Gun deaths were leading cause of children’s deaths in 2020 – National & International News – MON 25Apr2022

Gun deaths leading cause of children’s deaths in 2020. Reports: Twitter nears deal to sell to Elon Musk. No end in sight for COVID lockdowns in China.

NATIONAL NEWS

Gun deaths were leading cause of children’s deaths in 2020

According to a new CDC report, shootings surpassed car crashes to become the leading killer of children and teens in 2020. That year, over 4,300 young people died of gunshot wounds. Most were a result of homicide, though suicides also contributed.

This was part of an overall trend in 2020, during which gun-related homicides rose among the general population by 33.4%, while gun-related suicides rose 1.1%. But the rate of all types of firearm-related deaths among Americans under 19 rose by 29.5%, twice the rate of the general population.

The report states that the reasons for the overall increase in gun deaths are “unclear”, and that, “It cannot be assumed that firearm-related mortality will later revert to pre-pandemic levels”. American civilians own nearly 390 million firearms, and just under 3% of US adults (7.5 million) became first-time gun owners during the pandemic.

However, the fastest-growing cause of death among young people in 2020 was drug overdoses and poisonings. Between 2019 and 2020, overdose and poisoning deaths among young people rose by 83.6%, with 492 deaths in 2019 and 954 in 2020.

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Reports: Twitter nears deal to sell to Elon Musk

Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, SpaceX and possibly the world’s wealthiest person, may soon have another major enterprise to his name. Earlier this month, Musk began quietly buying up stock in Twitter, eventually becoming the largest single shareholder with a 9% stake. Musk is an avid user of Twitter and has a large following.

Using his stake as leverage, Musk began pushing for major operational changes to the platform. After refusing a seat on Twitter’s board, it looks as though Musk is ready to buy them out. He’s apparently lined up $46.5 billion in financing and wants to buy up all the stock he doesn’t already own at $54.20 per share.

Musk’s offer to buy one of the world’s largest social media platforms has raised concern and controversy. Twitter has already faced a lot of criticism in recent years. Some say the platform’s regulation of speech and user content goes too far and amounts to censorship. Others charge that the platform doesn’t do enough to curb harassment, bullying and hate speech. Musk says he hopes to “unlock” Twitter’s “extraordinary potential” as “the platform for free speech around the globe”. Among other things, Musk recently proposed relaxing the platform’s content restrictions, possibly including the ban on former President Trump. While some may welcome the change, others fear Musk will simply use Twitter as a platform for self-promotion.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

No end in sight for COVID lockdowns in China

After nearly a month, Shanghai’s hard lockdown is continuing to intensify. Residents are now reporting that green metal gates are going up around their homes without explanation. The purpose of the gates seems to be to further restrict the movements of people living in complexes where a resident has tested positive for the virus. Partitions have also gone up separating different parts of the city of 25 million.

The lockdown was initially to last about 5 days to contain spread of the virus. But the city is still reporting a high number of daily cases, over 21,000 on Sunday. The entire city is undergoing compulsory testing.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government is trying to suppress a video that’s gone viral on social media in recent days. It contains audio clips of residents complaining about lockdown conditions, including a lack of food and medical attention.

In Beijing, a city of 21 million, fears a lockdown may be on the horizon has sparked panic buying.

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