DESPICABLE ME
Unpopular New Zealand health minister quits after COVID lapse
Issued on: 02/07/2020

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (L) said the minister's presence had become a distraction. He had also been accused of blaming top health official Ashley Bloomfield (R) Marty MELVILLE AFP/

Wellington (AFP)

New Zealand's health minister resigned Thursday after a public backlash over his breach of lockdown and his criticism of the civil servant responsible for the country's world-leading coronavirus response.

Outgoing minister David Clark was already under a cloud after breaking lockdown in April and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who faces an election in September, admitted his presence had become a distraction.

"It's essential our health leadership has the confidence of the New Zealand public," she said.


"As David has said to me, the needs of the team must come before him as an individual."

Clark described himself as "an idiot" in April after admitting he breached strict lockdown orders by taking a 20-kilometre (12-mile) drive to the beach with his family.

He kept his job but was kept out of the public eye, with health department director-general Ashley Bloomfield appearing alongside Ardern to give daily updates on the coronavirus crisis.

As the success of New Zealand's response became apparent -- it has recorded only 22 deaths in a population of five million -- the bespectacled Bloomfield became wildly popular, with fans printing his face on tea towels and posting tributes on social media.

It meant there was public anger when Clark criticised Bloomfield for a series of mistakes linked to border quarantine and footage went viral of the minister admonishing his subordinate as the civil servant stood by looking crestfallen.

Critics said it was "like kicking a puppy" and accused Clark of throwing Bloomfield "under a bus".

Announcing his resignation, Clark insisted he had a warm relationship with Bloomfield and singled him out for praise.

"He is an exceptional public servant," Clark told reporters.

"Thank you Ashley and your team for the extraordinary work you have done for our country during our most serious health crisis in a century."

Clark denied he was pushed from his ministerial position ahead of the September 19 election, saying he only stayed on after breaking lockdown because he did not want to leave in the midst of a health emergency.

"Now that we're on a stable footing, it feels appropriate to let someone else take the reins," he said.

Ardern said Education Minister Chris Hipkins would handle the health portfolio until the election.

If the government is re-elected, Ardern did not rule out another ministerial role for Clark, who plans to stay in parliament.

Uruguay rides out COVID threat without imposing a lockdown

Issued on: 02/07/2020 -

Women jog along the seafront of Uruguay's capital Montevideo, where government strategy has kept the coronavirus pandemic under control Mariana SUAREZ AFP/File
Montevideo (AFP)

Uruguay's president was recently photographed surfing in the early morning ahead of a cabinet meeting, symbolizing his government's relief that a policy of "freedom with responsibility" in containing the COVID-19 pandemic is succeeding.

Photos of 47-year-old Luis Lacalle Pou emerging from the South Atlantic in a wetsuit with a board under his arm and a smile on his lips hit the newsstands on Tuesday, as Europe reopened its borders to 15 countries.

The list included only one Latin American country: Uruguay.

With less than 1,000 registered novel coronavirus cases and just 27 deaths, the country of 3.4 million is a notable exception in a region that has become the epicenter of the global health crisis.

Uruguay currently has just 83 active cases, while its giant neighbor Brazil is the world's worst-hit country after the United States.

This success is especially remarkable as there never was an official lockdown.

- Closures, but no lockdown -

Instead, amid industry furloughs and school and border closures, officials urged people to stay indoors and strictly adhere to social distancing.

The message was drilled home in the media and by police helicopters flying overhead.

The center-right president, who took office in early March as the pandemic was heating up, has said he opted for "individual freedom" rather than "a police regime."

The calls for self-isolation were widely followed.

Infectious diseases specialist Alvaro Galiana attributes Uruguay's success to early tracing.

"The early appearance of well known cases, at a time when the circulation of the virus within the population was very limited, led to adequate measures being implemented -- even if at the time they seemed exaggerated -- right at the start of the school year," Galiana said, referring to the southern hemisphere's school year.

Uruguay's demographics were also in its favor, given a low population density and the absence of large urban centers outside of the capital Montevideo.

