Overworked, underpaid Brazil nurses risk lives to care for patients


AFP / Mauro PimentelNurse Hans Bossan puts on his PPE to go inside the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Doctor Ernesto Che Guevara Public Hospital, where patients infected with COVID-19 are being treated, in Marica, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, on June 6, 2020

Hans Bossan is 40 hours into his 72-hour work week, but despite his marathon nursing shifts and the pandemic claiming an alarming number of his colleagues' lives in Brazil, he barely looks tired.

Bossan works three jobs to provide for his wife and two-year-old daughter -- at two different hospitals and a mobile emergency unit.

Double and triple shifts like his are not unusual in Brazil, where the average salary for nurses, nursing assistants and health care technicians is just 3,000 reals ($600) a month for a 30- to 44-hour work week.

The coronavirus pandemic, which has thrust health care workers into the spotlight around the world, has in Brazil also highlighted the plight of nurses, who often face bad working conditions and are now getting sick and dying from COVID-19 at a startling rate.

"Nursing was always an overworked profession, and this pandemic has just made things worse," said Bossan, 41.

"We're highly undervalued. Nurses deal directly with patients, with the virus, we're on the front lines of the war. But not everyone realizes that," he told AFP at his home in a poor neighborhood on the eastern outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.

Nurses have been hit particularly hard as Brazil has become the latest epicenter in the pandemic, with 39,680 deaths, behind only the United States and Britain.

Around 18,000 nurses in Brazil have been infected with COVID-19, and at least 181 have died -- among the highest numbers in the world, according to the International Council of Nurses.



AFP / Mauro PimentelHealth professionals check a patient infected with COVID-19 at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Doctor Ernesto Che Guevara Public Hospital in Marica, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, on June 6, 2020


Last month, nurses protested in the capital, Brasilia, against the poor working conditions they blame for contributing to their colleagues' deaths.


Brazil accounts for nearly one-third of the 600 deaths among nurses and other health professionals registered worldwide by the International Council of Nurses, though the organization says many countries are not doing enough to track the real number.


- 'Anxiety and depression' -


More than 80 percent of Brazil's 2.3 million nurses are women.


Often they work double and triple shifts caring for patients and then go home to care for their own families -- now with the added worry of infecting them.


"It's a time of great anxiety and depression" for the profession, said Nadia Mattos, vice president of Brazil's Federal Nursing Council (Cofen).







AFP / Mauro PimentelNurse Hans Bossan plays with his daughter after his shift at one of his three jobs assisting patients infected with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), at their house in Sao Goncalo, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, on June 3, 2020

When the initial flood of cases hit Brazil's hospitals, health care workers faced shortages of protective equipment and inadequate training on dealing with the new virus, she said.

Although the situation has improved with time, "we're still getting lots of complaints about lack of protective gear or low-quality equipment," she said.

The council has set up virtual psychological counseling for nurses, available 24 hours a day.

The group has also pushed for years for nurses' minimum salary to be increased to $1,200 a month, double the current average.

- Heroes without capes -

One of Bossan's jobs is in the intensive care unit at Che Guevara Hospital in Marica, about 60 kilometers (35 miles) outside Rio.

Working behind a face shield with a mask underneath, he monitored the constantly beeping machines helping to keep his patients alive.

One of them, 56-year-old Eliane Lima, thanked her health care team from behind her oxygen mask.


AFP / Mauro Pimentel(L-R) Amanda, Claudia, Hans Bossan, Tatiana and Erika, of the nurse team of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Doctor Ernesto Che Guevara Public Hospital, where patients infected with COVID-19 are being treated, pose for a portrait, in Brazil

"The doctors and nurses are excellent here. They take care of us with a lot of love. It's badly needed in a place like this," she said.

Outside, in the semi-intensive care ward, nurse technician Flavia Menezes summed up her profession thus: "It's the art of caring for people."

"Not all heroes wear capes," she added.

Frankfurt wear 'Black Lives Matter' logo on shirts in German Cup semi
 

POOL/AFP / Kai PFAFFENBACH

Eintracht Frankfurt defender Martin Hinteregger wears a shirt referencing the Black Lives Matter movement prior to the German Cup semi-final against Bayern Munich

Eintracht Frankfurt wore playing shirts supporting the Black Lives Matter movement in Wednesday's German Cup semi-final, while opponents Bayern Munich warmed up in T-shirts bearing the same anti-racism message.

