Risk of severe heart attack is higher on Mondays, study suggests

By Cara Murez, HealthDay News

A recent study found a spike in rates of STEMI heart attacks at the start of the working week, with rates highest on a Monday. Photo by Irfansevket2905/Wikimedia Commons

Monday can be a downer as folks leave weekend play behind. Now, researchers say Monday might also be the most common day for deadly heart attacks.

Doctors at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland determined this by analyzing patient data in Ireland, though they can't determine the reason why.

Past research has suggested it might have to do with circadian rhythm - the body's sleep/wake cycle.

"Someone is admitted to hospital due to a life-threatening heart attack every five minutes in the U.K., so it's vital that research continues to shed light on how and why heart attacks happen," said Nilesh Samani, medical director at the British Heart Foundation.

"This study adds to evidence around the timing of particularly serious heart attacks, but we now need to unpick what it is about certain days of the week that makes them more likely," Samani said in a heart foundation news release. "Doing so could help doctors better understand this deadly condition so we can save more lives in future."

For the study, the researchers analyzed data from more than 10,500 patients across Ireland, in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, who were admitted to a hospital between 2013 and 2018 with the most serious type of heart attack.

The ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) happens when a major coronary artery is completely blocked.

The study found a spike in rates of STEMI heart attacks at the start of the working week, with rates highest on a Monday. However, they also found higher-than-expected rates of STEMI on Sunday.

In the United Kingdom, more than 30,000 people are admitted to the hospital with STEMI each year, requiring emergency assessment and treatment to minimize damage to the heart. Typically, this involves an emergency angioplasty, a procedure to reopen the blocked coronary artery.

"We've found a strong statistical correlation between the start of the working week and the incidence of STEMI," said cardiologist Dr. Jack Laffan, who led the research at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. "This has been described before but remains a curiosity. The cause is likely multifactorial, however, based on what we know from previous studies, it is reasonable to presume a circadian element."

The findings were presented Sunday at the British Cardiovascular Society annual conference. Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on heart attacks.

British COVID-19 inquiry head stands firm in battle with government over evidence subpoena


June 6 (UPI) -- The head of Britain's public inquiry into COVID-19 refused to back down Tuesday in a row with the government over an order to turn over the unredacted WhatsApp messages and notebooks of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The Cabinet Office has gone to court to get Baroness Heather Hallett's subpoena thrown out on grounds the material has no relevance to COVID-19, but as she formally opened the inquiry, the retired appeals court judge insisted it was for her to decide what evidence the investigation should be handed.

"As has been widely reported in the media, an issue has arisen between the inquiry and the Cabinet Office as to who decides what is relevant or potentially relevant," Hallett said.

"I issued a notice under Section 21 of the Inquiries Act 2005 making it clear that, in my view, it is for the inquiry chair to decide what is relevant or potentially relevant.

"The Cabinet Office disagrees, claiming they are not obliged to disclose what they consider to be unambiguously irrelevant material. They invited me to withdraw the Section 21 notice. I declined," she added stressing that as the government was now seeking a judicial review of her refusal, she was unable to say anything further.

The government has said it would hand over "relevant" material but alleges some of what was being sought by the inquiry was "clearly and unambiguously irrelevant" and was concerned about the privacy of third parties whose personal information would be seen by inquiry staff.

The government launched the unprecedented legal action against its own inquiry after a 48-hour deadline for the Cabinet Office to hand over the evidence in full came and went at 4 p.m. Thursday local time.

Hallett subpoenaed notebooks, diaries and WhatsApp messages between Johnson and ministers and officials to be turned over -- unredacted -- by May 30, two weeks before the inquiry officially opened but granted a two-day extension as the row flared.

Johnson wrote to Baroness Hallett on Friday saying he would send his WhatsApp messages directly to the inquiry but as the Cabinet Office's lawyers have named him as interested party in their suit, the inquiry is barred from accessing the messages pending the outcome of the case.

Japan to invest heavily in hydrogen for energy sector

Workers demolish old storage tanks at the tsunami-devastated Tokyo Electric Power Co. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2021. The government is now sinking billions of dollars into the hydrogen stream. 

File Photo by Kimimasa Mayama/EPA-EFE

June 6 (UPI) -- A massive investment of more than $100 billion will go toward building up hydrogen in the Japanese energy sector, the government announced Tuesday.

