KINSELLA: Jason Kenney ouster doesn't bode well for federal Conservatives

Warren Kinsella - 

Toronto Sun

© Provided by Toronto Sun

Jason Kenney meets supporters after speaking at an event at Spruce Meadows in Calgary on Wednesday, May 18, 2022.

Wither thou goest, Conservatives, in thine dark blue car at night?

Sorry to get all Jack Kerouac on y’all, but that little line from On The Road kind of fits, doesn’t it? I mean, after Conservatives committed ritual mass political suicide on Wednesday night — in the Conservative heartland, no less — it is fair for the rest of us to wonder: What the hell?

Jason Kenney — he who was Stephen Harper’s right hand, he who delivered the elusive ethnic vote and a majority, he who united the warring factions of the right and defeated the socialists — is gone. It is mindboggling.

As my colleague Brian Lilley put it to a few of us at the Sun: “Jason Kenney not being conservative enough for Alberta? The implications for the federal leadership race are huge.”

And Lilley is indisputably right. Kenney’s conservative credentials were impeccable. Nobody in Western Canada worked harder to advance the interests of Team Blue. And in Ottawa, Kenney was feared and respected — and could always be counted on to be the happy warrior for his side.

As premier, Kenney waged endless war with Liberal Justin Trudeau, or cheered on other Conservative politicians, or travelled tirelessly — just a few days ago to Washington, to advocate for Canadian energy — to push for policies that conservatives favoured.

So what happened? How can Conservatives win, as Lilley noted, if even Kenney isn’t good enough?
DUMBFOUNDED

As a member of the Alberta diaspora, I was and am dumbfounded by Kenney’s ouster. Kenney possesses a brilliant, agile political mind. He always seemed to be several steps ahead of his opponents.

And now, this, and his career is in ruins. Was it because the UCP malcontents felt he had become, in Preston Manning’s words, “Ottawashed,” and out of touch with his home province?

Was it because he was one of those politicians — like Paul Martin, say, or Al Gore — who needed a stronger, savvier boss in charge? Without Harper around, Kenney never seemed to be entirely what he had been. Or could have been.

Was it because Conservatives in Alberta have utterly lost any discipline? That they lack self-control and common sense?

INSUFFICIENTLY CONSERVATIVE?

Or was it because — as Lilley suggests — Kenney, of all people, was seen as insufficiently conservative? Was it because Kenney wasn’t right-wing enough?

If so, conservatives — federally, at least — are doomed. Kenney was a real-deal Tory. If Alberta Conservatives want someone even more to the right, they’ll perhaps get it. But they won’t get the support of most Canadian voters.

Voters, too, will be unimpressed by this latest conservative blood-letting. The federal Conservative leadership candidates were bad enough — smearing each other, calling each other liars, accusing each other of scandal and law-breaking.

But this? Jason Kenney led a majority government, and polls suggested he had a reasonable shot at re-election. To jettison him now doesn’t mean that he wasn’t good enough — it means that a lot of Alberta Conservatives have lost their minds. And their once-sterling commitment to political discipline.

Which leads us back to that first question.

Whither thou goest, Conservatives, in thine dark blue car at night?

From here, it looks like you are heading for the ditch.

WARREN KINSELLA IS A LAWYER, FORMER LIBERAL STRATEGIST,PUNK ROCKER, FORMER CALGARIAN, BLOGGER AND ZIONIST APOLOGIST 

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Residential school survivors didn't want to 'wear' decision to raise flag: documents

OTTAWA — Documents show some residential school survivors told Ottawa they didn't want to "wear" a decision to raise the Canadian flag, as the government spent months mulling how to lift the Maple Leaf from half-mast.

Hoisting the flag became a source of debate last year after it was lowered for months following the discovery of what were believed to be the remains of 215 children at the former Kamloops residential school site in British Columbia last May.

Next weekmarks the one-year anniversary of that discovery using ground-penetrating radar by the Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc First Nation.

It sent waves of grief, shock and anger through the country. As Indigenous communities reeled and more non-Indigenous Canadians joined them, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ordered the flags lowered at all federal buildings, including the one atop the Peace Tower.

By June, federal officials were trying to figure out the timing to raise the flag, reaching out to Indigenous leaders and drafting up options.

