UK

Why Rishi Sunak's Refusal To Say If He Has Private Health Cover Matters

The prime minister was left squirming during an excruciating exchange with Laura Kuenssberg.

By Kevin Schofield
08/01/202


Rishi Sunak clashed with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg.
JEFF OVERS/BBC VIA PA MEDIA

Government ministers will finally sit down for face-to-face talks with union leaders tomorrow.

Although the discussions are ostensibly about public sector pay in 2023/24, rather than the current year, it is a sign that both sides are at least willing to engage after months of stalemate and strikes.

Looking ahead to the talks, Rishi Sunak this morning told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg: “When it comes to pay we’ve always said we want to talk about things that are reasonable, that are affordable and responsible for the country.”

Unfortunately for Number 10, however, tomorrow’s papers are likely to focus on another part of the PM’s interview.

Kuenssberg, not unreasonably, asked millionaire Sunak whether he was “registered with a private GP and are you still”.

Seemingly blindsided by the question, the prime minister refused to say, choosing instead to fall back on his stock NHS answer of pointing out his dad had been a GP and his mum used to run a pharmacy.

Insisting questions about his personal arrangements were “a distraction”, he added: “As a general policy I wouldn’t ever talk about me or my family’s healthcare situation. I think my track record matters more than these things.”

On the face of it, that’s a fair enough answer. But it’s not the answer that people will have heard.

Most viewers would have noticed him sidestepping the questions and come to the reasonable conclusion that, yes, Sunak does have private healthcare but doesn’t want to admit it.

For a prime minister who came to office promising “integrity”, that’s not a great look.

And that’s before we come to the question of whether the man who is ultimately in charge of the National Health Service should have a private GP on standby should he need one.

It was no great surprise that Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing urged the prime minister to “come clean”, or that Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey believes he is “completely out of touch”.

But it felt significant that Andy Haldane, the non-partisan former Bank of England economist, said there was “absolutely a case for people coming clean”.

“It need not matter, people’s private choices, provided that doesn’t detract from their views on the public provision of health,” he said.

A better answer by Sunak would have seen him admit that he does have private health cover - most reasonable people would not be shocked that someone as wealthy as him does - but that it would not detract from his determination to sort out the NHS crisis.

The short-term political hit would have been quickly forgotten, and voters would have appreciated his honesty.

Instead, he opted for the worst of all worlds by dodging the question.

For a prime minister who places great store in his slick communications, it was an unnecessary mis-step.

SIR KEIR'S NEO-LIBERAL LABOUR PARTY

Use private sector to tackle NHS waiting lists, urges Keir Starmer

Daniel Martin
Sat, January 7, 2023 

Sir Keir Starmer - Anadolu Agency

More than 200,000 extra patients on waiting lists could get treatment each year if private capacity was used effectively, Sir Keir Starmer said on Saturday night.

The Labour leader urged Rishi Sunak to match his party’s “bold” plans to tackle the waiting list crisis, as he highlighted 13 years of Tory “failure” on the NHS.

He told The Telegraph that Labour will “give Britain its NHS back” by “making the health service fit for the future" and using private sector capacity.

Sir Keir said Mr Sunak should “take his lead from Labour”, adding: “People waiting for a doctor’s appointment, test results, and terrifyingly, an ambulance need urgent action.

"Labour has a bold plan to slash waiting times by temporarily ramping up partnerships with private providers. I'm urging the Prime Minister to use it.

"But, although vital, it would be just a short reprieve. My Labour government would give Britain its NHS back, through a decade long programme of renewal and reform, to make the health service fit for the future. No more sticking plaster politics."

In a clear sign that he plans to align himself with the Blair era and reject the politics of Corbyn, the Labour leader highlighted his party’s plans to build bold partnerships with private hospitals.
Private hospitals currently operating under capacity

Private hospitals are operating under capacity at present, and Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, has said such partnerships could see an additional 230,000 patients receiving treatment if their spare capacity was used for the NHS.

This is because the independent sector has the capacity to do 30 per cent more NHS work than they did before the pandemic, but this is not being used effectively.

This equates to an extra 230,000 patients a year.

Sir Keir has also promised to hand power and choice to patients across the UK through a new Take Back Control Act, and the establishment of a new National Care Service to tackle the social care crisis.

His call comes 13 years after David Cameron kicked off his party’s general election campaign by claiming he would “cut the deficit, not the NHS”.
New analysis shows NHS deterioration under Tories

But new analysis from Labour lays bare how on various measurements, the NHS has got worse over those 13 years in five areas.

