Shortage of contrast dye for medical scans leads to rationing, delayed procedures

By HealthDay News

Some hospitals are rationing contrast dye and delaying some elective imaging procedures. Photo by Volt Collection/Shutterstock

U.S. hospitals are running low on contrast dye injected into patients undergoing enhanced X-rays, CT scans and MRIs.

The fluid, which makes the routine but potentially life-saving scans readable, helps doctors identify clots in the heart and brain. The shortage is expected to last until at least June 30, the American Hospital Association (AHA) says.

It's a result of COVID-19 pandemic-related factory closures in Shanghai, China, where most of the world's supply is made, according to CBS News.

GE Healthcare is the main U.S. supplier of contrast fluid, called Omnipaque.

The AHA has asked the company for more information on the shortage, saying hospitals rely on a consistent supply to diagnose and treat a wide range of patients, including those with life-threatening conditions.

"It is too easy for us to take for granted the readily available supply of something that is so important to our patients and our radiologic practices until it's gone," Dr. Thomas Grist said in a news release from the Radiological Society of North America. He's the author on a new report on the issue published online Thursday in Radiology.

"We need to commit to changing the supply chain so that a single event in a faraway country does not put us in this predicament again," said Grist, who is chair of the department of radiology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. "We owe it to our patients who trust us with their lives and well-being every day of the year."

The dye is being "aggressively" rationed at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System and some elective imaging procedures are being delayed.

"We need to make sure we have IV contrast available for the patients in critical need," health system CEO Dr. Selwyn Vickers told CBS News.

The health system's supply of dye will be reserved for "life-or-death matters," he said.

The University of Kansas Health System's use of the dye is being limited to critically ill patients, according to Dr. Phil Johnson, chief of radiology.

"We had to triage and limit the use of contrast dye to only critically ill patients that had to have contrast dye either to establish a diagnosis, or to guide a life-saving or a limb-sparing treatment," he told CBS News.

More information

The American Hospital Association has more about the shortage of contrast dye.

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

U.S. pedestrian deaths rose 12% in 2021 to highest rate in 40 years

By HealthDay News

An estimated 7,485 pedestrians were killed in 2021, which was 12% more than in 2020, preliminary data show. 

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

U.S. pedestrian deaths in 2021 were the highest in four decades, with an average of 20 deaths every day, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.

An estimated 7,485 pedestrians were killed in 2021, which was 12% more than in 2020, preliminary data show.

The findings are "heartbreaking and unacceptable," said Jonathan Adkins, executive director of the highway safety association.

"The pandemic has caused so much death and damage, it's frustrating to see even more lives needlessly taken due to dangerous driving," he said in an association news release.

RELATED Deaths on U.S. roads in 2021 rose to highest mark in 16 years, report finds

The pedestrian fatality rate per 100,000 people rose to 2.26 in 2021 from 2.02 the previous year. There were 2.32 pedestrian deaths per billion vehicle miles traveled in 2021 -- similar to 2020 but well above the pre-pandemic average of 1.9.

The reasons are clear: There has been an increase in speeding, impaired, distracted driving and other dangerous driving behaviors in recent years, according to the association's report.

"We must address the root causes of the pedestrian safety crisis -- speeding and other dangerous driving behaviors, inadequate infrastructure, and roads designed for vehicle speed instead of safety -- to reverse this trend and ensure people can walk safely," Adkins said.

The report also included an analysis of 2010 to 2020 data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That showed that the percentage of pedestrian fatalities involving speeding rose to 8.6% in 2020 from 7.2% in 2019.

The percentage of pedestrian deaths among children younger than 15 in which speeding was a factor more than doubled between 2018 and 2020, from 5.8% to almost 12%. Most of these fatalities occurred on weekdays and during daylight hours, which is when children would typically be going to and from school and related activities.

Looking further at the dangers of walking, researchers said pedestrians accounted for 17% of all traffic deaths in 2020, compared to 13% in 2010. While pedestrian deaths have risen by 54% over the past decade, all other traffic deaths have increased by 13%.

RELATED Pedestrian deaths in U.S. rose 17% in first 6 months of 2021

Most pedestrian fatalities occur at night. In 2020, more than three-quarters of deaths with a known lighting condition were at night.

There may have been a sliver of a silver lining, though: Pedestrian deaths fell by 8% in America's 10 largest cities in 2020 after years of increases, likely because there were fewer people walking and driving due to public health restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the highway safety association.

More information

There's more on pedestrian safety at the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Thailand: What happened to mass anti-government protests?

In 2020, Thai youth sparked the largest wave of anti-government protests since the 2014 military coup. But human rights activists say persecutions and systematic harassment have weakened the pro-democracy movement.


'It's like a gigantic sword of Damocles has been hung over the head of the entire democracy movement,' says Human Rights Watch

In the wake of the US-ASEAN Summit in Washington between Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and US President Joe Biden, crowds gathered in front of the US Embassy in Bangkok.

Waving large banners, members of the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration (UFTD) demanded the release of their imprisoned friends and an end to military rule.

Since 2020, the area around the US Embassy has repeatedly been the scene of pro-democracy demonstrations in Thailand, which turned into the largest wave of protests the country has seen since the military coup in 2014.

For months, mainly young people took to the streets of Thailand to demonstrate against the military-led government. They demanded a new constitution, the dissolution of parliament and an end to state repression.

