FILM
A Black Jesus and Muslim migrants in 'The New Gospel'

Milo Rau's restaging of the Passion of Christ has just premiered in a digital version. It's the first European film to portray Jesus as a Black person.

Film still from 'The New Gospel'


Muddy roads, rusted cars, makeshift shelters and piles of garbage: The desolate images at the beginning of German director Milo Rau's new film, The New Gospel, show how farm workers live near the southern Italian city of Matera.

Most of them are African refugees. They have no residence permit and work for hours under the scorching sun or in the freezing cold for a pittance in the tomato fields and orange plantations. They are hired and supervised by Italian foremen, the "caporali." The mafia controls the agricultural economy in the Matera region, there is no way around their contact men.

Inspired by reality

When Swiss director Milo Rau visited Matera for the first time in 2017, he saw the legendary locations where Pier Paolo Pasolini and Mel Gibson shot The Gospel according to St Matthew (1964) and The Passion of the Christ (2004) respectively.

Rau also went out to the field workers' camps. He was shocked by what he saw. "After two days, I was completely devastated, and I was like, 'How can you survive and keep up your energy even for a week?"' Rau told DW. "It's really cold there in the winter, there's incredible violence and you're starving."

Jesus in a tomato field: In the film and in reality, Sagnet fights against inhumane working conditions

The conditions in the camps near the 2019 European Culture Capital reminded him of the situation described in the New Testament: "Roman occupation, the exploitation of people without rights." It was precisely in this place that he came up with the concept for The New Gospel: Rau wanted to retell the story of Jesus with amateur actors. He wanted to show the refugees' everyday lives.

The roles of Jesus of Nazareth, the 12 Apostles, the Pharisees and Romans were played by activists, field workers, former prostitutes, farmers, as well as actors and actresses from the older renditions of the story of Jesus: Maia Morgenstern, who played Mary in Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, and the recently deceased Enrique Irazoqui, who starred as Jesus in Pasolini's The Gospel According to Matthew.
Lasting art project

The New Gospel is marked by the charisma and authenticity of its actors. Yvan Sagnet plays Jesus of Nazareth, and he also plays himself: a social activist who wants to put an end to the workers' intolerable living conditions in the tomato fields. For years, Sagnet, who was awarded the Italian order of merit "Ordine al Merito della Repubblica" and founded the international NoCap network, has campaigned against agricultural labor exploitation and for fair-trade products produced entirely without the structures of the local mafia.

Another real-life activist in the film: Papa Latyr Faye

Papa Latyr Faye, the founder and president of "Casa Sankara - Ghetto Out" organization, plays Peter. In the film and in everyday life, he fights for self-determination for day laborers and procures decent housing and legal, self-managed jobs for them.

The film was "an opportunity to reach a wider audience with the things we do and to spread the message that we are protagonists. We are people who want to decide about our future. We don't want to live in dependencies, we want to leave them behind," Faye told DW.

The film did not feel strange to them, instead it became part of their everyday lives as activists, he added. "It allowed us to build and strengthen international contacts, a new step in our struggle that we were able to use productively."
Artistic challenge

German producer Arne Birkenstock supported Rau's project. The filmmaker and the producer have known each other for a long time, and began to cooperate after the release of Rau's 2017 documentary The Congo Tribunal.

The Last Supper on plastic chairs: Director Rau checks the set

"With the story of the Passion of Christ, Milo takes one of the fundamental Western myths and at the same time tells the story of the West's current moral failure — for instance in the refugee crisis and in the fact that the West at least tolerates the conditions on the plantations," Birkenstock told DW. "We Germans don't even have to look to southern Italy — just look at the conditions in the local meat industry."

The project was challenging from an artistic point of view, too. Reality and fiction needed to be interwoven, including "the great models of former films, from Pasolini to Gibson, the political campaign, the making of, and the systematic exploitation of refugees and farm workers."

Activism and aesthetics

Thanks to editor Katja Dringenberg, the various levels of the film come together as one, both in terms of content and aesthetics.