- Gradual easing -

Uruguay chose to ease back to normal gradually, beginning in April with the return of 45,000 construction workers. Later, cafes and restaurants reopened, followed by gyms in May.

Shopping centers reopened in mid-June and football, the national passion, is due to resume on August 15, though in empty stadiums.

The economic shock however has been considerable: 200,000 people are unemployed, a massive spike from the 10,000 at the start of the pandemic. Exports fell 16 percent in the first half of the year, and GDP is expected to fall by 3.0 percent this year.

The IMF is forecasting a 9.4 percent contraction for all of Latin America this year.

The government is also relaxing requirements in a bid to attract foreign investment.

This week, Uruguay became the first country in the region to allow schools, colleges and universities to reopen.

The government however is refusing to declare victory, fearing flare-ups or even a second wave. Meanwhile, after three months of voluntary confinement, Uruguayans are easing back into a semblance of normality.

In February work started on the first tests to screen for the virus, said Henry Cohen, a specialist on the government's COVID-19 advisory board. "Today we have more than the country needs," he said.

Spanish carrier Iberia is to resume direct flights between Madrid and Montevideo on Sunday, though land borders with Brazil and Argentina remain closed.

Facundo Caballero, 29, has been waiting to join his girlfriend in Europe since his flight to Paris was canceled in March.

"I've been waiting for someone to tell me 'go ahead' and I'll go for it. You never know if there is a second wave and I have to stay here longer," he said.

© 2020 AFP

3D-printed fake meat: The healthier, greener future of food?

Issued on: 01/07/2020 - 

Text by:FRANCE 24
Video by:Sam BALL AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE 

Israeli firm Redefine Meat is using 3D printing technology to produce plant-based steaks designed to mimic real meat and plans to start selling them in restaurants later this year. With a handful of other firms working on similar technology, could 3D-printed meat soon provide a healthier and greener alternative to the real thing?

The process used by Redefine sees protein taken from plants that are then built up in layers by a 3D printer to produce an entirely plant-based steak.

"We analyse the different components that make those beautiful cuts and try to figure out which are the key components that we need to mimic in order to achieve those beautiful cuts of meat,” Redefine Meat food engineer Alexey Tomsov told Reuters.

“We identified three main components: the muscle, the blood and the fat. These are the components that we need to mimic on order to reach the perfect, beautiful steak."

In Spain, a company called Novameat has begun producing its own version of a plant-based 3D-printed steak and also makes a pork-style product.


Meanwhile, another Israeli company, MeaTech 3D, is using lab-grown meat in its 3D-printed steaks.

These companies say their products are not only healthier, as they are lower in cholesterol, but also much better for the environment than meat produced by farming, which has been highlighted by the UN as a major contributor to climate change, in part through the methane emitted by cattle.

“Our technology can create whole-muscle cuts just as a cow can produce that but in a much more efficient way, with a lower cost and, of course, it's much better for the environment,” Redefine Meat CEO Eshchar Ben-Shitrit told Reuters.

“This is the biggest problem we face today as humanity and this is the best way to fight climate change, to deliver healthier solutions and food to the entire population of the planet."

Meat-alternative products are already growing in popularity in many countries across the world and their share of the market is predicted to be worth €7.2 billion ($8.1bn) by 2026, according to figures from Fortune Business Insights.

But Redefine Meat and others claim the 3D printing process can better recreate the taste and texture of real meat, while reducing costs once the technology is scaled up.

“We can do the entire cow, not only one part of the cow. Steaks, roast, slow-cooking, grilling, everything that an animal can do we want to do the same or even better,” said Ben-Shitrit.

“We want to work with more and more chefs around the world, more and more big distributors, and we don't see a reason that this cannot be on the table of everybody in every country around the world."

China: Uighur women reportedly sterilized in attempt to suppress population
Two Uighur majority counties in Xinjiang province reportedly planned to sterilize between 14% and 34% of women aged between 18 and 49. Politicians around the world are calling on the UN to investigate the claims.