Despite calls for comprehensive democratic reforms, not much has changed in Thai society since the outbreak of the protests in 2020.
Fear of persecution dampens movement

Despite mobilization on social media, major street protests disappeared in 2022. The main reason for this is the climate of fear and persecution created by the Thai government, Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch in Asia, told DW.

"It’s like a gigantic sword of Damocles has been hung over the head of the entire democracy movement," Robertson said.

Systematic harassment, imprisonment of activists, the announcement of a new law to restrict civil society activities and COVID-19 restrictions have caused the movement to lose strength over time.

Demands for more democracy have been met with a backlash from the state, which has denied young demonstrators a voice in shaping the politics of their country.

According to Robertson, Thais also questioned the government's restrictions on public gatherings during the pandemic.

"The government also used the emergency decree and claims to try to prevent COVID… to stop protests, to arrest people, to persecute people," Robertson said.

People began asking, "Is this just about stopping us from protesting, or is it really about public health?" he said, adding that more than 1,600 criminal cases have been filed against activists in Thailand since 2020.

Disintegration of the movement

Over time, the suppression of protests led to the splitting off and formation of various subgroups, explained Praphakorn Lippert from the University of Passau in Germany.

Those sometimes diverged from the movement's core demands and now represent other interests. This increasingly impedes mobilization for the common cause and has exacerbated the decline of the core movement from 2020, Lippert told DW.

The movement is increasingly fighting internal divisions, Lippert said. "There is no longer a large unified movement, but only actions by various small groups."
New generation against an old system

But the democracy movement is increasingly dominated by a generational conflict.

"The new fault line is really between the progressive youth who want change, who want reforms, who want the government to respect their rights; and the old conservative elites in politics, but also in business and in the military," Robertson said.

At their core, the protests are directed against an economic and political system that has been established for decades and has three privileged groups of participants.

The first is a razor-thin layer of 1% of the population, which owns two-thirds of all Thai assets, according to the Germany-based Heinrich Böll Foundation. Second is the military, which is also endowed with many financial privileges and is intertwined with state enterprises. And third is the world's richest monarchy, which continues to exert strong political influence.

The military coup in 2014 further solidified this system. The military sees itself as the guardian of the monarchy, is not subject to civilian control and has taken precautions through its own enforced constitution to weaken the influence of democratic institutions in the long term, Robertson said.

Challenging the monarchy

Many young, cosmopolitan Thais in particular, who are increasingly questioning the system, find no place in the country's power structure.

When the Future Forward Party, which with six million votes was very popular among young voters, was dissolved in February 2020 because of alleged financial irregularities by the parliament — where military-affiliated parties have a majority — many people felt betrayed by politics.

"I think that people feel that it's important they need to express their views and that they are not going to be silenced like they were in the past. Thailand needs to progress and walk into the future," Robertson said.

Thailand's young protest movement broke a taboo by calling for a reformed monarchy. The royal family in Thailand has long been protected by the lese-majeste law known as Article 112, which criminalizes public criticism of the monarchy with prison sentences of up to 15 years.

"It is the first time that the issue of the monarchy has been made a public agenda and critically discussed. We have never had anything like this before in the past," Pavin Chachavalpongpun, one of the most prominent faces of the democracy movement, told DW.

His Facebook group, "The Royalist Marketplace," founded in April 2020, now has 2.4 million members, making it the largest Facebook group in the country. According to Pavin, it still has a significant influence on political discourse in social media.
'Genie has been let out of the bottle'

Pavin does not see Thailand's democracy movement at a standstill.

"The genie has been let out of the bottle. I don't think it would be able to go back into the bottle again," Pavin said, referring to his Facebook group, which is still growing daily. He said the last two years have not only broken taboos, but also increased the space for criticism of rulers and the elite in traditional and social media.

Robertson predicts a resurgence of activism with Thailand's upcoming 2023 general election. It remains to be seen, however, whether the movement has the potential to shift from virtual space back to the streets once again.

Edited by: Sou-Jie van Brunnersum

Tunisia protesters unite for democracy ⁠— but is it enough?

Growing discontent has led to a united national opposition against President Kais Saied. But could the pursuit of democracy backfire — and see the nation return to an iron fist rule?


While around 2,000 protesters is not yet anywhere near the Arab Spring demonstrations, it's a strong symbol

After 10 months of authoritarian rule by Tunisia's President Kais Saied following a power grab, many in the crisis-ridden country are united in pushing for a return to democracy.

Around 2,000 people of different political affiliations took to the streets on Sunday following a call by the newly-formed alliance National Salvation Front.

While the turnout was not comparable to the massive sit-ins in 2013 when thousands of people called for democratic elections, the meaning is nevertheless significant: A growing number of people, political parties and factions are joining forces to reject the political course on Saied's watch.

Who is the opposition?

One of the key players of this new alliance is the Islamist party Ennahda, one of Saied's fiercest opponents.

"Ennahda has become part of a civil political resistance that will use all civil and peaceful means to overthrow the coup and to push for the national dialogue that the country needs," Imed Khemiri, spokesman of the Ennahda party, told DW.

For him, this means, above all, dialogue between political parties. "The president does not want a dialogue except with himself," he said.

Another major player is a group of civil activists called Citizens Against the Coup.

"Since we began our struggle 10 months ago, we were able to convince many people that what happened was a coup, which symbolizes a great gain for collective awareness," Ezzeddine Hasgui, a political activist and founding member of the movement, told DW.
What prompted the protests?

