'Maradona had the ability to feel with the people'

Mariano Schuster in Buenos Aires explains why Argentinians called him 'God' and why he was loved among the poor

30.11.2020

ReutersMaradona holding the World Cup trophy in 1986

Argentina has declared a three-day national mourning after Diego Maradona's death. Of course he was probably the greatest footballer of all time. But isn’t that a bit exaggerated – with all due respect to Maradona's achievements? What does he embody for Argentine society?

I don't think it's an exaggeration, although I understand that some people might think so. There was also a three-day national mourning for former presidents Raúl Alfonsín and Néstor Kirchner. We Argentinians are also known for exaggeration – and many of us don't mind that at all. Of course we mourn for the greatest footballer of all time, but that is not the full story. The identification with him is based on the “footballer Maradona” but goes far beyond his achievements in sports. His chuzpe, the happiness that he brought us, but also his defeats are responsible for this “divine” image of the “human beyond measure”. We have called him “God” because he moved our hearts with his excess of deeply human qualities.

Tens of thousands of fans said goodbye to their idol in front of the coffin laid out in the presidential palace – crowded and largely without masks. Is the farewell to Maradona more important than the fight against corona?

My answer may seem problematic but in my opinion they are two different things. Many people in Argentina have lost relatives to the virus and we all have friends who are affected by the pandemic. This pandemic affects us on a national and personal level. But on the one hand, quarantine measures have been relaxed recently, although of course nobody fathomed such gatherings of people. But people are gathering spontaneously. They show a love and devotion for Diego that goes beyond everything. Without doubt, the departure of Maradona puts the virus in second place. The sociologist Pablo Semán wrote in a text that Maradona “conveys the image of the struggle that almost all of us must fight at some point: to create something that death cannot touch”. In the face of death, saying goodbye to the one who has given us happiness – and life – is a risk we take.

Unfortunately, the situation escalated because of police violence and what should have been a celebration became marred. The repression of the police in front of the government building put a stain on the farewell.

Argentina has been badly shaken by the corona crisis and the economic disaster. Is Maradona's death an occasion that brings society together or does it rather intensify the feeling of misery?

I don't think that Maradona's death has any impact on the polarisation in our country. But in the public squares, around the government building where Maradona was laid out, the diversity of Argentina was presented: poor, rich, middle class, left and right voters; Christians, Jews, atheists, agnostics.

Clearly there are also sections of society that despise Maradona and many of the things he stood for. They ride roughshod over his drug problems or his alleged failure as a “role model”. This is a minority that mocks the pain of others, the pain of millions of citizens. There is a popular saying: “I don't care what Maradona has made of his life, I care what he has made of mine”.

Maradona sought proximity to the big names of the Left in Latin America, such as Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro. What role did politics play for Maradona – and Maradona for politics?

Maradona had the ability to feel with the people. It is this concept of “God” that we associate with him: he who makes everyone and everything happy, who understands the poor and the suffering. This does not always (but sometimes) have a direct political component. Diego has fraternised with Fidel, with Chávez and Evo, but also with Menem, the neo-liberal Argentine president in the 1990s. Menem was extremely popular and he was at least partially elected by those who suffered most from his policies.

In one of the most moving videos you could see these days, a handicapped boy on crutches from the slums puts up some candles in front of an improvised shrine. To the journalist filming him, he says: “Do you know how happy he made us poor? Sometimes I had nothing to eat, but when I saw him on television, he made me happy.” The happiness of this simple boy has a greater dimension than we can achieve through politics. He is not talking about Fidel or Menem, but about “HIM”, Maradona, in all its aspects, who made him happy.

Maradona has never abandoned a fundamental conviction (which is political, but not necessarily partisan): to defend the poor, to criticise those who offend them, to feel part of the people's sorrows, pains and joys in the broadest sense.

