All Purpose Politics and News Thread

[GoodBoy]

I believe, from what I have read and understood, that Gibraltar has in fact also left the EU on 2020-Jan-31, yes.

Jersey etc. are a bit more convoluted as they are not officially part of the UK nor the EU. This link provides likely more detail than you want to know but it should answer your question:

https://www.collascrill.com/knowledge-documents/guides/brexit-and-jersey-what-you-need-to-know/

@GoodBoy Say the folks on the Rock of Gibraltar are also out of the EU then? And Jersey Island too?

[GoodBoy]

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/edit...ers.html<br />

[TsGirl44]

lol too good!

[Ciel]

The opthalmologist that noticed the cluster of cases that was the novel coronovirus has succombed to it. He caught the virus from an infected eye patient. He also had been interrogated initially after he alerted authorities about the cluster cases.

Dr. Li, who was 34 and expecting a second child with his wife, had been a relatively obscure ophthalmologist in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province and the epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/w...ronavirus.html

East Torontonians, did you know that City of Toronto got a no-board request approved by the Ministry of Labour? You might not get garbage collection or snow shovelling soon (via CUPE Local 416):

In a news release on Monday, the union said the request from the city means both sides will be in a strike or lockout position by Feb. 27.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...-416-1.5450506

[Ciel]

@GoodBoy -Jersey looks to be a complicated situation for the UK. Never knew that Jersey helped London become known as a finance centre. Very interesting!

[Ciel]

Sydney Australia finally gets rain-a very heavy one. Hope the wildlife got warned and moved to higher ground.https://www.washingtonpost.com/weath...source=twitter

Would be great if some of that water was saved in barrels and gullies for the next hot dry days.

Peter Phillips (the Queen's eldest grandchild) has separated from his wife, Autumn Phillips.https://ca.yahoo.com/style/queen-eli...225523948.html

[Ciel]

Twitter is an amazing resource. One of the accounts I follow retweeted Elsevier's free Novel Coronavirus INformation Centre's link:https://www.elsevier.com/connect/cor...=_TW_O_Connect

Elsevier is a Netherlands-based entity (in global information analytics). The information for the link is in English, with a link to Chinese-language content too.

[Ciel]

Here's a reason not to have your payment accounts linked to your cellphone-the cellphone number porting scam:

https://globalnews.ca/news/6544138/c...-porting-scam/
If you saw the item on Twitter, some of the replies mention portal protect-do service providers tell you of that service?

New Boomtown Rats album and more-Sir Bob Geldof was on Breakfast Television Toronto this morning:
https://www.bttoronto.ca/videos/bob-...m-in-36-years/

[GoodBoy]

[Ciel]

Toronto could be a very lively strike city soon!

https://globalnews.ca/news/6580765/t...-board-report/

To recap, the outside workers are in legal strike position on Feb. 27. The inside workers can strike on March 18.

A man got to play in a NHL game as a backup backup goaltender for the Hurricanes. Yes, the media was all over this story!
https://globalnews.ca/video/6586725/...ing-nhl-debut/

Australia after recent rain--how to carry on after those weeks of fires.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/23/w...-extremes.html

[Ciel]

More retail store restructuring: https://www.newswire.ca/news-release...887423634.html

The mathematician who was the brains at NASA, Katherine Johnson, passed away at the age of 101 yesterday.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/24/s...nson-dead.html

[Ciel]

Headlines that caught my attention today:

https://www.thestar.com/business/202...g-efforts.html

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/202...n-toronto.html

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...ford-1.5477032

[heartgirl99]

[Ciel]

Saw this item and it reminded me of the situation in China before the government officially acknowledged the coronavirus:

The email to Princess Cruises was peppered with typos and awkward grammar, but the warning was unmistakable. An 80-year-old passenger had tested positive for the new coronavirus after getting off the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Hong Kong.“Would kindly inform the ship related parties and do the necessary disinfection,” Princess’s port representative wrote on Feb. 1, relaying a warning from Hong Kong health officials. “Many thanks!”
Nothing happened. Princess says it believes the alert sat unread in unmonitored inboxes. Grant Tarling, the company’s top doctor and the person in charge of responding to outbreaks, said he hadn’t learned about the infection until the following day — after being alerted to a post on social media.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/08/w...uise-ship.html

[Ciel]

Strike-related news:

Toronto outside workers got a tentative agreement (have not heard about the ratification vote outcome):
https://globalnews.ca/news/6612051/c...ive-agreement/

Saw this on the CUPE Local 416 Twitter account:
https://twitter.com/Local416/status/1235764766888648706

Ontario teachers' strike news updates:
https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/some-onta...ikes-1.4844519

ETFO will announce something today at 2:30pm:
https://www.cp24.com/news/elementary...aign-1.4844472