A medical worker in a protective suit collects a swab from a resident at a makeshift nucleic acid testing site, during a mass testing for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Chaoyang district of Beijing, China June 13, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
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BEIJING, June 13 (Reuters) – Beijing will suspend all offline sports events starting from June 13 citing high transmission risks of a recent COVID-19 outbreak linked to a bar in the city, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports said in a statement on Monday.
As of June 12, some 166 cases have been linked so far to the outbreak at the Chaoyang Heaven Supermarket Bar, which emerged last week.
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Reporting by Albee Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong
Canadian Police officers move protestors towards parliament hill, as they work to restore normality to the capital while trucks and demonstrators continue to occupy the downtown core for more than three weeks to protest coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, February 19, 2022. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
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Feb 19 (Reuters) – Canadian police on Saturday used pepper spray and stun grenades in an attempt to restore normalcy in Ottawa, parts of which have been paralyzed by protesters opposing the government’s pandemic restrictions. read more
Here is a timeline of main events:
Nov. 19 – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government announces that all cross-border truck drivers will be subject to mandatory vaccine and quarantine requirements from Jan. 15. The trucking industry association has warned the mandates could intensify supply-chain disruptions, but opposes protests on public roads. read more
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Jan. 28 – A convoy largely consisting of trucks starts arriving in Ottawa from across Canada opposing the vaccine mandate. A similar requirement is in place in the United States.
Jan. 29 – Thousands of protesters under the banner “The Freedom Convoy 2022” hold a loud but peaceful protest in downtown Ottawa. read more
Jan. 31 – Trudeau, who was moved to a secret location, says Canadians are disgusted by the behavior of some protesters in Ottawa and says he will not be intimidated. read more
Feb. 2 – Leader of Canada’s main opposition Conservative Party, Erin O’Toole, is ousted after a caucus vote, partly because of his failure to embrace the anti-government protest quickly enough. read more
Feb. 5 – Protesters occupy downtown Ottawa for second straight weekend. Protests spread to other cities including the financial capital Toronto. read more
Feb. 6 – Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declares state of emergency. read more
Feb. 7 – Police seize thousands of liters of fuel and remove an oil tanker supplying the trucks. A court grants an interim injunction preventing people from sounding horns in downtown Ottawa.
Feb. 7 – Protesters start blocking the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario, the busiest crossing between Canada and the United States, and protesters block other border points in Alberta and Manitoba. read more
Feb. 8 – The blockade disrupts trade between the two countries. Ford Motor Co (F.N), General Motors Co (GM.N) and Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) halt some production. read more
Feb. 10 – The Biden administration urges Canada to use federal powers to ease the disruption at the U.S.-Canada border. read more
Feb. 11 – A Canadian judge orders an end to the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge and the province of Ontario declares a state of emergency. Protesters defy the court order and remain. read more
Feb. 13 The Ambassador Bridge reopens after a six-day blockade as Canadian police clear protesters. read more
Feb. 15 – Trudeau invokes rarely used special emergency measures to tackle protests. read more
Feb. 16 – Ottawa’s police chief resigns. read more
Feb. 17- Police warn protesters occupying central Ottawa of “imminent” action. read more
Feb. 18 – Police begin push into crowds of demonstrators, arrest more than 100 and haul away vehicles. Key organizers are arrested. read more
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Compiled by Denny Thomas in Toronto
Editing by Matthew Lewis
Joe Rogan’s Spotify profile is seen in front of displayed Spotify logo in this photo illustration taken, February 7, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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Feb 9 (Reuters) – Spotify’s (SPOT.N) chief content officer Dawn Ostroff told advertisers at a conference on Wednesday that the backlash around popular U.S. podcaster Joe Rogan’s podcast had been a “real learning experience” for the streaming service.
“We do feel that we have a responsibility to support creator expression, but also balance that creator expression with safety for our users and for our advertisers,” said Ostroff, who has been a key driver in Spotify’s work to turn the platform into a top podcast hub, speaking at an Interactive Advertising Bureau annual conference in New York.
The streaming giant has been under fire after Rogan, who signed a $100-million deal with Spotify in 2020, aired controversial COVID-19 views on his show and drew protests from artists Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and India Arie. Young said Spotify had “become the home of life-threatening COVID misinformation.”
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Last week, Rogan apologized and Spotify said it would add a content advisory to any podcast episodes on its platform with discussion of the virus. On Saturday, Rogan apologized again for using racial slurs after a montage video surfaced showing him repeatedly saying the N-word.
“We have been speaking to Joe Rogan and to his team about some of the content … of his shows, particularly his history of racially insensitive language, and Joe decided to take episodes off of our platform,” Ostroff said. She said Spotify does not have editorial control over “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast but that it supported this decision.
Spotify’s Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek said in a recent letter to staff seen by Reuters that he condemns racial slurs and other comments made by Rogan but would not be removing him from the platform.
The controversy marks the latest instance of a major tech company facing furor over its content moderation practices. Social media platforms such as Meta Platforms Inc’s (FB.O) Facebook, video sites like Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) YouTube and streaming service Netflix have all come under scrutiny over the material they allow on their services.
Ostroff called “the dilemma of moderation versus censorship” the biggest challenge facing “every single platform today.” She said there was no silver bullet but that Spotify’s team was always looking to see how it could do better.
She also urged advertisers to participate and help in the company’s evolution, saying “we really want to be able to be good partners.”
Spotify has invested over $1 billion in the podcasting business. Last week, it posted higher than expected fourth quarter revenue and reported 406 million active monthly users, up 18 percent from last year, though its subscriber forecasts for the current quarter came in lower than Wall Street estimates. read more
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Reporting by Elizabeth Culliford
Editing by Nick Zieminski