Jorge Valdano, Maradona's team-mate in the 1986 Argentinean World Cup, sums up part of the people's love for Maradona as follows: “He was a man who, because of his genius, knew no bounds from his youth and who, because of his origins, grew up with a proud class consciousness. Because of this, and because he represented so many, the poor won against the rich. The unconditional devotion he enjoyed among the poor was proportional to the mistrust the rich showed towards him. The rich hated to lose. But even his worst enemies had to tip their hats to his extraordinary talent. They had no choice.”

© Nueva Sociedad

Mariano Schuster

Buenos Aires

Mariano Schuster is editor of Nueva Sociedad, the FES' Latin American magazine, and editor-in-chief of La Vanguardia (publication of the Socialist Party of Argentina). He is also Argentina correspondent for the Spanish newspaper El Confidencial. He is currently studying theology at the International Faculty of Theological Studies in Buenos Aires.

'Maradona had the ability to feel with the people' – Interview with Mariano Schuster | IPS Journal (ips-journal.eu)

'We might have a Covid-21 or Covid-22 coming our way'

We need a broader approach to health, says conservationist Cristián Samper. 

Our treatment of nature increases the risk of further pandemics

16.12.2020

Reuters

A bat species has been identified as the most likely evolutionary host to the ongoing pandemic

cristiansamper

New York City

Cristián Samper is President and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

You’re working for the Wildlife Conservation Society, an organisation that concerns itself with the health of wildlife and wild places all over the globe. And you’ve – even before the Covid-19 pandemic hit – warned about the dangers of a viral pandemic. Now how exactly is wildlife health linked to the spread of Covid-19?

We have to remember that Covid-19, like many other diseases, is a zoonotic disease. We are a species that shares the planet with millions of other species and all of them have viruses. As a matter of fact, we estimate there are probably more than 700,000 viruses with zoonotic potential out there and, from time to time, some of those viruses will switch animal species and sometimes jump over to humans.

We have been interested in wildlife health for a long time because of our work in the conservation of endangered species. We have to remember that almost three-quarters of the viral diseases that we have acquired as humans originate in animals. Understanding the numerous human-wildlife interfaces is critical in terms of preventing future pandemic diseases as well.

At a conference in October last year, your organisation revised the One Health approach, which you call the Berlin Principles. What is this more holistic approach to health about?

In 2004, we organised a conference in New York, where we brought together communities that usually don’t interact. You’ve got the whole wildlife and conservation groups, and you’ve got a whole human health and medical community. Most of the time we don’t talk to each other. Out of that meeting came a set of what at that point were called the Manhattan Principles, which were introducing this concept of One Health.

The good news is that the general approach of recognising the linkages between human health, wildlife health, livestock health and ecosystem health have gained traction. We see it being used more and more by different groups, including the World Health Organisation.

But we did feel it was important to update these principles because so much has changed over time, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals. That led to the conference that we held a year ago in Berlin. We brought over 250 experts from these different communities together and that’s where we adopted the Berlin Principles. They are ten core practices that we, as a society, need to embrace to be able to recognise these interlinkages.

Your organisation recently published a paper on how ecological degradation more broadly increases the risk of pandemics and viruses spreading. How is the way we treat nature more broadly linked to increased risks in that regard?

That’s correct. One of the things that we are advocating is the importance of the protection of what we call intact forests and intact ecosystems. Once you go into an area and you start degrading them or opening them up, you’re disrupting the whole equilibrium between the various species.

As you increase the rate of deforestation in some areas and people move in there, you’re increasing the human-wildlife interface. The likelihood that humans are coming into contact with different kinds of animals increases dramatically. So one of the best things we can do is protect some of these mainly intact ecosystems out there – forests and other systems. That would not only help with conservation but it would reduce human-wildlife interface – and therefore reduce the likelihood of pathogen spillovers with pandemic potential.

In the very specific case of Covid-19, what should have happened to prevent the virus from spreading in the first place?