Fiction and reality are skillfully merged in the film

Another reason why Rau's project succeeded is that he took a step back and gave his protagonists the space they needed. "You really have to work together, you have to give yourself a lot of time. These are processes that don't stop with the end of the shoot," Rau argued. "You need a lot of trust in other people, which is not easy for an artist," he added. "You create an experimental field, and then whatever happens, happens."

The New Gospel also openly shows actual conflicts among the protagonists and interweaves them with the story.

Rau has been exploring the interfaces between art and politics, between aesthetics and activism for years. "When you work with Milo, you never just make a film," Arne Birkenstock said.

Milo Rau
Social message

Milo Rau's The New Gospel is the first European film starring a Black Jesus, the first Gospel story featuring refugees and a mixed cast of Jews, Muslims and Christians. And it is much more: Rau managed to push aside the religious, traditional and mystical elements of the story of the Passion of Christ, and expose its essence, its radical social message.

Rau's film is not only highly political, it is radically human. The New Gospel is a masterpiece that is as convincing as it is moving.



TEN BIBLICAL FILM CLASSICS
The golden era of biblical film: the 1950s

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In the '50s, Hollywood began to bring biblical stories to the big screen with elaborate special effects and huge numbers of extras. Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 epic drama, "The Ten Commandments," was a highlight of the biblical genre. Charlton Heston (photo) played the role of Moses dividing the Red Sea and leading the people of Israel to the promised land.

Chinese government advisor: Beijing ‘wasted no time’ over Coronavirus

Why was the first response of Chinese officials to the virus to cover it up? DW’s Tim Sebastian meets the president of a Beijing think tank who says China acted quickly and deserves credit over its response.

Watch video 26:06 Wang Huiyao on Conflict Zone

There had been initial "hesitation" while trying to find out more about the coronavirus and avoid a "false alarm," the head of a Chinese think tank has told DW’s Conflict Zone.

"At the beginning, nobody knew this was deadly, this is going to be a pandemic, this is going to sweep the world. Nobody knows about that. So, they have to be careful in claiming it's such a deadly disease," Wang Huiyao said.

Conflict Zone host Tim Sebastian raised the case of Dr. Li Wenliang, who had been pressured by local officials over his warnings about the threat of the virus. Li later died of the disease.

Wang admitted Dr. Li had perhaps "had some initial pressures," but "when the government realized this is a deadly disease, they wasted no time."

Bullying tactics?

Wang defended Beijing's reaction to Taiwanese efforts to expand relations with the international community. The Chinese foreign minister recently warned that a “heavy price" would be paid after a Czech delegation visited the island, which China claims sovereignty over, but is self governing.

But Wang disagreed that China was picking a fight with its largest export market.
"There are certain, you know, guidelines and principles when countries establish diplomatic ties and recognize 'One China' policy, and that should not be violated or breached.""And if that happens then China certainly has a right to protest," Wang said.

'Misunderstanding'

The think tank chief said there was "misunderstanding" over Hong Kong.

  

Riot police run towards protesters in Hong Kong, September 6, 2020

"I certainly think that the Hong Kong young people have some legitimate concerns of the widening gap between rich and poor and things like that. So, I think the Chinese government has realized that," he said, citing its Greater Bay Area economic project.

"But on the other hand, I don't think we need a chaotic Hong Kong where airports are blocked and, you know, bystanders were [set on fire] and the legislative council was stormed and smashed, shops have been vandalized."

Freedom failing

On China’s security law for Hong Kong, Wang said the territory "needs stability."

"The central government, of course, according to the basic law, they have the right for defense, diplomacy and security. And all the countries have a security law and China is no exception."

Beijing says it is promoting security and preventing terrorism in Xinjiang province too, where more than one million Uighurs have been detained in “re-education” camps.

Wang said there was "no hard evidence or proof or credible data" over such detentions and that many had "graduated" from their training.

