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Gathered mainly from international media sources December 2020 - March 2021 |
For recent entries click "Invalid Item"  These are news/opinion items which caught my eye. Click on the link below: 31 Mar 2021 "Invalid Entry" 24 Mar 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 22 Mar 2021 "Invalid Entry" 21 Mar 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 19 Mar 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 17 Mar 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 26 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 25 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 24 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 22 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 21 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 19 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 18 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 16 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 15 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 14 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 9 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 8 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 4 Feb 2021 "Invalid Entry" 30 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 29 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 28 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 27 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 26 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 24 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 23 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 21 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 20 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 19 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 18 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 14 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 12 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 11 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 10 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 4 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 2 Jan 2021 "Invalid Entry" 29 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 27 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" 24 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" 23 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 22 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 20 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" 19 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" 18 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 17 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 16 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 15/12/20 "Invalid Entry" 13 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" 12 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" 11 Dec 2020 "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" "Invalid Entry" For earlier entries drill down the list 10 Dec 2020 - Covid: Genes hold clues to why some people get severely ill 10 Dec 2020 - Referendum for the state of Texas to secede from the U.S. ? 10 Dec 2020 - Covid-19: More single day dead than in 9/11 terror attack or on D-Day landing 10 Dec 2020 - Covid-19: France moves to night-time curfew from 15 December 10 Dec 2020 - Elon Musk has launched the latest prototype of his Starship vehicle from Texas. 9 Dec 2020 - Covid-19 - $600 direct payment to most Americans? 9 Dec 2020 - Hunter Biden under federal investigation 9 Dec 2020 - Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine data gets positive FDA review 9 Dec 2020 - Is BIG TECH censoring different ideas about COVID-19? 9 Dec 2020 - Clashes in Portland 9 Dec 2020 - UK is investigating two possible allergic reactions to Pfizer coronavirus shot 9 Dec 2020 - Open letter by the Prime Minister of Hungary to the European Union 9 Dec 2020 - VACCINE OPTIMISM AND PESSIMISM 9 Dec 2020 - UK EXIT FROM THE EU (Last supper?) 8 Dec 2020 - ROALD DAHL AND A WOKE APOLOGY |
A Texas state lawmaker says he plans to introduce a referendum pushing for the state to secede from the U.S. “The federal government is out of control and does not represent the values of Texans. That is why I am committing to file legislation this session that will allow a referendum to give Texans a vote for the State of Texas to reassert its status as an independent nation,” Rep. Kyle Biedermann, R-Fredricksburg, said in a statement. The state legislature does not resume session until January, but Biedermann said his bill will rely on Article 1 Section 2 of the Texas Constitution which reads: “All political power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their benefit." |
The United States' Covid crisis has been made starkly evident after more Americans died in a single day from the virus than died during the D-Day landings or the 9/11 terror attacks. The US recorded 3,124 Covid-19 deaths on Wednesday - its highest one-day total yet. It comes as new cases per day reach an all-time highs of more than 209,000 on average, while at least 106,000 people remain in hospital with the virus, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University. Coronavirus has so far left more than 290,000 Americans dead. |
Prime Minister Jean Castex said the infection rates were not falling as fast as the government had hoped after a lockdown was imposed in late October. A stay-at-home order will be lifted as planned on 15 December, when the daily 20:00-06:00 curfew will begin. The measure will not be waived on New Year's Eve, to prevent big gatherings. The government had conditioned the easing of restrictions on the number of new cases falling to around 5,000 a day. But that number remains well above 10,000 - on Thursday, there were 13,750 infections. |
US entrepreneur Elon Musk has launched the latest prototype of his Starship vehicle from Texas. Codenamed SN8, the uncrewed rocket lifted away from the Boca Chica R&D facility on what had been billed as a brief flight to 12.5km (41,000ft). The 50m-tall vehicle crashed on touchdown but Mr Musk was delighted with how much the test outing achieved. Before the flight, the tech billionaire had dampened expectations, warning his fans that some mishap was likely. Nonetheless, Musk has big hopes for the Starship when it is fully developed. He says it is the future for his SpaceX company. Starship will launch people and cargo into orbit, and the entrepreneur also envisages the vehicle travelling to the Moon and Mars. The SpaceX CEO praised his team, adding that the demonstration had acquired "all the data we needed". "Mars, here we come!!" he tweeted. The Boca Chica facility has developed a line of ever-more complex prototypes. The philosophy has been to test each iteration until it fails. Sometimes explosively. SN8 was the first to attempt a high-altitude suborbital flight. The plan had been to test out some manoeuvres that mimicked a belly-facing re-entry to Earth's atmosphere, ending up with a flip back to the vertical just before touchdown. Most of this was achieved: a clean launch off the pad, a steady climb to altitude, followed by a horizontal descent. But it was when the Starship tried to flip back to the vertical that things started to go wrong. The vehicle came into its landing pad with too much speed, and promptly exploded on impact. "Fuel header tank pressure was low during landing burn, causing touchdown velocity to be high & RUD," Mr Musk explained on Twitter. "RUD" stands for "rapid unscheduled disassembly". A crash, in other words. Mr Musk will move swiftly on. He already has other prototypes at Boca Chica ready to take SN8's place. Visually, SN8 looked quite different from the test articles that had gone before it. The new vehicle was given three of SpaceX's latest methane-burning Raptor engines, a nose cone and aerodynamic control surfaces - the large flaps at its top and base. The Starship will eventually launch atop a booster called the Super Heavy. This will feature perhaps 28 Raptors, producing more than 70 meganewtons (16 million lbs) of thrust. That's much more than even the mighty Apollo Saturn 5 rocket, which sent men to the Moon. Both parts of the new SpaceX system - Starship and Super Heavy booster - will stand 118m tall on the launch pad. The two elements are being designed to be fully reusable, making propulsive landings at the end of each mission. In June this year, Mr Musk stated that Starship was now his number-one priority, beyond the Falcon rockets he currently routinely flies for satellite companies, the US Air Force and the US space agency (Nasa). He believes the Starship concept can transform the economics of spaceflight. The specifications call for more than 100-tonnes to be lifted into low-Earth orbit. This mass could include satellites, people and even hardware to build bases on the Moon and Mars. Nasa has already asked Mr Musk to examine the possibility of landing a Starship on the lunar surface in the next few years. The entrepreneur has in mind a higher objective and a faster timeline, however. Receiving an award last week from the Germany digital publishing group Axel Springer SE, he said he aimed to have people at Mars in the next two to four years. The SpaceX CEO is famous for his aggressive and overly optimistic schedules. proving critics wrong by eventually attaining his goals. |
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