"Our team and the whole of Eintracht Frankfurt are united against all forms of racism and we want to show that publicly today," explained Frankfurt director Fredi Bobic before kick-off behind closed doors.

Frankfurt's shirts bearing the logo "#BlackLivesMatter" is the latest sign of solidarity from the Bundesliga in the wake of the death of black American George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a fortnight ago at the hands of police.

The Bayern team warmed-up before their home semi-final in white T-shirts bearing the #BlackLivesMatter logo and "Rot Gegen Rassismus" (Red against Racism), referring to their famous playing strip.

The corner flags at Bayern's Allianz Arena also carried the same messages.

Borussia Dortmund also wore warm-up T-Shirts showing solidarity for the protests, which have taken place in cities across the US and around the world, before their league match last weekend.

They were among the Bundesliga clubs who also knelt on one knee before kick-off in their league matches at the weekend.

Floyd, who was buried on Monday, died when a policeman kneeled on his neck in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the end of May and his death, caught on video, sparked waves of protests.

US Soccer repeals anthem kneeling ban: official

GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP / Kevin C. Cox

The US Soccer Federation has overturned a rule requiring players to stand during the US national anthem which had been introduced after Megan Rapinoe took a knee in 2016

The United States Soccer Federation said Wednesday it has scrapped a controversial policy banning players from kneeling during the national anthem.

In a statement, US Soccer said the rule introduced in 2017 was wrong, and reflected a failure of the federation to address the concerns of black people and minorities.

The USSF rule mandating that players must "stand respectfully" during the national anthem was introduced three years ago.

It came after US women's team star Megan Rapinoe knelt during the anthem at a 2016 international in a gesture of solidarity with former NFL star Colin Kaepernick.

"It has become clear that this policy was wrong and detracted from the important message of Black Lives Matter," the USSF said Wednesday as it announced the rule had been repealed.

"We have not done enough to listen - especially to our players - to understand and acknowledge the very real and meaningful experiences of Black and other minority communities in our country.

"We apologize to our players - especially our Black players - staff, fans, and all who support eradicating racism.

"Sports are a powerful platform for good, and we have not used our platform as effectively as we should have. We can do more on these specific issues and we will."

The USSF had faced mounting pressure to review the no-kneeling policy on the heels of nationwide protests which have swept through the United States following the death in police custody of unarmed black man George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25.

On Monday, the powerful United States Women's National Team Players Association had called on the USSF to repeal its policy and issue an apology.

Kaepernick's take-a-knee protest has become an emblematic expression of solidarity adopted during demonstrations which have rippled across the globe.

Kaepernick had begun kneeling during the anthem in August 2016 in order to draw attention to racial injustice following the deaths of several unarmed black men during confrontations with police.

He was later released by the San Francisco 49ers in early 2017 and has not played a minute in the NFL since.

US Soccer meanwhile said it would now allow its players to protest as they see fit.

"It should be, and will be going forward, up to our players to determine how they can best use their platforms to fight all forms of racism, discrimination, and inequality," the federation said.

"We are here for our players and are ready to support them in elevating their efforts to achieve social justice.

"We cannot change the past, but we can make a difference in the future. We are committed to this change effort, and we will be implementing supporting actions in the near future."

11JUN2020 

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-us-womens-national-team-is_11.html

Ancient eye-popping martial art gains popularity in modern Vietnam
WILL THEY BECOMING TO THE MMA

AFP / Manan VATSYAYANALe Van Thang, 28, student of the centuries-old martial art of Thien Mon Dao, bends a construction rebar against his eye socket inside the Bach Linh temple compound at Du Xa Thuong village in Hanoi

In a sunny temple courtyard in Vietnam, Le Van Thang pushes an iron rod hard against his eye socket and tries to make it bend -- his dizzying strength honed through years of practising centuries-old martial art Thien Mon Dao.

Thang, 28, is one of an increasing number of Vietnamese to find refuge in a sport that grew out of a need to protect the country from invaders, but now offers a route to mental wellbeing in the rapidly changing Communist nation.

Practitioners of Thien Mon Dao have long taken pride in the incredible shows of strength that form part of their routines.

The eye-popping feats include bending metal against their bodies, carrying heavy objects using their throats and lying under the path of motorbikes.

