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World Health Organization Meets to Plot Censorship of ‘Misinformation’ Under International Pandemic Treaty

Reclaim the Net reported:

Members of the World Health Organization (WHO), an unelected international public health agency, are meeting to consider a draft version of a proposed international pandemic treaty which will give the WHO new powers to “tackle false, misleading, misinformation or disinformation” and be legally binding under international law.

The draft treaty contains various provisions in Article 16 (“Strengthening pandemic and public health literacy”) that require the WHO’s 194 member states (which represent 98% of all the countries in the world) to target so-called misinformation.

Member states are told to “conduct regular social media analysis to identify and understand misinformation,” design their own messaging to “counteract misinformation, disinformation and false news” and manage “infodemics” (a phrase that was created by the WHO and describes “too much information including false or misleading information in digital and physical environments during a disease outbreak”).

While the provisions in Article 16 don’t directly call for member states to censor content that’s deemed to be misinformation, a provision in Article 14 (“Whole-of-government and other multisectoral actions”) paves the way for Big Tech to perform this censorship on the WHO’s behalf.

Defense Bill Rolls Back Pentagon’s COVID Vaccine Mandate

Politico reported:

A compromise defense policy bill released Tuesday night would end the Pentagon’s policy requiring troops to receive the COVID vaccine — and kicking out those troops who refuse it — delivering a win to Republicans who railed against the policy.

A final version of the National Defense Authorization Act included the measure after conservatives threatened to hold up the bill to curtail the vaccine mandate. The policy became a point of contention in talks in recent days between Democratic and Republican leaders over the bill.

The measure defies the wishes of both the Pentagon and the White House, which said in recent days they want to retain the rule that separates troops who don’t receive the vaccine.

Congressional leaders are aiming to bring the defense policy bill up for a vote in the House this week. The Senate will follow and send the measure to President Joe Biden for his signature. The bill would authorize a total of $858 billion, $847 billion of which would be for national defense. The legislation mandates that the Pentagon rescind the vaccine mandate within 30 days of becoming law.

Army Is Only Service Branch Booting Troops Over COVID Vaccine Mandate in Full Force

Fox News reported:

The Army continues to be the only branch of the armed services that has not slowed or frozen its discharge of service members who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine, insisting it will continue separating soldiers even as Congress appears poised to soon do away with the mandate.

“We will not speculate on any potential legislative actions, and continue to follow the policy of the Department of Defense and the United States Army to achieve a fully vaccinated force,” an Army spokesperson said of the policy, according to a report by Military.com Tuesday.

While the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force have all paused separating service members for vaccine refusal as legal battles have played out — especially those who have filed for religious exemptions — the Army has kicked out 1,841 active-duty soldiers even at the risk that a change in the law could open the door to the Army being forced to compensate troops it booted and/or let them back in the service.

Muslim Firefighter Sues for $8 Million After Being Denied Religious Exemption for COVID Vaccine, Put on Leave

Boston.com reported:

A firefighter is suing Boston for more than $8 million after the city denied his request for a religious exemption from COVID-19 vaccination and put him on indefinite unpaid leave.

In a complaint filed in Suffolk Superior Court Tuesday, Michael Browder Jr., who is Muslim, said he suffered personal hardship and stress on his family and marriage after the city placed him on unpaid administrative leave in October 2021.

Rather than get a vaccine, Browder — who had been a Boston firefighter since 2007 — asked to wear face coverings, check his temperature and complete a self-monitoring form twice a day while on duty.

His attorney, Richard Chambers, is representing a former Boston police officer — a Jehovah’s Witness who also sought a religious exemption and was denied — in a separate case. The Lynnfield lawyer is also representing several people who have filed a multi-million-dollar federal lawsuit against the city of Boston over its indoor vaccine mandate.

Some Schools Close to Stem Flu Outbreaks — but Is It a Good Long-Term Solution?

ABC News reported:

Some schools across the United States have been closing early in an attempt to stem influenza outbreaks. In Maine, students at Casco Bay High School in Portland were dismissed early on Friday, Dec. 2, due to 32% of pupils and staff members out sick with the virus, according to a news release from the school.

Two other schools in the state, Harpswell Community School and Mt. Ararat Middle School, both of which are north of Portland, announced closures Tuesday, Dec. 6, “due to student illness” and will reopen on Dec. 7 after the buildings are “deep cleaned.” Additionally, in southeastern Kentucky, the Bell County School District announced schools would be closed Monday, Dec. 5, and Tuesday, Dec. 6.

An infectious diseases expert told ABC News that school closures are not sustainable in the long term and schools should focus on other interventions to stem outbreaks. “I think what we’ve learned from the pandemic is that school closures are really a last resort and should be avoided at all costs because of the impact it has on kids, the broad impact on kids and their parents,” Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor, said.

Studies, including one from the Netherlands, have suggested that remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic led to learning losses and increased learning disparities among students.

Youngkin Moves Toward Reimbursements for ‘Unjust’ COVID Fines in Virginia

The Hill reported:

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) announced on Tuesday that he plans to reimburse individuals and businesses who paid fines for violating most state COVID-19 restrictions put in place by his Democratic predecessor.

Youngkin signed an executive order directing all state agencies to report all COVID-19 fines and disciplinary actions they imposed, and the governor said he plans to develop a reimbursement process in his upcoming budget proposal for the restrictions imposed by former Gov. Ralph Northam (D).

“The fact that businesses are still dealing with COVID-19 related penalties and fines is infuriating,” Youngkin said in a statement.

Youngkin added that the review and reimbursements will not apply to violations in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and hospitals.