In July last year, Kais Saied, a former law professor, had suspended the country's parliament, dismissed the prime minister, and issued an emergency decree, by which he has been ruling ever since.

Saied, however, insists that his political moves are democratic and have been necessary to guide the country to a new constitution, through a referendum in July 2022.

Yet, critics doubt the referendum will take place, as preparations are stalling.

The country has been sliding from one crisis into the next. Amid the political crisis, growing domestic debt, as well as rising inflation and increasing unemployment rates, the situation has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine. The conflict in Eastern Europe saw a shortfall of up to 60% of wheat imports in Tunisia — severely impacting food security in Tunisia.

Moreover, the initial wave of public support Saied rode due to his promises to clamp down on corruption, has been fading.

Until this week, the Tunisians had not united in calling for a return to democracy.

Tunisia, which imports up to 60% of its wheat, will suffer from grain shortages due to the war in Ukraine

More voices speak up

While Sunday's turnout is seen by some as a disappointment, the organizers argue that the opposition is gaining momentum.

They're also gaining influential voices.

"Ahmed Neijb Chebbi, a leftist progressive and long-time opposition figure, has come forward with his Al-Amel Party (Hope) to call for the National Salvation Front," Alyssa Miller, a researcher who is based in Tunis for the German think tank GIGA Hamburg, told DW.

For her, Chebbi is worth watching, as "he could position himself as an important unifying force to broaden the opposition beyond Ennahda and pro-Ennahda forces."

The Ennahda party has been discredited by large portions of the population, as it has been blamed for corruption and political infighting in parliament prior to its dissolution on July 25 last year.

"In order to be successful, the anti-July 25 opposition must appeal to a broader base of political parties and civil society forces," Miller said

Therefore, she considers the latest statements by the country's influential union, the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT), as significant.

"In the past, the UGTT has been largely neutral or cautiously supportive of Kais Saied, and it was recently tapped by the president, along with the Tunisian League for Human Rights, to oversee the composition of a constituent assembly and to write a new constitution which would be put to a national referendum on July 25th," Miller said.

However, the two organizations have signaled they would not support Saied's process "unless it were inclusive," she added.

The inclusion of opposition voices, though, has been opposed by Saied.

The slogan is a promise — and could be a warning for President Kais Saied

History repeating itself?

It's unclear whether oppositional unity will evolve into a widespread movement, but the situation has similarities to the calls for democracy in 2013.

Back then, however, the overall situation was much closer to violent clashes than it is today.

And yet, just like this time, the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), the Tunisian Human Rights League and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers were asked to be on board of a new constitutional committee — along with the UGTT.

In turn, those four groups became famous as 'The National Dialogue Quartet' . It is widely believed that they averted a civil war, and their efforts were awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015.

Despite this similarity, the country's security situation was much worse.

"Along with the assassinations of the two popular leftist politicians, Chokri Belaid and Mohammed Brahmi, the country experienced a general rise in violence committed by Islamist insurgent groups in 2013," Miller explains.

Therefore, she doubts that tensions will rise to this extent again. "If we compare the situation with Tunisia today, we can see that the security situation is very, very different," adding that many of the violent insurgent groups that operated in northwestern Tunisia in 2013 have been "slowly brought under control under subsequent governments."

But she does see — yet again — some administrative powers meant to assist in the fight against terrorism are being used to target political opponents.

For Miller, this could indicate a return to an iron fist rule. "I think it is more likely that there is a return of authoritarian control of the type that was practiced and exercised in Tunisia under Ben Ali," she said.

Edited by: Stephanie Burnett

Eco-fascism: The greenwashing of the far right

White-supremacist killers are invoking environmental concerns to justify murder. But what is eco-fascism and why are people attracted to it?

At least three far-right massacres in recent years have been allegedly perpetrated by people who identify as eco-fascists.

The accused murderer of 10 Black people in a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday, entwined antisemitic conspiracy theories with a form of natural conservation. In a 180-page racist diatribe the 18-year-old linked mass migration with the degradation of the natural environment as a justification for murder.

The alleged perpetrator appears to share many of the views held by the young men who in 2019 committed racist massacres in El Paso, Texas, and Christchurch, New Zealand. Indeed, the alleged Buffalo killer appears to have copied large sections of his screed from the Christchurch killer.

The Christchurch killer, who shot dead 51 people at two mosques, described himself as an "ethno-nationalist eco-fascist," and called for "ethnic autonomy" as well as "the preservation of nature, and the natural order." In his diatribe, the Australian man linked climate change to overpopulation by non-Europeans, which is one of the central ideas of eco-fascism.

The Buffalo shooter appears to have plagiarized passages from the Christchurch killer's screed

What is an eco-fascist?

"The most simple definition would be (someone with) a fascist politic or a fascist worldview that is invoking environmental concern or environmental rhetoric to justify the hateful and extreme elements of their ideology," Cassidy Thomas told DW.

Thomas is a PhD student at Syracuse University in upstate New York who studies the intersection of right-wing extremism with environmental politics.

Thomas says regular fascists are populist ultranationalists who invoke a narrative of civilizational crisis, decline and rebirth along cultural and nationalist lines. Eco-fascists see climate change or ecological disturbances as the civilizational threat within that equation.

Eco-fascists are tied up in racist theories and believe that the degradation of the natural environment leads to the degradation of their culture and their people, added Thomas.

