News Headlines - 08 November 2020
▽Hong Kong: Snitch hotline gets more than 1,000 calls - BBC News
Hong Kong's new hotline to report breaches of the controversial national security law has received more than 1,000 calls within hours of going live.
Residents can anonymously send in images, audio and videos if they suspect someone has violated the law... It has already led to several arrests of activists, and has silenced protesters.
▽Japan Crown Prince Fumihito formally declared 1st in line to throne
Crown Prince Fumihito was formally declared first in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne on Sunday and vowed to fulfill his duties at a ceremony in Tokyo that had been postponed for seven months and scaled back due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The "Rikkoshi no rei" rite for the crown prince concluded a series of imperial succession rituals held since his elder brother Emperor Naruhito ascended to the throne in May last year following the abdication of their 86-year-old father former Emperor Akihito -- the first Japanese monarch to step down in over 200 years.
▽Queen Elizabeth II wears face mask in public for first time | Euronews
Queen Elizabeth II donned a face mask in public for the first time during the coronavirus pandemic when attending a brief ceremony at Westminster Abbey last week to mark the centenary of the burial of the Unknown Warrior.
While the 94-year-old monarch has been seen in public on several occasions over the past few months, she had not been pictured wearing a face-covering until now.
On Wednesday, during her first public engagement in London since March, she wore a black mask that was edged with white. Pictures of the ceremony were officially released late Saturday.
▽Scotland becomes first part of UK to ban smacking - BBC News
Scotland's ban on parents smacking their children has become law, making it the first part of the UK to outlaw physical punishment of under-16s.
Parents and carers were previously allowed to use physical force to discipline their children if it was considered "reasonable chastisement".
The new law means that the so-called "justifiable assault" defence is no longer available... Sweden was the first country in the world to ban smacking in the home when it outlawed corporal punishment in 1979. Scotland has now become the 58th to do so.
In 2008, Barack Obama earned 69,498,516 votes in the presidential election, the most ever. Now, Mr. Obama's former vice president, Democratic nominee Joe Biden, has surpassed that tally, with a record 74,446,452 votes (50.5% of the total), and counting, in the 2020 election... With voter turnout in record territory, President Donald Trump has now also exceeded Mr. Obama's record, with 70,294,341 votes (47.7 %), as of Saturday morning.