First, a total of 7.2 million people are now waiting for treatment. Even before the pandemic this number was 4.6million, but when Labour left office it was just 2.6 million.

Second, four in 10 people attending A&E now wait more than four hours to be seen. Under Labour, 95 per cent of patients were seen in under four hours.

Third, a quarter of all patients admitted currently wait more than four hours to get onto a ward. Under Labour, fewer than one in 50 admitted patients faced waits of more than four hours.

Fourth, more than 1.3 million people are currently waiting more than a month to see their GP – and there are currently 4,500 fewer GPs in England than a decade ago.

And fifth, public satisfaction with the NHS is now at a 25-year low of 36 per cent. By the end of Labour’s time in office it was at a high of 70 per cent.

Starmer attacks Tories over NHS crisis and claims ‘we desperately need a change’

Bill McLoughlin
Sun, January 8, 2023 

(Sky News )

Keir Starmer has attacked the Tories for the current NHS crisis as he claimed the country “ desperately needs achange”.

After Rishi Sunak met health and social care leaders on Saturday, Sir Keir claimed the NHS isn’t just “on its knees, it’s on its face”.

Acknowledging the need for a new Government, Sir Keir told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge: “We’ve got to acknowledge that the health service is not just on its knees, it’s on its face there are 7.2 million people on the waiting list.

"Speak to anyone who works in the NHS and they’ll tell you just how stressed it is. My wife works in the NHS so I know this first hand."

He added: "Just at the moment we’ve got a crisis and it’s the worst crisis we’ve ever had and that’s because we’ve had 13 years of neglect.

“Of course Covid put extra pressure on the NHS but the waiting lists were 4.6 million before we went in to Covid."

Despite the current winter crisis within the NHS, Mr Sunak welcomed the positive talks which were held at Downing Street on Saturday.

The Prime Minister has pledged to the public that he will reduce hospital waiting times, cut the numbers of those crossing the Channel on small boats and reduce inflation as part of his promises to the public.

Despite the Prime Minister’s pledges, Sir Keir added: “2023 is the chance for us to set out what a bold reforming Labour government will do.”

“We desperately need change. What I want to do is to set out that case for change, not just what the change will be, but also how we’re going to bring it.”

Nursing union has ‘chink of optimism’ over Sunak’s ‘little pay shift’

Royal College of Nursing general secretary Pat Cullen will be among the union leaders meeting Steve Barclay for talks on Monday.


Royal College of Nursing general secretary Pat Cullen (centre) joins members of the RCN on the picket line (PA) / PA Wire

By Sam Blewett

Rishi Sunak raised a glimmer of hope that future nursing strikes could be averted by saying he was willing to discuss pay, but indicated he would not negotiate over the current deal.

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) general secretary Pat Cullen said she had a “chink of optimism” after noticing a “little shift” in the Prime Minister’s stance on Sunday.

Mr Sunak declined to describe the NHS as being in crisis, despite Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer warning the health service is not just on its knees but “on its face”.

The Prime Minister also refused to say whether he uses private healthcare as Britons struggle with long waiting lists to see GPs and receive treatment.

Ms Cullen will be among the union leaders meeting Steve Barclay for talks on Monday, but the Health Secretary wants to focus negotiations on a new pay deal for 2023/24.

The RCN head has urged ministers to meet nurses halfway on their pay rise demands for the current financial year and will strike in England on January 18 and 19 without a breakthrough.

The Prime Minister told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme that Monday’s talks are “really important”, but he indicated only the next financial year’s pay is up for discussion.

“When it comes to pay we’ve always said we want to talk about things that are reasonable, that are affordable and responsible for the country,” Mr Sunak said.

“We are about to start a new pay settlement round for this year, we’re about to start that independent process, and before that process starts the Government is keen to sit down with the unions and talk about pay and make sure they understand where we’re coming from.”

Ms Cullen told Mr Sunak to “grasp the nettle, come to the table” as she indicated cautious hopes for resolving the long-running dispute.

She told the BBC: “When I listened to that there was a chink of optimism and there was a little shift in what the Prime Minister was saying.”

However, she added: “This is not about negotiations tomorrow, it’s not about nurses’ pay and it’s not addressing the issues that are our dispute and that is addressing pay in 2022/23.”

A Department of Health and Social Care source insisted the position on not negotiating on the current financial year’s pay settlement remains “unchanged”.

