Blackwater's Youngest Victim": 9-Year-Old Ali Kinani Was Among Victims of Trump's Pardoned Killers

We Finally Know Why Sun's Corona Is So Extremely Hot

Syrian refugee camp burnt to ground in northern Lebanon

Source: Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — More than 300 Syrian refugees were forced to flee an informal camp in northern Lebanon as a blaze raged through and burnt tents to the ground, U.N. and Lebanese officials said Sunday.

The fire late Saturday raged for four hours as firefighters tried to put it out, the Lebanese civil defense said.

Read more: https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Syrian-refugee-camp-burnt-to-ground-in-northern-15830057.php

China announces one-year extension of tariff exemptions on some US products

Source: The Hill

China’s finance ministry on Friday announced that tariff exemptions
for six products from the U.S. will be extended for another year.

Among the products that will enjoy the extension are white oil and
food-grade petroleum wax, according to Reuters. The extension will
take effect Saturday and last through Dec. 25 of next year.

The exemptions were first announced in December 2019 following the
announcement of a Phase 1 trade deal.

Washington and Beijing have had a tension-filled trade relationship
under the Trump administration, with each side slapping tit-for-tat
tariffs on each other as part of an ongoing trade w

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/international/china/531669-china-announces-one-year-extension-of-tariff-exemptions-on-some-us

An Idiocracy Based On A Digital Prophet': QAnon Longs For A Fascist Military Dictatorship

Reporter Ben Collins, in an article published by NBC News' website on December 22, takes a disturbing look at QAnon supporters who are yearning for President Donald Trump to impose a fascist military dictatorship and end liberal democracy in the United States.

"Flynn, a hero in the mythology of the QAnon conspiracy theory who once took a QAnon 'oath' on video, has said in appearances on the conservative media channel Newsmax that Trump should use the military to 'rerun' the election," Collins observes.

Attorney Sidney Powell, who has been working with Wood on election-related lawsuits, has used the QAnon hashtag #TheStormIsComing, which, Collins notes, is "a QAnon phrase that refers to the extrajudicial roundup of Democrats at the heart of the theory."

According to Collins, "Some QAnon followers believe Trump is left with no choice but to declare martial law - a belief based in part on a series of wildly false news articles that have claimed that Trump is in a secret, ongoing land war with China in parts of the U.S. A series of fake news articles, YouTube videos and tweets that went viral among QAnon acolytes last week led followers to believe Trump was conducting clandestine military operations on U.S. soil."

https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/qanon-2649643344/

Virus magnifies the solitude for the elderly at Christmas

Rosa Otero prepares her dinner for another nightly meal in solitude.

This pandemic Christmas Eve has turned what should be a preciously scarce moment to spend time with her family into yet another daily instalment of her life as a widow who lives alone.

Otero, 83, normally travels across Spain from her small, tidy apartment in Barcelona to northwest Galicia, to spend the winter holidays with her family.

But the restrictions on travel and urgings from health authorities that infections are on the rise have convinced Otero’s family to cancel their holiday plans for this year.

https://apnews.com/article/travel-coronavirus-pandemic-holidays-europe-christmas-2e57dfbd9a655d049efe123e9a90ab1d

Egypt reports bird flu outbreaks in rural area

Source: AP

CAIRO (AP) — Local authorities in rural Egypt have declared a state of emergency after detecting two outbreaks of bird flu.

Nagy Awad, head of the veterinary agency in the southwestern province of al-Wadi al-Gedid, said Sunday that avian influenza was detected in two poultry farms in the villages of Ezab el-Qasr and Oweina in the Dakhla Oasis, located over 750 kilometers (470 miles) from the capital, Cairo.

He said the infected birds were culled and authorities have carried out medical examinations of people who were in contact with them. The virus, which is mainly spread through contact with infected animals, can cause severe illness or death in humans.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/egypt-cairo-flu-animal-health-bird-flu-473a7b010c3c8a64ca58d0d8a517bf19

A second hacking group has targeted SolarWinds systems

Source: ZDNet

As forensic evidence is slowly being unearthed in the aftermath of the SolarWinds supply chain attack, security researchers have discovered a second threat actor that has exploited the SolarWinds software to plant malware on corporate and government networks.

The malware used in the original attack, codenamed Sunburst, was delivered to SolarWinds customers as a boobytrapped update for the Orion app.

On infected networks, the malware would ping its creators and then download a second stage-phase backdoor trojan named Teardrop that allowed attackers to start a hands-on-keyboard session, also known as a human-operated attack.

According to a post on GitHub by Microsoft security analyst Nick Carr, the Supernova web shell appears to be planted on SolarWinds Orion installations that have been left exposed online and have been left unptched and vulnerable to a vulnerability tracked as CVE-2019-8917.

Read more: https://www.zdnet.com/article/a-second-hacking-group-has-targeted-solarwinds-systems/

Megachurch Pastor Caught Buying Private Jet With PPP Funds