"This is the longest time in Canadian history that flags have been at half-mast," Crown-Indigenous Relations officials wrote in a briefing note released to The Canadian Press under access-to-information legislation.

How long the flag remains lowered is typically dictated by a strict set of rules. But when the federal government lowered it to honour Indigenous children who died and disappeared from the 140-year-long residential school system, the timeline for lifting it was not clear.

Ottawa was working to return the flag to full-mast ahead of Remembrance Day, documents show, which is what ultimately happened. The documents say survivors and those in the country's national Indigenous organizations saw the need to raise the flag in order for it to be lowered on Nov. 8, Indigenous Veteran's Day, and Nov. 11.

Among those consulted was the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation's survivors' circle. The group met last fall with Carolyn Bennett, the former federal Crown-Indigenous Relations minister before she was named to a new portfolio.

"Several participants mentioned that they did not want Canada to use this engagement to justify the raising of the flag to full-mast," officials said in a summary of the meeting.

"They did not want to 'wear' that decision," the summary said, adding Bennett signalled she understood and saw how not everyone agreed.

"Some said that they were not ready to see the flag go up to full-mast, others indicated that Canadians still needed to better understand why the flag was lowered."

Officials recorded differing opinions on the national symbol and how the country planned to mark the finding of more unmarked graves.

"Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami officials reinforced the critical need to honour all the lost children (more than 6,000) and to sustain public awareness of the tragedy of residential schools," the documents say.

"Officials from the Métis National Council also offered the suggestion that the flag be lowered to half-mast for a week each time a new residential school burial discovery is made."

In addition, officials said the organizations felt even though raising the flag was complicated, the issue was one that "the Canadian government will need to resolve." They also believed in the need for another "symbolic recognition at the national level" as a replacement if the flag were hoisted.

The office of the current Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister, Marc Miller, said in a statement it is working with the House of Commons, Senate Speakers’ Offices and other MPs to hoist the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation's survivors flag on Parliament Hill in June, which is Indigenous history month.

It also plans to lower the Canadian flag every Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

The Cowessess First Nation near Regina discovered 751 unmarked graves last year. Officials noted that Chief Cadmus Delorme "identified that this is a historic time for Canada" and “that with the number of residential schools, this issue will be present for years to come."

Indigenous groups also urged governments to take meaningful action on reconciliation, and not leave it at symbolic gestures, the documents show.

Chief Harvey McLeod of the Upper Nicola Indian Band in Merritt, B.C., said recently that more debate is needed about what the flag represents to Indigenous people and Canadians, as opposed to talking how long it should stay lowered or raised.

“I see being more important is us continuing to have the dialogue to correct what was implemented in that plan that was the way to implement the vision of Confederation,” he said. “It was the vision of the salvation of us savages, us Indians, to incorporate us into general society.”

“We really have to roll up our sleeves and find a way of how we can be inclusive of people like myself.”

Congress of Aboriginal Peoples National Vice-Chief Kim Beaudin said he's more concerned with justice for survivors than symbolic gestures from Ottawa.

"Quite honestly, we're not really treated as Canadians either, right? Full-(fledged) Canadian citizens in our own country," he said.

"A lot of times we're treated like foreigners."

One survivor of the Kamloops residential school said any gesture from the Canadian government on the flag is meaningful.

“Any recognition that Canada offers is good,” said Garry Gottfriedson, a 69-year-old poet who attended the institution from kindergarten to Grade 3.

"The smallest gestures are good. Any little gesture Canada can offer is a step towards healing."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 19, 2022.

— With files from Dirk Meissner in Kamloops, B.C.

Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press

COACHING IS ABUSE

'Pivotal moment:' Integrity commissioner starts process of cleaning up Canadian sport

Sarah-Eve Pelletier calls this a pivotal moment in Canadian sport.


© Provided by The Canadian Press'Pivotal moment:' Integrity commissioner starts process of cleaning up Canadian sport

The lawyer and former artistic swimmer opened shop as Canada's first sport integrity commissioner two weeks ago and, in what feels like not a moment too soon, she now faces the daunting task of trying to clean up Canadian sport amid a flurry of maltreatment complaints from hundreds of former and current athletes.