AFP / Manan VATSYAYANAA spectator touches an iron bar bent around the head of a student of the centuries-old martial art of Thien Mon Dao at the Hoan Kiem lake in Hanoi

Now many say they also take pleasure from how the sport -- which includes elements of self-defence, kung fu and weapons training -- has steered them on a new course.

Thang, a furniture seller who first began practising eight years ago, said he used to get into fights in high school and was also a gambler.

"Once I stole money from my family but after that, I was brought to Thien Mon Dao by my family and I changed," he told AFP.

"There are so many benefits: I learned how to express my ideas, how to walk properly and behave."

AFP / Manan VATSYAYANAThien Mon Dao martial arts students practise inside the Bach Linh temple compound at Du Xa Thuong village in Hanoi

Thien Mon Dao has roots going back to the 10th century, according to master Nguyen Khac Phan, whose school trains in the complex of an ornate temple on the outskirts of Hanoi. But he says the first official practice of the sport was recorded in the 18th century.

In recent years it's seen a surge in popularity, he adds, with up to three new clubs set up in the capital each year.

Vietnam currently has around 30,000 Thien Mon Dao practitioners across the country, Phan estimates, with occasional public performances helping boost the sport's appeal.

AFP / Manan VATSYAYANAMaster Nguyen Khac Phan (front) leads students through a training class in centuries-old martial art Thien Mon Dao inside the Bach Linh temple compound at Du Xa Thuong village in Hanoi

"People come for different purposes but mostly they want to improve their health and mental health," added Phan, who has been teaching the sport since the early 1990s.

"Learning martial arts can help people see life in a better way, improve their strength... give up their mistakes to aim for better things," he said.

From tiny children who have barely started school to people in their eighties, Thien Mon Dao embraces anyone who wants to kick their way up through 18 different levels and seven belts.

Sixteen-year-old Vu Thi Ngoc Diep, one of around 10 women training at the temple compound, said the sport had also given her a way to fight gender stereotypes.

"Southeast Asian people think that girls should be gentle and not suitable for learning martial arts," she said. "But I see it differently."

Ex-head of track and field says hid doping cases to help sport's finances

CRIMINAL CAPITALISM
THE OLYMPICS &THE OLIGARCHS

AFP / Thomas SAMSON

Lamine Diack is accused of hiding Russian doping tests in return for payments totalling millions of dollars

The former head of global track and field, Lamine Diack, told his corruption trial on Thursday he had agreed to delay and stagger bans for Russian athletes caught doping for the sake of the sport's "financial health".

But Diack, who headed the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for 16 years, denied he had known officials from his federation had directly or indirectly asked Russian athletes for hundreds of thousands of euros to hush up their cases.

Diack, an 87-year-old Senegalese, told a court in Paris it was his decision to delay bans after 23 Russian athletes failed tests in 2011.

"It was mainly for the financial health of the IAAF," he said.

"The financial health of the IAAF had to be safeguarded and I was prepared to make that compromise."

Diack has admitted that doping bans were delayed in order to allow Russian athletes to compete in the 2012 London Olympics and the world championships in Moscow the following year.

The aim was to prevent the cases derailing talks with prospective Russian sponsors including state-owned bank VTB and the RTR broadcaster.

Diack, who was once one of the most powerful leaders in Olympic sport, is being tried for corruption, money laundering and breach of trust. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

French prosecutors say Diack directly or indirectly demanded 3.45 million euros ($3.9 million) from Russian athletes in order to have their names cleared in an illicit system known as "full protection".
The delay in imposing bans allowed some of the Russians to win medals at the London Olympics.

- Son 'behaved like a thug' -

Diack denied being aware that Russian athletes, including runner Liliya Shobukhova, had been asked to pay hundreds of thousands of euros to benefit from the protection.

German broadcaster ARD has revealed that Shobukhova paid 450,000 euros, allegedly to have her blood passport case delayed in order to compete in the London Olympic marathon.

Diack told the court he had been "flabbergasted" to learn from prosecutors that his son Papa Massata Diack had got involved in the doping cases. He said that if what the prosecutors had told him was true, "(Massata Diack) behaved like a thug".

Massata Diack, who worked as a marketing consultant for the IAAF, is among the co-accused but will not appear at the trial. Despite two international arrest warrants issued by France, the Senegalese authorities have refused to extradite him.