A revised hydrogen strategy outlines $107 billion over the next 14 years to increase the hydrogen supply in the island nation to some 12 million tons from 2 million tons.

"We would like to steadily build a supply chain for hydrogen in Asia and the Indo-Pacific region by further expanding Japan's [hydrogen] technology, which has been world-leading," Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura was quoted by the Kyodo news agency as saying.

Hydrogen, a potent energy carrier, is something of a niche component of the so-called energy transition. Production is described using a color spectrum, with most of the hydrogen produced today considered "gray."

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That uses a steam-driven process to break natural gas, or methane, into its elemental components -- carbon and hydrogen. Carbon is released as a result. On the other end of the spectrum, "green" hydrogen uses renewable electricity instead of steam to break water apart into hydrogen and oxygen, with no emissions.

Japan has been reassessing its energy sector since the disastrous meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011. Largely dependent on foreign supplies of fossil fuels, the economy now is looking for alternatives, from "clean" coal to hydrogen.

Japan is leaning on hydrogen produced from a fossil-fuel feedstock. It could nevertheless help address decarbonization goals, ensure a secure source of energy and support economic growth.

RELATED  Hyundai takes 55% of hydrogen vehicle market in Q1

Elsewhere, the Japanese parliament passed a bill last month that would extend the lifespan of nuclear power plants to more than 60 years, as the country aims to cut carbon emissions and conserve energy by repurposing its nuclear resources.

The legislation was passed in response to a dwindling national energy supply due to Russia's war in Ukraine and sanction's targeting the Kremlin's war chest.

Many of the shuttered reactors remain offline as they have been unable to meet tougher safety standards that were implemented after the meltdown at Fukushima.

Poland’s state media criticized for its coverage of huge anti-government march

By MONIKA SCISLOWSKA

June 6, 2023

1/4

Participants join an anti-government march led by the centrist opposition party leader Donald Tusk, who along with other critics accuses the government of eroding democracy, in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday, June 4, 2023. Poland's largest opposition party led a march Sunday meant to mobilize voters against the right-wing government, which it accuses of eroding democracy and following Hungary and Turkey down the path to autocracy. The march is being held on the 34th anniversary of the first partly free elections, a democratic breakthrough in the toppling of communism across Eastern Europe. 

(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s state broadcasting authority has received multiple complaints over the way state media covered a huge anti-government protest over the weekend, an official said Tuesday.

State broadcaster TVP played down the size and significance of the protest led by the main opposition leader, Donald Tusk. Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in Warsaw, making it possibly the largest demonstration in decades in Poland.

Organizers estimated that 500,000 people took part. The number is impossible to verify but the march stretched for kilometers through the streets of Warsaw along the main route and down side streets. Protests were also held in other Polish cities.

TVP, which has long vilified Tusk in its reports, said there were no more than 150,000 people.

Unlike independent broadcasters, TVP didn’t show the march live. At one point, however, it did offer viewers live coverage of the National Parade of the Circles of Rural Areas’ Housewives.

It referred to the peaceful and orderly demonstration as a “march of hate” because of some isolated vulgarities chanted against the government.

Andrzej Krajewski, secretary for the independent Society of Journalists, said that his group considered TVP’s coverage “scandalous.”

The spokeswoman for the National Broadcasting Council, Teresa Brykczynska, told The Associated Press in an email that the council had received 12 complaints alleging “a lack of pluralism, of objectivity, violation of media law, lack of live coverage of the march and (complaining) over the content of news tickers.”

The council, also controlled by the governing Law and Justice party, would analyze the complaints and will write to TVP for an explanation, Brykczynska said.

Law and Justice has for years been using state media, especially TVP, as a mouthpiece.

The march was held on the anniversary of a crucial moment in Poland’s history, the partly free election on June 4, 1989, which paved the way for the end of communist rule. It was held months before an autumn election in which the conservative Law and Justice is fighting for a third term.

The party’s control of taxpayer funded media was among the many issues that people singled out while protesting at the march, which was held in support of democracy and in opposition to the policies of the government.

In another incident reported by Polish media, a TVP reporter didn’t have his station’s logo on his microphone while interviewing participants, hiding his broadcaster’s identity. When he went on air, the logo was visible.

