Changes coming to Pinellas, Polk schools during COVID-19

Changes coming to Pinellas, Polk schools during COVID-19

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  • Former CIA Director John Brennan says the assassination of a top Iranian nuclear scientist was 'criminal' and risked inflaming conflict in the Middle East

    Iran's foreign minister, Javad Zarif, pointed the finger at Israel for the death of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, on Friday.

  • In El Salvador, arrested gang members paraded for the cameras

    Hundreds of handcuffed Salvadoran gang members were displayed before assembled reporters on Saturday, a vivid show of President Nayib Bukele's policy of confronting them and the violent crime they are accused of committing. In April, Bukele provoked the ire of rights groups when he published on social media jarring pictures of hundreds of semi-naked jailed gang members, pressed tightly together in rows, despite the raging pandemic. Security Minister Rogelio Rivas called the majority of the newly-detained "terrorists" in remarks after they were assembled in an open-air plaza by heavily-armed soldiers, nearly all the detainees wearing masks and with their faces, many tattooed, looking down.

  • Tensions rise on Canary Islands as thousands of migrants seek new route into EU

    Peering down from their balconies at the luxury Waikiki hotel, more than a thousand migrants gaze out towards the sea that carried them on their desperate journey fleeing Africa. Their rickety fishing boats lie piled up on docksides waiting to be scrapped. Smashed hulls still bob in the water, a reminder of the eight lives claimed this week off Lanzarote as hundreds more migrants reached Spain’s Canary Islands. The survivors’ safety in hotel accommodation amid the sprawling resorts of southern Gran Canaria is testament to local islanders’ proud benevolence. But generosity is running thin as tempers fray amid a growing crisis that has split Canarian leaders from their mainland colleagues, and reopened old wounds in Europe's hopeless attempt to control migration. The Canary Islands has seen arrivals increase tenfold in a year to around 20,000 by late November. Plans are now afoot to build one of Europe's largest migrant camps, housing 7,000 across three islands. Around 6,000 are currently living in 15 hotel complexes after a deal was struck between hoteliers and the Spanish government.

  • The Trump campaign wound up spending $3 million to increase Biden's lead in Wisconsin

    That seemingly didn't go according to plan.President-elect Joe Biden picked up 257 votes in Wisconsin's Milwaukee County on Friday after the Trump campaign demanded a recount there. President Trump did pick up some votes, as well, but the 125 he received gives Biden a net gain of 132.Biden won Wisconsin by around 20,000 votes, which was close enough for the Trump campaign to call for recounts, and a separate one in Dane County is expected to finish Sunday, so the president could still decrease his deficit. But Dane County is also Democratic-leaning, so it's unlikely the recount will significantly alter the results either way.The Trump campaign's efforts, which are grounded in unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud, cost $3 million.Trump's lawyers are still expected to mount a legal challenge of the overall vote in Wisconsin, The Guardian notes, but the state is on track to certify its results Tuesday. Read more at The Guardian and Business Insider.More stories from theweek.com 5 witheringly funny cartoons about Trump's sort-of concession Is Mnuchin trying to sabotage the economy? Obama the pretender

  • Type O blood linked to lower COVID-19 risk

    A large study adds to evidence that people with type O blood may be at slightly lower risk of COVID-19.

  • Six US oil executives jailed for corruption in Venezuela after being lured to business meeting

    Men plead innocence following arrest in 2017 as State Department demands release

  • Police: DC officer killed by wife in apparent murder-suicide

    A Maryland woman fatally shot her police officer husband and then killed herself, authorities said. Authorities identified the couple as Christina Lynn Francis, 41, and Timothy Eugene Francis, 50. News outlets said Timothy Francis was a veteran detective for the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington D.C.

