RationalWiki:What is going on in the world?/August 2021

August 2021
The last place in the world that still sold leaded petrol, Algeria [https://qz.com/africa/2053227/leaded-gasoline-is-now-banned-everywhere-on-earth/ has finally stopped regular sale of the fuel after pressure from the UN. ]   Kids under the age of 18 in China will only be allowed to play online games for one hour each week and only on Friday, Saturday or Sunday evening. Rumours are swirling around that Belize is thinking about following in the footsteps of Barbados in becoming a republic, due to tabled proposed changes to the Governor General by the government. Egyptian scientists uncover a 43 million year-old fossil of a previously-unknown amphibious whale species that had four legs and a "strong raptorial feeding style." [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58364743 A US Reaper drone has killed the DAESH militant who allegedly planned the Kabul Airport bombing that killed 13 US soldiers. The US says no civilians were killed]. A Michigan judge holds parents liable for throwing away their son's porn collection. [http://ametsoc.net/sotc2020/State_of_the_Climate_in_2020_LowRes96.pdf The NOAA and American Meteorological Society report that atmospheric CO2 concentrations are the highest they've been in 800,000 years. The net global uptake of anthropogenic carbon by oceans in 2020 was 30% higher than the 1999–2019 average. The report also notes that while anthropogenic CO2 emissions dropped 6% in 2020 due to the pandemic, the reduction did not significantly impact atmospheric CO2 accumulation during the same period.] Stalin-era mass grave found in Ukraine [https://apnews.com/article/health-courts-pandemics-coronavirus-pandemic-daa34fb48a04dc9f3ddad94fb6b4cbb2 The US Supreme Court has ended Biden's eviction moratorium on the basis that it could not continue without Congressional approval. Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan dissented.] At least 13 US servicemen and 170 civilians have been killed following twin-bombings targetting civilains fleeing Kabul. Left-winger Sharon Graham has won the election to be the next general secretary of the UK & Ireland's biggest private sector trade union,. Momentously with her election, the three big heads of the trade union movement in the UK are women, with Frances O'Grady of the TUC and Christina McAnea of UNISON. Brexit labour shortages force employers in the meat industry to expand work placement scheme for prisoners. After 50 Nando's restaurants had to close temporarily due to supply chain problems leaving them sans chicken, McDonald's now has issues with milkshakes and bottled drinks. Notably this only seems to affect stores in Great Britain and not Northern Ireland. I wonder why... [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58239156 The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan has established a stronghold in the Panjshir Valley, a region famous for fighting off invasions, and says it has thousands of fighters ready to hold out against the Taliban. The valley is currently under siege]. How BP invented the 'carbon footprint' to turn climate change into a matter of Personal Responsibility™ and lifestyle one-upmanship. NPR: Feds Deliberately Targeted BLM Protesters to Disrupt the Movement, a Report Says. [Disclosure: The organization who produced the report has direct connections to BLM] American-French singer-dancer Joséphine Baker, who actively resisted Nazi Germany during WW2 and who fought against racism & antisemitism, is to be given one of France's highest honours by being re-buried beside the great heroes of France in the Panthéon this November. This would make her the first Black woman to given the honour. Half of Britons think US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan was wrong Rain (as in, unfrozen water) fell on the peak of Greenland's ice sheet for the first time in recorded history. The f-word has overtaken "bloody" as the UK's most used swear word, with "shit" being the second most common according to research from the Department of English at Aston University. However, fucking hell, swearing has fallen overall by 27%. Following on from a situation in Washington, DC, where a Trump supporter claimed to have a bomb, and was going to blow up the Capitol, Congressman Mo Brooks (R-Al) issued a statement, saying, "Yes, more of that, please." Around 20 protesters entered without paying and tried to seize Edinburgh Castle, to ‘free Scotland’ from ‘corrupt powers' by claiming Magna Carta. Except Magna Carta doesn't apply to Scotland, as Scotland was an independent kingdom at the time of its signing in 1215 and laws predating the Act of Union of 1707 do not apply to Scotland. According to NIH's clinical study registry, Moderna may as soon as this week begin an HIV mRNA vaccine study set to last until Spring 2023. Previous HIV vaccines attempts have been lackluster. More revelations about David Smith, a security guard for the British embassy in Berlin who has been caught by the German secret services passing documents to Russians for money. Suspicions were raised after he was passing large amounts of money around without going to bank. [https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-bagram-e1ed33fe0c665ee67ba132c51b8e32a5 Kabul and the Afghan government have fallen. The Taliban plans to announce the reestablishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan soon from within the presidential palace, which it has just taken over.] Plans to broadcast RT Deutsch in Germany, [https://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/luxemburg-verweigert-russischem-propagandasender-rt-die-lizenz-a-df54e848-e9f7-45c5-a7fa-25c79614a178 by circumventing German broadcasting laws by broadcasting in Luxembourg, have been dashed after the Luxembourgeois government refused to give the channel a broadcasting licence. ]  Major developments in Afghanistan: President Ghani resigns and flees the country, the Taliban surround Kabul and demand "unconditional surrender", and US embassy staff begin evacuating Kabul by helicopter. The UK makes it illegal to import and export detached shark fins and all products that contain them. David Mikkelson, owner and main author of the debunking website Snopes, plagiarized several articles between 2015 and 2019. He has been suspended from his duties at Snopes. Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows that July was the hottest recorded month in human history. Five people murdered in Britain's worst mass shooting since 2010. Brazil's lower house of Congress has voted in favour of expelling a Evangelical pastor turned lawmaker who has been accused of ordering the murder of her husband, with whom she has raised 55 children. Her former husband is also one of the many children she has adopted. A leaked draft of the next IPCC report says that greenhouse gas emissions must peak within the next four years, with coal and gas-fired power stations needing to be shutdown within the next decade, along with lifestyle and behavioral changes needed to avoid a climate breakdown Activists have been given the go ahead to petition a court in Scotland for an on Trump, in relation to his purchases of two golf courses in Scotland. In the latest edition of the comic, the character Tim Drake (who is Batman's sidekick Robin) has come out as bisexual. [https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/08/10/batman-tim-drake-robin-bisexual/ He outed himself by accepting an invitation from another male character. ]  An ex loyalist paramilitary who was earlier jailed for firebombing a pub which killed two in 1971, has been found behind an online hate campaign against the opening of a new integrated Irish language nursery in predominately unionist East Belfast. A computer tablet that was accidently left in Libya has provided new revelations about the mercenary organization the and its connections to Russia. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has finally resigned for several instances of sexual assault. [https://www.npr.org/2021/08/09/1026183914/new-dna-analysis-finds-1-000-year-old-warrior-remains-may-be-non-binary 1,000 year-old remains of an early medieval warrior from Finland, previously thought to have been female, turn out under analysis to have belonged to a non-binary person. Despite the remains being buried in a traditionally female costume, researchers concluded that the buried person was anatomically male and likely had Klinefelter syndrome. The abundance of rare artifacts found in the grave indicate that the individual was highly respected and buried with honor.] In an alarming row, a crowd of protesting anti-vaxxers stormed the BBC Television Centre today... about 8 years too late. The building, now largely flats, offices, and a handful of studios used by ITV, hasn't been the BBC's headquarters since 2013. Radio presenter James O'Brien has won a case by the broadcasting ombudsman against the libertarian "think-tank" the Institute of Economic Affairs, over claims the registered charity is a politically motivated lobbying organisation funded by “dark money”. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (yet again) determines that we're screwed if we keep burning fossil fuels, though some hope remains. An 8 year old Hindu boy in Pakistan is charged with blasphemy after peeing in a Madrassa library, the youngest ever to be charged under a law frequently used against religious minorities in Pakistan. Environment minister Ossian Smyth has confirmed that the government is planning to introduce a single-use coffee cup levy in early 2022. Barbados' prime minister Mia Motley has said that the country is on course to officially removing Queen Elizabeth as the head of state and becoming a parliamentary republic this year on the island-nation's independence day, November 30th. [https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/state-dept-sleuthing-whereabouts-5-800-whiskey-bottle-given-pompeo-n1276016 The US State Department is trying to find a nearly $6,000 bottle of whisky that the Japanese government gave to former secretary Mike Pompeo. Despite being required to record diplomatic gifts, neither the government nor Pompeo knows what became of the booze]. Belarusian Olympic sprinter Krystina Timanovskaya flees Tokyo to take refuge in Poland, fearing that her government would persecute her for publicly criticizing Belarus' coaches. Pair of douches who pointed guns at protesters given pardon. With the pardon, the couple may find it easier to once again own more guns. Kokona Hiraki, aged 12 and Sky Brown, aged 13 have become the youngest ever person of each of their own countries to get an Olympic medal, in women's skateboarding.