Hong Kong's top court rules 2019 mask ban constitutional

Many pro-democracy protesters have covered their faces to hide their identities and protect themselves from tear gas. The ruling comes at a time when it is compulsory to wear masks in the city due to the coronavirus.

The mask ban was largely symbolic, with many demonstrators refusing to comply

Hong Kong's top court has ruled that the city government's decision to invoke a colonial-era law to ban face masks at demonstrations and public meetings during the height of the 2019 pro-democracy protests was legal.

"The ambit of the power to make subsidiary legislation under the ERO in a situation of emergency or in circumstances of public danger, although wide and flexible, was not unconstitutional," the judges ruled on Monday.

They added that banning face masks at both permitted and illegal rallies was proportionate since it was aimed at "the prevention and deterrence of violence before a peaceful public gathering had deteriorated into violence."

Many anti-government protesters wore face masks last year to reduce the risk of being identified and prosecuted by authorities for taking part in peaceful marches or violent clashes with the police. The masks also protected them from tear gas used by police to disperse the massive crowds.

The protests by pro-democracy activists went on for seven straight months and brought the financial hub to a standstill.

People wore masks and lit up their mobile phones during a flash mob rally in October 2019

What is the background to the ruling?

In October last year, Hong Kong's pro-Beijing Chief Executive Carrie Lam banned anyone from covering their face at public rallies using the Emergency Regulation Ordinance, a colonial-era law, for the first time in 50 years.

The ban was largely symbolic, with many demonstrators refusing to comply.

Opposition lawmakers and activists opposed the anti-mask law as well as the use of the emergency law. They lodged a judicial review last year, arguing the government's move was in breach of Hong Kong's Basic Law — the city's mini-constitution.

A lower court agreed and ruled the mask ban unconstitutional but upheld the government's right to impose emergency measures.

Watch video 03:31 Hong Kong's collective trauma

Prominent pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong was arrested for allegedly violating the anti-mask law and his participation in unlawful anti-government rallies in 2019.

Ironically, the ruling comes at a time when the Hong Kong government has mandated that people wear face masks to curb the spread of COVID-19.

adi/rt (AFP, Reuters)

Hong Kong reels after the year that free speech died

Issued on: 21/12/2020 -

Hong Kong riot police detain a man as they clear protesters taking part in a July 1, 2020 rally against the new national security law imposed by Beijing DALE DE LA REY AFP/File

Hong Kong (AFP)

Hong Kong faces no respite from Beijing's crackdown on dissent after a year that saw its status as a free speech bastion collapse under a security law that has radically transformed the city.

China's authoritarian leaders guaranteed Hong Kong would maintain key freedoms and autonomy after its 1997 handover by Britain in a model dubbed "One Country, Two Systems".

But a historic retreat from that promise is underway in response to the huge and often violent democracy protests that convulsed the business hub a year ago.

Hong Kong is now a place where Beijing increasingly calls the shots and where voicing certain opinions can now carry up to a lifetime prison sentence.

Dozens have been arrested under the new national security law China imposed in June, which bypassed the city's legislature, its contents kept secret until it was enacted.

Supporters say it was needed to end unrest.

"Whether you like it or not, it has succeeded in restoring peace and stability to Hong Kong," Regina Ip, a prominent pro-Beijing politician, told AFP.

But critics say it has forever altered the DNA of a free-wheeling city used to speaking its mind.

"It's the kind of stability you get in a graveyard," said Philip Dykes, the outgoing chairman of the city's Bar Association.

"The national security law offences are, many of them, directed to what people said instead of what people did."

- Speech crimes -

Even without the security law, Hong Kong changed dramatically over the course of 2020.

Street protests have been effectively outlawed and court docks are filled with the prosecutions of opposition figures.

The city's half-elected legislature is now devoid of dissenting voices after pro-democracy lawmakers resigned en masse when authorities disqualified four of their colleagues because of their political views.

Other opposition figures were simply banned from standing for local elections.

But the national security law has had the most profound impact.

On paper, it targets four crimes: secession, subversion, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces.

In reality its catch-all wording outlaws a host of political views such as advocating for independence, autonomy or international sanctions.