They are often radicalized online, as the latest alleged shooter claims to have been, and many believe that white people, along with the environment, are threatened by non-white overpopulation. They often call for a halt to immigration, or the eradication of non-white populations.

"What they envision is the dissolution of mixed-race, liberal democratic states or these very liberal and pluralistic democratic states, and the replacement of that political formation with ethnically defined and ecological states that are smaller in nature," said Thomas.

Their over-simplistic theories fail to address the complex realities of climate change and ecological damage, and ignore the fact that the Global North is responsible for most of the emissions that have caused global heating, for instance.

The Buffalo shooter targeted Black people, linking mass migration with environmental degradation and other eco-fascist ideas

Why are people drawn to eco-fascism?

Far-right ideologies such as eco-fascism are attracting young people who have grown up with climate change but see that governments have failed to tackle the crisis properly.

"Unfortunately, as climate change has gotten worse over the past 30 years and more difficult to ignore or to question — even from the most far-right or conservative elements of the political scene — you're beginning to see individuals who have an incredibly nihilistic view and an incredibly bleak view of the future of the world," Thomas said.

Eco-fascist narratives provide believers with a "sense of purpose" and a "call to action," added Thomas.

"And that's why these eco-fascist narratives that are cultivated in these online subcultures are so dangerous."

Such theories are often propagated in fringe sites such as 4chan, 8chan, and the now-defunct Iron March forum, as well as more mainstream platforms such as Twitter.

After each of the previous killing sprees, researchers saw a spike in eco-fascist interest in fringe online communities as well as online search traffic.
Eco-fascism in politics?

Right-wing populists have traditionally embraced climate change denial, but are increasingly seeing potential in capitalizing on climate change concerns.

France's Marine Le Pen has invoked environmentalism in her nationalist campaigns

In one notorious example, the attorney general of the US state of Arizona, having previously misrepresented climate science, cited environmental protection when he sued the Biden administration for loosening immigration laws. He claimed that Latin American migrants would use up resources, cause emissions and pollute the environment if they weren't kept out by a wall with Mexico.

In Europe, Marine Le Pen has invoked climate change and environmental protection in her nationalist campaigns, while the youth wing of Germany's far-right climate-skeptic AfD party called on the party to embrace climate change as an effective recruitment tool.

As Canadian author and climate activist Naomi Klein told the HuffPost: "There is a rage out there that is going to go somewhere, and we have demagogues who are expert at directing that rage at the most vulnerable among us while protecting the most powerful and most culpable."

Nazi origins of eco-fascism

Although made up of various strands of far-right theories, much eco-fascist ideology has its roots in early Nazi movements and the fascist party in Italy.

"In Germany, they would use these environmental talking points to partially justify some of their key initiatives like Lebensraum," Thomas said. Lebensraum was the Nazi settler-colonialist concept of creating "living space" for Germans.

The 'heritage' appeal of organic produce has attracted nationalist communities

"They saw the presence of these non-German peoples as a threat simultaneously to the integrity of the German culture and the German environment."

That ideology led to the 1935 Reichsnaturschutzgesetz, Germany's first conservation laws, as well as a push for organic farming.

Elements of the far-right scene in Germany and across Europe still champion environmental causes, and things like organic farming. In Germany, environmental groups risk being infiltrated by far-right extremists.

Thomas said there are similarities in the drivers toward eco-fascism today. in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, people saw that capitalism and industrialism brought with it rapid urbanization and environmental degradation, as well as the displacement of rural populations.

And in the United States, far-right figures have increasingly invoked environmental concerns as justification for their beliefs, including white nationalist leader Richard Spencer. Ahead of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, he included a large section on protecting nature in his online screed.

Previously he said "population control and reduction" is the "obvious solution to the ravages of climate change."

Environmentalists reject far-right ideology

Overconsumption is a major driver of emissions

The mainstream environmentalist movement, which has largely embraced social justice, has repeatedly rejected eco-fascists, saying the ideology greenwashes hate and is more focused on white supremacy than environmental protection.

They also say that the major perpetrator of ecological destruction are wealthy, Western nations, and not the people the eco-fascists seek to destroy. United Nations analysis has shown that wealth increase, not population growth, is a far greater driver of resource-use.

According to the IPCC, the effect of population growth is dwarfed by the rise in emissions per person. People in the world's richest countries emit 50 times more than those in the poorest, despite having much slower population growth.

Environmentalists instead call for a decoupling of population growth and resource use and emissions by reorganizing economies and embracing sustainable practices.

Edited by: Jennifer Collins

DW RECOMMENDS

Neo-Nazis cloak themselves in eco-rhetoric
They're into organic farming, oppose GMOs and worry about endangered species. Experts say neo-Nazis are increasingly cashing in on themes of the environmental movement to attract new supporters.

DW's Ines Pohl talks to white nationalist Richard Spencer

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for ECO-FASCISM 

Is Bangladesh heading toward a Sri Lanka-like crisis?

Like Colombo, Dhaka has also taken on massive foreign loans to embark on what critics call "white elephant" projects. The economic turmoil in Sri Lanka should serve as a cautionary tale, say experts.


Soaring prices of essential items are bringing enormous pain to economically weaker sections of Bangladeshi society

Sri Lanka has been mired in economic turmoil over the past few months, with the country battling severe shortages of essential items and running out of petrol, medicines and foreign reserves amid an acute balance of payments crisis.

