December 29, 2021

*) Police arrests six people after raiding anti-Beijing media office Six people working at a prominent anti-Beijing media outlet have been arrested in Hong Kong after national security police raided their office. The current and former chief editors of Stand News, and four former board members were detained for conspiracy to publish seditious content. Among those apprehended are pop singer Denise Ho and former democratic legislator Margaret Ng. The arrests came a day after additional charges were levelled against jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai for the same offence. *) US averaging 267,000 infections in daily Covid case record The United States has reported its highest ever number of daily Covid-19 cases, at more than 253,000. It comes after the country decided to shorten the recommended Covid-19 isolation and quarantine period from 10 days to five, drawing criticism from some medical experts. France and England have also hit record Covid-19 numbers. France reported almost 180 thousand cases, while England had nearly 130 thousand infections on Tuesday. ​​​*) Brazil official likens flooding in over 100 cities to 'bombardment' A total of 116 cities in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia are in a state of emergency because of flooding due to heavy rains and the collapse of two dams. Official data from the state government say 34,163 people have been made homeless and almost 43,000 are displaced. There have been a total of 21 deaths and 358 people injured this month due to heavy rains in the region. *) Israel's Gantz hosts Palestine's Abbas at home in rare meeting Palestine's President Mahmud Abbas met Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz during a rare trip to Israel. Abbas discussed creating a political horizon, leading to a solution of the Mideast conflict, Palestine's officials said. Gantz told Abbas that he intended to "continue to promote actions to strengthen confidence in the economic and civilian fields," an Israeli Defence Ministry statement said. And finally … *) Reality TV star Paris Hil