This is directly tied to the issue of commercial wildlife trade and wildlife consumption. WCS recommends stopping all commercial trade in wildlife for human consumption (particularly of birds and mammals) and closing all such markets. Rigorous enforcement of existing laws, regulations, and international treaties that deal with wildlife trade and markets is critical and necessary, but this is simply not enough. A new paradigm is needed if we are to avoid a pandemic such as the one we are experiencing today.

Beyond that, you need to monitor better. You need to know what viruses are out there and you need to clean up your supply chains the best we can.

The issue is, right now as we speak, there are many other coronaviruses out there in wildlife being consumed by humans – and any one of them could jump. So we might have a Covid-21 or Covid-22 coming our way and we need to strengthen the surveillance systems, reduce deforestation and stop all commercial trade in wildlife for human consumption (particularly of birds and mammals).

China and Vietnam have actually taken steps to ban wildlife trade and markets. So have the lessons from the coronavirus pandemic been learned at least in some parts of the world?

I’m hopeful. We were encouraged that China actually did put in place a temporary ban on wildlife markets when the Covid-19 outbreak happened.

And the good news is that China has now taken steps to permanently close a lot of the wildlife markets for human consumption. Now, there are some important loopholes in this. There are still issues around Chinese medicine and some other elements that are, of course, very important cultural traditions and practices. That’s something that has to be dealt with separately.

Vietnam also made an announcement in this regard. The Prime Minister of Vietnam said that they want to close the wildlife markets. The information we have is that that hasn’t really translated into action yet. We’re hopeful that it may but clearly the signal at the top was important. There are other countries, like Indonesia and others in the region, that are considering this right now.

And let me just mention one other thing that’s important. We’ve made an important distinction in our statements and policies. We’re specifically talking about commercial markets for wildlife for human consumption. We understand that wildlife is very important for subsistence and local livelihood in many communities.

The data indicates that if you’re directly harvesting some wildlife for local consumption in the wild, the likelihood of transmission is much, much lower. The problem is when that wildlife is taken to a supply chain, to markets into the cities, that’s where the number of viruses increases dramatically. So we don’t propose a blanket ban and certainly we don’t intend to negatively impact local livelihoods in the wild areas.

That perfectly leads me to my last question. In a recent piece, you wrote that “protection and conservation” should not be seen “as a competing interest to economic and social development”. How should we then understand the relationship between the two?

There’s always been this this false dichotomy of either conserving something or using it. What we’re realising is that nature provides so many services to us, whether it’s clean water, clean air, food. We all rely on nature, whether it’s directly using it in the wild or by the products and the goods and services that we all use every day.

But the challenge is that many of these ecosystem services are not valued by markets. That’s what’s led to their destruction, their mismanagement.

Issues like keeping forests intact is important in terms of preventing pathogen spillovers at human-wildlife interfaces and reducing the likelihood of pandemics. We have more and more science showing that mature forests are also capturing carbon at a very fast rate, so they’re actually helping combat climate change. There are so many dimensions around this, and we’re just starting to pull together all these pieces of the value added by nature.

Conservation not only impacts livelihoods but helps with broader geopolitical issues. For example, one of the things that we’ve been advocating very strongly is to strengthen protected areas in the Sudano-Sahel region in Africa, as anchors of good governance. This will also help improve governance and build communities that are much more stable. This way you’re going to help prevent migration, you’re going to reduce the impacts of climate change to most of these people and you’re going to reduce political conflict. All of this stems the wave of refugees that end up in Europe and other places. So investing in nature, investing in conservation and supporting local livelihoods is a way of dealing with issues of security and migration too.

This interview was conducted by Daniel Kopp.

'We might have a Covid-21 or Covid-22 coming our way' – Interview with cristiansamper | IPS Journal (ips-journal.eu)

LES BLOC HEAD

Blanchet's choice to block critics on Twitter limits free speech: experts

OTTAWA — Dozens of people — including some MPs — say Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet has blocked them on Twitter after they criticized his statements about Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, with some arguing they have a right to be heard.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Nour El Kadri, the president of the Canadian Arab Federation who was among those blocked by Blanchet on the social media platform, said people should be able to respond to accusations made by politicians.