The resulting public fury targeting the government triggered mass street protests and political upheaval, forcing the resignation of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Cabinet, and the appointment of a new prime minister.

Many in Bangladesh fear that their country could face a similar situation, given the rising trade deficit and foreign debt burden.

Bangladesh imported goods worth $61.52 billion (€58.48 billion) in the first nine months of the 2021-2022 fiscal year, a rise of 43.9% compared to the same period last year.

Exports, however, rose at a slower pace of 32.9% while remittances from Bangladeshis living abroad — a key source of foreign exchange — dropped about 20% in the first four months of 2022 from the year before, to $7 billion.
'Foreign reserves will go down to a dangerous level'

Muinul Islam, a Bangladeshi economist and former professor at Chittagong University, fears that the trade deficit could grow in the coming years as imports are increasing at a faster pace than exports.

"Our imports are set to reach $85 billion by this year, while exports won't be more than $50 billion. And, the trade deficit of $35 billion can't be bridged by remittances alone," Islam told DW, adding: "We will have to live with around a $10 billion shortfall this year."

Watch video 06:23 Taking stock of Bangladesh’s garment sector

The expert also pointed out that Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves have fallen from $48 billion to $42 billion over the past eight months. He is worried that they may drop further in the coming months, likely down another $4 billion.

"If the trend of more imports against exports continues and we fail to minimize the gap with the remittances, our foreign reserves will go down to a dangerous level in the next three to four years," he stressed, underlining that this would lead to a significant devaluation of the nation's currency against the US dollar.
Massive loans for 'white elephant' projects?

Bangladesh, like Sri Lanka, has also taken on foreign loans in recent years to fund what critics call "white elephant" projects, which are expensive but totally unprofitable.

These "unnecessary projects" could cause trouble when the time comes to repay the debts, Islam said.

"We have taken a loan of $12 billion from Russia for a nuclear power plant which has a production capacity of just 2,400 megawatts. We can repay the debt in 20 years but the installments will be $565 million per year from 2025," he pointed out. "It's the worst kind of a white elephant project."

In total, the country will likely have to repay $4 billion per year from 2024, as installments for foreign loans, Islam estimated.

"I fear Bangladesh won't be able to repay those loans at that time because of the shortage of income from the mega projects," he stressed.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government has taken several steps to slash spending and save foreign currency reserves

Nazneen Ahmed, Bangladesh economist at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office in Dhaka, said that the government has to make sure the projects are completed without additional cost and delay.

"We have to finish the mega projects carefully. There is no room for negligence and corruption. Those projects should neither be delayed nor the existing budget be increased," she said, adding: "If we can finish them on time, only then will we be able to repay the loans we have taken for them."
Soaring prices hit poor people hard

Adding to the problems of debt and deficit is the surge in prices of essential items.

The Russia-Ukraine war, which began at the end of February, has compounded the inflationary pressure.

Bangladesh has been particularly vulnerable as the country imports significant amounts of goods like cooking oil, wheat and other food items, as well as fuel.

Ahmed said that poor people are suffering the most because of the skyrocketing prices of these items.

"The government has to offer commodity goods subsidized to the poor people. Additional financial support should also be provided to them under a social security system," she noted.

But the expert remains optimistic about the South Asian nation's prospects, saying that the current economic indicators could improve as the global economy recovers from the COVID pandemic-induced downturn.

"We have been observing inflation worldwide during the COVID recovery phase. The Ukraine war has added more uncertainty to it. And the economic crisis in Sri Lanka has also created fear among us," she told DW, adding: "Still, if nothing big happens within the next few years, the global economy will recover again."

Watch video 03:50 Bangladesh: Youth project aims to eradicate poverty

Hasina urges people to practice austerity

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government has taken several steps to slash spending and save foreign currency reserves.

It has decided to suspend foreign trips of officials and postponed some less important projects that require imports from other countries.

Hasina has also urged citizens to do their bit, by practicing austerity and being careful about spending decisions.

"The prime minister earlier gave some directives to the government officials on practicing austerity. Today she called upon the private sector and the people to be economical," Bangladesh's Planning Minister MA Mannan said during a press conference in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Islam said that the government needs to be extremely careful with economic management, given the widespread suffering on account of soaring price rises, which could aggravate the already high political tensions in the Muslim-majority country.

"Bangladesh's last election was not good. It was a fraudulent one. Another national election is due in the next two years. So the political situation will remain tense anyway. The economic uncertainty could fuel it even more."

While the experts don't see any imminent economic crisis, they believe that good governance and financial management are needed to ensure Bangladesh doesn't end up facing a situation that Sri Lanka now finds itself in.

Edited by: Srinivas Mazumdaru

Herbal medicines that really work

Medicines have been extracted from plants for thousands of years and new ones are still being discovered. Here are several plant extracts with robust medical benefits.

Drugs made from hawthorn tree berries could help treat cardiovascular disease

Humans have been extracting the healing properties of plants for thousands of years. Although herbal remedies are often discounted as unscientific, more than one-third of modern drugs are derived either directly or indirectly from natural products, such as plants, microorganisms and animals.

Now, researchers from the Scripps Research Institute in the US state of California have found that a chemical extracted from the bark of the Galbulimima belgraveana tree has psychotropic effects that could help treat depression and anxiety.