"There's an opportunity, if we act collectively," Pelletier said Wednesday. "It is the most important motivating factor in me taking on this role is that I want to be part of this important conversation. But there are so many things that need to happen so that no-one ever experiences any form of maltreatment or discrimination in sport in the future."

But Pelletier, armed with two law degrees, and what she called a positive, joyful experience in her own sport, said she relishes the challenge.

"What has been the driver of my career so far has been to be a positive agent for change in sports," she said.

The Office of the Sport Integrity Commissioner (OSIC), which will operate within the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC), will start receiving and addressing complaints on June 20 of violations of the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport.

There was a sense of urgency, Pelletier said, to begin operations amid what Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge has called a safe sport "crisis" in Canadian sport. More than 1,000 athletes have signed open letters to Sport Canada in recent weeks calling for independent investigations into the toxic culture in their sports.

"One of my biggest worries as I take on this role is that we can't get the results soon enough for the people who've been waiting for them," she said. "Whether we started two weeks ago, whether we started next month or whether we started in a year from now, the sense of urgency is there for us, and we want to work on addressing all matters as urgently as we can."

There's also the need, however, not to stumble out of the gate.

"Coming from an artistic sport, there's always this notion of perfection," Pelletier said. "We cannot compromise on building a trauma-informed system and as robust system as we can, that will be compassionate, and that will be efficient, and that will provide a fair process for all the parties involved."

"I don't know that we can create something perfect, but we really need to get it right."

St-Onge said there were three main asks from athletes and sport organizations that arose from recent discussions. The first was that the safe sport office be independent. Athletes have usually had to take complaints to someone within their sport, "and they didn't necessarily feel safe to do so," St-Onge told The Canadian Press in an interview Tuesday evening.

Pelletier said independence is "at the core" of the new safe sport office, and added they will largely rely on external expert resources for things like investigations to help safeguard independence. Policy creation, she said, was also informed by expertise outside of sports, such as human rights and child protection.

The second ask, St-Onge said, was for adequate funding, and she noted the $16 million earmarked in the recent federal budget to fund office operations over the next three years.

The third ask was for participation to be mandatory for all national sport organizations, and it will be a condition for federal funding. St-Onge said organizations that currently have their own safe sport mechanisms will shift over.

Pelletier's staff at OSIC currently consists of a director of investigations and a program manager who will help triage complaints, and it will expand as needed.

She said her office will have a process to handle historical claims as well. Gymnasts, boxers, and bobsled and skeleton athletes, for example, asked for independent investigations, with some of their allegations of maltreatment being several years old.

Pelletier said there was some collaboration with the United States Center for SafeSport in helping lay the groundwork in the OSIC. But she'd like to raise the bar even higher.

"Hopefully our model is best in class and . . . can be inspired and inspire other models worldwide," she said. "We want to advance this conversation, basically. We aspire to being a great example, on a worldwide basis."

St-Onge said that while the OSIC is a "very important piece of the safe sport file," it's just part of the solution.

"It is also my goal and my priority to work on the culture in sport," said St-Onge, who was appointed sport minister in October.

She also plans a review of the funding agreement with national sport organizations, to improve governance and accountability, and "all the other aspects of safe sport, to make sure that we respond properly when we're facing situations like those that were exposed in the past few months and weeks."

St-Onge also plans to work on the Canadian Sport Policy, which binds all sport organizations across Canada.

"Safe sport is definitely my priority for this new Sport Policy," she said. It's due for renewal in February of 2023.

St-Onge applauds the athletes for having the courage to come forward in recent weeks about their experiences of maltreatment.

"The positive thing that is coming out of these stories . . . is it put the conversation at the forefront of everybody's priorities," she said. "I feel like everyone understands now that what happened is unacceptable, that silence is unacceptable, that not doing anything is unacceptable. And that we need to do more.

"And, that's also about the sustainability of our sport system. Because if Canadians don't trust our sport system, parents are no longer going to send their kids to clubs and physical activity. And that's really problematic.

"We're ready to move forward and improve the Canadian sports system and my goal is to bring back joy in the sport practice."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2022.

Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press

WHEN ART BECOMES A COMMODITY FETISH

Pablo Picasso painting of muse Marie-Thérèse Walter fetches $67.5M at auction


"Femme nue couchée" is a surrealistic and abstract depiction of Pablo Picasso's lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter, in 1932. Photo courtesy of Sotheby's

May 18 (UPI) -- An abstract painting of a nude woman by Pablo Picasso has sold for $67.5 million, leading Sotheby's auction of Modern art that netted $408.5 million total.

With Tuesday night's sale, the 1932 painting, Femme nue couchée (Naked woman lying), became one of the most valuable paintings of Picasso's lover Marie-Thérèse Walter. It was sold as part of Sotheby's Modern evening auction, which also included the sale of Claude Monet's Le Grand Canal et Santa Maria della Salute for $56.6 million, a record for one of the French artist's paintings of Venice.

Picasso and Walter were in a romantic relationship from 1927 to 1935, during which time Walter served as the artist's model. He completed more than a dozen paintings featuring her likeness.

Together, they had a daughter -- Maya Widmaier-Picasso.

Femme nue couchée was among the first of a dedicated series of paintings Picasso completed of Walter in 1931 and 1932. The artwork was completed during a period when Picasso was heavily influenced by surrealism, featuring figures with twisted bodies and disorganized faces.

"A crowning achievement of painterly verve, energy and manipulation of the human form, the present work succinctly synthesizes the artist's groundbreaking achievements of the late 1920s and early 1930s into one colorful, dynamic canvas," Sotheby's said of the painting on its website.

Another six artworks by Picasso sold at Tuesday night's auction, including L'Étreinte (The Embrace), a painting of a couple in the middle of a tryst, for $14.1 million, and a sculpture titled Femme debout (Standing woman), for $2.1 million.

Other notable sales at Tuesday's auction included Paul Cézanne's Clairière (The Glade) for $42 million, Willem De Kooning's Leaves in Weehawken for $10 million and Henri Matisse's Fleurs ou Fleurs devant un portrait (Flowers or Flowers in front of a portrait) for $15.3 million.

Grand Canal painting fetches $56.6M, a record for Monet Venice work


"Le Grand Canal et Santa Maria della Salute" is one of six nearly identical paintings Claude Monet completed of this particular view of Venice's Grand Canal in 1908. Image courtesy of Sotheby's

May 17 (UPI) -- A Claude Monet painting of the Grand Canal in Italy sold at auction Tuesday for $56.6 million, the highest one of his Venice paintings has fetched, Sotheby's in New York announced.

The 1908 painting, Le Grand Canal et Santa Maria della Salute, sold as part of the auction house's Modern evening auction.

The painting is one of six artworks Monet completed of the Grand Canal and the Santa Maria della Salute, a Roman Catholic church near the waterway. All six are from nearly the exact same view and differ only in color palette depending on the time of day.

One is held by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, another by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the rest are in private hands. The identity of the buyer in Tuesday's auction has yet to be revealed.

Monet spent several weeks in Venice with his wife, Alice Hoschedé Monet, in the fall of 1908.

He completed dozens of artworks, often painting the same scenes at varying times of day, exploring how the city's waterways combined with the changing sunlight to alter the views' colors. This was a common approach to art throughout Monet's career as seen in his haystacks, cypress trees and water lilies series.

"The work stands as one of the finest paintings ever created by the artist, and the pinnacle of the series produced during the artist's Venetian sojourn," a release from Sotheby's said.

"Channeling the magic of the city on canvas, Le Grand Canal showcases a breath-taking view pure brushstrokes of color and light. As Monet continues to be recognized as one of the key progenitors of abstract art that would develop in the mid-20th century, Le Grand Canal is a pivotal work that bridges the artist's ground-breaking Impressionist innovations and their continued evolution into a more freeform abstract approach."

Other notable sales at Tuesday's auction include Paul Cézanne's Clairière (The Glade) for $42 million, Pablo Picasso's Mousquetaire à la pipe, buste (Musketeer with a pipe, bust) for $8.5 million, Willem De Kooning's Leaves in Weehawken for $10 million and Henri Matisse's Fleurs ou Fleurs devant un portrait (Flowers or Flowers in front of a portrait) for $15.3 million.