Last week, after Alghabra, born to a Syrian family in Saudi Arabia, was sworn in as federal transport minister, the Bloc issued a release that sought to sow doubt about his association with what it called the "political Islam movement" due to the minister's former role as head of the Canadian Arab Federation.

El Kadri tweeted at Blanchet to say the Canadian Arab Federation has been a secular organization under its constitution since it was founded in 1967.

"(I told him) it's secular like Quebec that you're asking for, then he blocked me," he said.

"He started to block other people who were voicing opposing opinions."

On Twitter, Blanchet argued against the idea that he was robbing anyone of their right to free expression.

"When I 'block' people, it's because their posts don't interest me (fake accounts, political staff, insults …)," he wrote in French last Thursday.

"That does not prevent them from publishing them. I just won't see them, nor they mine," he said, adding things are calmer this way.

Richard Moon, a law professor at the University of Windsor, said it is credible to claim that Blanchet infringed the charter-guaranteed right to freedom of expression of those who can no longer see or comment on his tweets.

While Twitter is not itself subject to the charter as a private entity, Moon said, when a politician uses it as a platform to make announcements and discuss political views, the politician's account becomes a public platform.

"To exclude someone from responding or addressing because of their political views could then be understood as a restriction on their freedom of expression," he said.

Duff Conacher, co-founder of the pro-transparency group Democracy Watch, said Blanchet's Twitter account is a public communication channel and he cannot decide arbitrarily to not allow voters to communicate with him there.

"Politicians are public employees, so they can't just cut people off from seeing what they're saying through one of their communication channels," he said.

"The public has a right to see all their communications."

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson faced a lawsuit in 2018 from local activists he had blocked on Twitter. The court action was dropped after Watson conceded his account is public and unblocked everyone he had blocked, so no legal precedent was set.

Blanchet has also blocked some fellow members of Parliament, including Quebec Liberal Greg Fergus, Ontario New Democrat Matthew Green and Manitoba New Democrat Leah Gazan.

Green said he found himself blocked when he criticized Blanchet's statements that defended the right of universities' professors to use the N-word.

Gazan accused Blanchet last week of racism and Islamophobia over his statement about Alghabra.

"When criticized, he refuses to engage in a conversation, and a conversation he clearly needs to have around his Islamophobia," she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 18, 2021.

———

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press

'Salvator Mundi': Italian police recover 500-year-old stolen version of Leonardo da Vinci's artwork


A 16th-century copy of Leonardo da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi," the world's most expensive painting, has been recovered by police after it was stolen from a museum in Naples

© Photo by Salvatore Laporta/IPA/Shutterstock (11715403f)

 Agents of the Crimes Against the Heritage Section of the Naples Flying Squad show the "Salvator Mundi", a painting from the Leonardo school dating back to the 15th century, which is part of a collection kept at the Doma museum of the Basilica of San Domenico Maggiore, in Naples, placed in the Muscettola Chapel from which it was stolen. The agents found the painting hidden in a room of an apartment in via Strada Provinciale delle Brecce. 'Salvator Mundi' painting found in Naples, Italy - 18 Jan 2021

The artwork, which was likely painted by one of the Renaissance master's students, was discovered at an apartment during a search in the Italian city, according to a statement issued by Italian police. The property's 36-year-old owner was found nearby and taken into custody on suspicion of receiving stolen goods.

The portrait was modeled on Leonardo's famed depiction of Christ with one hand raised in blessing and the other holding a crystal orb. Numerous copies of the work were made during the artist's lifetime by his students and assistants.

Although it is not known who created this particular "Salvator Mundi," it is thought to have been painted towards the end of the 1510s by someone from the artist's workshop. The portrait's owner, the Museum of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples, said on its website that there are "several hypotheses" about the painter's identity, with the "most convincing" theory crediting Leonardo's student Girolamo Alibrandi.

