Today's News: January 23, 2020

World News

Queen Elizabeth II approves British govt’s Brexit bill

Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday formally approved the law facilitating Britain’s departure from the European Union at the end of this month, AFP reports.

“Her Majesty the Queen has now granted Royal Assent to the Brexit Bill which therefore becomes the Brexit Act,” Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay tweeted. “Enshrined in law, this enables the UK to leave the EU on 31st January.”

The Brexit bill passed its final hurdle in Parliament on Wednesday after the House of Lords abandoned attempts to amend it. The bill was approved by Parliament’s upper chamber after the House of Commons overturned changes to the government’s Brexit bill made a day earlier by the unelected House of Lords.

The bill was to become law when it received royal assent from the queen, which was seen as a formality and was expected on Thursday.

‘We simply can’t get in’: Assange lawyer complains about lack of access to WikiLeaks founder

RT – A lawyer representing Julian Assange has told a London court that the WikiLeaks founder’s legal team is being restricted from meeting him and it is hampering preparation for his trial on extradition to the United States.

Queen’s Counsel Edward Fitzgerald told Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday that he has had great difficulty gaining access to Assange in Belmarsh prison to discuss evidence and take instructions from the Australian.

Venezuela has ‘world’s highest murder rate’

Al Jazeera – A non-government organisation says Venezuela has the world’s highest murder rate – many of them extrajudicial killings by police.

And an elite special forces unit is accused of being given the freedom to terrorise communities.

UN court orders Myanmar to stop Rohingya genocide

CS Monitor – In a sweeping legal victory for members of the Rohingya Muslim minority, the United Nations’ top court on Thursday ordered Myanmar take all measures in its power to prevent genocide against the Rohingya people.

The court’s president, Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, said the International Court of Justice “is of the opinion that the Rohingya in Myanmar remain extremely vulnerable.”

In a unanimous decision, the court added that its order for so-called provisional measures intended to protect the Rohingya is binding “and creates international legal obligations” on Myanmar.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Robert Kennedy, Jr. and Children’s Health Defense Sue FCC Over Wireless Radiation Exposure Health Guidelines

Activist Post – The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) is not a health or environmental agency; however, they are supposed to protect the public by regulating the telecom industry. They’ve been doing a lousy job since long before the Trump administration. It’s much worse now. Several lawsuits have been filed against them over the last year or so regarding the forced widespread installation of 5G which even telecom executives won’t say is safe.

Thanks to Robert Kennedy, Jr. and Children’s Health Defense for suing them for refusing to change wireless radiation exposure health guidelines.

Impeachment rules approved, but not witness testimony

CS Monitor – The United States Senate plunged into President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial with Republicans abruptly abandoning plans to cram opening arguments into two days but solidly rejecting Democratic demands for more witnesses to expose what they deem Mr. Trump’s “trifecta” of offenses.

The daylong session started Tuesday with the setback for Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell and the president’s legal team, but it ended near 2 a.m. Wednesday, with Republicans easily approving the rest of the trial rules largely on their terms. The result is Mr. Trump’s historic trial, unfolding amid a watchful public in an election year.

Three Americans killed in plane crash while fighting Australia’s wildfires

NBC – A plane helping battle wildfires in Australia crashed in New South Wales state Thursday, killing three American firefighters, officials said.

The C-130 Hercules firefighting aircraft, which officials said was from Coulson Aviation — a private American company contracted by the Rural Fire Service, crashed in the Snowy Monaro area. The Rural Fire Service lost contact with the air tanker around 1:30 p.m.

“Initial reports are that there was a large fireball associated with the impact of the plane as it hit the ground,” Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said at a news conference.

“Unfortunately, all we’ve been able to do is locate the wreckage and the crash site. We have not been able to locate any survivors,” he said.

Economy & Business

New York to Force Stores to Accept Cash

NY Daily News – Food and retail stores in New York City will have to accept cash payment later this year under legislation the Council is set to pass Thursday.

The bill from Councilman Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) would require all businesses that sell any articles, goods, merchandise or commodities to take cash or risk civil penalties up to $1,500.

The “cashless ban,” which is expected to go into effect in about nine months, also prohibits stores from charging customers higher prices for paying in cash.