Basquiat owned by Japan's Maezawa sells for $85 mn

The Jean-Michel Basquiat artwork sold for $85 million at auction in New York 

(AFP/Tolga Akmen) 

Wed, May 18, 2022,

Jean-Michel Basquiat's "Untitled" 1982 sold for $85 million at auction in New York Wednesday, well above its pre-sale estimate and netting Japanese billionaire space tourist Yusaku Maezawa a tidy profit.

Phillips auction house sold the 16-foot-wide painting on behalf of Maezawa, who purchased it in 2016 for $57.3 million.

The auctioneers had tipped it to go for around $70 million.

Phillips announced in a statement in March that it would put the artwork under the hammer.

Maezawa, the mega-rich founder of Japan's largest online fashion mall, said in the statement that the past six years of owning the painting were "a great pleasure."

But art "should be shared so that it can be a part of everyone's lives," he added.

Ahead of its sale, the massive artwork went on an international tour, being displayed in London, Los Angeles and Taipei.

Maezawa, who in 2017 set a new auction record for Basquiat works when he paid $110.5 million for another painting by the 20th century giant, has said he plans to create a new museum to exhibit his collection.

He founded the Contemporary Art Foundation in Tokyo and was on the 2017 list of "Top 200 Collectors" by the ARTnews magazine based in New York.

He has been in the headlines more recently for becoming the first space tourist to travel to the International Space Station with Russia's space agency.

His odyssey is believed to have cost around 10 billion yen ($87 million), and he plans to follow it up with a trip around the Moon organized by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

pdh/wd

Sketch breaks Michelangelo record, selling at auction for €23 million

Issued on: 18/05/2022 

People sit during the auction of a recently rediscovered drawing by Michelangelo, the artist's first known nude, that was adjudicated 20 millions euros, at the Christie's auction house in Paris on May 18, 2022. 

© Emmanuel Dunand, AFP

Text by: NEWS WIRES

A recently rediscovered sketch by Michelangelo, the artist's first known nude, sold at auction at Christie's in Paris on Wednesday for 23 million euros ($24 million), a record for one of the Italian master's drawings.

Representing a naked man with two other background figures, the late 15th-century sketch in pen and brown ink recently resurfaced in a private French collection after more than a century.

Including the buyer's premium, the sale price far outstripped the Renaissance artist's previous record for a drawing of 9.5 million euros for "The Risen Christ" at Christie's in London in 2000 but fell short of the list price of 30 million euros.

"There are fewer than 10 drawings by Michelangelo which exist in private hands," Helene Rihal, director of Christie's ancient and 19th-century drawings department, told AFP ahead of the auction. The sketch was last put up for sale in 1907 at Paris's Hotel Drouot.

The nude, partly based on a fresco by Masaccio in the Brancacci chapel in Florence, had thus far managed to "escape the attention of specialists", according to Christie's, which has declared it to be very well preserved.

It was only in 2019 that experts identified it as the work of the Italian Renaissance genius (1475-1564) during an inventory of a private French collection.

In September that year it was declared a "national treasure of France", which prevented its exit from French territory for 30 months, while giving the French government and museums the opportunity to buy it.
No offer was forthcoming, however, and recent weeks saw the work exhibited in Hong Kong and New York to drum up interest ahead of the auction.

The sketch is the size of an A4 sheet of paper (eight by 12 inches, 21 by 30 centimetres) and closely resembles a figure in Masaccio's fresco "The Baptism of the Neophytes" (1426-27).

But "it's so much more than a copy", Christie's Old Masters expert Stijn Alsteens said on the auctioneer's website.

"Michelangelo has decided to make the figure into something that corresponded more to his aesthetic by making him much more robust and monumental, while at the same time keeping the fragility of the figure, who is exposed and shivering" as he awaits baptism, he said.

Alsteens added that the artist might have made the sketch aged around 21, on the cusp of his high-profile career.

(AFP)

Identical twins give birth on the same day at same hospital

May 18 (UPI) -- A pair of identical twins in California have something new in common after they both gave birth to baby boys at the same hospital on the same day.

Jill Justiniani and Erin Cheplak each gave birth to a 7-pound, 3-ounce baby boy at Kaiser Permanente hospital in Anaheim

Both baby boys measured 20 inches long at birth.

