News Headlines - 11 November 2020
Hong Kong’s opposition lawmakers will all resign together to protest against the disqualification of four colleagues after China’s top legislative body empowered the local government to unseat politicians without having to go through the city’s courts.
Under a resolution unanimously endorsed on Wednesday by 161 members of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC), Hong Kong lawmakers will lose their Legislative Council seats immediately if they are deemed to have engaged in a range of acts, from endangering national security to dishonouring their pledge of allegiance and refusing to support China’s sovereignty over the city.
The local government quickly followed up the ruling by disqualifying the Civic Party’s Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu, Kwok Ka-ki and Dennis Kwok, along with Kenneth Leung of the Professionals Guild, all four of whom were previously barred from running in September’s Legco elections, which were postponed for a year.
The leader of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation recently wrote a letter addressed to “President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris” requesting a meeting to discuss the organization’s expectations and priorities... The letter was dated Saturday, November 7, the day several media outlets projected the Democratic ticket had won the presidential election.
▽Oxford Dictionaries amends 'sexist' definitions of the word 'woman' | The Guardian
Oxford University Press has updated its dictionaries’ definitions of the word “woman” following an extensive review triggered by equality campaigners.
Among the updates to Oxford Dictionaries’ definitions is the acknowledgement that a woman can be “a person’s wife, girlfriend, or female lover”, rather than only a man’s.
The entry for “man” has also been amended to include the same gender-neutral terminology, while many other terms relating to sexual attractiveness and activity have been revised.
Labels have been applied to terms identified as “derogatory”, “offensive” or “dated”, such as the word “bitch” and “bint”, which are listed as synonyms for the word woman.
▽Nobel Peace Prize winners exempted from Norway quarantine | Reuters
Norway will exempt United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) delegates from coronavirus quarantine when they arrive next month to receive this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, ensuring that the live ceremony can go ahead, the government said on Tuesday.
The WFP, which has coordinated medical logistics during the pandemic, was named winner of the prestigious award last month in what its boss said was a call to action that no one should go hungry in the world today.
The Nordic country currently imposes a 10-day quarantine on almost all arrivals from abroad, but the 15-20 members of the WFP will be allowed to skip the strictly enforced measure if they test negative for COVID-19 upon arrival.
▽Alibaba's Singles Day sales set record $74bn with help from livestreaming - Nikkei Asia
Alibaba Group Holdings' Singles Day shopping topped $74 billion in total sales Wednesday, a huge increase from last year's record high that suggests robust consumer health in the world's second-largest economy.
According to data published by Alibaba just after midnight Thursday, buyers had snapped up 498.2 billion yuan ($74 billion) of goods. Even the accumulated transaction volume after the first half-hour surpassed the full sales total of last year's event, when merchants on Alibaba's platforms sold 268.4 billion yuan of items.
