Welcome to Olamama's blog!!!: May 2020

Sunday 31 May 2020

Tomb of Esther and Mordechai, a holy Jewish site, set on fire

A holy Jewish Site in Hamadan Province in Iran has been set ablaze, according to the director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The tomb of Esther & Mordechai is believed by some to house the remains of biblical Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai. It is reportedly the most important pilgrimage site for Jews in Iran.
'Disturbing reports from Iran that the tomb of Esther & Mordechai, a holy Jewish site, was set afire overnight,' ADL director Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted.

More than 40 people who attended a church service after lockdown was eased in Germany earlier this month have contracted coronavirus in Frankfurt, the head of the city’s health department told a news agency on Saturday. The service was held on 10 May at a Baptist church in Frankfurt, the department’s deputy chief Antoni Walczok told local newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau.
Wladimir Pritzkau, the deputy head of Frankfurt's Evangelical Christian Baptist congregation, confirmed the news and said that the rules were adhered to during the 20 May service.

An 18-year-old suburban New York high school senior is being sued for allegedly being the mastermind and ringleader of a cybercrime scheme that defrauded a cryptocurrency investor out of millions of dollars in digital currencies. Michael Terpin, a pioneer in the world of cryptocurrency, is accusing Ellis Pinsky, of Irvington, New York, and 20 of his alleged co-conspirators of stealing $23.8 million of cryptocurrency in January 2018.

Twitter has again, flagged Donald Trump's tweet, hours after the US president announced he had signed signed an executive order which removed some of the legal protections given to social media platform.
President Donald Trump's tweets were given a fact-check label by Twitter for the first time on Tuesday May 26, a decision that prompted the US president to accuse the social media platform of meddling in election. The platform provided additional information although it did not take down the tweets.

South Korea has delayed the reopening of schools by a week, as fears grow over a possible second wave of infections stemming from a new cluster traced to five bars and clubs in Itaewon, a nightlife district in Seoul.
The number of cases in the cluster has shot up to 94 as of Monday (May 11) evening. These include eight in the military, four foreigners, a nurse, and an 84-year-old grandmother.
This brings the total tally to over 10,900 cases, with 256 deaths.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Monday stressed the need for rapid mass testing to contain the latest cluster, adding that authorities have only managed to test less than half of the 5,517 people potentially exposed to the virus over a long weekend from Apr 30 to May 5.
Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention chief Jeong Eun-kyeong urged people who visited the clubs to go for testing regardless of whether they were symptomatic.

Wife of officer charged with murder in George Floyd's death, files for divorce

The wife of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who is charged with murder in the death of George Floyd, is now filing for divorce, according to her attorneys.
"This evening, I spoke with Kellie Chauvin and her family. She is devastated by Mr. Floyd’s death and her utmost sympathy lies with his family, with his loved ones and with everyone who is grieving this tragedy.
She has filed for dissolution of her marriage to Derek Chauvin," the Sekula Law Office said in a statement Friday night.

The United States President Donald Trump has called for an expedited investigation into George Floyd’s death. Floyd, the deceased was pronounced dead in a hospital on Monday night, following a brief altercation with a Minnesota policeman. According to reports and video evidence, the officer, Derek Chauvin knelt on the neck of the black man who later died.
Trump described Floyd’s death as ””very sad and tragic” and also said that ”justice will be served”.
On his official Twitter page, he wrote; ”At my request, the FBI and the Department of Justice are already well into an investigation as to the very sad and tragic death in Minnesota of George Floyd…
“….I have asked for this investigation to be expedited and greatly appreciate all of the work done by local law enforcement. My heart goes out to George’s family and friends. Justice will be served!”

Washington state wrestling coach fired for mocking George Floyd’s murder

A Washington state high school wrestling coach has been fired for mocking the murder of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer. Dave Hollenbeck, the first-year coach at Bethel High School posted a photo of himself on the floor, with a knee to the back of his neck as he smiles. The photo was similar to the images seen in the viral video of Floyd being pinned down by a white Minneapolis cop on Monday before he died.
“Not dead yet I’m doing this for our police officers the media is a race baiting machine and I’m tired of it,” Hollenbeck wrote on Facebook. “I’m going to speak out every time if you don’t like that I’m sorry but I love All people.. Wake up America.”