The twins said Justiniani has been scheduled for a C-section on May 5, and Cheplak's water broke that same day -- 10 days before she was due.

"Sharing our pregnancy together was really special because we really had the support of each other through every step of the process," Justiniani told Good Morning America. "Even just going through the day-to-day changes of pregnancy, all of the unknowns and the questions and the natural worries that come up, we were constantly able to check in with each other and support each other."

RICH WHITE BOY JUSTICE

Martin Shkreli released early from prison to halfway house


Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli (R) smiles as he exits the courthouse with attorney Benjamin Brafman on August 2, 2017, in New York City. Shkreli was released early from his seven-year prison sentence, Brafman confirmed Wednesday.

 File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

May 18 (UPI) -- Former pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli was released from a Pennsylvania prison early Wednesday after serving part of a seven-year sentence for fraud, the federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed.

Shkreli was released to a halfway house, his lawyer confirmed in a statement to UPI, and is expected to remain in federal custody until Sept. 14.

"While in the halfway house I have encouraged Mr. Shkreli to make no further statement, nor will he or I have any additional comments at this time," Brafman said.

A jury convicted Shkreli in August 2017 on charges he ran a Ponzi scheme from 2009 to 2014 and bilked investors out of $11 million. He was found guilty on three out of the eight charges he faced after a week of deliberations, including securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud.

Prosecutors said Shkreli illegally took stock from his biotechnology firm, Retrophin Inc., and used it to pay off debts from a failed hedge fund -- which is illegal. The Retrophin board of directors later sued Shkreli and he was ousted from the company for which he served as CEO.

Shkreli was accused of fraudulently reclassifying a $900,000 equity investment as a loan from his defunct hedge fund, MSMB Capital Management, after it lost millions -- and made Retrophin pick up the tab.

Defense attorneys argued that Shkreli's investors were repaid.

Shkreli came to unrelated notoriety in 2015 after his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, hiked the price of anti-parasite medication Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per tablet. The drug is often used to treat HIV patients and others with compromised immune systems.

Angler reels in ‘freaking scary’ fish in Texas marsh, photos show. It’s a rare beast

Mitchell Willetts
Wed, May 18, 2022,

An angler recently reeled in a rare and “freaking scary” fish after casting his hook into a murky Texas marsh, photos show.

The scaly creature’s striking look, jet black from tail to toothy tip, took the fisherman and his guide by surprise, according to a post by Lotus Guide Service.

“Well … (we) found out melanistic gar do exist,” said the May 16 post, sharing photos of the fish whipping and thrashing against the fishing line.

Lotus Guide Service wouldn’t say exactly where the fish was caught, but said it was in a southeast Texas marsh.

Long-established residents of Texas waterways, the prehistoric and prized alligator gar is typically brown or olive in color. But seemingly every inch of the one recently hooked in the “southeast Texas marsh” is dark black, save for the impressive teeth and pale gullet revealed by its open jaws.

Though harmless to humans, alligator gar are fierce enough in appearance and in name to inspire fearful myths about them — and this strange variation is particularly stirring to some, even those familiar with the fish.

“Freaking scary,” one commenter said. “Caught alligator gar growing up in Louisiana … put up a hell of a fight.”

“I like this, looks hella mean,” another said.

“Them thangs look deadly,” another read.

Melanism, a genetic anomaly that causes darker fur, hair, skin or scales, is known to occur across the animal kingdom, though it is exceptionally rare, McClatchy News reported.

How rare is melanism? Rare enough that experts generally lack enough data to offer exact figures. But there are reports of other gars with the condition having been caught or killed in the U.S.

While the black alligator gar has some locals vowing to keep their toes out of the water for the foreseeable future, others were simply impressed.

“Man that’s gorgeous,” a commenter said.

Some were so impressed that, had they been the one to catch the gar, they said they’d have it mounted in their man cave or trophy room for all to see.

The gar is safe from that fate, at least for now.

The angler let the fish go after catching it, Lotus Guide Service said, with the photos as the only trophies taken.

Spain issues nationwide alert over possible monkeypox outbreak


Spain issued a nationwide alert over a possible monkeypox outbreak Wednesday, after 23 people have shown symptoms.

