The World Health Organisation has declared a global health emergency over coronavirus. This comes as the virus has spread across every region of China and continues to spread to other nations.
“The main reason for this declaration is not what is happening in China but what is happening in other countries,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The virus has claimed 170 lives in China. The WHO has said there are 98 confirmed cases across 18 other countries outside of China.
Read More: BBC
Daniel Dietrich, the worship pastor at South Bend City Church, Indiana, has penned a “hymn” rebuking the 81% of white evangelical Christians who voted for Trump.
The lyrics of the song accuse the evangelicals of “putting kids in cages, ripping mothers from their babies” and “weaponiz[ing] religion.”
“There’s so much work to do to combat white supremacy, homophobia, transphobia, sexism — all the ways in which people are treated as less than the children of God that they are,” Dietrich told Religion News Service.
Despite being praised by many evangelicals from the left the hymn has not been embraced by all: “Deitrich’s words are not elevating or edifying; they are divisive,” Goins-Phillips, of Faithwire, writes. “Our worship and discipleship should be challenging, but it should be challenging in ways that call us back to Scripture, not to our anger at one another.”
Read More: FoxNews
The tech website EFF has investigated the popular door bell app Ring. They found that the android version of the app is packed with third-party trackers. Ring sends out an array of customers’ personally identifiable information (PII). Ring has avoided a lot of scrutiny as it has successfully marketed itself as a company that helps customers with their personal security.
However, this investigation has drawn attention to the company for passing information, which is then used for marketing purposes, to branch.io, mixpanel.com, appsflyer.com and facebook.com.
It has also been found that Ring and the companies who have access to the users information have at times mismanaged this information. Also when data has been used lawfully it is not always clear to customers that their data has been passed onto third party, or how it is used.
Read More: EFF
The Trump administration has put California on notice: stop forcing insurance providers to cover abortion, or risk financial consequences. In a statement they said:
“Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR), announced an action to protect human life and the conscience rights of all Americans,”
The statement is official notification to California, “that it cannot impose universal abortion coverage mandates on health insurance plans and issuers in violation of federal conscience laws,” reads the statement.
Read More: The Daily Wire
During a panel discussion on the liberal MSNBC Ari Melber argued that the Dems did not provide enough evidence for the article of impeachment of obstruction. He did believe the democrats gave a good argument for abuse of power.
Melber, an attorney, went on the say that it’s “not a removable high crime” based on what Democrats presented at the Senate trial.
Read More: Fox
A deadly SARS like virus which has spread across south China and into some south-east Asian counties has entered the US. The coronavirus has been confirm in an individual in Seattle. The person had traveled into Seattle from China, after taking unwell they sought medical help. The coronavirus has now been confirmed.
The virus has spread from the Chinese city of Wuhan and has seen more that 300 people taken ill, with six deaths. The virus is believed to have originated in a market selling seafood, where live animals are also present. It was confirmed the virus can pass from person-to-person.
Read More: BBC
Rapper Kanye West continues his crusade to tell how his faith in Jesus has transformed him. West began a year ago to host pop-up services. Last weekend he spoke to over12,000 college students in Tennessee, over 1,000 students came to Christ according to organisers. He told them how he overcame alcoholism:
“Jesus saves,” West testified. “No matter how long you think you’ve been away. No matter how long you’ve been in the dark, the light is right there ready to save. To give you the confidence where they don’t want us to be brave. So you tell the devil today that we’ll no longer be his slave.”
The day before West held a 10 hour prayer rally in Arizona, Awaken 2020.
Read More: Fox News
As the world’s super rich, business leaders and politicians meet at Davos for the annual World Economic Forum’s summit climate change is at the centre of the agenda. Greta Thunberg addressed the delegates calling on world leaders to do far more to help the climate, saying the world “in case you hadn’t noticed, is currently on fire”. Thunberg called on leaders to aim for real zero emissions in order to stop climate change.
President Trump also spoke, warning against the climate alarmists, saying, “These alarmists always demand the same thing – absolute power to dominate, transform and control every aspect of our lives.”
The President has also pledged U.S. support to plant a trillion trees.
“We’re committed to conserving the majesty of God’s creation and the natural beauty of our world,” he said.
Read More: BBC
Thousands gathered today to protest against new laws that the democrats in Virginia are seeking to pass. The protests took place amid high security. However the protests were peaceful and many of those attending were wearing hunting jackets.
Protesters were checked for firearms, before entering the Richmond’s Capitol Square.
Virginia has long been a conservative state, but the democrats took control last year. The new laws they want to pass would restrict the magazine size, limit gun purchases to one per month, and would give judges power to seize weapons from a person deemed a risk.
Read More: France 24
The Australian capital Canberra has been battered by two supercell thunderstorms. The storms have led to flooding, and hail the size of golf balls. There has been extensive damage to property.
This comes as the region has a whole is still battling to contain a number of wild fires in the region.
Read More: The Guardian