Month: December 2020
Boris Johnson holds news conference after Brexit trade deal reached
Biden says heβs βunlikelyβ to cancel $50,000 in student debt, dispelling notion of leading βmost progressiveβ administration
US President-elect Joe Biden will not go out of his way to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt by executive action amid the pandemic, ignoring calls from some of the top Democrats to do so.
While speaking to journalists on Wednesday Biden prefaced his response to the student loan forgiveness plan by saying: βIβm going to get in trouble for saying this.β He then went on to call the idea of canceling it via executive powers βpretty questionable,β adding, βIβm unsure of that. Iβd be unlikely to do that.β
The president-electβs comment appears to be an outright dismissal of the plan championed by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and also Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) in the House.
Ontario reports new one-day record of COVID-19 2,447 Cases
U.K. and EU reach post-Brexit trade agreement
Britain and the European Union have struck a provisional free-trade agreement that should avert New Yearβs chaos for cross-border commerce and bring a measure of certainty to businesses after years of Brexit turmoil.
The breakthrough came Thursday with just over a week to go until the U.K.βs split is completed.
Now comes the race to approve and ratify the deal before the U.K. leaves the EUβs economic structures at the end of the year. The British and European parliaments both must hold votes on the agreement.
Months of tense and often testy negotiations gradually whittled differences between the two sides down to three key issues: fair-competition rules, mechanisms for resolving future disputes and fishing rights. The rights of EU boats to trawl in British waters remained the last obstacle before it was resolved.
$1 million of Iranian cash stolen from Russian Foreign Ministry in broad daylight after being stashed in vodka box
In a distinctly Russian take on The Italian Job, an official has reportedly been arrested after a daring heist at Moscowβs diplomatic headquarters. Around $1 million of state funds is said to have been snatched from a vodka box.
The REN TV network reported on Thursday that the funds were part of a $1.5 million payment from Iran in exchange for providing consular services. The money, which they say had been couriered by diplomats, was delivered to the office of the finance department’s top specialist, Natalia Agaltsova, in two bags and a sealed box of Swedish tipple, Absolut.
Agaltsova claims she sounded the alarm when she went to count the cash, and realized that, while on top of each pile was a $100 bill, the rest had been replaced with $1 notes, leaving more than $1 million missing.
https://www.rt.com/russia/510651-cash-stolen-ministry-vodka-box/
Queen’s University students asked not to return to Kingston until after lockdown
Queenβs University in eastern Ontario is urging students not to return to Kingston while a month-long, provincewide lockdown is in effect.
Queenβs says students should avoid returning to the university town until after the lockdown aimed at stemming COVID-19 cases ends on Jan. 23, βunless absolutely necessary.β
A Wednesday notice from the university says itβs giving the advice after Premier Doug Ford said people should not travel outside their regions during the 28-day lockdown that starts Dec. 26.
International students and those set to move into on-campus housing are βstrongly encouragedβ to postpone travel if they can.
Thousands of refugees without shelter after Bosnia camp burns
More than a thousand refugees and migrants from Asia, the Middle East and North Africa were left to sleep in the cold after their camp in northwestern Bosnia burned down amid a dispute among Bosnian politicians over where to house them.
On Wednesday, a fire destroyed the camp in Lipa housing about 1,200 people. Police and United Nations officials have said the blaze was probably started by people unhappy at the temporary closure of the camp, scheduled for the same day, and uncertainty about where they would be relocated in Bosnia.