Mr Barclay said in the Sunday Telegraph he will take a “constructive approach” to negotiations on April’s pay review, suggesting increases are on the table if unions agree to efficiency savings to make higher salaries more “affordable”.

Sir Keir has urged ministers to negotiate with striking health workers and to alleviate the sprawling NHS waiting lists, describing the institution as being in “the worst crisis we’ve ever had” after “13 years of neglect”.

The Labour leader told Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday: “We’ve got to acknowledge that the health service is not just on its knees, it’s on its face.”

But Mr Sunak repeatedly declined to describe the NHS as being in crisis, instead saying it is “under pressure” and experiencing “unacceptable delays”, after he held emergency talks with health leaders over the weekend.

He was also told to “come clean” by Ms Cullen after refusing to say whether he uses private healthcare.

Under sustained questioning, Mr Sunak told the BBC: “As a general policy I wouldn’t ever talk about me or my family’s healthcare situation.

“But it’s not really relevant, what’s relevant is the difference I can make to the country.”

Mr Barclay has pledged to take further steps to “improve the flow through our hospitals” on Monday, with around 13,000 NHS beds blocked by delays in discharging payments.

The Sunday Times reported that an emergency winter pressure package will include a hospital discharge fund for thousands of NHS patients to be moved to care home beds.

Thousands of beds could be block-bought by the Government under the strategy, which is hoped to have an effect within a month.

Sunak backs ‘radical’ action to resolve healthcare crisis

Hospital and ambulance staff have launched rare strike action – in the case of the nurses, for the first time in 100 years – with many members of the public sympathetic to their cause.

• Kimberly Rodrigues
 
• 08 January, 2023

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – Image Credit: Getty Images

By: Kimberly Rodrigues

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Saturday called for “bold and radical” action to reform the crisis-hit state healthcare system as he held emergency talks with health leaders.

After years of underfinancing, BY THE TORIES the NHS state-funded health service is struggling to meet the demand for emergency medical care during a particularly difficult winter with high rates of coronavirus and flu.

Hospital and ambulance staff have launched rare strike action — in the case of the nurses, for the first time in 100 years — with many members of the public sympathetic to their cause.

Nurses are calling for a salary hike to reflect inflation soaring above 10 percent.

After being accused of inaction, Sunak was hosting England’s chief medical officer Chris Witty, and NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard at Downing Street on Saturday.

The meeting came ahead of talks planned between government officials and union leaders on Monday, aimed at ending the strikes.

“During the pandemic we had to bring boldness and radicalism to how we did things in order to get through,” the prime minister was quoted as saying by Downing Street.

“I think we need that same bold and radical approach now.”

He added: “Together today, we can figure out the things that will make the biggest difference to the country and everyone’s family, in the short and medium term.”

In a speech this week Sunak set out five priorities for 2023 including shortening NHS waiting lists.

The general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing union, Pat Cullen, told BBC radio that she would attend the Monday talks with the health minister Steve Barclay.

At the same time she said that Sunak should negotiate with nurses directly to prevent planned further strike action on January 18 and 19.

“He needs to come to the negotiation table with me and he needs to put money on that table, and it needs to be about the current year,” she told the BBC.

– AFP

DOUBLE DIPPING

Ex-UK PM Theresa May tops list of UK MP’s earning from side hustles

Britain's former Prime Minister Theresa May makes a statement on Brexit negotiations.

KA CHING

Bloomberg
Published: 08 January ,2023

Former prime minister Theresa May has earned over £2.5 million (USD$3.02 million) on top of her official salary from outside engagements since the last general election, the most of any UK member of Parliament, according to an investigation by Sky News reports.

Overall, parliamentarians earned £17.1 million (USD$20.6 million) extra since late 2019 on top of their individual £84,144 (USD$101,755) annual salaries. Two thirds of the larger amount went to just 20 MPs and of those, 17 were from the ruling Conservative party, two from Labour and one was from Sinn Fein. Sky spent seven months compiling a database of the earnings based on regulatory filings by the MPs and posted a search tool to allow people to see how much their local MPs earned and who was paying them.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson ranked third, but could soon overtake May as the top earner. He took in more than £1 million since stepping down last year. Most of his earnings came from four speeches in October and November. One of these paid him at a rate of £32,500 (USD$39,302) per hour, Sky said.

Two Labour MPs were among the top 20 earners even though their party leader Keir Starmer has previously called for second jobs to be banned.