Several countries have this week condemned China over reports it systematically and forcibly sterilized Uighur minority women in Xinjiang province.

Investigations by German researcher Adrian Zenz and the Associated Press found that China is trying to slash the birth rate in the oppressed region through pregnancy checks, forced acceptance of intrauterine devices, compulsory sterilization and even abortion for hundreds of thousands of women.

The report found that Uighur women are threatened with mass detention and large fines, with many women imprisoned for the crime of having more than two children.

Read more: Exclusive: China's systematic tracking, arrests of Uighurs exposed in new Xinjiang leak

'Cut out our organs'

Zumret Dawut spent two months in a detention camp in Xinjiang where she was forcibly sterilized along with other Uighur women in her area.

"We lost a part of our body, we lost our identity as women. We will never be able to have children again," she told the Associated Press. "They cut out one of our organs. It's gone."

ulnar Omirzakh avoided detention by paying a huge fine for having three children and accepting an IUD birth control implant.

"They give shots and remove fetuses forcefully. They won't ask the spouse's permission or anyone else," she said. "If they say it's illegal, they make you get an abortion. Those who didn't obey were sent to the camps. Now people are terrified of giving birth."

DW's Sandra Petersmann, who has reported extensively on the plight of the Uighurs, said the reports were credible.

"It is true that surveillance in Xinjiang is all encompassing. And it is also true that China certainly wants to reduce fertility rates by locking people up, especially the young sexually active generations and by birth control," Petersmann said.

"Most people in the camps have to repent for having 'too many children.' We have spoken to women who told us about sexual violence and birth control."

Read more: Exclusive: New evidence of China's arbitrary oppression of the Uighurs

Falling birth rate

The population control measures led to a massive drop in birth rates in the mostly Uighur regions of Hotan and Kashgar, falling by more than 60% from 2015 to 2018, AP found, citing the latest available government statistics. Across the whole Xinjiang region, birth rates fell by nearly 24% in just 2019 compared to just 4.2% nationwide, it found.

Researcher Zenz said: "Populations that do not grow as quickly and rapidly are easier to control as part of Beijing's coercive social reengineering strategy in the area."

The birth suppression has been combined with an influx of Han Chinese migrants to the region, Zenz found.


AP found that Han Chinese people in the region were not subject to the same regime.

China denied the reports, with Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian saying "some institutions are bent on cooking up disinformation on Xinjiang-related issues. ... Their allegations are simply groundless and false."

"The media report is purely for ulterior motives and baseless. I also want to emphasize that ethnic minorities and Han people need to act in accordance with the law."

Read more: DW interview: Uighur woman remains 'unfree' despite release from re-education camp

Global response

A group of politicians from Europe, Australia, North America and Japan called on the United Nations to launch an independent inquiry in relation to the claims.

The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China said in a statement: "The world cannot remain silent in the face of unfolding atrocities. Our countries are bound by solemn obligations to prevent and punish any effort to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group 'in whole or in part.'"

"Our governments must now support a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly to establish an international, impartial, independent investigation into the situation in the Xinjiang region; must act to ensure that the appropriate legal determinations regarding the nature of alleged atrocities can be made; and must spare no effort in pursuing rapid and decisive political action to prevent the further suffering of the Uyghur people and other minorities in China."

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom called for a joint UN and State Department investigation, saying the campaign "might meet the legal criteria for genocide."

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in a statement: "We call on the Chinese Communist Party to immediately end these horrific practices."

The US Commerce Department on Wednesday warned US companies about maintaining supply chains associated with human rights abuses in China's western Xinjiang province.

Reinhard Bütikofer, Chair of the China-Delegation in the European Parliament and foreign affairs spokesperson for the Greens/EFA group said in a statement: "The European Parliament condemned the massive detention of Uyghurs in political 're-education camps' in Xinjiang in its resolution of 19 December 2019 in response to the revelation in the China-Cables. The new findings underline the urgent need of an independent investigation of the situation and the need of a sanction regime for human rights violations."

aw/rs (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)

Germany to raise minimum wage despite pandemicMinimum-wage workers in Germany are set to see their incomes grow by nearly 12% percent by 2022, an official committee announced. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the minimum wage "must not fall behind," one minister said.


