South Africa reacts to countries' decisions to close borders

 

South African Health Minister Joe Faala called the decision of other countries to impose travel restrictions due to the new mutation "unjustified", although he confirmed that the preliminary studies that have been done so far show that the variant is more contagious.

 

In a press conference, the minister stressed that South Africa is acting transparently and that travel bans are contrary to the recommendations of the World Health Organization. He stressed that he would not even think about not sharing information about different strains of the new coronavirus in the future, as this is done for "the good of the world", as he said.

 

Faala added that the South African government has no plans to impose compulsory vaccination on citizens because of this variant. He noted that some measures will need to be taken, but the exact restrictions have not yet been decided.

 

South Africa's leading epidemiologist, Salim Abdul Karim, said the B.1.1.529 variant had spread to 53 countries within three weeks of its detection. "So it does not really help to close the borders. We have to find solutions to this variation together. And part of that means not overreacting," he said in an interview, calling Britain's decision to ban travel from South Africa "panicky" and understandable.

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A $700 million dollar change: Staples Center becomes Crypto.com Arena

The famous Staples Center in Los Angeles will take on a new name from December - Crypto.com Arena

 

 

 

The hall management has signed a 20-year contract with the Crypto.com company from Singapore, which promotes the wider use of cryptocurrencies, worth $700 million.

While the name will be officially changed on Christmas Day, December 25, the inscription on the hall will be replaced in June 2022.

The Staples Center in Los Angeles said it would rebrand as https://t.co/f6jhiEqFvp Arena, in a 20-year deal with a cryptocurrency platform based in Singapore. https://t.co/Q8V7PHOON3

— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 17, 2021

 

Let us remind you, the Staples Center was built in 1999. It is used by the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers basketball franchises, the Los Angeles Sparks women's basketball team and the Los Angeles Kings hockey team.

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Sarkozy announced that he would appeal the verdict

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy will appeal the verdict, which sentenced him to prison on Monday for corruption, said Sarkozy's defense attorney Jacqueline Lafon.

A court in Paris found Sarkozy guilty of corruption and trading in influence and sentenced him to one year in prison and another two years probation.

The defense attorney assessed the verdict as "extremely difficult" and "completely unfounded and unjustified". She added that Sarkozy was "calm but determined to prove his innocence."

Sarkozy, 66, who was president from 2007 to 2012, is awaiting another trial in the spring. He and 13 others will be tried on charges of illegally financing his 2007 presidential campaign.

Before Sarkozy, whose trial is considered a precedent in France, another president faced trial after leaving office - Jacques Chirac for embezzlement, but not during his presidency, but earlier, while he was mayor of Paris.

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Comparison of Payoneer and Paypal buyer protection

Today we're sharing a video which compares Payoneer and Paypal's buyer protection.

 

This is the protection these payment platforms offer to their users in case a purchase they made went wrong (product/service was not delivered, or was not as advertised, etc).

Here is the video which lays things out nicely:

 

The conclusion is that Payoneer is the clear winner here. And that makes perfect sense, because as with all other companies, once they get too big they lose their way and stop caring about their customers, which is the case with paypal.

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Biden gets Georgia too, Trump says "time will tell"

Biden cannot begin the transition of power because President Trump refuses to admit defeat

 

WASHINGTON - Newly elected President Joe Biden solidified his election victory by winning 16 electoral votes in Georgia, and earlier in Arizona. But the transition of power is still blocked due to the refusal of President Donald Trump to admit defeat. Trump is the projected winner in North Carolina.

At the White House event on Friday, where he spoke about the corona virus vaccine, Trump hinted for the first time that he could still leave the White House in January, with the message "that time will tell".

 

"Ideally, we should not go into quarantine. I will not do that, this administration will not do that. I hope - whatever happens in the future - who knows what the administration will be? I guess time will tell," Trump said.

Biden's victory in Arizona and Trump's victory in North Carolina were projected after more than a week of counting the votes after the November 3 elections. Biden is only the second Democratic presidential candidate to win the traditional Republican stronghold of the past seven decades.

Biden with Georgia has 306 electoral votes, and Trump 232. Biden was declared the winner of the election at the end of last week after he won the necessary 270 electoral votes. Although the votes will be counted manually again in Georgia, it is unlikely that the outcome of the election will be changed.