Parrot who "heard victim's last words" to give evidence at trial of two men who allegedly raped and murdered her

A 46-year-old Argentine woman, Elizabeth Toledo was raped and murdered in the city of San Fernando in December 2018. Her body was found naked on a mattress on the floor in an apartment in Buenos Aires, next to her parrot.
As part of the evidence filed in the case last week, police recorded a statement from a police officer who said he heard the Toledo parrot shortly after the killing saying no, Por favour, soltame!" ("No, please, let me go"), Clarin reports. The police believe the parrot was repeating its owner's last words as she was allegedly beaten and raped by two housemates.

Judge John F. Russo Jr., a New Jersey Superior Court judge has been removed from his position as a Judge after several misconduct claims, including asking a rape victim 'if she closed her legs'. Judge John F. Russo Jr. was ordered removed from his position by the New Jersey Supreme Court this week, according to Chief Justice Stuart Rabner who made the announcement in a court opinion.
In a court opinion filed May 26 but made available to the media on Thursday, Chief Justice Stuart Rabner of the New Jersey Supreme Court ordered Judge John F. Russo Jr. to be removed from his position effective immediately and permanently banning Russo from holding a judicial office in New Jersey.

Prominent UK church leaders today branded the mass closure of churches ‘unlawful and unnecessary’ as they threatened a judicial review into keeping them shut. A coalition of Christian bishops and reverends has urged the Government to prioritise churches in its exit strategy from the coronavirus lockdown.
They said it was unfair for churches to be in the ‘bottom category of the most dangerous and least important services’ with beauty salons, pubs and cinemas.
The letter signed by 25 prominent church leaders – but not endorsed by the Church of England – is a pre-action legal warning against Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

Rwanda’s High Court on Thursday May 28th sentenced a former mayor to life in prison for his role in the country’s 1994 genocide, which resulted in the deaths of 800,000 people in the East African country. Ladislas Ntaganzwa, was one of the top fugitive suspects, accused of playing a key role in the massacre. He was arrested in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo in 2015 before he was brought back to Rwanda in 2016 where he has been on trial.

Austrian Bundesliga top club LASK, have been docked 12 points and fined a massive €75,000 for not observing social distancing during training ahead of the proposed top-flight restart on June 2.
According to the Bundesliga, Lask disobeyed coronavirus-related safety rules in practice sessions after the club admitted to staging full contact training sessions even when the Austrian FA told clubs they were only allowed to train in small groups to avoid the spread of Coronavirus.

Obesity makes Covid-19 worse and may lead to deadly blood clots in the lungs, a new study finds.
The researchers said that obese patients with Covid-19 may have nearly three times the risk of developing what is known as a pulmonary embolism.
"Clinicians can utilise our findings to aid in determining which patients should have evaluation for pulmonary embolism with pulmonary CT angiography, as the symptoms for Covid-19 and pulmonary embolism overlap," said lead researcher Dr Neo Poyiadi, from the department of diagnostic radiology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

Grandmother ordered to delete Facebook photos under GDPR

A woman must delete photographs of her grandchildren that she posted on Facebook and Pinterest without their parents' permission, a court in the Netherlands has ruled. It ended up in court after a falling-out between the woman and her daughter. The judge ruled the matter was within the scope of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
One expert said the ruling reflected the "position that the European Court has taken over many years".
The case went to court after the woman refused to delete photographs of her grandchildren which she had posted on social media.

Saudi Arabia will quarantine banknotes and coins it receives from local and foreign sources for a period of 14 to 20 days as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, according to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority.
In a promotional video explaining the procedures, SAMA said: “We have taken precautionary measures to isolate and sterilise both paper and metal currencies, whether coming from inside or outside the Kingdom, by isolating them for a period of 14 days and up to 20 days, depending on where it has come from.
“Banknotes and coins will undergo a special treatment mechanism to ensure they are safe to use,” according to SAMA.
“Then they will be sorted by machines automatically in accordance with the authority’s stringent quality standards, with dirty or unfit notes destroyed immediately.”