“I think we should get rid of second jobs with some exceptions,” Starmer told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday “I am open to a discussion on this. I think the rules should stricter.”

The revelations come a little over a year after Conservative MP Owen Paterson resigned amid a lobbying scandal. The controversy prompted a review of the rules and further limits are due to be placed on the sort of work lawmakers can engage in.

UK
Nurses urge Sunak to ‘grasp the nettle and come to the table’ for pay negotiations


Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) on the picket line outside St Thomas' Hospital, central London, as nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland take industrial action over pay. Picture date: Tuesday December 20, 2022.

FURTHER national nursing strikes could be averted following a “little shift” in Tory Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s stance, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) suggested today.

General secretary Pat Cullen, due to join other union leaders in a meeting with Health Secretary Steve Barclay today, said there is a “chink of optimism” after the former chancellor suggested he is “keen to talk about pay.”

But a Department of Health and Social Care source insisted that the government’s position remains “unchanged,” with ministers only willing to discuss a settlement for 2023-24 and not this year’s below-inflation 4.75 per cent deal.

Ms Cullen also demanded that the PM, the wealthiest MP in the Commons, “comes clean” after he refused to say whether he uses private healthcare.

Under sustained questioning, Mr Sunak, whose family is thought to be worth £730 million, told the BBC that the issue is “not really relevant,” adding: “As a general policy I wouldn’t ever talk about me or my family’s healthcare situation.”

He declined to describe the NHS as being in crisis, despite Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer warning the health service is not just on its knees but “on its face” amid spiralling A&E wait times and a shortage of GPs.

The RCN, which launched its first ever national strike last month, has repeatedly warned ministers that yet another real-terms wage cut will exacerbate a staff exodus and put unbearable pressure on austerity-hit services.

The union urged Mr Sunak to “grasp the nettle and come to the table” after he told the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that he wanted to discuss a “reasonable, affordable and responsible” salary deal.

He said: “We are about to start a new pay settlement round for [2023-24], and before that process starts the government is keen to sit down with unions and talk about pay and make sure they understand where we’re coming from.”

Ms Cullen told the same programme: “When I listened to that there was a chink of optimism — there was a little shift in what the PM was saying.

“This is not about negotiations tomorrow, it’s not about nurses’ pay and it’s not addressing the issues of our dispute — addressing pay in 2022-23.”

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said the PM is “taking our nurses and ambulance workers for fools.”

“These talks are about next year’s pay settlements and will do nothing to resolve today’s issues,” she said.

MORNINGSTAR CPUK

Bad news for Rishi Sunak. UK PM, 

15 ministers may lose seats in 2024 general poll: Report

Only five cabinet ministers, Jeremy Hunt, Suella Braverman, Michael Gove, Nadhim Zawawi and Kemi Badenoch, would be safe, The Independent report added.

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak leaves 10 Downing Street in London. (AFP file)

ByAniruddha Dhar, 

New Delhi

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and 15 of his cabinet ministers may lose their seats in a general election “wipeout”, The Independent reported citing polling data.

Besides Sunak, deputy prime minister Dominic Raab and health secretary Steve Barclay, foreign secretary James Cleverly, defence secretary Ben Wallace, business secretary Grant Shapps, Commons leader Penny Mordaunt and environment secretary Therese Coffey could also lose their seats at the general election expected in 2024, an exclusive seat-by-seat analysis found by Focaldata polling for Best for Britain.

Only five cabinet ministers, Jeremy Hunt, Suella Braverman, Michael Gove, Nadhim Zawawi and Kemi Badenoch, would be safe, The Independent .eport added.

The poll shows all other Tory MPs in the current cabinet are at risk of losing their seats to Labour, except Raab, who would lose to the Liberal Democrats in Esher and Walton, and Scottish secretary Alister Jack, on course for defeat by the SNP in Dumfries and Galloway.

A new analysis shared with The Independent on 10 crucial “bellweather” seats shows that Labour is on course to take all 10.

“Sunak’s cabinet deserves nothing short of a wipeout,” the news website quoted Naomi Smith, chief executive of Best for Britain, a group campaigning for internationalist values and for closer ties with the EU, as saying.

Despite the predicted setback for Sunak’s party, analysis by Best for Britain has revealed that Labour’s massive lead over the Tories could be more fragile than previously thought.

Sunak, the first person of Indian origin to become the British prime minister, meanwhile, is under increasing pressure including from members of his Conservative Party to improve wage offers to healthcare staff.