All but one of the cases brought by police so far centre on speech crimes.

Detained media tycoon Jimmy Lai is being investigated for tweets he wrote and media interviews he gave.

The secession charge against 19-year-old student activist Tony Chung, also in custody, was sparked by social media posts.

Police from the city's new national security unit arrested eight people who chanted banned slogans at a small campus protest last month.

The legal firewall between Hong Kong and the mainland has been toppled -- China has claimed jurisdiction over especially serious security cases and empowered its security agents to operate openly in the city for the first time.

Arrestees have had bank accounts frozen, entangling international finance giants like HSBC in Beijing's crackdown.

The United States has rescinded Hong Kong's special trading privileges and imposed sanctions on key officials, including city leader Carrie Lam.

- 'Clean house' -

Even establishment figures have been taken aback by the speed and depth of the changes.

"The city where I was born is becoming unrecognisable with each passing day," Michael Chugani, a once often pro-government commentator, wrote in the South China Morning Post earlier this month.

The city was now seen, he added, as one "that limits free speech, restricts protests, reins in the media, crushes the opposition with waves of arrests, and freezes bank accounts."

Political analyst Derek Yuen says Hong Kong remains riven by polarisation and populist anger.

But China's leaders have no plan to change course.

"Beijing will hope to clean the house of Hong Kong as soon as possible," he predicted.

After a string of protesters were acquitted -- often by judges critical of police evidence and testimony -- a senior mainland official backed calls to "reform" the judiciary.

Local authorities have also begun to overhaul the curriculum after Beijing ordered more "patriotic" education.

A key test of confidence will come in January when those with British National Overseas passports can start applying for long term visas to relocate to the UK.

Predictions of Hong Kong's demise have been brushed off by Chief Executive Lam, who has struck an increasingly defiant tone.

She began the year with a conciliatory New Year's address vowing to "listen humbly" to people's concerns.

But by November, Lam told the SCMP she had "regained confidence" and felt no regrets about her administration of the city.

"I'm back to my old self," she said.

© 2020 AFP

THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED

Foot massages, tattoos and dentists for defiant 

India farmers

Issued on: 21/12/2020 - 

In one tent, volunteers have set up two neat rows of about 20 foot-massage machines 

Sajjad HUSSAIN AFP

New Delhi (AFP)

With foot-massage machines, a dental surgery, their own newspaper and even a tattoo parlour, it's clear that the thousands of Indian farmers blocking roads into Delhi for almost a month are going nowhere.

The farmers marched on the capital in late November to protest at new farm laws they fear will destroy their livelihoods, but police firing tear gas and water cannon stopped them in their tracks.

So now, numbering tens of thousands, they are digging in at several entry points into the city, braving the bitter night-time cold with tents, blankets and fires, as well as hot samosas and sweet chai.

With music blaring from large speakers fitted to tractors, the largest such site at the Singhu border crossing north of Delhi now resembles a lively -- and highly organised -- festival.

Sunny Ahluwalia, a dentist, drove his van fitted with two dental chairs and an X-ray machine, all powered by a generator, from his home 250 kilometres away to help.

"We may have become doctors but we are sons of farmers," Ahluwalia told AFP after scraping one farmer's yellowing teeth, one of around 100 patients he treats for free per day.

"It is very unfortunate that our government isn't ready to accept the farmers' demands. How can the laws be good if they don't like them?"

- Tired feet -

The main camp snakes back almost a kilometre (half a mile). Tractor trailers are stuffed with bedding, while tents are set up around makeshift stalls offering anything from toothpaste to free medicine.

The makeshift settlement is a hive of activity throughout the day, as the farmers -- mostly without covid masks -- weave in and out of the bustling area, chatting and getting free food from community kitchens.

In one tent, volunteers have set up two neat rows of about 20 foot-massage machines to put a fresh spring in the step of the many grey-bearded, multicolour-turbaned farmers.