Germany's minimum wage will be raised over several stages, officials announced on Tuesday, eventually amounting to €10.45 ($11.74) per hour by mid-2022.

The talks on raising the minimum wage in Germany were "partly controversial" as members of the country's official commission wrangled over the sum, said commission head Jan Zilius.

However, after prolonging the talks and canceling one press conference last minute, the representatives of both employers and workers' unions unanimously agreed to boost the minimum wage from the current €9.35 to €10.45 by July 2022.

The minimum wage will be gradually increased over four stages, with the first bump set to take place in January 2021.

German Labor Minister Hubertus Heil said the government would implement the recommendation.

Read more: EU launches 'fair minimum wage' initiative

With the German economy reeling under the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, many employers have warned that raising the minimum wage too much would make it harder to hire people during the recovery phase.

The economy council of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU party described it as a "millstone" for the business, according to a report published by the newspapers of the Funke media group.

In turn, workers' representatives said the raise would give boost to spending among some two people in the lowest income bracket. Following the Tuesday decision, the opposition Left and Green parties said the increase was too small.

Read more: Germany's minimum wage spurred productivity, but hit small firms

Germany's 'success story'

Labor Minister Heil, however, said there will be more minimum wage reforms coming this fall.

"The minimum wage must not fall behind," said the politician from the left-leaning SPD party, which is the junior partner in Merkel's ruling coalition.

Germany only introduced the minimum wage regulation in 2015. On Tuesday, Heil said it has been a "success story, that needs to keep being written" and that the state should work towards bringing it closer to €12 per hour.

The upcoming raise is set to be implemented in four stages, with the first increase set for January next year.

dj/rs (KNA, Reuters, dpa)

Montenegro: Parliament legalizes same-sex civil partnerships
Montenegro is the first European country outside of Western Europe and the EU to legally recognize same-sex couples. President Milo Djukanovic said it was a confirmation that Montenegrin society "is maturing."

The Balkan nation of Montenegro legalized same-sex partnerships on Wednesday. President Milo Djukanovic described the moment as "one step closer to joining the most developed world democracies."

Montenegro is considered a predominantly conservative and male-dominated society, where the LGBT+ community has often faced rejection and harassment.

But the country's government is currently undergoing advanced negotiations to join the EU. Boosting the rights of minority groups has been seen as necessary for the EU integration process.

The move makes Montenegro the first European country outside of Western Europe and the EU to legally recognize same-sex partnerships.

Read more: Balkan LGBT+ artists still fighting for Pride

Djukanovic said on Twitter that legalizing same-sex partnerships was "a confirmation that our society is maturing, accepting and living the differences. Born free and equal in dignity and rights!"


The law, which would give same-sex couples the same legal rights as heterosexual ones except over child adoption, passed Montenegro's 81-seat legislature by a margin of 42 votes to five.

"This is a huge leap in the right direction for the Montenegrin society," Prime Minister Dusko Markovic said. "In a European Montenegro, there is not and there should not be any room for sexual discrimination," Markovic added.

Most members of parliament who opposed the bill chose not to vote on it and described same-sex civil partnerships as something imposed by "global world Satanists."

LGBT Forum Progress group said the law had "unspeakably tremendous importance for all LGBT persons in Montenegro."

"I honestly I wasn't expecting it," said John Barac, executive director of LGBT Forum Progress. "It's really extraordinary; it's a big day for all of us."

jcg/sms (Reuters, AP, dpa)

European human rights court condemns France for treatment of asylum-seekers

The asylum-seekers from Russia, Iran and Afghanistan filed a complaint after spending months sleeping rough. The ECHR ordered France to pay damages, saying the men suffered "degrading treatment."


The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday ordered France to pay compensation to three asylum-seekers who spent months sleeping on the street without any financial support.

The court noted that the applicants, all single men, waited months for acknowledgement that they had lodged asylum claims. Without this recognition, they were not able to access housing or welfare payments, and were at risk of deportation.