Sunak on Sunday said the government was willing to have conversations with union leaders about pay, despite ministers previously refusing to reopen talks about this year's deal.

Election needed now to give public a say on Tory ‘failure’ – Starmer

David Lynch, PA Parliamentary Reporter

Thu, 5 January 2023

A general election should be called “straight away” to allow the public to have their say on 13 years of Tory “failure”, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

The Labour leader claimed he is ready for an election and he criticised Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s “weak and low ambition” proposals for the year ahead, as he made a speech setting out his own party’s agenda for 2023.

Asked whether he is prepared for a snap poll, Sir Keir said: “We are now ready for an election and I put the party on that basis some time ago.

“As to when that election will be, your guess is as good as mine. I think it should be straight away.

“After 13 years of failure, of failure on our economy – growing the economy has been far too slow over the past 13 years – our public services are on their knees, they did huge damage last autumn to our economy.

“I think people are entitled to say, ‘We don’t want any more of this, we should have a general election as soon as possible’.”

His call for an election comes as the Conservatives continue to lag behind Labour in the polls, with the cost of living and the crisis in the NHS impacting the public.

Sir Keir also criticised Mr Sunak’s five-point plan for governance, set out in his own new year speech on Wednesday.

Among his commitments, the Prime Minister pledged to reduce inflation by half, address NHS waiting lists, and tackle the small boats crisis.

The Labour leader said of Mr Sunak: “I thought his promises were weak and low ambition. Inflation is the biggest example of that. So you get inflation down to a rate lower than is already predicted, it is not a big promise to the British public.

“The idea that after 13 years of failure you can come along in the 13th year and say ‘I have got five new promises please give us one more chance’, I just feel is so far removed from reality.”

In response to a question from Sky News, Sir Keir said addressing the NHS workforce is “central” to resolving issues in the health service, adding the current situation is another example of “sticking plaster” politics.

Ukrainian liturgy returns to historical Kyiv monastery after 300 years of ban


Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. 

Photo by Vitaliy Stelmakh (Depositphotos)

2023/01/07 -
Article by: Bohdan Ben
Edited by: Alya Shandra

During the Christmas service on 7 January in the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, this largest Ukrainian monastery became a place for the Ukrainian church and Ukrainian liturgy for the first time since the 18th century.

This happened after the state rescinded its lease agreement with the Russian-backed Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which had hitherto held services in two major churches of the monastery, and allowed the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine to hold a Christmas service in one of them:

The Kyiv Pechersk Monastery holds a symbolic place in Ukrainian history. From here, Ukrainian medieval and renaissance church tradition and culture spread to Moscow in the 12-17th centuries. In particular, Yuri Dolgorukiy, the founder of Moscow, is buried here.

However, the monastery became subordinated to the Russian Orthodox church with the expansion of the Russian empire to Ukraine while Ukrainian independent churches were outlawed in the Russian empire and the USSR. As part of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Church Slavonic language was Russified and resembled Russian.

Kyiv Metropolitan Epiphany

The Ukrainian-language liturgy was not sung in the monastery for nearly 300 years — until 2022.

“Today we celebrate the second birth of both this cathedral church and our Pechersk Lavra itself because the spirit of the dirty teachings of the ‘Russian world’ is leaving them. And the spirit of true service to the holy Orthodoxy and the Ukrainian people is returning,” said Kyiv Metropolitan Epiphany, the leader of the independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine, when he finished his first Christmas liturgy in the Lavra’s Dormition Cathedral on 7 January 2023.

The Ukrainian church tradition survived bans in the Russian Empire. After Ukraine’s independence in 1991, independent Orthodox churches splintered off from the one subordinated to the Moscow Patrarchate, but existed in a schismatic state, i.e. were not recognized by the rest of world Orthodoxy.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014, the movement for official Ukrainian Orthodox church independence accelerated, until Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew bestowed official autocephaly on a united Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

It quickly became the most popular denomination in Ukraine. Following Russia’s full-scale war in 2022, 54% of Ukrainians professed their allegiance with the OCU, a July poll showed.

The Moscow-affiliated church lost believers, with 4% of Ukrainians answering that they are its faithful in 2022, down from 15% in 2020. However, it still used to rent some of the country’s main churches until 2022, when the lease agreement was terminated.