It is believed that the painting was created in Rome before being brought to Naples by Giovanni Antonio Muscettola, an envoy and advisor to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V.

The artwork briefly returned to the Italian capital in 2019, when it was loaned to the Villa Farnesina for its exhibition "Leonardo in Rome." The exhibition brochure described it as a "magnificent" copy of the artist's masterpiece. The San Domenico Maggiore's online listing meanwhile described the work as a "refined" and "well preserved" pictorial draft.

Police did not specify when the painting had been stolen, though the Naples museum reported being in possession of the work as recently as January 2020, when it was returned from Rome.

Leonardo's original "Salvator Mundi" made history in 2017 when it sold for $450.3 million at Christie's in New York. Once dismissed as a copy, it sold in the UK for just £45 ($61) in the 1950s.

While some scholars have disputed the attribution to Leonardo, suggesting it was at least partly created by members of his workshop, the painting was restored and authenticated before becoming the most expensive artwork ever to sell at auction. It is widely thought that the record-breaking bid was made on behalf of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

The "Salvator Mundi" has not, however, been seen in public since the November 2017 sale. After the Louvre Abu Dhabi announced that it would show the painting, it postponed the grand unveiling in 2018 without explanation.

Top image caption: The "Salvator Mundi" copy found in Naples, Italy on January 18, 2021

© Salvatore Laporta/IPA/Shutterstock Italian police present the recovered painting, which is believed to date back to the 1510s.

LESE MAJESTE BULLSHIT

Thai court gives record 43-year sentence for insulting king

BANGKOK — A court in Thailand on Tuesday sentenced a former civil servant to a record prison term of 43 years and six months for breaching the country's strict law on insulting or defaming the monarchy, lawyers said.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The Bangkok Criminal Court found the woman guilty on 29 counts of violating the country’s lese majeste law for posting audio clips to Facebook and YouTube with comments deemed critical of the monarchy, the group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said.

The court initially announced her sentence as 87 years, but reduced it by half because she pleaded guilty to the offences, the group said.

The sentence, which comes amid an ongoing protest movement that has seen unprecedented public criticism of the monarchy, was swiftly condemned by rights groups.

“Today’s court verdict is shocking and sends a spine-chilling signal that not only criticisms of the monarchy won’t be tolerated, but they will also be severely punished,” said Sunai Phasuk, a senior researcher for the group Human Rights Watch.

Violating Thailand's lese majeste law — known widely as Article 112 — is punishable by three to 15 years’ imprisonment per count. The law is controversial not only because it has been used to punish things as simple as liking a post on Facebook but also because anyone — not just royals or authorities — can lodge a complaint that can tie up the person accused in legal proceedings for years.

During Thailand's last 15 years of political unrest, the law has frequently been used as a political weapon as well as in personal vendettas. Actual public criticism of the monarchy, however, had until recently been extremely rare.

That changed during the past year, when young protesters calling for democratic reforms also issued calls for the reform of the monarchy, which has long been regarded as an almost sacred institution by many Thais. The protesters have said the institution is unaccountable and holds too much power in what is supposed to be a democratic constitutional monarchy.

Authorities at first let much of the commentary and criticism go without charge, but since November have arrested about 50 people and charged them with lese majeste.

Sunai said Tuesday's sentence was likely meant to send a message.

“It can be seen that Thai authorities are using lese majeste prosecution as their last resort measure in response to the youth-led democracy uprising that seeks to curb the king’s powers and keep him within the bound of constitutional rule. Thailand’s political tensions will now go from bad to worse,” he said.

After King Maha Vajralongkorn took the throne in 2016 following his father's death, he informed the government that he did not wish to see the lese majeste law used. But as the protests grew last year, and the criticism of the monarchy got harsher, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha warned a line had been crossed and the law would be used.