  • Government ready for 100 per cent increase in Hong Kong citizens coming to UK

    The Government is preparing for a 100 per cent increase in the number of Hong Kong citizens coming to Britain after Boris Johnson offered up to three million residents sanctuary. The Prime Minister said in July that Hong Kong's freedoms were being violated by a new security law and those affected would be offered the chance to settle in the UK and ultimately apply for citizenship. The Foreign Office estimated that 200,000 people would move from Hong Kong to the UK, but a leaked internal briefing paper warned of a "rapid rise in the issue of British National (Overseas) passports since June". BN(O) passport holders in Hong Kong were granted special status in the 1980s but currently have restricted rights and are only entitled to visa-free access to the UK for six months. Under the Government's plans, all BN(O)s and their dependents will be given the right to remain in the UK, including the right to work and study, for five years. They will be able to apply for settled status and, after a further year, seek citizenship.

  • MBS reportedly backed out of Saudi-Israel agreement because he wants to wait for Biden

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly flew to Saudi Arabia last week for a secret meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Saudi Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in the hopes of striking a deal that would normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. But he came home empty handed after Prince Mohammed backed out, The Wall Street Journal reports.His reasoning, Saudi advisers and U.S. officials told the Journal, was President-elect Joe Biden's victory over President Trump in the U.S. general election. Although the Trump administration was a factor in the recent so-called Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and both the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Prince Mohammed reportedly wants to build ties with Biden and was reluctant about following suit while Trump is still in office, although the chances of that happening reportedly aren't impossible.Negotiating normalization agreements between Israel and other Arab nations is one Trump policy Biden seems likely to keep pursuing, but the president-elect has taken a tougher stance on Saudi Arabia than Trump, especially after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the Journal notes, so reviving talks with the new administration may be Prince Mohammed's best chance "to repair its image in Washington," a U.S. official said. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.More stories from theweek.com 5 witheringly funny cartoons about Trump's sort-of concession Is Mnuchin trying to sabotage the economy? Obama the pretender

  • The Supreme Court refused to get involved in the case of a Louisiana pastor who ignored the governor's order banning large gatherings

    Louisiana Pastor Tony Spell openly violated the governor's order prohibiting gatherings larger than 10 people, hosting services that totaled 1,000.

  • Turkey's new virus figures confirm experts' worst fears

    When Turkey changed the way it reports daily COVID-19 infections, it confirmed what medical groups and opposition parties have long suspected — that the country is faced with an alarming surge of cases that is fast exhausting the Turkish health system. In an about-face, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government this week resumed reporting all positive coronavirus tests — not just the number of patients being treated for symptoms — pushing the number of daily cases to above 30,000. No country can report exact numbers on the spread of the disease since many asymptomatic cases go undetected, but the previous way of counting made Turkey look relatively well-off in international comparisons, with daily new cases far below those reported in European countries including Italy, Britain and France.

  • Harvey Weinstein's ex-wives succeed in freezing £4.5 million of his assets

    Harvey Weinstein's appeal against his rape and assault convictions has been hampered after the disgraced former movie mogul's two ex-wives reportedly froze £4.5 million of his remaining assets. Weinstein, who was given a 23-year jail term at a court hearing in New York in March after being convicted of rape and sexual assault, is allegedly no longer able to pay the lawyers working on his appeal. Weinstein's two ex-wives, Eve Chilton, whom he divorced in 2004, and Georgina Chapman, a British fashion designer who left the producer after assault allegations against him emerged in 2017, have reportedly taken legal action to freeze his accounts. According to the Daily Mail, the pair filed a motion in April raising concerns over the state of Weinstein's finances and provided evidence in July in the form of private jet receipts and expenses related to his criminal trial. The two women also reportedly provided the court with evidence of large deposits that had been made into Weinstein’s bank account as well as proof of insurance fees he was set to collect.

  • Ethiopia says military operation in Tigray region is over, hunt for Tigray leaders begins

    The Ethiopian government launched a manhunt on Sunday for leaders of a rebellious faction in the northern region of Tigray after announcing federal troops had taken over the regional capital and military operations were complete. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed government has been trying to quell a rebellion by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a powerful ethnically-based party that dominated the central government from 1991 until Abiy came to power in 2018.

