Six In The Morning Thursday 10 December 2020

 

On this big day for vaccine development, daily deaths from Covid-19 just exceeded the deaths from 9/11

By Christina Maxouris and Holly Yan, CNN

Updated 1444 GMT (2244 HKT) December 10, 2020

The United States should be celebrating a day of great hope today, as a Covid-19 vaccine could get authorized for emergency use very soon.

Instead, it's a day of devastating loss. The daily death toll from Covid-19 reached a record high of 3,124 Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

That's more deaths than those suffered in the 9/11 attacks. And experts say the death toll will get worse.

Italy charges Egyptian security agency officials over murder of Giulio Regeni

Cairo killing of doctoral student in 2016 long believed to be work of Egypt’s security forces

Ruth Michaelson and Lorenzo Tondo

Thu 10 Dec 2020 11.53 GMT

Prosecutors in Italy have charged four members of Egypt’s national security agency over the kidnapping and murder of the Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni in Cairo.

Tariq Saber, Athar Kamel Mohamed Ibrahim, Capt Uhsam Helmi and Maj Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif are accused of kidnapping the young student in 2016, and Sharif is also accused of grievous bodily harm and murder.

The prosecutors said charges had been dropped against a fifth security official, Mahmoud Najem, who was previously named as a suspect in Regeni’s disappearance.

Beirut explosion: Acting prime minister among four charged over deadly blast in Lebanon

Blast killed over 200 people and injured thousands more

Bel Trew@beltrew,Gemma Fox@gemmafox__

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister and three former ministers have been charged over the massive port explosion in Beirut in August, the country's official news agency has said.

Judge Fadi Sawwan filed the charges against Hassan Diab and former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil, as well as Ghazi Zeiter and Youssef Fenianos, both former ministers of public works.

All four were charged with negligence leading to deaths over the August 4 explosion at Beirut port, which killed more than 200 people and injured thousands. Some 300,000 people were left homeless.

Law targeting extremism not anti-Islam, says French FM on Qatar visit

France's foreign minister said during a visit to Doha on Thursday that his country's policies against extremism had been misrepresented and were not Islamophobic.

Paris has faced criticism for draft legislation designed to clamp down on Islamist radicalism that tightens rules on religious-based education and polygamy following a spate of attacks blamed on extremists.

Jean-Yves Le Drian said that following the attacks, "our positions and statements (on combatting extremism) were largely distorted and misrepresented as part of a campaign against our country".

Two Canadians held in China put on trial for alleged espionage

Foreign ministry says the two Canadian nationals are ‘suspected of endangering China’s national security’.

China has put two Canadians imprisoned for the past two years on trial, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

Former diplomat Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were arrested in China on December 10, 2018.

Confirming the men had been indicted and tried, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the two Canadian nationals “are suspected of endangering China’s national security”.

The Scam That Was the Paycheck Protection Program Paid Out Millions to Hate Groups

Ishena Robinson

Thu, December 10, 2020

While Congress continues to dither over distributing another stimulus check to members of the American public during a pandemic that has stuttered the economy and left many unemployed and unable to meet the cost of their basic needs, it’s become increasingly clear that the Paycheck Protection Program—ostensibly meant to support workers in small businesses—has been a site for all kinds of scamming.

Though Black and Latino businesses were disproportionately denied loans from the $650 billion relief fund, an analysis by NBC News now reveals that a number of hate groups were successful in receiving over $4 million total in PPP relief.

Fourteen organizations designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center or the Anti-Defamation League as hate groups were identified as receiving funds under the program. Among the recipients of taxpayer money was the New Century Foundation, the publishers of a magazine which promotes views that Black people are inferior to white people, that there is “more psychopathic behavior among blacks,” and that America should be a white homeland.