The return of the Ukrainian church to Kyiv’s main monastery is both a symbolical and very practical step. This is one of the oldest monasteries in Ukraine. After Ukraine lost its autonomy in the 18th century, Moscow’s control over the Lavra was one of the main tools to also subordinate Ukraine culturally and destroy its own tradition.

The Dormition Cathedral of The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra is famous for its frescoes. Source: Lavra.ua

These times are now gone, when on 7 January 2023 the Ukrainian-language liturgy to melodies of Ukrainian composers sounded in the Dormition cathedral of the Lavra.

“The Pechersk Lavra is taking confident steps today to preach the peace of God, not the ‘Russian world,’ to be a true house of prayer, to serve the Ukrainian people as an example of piety and good deeds,” said Kyiv Metropolitan Epiphany in his sermon. “We thank you, dear brothers and sisters, to all who dreamed of Ukrainian prayer in this holy place, of its liberation from the captivity of the ‘Russian world.’ Your prayers and your position supported our state in this difficult but completely correct decision [to take the Lavra from the Russian-controlled church and return it to Ukrainian].“

The Metropolitan also said that today “all Ukrainian saints celebrate together with us the possibility to pray in this holy place,” including Kyivan Prince Volodymyr who baptized Rus and Petro Mohyla who developed the Lavra in the 17th century, before it was taken by Muscovy.

“Today marks 950 years since the time when, according to tradition, the Mother of God called the builders of this church from Constantinople to Kyiv, so that a church could be built here on the bank of the Dnipro. The architects called it similar to heaven. We have renewed this spiritual connection between Kyiv and Constantinople, between the Church of Rus-Ukraine and the Mother Church of Constantinople,” Kyiv Metropolitan Epiphany said.

Notably, after the liturgy, a choir from the Ukrainian Carpathian mountains also performed ancient Ukrainian carols in the church. These carols have lots of pagan motives, describing how the sun and stars are rejoicing at the beginning of the New Year and how they will bring a good harvest, peace, and happiness to the people. It highlights the peculiarity of Ukrainian tradition which, together with folk motives in choir singing has integrated many other pagan rituals into Christianity.


https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPress/status/1611860732924104711


The Pechersk Lavra was founded in Kyiv in 1051 by monks Anthony and Theodosius. Founded as a cave monastery, it quickly became the largest in Ukraine complex of churches. Rebuilt in the 15th century, the monastery became a famous center of Christianity and education in Ukraine under the rule of Kyiv metropolitan Petro Mohyla (1633-1647).

However, when the emerging Russian empire consolidated its power over northern Ukraine, the monastery became subordinated to the Russian Orthodox church in 1688 and remained in that status until 2022.

While initially, Kyiv was the metropolitan center of the Orthodox church in both what is now Ukraine and Russia, it lost its status after the disintegration of Rus and the empowerment of Moscow. To make a long story short, since 1596, three church wings were present in Ukraine — one subordinated to Moscow, another to Rome, and yet another independent, although all maintained a similar Orthodox liturgy.

With Ukraine’s state independence in 1991, the Ukrainian autocephalous (independent) orthodox church quickly became more popular than the Moscow-led church in Ukraine. In 2018, the Ukrainian church received a Tomos of independence, which meant it was recognized as equal by all other world orthodox churches.

Until 2022, the Russian-led church still rented from the state several key historical church buildings in Ukraine, including the Pechersk Lavra in Kyiv.

However, since the Moscow-led church today has almost 10 times fewer believers than the independent Ukrainian church and has actively cooperated with Russia during its 2022 war against Ukraine, the Ukrainian government decided to cancel lease agreements and transfer the church buildings to the Ukrainian independent church.

Currently, the public discussion is whether the Russia-led church should be outlawed in Ukraine at all — a move supported by half of Ukrainians according to a recent poll.

Edited by: Alya Shandra

FDA Approves Second Drug for Alzheimer Disease, Despite Safety Concerns

Approval of Leqembi comes after controversial approval in 2021 of Aduhelm, which met with criticism over concerns about that drug's effectiveness, safety, pricing



FRIDAY, Jan. 6, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a second drug for Alzheimer disease, Leqembi (lecanemab-irmb), despite reports of rare brain bleeds linked to use of the drug in some patients.

Leqembi, made by Eisai and marketed by Biogen, will be only the second drug for Alzheimer disease to receive FDA approval in the past 18 months; the agency's speedy approval of the drug Aduhelm in June 2021 generated controversy in the medical community over its lack of effectiveness, brain bleed concerns, and hefty price tag.