The protest movement has lost steam since the arrests and since new restrictions on public gatherings were implemented following a surge in coronavirus cases.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights identified the woman sentenced Tuesday only by her first name Anchan and said she was in her mid-60s.

Her case dates back six years, when anti-establishment sentiment was growing after a 2014 military coup led by Prayuth. She was held in jail from January 2015 to November 2018.

She denied the charges when her case was first heard in military court, where lese majeste offences were prosecuted for a period after the coup. When her case was transferred to criminal court, she pleaded guilty with the hope that the court would have sympathy for her actions, because she had only shared the audio, not posted or commented on it, she told local media Tuesday on her arrival at court.

“I thought it was nothing. There were so many people who shared this content and listened to it. The guy (who made the content) had done it for so many years," Anchan said. “So I didn’t really think this through and was too confident and not being careful enough to realize at the time that it wasn’t appropriate.”

She said she had worked as a civil servant for 40 years and was arrested one year before retirement, and with a conviction would lose her pension.

What is believed to have previously been the longest lese majeste sentence was issued in 2017, when a military court sentenced a man to 35 years in prison for social media posts deemed defamatory to the monarchy. The man, a salesman, had initially been sentenced to 70 years, but had his sentence halved after pleading guilty.

Biden picks transgender woman as assistant health secretary

WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden has tapped Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be his assistant secretary of health, leaving her poised to become the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

© Bonnie Jo Mount Rachel Levine, physician general for the state of Pennsylvania, with her mother Lillian Levine, in Harrisburg, Pa., on May 16, 2016. (Bonnie Jo Mount / The Washington Post via Getty Images file)

A pediatrician and former Pennsylvania physician general, Levine was appointed to her current post by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in 2017, making her one of the few transgender people serving in elected or appointed positions nationwide. She won past confirmation by the Republican-majority Pennsylvania Senate and has emerged as the public face of the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic — no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability — and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond," Biden said in a statement. "She is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead our administration’s health efforts.”

A graduate of Harvard and of Tulane Medical School, Levine is president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. She's written in the past on the opioid crisis, medical marijuana, adolescent medicine, eating disorders and LGBTQ medicine.

Biden and his transition team have already begun negotiating with members of Congress, promoting speedy passage of the president-elect's $1.9 trillion plan to bring the coronavirus, which has killed nearly 400,000 people in the United States, under control. It seeks to enlist federal emergency personnel to run mass vaccination centers and provide 100 immunization shots in his administration’s first 100 days while using government spending to stimulate the pandemic-hammered economy,

Biden also says that, in one of his first acts as president, he'll ask Americans to wear masks for 100 days to slow the virus' spread.

Levine joins Biden's Health and Human Services secretary nominee Xavier Becerra, a Latino politician who rose from humble beginnings to serve in Congress and as California’s attorney general.

Businessman Jeff Zients is Biden's coronavirus response coordinator, while Biden picked infectious-disease specialist Rochelle Walensky to run the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Vivek Murthy as surgeon general and Yale epidemiologist Marcella Nunez-Smith to head a working group to ensure fair and equitable distribution of vaccines and treatments.

The government's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, will also work closely with the Biden administration.

Analysis: With Trump's exit, the Fox News presidency will come to an end

© White House/News Pictures/Shutterstock Mandatory Credit: Photo by White House/News Pictures/Shutterstock (11709384j) Donald Trump delivers remarks at the 450th mile of the new border wall, near the Texas Mexico border. US President Donald Trump visit to Texas, USA - 12 Jan 2021

Four years ago, Fox News headed into the Trump presidency with an unprecedented opportunity. It was not only the primary source of news for the Republican Party, but also the primary source for President Trump himself. The network could have used the opportunity to act responsibly. It could have leveraged its contacts within Trump's inner circle and the GOP to double down on reporting and break some real news. It could have — at the very least — delivered the cold hard truth to the millions who relied on it for accurate, reliable information.