Coronavirus: French brothers strike gold under lockdown

It's fair to say that life under lockdown can be boring at times. Most parents will have come to appreciate the increasingly tricky task of keeping the kids entertained. But as the weather warms up, plenty of children will be looking to the garden for new ways to pass the time. And for two French brothers, that resulted in a valuable discovery.
Their parents decided to leave Paris when France imposed a lockdown and move to a family home in the town of Vendôme, south-west of the capital.
The boys, both aged about 10, asked to build a makeshift hut in the garden using branches, leaves and sheets. Their father, a businessman in his 60s, told them that they could use their late grandmother's sheets, which were in a spare room.

The central Chinese city of Wuhan conducted more than 6.5 million novel coronavirus tests in just 9 days, according to state media, a drastic move by authorities to prevent a second wave of infections in the original epicenter of the global pandemic. Wuhan's ambitious citywide nucleic acid testing drive came after six new cases emerged in a residential community earlier this month -- the first time local infections were reported following the city's emergence from its months-long lockdown in April.
From May 15 to May 23, swab test samples were collected from more than nine million residents, China's state-broadcaster CCTV reported, accounting for more than 80% of the city's total population of 11 million.

The US has passed 100,000 deaths in the coronavirus outbreak in less than four months.
It has seen more fatalities than any other country, while its 1.69 million confirmed infections account for about 30% of the worldwide total.
The first US infection was reported in Washington state on 21 January.
Globally there have been 5.6 million people recorded as infected and 354,983 deaths since the virus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
The US death toll stands at 100,276, according to Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, which has been tracking the pandemic.
BBC North America editor Jon Sopel says it is almost the same as the number of American servicemen and women killed in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan over 44 years of fighting.
But on a per capita basis the US ranks ninth in its mortality rate behind the likes of Belgium, the United Kingdom, France and Ireland, according to the university.

Rioters set Minneapolis Third Precinct police station on fire

The Third Precinct police station in Minneapolis was set ablaze on Thursday night as violent protests continued in the city and other cities across the U.S, following Monday's killing of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who died after pleading for air as a white police officer knelt on his neck over a long period of time while arresting him.
Rioters were seen cheering and setting off fireworks as the massive fire broke out at the police station which is about 3 miles away from where Floyd was killed.

Morecambe defender Christian Mbulu has died at the age of 23. Tributes have been paid to the former Millwall, Motherwell and Crewe Alexandra defender who was found dead at his home.
Police were called to the address at Cottam near Preston on Tuesday afternoon, with the death not being treated as suspicious.
A Lancashire Police spokesperson said: "We were called at around 1.30pm today (May 26) to an address on Greenfinch Avenue, Cottam, to reports of a sudden death.
"We attended and sadly found the body of a man aged in his 20s.

TikTok stars Bryce Hall and Jaden Hossler, both members of the creative collective Sway House, reportedly have been arrested on charges of drug possession. The arrests took place in Lee County, Texas, on Monday, according to multiple reports.
Hall, 20, reportedly was charged with possession of less than two ounces of marijuana -- a misdemeanor, while Hossler, 19, was charged with possession of less than two ounces of marijuana and less than 400 grams of a controlled substance -- a felony.

A Great Clips hair salon in Springfield, Missouri, has become a potential hot spot of Covid-19 transmission after two hairstylists came into work while symptomatic, potentially exposing more than 140 people to the virus, according to local officials.
Springfield-Greene County Health Department director Clay Goddard said at a press conference Friday that a Great Clips stylist worked on eight days between May 12 and May 20, during which the stylist came into contact with 84 clients and seven coworkers while showing symptoms.
On Saturday, the health department said in a statement that a second stylist had tested positive for the coronavirus and may have exposed an additional 56 clients. The stylist experienced "very mild symptoms" over five days between May 16 and Mat 29 but was deemed "potentially infectious" by the health department.