And not every patient would stand to benefit from Leqembi, stressed the Babak Tousi, M.D., from the Cleveland Clinic. He led the portion of the clinical trial that was conducted at the Cleveland Clinic. "The trial was designed for patients in the earlier stage of Alzheimer's disease, people with mild cognitive impairment or early stage of dementia," Tousi noted.

The results of the 18-month trial, which involved about 1,800 patients, gained wide attention when they were published late last year in the New England Journal of Medicine, Tousi noted. In the trial, early-stage Alzheimer disease patients who took Leqembi showed a 27 percent reduction in their mental decline compared with patients in the placebo arm of the trial. The drug's users also showed less evidence of amyloid protein plaques in their brain compared with nonusers.

Still, the deaths of two patients enrolled in the trial cast a cloud on these hopeful findings. Both died from brain hemorrhages that seem linked to the use of Leqembi.

A 65-year-old woman with early-stage Alzheimer disease recently died from a massive brain bleed that some researchers link to lecanemab, according to a report published Nov. 27 in ScienceInsider. The woman suffered a stroke as well as a type of brain swelling and bleeding that has been previously seen with such antibodies, the report noted. Emergency physicians at Northwestern University Medical Center in Chicago treated the woman with a tissue plasminogen activator. She immediately had substantial bleeding throughout her brain's outer layer. The woman died a few days later, according to the case report. The death follows that of an 80-year-old man who was taking part in lecanemab's phase 3 clinical trial. His death was linked to a possible interaction between the experimental drug and the blood thinner apixaban.

The clinical trial also showed that 2.8 percent of participants who took the drug had a symptomatic side effect called amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA), which involves swelling in the brain. ARIA was not seen among any participants who got the placebo.

"Lecanemab clearly did what it was designed to do -- it removed amyloid plaque," Tousi, who heads the Clinical Trials Program at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Brain Health, told HealthDay. "The results demonstrated all the downstream effects we hoped would happen in terms of reduction of biomarkers and less clinical decline on several functional and cognitive measures. So, this difference will likely translate to a longer period of independent living for patients."


More Information

Second Death in Trial of Experimental Alzheimer Drug Raising Concerns ›

Lecanemab Reduced Markers of Amyloid in Early Alzheimer Disease ›

FDA OKs Marketing of New Test to Help Diagnose Alzheimer Disease ›

NASA Rover Discovers Gemstone On Mars

David Bressan

FORBES
Contributor
I deal with the rocky road to our modern understanding of earth

Jan 7, 2023

A terrestrial opal from Australia.

A research team using new methods to analyze data from NASA's Curiosity, a rover operating on Mars since 2012, was able to independently verify that fracture halos contained opal, on Earth a gemstone formed by the alteration of silica by water.

The study finds that the vast subsurface fracture networks would have provided conditions that were potentially more habitable than those on the surface.


In 2012, NASA sent the Curiosity rover to Mars to explore Gale Crater, a large impact basin with a massive, layered mountain in the middle. As Curiosity has traversed along the Mars surface, researchers have discovered light-toned rocks surrounding fractures that criss-cross certain parts of the Martian landscape, sometimes extending out far into the horizon of rover imagery. Recent work finds that these widespread halo networks served as one of the last, if not the last, water-rich environments in a modern era of Gale Crater. This water-rich environment in the subsurface would have also provided more habitable conditions when conditions on the surface were likely much more harsh.



Selfie of Curiosity rover with Martian rocks in the background.

As part of a new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, led by former Arizona State University NewSpace Postdoctoral Fellow Travis Gabriel, now a research physicist for the U.S. government, archival data from several instruments were examined and showed considerable anomalies near light-toned rocks earlier in the traverse. By happenstance, Curiosity rover drove right over one of these fracture halos many years ago, long before Gabriel and ASU graduate student and co-author Sean Czarnecki joined the rover team.


Looking at the old images, they saw a huge expanse of fracture halos extending far into the distance. By applying new methods for analyzing instrument data, the research team found something curious. These halos not only looked like halos found much later in the mission, in completely different rock units, but were similar in their composition: a whole lot of silica and water.


"Our new analysis of archival data showed striking similarity between all of the fracture halos we've observed much later in the mission," Gabriel said. "Seeing that these fracture networks were so widespread and likely chock-full of opal was incredible."


