My daily blog

A student from China, who is currently part of an exchange program at William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia, is being tested for the novel coronavirus, a health official said. The exchange student’s flight to the US connected through Wuhan — ground zero for the virus — and while there, they presented to local health care officials with respiratory symptoms, according to James Garrow with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. Samples were taken from the student and sent to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for testing, Garrow said. Wuhan’s direct international flight links The student has been in isolation since being in care, and the other exchange students and their chaperones are being monitored for symptoms. So far, none have any. Garrow said the exchange student has improved and is feeling well and they expect to hear back from the CDC with the test results within days. According to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, Philad...

OTTAWA – Venezuela’s embattled President Juan Guaidó said Canada’s support has been essential as he tries to take control of his country, but said more still needs to be done to restore democracy in his homeland. Guaidó is recognized by the international community and by some elected officials inside Venezuela, but he doesn’t have the support of the country’s armed forces or courts, who remain loyal to Nicolás Maduro. Guaidó arrived in Ottawa on Monday after stops in both London and Paris trying to garner more support from the international community. Speaking through a translator, he acknowledged he could face difficulties returning to his country “Everything is a risk in Venezuela,” he said. He said many of his staff were in hiding as they fear arrest, but it was important to keep fighting for change. Venezuela has been in an economic and humanitarian crisis for several years, with Maduro’s socialist government leading to hyperinflation, price spikes and shortages of basic goo...

More than 200 survivors gathered at the former Nazi extermination camp of Auschwitz, many probably for the final time, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of its liberation. As rows over the make-up of the international guest list at the memorial ceremony threatened to overshadow Monday’s event, survivors who drew on harrowing memories of their incarceration warned the lessons from the atrocities sanctioned by Adolf Hitler’s administration and carried out often by ordinary Germans were in danger of being forgotten. “The Holocaust was sponsored and was okayed by a government. Not only did they allow it to happen but they enforced it and encouraged regular people to become killers,” said Benjamin Lesser, a 92-year-old Polish-born Jew whose family was sent to Auschwitz in 1944. More than 1.1 million people were murdered at the camp, most of them Jews. “I have returned so that I don’t forget any of the details of what happened to me, so I can keep the memories alive, and stop the wor...

News of the shocking deaths of basketball star Kobe Bryant , his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others, continues to reverberate around the globe on Monday. Bryant and the others died Sunday when the helicopter they were on crashed into a hillside in Calabasas, California. But the American athlete was mourned far beyond the borders of his home country. His Italian home feels the loss Bryant lived in Italy as a child while his father, Joe Bryant, played basketball there, and his death hit many in the country hard. Luca Vecchi, the mayor of the northern Italian town of Reggio Emilia, where Bryant lived, mourned the player in numerous Facebook posts . “Kobe Bryant grew up here and was for all of us a Reggiano,” Vecchi wrote in a post. “A basketball legend that all our city will remember forever with affection and gratitude.” Philippines: House of Kobe court A new basketball court in Valenzuela City, in Metro Manila , Philippines, dubbed “House of Kobe,” had just opened hours...

Sunny skies, ideal temperatures, and lots of fat tire fun marked the 5th annual Borealis Fat Bike World Championship, which went down last weekend in Crested Butte, Colorado. This year’s trimmed-down event kicked off with an evening of—occasionally treacherous—fat bike polo, on a closed down block of the famed ski town’s main drag, Elk Avenue. The following morning, festivities headed to the edge of town for the main event, which consisted of a 3-lap fun race, and 5-lap, very much tongue-in-cheek World Championship affair. Both events were contested on a 5-mile, packed-snow circuit that traced a clockwise loop around the valley floor between town and Mount Crested Butte. Here’s a look at some of the highlights. Source link source https://newsslap.com/2020/01/28/bold-and-bizarre-at-fat-bike-worlds-velonews-com-2/

With the first votes of the 2020 Democratic primary one week away, the foreign policies on offer from the leading candidates merit closer inspection. Why it matters: If a Democrat wins back the White House in 2020, they’ll face steep obstacles to turning their domestic agenda into reality. But in foreign affairs, particularly when crises arise, they will wield immense power. Biden’s foreign policy centers around restoring America’s global leadership and alliances. He argues that will allow him to repair global institutions, defend the international rules of the road, confront China — which he increasingly cites as a priority — and rein in Russia. Biden sounds more prepared to support foreign intervention and free trade deals than his leading rivals, though less than some Democrats (including himself) in cycles past. Key policies: Biden wants a cautious withdrawal from Afghanistan, more military aid to Ukraine and sanctions on those responsible for China’s mass detentions i...