'Ignoring the voices of the bereaved': #UK's Grenfell Tower to be demolished after 2017 disaster

> London's #GrenfellTower – scene of Britain's worst residential fire since World War II – is set to be demolished seven years after 72 people died in a blaze there, survivors and families of victims said Thursday.

> Housing Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner "announced her decision about Grenfell Tower [..]" Wednesday https://today.rtl.lu/news/world/a/2274497.html #GrenfellTower

Panama accuses US of peddling ‘intolerable falsehood’ about canal | Trump administration

> The president of #Panama, José Raúl Mulino, has accused the US of peddling a “quite simply intolerable falsehood” about the Panama canal, as #DonaldTrump’s pledge to “take back” the waterway continued to poison relations between the two countries and cause alarm around Latin America. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/06/panama-canal-trump-marco-rubio #PanamaCanal #China

How Google turned 'I'm not a robot' into a massive surveillance system

> By 2025, reCAPTCHA is easily defeated by bots. Yet Google continues to offer it because #reCAPTCHA has evolved into a #tracking tool that collects user data and generates billions in revenue for #Google, according to Chuppl. "Re-captcha takes a pixel by pixel fingerprint of your browser, a realtime map of everything you do on the internet."
https://boingboing.net/2025/02/07/recaptcha-819-million-hours-of-wasted-human-time-and-billions-of-dollars-google-profit.html #surveillance

Bird flu variant found in Nevada cows shows signs of adaptation to mammals

> The newer variant of avian influenza that recently infected dairy cattle in #Nevada has a genetic change that’s thought to help the virus copy itself in mammals — including humans — more easily, according to a new technical brief from the #US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/08/health/bird-flu-variant-nevada-human-case/index.html #H5N1 #BirdFlu

Trump's administration: US flying detained migrants to Guantanamo

> The United States is starting to fly detained migrants to America's notorious #Guantanamo military base in #Cuba as part of President #DonaldTrump's crackdown on illegal #migration, officials said Tuesday. https://today.rtl.lu/news/world/a/2273861.html #immigration #refugees #asylum

Jan. 6 conspiracy theory promoter named to a top State Department job

> #DarrenBeattie, who's claimed the #FBI was responsible for the 2021 attack on the Capitol, has been named acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/jan-6-conspiracy-theory-promoter-named-top-state-department-job-rcna190497 #Jan6 #StateDepartment #US

“Competent White Men Must Be in Charge”: White Supremacist Darren Beattie Gets State Department Role

> President Trump has named his former speech writer #DarrenBeattie to a senior position at the State Department. Beattie was fired in 2018 after CNN reported he’d spoken at a conference attended by white nationalists. Last October, Beattie wrote, “Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work.” https://www.democracynow.org/2025/2/4/headlines/competent_white_men_must_be_in_charge_white_supremacist_darren_beattie_gets_state_department_role #MAGA #DonaldTrump

How China allegedly contributes to the deadly fentanyl crisis

> President #DonaldTrump has slapped new #tariffs on Chinese goods, partly in response to Beijing's alleged role in a deadly opioid epidemic in the United States.

> Washington has long accused Beijing of turning a blind eye to the deadly #fentanyl trade, which #US authorities estimate caused tens of thousands of deaths a year. #China denies responsibility. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/how-china-allegedly-contributes-deadly-fentanyl-crisis-4911266 #nacotics #OpiumWar

China counters with tariffs on US products. It will also investigate Google

> China has countered President #DonaldTrump’s tariffs on Chinese products with #tariffs of its own on multiple #US imports as well as announcing an antitrust investigation into #Google and other trade measures https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/china-counters-tariffs-us-products-investigate-google-118426858 #trade #economy

#Germany - Tens of thousands of people have demonstrated against right-wing extremism and political cooperation with the #AfD in numerous German cities

> around 160,000 people gathered there. The organizers spoke of a quarter of a million. The demonstration moved from the Reichstag [..] an "inexcusable mistake“ that the Union accepted in parliament to win the majority for a tougher migration policy with votes from the #AfD https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/zehntausende-protestieren-in-berlin-und-anderen-staedten-102.html @meganmariehart #DEpoli #CDNpoli #CANpoli

Potential heavy losses: N. Korean troops 'withdrawn' from Kursk front line: Ukraine

> #Ukraine believes #NorthKorea soldiers fighting alongside Russia's army on the Kursk front line have been "withdrawn" after suffering heavy losses, a military spokesman told AFP on Friday.

