Miss a day, miss a lot. Subscribe to The Defender's Top News of the Day. It's free.
UK Cabinet: It’s All Over! It’s Time to ‘Live With COVID’… and You Won’t Have To Show Proof of Vaccination to Attend Mass Gatherings
COVID passports will not be compulsory at music festivals, sports events and other mass gatherings when lockdown restrictions are lifted next month.
UK Ministers are set to shelve plans for the mandatory use of “COVID certification” after Freedom Day on July 19.
Students Sue Calif. State University System Over Vaccine Requirement
In what may become precedent-setting legal cases, three California State University, Chico, students who have recovered from COVID-19 are suing the state school, saying the California State University system’s requirement that they receive a COVID-19 vaccine before returning to class in the fall places them at risk of dying.
It comes as eight Indiana University students also filed a federal lawsuit against the state school, alleging that its COVID-19 vaccine requirement violates both their constitutional rights and the state’s new anti-vaccine passport law.
COVID Vaccines Donated to African Countries Are Not Recognized by EU Travel Certificate
The African Union (AU) and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have voiced “concern” after it emerged that Europe’s digital ‘green pass‘ does not recognize a vaccine that was donated to many African countries through the COVAX initiative.
The European Union (EU) Digital COVID Certificate enables people who have received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine approved by its medicines regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), to travel freely within the bloc.
But the pass only recognizes AstraZeneca doses manufactured in Europe (branded Vaxzevria) and not those manufactured by the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer — the Serum Institute of India (SII) — which is branded Covishield.
Federal Judge Grants Facebook’s Motion to Dismiss in CHD v. Facebook
Judge Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Tuesday granted Facebook’s motion to dismiss against Children’s Health Defense’s (CHD) complaint filed against Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and its fact checkers in August 2020.
In a 45-page decision, the judge opined that CHD’s allegations — that Facebook is effectively a “state actor” on behalf of the federal government and engaged in false advertising and racketeering — failed to state legal claims.
“While the decision is disappointing, we are not shocked,” said Mary Holland, CHD president and general counsel.
What Happened to Free Speech?
The U.S. government recently announced that it seized “websites used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union.” The U.S. Department of Justice claimed in a statement that the websites were used by the Iranian government, “disguised as news organizations or media outlets” to attack the U.S. “with disinformation campaigns and malign influence operations.” What happened to freedom of the press?
In all, 33 websites have been blocked, ranging from Iranian state sponsored media outlets such as Press TV and Al-Alam News Network to the unrelated London based Islamic channel, Ahlulbayt TV.
Face Masks That Can Detect Coronavirus: Harvard, MIT Researchers Create Wearable Tech
The face mask that you wear in the future could alert you of a coronavirus diagnosis, thanks to researchers at Harvard University and MIT.
Researchers have created wearable biosensors that can detect the presence of the virus in a person’s breath. These button-activated masks give COVID results within 90 minutes in a simple-to-read format similar to an at-home pregnancy test.
The mask can diagnose COVID at accuracy levels comparable to standard diagnostic tests, according to the researchers from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and MIT.
Moderna’s Stock Hits Record Price on Tuesday
Shares of Moderna Inc. MRNA, 1.74% were up 2.3% in premarket trading on Wednesday, the day after the company’s stock price hit an all-time high of $234.60 when the market closed on Tuesday.
Moderna has one authorized product, its two-dose, mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine; the global success of its shot, along with BioNTech BNTX, -0.82% and Pfizer Inc.’s PFE, -0.37% COVID-19 vaccine, has opened the door for broader interest in mRNA technology. Moderna’s stock has soared 124.4% so far this year, while the S&P 500 SPX, 0.09% is up 14.2%.
GumGum, SpotX, and IRIS.TV Come Together to Support the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative’s Initiative to Boost COVID Vaccine Education and Awareness Across the U.S.
GumGum, a global technology and media company specializing in contextual intelligence, today announced that they are working alongside IRIS.TV and SpotX (now part of Magnite) to help the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative promote COVID-19 vaccine education in relevant, suitable video environments across the web.
The Ad Council turned to this team of partners to help deliver a campaign that could make a difference. Knowing that 69% of consumers are more likely to look at an ad that’s relevant to the context they are viewing, GumGum ensured that ads not only appeared next to “health” related video content but applied its sentiment analysis capabilities to ensure that ads were placed next to video content with a neutral and positive sentiment.
Google and Microsoft Shut Down Six-Year Legal Ceasefire as Infighting and Antitrust Scrutiny Intensifies
Google and Microsoft have brought their six-year legal truce to an end after months of public and private infighting, with onlookers suggesting the breakdown leaves both companies more vulnerable to regulatory pressure.
Under the terms of the deal, the companies settled a number of outstanding patent lawsuits, agreed to try and resolve disagreements bilaterally before reporting issues to regulators, encouraged partnership on mutual business interests in areas like search and AI, and temporarily stopped executives at both companies openly attacking one another.
Police Warn of WhatsApp Scams in Time for Social Media Day
Naked Security by Sophos reported:
You might be forgiven for thinking that every day is social media day, given how much gets shared each day via social media services.
For the past 11 years, however – yes, we’ve been addicted to social media for at least that long – the date 30 June has been given capital letters and referred to as Social Media Day, a 24-hour period when we are supposed to…
…well, we’re not entirely sure how you cheer about any one day of social media content more than any other, so we can’t advise you how to celebrate #SocialMediaDay. But we do think that #SocialMediaDay is a great excuse to take a few minutes to stop and think about how to improve your safety and security on social media in general.
Putin Rejects Mandatory COVID Jabs as Russia Sees Record Deaths
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said he was opposed to mandatory coronavirus vaccinations for Russians but urged the jab-sceptic population to get inoculated, as his country battles a deadly third wave.
His comments came as Russia earlier Wednesday reported 669 coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours, a pandemic high of fatalities for the second day in a row, according to a government tally.
“I do not support mandatory vaccinations,” the Russian president said.
Netherlands Changes Travel Alerts for Denmark, Belgium, Greece, Latvia & Sweden
The Netherlands has downgraded its COVID-19 travel advice from code orange to code yellow for all, or part of five European countries. The new advice is set to enter into force on Thursday, July 1, the same day the Dutch CoronaCheck app is supposed to be valid across the European Union.
The EU has said the Netherlands is ready to connect to the bloc’s system for managing Digital COVID Certificates, but it has not yet established the connection.