 Photo courtesy of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

May 18 (UPI) -- Health officials in Spain issued a nationwide alert Wednesday, warning about a possible outbreak of monkeypox, after 23 people showed symptoms of the virus detected in Britain and Portugal.

The new cases in the Madrid region are being analyzed by Spain's National Microbiology Center and are not confirmed. The health ministry said the nationwide alert was issued "to guarantee a swift, coordinated and timely response."

While it is unlikely monkeypox would spread significantly, it "can't be ruled out," according to Fernando Simon, an epidemiologist in charge of Spain's health emergencies center.

In Portugal, five cases have been confirmed and health authorities are investigating another 15 suspected cases. Seven cases have been confirmed in Britain since May 4.

RELATED Maryland health officials confirm case of monkeypox in traveler

Early symptoms of monkeypox can include fever, headache, fatigue and chills, with a facial rash and lesions that develop days later and spread to other parts of the body, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While there is no cure for monkeypox, most people recover from the virus within a few weeks. Monkeypox is more prevalent in Africa, where one in 10 people die after contracting the virus.

"Generally speaking, monkeypox is spread by respiratory transmission, but the characteristics of the 23 suspected cases point towards transmission through mucus during sexual relations," Madrid's health department said in a statement.

RELATED CDC, Texas health officials confirm case of monkeypox in Dallas

"Eight suspected cases in Madrid are among men who have sex with men. They are doing well and are isolating at home, but a close eye is being kept on them in case they need hospital treatment," department officials said.

Monkeypox can also be transmitted from animals to humans through bites, scratches and direct contact through body fluids or lesions, according to the CDC.

Rare monkeypox outbreaks detected in N America, Europe

Updated / Thursday, 19 May 2022 

The monkeypox virus has been reported in the US and Canada, as well as Eutrope

Health authorities in North America and Europe have detected dozens of suspected or confirmed cases of monkeypox since early May, sparking concern the disease endemic in parts of Africa is spreading.

Canada was the latest country to report it was investigating more than a dozen suspected cases of monkeypox, after Spain and Portugal detected more than 40 possible and verified cases.

Britain has confirmed nine cases since 6 May and the United States verified its first yesterday.

The US health authorities said a man in the eastern state of Massachusetts had tested positive for the virus after visiting Canada.

The illness, from which most people recover within several weeks and has only been fatal in rare cases, has infected thousands of people in parts of Central and Western Africa in recent years but is rare in Europe and North Africa.


The World Health Organization said on Tuesday it was coordinating with UK and European health officials over the new outbreaks.


A handout image issued by the UK Health Security Agency of the stages of monkeypox

Speaking this morning on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, WHO infectious disease epidemiologist Dr Maria Van Kerkhove said they are concerned about the virus and stated there needs to be a greater focus on understanding transmission patterns.

She said "very little attention" has been paid to monkeypox as it is not something that is perceived as a global risk, but that the WHO considers it to be a "priority pathogen".

Ms Van Kerkhove appealed to countries globally "to be ready" to be able to detect cases of monkeypox and offer appropriate care to prevent any onward spread.

She said they are concerned about the spread to non-endemic areas who do not have the virus "on their radar" after a number of cases were reported in European countries and the US without travel links.

"So we are trying to expand our understanding of the circulation of this virus which typically is transmitted between people through contact, physical contact with lesions, with open sores.

"And so we are working with a number of countries to identify who is infected and of course to prevent onward transmission and they receive the appropriate care," she said.

The first case in Britain was someone who had traveled from Nigeria, though later cases were possibly through community transmission, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said in a statement.

"These latest cases, together with reports of cases in countries across Europe, confirms our initial concerns that there could be spread of monkeypox within our communities," said UKHSA Chief Medical Adviser Dr Susan Hopkins.

The WHO said it was also investigating that many cases reported were people identifying as gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men.

"We are seeing transmission among men having sex with men," said WHO Assistant Director-General Dr Soce Fall at a press conference earlier this week.

"This is new information we need to investigate properly to understand better the dynamic of local transmission in the UK and some other countries."

'No risk to the public'

The UKHSA noted that monkeypox has not previously been characterised as a sexually transmitted disease, underscoring that "it can be passed on by direct contact during sex".

