TV News LIES

China is now facing what is likely the world's largest COVID surge of the pandemic. China's public health officials say that possibly 800 million people could be infected with the coronavirus over the next few months. And several models predict that a half million people could die, possibly more.

"Recently, the deputy director of China CDC, Xiaofeng Liang, who' s a good friend of mine, was announcing through the public media that the first COVID wave may, in fact, infect around 60% of the population," says Xi Chen, who's a global health researcher at Yale University and an expert on China's health-care system.

That means about 10% of the planet's population may become infected over the course of the next 90 days.

Epidemiologist Ben Cowling agrees with this prediction. "This surge is going to come very fast, unfortunately. That's the worst thing," says Cowling, who's at the University of Hong Kong. "If it was slower, China would have time to prepare. But this is so fast. In Beijing, there's already a load of cases and [in] other major cities because it's spreading so fast.

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A Qatari photojournalist covering the World Cup in Qatar has died, according to local reports, bringing the number of journalist fatalities at the contest to two, following the death of US sports journalist Grant Wahl last Friday.

English-language Qatari news service Gulf News reported on Saturday the death of Khalid al-Misslam, citing the Qatari TV news outlet he worked for, Al Kass TV.

Few detail, such as when and how al-Misslam died, have been released, and Qatar's Ministry of Health was unavailable for comment when contacted at time of publication.

According to Gulf News, al-Misslam died "suddenly while covering the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022."

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By Christmas, 50 hardly used FV103 Spartan armoured personnel carriers (APCs), until recently the property of the British army, and currently in warehouses in secret locations across the UK, will arrive on the frontline in Ukraine’s war with Russia in time for the toughest winter conditions.

The transfer, the largest of such APCs to Ukraine, is not due to British munificence nor to procurement by the Ukrainian ministry of defence.

It is instead just the latest example of the extraordinary scale and indeed speed of the crowdfunding campaigns that have been powering the Ukrainian military since the early days of the war.

The United States is considering sending older HAWK air defense equipment from storage to Ukraine to help it defend against Russian drone and cruise missile attacks, two U.S. officials told Reuters.

The HAWK interceptor missiles would be an upgrade to the Stinger missile systems - a smaller, shorter range air defense system - that the United States has already sent to blunt Russia's invasion.

The Biden administration would use the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) to transfer the HAWK equipment which is based on Vietnam-era technology, but has been upgraded several times. The PDA allows the United States to transfer defense articles and services from stocks quickly without congressional approval in response to an emergency.

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The Balenciaga fashion house has cut ties with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, according to a news report.

The move came after several offensive comments from Ye, including antisemitic posts that earned him suspensions from Twitter and Instagram.

"Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist," parent company Kering told Women's Wear Daily in response to a query Friday without elaborating.

The company did not respond to multiple emails and calls from The Associated Press requesting comment. A representative for Ye also did not respond to a request for comment.

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