"Since many of the protesters are elderly farmers, they used to ask us for massages because of pain in (their) knees and feet," volunteer Bhupinder Singh told AFP.

"We felt that we could serve more people and do it better by purchasing these cheap machines."

"I told them how it feels good and they are doing a very good job," said satisfied customer Harbans Singh.

- Spick and span -

A team of 50 volunteers wielding brooms and dustpans have split themselves into two teams keep the bustling place clean.

"While everything else is in good supply, we felt that we could clean it better since we may be here for long," Sukhwinder Singh told AFP.

The government has said the new laws will mean farmers do not just have to sell their produce at state-run bodies that guarantee a minimum price.

But the protesters, who are mostly from northern states, fear that with the minimum price taken away, they will be squeezed dry by large corporations.

To spread their message across India and abroad -- there have been solidarity demos in Canada and Britain -- a common social media platform is managed by a 36-member IT cell.

The farmers have reportedly also set up their own weekly free newspaper to be distributed at the protest site.

Any farmers wanting to make a lasting impression can also get tattoos of protest slogans, ploughs pulled by bullocks, or ferocious lions.

"This is our way of supporting the farmers. We have designs related to the Punjabi culture," Chetan Sood, one of the tattoo artists, told the Times of India.

When night falls and the temperature plunges, many of the protesters end their long days inside tractor trolleys with six to eight other men sleeping on cotton bedding.

"We dim the lights and sleep cosy. The young boys sleep outside (in the open) with blankets," farmer Kashmir Singh told AFP.

© 2020 AFP

Women on the frontlines of Thailand's democracy movement

Chonticha 'Lookkate' Jangrew (C) is a familiar face at demonstrations and is often the only one trusted to negotiate with police Jack TAYLOR AFP/File


Issued on: 21/12/2020 - 

Bangkok (AFP)

Denouncing sexual violence, demanding abortion reform and destigmatising sex work –- once-taboo issues are finding public expression in Thailand as women take up leadership roles in a youth-led pro-democracy movement.

On the protest frontlines, they are urging for gender equality in a kingdom where workplaces and politics are still dominated by men.

AFP met three of them.

- Chief negotiator -

On the night police tried to stop protesters from marching to the Thai parliament, activist Chonticha Jangrew remembers rallying them to push past the barricades.

"We cut the barbed wire, we approach the parliament as close as we can. We won't back down," she recounts herself saying during the November rally.

Moments later, police fired tear gas and water cannon at the marchers -- a turning point for a movement that has brought thousands onto the streets since July.

Chonticha, 27, is a familiar face at demonstrations and is often the only one trusted to negotiate with police, but her visibility has also led to a spate of criminal charges -- including sedition.

She said she received death threats and "sexual insults" from ultra-royalists who oppose the protest movement but insisted the struggle must continue.

"We must do as much as men if we want equality," she said.

Like the majority of protesters, she is demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha, reform to the monarchy and a rewriting of the military-scripted constitution.

She is also fighting for better representation of women in politics -- so far, they make up only 14 percent of lawmakers in parliament and 10 percent of the cabinet.

Chonticha was raised by a military father in a conservative environment.

"I needed to emancipate myself. Today, I don't hide my opinions from my family. They accept them, but they are afraid for me," she said.

- Star attraction -

A star of Thailand's silver screen since her teenage years, Inthira Charoenpura -- better known by her nickname "Sai" -- says she has had movie contracts cancelled since joining the protests.

"In show business, nobody dares to talk about politics for fear of ruining their career," she says.

She faces criminal charges for allegedly insulting the monarchy under Thailand's tough royal defamation laws.

The 40-year-old actress has nearly half a million fans on social media and is one of the few celebrities in Thailand to publicly acknowledge her financial support for the movement, earning her the moniker "Sugar Mama" from young protesters.

She collects donations and distributes meals, helmets, gas masks and inflatable ducks -- which have emerged as a symbol for the movement.

"The demonstrators are so courageous. In our country, protest movements often end in deaths," she says, referring to civil unrest in 2010 that ended in a bloody crackdown.

