JW-Ind

Another reporting (spin?) https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/09/21/middleeast/saudi-arabia-mbs-interview-fox-intl/index.html A deal would represent a significant foreign policy victory for the president and has the potential to enhance Israel’s acceptance in the Muslim world, particularly considering Saudi Arabia’s role as the custodian of Islam’s holiest sites. MBS said a pact with Israel would be “the biggest historical deal since the Cold War.” Most Arab and Islamic states don’t recognize Israel. The kingdom proposed an “Arab Peace initiative” in 2002, which offered Israel security and “normal relations” with 57 Arab and Muslim countries in exchange for its withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territories and the creation of an independent Palestinian state. Israel rejected the initiative.

This is huge if pans out. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-says-framework-saudi-normalisation-deal-possible-by-early-2024-2023-09-21/ JERUSALEM, Sept 21 (Reuters) - A framework U.S.-brokered deal for forging relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia could be in place by early next year, the Israeli foreign minister said on Thursday after the three countries signalled progress in the complex negotiations. An Israeli-Saudi normalisation would dramatically redraw the Middle East by formally bringing together two major U.S. partners in the face of Iran - a foreign-policy flourish for President Joe Biden as he seeks reelection in late 2024.

China is also adversely affected by the worst heatwave on record. Nothing In History Compares To China's Brutal Heat Wave, Weather Historian Says Nothing In History Compares To China's Brutal Heat Wave, Weather Historian Says | HuffPost “This combines the most extreme intensity with the most extreme length with an incredibly huge area all at the same time,” Herrera told New Scientist on Tuesday. “There is nothing in world climatic history which is even minimally comparable to what is happening in China.”

Moderna: Could take months to produce Omicron-specific vaccine at scale https://amp.theguardian.com/business/live/2021/nov/30/markets-moderna-covid-vaccines-omicron-ftse-inflation-jerome-powell-business-live

The multi-year coronavirus pandemic is now firmly branded as a benchmark in modern memory. Likewise, in the first verse of the Book of Amos, the 8th century BCE biblical prophet referred to “two years before the earthquake” as an anchor to the events he was about to relate. Two centuries later, the prophet Zechariah again referred to this destructive earthquake period, so deeply was it ingrained in the collective psyche. Now, for the first time, a team of Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists in Jerusalem’s City of David report that they have found unprecedented concrete evidence of this 8th century BCE earthquake in the ancient capital. https://www.timesofisrael.com/archaeologists-unearth-1st-jerusalem-evidence-of-quake-from-bibles-book-of-amos/

U.S. detects first case of COVID-19 variant as Biden offers gloomy vaccine outlook https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa/u-s-detects-first-case-of-covid-19-variant-as-biden-offers-gloomy-vaccine-outlook-idUSKBN2931EJ WILMINGTON, Del./LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -The first known U.S. case of a highly infectious coronavirus variant was detected in Colorado on Tuesday as President-elect Joe Biden warned it could take years for most Americans to be vaccinated for the virus at current distribution rates. Biden, a Democrat, said about 2 million people have been vaccinated, well short of the 20 million that outgoing Republican President Donald Trump had promised by the end of the year. Biden’s goal of ensuring that 100 million vaccinations are administered by the end of his 100th day in office would mean “ramping up five to six times the current pace to 1 million shots a day,” Biden said, noting that it would require Congress to approve additional funding.

COVID drives Dutch death rate up to highest level since WWII https://www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService_2_MOLT/idUSKBN2930OE AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The number of deaths in the Netherlands increased at the highest rate since World War Two this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Dutch national statistics office (CBS) said on Tuesday. Up to last week, around 162,000 deaths were reported in the country of 17 million this year, 13,000 more than would have been expected in a regular year, the CBS said.

Do we still need alarm clock to wake on time?😊

We are mid-way now between Dec and January programs. Just 2 weeks away, eager to find out what spiritual feast our hardworking brothers have prepared. Really hope that the January program is indeed the Annual meeting

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/09/covid-vaccine-pfizer-drug-is-more-than-90percent-effective-in-preventing-infection.html Pfizer, BioNTech say Covid vaccine is more than 90% effective—‘great day for science and humanity’

The Billionaire Who Wanted To Die Broke . . . Is Now Officially Broke https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2020/09/15/exclusive-the-billionaire-who-wanted-to-die-brokeis-now-officially-broke/#9ac94333a2aa It took decades, but Chuck Feeney, the former billionaire cofounder of retail giant Duty Free Shoppers has finally given all his money away to charity. He has nothing left now—and he couldn’t be happier.

An Idaho pastor skeptical of masks lands in the ICU for Covid-19 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/17/us/idaho-pastor-covid-masks-trnd/index.html (CNN)A pastor in Idaho who called himself a "no-masker" during a service and repeatedly questioned the veracity of coronavirus case reporting is in the ICU after contracting Covid-19. Paul Van Noy, senior pastor at Candlelight Church in Coeur d'Alene, has spent two weeks in the hospital with a Covid-19 diagnosis, ministry coordinator Eric Reade confirmed to CNN. Five other church staff were infected with coronavirus, too, but they've all recovered, he said.

https://www.google.co.jp/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/08/07/politics/2020-election-russia-china-iran/index.html Intelligence community's top election official: China and Iran don't want Trump to win reelection, Russia working against Biden

Intermezzo😀

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-01/korea-arrests-leader-of-sect-at-center-of-early-virus-outbreak?srnd=premium-asia South Korean authorities arrested the leader of a religious sect at the center of an early coronavirus outbreak in the country, alleging the church hindered government efforts to trace worshipers who may have been infected, Yonhap News reported.