Prosecutors also allege that Diack senior obtained $1.5 million from Russia to help fund Macky Sall's successful campaign for the 2012 Senegal presidential election in return for the doping cover-up.

Diack though said that when he visited Moscow in 2011 to receive an award from then-Russian president Dmitri Medvedev, "(the Russians) asked if I wanted to be a candidate" in the election.

He admitted however that the sum of $1.5 million had been mentioned in discussions with the Russian sports minister at the time, Vitaly Mutko, without giving further details.

Also on trial are the IAAF's former anti-doping chief Gabriel Dolle, who is accused of accepting bribes, and Diack senior's legal advisor Habib Cisse, suspected of acting as an intermediary between the federation and Russian track and field authorities.

Two other defendants are absent from the trial.

Valentin Balakhnichev, a former top Russian track and field official and IAAF treasurer, is accused of "giving and receiving bribes" and "aggravated money-laundering".

Alexei Melnikov, formerly Russia's chief distance running coach, is accused of "receiving bribes".

A DIFFICULT HOMECOMING FOR THAILAND'S ELEPHANTS

ARTIST CREATES SOCIAL DISTANCING HATS

FRENCH HEALTH CARE WORKERS PROTEST

Medical personnel from the Robert Debre hospital wear masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus holding a placard that reads, 'there are no magic medics' as they stage a protest in Paris, Thursday, June 11, 2020. French nurses and doctors demand better pay and a rethink of a once-renowned public health system that found itself quickly overwhelmed by tens of thousands of virus patients. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

For George Floyd, a complicated life and a notorious death

By LUIS ANDRES HENAO, NOMAAN MERCHANT, JUAN LOZANO and ADAM GELLER


HOUSTON (AP) — Years before a bystander’s video of George Floyd’s last moments turned his name into a global cry for justice, Floyd trained a camera on himself.

“I just want to speak to you all real quick,” Floyd says in one video, addressing the young men in his neighborhood who looked up to him. His 6-foot-7 frame crowds the picture.

“I’ve got my shortcomings and my flaws and I ain’t better than nobody else,” he says. “But, man, the shootings that’s going on, I don’t care what ’hood you’re from, where you’re at, man. I love you and God loves you. Put them guns down.”



At the time, Floyd was respected as a man who spoke from hard, but hardly extraordinary, experience. He had nothing remotely like the stature he has gained in death, embraced as a universal symbol of the need to overhaul policing and held up as a heroic everyman.

But the reality of his 46 years on Earth, including sharp edges and setbacks Floyd himself acknowledged, was both much fuller and more complicated.

Once a star athlete with dreams of turning pro and enough talent to win a partial scholarship, Floyd returned home only to bounce between jobs before serving nearly five years in prison. Intensely proud of his roots in Houston’s Third Ward and admired as a mentor in a public housing project beset by poverty, he decided the only way forward was to leave it behind.

“He had made some mistakes that cost him some years of his life,” said Ronnie Lillard, a friend and rapper who performs under the name Reconcile. “And when he got out of that, I think the Lord greatly impacted his heart.”

FEATURE ARTICLE LONG READ THIS IS AN EXCERPT
https://apnews.com/a55d2662f200ead0da4fed9e923b60a7
READ ON 

Minneapolis police chief takes on union, promises change

COP UNIONS ARE CALLED FAKE, RAT OR YELLOW UNIONS NOT RECOGNIZED BY PRIVATE OR PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS, FEDERATIONS, OR LABOUR COUNCILS

THEY ARE ASSOCIATIONS, FRATERNAL ORDERS SET UP BY WHITE COPS FOR WHITE COPS, BENEFITS LIKE AN INSURANCE COMPANY. BLACK COPS HAVE TO FORM THEIR OWN ASSOCIATIONS OR UNIONS. 

COP UNIONS ARE MOB UNIONS IN UNIFORM.

By STEVE KARNOWSKI and AMY FORLITI

1 of 8
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo listens to a question from the media where he discussed police reforms, Wednesday, June 10, 2020 in Minneapolis. The meeting follows the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in police custody after video shared online by a bystander showed former officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck during his arrest as he pleaded that he couldn't breathe. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minneapolis Police Department will withdraw from police union contract negotiations, Chief Medaria Arradondo said Wednesday, as he announced initial steps in what he said would be transformational reforms to the agency in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

Faced with calls from activists and a majority of City Council members to dismantle or defund the department, Arradondo also said he would use a new system to identify problem officers early and intervene.