But it did none of those things. Instead, Fox chose to run in the opposite direction. The propagandists on the network were empowered like never before while the so-called "straight news" hours became Trumpier and Trumpier. Its hosts scored dozens of Trump interviews, but, in most cases, instead of pressing him with tough questions, they egged on his worst tendencies. Even when not talking directly with him, the hosts were speaking directly to him. And they egged on those poor tendencies by feeding him a steady diet of hyper-partisan stories and outright disinformation. While it is officially called the "Trump presidency," there is a good case to be made that it should be referred to as the "Fox News presidency."

Now, that is all coming to an end. But it is important to realize that none of that had to happen. Rupert Murdoch, who has already earned more money than he can possibly know what to do with, could have put an end to it with a snap of a finger. He could have done this when his hosts lied about the Russia investigation and pushed "deep-state" nonsense. He could have done it when his hosts misled the American public about the coronavirus. He could have done it when the network's top personalities entertained wild conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election. He did not.

Instead, Murdoch tweaked the network in another way. As Stelter reported earlier this month, Murdoch was personally involved in shaking up Fox's daytime lineup. That new lineup premiered on Monday. The biggest change? Replacing Martha MacCallum's newscast — which was already overtly conservative — with another right-wing talk show. More opinion, less news.

Is MacCallum hosting a right-wing opinion show now?

While MacCallum lost her 7pm time slot, she is now hosting at 3pm. The promos said she would bring her "unmatched perspective" to the daytime hour. If Monday's show was any indication, that "unmatched perspective" translates to a right-wing POV. For her debut at 3pm, MacCallum's guest list consisted of Sara Carter, Charlie Kirk, Alex Berenson, Geraldo Rivera, Rep. Nancy Mace, K.T. McFarland, Heather Higgins, and Stephanie Cutter. Which is to say her hour was ripe with pro-Trump pundits. And while Cutter was on her show, MacCallum's posture was adversarial, of course.

Kilmeade plays the hits

Brian Kilmeade on Monday became the first person to try out for host of "Fox News Primetime" — which, I feel obligated to note, is not actually in primetime given that primetime doesn't start until 8pm. Kilmeade played all the hits for the Fox audience. He led his show talking about censorship, moved on to fear-mongering about a migrant caravan heading toward the US border, and finished off a segment featuring Barstool's Dave Portnoy. It felt like Kilmeade's chief aim was to hit directly back at Newsmax's Greg Kelly, which has chipped away some of Fox's audience at 7pm, and earn some of that audience back...

Will this call Fox's viewers back home?

Fox is used to obnoxiously boasting that it dominates its competitors in the ratings. But right now, as Stelter wrote Friday, the channel is stuck in third place. The changes that were implemented Monday should be viewed through that frame. Will the shakeup bring Fox fans home? Also: More big changes are coming soon. Which hours will be shaken up next?

Workers trapped week in China mine ask for pickles, porridge

BEIJING — Workers trapped for more than a week in a Chinese gold mine asked for pickles and porridge to be dropped to them while they wait to be rescued, state media reported Tuesday.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The website of the People's Daily said the request came after a telephone line was dropped to the group of 11 inside the mine's No. 6 chamber. Another survivor of the mine explosion a week ago is inside an adjoining chamber while the fate of 10 others remains unknown, according to officials in the city of Yantai in the eastern province of Shandong.

People's Daily said two of the miners were recovering from exhaustion and another was injured by the explosion that ripped through the mine on Jan. 10.

Medicine, food and liquids have twice been delivered to the workers, enough to last at least two days, Yantai mayor Chen Fei told reporters at a briefing Tuesday morning.

“Their overall physical condition seems to be pretty good," Chen said.

The porridge requested, also known as millet congee, is a nourishing breakfast staple common throughout northeastern China. Pickles and chilies are often added for flavour and vitamins.

