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from Asia Times
LEAST BIASED, HIGH; News & Media Website based in Hong Kong
Same old: US dollar down more, China yuan up more
The People’s Bank of China set yuan central parity against the fading US dollar at 6.9168 this morning, the strongest since January 23. If you think of the PBoC’s parity rate as forecasting the direction of the traded exchange rate, a 6.91 handle in the course of the day may have appeared ambitious, but it turned out just right and then some: the offshore yuan (CNH) stood at 6.9015 – up 0.07% for the day – at 6pm HK time. The US dollar keeps moving in the opposite direction under its own ever-heavier debt load and relative economic outperformance of major competitors.
Three Gorges Dam under threat again
Floods in mountainous southwest China have washed away roads and forced tens of thousands from their homes, with authorities warning Wednesday the giant Three Gorges Dam was facing the largest flood peak in its history. Footage on state broadcaster CCTV showed murky water lapping at the feet of the Leshan Giant Buddha – a 71-meter-tall figure carved into a cliffside in Sichuan province. CCTV said floods had not reached the Buddha’s feet since the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949. The rising tide washed over rows of sandbags installed to protect the statue – a UNESCO world heritage site and popular tourist destination that overlooks three converging rivers.
Turkey may get even more dangerous for women
When the Istanbul Convention against domestic violence came into being in 2011, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proudly declared that his country was the first member of the Council of Europe to sign it. But it has proved to be an empty boast. Violence against women is not only rife in Turkey but the government now is talking about abandoning the international treaty and removing the protection it offers women.
The People’s Bank of China set yuan central parity against the fading US dollar at 6.9168 this morning, the strongest since January 23. If you think of the PBoC’s parity rate as forecasting the direction of the traded exchange rate, a 6.91 handle in the course of the day may have appeared ambitious, but it turned out just right and then some: the offshore yuan (CNH) stood at 6.9015 – up 0.07% for the day – at 6pm HK time. The US dollar keeps moving in the opposite direction under its own ever-heavier debt load and relative economic outperformance of major competitors.
Floods in mountainous southwest China have washed away roads and forced tens of thousands from their homes, with authorities warning Wednesday the giant Three Gorges Dam was facing the largest flood peak in its history. Footage on state broadcaster CCTV showed murky water lapping at the feet of the Leshan Giant Buddha – a 71-meter-tall figure carved into a cliffside in Sichuan province. CCTV said floods had not reached the Buddha’s feet since the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949. The rising tide washed over rows of sandbags installed to protect the statue – a UNESCO world heritage site and popular tourist destination that overlooks three converging rivers.
When the Istanbul Convention against domestic violence came into being in 2011, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proudly declared that his country was the first member of the Council of Europe to sign it. But it has proved to be an empty boast. Violence against women is not only rife in Turkey but the government now is talking about abandoning the international treaty and removing the protection it offers women.
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from BBC News (UK)
Before antiseptics were invented, a trip to the hospital might kill you – even if you survived the surgery. A handful of visionary doctors realised what the cause was.
By the 1860s, with a skilled surgeon in a modern European hospital you had about an eight-in-10 chance of surviving an operation. But your odds of leaving hospital alive were about 50/50. Infection and disease ravaged hospital wards. As surgeons moved between patients examining wounds and probing gangrenous tissue, they couldn’t understand why so many in their charge were dying. The condition became known as hospitalism – today we would call it sepsis or blood poisoning – and medical staff surmised it was caused by bad smells, or a miasma, permeating the air.
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from Christianity Today
Media/News Company based in Carol Stream, Illinois
As part of a project to reimagine theological education in the 21st century, theology professor Benjamin Wayman met with Rowan Williams, the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury and Master of Magdalene College at Cambridge University. Over a cup of tea at the Master’s Lodge, Wayman and Williams discussed the nature of theological education, which Williams likened to a strange landscape requiring new patterns and preparations for inhabitation. For Williams, Christian education and formation are like learning to camp in a new land, a new creation. "To do theology is, in some ways, to be taken back to that moment of bewilderment about the newness or the distinctiveness or the strangeness of being in this new Christian framework. So theological education is familiarizing yourself with how people have found their way around that landscape with the perspectives they’ve occupied and then learning to pitch your own tent, as one might say, in that territory."
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from The Guardian (UK)
LEFT-CENTER, HIGH, British daily newspaper published in London UK
Yorkshire church to be adorned with Chronicles of Narnia statues
Yorkshire church to be adorned with Chronicles of Narnia statues
Narnia’s mythical creatures and talking beasts, which have enchanted children for 70 years, have found a new home at a 12th-century parish church in east Yorkshire. Aslan the lion, the White Witch and Mr Tumnus the faun are among 14 handmade stone sculptures being installed on the outer walls of St Mary’s church in Beverley to replace medieval carvings that have crumbled away. The Narnia figures were blessed this week by Alison White, the bishop of Hull.
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from The Heritage Foundation
RIGHT BIAS, MIXED American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C.
RIGHT BIAS, MIXED American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C.
The biggest focal point for online political drama today is an unlikely one; namely, the U.S. Postal Service. Make no mistake: The Postal Service faces real challenges that require congressional action to solve. The sooner we stop spreading unfounded rumors about the Postal Service, the more likely we will be to reach agreement on solutions.
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from HumanProgress.org Education Website
Growth is a saving grace for the world’s poorest people, but it also has a major impact on the daily lives of Americans and the rest of the developed world, and that impact is especially important in the age of coronavirus. For example, continuous growth has led to lifesaving breakthroughs in medical technology and research, which has allowed humanity to fight COVID-19 more quickly and effectively than we ever could have in the past. Vaccines for certain ailments took decades to develop as late as the mid-20th century, but it is quite possible that a vaccine for COVID-19 will be widely available just one year after the virus’s initial outbreak.
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from KOMO News (ABC Seattle)
At least 41 Seattle Police Department officers have left the agency since the beginning of June, and sources in the department say several others are lining up to leave after a summer of street protests and attacks by City Council members that culminated recently with a vote to cut the police budget. The department is also preparing for the departure of Chief Carmen Best, who decided to retire after the council's decision to slash the department's funding. It has prompted many officers to reevaluate their jobs with the city and the police department.
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from ProPublica
LEFT-CENTER BIAS, HIGH, Non-profit newsroom in New York
This fall’s elections are the latest chapter in the slow-motion collapse of the U.S. Postal Service, one of America’s most venerated institutions. As November approaches, members of Congress and state election officials have grown increasingly concerned that the USPS will fail at a critical moment: a closely contested vote that will involve a record number of people casting a ballot by mail. That worry was fueled by President Donald Trump’s unfounded allegation that voting by mail leads to massive fraud and by reports from Postal Service employees that key equipment was being removed and overtime was being slashed. The newly appointed postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, responded to what he termed “areas of concern” by announcing that he would approve overtime “as needed” and delay the removal of mail sorting machines until after the election. But the problems at the Postal Service go well beyond those issues and predate DeJoy. Earlier this month, the USPS warned state election officials that it might not be able to meet deadlines for delivering ballots for the November elections.
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from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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