At the national level, Biden leads ahead of Trump with more than 5.3 million votes or 3.4 percent.

Trump refuses to admit defeat and claims without proof that he was robbed due to widespread election irregularities, but the courts rejected numerous lawsuits filed by his election headquarters, while election officials said that there were no major irregularities during the voting.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told young Republican supporters on Friday that Trump is still determined to take legal action in the hope that he will reverse the result.

"We will fight for the outcome of the election, which will give us another four years," Pence said.

In Michigan, which Biden won by 2.6 percent or more than 148,000 votes, two Republican state senators asked election officials to check the results before certifying them. They cited, among other things, a "malfunction" in the counting software, improper handling of ballots and obstacles faced by observers.

However, the Michigan state court on Friday rejected the request of Trump supporters to block the certification of votes in Detroit, where the majority of voters voted for Biden.

Federal officials in charge of election security said they found no evidence that any electoral system erased, lost or altered votes or that it was "threatened in any way."

States have until December 8 to certify the elections and elect electors for the Electoral College, which will officially elect a new president on December 14.

Due to Trump's refusal to admit defeat, the process of transition to the new administration is stalled. The General Affairs Directorate, which approves funding for the newly elected president, has not yet acknowledged Biden's victory.

Biden's team, however, continues to prepare for the transfer of power to the new administration. Biden's transition team official Jen Psaki said on Friday that national security experts would brief the newly elected president next week.

Psaki also stated that Biden talked with his associates about the candidates for the new cabinet and that he will continue to talk with the members of the Congress, including the Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, about the new aid package due to the pandemic.

Ron Klein, who was chosen as Biden's future chief of staff, told the MSNBC cable network on Thursday that the key is to start the transition process now, given that the Biden administration will inherit the coronavirus vaccination campaign as soon as the newly elected president is inaugurated on January 20.

"The sooner our transition experts can meet with people planning vaccinations, the easier it will be to transition from Trump to the Biden administration," Klein said, announcing that "despite obstacles," Biden will sign decrees and pass on priorities. legislative proposals to Congress on the first day of taking office.

"He will be very busy on the first day," Klein said, adding that the return to the Paris Climate Agreement, the strengthening of Obamacare and the protection of the environment are issues that Biden will resolve on January 20.

Republicans divided

Biden will meet again with transition advisers on Friday as he plans to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and prepares to appoint cabinet members.

A majority of Republicans publicly supported Trump's right to try to legally challenge the election result and refused to recognize Biden as the winner. However, hints of divisions among Republicans began to emerge on Thursday.

Republican officials, such as the governors of Ohio and New Hampshire and Carl Rove, chief adviser to former President George W. Bush, said Biden should be treated as the newly elected president.

Meanwhile, some Republican senators stated that the Trump administration should enable Biden to receive confidential intelligence reports, although they did not directly call him the winner of the election.

The newly elected president usually receives daily intelligence reports to ensure that national security is not compromised during the transition.

However, Republican leader in the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy opposed that, suggesting that Trump could still be the winner.

Democrats accuse Trump and Republicans of backing his claims of undermining institutions. Former President Barack Obama said in an interview for the CBS program "60 Minutes" that Republicans are moving on a "dangerous path" by supporting Trump's unfounded allegations of election theft.

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Lithuanian minister in self-isolation after Macron's visit

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius will spend a week in self-isolation because he was in contact with two infected people who were part of the French delegation during last week's visit of French President Emmanuel Macron, a ministry spokeswoman said today.

 

She said that the minister was tested for the corona virus and is negative, but he will still stay at home this week, a spokeswoman for the Associated Press said.

A spokesman for the French Embassy, ​​Sami Fizek, told the AP that two people from the diplomatic mission in Vilnius were positive on the test, but he did not want to state their names. Both were part of the delegation of President Macron, who visited on September 28 and 29.

It is not stated whether Macron had contact with infected people and whether he was tested.

"The entire delegation that came from Paris was negatively tested before leaving, at the request of the Lithuanian authorities, and all necessary precautions were respected during the visit," Fizek said, adding that they kept their distance and wore masks.

Fizek confirmed that the Embassy has been temporarily closed since Sunday due to cases of COVID-19 caused by the corona virus.

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