News Headlines - 10 January 2021

▽Ex-MP quits Labour ahead of sexual harassment disciplinary process - BBC News

A former Labour MP has quit the party before disciplinary proceedings against him concerning sexual harassment could be concluded, Labour has said.
Kelvin Hopkins was suspended by the party in 2017 after a Labour activist, Ava Etemadzadeh, accused him of inappropriate physical contact.
Ms Etemadzadeh said the ex-MP's exit from the party was "disappointing".

▽Bitcoin: be prepared to lose all your money, FCA warns consumers | The Guardian

Consumers should be prepared to lose all their money if they invest in schemes promising high returns from digital currencies such as bitcoin, a City watchdog has warned... As the popularity of cryptocurrencies grows, the Financial Conduct Authority urged consumers to understand what they were investing in and the financial risks involved, given they were unlikely to be protected by UK schemes that help investors reclaim cash when companies go bust.
The FCA said some crypto investment firms may be overstating potential payouts, or understating the risks.

▽Italy: Pompeii's Alexander Mosaic to be restored - Wanted in Rome

Pompeii's celebrated mosaic of Alexander the Great's victory over King Darius III of Persia is to undergo a major restoration project at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN).
The restoration of the monumental mosaic, which was rediscovered at the House of the Faun in Pompeii in 1831, will begin at the end of this month and is expected to be complete by July.
Dating from circa 100 BC, the floor mosaic is traditionally believed to depict the Battle of Issus in southern Anatolia, on 5 November 333 BC, the second great battle of Alexander's conquest of Asia.

▽A night at India's largest farmers' protest - BBC News

India's largest farmers' protest is still under way - tens of thousands of farmers have been on strike since 26 November demanding the repeal of recent laws that they say will shrink their incomes... The government has said the laws will help farmers but the stalemate continues. Many rounds of talks between the two have failed.
Farmers, however, say they will not budge until the laws are revoked.

▽Wuhan COVID Infections 3 times Higher than Official Figure, China Study Says | Voice of America

The paper, published by the PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases journal on Thursday, analyzed blood samples from more than 60,000 healthy individuals taken from locations across China from March to May 2020.
It found that 1.68% of those from Wuhan contained antibodies for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, compared to 0.59% in surrounding Hubei province and 0.38% in the rest of China.
With the city's total population at more than 10 million, the researchers estimated that as many as 168,000 Wuhan residents were infected with the virus, compared to the official number of 50,340 hospitalized cases.