News Headlines - 27 May 2021
▽The Virus Lab Theory’s New Credibility - WSJ
President Biden on Wednesday ordered U.S. intelligence to dig deeper into the origins of Covid-19, a reversal after he reportedly ordered a State Department investigative unit shut down. Mr. Biden is trying to cover for his embarrassing closure of the investigation because the dam has finally broken on the evidence that the virus may have escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). The shame is that it took so long because the suspicious facts have been apparent from the start.
The Tokyo Olympics will go ahead as planned unless struck by an unprecedented “Armageddon”, according to leading International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound.
Doubts have been emerging in recent weeks about the delayed Games going ahead as planned with as much as 80 per cent of the public opposed to it and just 2% of the population vaccinated.
But Pound, the longest-serving IOC member, who was also the founding president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said he was fully confident the Games would begin on July 23 as anticipated.
▽Tokyo Olympics Dubbed ‘Rings of Fire’ on Scorching Heat Threat - Bloomberg
Athletes are increasingly being asked to compete in environments that are becoming “too hostile” for the human body, the British Association for Sustainable Sport (BASIS) said in a report released Wednesday titled “Rings of Fire: How Heat Could Impact the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.”
The impact is likely to be felt this summer in Japan, which has experienced record-breaking heat waves in recent years. Tokyo’s mean temperature has climbed by 2.86 degrees Celsius since 1900, more than three times as fast as the world’s average, the report said.
▽Jeff Bezos to formally step down as Amazon CEO on July 5
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos will step down on July 5, turning the helm over to cloud-computing boss Andy Jassy... Amazon announced in February that Bezos would leave his post later this year. Bezos will transition to executive chairman of Amazon’s board and is expected to dedicate more time toward initiatives like the Bezos Earth Fund, his Blue Origin spaceship company, The Washington Post and the Amazon Day 1 Fund.
▽Switzerland walks out of seven-year treaty talks with EU | The Guardian
Switzerland has walked out of talks on a closer trading relationship with the European Union despite being offered better terms than the UK in key areas, EU officials have claimed... Switzerland, while outside the EU, is the bloc’s fourth biggest trading partner and its economy is closely integrated with those of the 27 member states. Citizens of Switzerland and the EU member states have a mutual right to free movement.
But the Swiss government claimed it could not accept the EU’s demands to maintain and deepen ties as they would be rejected in a legally required referendum on a deal.