The tree is found only in remote rainforests of Papua New Guinea and northern Australia and has long been used by indigenous people as a healing remedy against pain and fever. 

"This goes to show that Western medicine hasn't cornered the market on new therapeutics; there are traditional medicines out there still waiting to be studied,” senior author Ryan Shenvi, PhD, a professor of chemistry at Scripps Research, told reporters last week.

Which other medical drugs are found in plants?

The most well-known example of a medical drug extracted from a plant species is opium, which has been used to treat pain for over 4,000 years. Opiates like morphine and codeine are extracted from the opium poppy and have a powerful effect on the central nervous system.

Afghan farmers collect raw opium in a poppy field

But which other ancient plant-based medicines have demonstrable medical benefits, and what is the science behind them? 

Velvet beans treat Parkinson's disease

The velvet bean (Mucuna pruriens) has been used in ancient Indian Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine for over 3,000 years. Ancient texts tell us how healers used bean extracts to reduce tremors in patients to treat the condition we now consider Parkinson's disease. 

Studies now show that the velvet bean contains a compound called levodopa, a drug used to treat Parkinson's disease today. 

Levodopa helps to stop tremors by increasing dopamine signals in areas of the brain that control movement.

The modern history of levodopa began in the early 20th century when the compound was synthesized by the Polish biochemist Casimir Funk. Decades later, in the 1960s, scientists found that levodopa could be used as an effective treatment to stop tremors in patients with Parkinson's disease. The drug revolutionized the treatment of the disease and is still the gold standard for its  treatment today. 

Velvet beans contain chemical to help treat tremors caused by Parkinson's

Hawthorn could be a future treatment for cardiovascular disease

The medical properties of hawthorn (Crataegus spp) were first noted by Greek physician Dioscorides in the 1st century and by Tang-Ben-Cao in ancient Chinese medicine in the 7th century. 

Clinical trials using current research standards have found that hawthorn reduces blood pressure and may be useful to treat cardiovascular disease. Hawthorn berries contain compounds such as bioflavonoids and proanthocyanidins that appear to have significant antioxidant activity. 

Hawthorn extracts aren't yet suitable for medical use in the wider public — studies are ongoing, and more rigorous research is needed to assess the long-term safety of using the extracts to treat diseases.

Hawthorn berries taste a little like small apples and their extracts could help treat heart or blood diseases

Pacific yew tree bark can fight cancer 

Yew trees have a special place in medicine in European mythology. Most parts of the tree are very poisonous, causing associations with both death and immortality. The Third Witch in Macbeth mentions "slips of yew slivered in the moon's eclipse" (Macbeth Act 4, Scene 1). 

But it's a species of yew tree in North America, the Pacific yew tree (Taxus brevifolia), that possesses the most beneficial medical properties. 

Scientists in the 1960s found that the tree's bark contains compounds called taxels. One of these taxels, called Paclitaxel, has been developed into an effective cancer treatment drug. Paclitaxel can stop cancer cells from dividing, blocking further growth of the disease.

Pacific yew in the US state of Oregon

The wonder-drug sourced from Willow bark 

Willow bark is another traditional medicine with a long history. The bark was adopted 4,000 years ago in ancient Sumer and Egypt to treat pain and has been a staple of medicine ever since.

Willow bark contains a compound called salicin, which would later form the basis of the discovery of aspirin — the world's most widely taken drug.

Aspirin has several different medical benefits, including pain relief,  reduction of fever and prevention of stroke. Its first widespread use was during the 1918 flu pandemic to treat high temperatures. 

Willow bark is generally found in the Northern Hemisphere

Edited by: Clare Roth

Bear cubs rescued from wildlife trade in Vietnam

Two bear cubs are starting a new life in a sanctuary in Vietnam after being rescued from the illegal wildlife trade, an animal welfare group said Friday.


© Handout

The rescued cubs have been taken to a sanctuary in Vietnam run by Four Paws

AFP - 1h ago, MAY 20, 2022

The two sisters, named Be and Em, were confiscated by authorities from a man who admitted catching them in a cardamom field with a plan to sell them, the Four Paws organisation said.

Communist Vietnam is a major hub for the illegal trade in wild animals, and bears are kept to drain the bile from their gall bladders for use in traditional medicine.

The rescued cubs have been taken to a sanctuary in Vietnam run by Four Paws, where they will be reared and spend the rest of their lives.

They cannot be returned to nature because there are no safe places for bears in Vietnam and no projects to reintroduce them to the wild.

"At the moment they mostly eat, play, and sleep but we can already see their individual personalities showing," Emily Lloyd, Animal Manager at the sanctuary, said in the Four Paws statement.

"Be is very playful and confident, while Em for now is more reserved but nonetheless curious."

Four Paws said the sanctuary has hand-raised five bears rescued from similar circumstances in recent years.

Vietnam has passed laws to try to curb the wildlife trade but enforcement is patchy and Four Paws said the bear bile business was "flourishing".

bur-pdw/je

Asiatic black bear cubs rescued from illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam

by Mongabay.com 

FEB 2019

Vietnamese authorities confiscated the two female bear cubs from wildlife smugglers in Hai Phong province on January 9, according to Vienna, Austria-based animal welfare NGO Four Paws.

After spending a night in a hotel, the cubs were taken to a Four Paws bear sanctuary in Ninh Binh on January 10, where they are receiving intensive medical care.
Authorities do not know who was meant to buy the bear cubs or where their ultimate destination was. It’s likely that the bears were imported from Laos, though they could also have come from a bear farm in Vietnam.

