is by far the closest Trump associate to have taken the witness stand in the Manhattan trial.
CNN
Israel orders shut down of Al Jazeera in the country, seizes equipment, in ‘dark day for democracy’
Israel shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in the country and seized some of its communication equipment Sunday, prompting condemnation from the United Nations and rights groups over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s moves to restrict press freedoms.
Associated Press
As China and Iran hunt for dissidents in the US, the FBI is racing to counter the threat
After a student leader of the historic Tiananmen Square protests entered a 2022 congressional race in New York, a Chinese intelligence operative wasted little time enlisting a private investigator to hunt for any mistresses or tax problems that could upend the candidate's bid, prosecutors say. As an Iranian journalist and activist living in exile in the United States aired criticism of Iran's human rights abuses, Tehran was listening too. Members of an Eastern European organized crime gang scouted her Brooklyn home and plotted to kill her in a murder-for-hire scheme directed from Iran, according to the Justice Department, which foiled the plan and brought criminal charges.
Reuters
Global health heavyweights team up for climate, disease funding
Three of the biggest global health funders have joined forces for the first time in a $300 million partnership aimed at tackling the linked impacts of climate change, malnutrition, and infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance. The Novo Nordisk Foundation, Wellcome and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced the research partnership, focused particularly on finding affordable solutions for people in low and middle-income countries, in Denmark on Monday. A key aim is to "break down barriers between often isolated areas of research", said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, chief executive officer of the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
Associated Press
Panama's new president-elect, José Raúl Mulino, was a late entry in the race
José Raúl Mulino said he was practically retired from politics just over six months ago. Now, he’ll be Panama’s president for the next five years. Standing before a pack of supporters Sunday night, Mulino said: “I never imagined this.”
Associated Press
Nervous about falling behind the GOP, Democrats are wrestling with how to use AI
President Joe Biden’s campaign and Democratic candidates are in a fevered race with Republicans over who can best exploit the potential of artificial intelligence, a technology that could transform American elections — and perhaps threaten democracy itself. That has led disinformation experts to issue increasingly dire warnings about the risks posed by AI’s ability to spread falsehoods that could suppress or mislead voters, or incite violence, whether in the form of robocalls, social media posts or fake images and video.
Associated Press
Want to show teachers appreciation? This top school gives them more freedom
When teachers at A.D. Henderson School, one of the top-performing schools in Florida, are asked how they succeed, one answer is universal: They have autonomy. Nationally, most teachers report feeling stressed and overwhelmed at work, according to a Pew Research Center survey of teachers last fall. Waning job satisfaction over the last two decades has accompanied a decline in teachers’ sense of autonomy in the classroom, according to a recent study out of Brown University and the University of Albany.
Associated Press
What to know about Trump strategist's embrace of AI to help conservatives
Brad Parscale was the digital guru behind Donald Trump's surprise victory in the 2016 election and was promoted to manage the 2020 campaign. Parscale says his company, Campaign Nucleus, can use AI to help generate customized emails, parse oceans of data to gauge voter sentiment and find persuadable voters.
Associated Press
Brad Parscale helped Trump win in 2016 using Facebook ads. Now he’s back, and an AI evangelist
Donald Trump’s former campaign manager looked squarely into the camera and promised his viewers they were about to witness a bold new era in politics. “You’re going to see some of the most amazing new technology in artificial intelligence that’s going to replace polling in the future across the country,” said Brad Parscale in a dimly lit promotional video accentuated by hypnotic beats. Parscale, the digital campaign operative who helped engineer Trump’s 2016 presidential victory, vows that his new, AI-powered platform will dramatically overhaul not just polling, but campaigning.
Associated Press
5 years after federal suit, North Carolina voter ID trial set to begin
A federal lawsuit challenging North Carolina's photo voter identification law is set to go to trial Monday, with arguments expected to focus on whether the requirement unlawfully discriminates against Black and Hispanic citizens or serves legitimate state interests to boost public confidence in elections. The non-jury trial in Winston-Salem begins more than five years after the state NAACP and several local chapters sued over the voter ID law enacted by the Republican-dominated General Assembly in late 2018. This litigation, along with similar lawsuits in state courts, delayed implementation of the requirement until last year's municipal elections.
CNN
Thousands of Ukrainians have been sent to Russian prisons. Ukraine says they’re being held as bargaining chips
They were snapped up by Russian soldiers and arbitrarily detained. Two years on, release remains elusive for Ukrainian civilians in captivity.
Associated Press
Qantas agrees to pay $79 million in compensation and a fine for selling seats on canceled flights
Qantas Airways agreed to pay 120 million Australian dollars ($79 million) in compensation and a fine for selling tickets on thousands of cancelled flights, the airline and Australia’s consumer watchdog said on Monday. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission sued the Sydney-based airline in the Federal Court last year. The commission alleged that Qantas engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct by advertising tickets for more than 8,000 flights from May 2021 through to July 2022 that had already been canceled.
AFP
Asian markets build on rally as US jobs data boost rate cut hopes
Most Asian markets rose Monday after data showing fewer US jobs were created last month rekindled optimism interest rates will be cut this year, while mainland Chinese equities bounced on hopes for fresh government economic support.The news ramped up bets on the Fed cutting rates in September while investors also lifted their outlook on how many there would be, though the two priced in are still well short of the six envisaged at the start of the year.

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