“No longer in NYC will brick-and-mortar businesses have the right to refuse cash and effectively discriminate against customers who lack access to credit and debit,” Torres said. “The City of New York cannot allow the digital economy to leave behind the 25% of New Yorkers who are chronically unbanked and underbanked.”

Stores would still be able to refuse bills above $20. They would also be able to ban cash for transactions that take place online, by phone or mail.

Energy & Environment

Trump Removes Pollution Controls on Streams and Wetlands

NYT – The Trump administration on Thursday will finalize a rule to strip away environmental protections for streams, wetlands and other water bodies, handing a victory to farmers, fossil fuel producers and real estate developers who said Obama-era rules had shackled them with onerous and unnecessary burdens.

From Day 1 of his administration, President Trump vowed to repeal President Barack Obama’s “Waters of the United States” regulation, which had frustrated rural landowners. His new rule, which will be implemented in the coming weeks, is the latest step in the Trump administration’s push to repeal or weaken nearly 100 environmental rules and laws, loosening or eliminating rules on climate change, clean air, chemical pollution, coal mining, oil drilling and endangered species protections.

Greta Thunberg told to study economics by US treasury secretary

The Guardian – Donald Trump’s treasury secretary has dismissed Greta Thunberg’s call for immediate fossil fuel divestment, saying the 17-year-old activist should go to college and study economics.

In a withering slapdown on the climate emergency movement, Steven Mnuchin pretended not to know who Thunberg was, before dismissing her concerns as ill-informed.

Asked whether calls for public and private-sector divestment from fossil fuel companies would threaten US growth, Mnuchin jibed: “Is she the chief economist? Who is she, I’m confused” – before clarifying that he was joking.

“After she goes and studies economics in college she can come back and explain that to us,” Mnuchin added, at a press conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Science & Technology

Amazon asks court to pause Microsoft’s work on Pentagon’s JEDI contract

Reuters – Amazon.com Inc said on Wednesday it filed a motion in court to pause the U.S. Department of Defense and Microsoft Corp from carrying out an up to $10 billion cloud computing deal until a court rules on its protest of the contract award.

Amazon, originally considered to be the favorite to win the award, had indicated last week that it would file a temporary restraining order to require the Pentagon and Microsoft to hold off beyond initial activities for the contract.

Known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud, or JEDI, the contract is intended to give the military better access to data and technology from remote locations.

Health

Chinese cities cancel New Year celebrations, travel ban widens in effort to stop coronavirus outbreak

Washington Post – Major Chinese cities, including the capital of Beijing and virus-hit Wuhan, banned all large gatherings over the coming Lunar New Year festival, the most important holiday on the Chinese calendar, in an expanding effort contain the rapidly spreading outbreak.The announcement Thursday came as authorities expanded travel restrictions imposed on Wuhan to surrounding municipalities, shutting down travel networks and attempting to quarantine some 25 million people — more than the population of Florida.

Four people in Scotland ‘being tested for coronavirus’

The Guardian – Four people in Scotland are being tested for suspected coronavirus after travelling to the country from Wuhan in China, according to the head of infection medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

Prof Jürgen Haas said he believed there would be many more cases from other cities in the UK. He said three cases were in Edinburgh and the other was thought to be in Glasgow.

Tests are being carried out and none of the patients have yet been confirmed as having the disease. They all travelled to Scotland from Wuhan, where the outbreak is thought to have originated, within the past two weeks and are showing symptoms of respiratory trouble – a red flag for the virus.

More Vitamin D Improves Blood Pressure and Insulin Sensitivity in Overweight Children

NaturalBlaze – Overweight and obese vitamin D-deficient children who took a relatively high dose of vitamin D every day for six months had lower blood pressure and improved insulin sensitivity than their peers who took a lower dose, according to the results of a UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh clinical trial reported in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

However, the study did not show improvements in other markers of cardiovascular and metabolic health, a finding that indicates vitamin D supplementation alone may not be the cure-all for improving the heart health of children at highest risk for diabetes and heart disease.

“Current recommendations for taking vitamin D are pegged to optimal bone health,” said lead author Kumaravel Rajakumar, M.D., M.S., professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “But we know vitamin D is involved in more than building healthy bones. It can turn on and off genes that direct our cells to regulate blood glucose levels, and immune and vascular function.”