"Anyone, regardless of sexual orientation, can spread monkeypox through contact with body fluids, monkeypox sores, or shared items (such as clothing and bedding) that have been contaminated with fluids or sores of a person with monkeypox," a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statement said, adding that household disinfectants can kill the virus on surfaces.

The illness often starts with flu-like symptoms such as fever, muscle ache and swollen lymph nodes before causing a chickenpox-like rash on the face and body, the US agency explained.

The Massachusetts Department of Health, said that the case there - the first confirmed this year in the US - occurred in a patient who had recently travelled to Canada and "poses no risk to the public, and the individual is hospitalised and in good condition".

Health authorities in Canada's Quebec province announced they were investigating at least 13 suspected cases of monkeypox, the public broadcaster CBC reported yesterday.

The cases were flagged to Montreal authorities after diagnoses were made in several clinics specialising in sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections.

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) told CBC it had called on "public health authorities and laboratory partners across Canada to be alert for and investigate any potential cases".

According to the CDC, there were no reported cases of monkeypox for 40 years before it re-emerged in Nigeria in 2017.

JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY ANTI VAX POSTER 1953

SEE 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/05/what-is-monkeypox-and-should-uk.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2021/07/first-human-death-due-to-monkey-b-virus.html

Hamas students celebrate West Bank university poll win

• AFP
•  May 19, 2022

Students who support Hamas wave flags ahead of council elections at Birzeit University

Ramallah – Hamas supporters celebrated Thursday a landslide student election win at a top West Bank university, results experts said further points to the Islamists’ growing support in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Hamas’s Al Wafaa’ Islamic bloc won 28 of the 51 seats on the student council at Birzeit University, marking the first time Islamist-aligned candidates have gained control of the body.

The bloc aligned with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s secular Fatah movement won just 18 seats.

The general Palestinian population has not been to the polls since 2006.

Abbas scrapped elections scheduled for last year citing Israel’s refusal to allow voting in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, which Palestinians claim as their capital.

But Palestinian analysts said Abbas baulked out of fear that Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, would also trounce Fatah across the West Bank.

Birzeit’s vice president, Ghassan al-Khatib, said some saw the campus vote as “a test for measuring public opinion”, with no general elections on the horizon.

Hugh Lovatt, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the Birzeit polls were perceived as a type of bellwether because the make-up of the student body was “seen as more representative of Palestinian society”.

“The fact that you have a democratic mechanism and the voter pool is seen to be representative of Palestinian dynamics — that’s why it matters,” he told AFP.

Fatah used to dominate student councils in the West Bank.

Hamas praised the results as “a rejection of the normalisation” and “security coordination,” in a reference to the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority’s ties with Israel.

Dr Fathi Hammad, a member of the group’s political bureau, said “the student movement has proven that (the youth) is the fuel to the revolution.

1.5 tonnes of elephant ivory seized in southeast DR Congo

SELL IT CHEAP CRASH THE MARKET


AFP - 

Authorities in southeastern DR Congo have seized one and a half tonnes of elephant ivory, legal and environmental officials said, in one of the largest hauls in Africa in years.

Officers discovered the smuggled tusks aboard trucks in the city of Lubumbashi on Saturday, according to a legal official who declined to be named due involvement in an ongoing investigation into the affair.


Police arrested five people but two fled after questioning, the official said. He added that the haul amounted to 1.5 tonnes.

Both the origin and intended final destination of the ivory remain unclear.

Sabin Mande, a lawyer for a coalition of environmental groups, told AFP that he had seen 18 bags of seized ivory in the state prosecutor's office in Lubumbashi on Wednesday.

The contraband represents 80 to 100 slaughtered elephants, he said.

The seizure marks one of the largest in Africa in years. In 2013, Kenyan officials made several seizures including one of four tonnes. Togolese authorities likewise seized four tonnes of ivory over the course of one week in 2014.

In 2019, Vietnamese officials discovered over nine tonnes of elephant ivory in a shipment carrying timber from the Republic of Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, in the largest recent haul worldwide.

China and Southeast Asia are major markets for African ivory, which is mainly used for purported cures in traditional medicine.

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