“We will have a police department that our communities view as legitimate, trusting and working with their best interests at heart,” he said at a news conference more than two weeks after Floyd died after a white officer pressed his knee into the handcuffed black man’s neck even after he stopped moving and pleading for air.

MORE STORIES:
– For George Floyd, a complicated life and a notorious death
– `He is going to change the world': Funeral held for Floyd
– Were they worth it?: Key protest movements over the decades

Activists have pointed to racial inequities and brutality, as well as a system that rarely disciplines problem officers. The officer who had his knee on Floyd’s neck, Derek Chauvin, had 17 complaints against him and had been disciplined only once.

Arradondo said “taking a deliberate pause” to review the union contract is the first step toward change. He said it’s debilitating for a chief when an officer does something that calls for termination, but the union works to keep that person on the job.



Advisers will look for ways to restructure the contract to provide more transparency and flexibility, he said. The review will look at critical incident protocols, use of force, and disciplinary protocols, including grievances and arbitration, among other things.

“This work must be transformational, but I must do it right,” Arradondo said.

The union’s contract expired on Dec. 31 but remains in effect until there is a new one. Talks began in October and eventually included a state mediator; the last discussion was in early March, when the coronavirus led to talks breaking off.

Union President Bob Kroll didn’t immediately return messages.

Arradondo sidestepped a question about whether he thought Kroll, often seen as an obstacle to changes, should step down. He also didn’t directly answer a question about whether residents should worry about a slowdown in police response time as a pushback against attempts to transform the department. Some City Council members have said in the past that their wards saw such slowdowns when they complained about police action.

Full Coverage: Death of George Floyd

In an interview later, Arradondo said it’s up to the union’s members to decide whether Kroll should resign. But he said he hopes the union leadership takes to heart “the fierce urgency of now.” He said he doesn’t believe rank-and-file officers are an obstacle to change. He also said citizens “should not be concerned or worried” about any slowdown in service.

“Our men and women continue to show up,” he said. “They’re showing up on their shifts. They’re showing up out there in the community. They’re answering the calls.”]

Arradondo fired the four officers who were at the scene of the encounter with Floyd the day after his death. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter, and the other three officers are charged with aiding and abetting.

One of those officers, Thomas Lane, posted bail of $750,000 and was released Wednesday with conditions. Chauvin, J. Kueng and Tou Thao remained in custody.

Arradondo’s predecessor, Janee Harteau, and Mayor Jacob Frey are among those who have complained that the police union is a roadblock to change. Frey, who praised Arradondo’s announcement, said this week that the city has difficulty terminating and disciplining officers because of the union. Bob Bennett, an attorney who has sued the department many times over police misconduct allegations, has said that the union has more sway over police conduct than chiefs do.

While a majority of City Council members called for dismantling the department, they provided no clear plan on how that would happen. Frey has said he would not support abolishing the department.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who is prosecuting the four officers, told The Associated Press in an interview earlier Wednesday that he’s not calling for dismantling or defunding the department but that the people who are “should be listened to rather than dismissed.”
He said it was fair to question whether community groups that fight against gun violence should get more money, for example, and whether schools with officers should also have more nurses and counselors

“Nobody’s saying defund safety,” Ellison said. “What they’re doing is they’re challenging the 19th, 20th century model of how we deliver safety ... how it’s not really working very well and coming up with alternatives.”
Arradondo, the city’s first African American police chief, joined the Minneapolis Police Department in 1989 as a patrol officer, working his way up to precinct inspector and head of the Internal Affairs Unit, which investigates officer misconduct allegations. Along the way, he and four other black officers successfully sued the department for discrimination in promotions, pay and discipline.

He was promoted to assistant chief in early 2017, then became chief later that year, after Harteau was fired for the way she handled the fatal police shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, an Australian native who had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault behind her home.

Many hoped Arradondo could alter the culture of a department that critics said too frequently used excessive force and discriminated against people of color. Arradondo made some quick changes, including toughening the department’s policy on use of body cameras. But critics have said more needs to be done.