Observing drill cores taken at the Buckskin and Greenhorn drill sites many years into the mission, scientists confirmed that these light-toned rocks were very unique compared to anything the team had seen before.

In addition to looking back through archival data, Gabriel and his team went searching for opportunities to study these light-toned rocks again. Once they arrived at the Lubango drill site, a bright-toned fracture halo, Gabriel led a dedicated measurement campaign using the rover's instruments, confirming the opal-rich composition.

Opal-rich halos as seen crosscutting the bedrock extend into the subsurface of Mars.

MALIN SPACE SCIENCE SYSTEMS/NASA/JPL-CALTECH

The discovery of opal is noteworthy as it can form in scenarios where silica is in solution with water, a similar process to dissolving sugar or salt in water. If there is too much salt, or conditions change, it begins to settle at the bottom. On Earth, silica falls out of solution in places like lake and ocean bottoms and can form in hot springs and geysers, somewhat similar to the environments at Yellowstone National Park.

Since scientists expect that this opal in Gale Crater was formed in a modern Mars era, these subsurface networks of fractures could have been far more habitable than the harsh modern-day conditions at the surface.

"Given the widespread fracture networks discovered in Gale Crater, it's reasonable to expect that these potentially habitable subsurface conditions extended to many other regions of Gale Crater as well, and perhaps in other regions of Mars," Gabriel said. "These environments would have formed long after the ancient lakes in Gale Crater dried up."

The significance of finding opal on Mars will have advantages for future astronauts, and exploration efforts could take advantage of these widespread water resources. Opal itself is made up of predominantly two components: silica and water - with a water content ranging from 3 to 21 percent by weight - with minor amounts of impurities such as iron. This means that if you grind it down and apply heat, the opal releases its water. In a previous study, Gabriel and other Curiosity rover scientists demonstrated this exact process. Combined with growing evidence from satellite data that shows the presence of opal elsewhere on Mars, these resilient materials may be a great resource for future exploration activities elsewhere on Mars.

Material provided by the Arizona State University.

7.0-Magnitude Quake Strikes Pacific Nation of Vanuatu

January 08, 2023 
Agence France-Presse

Vanuatu


SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA —

Frightened villagers fled to higher ground fearing a tsunami when a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck late Sunday just off the coast of the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.

The violent quake's epicenter was in the sea just off the northern bay of the largest island Espiritu Santo, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of the archipelago's capital Port Vila.

Kayson Pore, a 22-year-old student from the village of Hog Harbour in Espiritu Santo, said he was looking for crab on the beach with half a dozen friends when the earth shook.

"It was very huge," Pore told AFP by telephone.

"We were right on the sea, we were looking for crab on the coast," he said.

"We ran for our lives and then we ran to our homes."

At his home in the village of about 1,000 people, the quake had knocked objects to the ground, breaking cups in the kitchen, Pore said.

"People were moving to higher ground," he added, for fear of a tsunami tidal wave.

But Pore said he had seen no structural damage to homes in his village.

The shallow quake hit around 11:30 pm local time (1230 GMT) around 27 kilometers (17 miles) deep, according to the US Geological Survey, which placed it about 25 kilometers from the Espiritu Santo village of Port-Olry.

People could feel the quake as far away as Port Vila, on the island of Etafe, said Natasha Joel, a receptionist at the Grand Hotel and Casino in the capital.

However, the tremor was "a bit small" there and no guests were evacuated from the hotel, she said.

A tsunami warning was initially issued for Vanuatu, New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands but cancelled about an hour and a half after the quake.

'A Big One!'

"Tsunami waves reaching 0.3 to one meter above the tide level are possible for some coasts of Vanuatu," the NWS Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii said.

Waves smaller than 0.3 meters were possible for New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands, it added.

The French embassy in Vanuatu advised people to stay away from the coasts in a post on its official Facebook page.

Residents reported on social media that there had been damage.

"A Big One!!" one person posted on Facebook. "Lots of things broken all around."

New Zealand's National Emergency Management Agency said there was no tsunami threat to its country.

Vanuatu is part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide, and experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

The Solomon Islands, an island nation just north of Vanuatu, was hit in November with a 7.0-magnitude quake, though there were no reports of serious injuries or major structural damage.

In 2018, a 7.5-magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami on Indonesia's Sulawesi island left more than 4,300 people dead or missing.

Vanuatu is ranked as one of the countries most susceptible to natural disasters like earthquakes, storm damage, flooding and tsunamis, according to the annual World Risk Report.