A brief video clip released by the city government Tuesday morning showed rescuers cutting through metal cages used to transport miners and ore that were blocking the shaft. Hundreds of rescuers were drilling six shafts in an attempt to reach the different sections of the mine.

Workers passed a note to the surface on Monday saying they were suffering from toxic fumes and rising water levels but calling on rescuers not to give up.

Mine managers have been detained for waiting more than 24 hours before reporting the accident, the cause of which has not been announced. The mine in Qixia, a jurisdiction under Yantai, had been under construction at the time of the blast.

Increased supervision has improved safety in China's mining industry, which used to post an average of 5,000 deaths per year. Yet demand for coal and precious metals continues to prompt corner-cutting and two accidents in the southwestern megacity of Chongqing last year killed 39 miners.

The Associated Press

Four UNICEF schools for Rohingya children in refugee camps in Bangladesh have been destroyed in a fire, officials said Tuesday, with the UN children's agency calling it arson.

© - UNICEF runs some 2,500 learning centres in the 34 refugee camps in Bangladesh's southeastern border district of Cox's Bazar

It was unclear who might attack the schools, which were empty at the time, but the security situation in the camps housing around a million people has worsened in recent months.

Last week a blaze thought to have been started by a gas stove burned down hundreds of bamboo shacks in one of the camps, leaving thousands of the refugees originally from Myanmar homeless.

Razwan Hayat, Bangladesh's refugee commissioner, told AFP that he believed the latest fire wasn't started deliberately and said that the schools were made of flimsy flammable materials.

"We are investigating. But we think it is an accident. These centres are not permanent structures," he said.

However, UNICEF said on Twitter the incident was arson and that it was "working with partners to assess the damages of the attack and speed up the process of rebuilding these learning Centres".

UNICEF runs about 2,500 learning centres in the 34 refugee camps in Bangladesh's southeastern border district of Cox's Bazar. Some 240,000 Rohingya children studied in them before the pandemic.

They have been closed for months because of measures to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus but are expected to open again from next month, aid workers say.

The Rohingya are largely conservative with many opposing the education of girls.

Those living in the camps include around 750,000 Rohingya who fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar in 2017 that the UN has likened to ethnic cleansing.

There is little prospect of them returning to Myanmar, leading to tensions with the local population and prompting many to attempt treacherous sea journeys to Malaysia and Indonesia.

Recent months have seen clashes between groups including the militant Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), killing seven dead and many houses torched.

Nicaragua congress adopts life sentences; opposition opposes

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — Nicaragua’s congress gave final approval Monday to change the constitution to permit life imprisonment.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Congress is dominated by President Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista party, and opposition legislators voted against the measure or abstained.

Opponents say life sentences could be used against the political opposition, like other recent measures passed by Ortega’s party.

“When there isn't an independent judicial system ... applying sentences like this could be interpreted as a political move to punish any Nicaraguan citizen," said congressman Miguel Rosales of the opposition Liberal Constitutionalist Party.

Ortega has claimed opponents are guilty of “hate crimes,” one of the categories that could be punished by life in prison. In recent months, Ortega’s party has passed laws essentially banning opposition candidates from running in the 2021 presidential election.

Sandinista legislators defended the life sentence measure as providing protection against rapists and killers. The government gathered 3 million signatures supporting the change.

Ortega initially led Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990 following the Sandinista revolution that ousted the Somoza dictatorship. He returned to the presidency in 2007 after three failed election attempts, and he won reelection in 2011. He then sidestepped term limits to get himself reelected in 2016, and packed courts and government agencies with allies. The Sandinista party controls the courts and the legislature.

In October, congress approved legislation mandating prison sentences for those who use online platforms to spread false information or information that could raise alarm among people. The bill raised alarm among opposition and human rights groups, who described it as a threat to free speech.

The Special Cyber Crimes Law establishes prison terms of two to four years for “those who promote or distribute false or misleading information that causes alarm, terror, or unease in the public.” The law allows the government to define what information fits that description.

The Associated Press