The court heard how one of them, a 46-year-old Iranian journalist, lived on the streets for almost six months before being granted refugee status. Another applicant, a 27-year-old Afghan national, was ultimately granted humanitarian protection in France after sleeping under canal bridges for 262 days. The third complainant was from Russia.

Read more: In lockdown: Migrants in France up against pandemic, police abuse

'Victims of degrading treatment'

The court said French officials had "failed in their duties," and that the men were "victims of degrading treatment" who were "sleeping rough, without access to sanitary facilities, having no means of subsistence and constantly in fear of being attacked or robbed."

Read more: French police remove over 1,600 migrants from Paris camps

The ECHR ordered the French government to pay the claimants damages ranging from €10,000 to €12,396 ($11,285 to $13,990).

The court rejected a claim by a fourth asylum-seeker because, although he had lived in a tent for nine months, he had been given a subsistence allowance after two months.

Since mid-2018, authorities in France have stepped up efforts to clear migrant camps on the outskirts of Paris and move the people living there to shelters. Many of those sleeping rough included undocumented migrants and those attempting to apply for asylum in France. But NGOs say even recognized refugees and registered asylum-seekers ended up sleeping there because of a severe lack of official accommodation.

nm/rs (dpa, AFP)

PATENT'S FOR PRIMATE GENE SCRAPPED The European Patent Office has disallowed two patents that include great apes, the family of primates that humans also belong to. A US firm had registered the patents for genetically modified chimpanzees.


Two patents relating to the genetic modification of apes were removed by the European Patent Office (EPO) on Thursday. The patents themselves still exist but can no longer include apes, an EPO spokesperson said.

Animal welfare activists have celebrated the decision as a success, including world-renowned British primatologist Jane Goodall who called it a "wise and responsible decision."

The assigning of patents resulted in "the suffering of these animals without any substantial medical benefit to man or animal," the EPO said.

The controversy arose after a US company filed two patents claiming that genetically modified chimpanzees as well as other animal species, were an invention that could be used in experiments. The patents were filed in 2012 and 2013, with 14,000 signatories supporting groups that opposed the patents.

Read more: 10 facts you probably didn't know about great apes

Animals are 'not research tools'

Goodall, who has worked with chimpanzees in Tanzania for over 60 years, said "Chimpanzees are our closest relatives, sharing 98.6% of our genetic makeup. All those who understand that genetic modification of these monkeys and other sentient animals is unacceptable will welcome this ruling."

Read more: 'The biggest problem is greed,' says conservationist Jane Goodall

The ruling should be a sign to other companies that "animals are capable of suffering and should not be seen as research tools," she added.

However, many researchers will still be permitted to conduct experiments on primates and other animals, even if they no longer are allowed to hold patents relating to their research.

Other patents under pressure

The question of whether patents can be filed on genetically modified animals has been under discussion for over 30 years. The new ruling does not affect provisions for patents on mice, rats, cats, dogs, cattle, pigs or a number of other animals.

However, the decision will affect other patents relating to primates within Europe, for example in Germany's Max Planck Society, which holds a 2010 patent on primates who were genetically modified to have epilepsy.

Chimpanzees are a species of great ape, the primate family that includes humans.

ed/ng (AFP, dpa)

SYSTEMIC RACISM PANDEMIC
Discrimination increases hypertension risk by 49 percent in black Americans

HEALTH NEWS JULY 1, 2020 

Lifelong discrimination may contribute to increased rates of high blood pressure among black Americans, a new study has found. File Photo by ronstik/Shutterstock

July 1 (UPI) -- Facing racial discrimination increases risk for high blood pressure among black Americans, according to a study published Wednesday by the journal Hypertension.

Black people who reported "medium levels" of lifetime discrimination had a 49 percent increased risk for high blood pressure, or hypertension, compared to those who indicated low levels of lifetime discrimination, the researchers found.

The study was based on nearly 2,000 black Americans who participated in The Jackson Heart Study, which focused on cardiovascular disease among residents in the tri-county region of Jackson, Mississippi.