The protests today have been largely peaceful, with young students coming together demand social change -- including an end to sexual harassment and gender discrimination.

"Women in the protests dare to talk about what they are going through as victims," says Sai.

Born to a director father and film producer mother, Sai considers this year's protests one of the most worthwhile causes she has supported.

"We cannot yet speak of victory, but there is an irreversible change," she says. "This fight is even more important than the cinema that flows through my veins."

- Abortion campaigner -

Chumaporn Taengkliang, known as "Dao", once smuggled 10,000 abortion pills from China into the kingdom, where the drugs were not widely available.

Seven years later she is a frequent presence at protests calling for the decriminalisation of abortion and the legalisation of sex work.

Abortion is legal in Thailand but restricted, except in specific cases such as rape or when the woman's health is threatened -- otherwise women can be prosecuted and jailed for three years.

"It's archaic," says Dao, who welcomes recent news that the government is working on decriminalising abortion even though "we have to go much further to really protect women."

The 34-year-old has also risked criminal charges by criticising the king, who last year became the first Thai monarch to grant himself an official consort in nearly a century.

Dao grew up in Thailand's south to a conservative family where domestic violence was normal, and knew from the age of 12 that she "had to fight against all this".

She urges other pro-democracy leaders, many of them men: "Let us make ourselves heard more. We will never stay in the back seat again, we will always be in the front line."

© 2020 AFP

Cambodia's giant life-giving Tonle Sap lake in peril
THE END OF THE COMMONS AND BIRTH OF FORDIST CAPITALISM


Issued on: 21/12/2020

Floating villages on Cambodia's Tonle Sap have adapted to the ebb and flow of the lake for generations but falling water levels and disappearing fish are now threatening a traditional way of life TANG CHHIN Sothy AFP



Koh Chivang (Cambodia) (AFP)

As night falls over his floating village, fisherman Leng Vann puffs on a cigarette and heaves a sigh for Tonle Sap, the great inland lake that has sustained Cambodia for centuries.

More than a million people live on or around the lake, the world's largest inland fishery, but water levels have plummeted and fish stocks dwindled because of climate change and dams upstream on the Mekong.

Tonle Sap was once renowned for its abundance of fish and wildlife -- 43-year-old Leng Vann recalls catching hundreds of kilos a day in his nets.

His house, which floats on the lake, sits five metres (16 feet) lower than it should in mid-October, at the end of the rainy season, and when he draws his net from the waters, it is empty.

"We fishermen survive by water and fish. When there is no water and fish, what else can we hope for?" said Leng Vann.

"Our future is dark," he said, as he rowed his boat back to his modest home.

- Reversing fortunes -

The lake, a world heritage ecological reserve, depends on an unusual seasonal reversal -- in the dry season, it drains into the Mekong via a fast-flowing river artery.

But when the rains come from May to October, the mighty Mekong is so powerful that the water flows backwards, replenishing the lake.

It swells over four times its smallest size to 14,500 square kilometres (5,600 square miles) at the height of the floods, according to the Mekong River Commission (MRC) -- an area bigger than Lebanon.

But lately the reverse flows have been seriously delayed.

Last year the amount of water that flowed into the lake was down around a quarter from the average levels seen around the turn of the century.

The reverse flow effect has been at its lowest since 1997, leading to "extremely dry conditions", the MRC says.

Weather conditions linked to climate change, such as a major drought last year and the "El Nino" climate effect, have contributed to the crisis.

Environmentalists also point to the dozen or so major dams built across the mainstream Mekong as a factor in slowing the flow, along with smaller irrigation dams built on tributary rivers.

- Habitats lost -

The change in water levels is having a major effect on surrounding wetlands, precipitating a decline in endangered species living around the lake.

Nearly one-third of the Tonle Sap's natural habitats vanished in the 25 years to 2018 and half of the lake floodplain was now under rice cultivation, according to a recent study by the Wildlife Conservation Society.

