Wearing a used mask could be more dangerous than not wearing one at all when it comes to warding off COVID-19, a new study has found.
A new three-layer surgical mask is 65 percent efficient in filtering particles in the air — but when used, that number drops to 25 percent, according to the study published Tuesday in the Physics of Fluids.
The “fourth estate” refers to freedom of the press. The term may have first been used by the philosopher-statesman Edmund Burke, who in 1787 highlighted the press as free and apart from the other three British “estates” — clergy, royalty and commoners.
The modern meaning, however, refers to the press as a fourth and free power — as even a “watchdog” — over the executive, legislative and judicial branches of our government. Today, however, it is the watchdog that needs watching.
The pandemic continues to act as a great cultural accelerant, bulldozing institutions that were lurching slowly towards irrelevance. The impending awards show season may be COVID’s last big cultural casualty before the dawn of the new normal.
The question is whether that damage is irreversible. For the entertainment industry, this question looms large over awards shows and, more importantly, movie theaters. As summer faded to fall, some in Hollywood optimistically believed the months-long national theater closure had created a pent-up demand that would boost new releases like “Unhinged” and “Tenet.”
A Kenyan member of al-Shabab stands accused of plotting to fly an airliner into a United States’ skyscraper after he trained as a pilot in the Philippines.
Cholo Abdi Abdullah, 30, spent years training to carry out a 9/11-style attack, prosecutors say. He will appear in a New York court later Wednesday.
He said to have been arrested in 2019 in the Philippines with a bomb and gun, Rappler.com reports.
Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: ‘This chilling callback to the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001, is a stark reminder that terrorist groups like al Shabaab remain committed to killing U.S. citizens and attacking the United States.’
Grammy award-winning singer Lizzo is being criticized for betraying the body positivity movement by trying to lose weight, and some are accusing her of “succumbing to fatphobia.”
The publisher of a book about cancel culture by Julie Burchill has cancelled it after the writer was accused of Islamophobia on Twitter.
The book, Welcome to the Woke Trials, had been due to be published by Little, Brown in April.
But Burchill got embroiled with a row with fellow writer Ash Sarkar.
Little, Brown said her comments were “not defensible from a moral or intellectual standpoint” and “crossed a line with regard to race and religion”.
A statement from the company said: “We will no longer be publishing Julie Burchill’s book. This is not a decision we have taken lightly.
President Trump is reportedly considering pressuring the Justice Department to appoint a special counsel in the federal tax probe of President-elect Joe Biden’s son Hunter.
Trump has sought advice from White House counsel Pat Cipollone, White House chief of Staff Mark Meadows and others outside the administration, The Associated Press reported. The reported discussions come after Trump announced Attorney General William Barr’s resignation earlier this week. Trump vocally criticized Barr for not making the investigation into Hunter Biden public before the election.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has told his cabinet that, while Iran isn’t excited about Joe Biden, he is “very happy” that Donald Trump is leaving office, labelling the US president “a killer” and “a terrorist.”
Speaking during a televised meeting, Rouhani issued scathing attacks on Trump, accusing him of hampering Iran’s ability to respond to the Covid-19 outbreak by blocking its efforts to acquire a vaccine through the World Health Organization.
Joe is more their cup of tea.
Ontario is reporting more than 2,000 new COVID-19 cases for a second day in a row as the province’s death toll from the virus topped 4,000 on Wednesday.
Provincial health officials logged 2,139 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 43 more deaths, a notable increase compared to the 20 fatalities recorded on Tuesday. The previous single-day high for deaths in the province during the second wave was on Dec. 10 when 45 people died from the virus.
Toronto Mayor John Tory said discussions are underway for greater restrictions across the GTA due to surging COVID-19 numbers.
TORONTO — Toronto Mayor John Tory says a stricter lockdown including more of the surrounding areas of the GTA is being discussed for the holidays as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations hit record levels.
Tory said he is in talks with the Ford government and surrounding area mayors about increasing restrictions in lockstep after Dec. 21, when the 28 day lockdown was scheduled to end.
“Going back to the good old days, as much as we’d want to is just not in the cards, in fact we should be doing more, not less,” Tory told CP24 on Wednesday.
Ontario hospitals warned to prepare surge capacity plans within 48 hours
TORONTO — The CEO of Ontario Health is calling on hospitals in the province to be ready to activate their surge capacity plans within 48 hours as a spike in COVID-19 cases threatens the health-care system’s ability to care for patients effectively.
There used to be a term for a person who believes capitulation is the best way to negotiate with a bullying foreign government: Appeaser.
It’s time to revive that term and apply it to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his dealings with the Communist Party of China (CPC).
…Sean Carleton, a University of Manitoba history professor, posted a long thread Tuesday on Twitter explaining that since the Orca on the Canuck’s team logo looks similar to the art style of the Coast Salish, a group of languages and people indigenous to British Columbia, that the logo is “racist and appropriated” and must be “retired.”
It’s too often an asshole white person behind this crap.
While there may now be a needle to treat the coronavirus, there’s no vaccine that can cure the dangers of a hot mic — or mask the embarrassment.
This was an accidental blunder that’s going viral faster than the virus itself.
“Too feminist” – Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s mocking response after being told she had broken the law by naming too many women to senior posts.
Eleven women and five men had been promoted in 2018, breaching a national 2013 rule designed to bring about gender parity in employment.
The Paris authorities are being fined €90,000 ($109,000; £81,000) by the public service ministry.
“I am happy to announce we have been fined,” Ms Hidalgo said.
Of course she’s happy it’s not her money being wasted. Ms. Socialist also denies the existence of Islamist No Go Zones.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he hopes there will be good news before the New Year for the families of two Canadians arbitrarily detained by Beijing for more than two years.
In a year-end interview with The West Block’s Mercedes Stephenson, Trudeau was asked about the continued detention of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor by China, whose fates Chinese officials have repeatedly linked to that of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou.
Georgia is ground zero in the battle for the balance of power in Washington, D.C., as control of the U.S. Senate now hinges on the result of the two Senate runoff races in the Peach State.
Sen. Chuck Schumer recently stated: “Now we take Georgia, and then we change America.”
Hollywood director Rob Reiner is offering his angry voice to the mix, hoping to push Georgia Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock over the finish line by calling Trump supporters a “White Nationalist Autocratic Cult.”
