‘Companies Are Fleeing California. Blame Bad Government.’

Bloomberg Editorial Board: Amid raging wildfires, rolling blackouts and a worsening coronavirus outbreak, it has not been a great year for California. Unfortunately, the state is also reeling from a manmade disaster: an exodus of thriving companies to other states. In just the past few months, Hewlett Packard Enterprise said it was leaving for Houston. Oracle said it would decamp for…

China Jails Citizen Journalist for Wuhan Reports

A Chinese citizen journalist who covered Wuhan’s coronavirus outbreak has been jailed for four years. From a report: Zhang Zhan was found guilty of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, a frequent charge against activists. The 37-year-old former lawyer was detained in May, and has been on hunger strike for several months. Her lawyers say she is in poor health. Ms Zhang…

WHO-led Team Expected in China in January To Probe COVID-19 Origins

An international mission led by the World Health Organization (WHO) is expected to go to China in the first week of January to
investigate the origins of the virus that sparked the COVID-19 pandemic, a member and diplomats told Reuters this week. From a report: The United States, which has accused China of having hidden the outbreak’s extent, has called for a…

Boston Biotech Conference Led To 245,000 COVID-19 Cases Across US

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: A biotech conference in Boston last February that’s already been flagged as a Covid-19 superspreading event led to at least 245,000 other cases across the US and Europe, a new genetic fingerprinting study shows. One single case seems to have been responsible for many of the other eventual cases, the team at the…

Florida Governor Defends Police Raid On COVID Data Whistleblower

Earlier this week, Florida state police raided the home of Rebekah Jones, the data scientist who ran the state’s coronavirus dashboard until she was fired in June. “Jones has alleged in a whistleblower lawsuit that her firing was in retaliation for her refusal to manipulate data to make the state’s COVID-19 outbreak last spring appear less severe,” reports Yahoo News. Florida…

Mystery illness hospitalizes 200 people in India

At least one person has died and many dozens left severely ill by a mystery outbreak in Eluru, India. Just as the first Coid-19 vaccines begin rolling… Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/341620/mystery-illness-hospitalizes-200-people-in-india…

Less air pollution during Covid-19 restrictions, says study

NASA researchers have found that since February, pandemic restrictions have reduced global nitrogen dioxide concentrations by nearly 20%. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/how-much-covid19-related-pollution-levels-deviated-from-norm-2020…

America’s Top Court Strikes Down Covid-19 Restriction On Religious Groups

DevNull127 writes: Earlier this year the governor’s order had “restricted the size of religious gatherings in certain areas of New York where infection rates were climbing,” reports the New York Times. But Wednesday night (in a close 5 to 4 decision) America’s highest court ruled against the governor — and in favor of two religious organizations challenging him. “[T]hey tell us…

India Enters Recession as Virus Pummels No. 3 Asian Economy

India entered an unprecedented recession with the economy contracting in the three months through September due to the lingering effects of lockdowns to contain the Covid-19 outbreak. From a report: Gross domestic product declined 7.5% last quarter from a year ago, the Statistics Ministry said Friday. That was milder than an 8.2% drop forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey, and…