Pandemic Lockdowns Linked to Decline in U.S. Twin Births, Study Suggests

Reuters reported:

Reduced access to infertility treatments early in the pandemic may have contributed to a drop in twin births, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest.

The number of twin births fell 7% between 2019 and 2020 — from 120,291 to 112,437 — compared to an average 2%-per-year decline from 2014 to 2019, researchers reported on Wednesday in the CDC’s National Vital Statistics Reports, based on data from 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The largest decline in twin births was seen in women over age 40, the group most likely to use infertility treatment. The smallest decline was in women under age 30, who are least likely to use infertility treatment, the authors said.

The study cannot prove pandemic lockdowns caused twin births to decline. In fact, the authors point out that Hispanic women had a larger decline in the twin birth rate than non-Hispanic white women, even though Hispanic women are less likely to receive infertility treatments.

Pagan Nurse Files Religious Discrimination Lawsuit Against UMC

Las Vegas Review-Journal reported:

A Las Vegas nurse and self-described pagan has sued the hospital that fired her after it rejected her request for a religious exemption to its COVID-19 vaccination requirement.

Labor and delivery nurse Julia Kidd last week filed a federal lawsuit against University Medical Center alleging it had engaged in religious discrimination. The lawsuit claims she was fired in retaliation for requesting the exemption and for seeking redress through the Nevada Equal Rights Commission.

Kidd, who is 55, had been working at Clark County’s public hospital for 18 years when she requested a religious exemption from its mandate that employees be vaccinated against COVID-19. UMC denied her request, and when she continued to refuse to get vaccinated, fired her in January.

The nurse said she is a practitioner of paganism, an alternative nature-based religion. She described herself as a solitary practitioner whose spiritual practice centers on invocation and communing with nature. The message she got from the hospital was that “we don’t think that’s a valid belief, so it doesn’t matter,” she said on Saturday.

Republicans Target TikTok: Wisconsin Latest State With Officials Demanding App Be Banned From Government Devices

Forbes reported:

Six Republican Wisconsin congress members including Sen. Ron Johnson have called for banning TikTok from state government devices through a letter sent to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers Tuesday, citing recent orders banning the social media app in Maryland and South Dakota.

A letter sent by Reps. Mike Gallagher, Glenn Grothman, Scott Fitzgerald, Bryan Steil, Tom Tiffany and Johnson declared TikTok as “nefarious Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spyware that surveils Americans citizens” while calling for a ban of the app from Wisconsin government devices.

The letter complements its argument by leaning on recent reporting, including a Forbes article reporting that parent company ByteDance planned to monitor the location of American citizens, in addition to a New York Times article suggesting the app can track user keystrokes.

‘We’re Going to Be Free’: Chinese Cheer as COVID Curbs Are Loosened

Reuters reported:

China on Wednesday announced the most sweeping changes to its resolute anti-COVID regime since the pandemic began three years ago, loosening rules that curbed the spread of the virus but sparked protests and hobbled the world’s second-largest economy.

The relaxation of rules, which includes allowing infected people with mild symptoms to quarantine at home and dropping testing for people traveling domestically, is the clearest sign that Beijing is pivoting away from its zero-COVID policy to let people live with the disease.

Citizens cheered the prospect of a shift that could see China slowly emerging back into the world three years after the virus was first identified in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019.

For nearly three years, China has managed COVID as a disease on par with bubonic plague and cholera and as cases spread earlier this year, whole communities were locked down, sometimes for months.

Apple Is Ready to Leave China as COVID Protests Delay iPhones Past Christmas. That Could Take a Decade and Cost Billions.

Insider reported:

When Apple‘s manufacturing hub in Zhengzhou, China, temporarily shut down in November, it was clear Apple needed to rethink its supply chain.

The shutdown, which Bloomberg reported could result in a shortage of 6 million iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max units, means wait times are now stretching past the holiday season. On Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reported Apple was accelerating the expansion of its manufacturing base outside China.

But any shift out of China won’t be quick, with over 35% of the factories supplying Apple located in China. Some estimates say it will take until the end of the decade to move 10% of Apple’s iPhone manufacturing out of the country. Moreover, it’s unclear what would happen to Apple’s enormous hardware margins if it attempted to leave China.

National Security Concerns Reportedly Delay TikTok-U.S. Deal

CNBC reported:

Negotiations between TikTok and the U.S. government have been delayed as officials continue to worry about the potential national security issues the app could pose given its ownership by Chinese company ByteDance, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The government’s concerns include how TikTok could share information related to its video recommendation algorithm and how much trust the government would ultimately need to put in TikTok to follow through on the deal’s terms, according to the Journal. The government has yet to come back with TikTok with new requests on how to address the concerns, the Journal reported based on unnamed sources. TikTok confirmed it has not received an update from the government about any unresolved concerns.

The two sides had reached broad agreements about storing U.S. user data on Oracle servers in the U.S., the Journal reported, moving it from TikTok data centers in Virginia and Singapore. Oracle would also be in charge of overseeing protocols about which employees within TikTok could access U.S. user data, according to the report.

10 Apple Privacy Problems That Might Surprise You

Gizmodo reported:

Apple wants you to know that it cares about your privacy. For years, the company has emblazoned billboards with catchy slogans about its robust data protection practices, criticized tech rivals for their misuse of users’ personal information and made big pronouncements about how it shields users.

There’s no question that Apple handles your data with more care and respect than a lot of other tech companies. Unlike Google and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Apple’s business doesn’t depend on mining and monetizing your data. But that doesn’t mean owning an iPhone spells perfect privacy.

Apple harvests lots of personal information, often in ways that you might not expect if you buy into the company’s promise that “what happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone.” It uses that information for advertising, developing new products and more.