Two Asiatic black bear cubs have been rescued from the illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam.

Vietnamese authorities confiscated the two female bear cubs from wildlife smugglers in Hai Phong province on January 9, according to Vienna, Austria-based animal welfare NGO Four Paws. The rescue operation was a collaborative effort between Vietnamese police, Four Paws, local NGO ENV (Education for Nature-Vietnam), and Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand. The cubs’ origin has not been determined, and their mother has not been found.

After spending a night in a hotel, the cubs were taken to a Four Paws bear sanctuary in the city of Ninh Binh in northern Vietnam on January 10, where they are receiving intensive medical care. Four Paws’ Vietnam Animal Manager, Emily Lloyd, said in a statement that both bear cubs weighed just 900 grams and were dehydrated when they arrived, so the group’s team of veterinarians is providing the cubs with milk fortified with vitamins and probiotics.

“The bears are still very young, and the situation is critical, but we will do everything we can for their survival,” Lloyd said.

Two bear cubs have been rescued from wildlife smugglers in Hai Phong province, Vietnam. Photo Credit: © FOUR PAWS.

Authorities do not know who was meant to buy the bear cubs or where their ultimate destination was. It’s likely that the bears were imported from Laos, though they could also have come from a bear farm in Vietnam, Four Paws said.

Though bear bile extraction has been outlawed in Vietnam since 2005, it’s believed there are still as many as 1,000 bears being held in captivity on bile farms in the country. Four Paws said that research has shown that many bears are still used for bile extraction and that the illegal trade of bear bile is still ongoing in Vietnam.

Bear bile is used by practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine to treat a range of ailments, from hangovers to liver conditions and cancer. A decline in the demand for farmed bile that began in 2010 has led to fears of a mass die-off of Vietnam’s captive bears as bile farmers are no longer able to afford to keep the animals.

The Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) is listed as Vulnerable to extinction on the IUCN Red List. “Habitat loss due to logging, expansion of agriculture and plantations, roadway networks and dams, combined with hunting for skins, paws and especially gall bladders are the main threats to this species,” the IUCN reports

.Two rescued Asiatic black bear cubs are cared for by FOUR PAWS staff in Hai Phong province, Vietnam. Photo Credit: © Hoang Le | FOUR PAWS.

CITATION

• Garshelis, D. & Steinmetz, R. 2016. Ursus thibetanus (errata version published in 2017). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T22824A114252336. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22824A45034242.en. Downloaded on 15 January 2019.

'Now it's for real': Ukraine war puts Sweden's military on alert



Spooked by Russia's assault on Ukraine, Sweden has announced a dramatic increase in defence spending

 (AFP/Jonathan NACKSTRAND)

Johannes LEDEL
Thu, May 19, 2022,

A new and more serious reality looms large for Sweden's conscripts as their military service now takes place in the shadow of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The war has seen Sweden drastically ramp up its military readiness and take the "historic" step this week to apply for NATO membership, reversing two centuries of military non-alignment.

"You realise this is actually for real -- I'm not here on some year-long summer camp," says Axel Bystrom, a 20-year-old conscript on Sweden's strategic Baltic Sea island of Gotland.

"Now it's for real and that makes you more serious," added the young squad leader with the P18 regiment, which was only re-established in 2018.

Breaking off branches from nearby spruces, Bystrom and his fellow soldiers meticulously cover three armoured vehicles to camouflage them.

"You are working to be as good as you possibly can all the time, because you are thinking, 'this could be a reality. We may have to use it'," the native of Visby, Gotland's medieval main town, tells AFP.

More military exercises are also being held across Sweden.

- War games -

Sweden has long had a fear of Russia. With the end of the Cold War, the country made swingeing cuts to its defence spending.

But following Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014, it decided to rearm and hike spending, reintroducing mandatory military service in 2017.

As only a fraction of the population is called up and avoiding service is quite easy, conscripts like Bystrom tend to be highly motivated.

Spooked by Russia's assault on Ukraine, Sweden has announced a dramatic increase in defence spending, targeting two percent of GDP "as soon as possible", up from around 1.5 percent expected in the next few years.

Overall, Sweden's armed forces consist of some 55,000 people, including the Home Guard and part-time employees -- around 23,600 are part of the regular forces.

For many Swedes, Gotland is a popular summer holiday destination known for its sandy beaches on a sleepy island of 60,000 people.

But it is also less than 350 kilometres (217 miles) from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

"Gotland is situated in the middle of the Baltic Sea. So if you own Gotland, you can pretty much control the air and naval movements in the Baltic Sea," P18 commander Magnus Frykvall explains.

A common theory is that in a conflict Russia would want to seize the island and install its S-400 surface-to-air missile defence system, effectively blocking off most of the southern Baltic Sea.

The Gotland regiment is still growing. According to Frykvall, they can now field around 800 soldiers and plan to increase numbers to 4,000 during wartime.

The uptick has been accelerated after Russian President Vladimir Putin "made it clear that he is willing to use military force to gain his political goals".

At its peak during the Cold War, some 25,000 troops and reserves were stationed on Gotland -- more than six times the amount planned for now.

But the planned boost in artillery and anti-aircraft systems means the regiment would "probably" be enough to "meet any threat."