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order which removed some of the legal protections given to social media platforms, few days after his Twitter fact-checking row.
Speaking to newsmen while signing the order which gives regulators the power to pursue legal actions against firms such as Facebook and Twitter for the way they police content on their platforms, the US President said the move was to "defend free speech from one of the gravest dangers it has faced in American history".

Trump said;

The late Kobe Bryant's induction into the basketball hall of fame has been postponed to 2021 due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Bryant, 41, who died along with eight others including his daughter Gianna in a helicopter crash in January, was to be inducted into the Massachusetts-based Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame with Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, and five others on August 29.
Basketball Hall of Fame chairman Jerry Colangelo told ESPN “We’re definitely canceling. It’s going to have to be the first quarter of next year. We’ll meet in a couple of weeks and look at the options of how and when and where.''
Bryant was an 18-time NBA all-star, five-time NBA champion, and three-time NBA finals MVP in a two-decade career with the Los Angeles Lakers before retiring in 2016.

Snoop Dogg highlights difference in how police arrest White mass murderers and how they arrest unarmed Black men

Police brutality and racism are two topics on the lips of most Americans right now following the brutal murder of George Floyd. Before Floyd's death, he pleaded with a Minneapolis police officer to get off him because he couldn't breathe.
"I can't breathe. My neck hurts, my stomach hurts, everything hurt," George cried out.
However, Derek Chauvin continued kneeling on his neck until he started bleeding through his nose and became unconscious. Even then, Chavin didn't get off of him.

A sweet six-year-old boy has raised more than £19,000 to buy an incubator for the hospital that kept him alive when he was born. Dhillon Manku, 6, was born two months early weighing 3lb 9oz and spent a month at Kingston Hospital, London.
He became curious about incubators after his sister was born, and asked his mother, Sharn, 35, why she didn’t have to stay in a "glass box" like he did.
Sharn told her son about his premature birth and decided he wanted to raise money as a thank you to Kingston Hospital.

Blackburn Rovers captain Elliott Bennett and two Fulham players have tested positive for Coronavirus in the latest round of EFL testing. Fulham have not revealed the identity of the two players but they will self-isolate in line with EFL and government guidance.
Blackburn confirmed in a statement that their captain Elliott Bennett was the third of those whose results returned positive after 1,030 players and club staff were tested on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

Photo emerges showing the White cop who knelt on George Floyd's neck wearing a "Make Whites Great Again" hat as it's revealed this is not his first time harming a civilian

The identities of at least two of the 4 cops involved in the death of an African American man, George Floyd, have been revealed and one of the officers, the one who knelt on George's neck, is being termed a racist after a photo of him wearing a "Make Whites Great Again" hat emerged.
Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, 44, is seen kneeling on George’s neck in a video shared online. The video was almost 10 minutes long and for most of it, Derek had his knee in George's neck even as the Black man continually complained that he couldn’t breathe.

Canada wants national sick leave plan in place for possible second wave of the pandemic

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is trying to give all workers a minimum of 10 days paid sick leave per year as Canada starts to prepare for a possible second wave of the pandemic.
"Nobody should have to choose between taking a day off work due to illness or being able to pay their bills. Just like nobody should have to choose between staying home with COVID-19 symptoms or being able to afford rent or groceries," Trudeau said during a press conference from Ottawa Monday.

A total of 875 people have committed suicide during the lockdown period in Nepal. The country has been under lockdown since March 24. According to the data compiled by the Nepal Police, the suicide cases across the country increased by 16 percent in the first month of the lockdown. A total of 482 suicide cases were filed during mid-March to mid-April in police stations across the country against 414 cases for the period between mid-February and mid-March.

