RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/July 2022

July 2022
 Russian occupation regimes in Ukraine are quietly preparing referendums on Russian annexation, the same playbook Russia used in Crimea in 2014.  US economy enters in technical recession  Even though former advisor of ex-US President Donald Trump and far-right figure Steve Bannon has been convicted for contempt of Congress, he's still on his podcast, calling for thousands of shock troops to overthrow the US Government.  Two year study into 'Covid-19 Origin' solidly point to it being zoonotic, via the Huanan 'wet market' in Wuhan. So, 23m dead worldwide due to poor hygiene levels in markets which the authorities knew were a problem for yonks.  The worldwide Anglican Communion is to issue a statement that marriage is only between a man and a woman, but will allow bishops to state their opposition to this in another confusing compromise. The US and Scottish branches already allow gay marriage but the Church of England and many African groups refuse.  The WHO declares the ongoing Monkeypox outbreak from the Nigerian strain to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, the first since the COVID-19 pandemic.  Verizon has said it is not renewing its contract for carriage for One America News Network, and the channel would disappear from schedules at the end of July. Now, OAN is begging its viewers to get the other two main cable companies, Charter and Comcast, to get OAN on their channel listings.  New law in place to allow businesses to hire agency workers to plug staffing gaps caused by strike action Yep, you read that right. Workers rights in the UK just got gutted.  Former Coinbase Employee Allegedly Tipped His Brother and Friend Regarding Crypto Assets That Were Going to be Listed on Coinbase Exchanges  Amid inflation, European Central Bank raises interest rates for the first time in over a decade.  Mario Draghi resigns as Prime Minister of Italy as the coalition government falls apart. New elections are expected later this year.  In improving the position of sport, preventing trademark problems and due to JK Rowling's transphobia; both the American and international sports bodies for  have formally renamed the sport as "quadball".  A "spiritual insights coach" in Queensland, Australia has pleaded guilty to selling over 1,200 fake COVID-19 exemptions and falsely claiming to be a doctor.  The current heatwave has broken the notable 40°C mark in the UK, with London's Heathrow Airport reaching an historical high of 40.2°C. The day before, Ireland records its hottest temperature in 135 years as Dublin hits a record 33.1°C. While in France, much of country's Atlantic coast is struggling with wildfires. Update: The highest ever temperature in the UK is in fact 40.3°C in Coningsby in Lincolnshire.  The European Commission has agreed to open up membership accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia.  Slovenia legalizes same-sex marriage. <vote poll=world202093350322> The Spanish government has said, it is removing the fares for multiple-journey local and regional rail services between September and December, to cushion the impact of inflation and rapidly rising energy prices. Funding of the venture would come from a windfall tax from banks and energy companies. <vote poll=world202093350321> Like the UK, Ireland's Met Éireann is also warning on high temperatures at the start of next week, which could possibly break national records of 32°C and already there are fire management alerts for wildfires. <vote poll=world202093350320> The Met Office has given out its first national red emergency extreme heat warning for Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th, as meteorologists are predicting temperatures hitting all times high of 40°C, higher than it has ever been recorded. <vote poll=world202093350319>China's economy brakes sharply in Q2, global risks darken outlook. GDP grew a tepid 0.4% from a year earlier, the worst showing since the data series began in 1992, excluding the contraction in the first quarter of 2020 due to the initial COVID shock. <vote poll=world202093350318>   Due to recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics by North Korea, Ukraine has severed diplomatic ties with Pyongyang. <vote poll=world202093350317> Inflation surges 9.1% in June, most since November 1981 <vote poll=world202093350316>In a home office u-turn a baby has been granted visa for indefinite leave to stay in UK after initially being refused because the 8 month old child had an 'established life' in Jamaica. The baby's mother was told she could provide financial assistance from the UK <vote poll=world202093350315>[https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2022/07/ukraine-civilian-casualty-update-12-july-2022 Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the UN has confirmed 11,544 civilian casualties in the country, 5,024 of whom were killed. 302 of the deaths were children]. <vote poll=world202093350314>[https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/11/americas/cuba-protest-anniversary-intl-latam/index.html Cuba faced the biggest protests since the revolution. One year on, the government's grip is tighter than ever] <vote poll=world202093350313> Euro dropped below parity against the dollar the first time in almost two decades. <vote poll=world202093350312> BBC Panorama has revealed disturbing evidence of war crimes by the SAS in Afghanistan - and of subsequent attempts to cover them up. <vote poll=world202093350311> Drug company Perrigo is asking the FDA to review the possibility of making its daily birth control pill accessible over the counter in pharmacies, making it the first contraceptive pill available without a doctor's prescription. <vote poll=world202093350310> Protestors in Sri Lanka have stormed the Presidential palace. Both President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, have resigned from their duties. <vote poll=world202093350309> Pregnant Texas woman argues fetus a ‘living child’ after HOV-lane ticket, following Roe v. Wade repeal <vote poll=world202093350308> Nuns expelled from Nicaragua in latest effort to silence groups speaking out against dictatorship <vote poll=world202093350307> Elon Musk cancels Twitter takeover. Surprised? No, not me either. <vote poll=world202093350306> Shinzo Abe, the former Prime Minister of Japan, has been assassinated by a gunman whilst giving a speech. <vote poll=world202093350305> Televangelist Creflo Dollar appears to have renounced his views towards tithing. <vote poll=world202093350304> Putin finally makes clear what was already known - he's never going to stop attacking Ukraine until it doesn't exist any more. He wishes to wipe Ukraine out of existence, but of course it is "the west" who wants to "fight to the last Ukrainian". <vote poll=world202093350303> Boris Johnson will resign as Conservative Party leader, and plans to stand down as Prime Minister in the Autumn after the election of his successor. <vote poll=world202093350302> Someone appears to have planted an explosive at the Georgia Guidestones at 4 AM, destroying one of the four stones. (link for Europeans) <vote poll=world202093350301> Yet another (possibly racist) officer-involved shooting: Unarmed suspect Jayland Walker suffered at least 60 wounds in fatal police shooting, Akron police chief says, as authorities release bodycam footage <vote poll=world202093350300> Yet another mass shooting just happened at Highland Park, Illinois during a 4th of July parade. Currently, 7 people have died. <vote poll=world202093350299> Australian police charge 12 people with murder, and the parents additionally with torture and denial of the necessities of life, following the death of an 8 year old girl after they "prayed" over her for 6 days while denying her diabetes treatments. <vote poll=world202093350298> Two senior ministers, the chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid has resigned from their ministerships over Johnson's integrity regarding the Christopher Pincher affair and demanded his resignation. Update: Four parliamentary party secretaries and the vice-chair of the party Bin Afolami has resigned from their posts as well. Steve Barclay is to be health secretary, while Nadhim Zahawi is to be chancellor. <vote poll=world202093350297> Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch has said that the building codes for all new non-residential public buildings would require separate men’s and women’s toilets, and would ban buildings from having solely gender-neutral facilities. It does NOT ban gender neutral bathrooms as was initially stated in this title. <vote poll=world202093350295>  Bulgarian-German, the self-styled "cryptoqueen" who created the OneCoin Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of around US$4 billion, is now been added to and is on top of the FBI's most wanted list. <vote poll=world202093350296> SCOTUS is now looking at who has the authority to certify a state's decision on where the electoral college votes go to.