  • Advice for "Emily in Paris" season 2: Drop the Americanized fantasy and get to know the real city

    Working- and middle-class Parisians, the city's diverse multi-cultural residents, are all but erased in season 1

  • Swans are spinning in circles, bleeding from their nostrils, and collapsing dead amid an outbreak of avian flu in Europe

    The disease is not believed to pose a threat to humans, and there is currently no suggestion it could impact poultry supply chains.

  • A Few of Our Favorite Small Businesses Running Sales This Weekend

    It's #smallbusinesssaturday, and you know what that meansOriginally Appeared on Architectural Digest

  • South Korean intelligence believes North Korea is nervous about dealing with Biden administration

    There's a reason why North Korea has remained quiet about the United States presidential election, The Associated Press reports.South Korean lawmakers were briefed by the country's National Intelligence Service on Friday, and one of the issues reportedly addressed was Pyongyang's anxiety about the incoming Biden administration. The briefing's contents could not be independently verified by news organizations, but Seoul's spy agency alleges North Korea has ordered overseas diplomatic missions to refrain from provoking the U.S., reportedly warning its ambassadors there will be consequences should any of their acts or comments rattle folks in Washington.One South Korean lawmaker said the NIS believes North Korea is nervous that the friendly relationship between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will be rendered moot when President-elect Joe Biden steps into the Oval Office in January, so the government apparently wants to ensure tensions remain relatively at ease for now. The NIS does expect North Korea will hold a military parade around the same time as Biden's inauguration as a show of force, although they've done so with Trump in office, as well. Read more at The Associated Press.More stories from theweek.com 5 witheringly funny cartoons about Trump's sort-of concession Is Mnuchin trying to sabotage the economy? Obama the pretender

  • Swedish government sidelines epidemiologist who steered country's no lockdown experiment as deaths rise

    The high-profile epidemiologist who led Sweden's no lock-down strategy in the spring appears to be being sidelined by the government after his prediction that greater immunity would mean a lighter second wave proved badly wrong. Anders Tegnell's biweekly press conference was on Thursday pushed into the shade by an overlapping press conference fronted by Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, where new scenarios prepared by the Public Health Agency were announced. "There's certainly a split, and I'm pretty sure that many in the government have rather lost faith in the Public Health Agency," said Nicholas Aylott, an associate politics professor at Stockholm's Södertorn University. "By some counts, we've now got exactly the same level of spread of the virus that we had in the spring, and that's about as clear a refutation of Tegnell's strategy as you could wish for." Dr Tegnell has always insisted that his Public Health Agency has never pursued a herd immunity strategy, but he repeatedly suggested in the summer that his counterparts in Norway, Finland and Denmark would face a tougher task over the winter because of lower levels of immunity in their populations. This month, though, the number of deaths in Sweden has again begun to soar above that of its Nordic neighbours, with 630 deaths so far registered as a result of Covid-19. That is about ten times the per capita death rate in Norway -- where just 30 Covid-19 deaths were registered between October 28th and November 25th.

  • Austrians to face further 'massive restrictions' after lockdown: Kurz

    Austria should expect further heavy restrictions when its current lockdown measures expire in just over a week, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told Austrian paper Kleine Zeitung. Austria's nationwide lockdown is due to be lifted on Dec. 7, but it is not yet clear what that will mean for the ski industry - cornerstone of a tourism sector which accounts for some 15% of economic output - or overall life in Austria. Speaking to Kleine Zeitung, Kurz said Austrians would need to contend with further restrictions for weeks and months, adding new measures to be announced on Wednesday depended on COVID-19 case developments.

  • Hungarian official compares George Soros to Hitler

    A Hungarian ministerial commissioner has come under fire for an article comparing American-Hungarian billionaire and philanthropist George Soros, a staunch critic of Hungary’s government, to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. “Europe is George Soros’ gas chamber,” Szilard Demeter, ministerial commissioner and head of the Petofi Literary Museum in Budapest, wrote in an opinion article Saturday in the pro-government outlet Origo.