> #Russia again refused to comment on claims foreign troops were fighting alongside their own soldiers. Instead, it accused Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk of committing atrocities
https://today.rtl.lu/news/world/a/2272762.html #UkraineWar #DPRK

As a birdflu outbreak escalates across the #US the Trump administration has paused the release of key public health studies, stalling research that could provide insight into how the virus spreads

> The blocked studies were supposed to be published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (#CDC) Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), a respected journal that has reported on health threats since 1952 https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2025-01-31/bird-flu-studies-delayed-as-white-house-halts-cdc-reports #DonaldTrump #US #MAGA #BirdFlu #H1N1

Al-Sharaa named as Syria’s transitional president

> #Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa was named president for a transitional period, the Syrian state news agency (SANA) reported on Wednesday, citing commander Hassan Abdel Ghani.

> Al-Sharaa was also authorized to form a temporary legislative council for the transitional phase which will carry out its task until a new constitution is adopted, SANA reported, citing Abdel Ghani. https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2025/01/29/al-sharaa-named-as-syria-s-transitional-president #AhmedalSharaa

#Japan tackles dementia crisis as super-ageing society sees cases soar

> Japan is one of the fastest-ageing societies in the world, with almost a third of its population over 65 years old. As a result, the county is seeing more and more cases of #dementia each year: almost 5 million people are now living with the condition. In response, the government is taking the problem seriously and has formed a special committee in a bid to tackle the crisis.
https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/focus/20250128-japan-tackles-dementia-crisis-as-super-ageing-society-sees-cases-soar #ageing #mentalhealth

AI 'bubble' echoes dotcom excesses, Ray Dalio warns

> Investor exuberance over #artificialintelligence (#AI) has fuelled a “#bubble” in United States stocks that resembles the build-up to the dotcom bust at the turn of the millennium, billionaire investor #RayDalio has warned.
https://archive.is/2025.01.29-002909/https://financialpost.com/financial-times/ai-bubble-echoes-dotcom-excess-ray-dalio-warns

Boeing posts $3.8B Q4 loss and has lost more than $35B since 2019 fatal crashes

> Boeing posted a fourth-quarter loss of $3.8 billion on Tuesday as a machinists #strike and other problems continued to plague the troubled #aircraft manufacturer.

> #Boeing has lost more than $35 billion since 2019 following the crashes of two then-new Max jets that killed 346 people. For the full year 2024, Boeing logged a loss of $11.8 billion.
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/boeing-posts-38-billion-q4-loss-lost-35-118173371#Aviation #737 #737Max #economy

Egg prices are soaring. Don't expect that to change anytime soon

> #Birdflu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, pushing #US egg prices to more than double their cost in the summer of 2023. And it appears there may be no relief in sight, given the surge in demand as Easter approaches.
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/egg-prices-soaring-expect-change-anytime-118161257 #eggs #H1N1

#Singapore - China’s slow recovery part of why Changi Airport narrowly missed pre-pandemic traffic levels, say analysts

> #China’s tepid post-pandemic recovery contributed to airports in #SoutheastAsia seeing a slower uptick in passenger numbers, compared to European and American counterparts. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/changi-airport-passenger-traffic-china-recovery-4898756 #China #Economy #Aviation #travel #airports #travel #TootSEA #ExpatAsia

After fragile ceasefire: New backlash over Trump plan to move Palestinians out of Gaza

> As thousands of displaced Gazans began returning to their war-torn homes, President #DonaldTrump's suggestion to relocate #Gaza's population abroad sparked strong opposition from regional leaders and international allies on Tuesday.
https://today.rtl.lu/news/world/a/2271727.html #Israel #GazaWar

#Netherlands - Russian oligarchs exploit loophole in Dutch laws to shield finances

> Russian oligarchs are reportedly using a loophole in Dutch regulations to classify their mailbox companies as microbusinesses, allowing them to obscure financial flows and avoid stringent reporting requirements, despite the companies often being worth millions of euros, as reported by NOS.
https://nltimes.nl/2025/01/28/russian-oligarchs-exploit-loophole-dutch-laws-shield-finances #Russia #UkraineWar