Chinese trolls infuriated by loss to Taiwan in Olympic badminton gold medal match

Taiwan has taken the opportunity of winning Olympic badminton gold to subtly assert their nationhood, as Chinese nationalists vent their fury online.

Chinese Taipei's Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin beat Liu Yuchen and Li Junhui of China in the men's doubles badminton gold medal match on Saturday.

It was Chinese Taipei's first ever gold medal in badminton, one of the sports China is most dominant in.

China's state media reportedly cut off the broadcasting of the medal ceremony to avoid Taiwan's "National Flag Anthem", which has the same melody as the Taiwanese national anthem but different lyrics.

China claims the self-ruled island of Taiwan as their territory, so since the 1980s Taiwan's athletes have competed under the name of "Chinese Taipei" and the "Plum Blossom Banner" — a white flag that features the Olympic rings. 

In recent years, China has been ratcheting up the pressure for Taiwan to re-join the motherland or face "consequences."

The reaction to Saturday's gold medal badminton match on the Chinese social media platform Weibo was hostile and aggressive.

Some Chinese netizens criticized their own athletes, while others took shots at Taiwan.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-02/chinese-trolls-react-taiwan-beating-china-badminton/100342070

 

RISMedia Survey: 42% Say COVID Is Still Impacting Their Business

By Liz Dominguez

RISMedia surveyed nearly 500 real estate professionals to gauge the industry’s confidence level as it relates to the ongoing pandemic and emerging variants. While the majority of survey respondents (58%) say the pandemic is not currently affecting their business, a significant segment (42%) report otherwise.

As some regions revert back to indoor-mask wearing per new CDC guidelines, we may see a rise in business impact and a return to safety protocols. Many areas across the U.S. have continued implementing precautionary measures to help control the spread of the virus and keep both agents and consumers safe and comfortable.

By far, another wide-spread closure is what respondents fear the most, with 58% believing that Delta or other strains could reintroduce shutdowns or restrictions.

Despite these fears, brokers and agents agree that another “shutdown” would not halt real estate completely as industry professionals are now better equipped to handle COVID-related restrictions. In fact, 55% of survey respondents say they are “very” prepared to keep business operating virtually, with only 39% “somewhat” confident they can do so and 6% “not at all ready.”

https://rismedia.com/2021/08/02/rismedia-survey-covid-still-impacting-business/?utm_source=RISMedia&utm_campaign=577f17d7a8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_08_02_03_24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cfadcf5844-577f17d7a8-540976794

 

U.S. will not lock down despite surge driven by Delta variant, Fauci says

 

 Sarah N. Lynch

A sufficient percentage of Americans have now been vaccinated to avoid lockdowns, Fauci said on ABC's "This Week".

"Not enough to crush the outbreak, but I believe enough to not allow us to get into the situation we were in last winter," he said.

While vaccines remain scarce in much of the world, they are freely available to anyone 12 years or older in the United States, where cash prizes, new cars and other incentives have failed to motivate more than a third of the population to get immunized.

"We have 100 million people in this country who are eligible to be vaccinated who are not getting vaccinated," said Fauci, who is also director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Florida has one of the worst outbreaks in the nation, based on new cases per capita and has seen infections rise 50% week-over-week. However, Governor Ron DeSantis has blocked mask mandates in the state's schools, saying parents should decide.

"It just makes common sense in a community where the virus is spreading, and that's pretty much all of Florida right now, to do everything you can to prevent that, which includes mask wearing for kids in schools," Collins said.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fauci-predicts-us-will-not-return-lockdowns-despite-delta-variant-risks-2021-08-01/