A man has been arrested in Thailand for allegedly stealing his neighbours shoes in order to have s.e.x with them. Theerapat Klaiya, 24, had a fetish for flip-flops and was found with a staggering 126 pairs that he had pinched from locals in Nonthaburi, central Thailand, police said.
Officers identified Klaiya using footage from CCTV set up outside his latest alleged victim’s home.
When they searched the man’s home, they found his sprawling collection of shoes that he claimed he had been collecting for more than two years.

India resumed domestic flights on Monday, two months after a coronavirus lockdown was imposed, but confusion and chaos prevailed at major airports as large numbers of flights were cancelled. Air services were suspended in late March when India went into lockdown to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, bringing the domestic aviation sector to the brink of collapse.
More than 80 flights to and from the capital New Delhi were cancelled on Monday, airport authorities said, with irate passengers complaining of not being informed until the last minute.

California issued guidelines on Monday that would allow places of worship to open, while still "strongly recommending" institutions hold remote services for vulnerable populations including older adults.
Here are some of the suggestions included in the guidance:
• Religious leaders are asked to "strongly consider" discontinuing singing and group recitation where transmission of the virus through exhaled droplets is increased.
• Sharing items like prayer books, prayer rugs, and hymn books are discouraged and single use or digital copies are suggested as alternatives.

Three brothers have been hospitalised after letting a Black Widow spider bite them believing it would turn them into Spider-Man like the Marvel comics hero. The boys, aged 8, 10, and 12, were herding goats in the town of Chayanta, in the Andean region of Potosi in Bolivia when they came across the Black Widow spider.
In hopes that they would become Spider-Man, the boys approached the spider and prodded it with a stick on May 14, until it bit each of them in turn, epidemiology chief at the Bolivian Ministry of health, Virgilio Pietro, told local outlet Telemundo.

Many places around the world are trying to figure out how to rework their infrastructure to accommodate cyclists and hopefully, in turn, encourage residents to use the environmentally friendly mode of transportation. That's why Copenhagen has become such a role model; according to Wired, it's the most bike-friendly city in the world.

Trump restricts travel from Brazil as coronavirus cases spike

The US will temporarily restrict travel from Brazil in order to slow the spread of Covid-19, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement on Sunday. The order suspends entry into the US for foreigners who "were physically present within the Federative Republic of Brazil during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States."
It does not apply to US citizens, legal permanent residents, or their family members and goes into effect on Thursday at 11:59 p.m. The order also excludes "the free flow of commerce" between the US and Brazil.

Former Brazilian club, Sao Paulo defender Flavio Donizete, has revealed how his addiction to cocaine made him sell his most prized asset as a footballer just so he could feed his drug habit.
Donizete, who came through the youth system at Sao Paolo, played a bit part in 2005 as Sao Paulo lifted the Paulista State Championship and the Copa Libertadores before crowning their achievement with victory over Liverpool in the Club World Cup.

WWE legend Rey Mysterio has called time on his professional wrestling career, as the 45-year-old is set for one final curtain call on Monday. The Mexican-American cruiserweight - real name Oscar Gutierrez - looks set to bow out in a special 'retirement ceremony' show on WWE Raw confirmed by the company on Twitter.
They wrote: "@WWERollins ( Seth Rollins ) will be the host of @reymysterio's retirement ceremony next week on #WWERaw."

A military helicopter crashed on Tuesday at an airport in Russia’s remote eastern Chukotka region, killing all four people on board. The helicopter of the Russian defence ministry went down in the main airport in Chukotka near Anadyr, which has mixed military and civilian use.
“There were three crew members and one technician on board. All four died,” governor Roman Kopin wrote on his Instagram account.
Russian agencies reported that it was a Mi-8 helicopter which was doing a test flight after undergoing technical maintenance.
“The reason for the accident could be a technical fault with the helicopter,” TASS news agency quoted a defence ministry statement as saying.
Military investigators were dispatched to the crash site, it said.