"African Americans continue to be disproportionately affected by hypertension, making it imperative to identify the drivers of hypertension in this population," co-author Allana T. Forde, said in a statement.

RELATED Obesity in middle age linked to increased risk for dementia

"Greater lifetime discrimination was associated with an increased risk for hypertension among African Americans in this study, which reflects the impact of cumulative exposure to stressors over one's lifetime and the physiological reactions to stress that contribute to deleterious health outcomes," said Forde, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Urban Health Collaborative at Drexel University.

Forde and colleagues reviewed data on 1,845 black Americans, aged 21 to 85, who were enrolled in The Jackson Heart Study. None of the participants had a history of hypertension at the start of the research, the authors said.

Participants self-reported their discrimination experiences through in-home interviews, questionnaires and in-clinic examinations, researchers said.

RELATED Study: 70% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Detroit are African American

For the purposes of the study, having hypertension was defined as taking blood pressure-lowering medication, having a systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or above or having diastolic blood pressure higher than 90 mm Hg at follow-up visits, according to the authors.

During the follow-up period, more than half of the participants -- 954, or 52 percent -- developed hypertension.

The study results, Forde said, "suggest how social determinants such as racism and discrimination affect health in measurable ways."

RELATED Underlying conditions put 1.7B people at risk for severe COVID-19, study says

Strategies to reduce health inequities and improve health are needed to address these broader social determinants, she added.

Although the study included experiences of discrimination among a large sample of black Americans, discrimination was measured at a single point in time, which limited the researchers' ability to capture changes in discrimination experiences over the entire follow-up period, according to the researchers.

In all, nearly 80 million American adults are living with high blood pressure, including more than 40 percent of black Americans, according to the American Heart Association.

"Previous studies have shown that discrimination affects African Americans' health," Forde said.

"Traditional risk factors, such as diet and physical activity, have been strongly correlated with hypertension, yet important psychosocial factors like discrimination, which also have the potential to negatively impact health, are rarely considered," she said.


upi.com/7018479

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell arrested in Jeffrey Epstein case

British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has been accused of luring girls and young women into Jeffrey Epstein's circle, where they were sexually abused. She has said that many accusations against her are "absolute rubbish."


Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite who was a longtime friend of the late accused sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was arrested by the FBI on Thursday in the US state of New Hampshire.

Maxwell, who was also Epstein's girlfriend at one point, has been accused of luring underage girls into the late billionaire's circle, where he and his friends allegedly sexually abused them.

FBI spokesman Marty Feely said Maxwell was taken into custody around 8:30 AM local time.

Maxwell has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has said that many of the claims against her are "absolute rubbish."

Epstein's 'highest-raking employee'

The lawsuit alleges that Maxwell oversaw and trained recruiters, developed recruiting plans and helped conceal the activity from law enforcement.

An unsealed indictment, reported by Reuters, shows Maxwell charged with six counts, which include enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and two counts of perjury, among other related offenses.

''The victims were as young as 14 years old when they were groomed and abused by Maxwell and Epstein, both of whom knew that certain victims were in fact under the age of 18,'' the indictment read.


One victim accused Maxwell of arranging for her to have sex with Prince Andrew, a claim denied by the royal

One of the most controversial accusations leveled against Maxwell was a claim by one Epstein victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who said the socialite arranged for her to have sex with Britain's Prince Andrew at Maxwell's London townhouse.

In a separate lawsuit by another Epstein victim, Maxwell was described as the ''highest-ranking employee'' in the alleged sex trafficking operation.

A lavish life in New York

Maxwell is the daughter of late British media magnate Robert Maxwell, who founded a publishing house and owned tabloids, including the Daily Mirror.

In the early 1990s, she moved to New York, where she began a romantic relationship with Epstein, who was a financier at the time. The two lived a lavish style and frequently attended high society parties.

Maxwell largely disappeared from public view in 2016 and has been elusive since Epstein was charged with sex trafficking.

jcg/rs (Reuters, AP, dpa,AFP)

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