Day: December 4, 2020

Russian authorities detain a physicist on suspicion of treason for passing classified information about the country’s aviation industry to foreign governments.

Anatoly Gubanov, who works for the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, would be held in custody for two months pending trial, a court ruled on Thursday.

Gubanov could be imprisoned for up to 20 years if found guilty of state treason.

Back in October, a Russian physicist was charged with high treason for passing state secrets abroad.

The 64-year-old suspect, identified as Alexander Lukanin, was arrested in the Siberian city of Tomsk.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/12/04/639971/Russia-espionage-treason-physicist-

Iran has warned about “suspicious” moves by those who seek to disrupt cordial relations between Tehran and Kabul, after a video purportedly showing Afghan nationals being insulted by Iranians went viral.

The Iranian Police issued an announcement on Friday suggesting the video published on social media with regards to insulting Afghan nationals was basically untrue, and that the incident in question had not happened in Iran.

In a separate statement, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh expressed regret over such incidents, wherever in the world they might occur.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/12/04/639975/Iran-afghanistan-incident-khatibzadeh-police

DUBAI (Reuters) – Famine-like conditions have re-appeared in parts of Yemen and almost half the population is experiencing high levels of food insecurity, new United Nations data showed on Thursday, with aid agencies warning time is running out to prevent mass starvation.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-hunger/almost-half-of-yemenis-in-acute-food-insecurity-new-data-shows-idUSKBN28D2GD?il=0

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. government’s first shipment of millions of coronavirus vaccine doses to be divided among states and federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, will fall far short of protecting high priority groups such as healthcare workers, a Reuters analysis has found.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vaccine-distributi/analysis-first-u-s-delivery-of-covid-19-vaccine-will-leave-out-many-high-risk-workers-idUSKBN28E1JP

Lockdowns and other measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus have forced businesses to close or lay off staff. The rise in those out of work has resulted in more people turning to food banks, which provide emergency food supplies to families in need.

“I was working part-time as a cleaner for evenings, and then when COVID started, we had to quit because everything was closed and our offices, they’re not opening until 2021 because people can work from home,” said Vilma Tunylaite, 40, queuing at a food bank in southwest London.

“And me, they don’t need me now.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-foodbanks/they-dont-need-me-now-covid-impact-forcing-britons-to-food-banks-idUSKBN28E0NN?il=0

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said he hopes France will soon get rid of President Emmanuel Macron, describing him as a burden on France which was enduring dangerous times.

“Macron is a burden on France. Macron and France are going through a very dangerous period actually. My hope is that France gets rid of the Macron trouble as soon as possible,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul after Friday prayers.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/4/erdogan-hopes-france-gets-rid-of-macron-trouble

@NSF just shared video footage of the Arecibo telescope's catastrophic collapse Tuesday morning. It's loud.

(Courtesy of the Arecibo Observatory, an NSF facility) pic.twitter.com/9zvyrUsfJl

— Morgan McFall-Johnsen (@MorganMJohnsen) December 3, 2020

The top executive at pharma giant Pfizer said it still isn’t clear if those who receive the company’s vaccine will be able transmit the coronavirus to others, just one day after the UK became the first to approve the inoculation.

While Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said he expects the vaccine rollout to be rapid after it gets the green light from US health officials, following in the steps of Britain, he noted that it remains to be seen whether recipients of the jab can still carry and pass the virus. 

https://www.rt.com/news/508636-pfizer-vaccine-transmission-covid/