"Without urgent, coordinated action... the ecosystem that has sustained Cambodia for generations may be lost," it said.

Low fish stocks have pushed most of the 2,600 fishing families living in Koh Chivang -- a community of five floating villages on the lake -- to grow chilli and other crops to supplement their living.

They are now farming land that used to be fish breeding grounds, and the community's deputy leader Hun Sotharith says the illegal clearing of surrounding forests for agriculture was on the rise.

"If we don't protect the remaining natural resources, there will be difficulties in the future," he told AFP.

Rangers also warn that other animal habitats are under imminent threat, including a huge bird sanctuary where desperate fishermen are seeking new places to cast their nets.

- Changing times -

Floating villages have adapted to the ebb and flow of the lake for generations, mostly depending on fishing or rowing around the village in canoes to sell food to earn a living.

Whole communities with schools, hairdressers, coffee shops and even dentist surgeries bob around on Tonle Sap, where fleets of canoes and small motorboats ferry people around.

But drought and disappearing fish are now threatening a traditional way of life in Koh Chivang, where youngsters are leaving for urban jobs while their parents stay to keep their homes afloat.

"Children from this community go to work in factories now because there are no fish in the lake," said fisherman Sim Suom, 59, adding that his daughter now works in a cigarette factory in Siem Reap.

Leng Vann says he may soon need to travel to Siem Reap -- about a one-hour boat ride from his home -- to look for work for a few months.

"We fishermen depend on water, fish and forests, so when these are gone, we can expect nothing," he said. "It's over."

© 2020 AFP

SEE MURDER OF THE DEAD 

Survey: Half of U.S. adults think worst of pandemic is yet to come


A woman wears a face mask and face shield to protect from and prevent the spread of coronavirus. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo


Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Roughly half of adults in the United States believe the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is yet to come, according to the findings of a survey released Friday by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Nearly 70% of the respondents indicated that they are worried that they or someone in their family will get sick from the disease, the data showed.

This is the highest percentage since the Kaiser Family Foundation began tracking the statistic in February, the organization said.

The findings are from the Kaiser Family Foundation Health Tracking Poll, a survey of 1,676 adults aged 18 years or older from across the country.

RELATED U.S. sees new record highs for COVID-19 cases, deaths, patients in hospital

The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit organization focusing on national health issues, as well as the role of the United States in global health policy

The most recent round of the survey was conducted Nov. 30 and Dec. 8, before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, according to the foundation.

Similar questionnaires were administered in January, February, April, May, July, September and October, the foundation said.

RELATED Survey: Half of U.S. adults back mandatory COVID-19 shots for schoolchildren

In the latest survey, 51% of respondents said the worst of the pandemic lies ahead, while 70% said they can continue adhering to social distancing guidelines for six months or more, or until a COVID-19 vaccine is widely available, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

About 40% of adults surveyed think their state has about the right amount of restrictions on businesses and individuals designed to limit the spread of the virus, the data showed.

In the most recent survey, 73% of respondents said they wear a mask every time they leave home, up 21% from May, according to the foundation.

RELATED Two-thirds in U.S. report high levels of loneliness as pandemic continues

That same percentage of respondents said wearing a mask to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 is "part of everyone's responsibility," the foundation said.

In comparison, 11% of respondents said they "wear masks only some of the time or never." More than half of these respondents identified as Republican voters.

"Republican denialism mirroring President Trump, even in the face of a growing epidemic in red states, has become a real public health challenge," Kaiser Family Foundation president and CEO Drew Altman said in a statement.

FAA shirked safety protocols, retaliates against whistleblowers, report says


Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max 8 (ET-AVM), the same aircraft that crashed in Ethiopia in March 2019, is seen at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, when it was first delivered to Ethiopia in July 2018. File Photo by Stringer/EPA

Dec. 19 (UPI) -- The Federal Aviation Administration repeatedly allowed Southwest Airlines to continue operating dozens of aircraft in an unknown airworthiness condition, allowed Boeing to coach test pilots in ways counter to safety protocols and continues to retaliate against whistleblowers, according to a federal report released this week.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., called his committee's new findings in Federal Aviation Administration probe after two fatal Boeing 737 Max crashes in April 2019, "troubling."