If Sweden's NATO application -- currently facing diplomatic hurdles from Turkey -- were accepted, it would deter anyone from attacking Gotland, according to Frykvall.

"Thirty-two countries are much stronger than one," he says, referring to NATO's guiding principle that an attack on one member is seen as an attack on all.

- 'Make Gardens Not War' -

For residents living near the regiment, the increased military activity has been very noticeable.

"We have machine gun fire, we have explosions, we have artillery shots, shots from tanks as well," says Robert Hall, a local Green Party politician.

"We have tanks moving in and out of the military area and on the road 17 metres in front of our house, so we hear a lot of noise a lot of the time", he says.

In an eye-catching contrast, the ecological commune he helped found lies just across from the entrance to the military area.

Next to the sign for the "Suderbyn Ecovillage", a giant banner shows a tank overgrown with plants and reading "Make Gardens Not War".

For Hall, who is originally from California, the nature of the whole island has gone through a dramatic shift since he first came.

"We moved here in 1995 and there was still a lot of euphoria on the island about the fall of the Iron Curtain," he says.

"Gotland really wanted to position itself as the neutral meeting place in the middle of the Baltic Sea."

That idea has now instead given way to a new line of division.

"We're back to where we were before 1989, with a divided sea, even though it's not quite divided in the same location anymore," Hall said.

jll/po/imm

Ukraine war casts a chill in Norwegian Arctic town







Pierre-Henry DESHAYES
Thu, May 19, 2022,

War may be far away but tensions from the Ukraine conflict are causing an unprecedented chill in a remote Arctic town where Russian and Ukrainian coalminers have worked side by side for decades.

In Barentsburg, in Norway's Svalbard archipelago, relics of a bygone era -- a bust of Lenin, a sculpture with Cyrillic script declaring "Our goal - Communism" -- bear witness to Russia's longstanding presence.

The town's population peaked at around 1,500 in the 1980s, but shrank after the Soviet Union collapsed.

Now, some 370 people live here, two-thirds of them Ukrainians -- most from the Russian-speaking eastern Donbas region -- and the remainder Russians.

The atmosphere on the archipelago changed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began in February, officials and residents told AFP.

"Opinions are absolutely polarised," admits Russian tour guide and historian Natalia Maksimishina.

But, she says, "what our long and difficult history of the Soviet Union has taught us is that people here know when to stop talking politics".

Some Ukrainians accuse the Russian state-owned company Arktikugol Trust operating the coal mine in Barentsburg of muzzling dissent.

But Russia's consul Sergey Guschin says there were "no visible signs of conflict on the surface", although he admits "there are of course some tensions and discussions on social networks" like Facebook and Telegram.

The consulate is protected by high iron bars and security cameras, and lavishly decorated with a marble entrance, winter garden and custom-made tapestries.

Its splendour stands out in the otherwise drab town.

- Departures -

In what could be another sign that anger is simmering under the surface, around 45 people have left Barentsburg "since the start of the operation", acknowledges Guschin, using Moscow's terminology for the Ukraine invasion.

There were no further details about the individuals.

The departures speak volumes, as leaving Barentsburg is no easy feat.

Western sanctions imposed on Russian banks have not only prevented the miners from sending money home to their families, they've also made it difficult for them to buy plane tickets.

The only airport is in Longyearbyen, Svalbard's main town 35 kilometres (22 miles) away, where it is difficult to get by without a Visa or Mastercard, which Russians cannot use because of sanctions.

At the entrance to Barentsburg, the coal plant spews out black smoke, adding to the town's dreary atmosphere.

A 1920 treaty which gave Norway sovereignty over Svalbard guarantees citizens from signatory nations equal access to its natural resources.

Russia's Arktikugol Trust has operated the mine in Barentsburg, on the shores of the Isfjorden fjord, since 1932.

A few locals huddle between the town's pastel-coloured buildings, seeking shelter from the bitter cold that reigns even in May.

Locals are more discreet today, especially since they work for the state-controlled company that runs the whole town, from the mine to the shops and restaurants.

Russia imposes heavy fines or even prison terms on anyone found guilty of "discrediting" its military or publishing "false information" about it.

- 'People just shut up' -

Longyearbyen is inhabited mainly by Norwegians but has a large Russian and Ukrainian community.

It can only be reached by helicopter or snowmobile in winter and boat in summer due to lack of roads from Barentsburg.

Julia Lytvynova, a 32-year-old Ukrainian seamstress who used to live in Barentsburg, accuses Arktikugol Trust of suppressing dissent.

As a result, "people just shut up, work and live their lives like nothing has happened".

She hasn't been back to Barentsburg since the war started, but she asked a friend to put up an anti-war poster for her on the gates of the Russian consulate.

Her sign, written on a blue-and-yellow background, had a now-famous expletive-laden line used by Ukrainian border guards after rejecting a Russian warship's surrender demand.

Her poster was taken down in less than five minutes, she says.

The mayor of Longyearbyen, who has lived in Svalbard for 22 years, says he has "never experienced the kind of discord" now seen among the 2,500 residents of 50 nationalities, including around 100 Russians and Ukrainians.

"There are some tensions in the air," Arild Olsen admits.

In response to the invasion, most tour operators in Longyearbyen stopped taking tourists to Barentsburg, depriving the state-owned company of a lucrative cash cow.

Lytvynova supports the move "because this money supports the Russian aggression".

By ending this source of income, "they don't help to kill my Ukrainian people".

phy/po/raz