Costa Rica legalises same-sex marriage

Costa Rica legalised same-sex marriage on Tuesday, becoming the first Central American country to do so and sparking an emotional response from rights campaigners as the first weddings were held overnight. Celebrations were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but a special program about LGBT rights was broadcast on public television and online after a court ruling came into force at midnight.
“This change will bring about a significant social and cultural transformation, allowing thousands of people to marry,” said President Carlos Alvarado in the program.
Costa Rica is the eighth country in the Americas to recognise same-sex marriage — a group that includes Brazil, Ecuador and Argentina, as well as Canada and the US.

Kobe Bryant's gold and diamond ring fetches $206K from collector in auction

A 14-karat gold and diamond ring Kobe Bryant bought for his mom, who later sold it, has fetched more than $206,000 from an unnamed collector in an auction. The ring sold in a Goldin Auctions event for $206,080, following a 20-bid sale in which the minimum bid was set at $15,000.
The private collector obtained the ring in a six-item lot for $280,000 in 2013 from Bryant's parents Joe and Pamela Bryant in a sale that was preceded by some family drama, as Kobe, 41, was opposed to the sale.

The World Health Organization has temporarily halted studying hydroxychloroquine as a potential Covid-19 treatment in its Solidarity Trial due to safety concerns, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a briefing in Geneva on Monday. The decision was made after an observational study was published in the medical journal The Lancet on Friday, which described how seriously ill Covid-19 patients who were treated with hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine were more likely to die.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government was hit by its first resignation Tuesday over the controversy surrounding top aide Dominic Cummings’ cross-country trip during the coronavirus lockdown when Douglas Ross, a minister for Scotland, quit in protest.
Undermining attempts by ministers to try and move on from the crisis which has dominated British politics for four days, Ross said he could not justify Cummings remaining in post to his constituents.

Nigerian paralympic gold medalist, Esther Oyema gets 4-year ban for violating anti-doping rules

38-year-old Nigerian para powerlifter and Paralympic gold medalist, Esther Oyema has been handed a 4 year ban for violating the anti-doping rules. In a statement released on Wednesday May 20, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said Oyema will be disqualified from all IPC’s competitions from May 3, 2019 to May 2, 2023.
The ban stemmed from an "adverse analytical finding for a prohibited substance in a urine sample provided on January 28, 2019 after competing at the Lagos International Para Powerlifting Competition in Nigeria last year."

Authorities in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, have officially banned eating, hunting and breeding wild animals. A notice on the city's municipal government website said the ban will come into immediate effect and will last for five years.
The novel coronavirus was first recorded in Wuhan late last year and the outbreak was linked to a seafood market where live animals were also sold.

A gunman opened fire at a shopping centre in Glendale, US, leaving 3 people injured with one in critical condition. Police swooped on the Westgate shopping mall in Glendale, Arizona, US, following reports of the shooting.
The shooter, 20, described as an "armed terrorist" by Arizona State Senator Martín Quezada, has been named in US reports as Armando Junior Hernandez.
Reports claim Snapchat footage of a man filming the attack has been circulating on social media. The footage shows a man talking to the camera in a car, before storming the mall with a gun.

The Vila Formosa cemetery in Sao Paulo has dug thousands of new graves since the pandemic began.

Update: South Korean club FC Seoul slapped with record £67,000 fine for filling empty stands with sex dolls in place of fans

South Korean football clubside FC Seoul have been handed a record £67,000 fine for filling their empty stands with sex dolls during their K-League match against Gwangju FC as the league resumed without fans due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Around 20 sex dolls (male and female) were placed in the stadium with some wearing face masks and the team's jersey colours while others displayed t-shirts and placards with the logo of SoloS, a sex toy seller.

The Government of Sri Lanka on Friday lifted a ban on wedding receptions as part of an easing of Coronavirus restrictions, with grooms not expected to kiss the bride at least in public. The country is known for holding wedding celebrations with thousands of guests, and the festivities can last for days. But under the new guidelines only100 guests will be allowed at weddings and they must all stay a metre part and wear masks - including the couple.

Sunday 31 May 2020

Saturday 30 May 2020

Friday 29 May 2020

Thursday 28 May 2020

Wednesday 27 May 2020

Monday 25 May 2020