Wicker, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which conducted a 20-month probe, released the findings Friday.

"Twenty months ago, the Commerce Committee launched an investigation into FAA safety oversight," Wicker said in the statement. "We have received disclosures from more than 50 whistleblowers, conducted numerous FAA staff interviews, and reviewed over 15,000 pages of relevant documents."

RELATED Boeing lost 30 737 Max orders in November, delivered just 7 planes

"Our findings are troubling," Wicker continued. "The report details a number of significant lapses in aviation safety oversight and failed leadership in the FAA. It is clear that the agency requires consistent oversight to ensure their work to protect the flying public is executed fully and correctly."

The 737 Max fleet has been grounded worldwide since March 2019 after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people within five months in 2018 and 2019. The aircraft's automated Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System pushed both planes into a nose-dive after a faulty sensor, according to earlier reports.

"FAA and Boeing officials involved in this conduct of this test had established a pre-determined outcome to re-affirm a long-held human factor assumption related to pilot reaction time to a runaway stabilizer," the Senate committee concluded. "It appears, in this instance, FAA and Boeing were attempting to cover up important information that may have contributed to the 737 Max tragedies."

According to the report, FAA senior leaders may have obstructed a Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General review and the agency failed to produce relevant documents Wicker requested.

"We take seriously the committee's findings and will continue to review the report in full," Boeing said in a statement. "We have learned many hard lessons from the Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Flight 302 accidents, and we will never forget the lives lost on board. The events and lessons have reshaped our company and further focused our attention on our core values of safety, quality, and integrity."

Despite repeated findings of deficiencies over several decades, FAA senior managers have not been held accountable for failure to provide adequate training in flight standards, the report also found.

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The FAA told NPR in an emailed statement Saturday the report contained "unsubstantiated allegations."

"Working closely with other international regulators, the FAA conducted a thorough and deliberate review of the 737 Max," the FAA told NPR. "We are confident that the safety issues that played a role in the tragic accidents involving Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 have been addressed through the design changes required and independently approved by the FAA and its partners."

The Senate committee also found the FAA repeatedly permitted Southwest Airlines to operate dozens of aircraft in an unknown worthiness condition for several years, putting millions of passengers at rises.

"We are aware of the committee report and have utilized many of these past references to improve our practices and oversight," a spokeswoman said in a statement to The Verge. "All applicable aircraft underwent visual inspections, and Southwest completed physical inspections, from nose to tail, on each of the pre-owned aircraft by January 2020 -- fully satisfying FAA requests."

"Our actions did not stem from any suspected safety concerns with the aircraft, but were an effort to reconcile and validate records and previous repairs," Southwest added in the statement.

Large crocodile spotted in Florida woman's back yard


An American crocodile was spotted sunning itself on the floating dock in a Florida woman's back yard. Experts said the species, native to the southern tip of Florida, is rarely seen as far north as the Punta Gorda area. Photo courtesy of the Punta Gorda Police Department


Dec. 18 (UPI) -- A Florida woman who spotted what she initially thought to be a large alligator in her back yard was shocked to find out it was actually a rare crocodile.

Mona Vieregg, 70, said the reptile had been spotted a few times in recent days by neighbors, but it was only when the animal exited the water to sun itself on Vieregg's floating dock that it was identified as an American crocodile.

Vieregg, knowing crocodiles don't normally live in the area, contacted the Punta Gorda Police Department.

Police estimated the crocodile's size at 10 to 15 feet.

The department contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which sent trapper Tracy Hansen to the scene.

Hansen said the crocodile was one of the largest of its species that he had ever seen. He said the animal could be up to 70 years old.

American crocodiles are known to live on the southern tip of Florida, but are rarely seen as far north as Punta Gorda.

Hansen said the crocodile will be left alone for the time being, as the protected species requires trappers to receive federal permission to relocate the animals.