An image posted by another TVP reporter was framed to suggest there were very few people at the march.

These reactions reminded older Poles of how the communist authorities used the same technique to falsely minimize the appearance of huge crowds for the Polish pope, St. John Paul II. The pontiff made historic visits in 1979 and in the 1980s to his homeland that inspired mass resistance to the communist government.

Asked about a lack of live coverage of the march, government spokesman Piotr Mueller argued that “there is no obligation in Poland to report every march of Civic Platform,” the main opposition party which led the demonstration.

Another TVP reporter tweeted that the majority of people he talked to said they had come to Warsaw to see the zoo, the National Stadium or eat cotton candy in good weather, an observation whose absurdity triggered mockery and jokes online.

Political observers have argued that the large turnout points to growing opposition to the government as the fall election draws close.

Law and Justice has led opinion polls since it won power in 2015, but has seen growing criticism of its policies. Some argue that the minimization of the march’s significance may come from a realization that the party will have serious competition in the fall election.

Commentator Andrzej Stankiewicz said on the Onet news portal that the march showed that for the first time since it took power, Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski “has someone he can lose to.”

FOX TOO FAILS

After vowing to keep fighting, CNN chief out after less than one year on the job


One day after vowing to continue to fight to win over newsroom employees, CNN Worldwide Chairman and CEO Chris Licht resigned Wednesday, effective immediately. File 

June 7 (UPI) -- One day after vowing to continue to "fight like hell" to win over newsroom employees, CNN Worldwide Chairman and CEO Chris Licht resigned Wednesday, effective immediately.

The news network's parent company Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed Licht's departure in a statement

The 51-year-old leaves after a lengthy feature piece about him published in The Atlantic last week.

That story portrayed Licht, who was in his first year on the job, in an unflattering light. In it, the former producer of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert comes off as indecisive and unsure of certain news strategies when covering important topics.

Licht also has previously been critical of the channel's reporting before he officially came on board in May of last year. Licht's criticism of CNN's coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic did not sit well with its health unit. Late last year, he also dismissed several long-time on-air personalities, which received widespread criticism in the news industry.

On Tuesday, Licht held a virtual town hall meeting with CNN employees to repair the damage and attempt to mend fences.

"I want to say that I've spent the weekend doing a lot of thinking," Licht, a former vice president at CBS said during that meeting.

It didn't work, according to the story, which quotes several CNN newsroom staff anonymously.

"Too little, too late," one told CNN reporter Oliver Darcy.

"We don't want his office relocated to the 18th floor, we want it relocated out of the building," said another, after Licht on Tuesday pledged to move his executive office closer to the newsroom.

The network's top anchors and executives reportedly reached out to CNN's new Chief Operating Officer David Leavy over the weekend, as well as Warner Bros. Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav.

"I have great respect for Chris, personally and professionally," Zaslav said in Wednesday's statement announcing Licht's immediate departure.

"The job of leading CNN was never going to be easy, especially at a time of huge disruption and transformation, and he has poured his heart and soul into it. While we know we have work to do as we look to identify a new leader, we have absolute confidence in the team we have in place and will continue to fight for CNN and its world class journalism."

Shell ordered to pull ads after U.K. 'greenwashing' complaints




Shell was ordered to stop running ads that were deemed to be misleading about its role in the energy transition. So-called greenwashing is a mounting concern as the energy sector pivots away from fossil fuels. 

June 7 (UPI) -- Energy major Shell misled consumers with ad campaigns touting its low-carbon focus while its actual business model is geared toward fossil fuels, a U.K. advertising watchdog said Wednesday.

The Advertising Standards Authority highlighted television, print and online media campaigns showcasing Shell as a clean-energy provider.

"From electric vehicle charging to renewable electricity for your home, Shell is giving customers more low-carbon choices and helping drive the U.K.'s energy transition," a campaign from June 2022 on YouTube broadcast. "The U.K. is ready for cleaner energy."

The group Adfree Cities complained to ASA that the advertisements left out considerable detail about Shell's fossil fuel investments, suggesting consumers were misled into thinking Shell was a clean energy company.

RELATED Gore: Oil and gas producers vastly under-report emissions

The ASA found that customers may interpret the material as suggesting Shell "as a whole" was "providing clean energy," when in fact that's not the case.

ASA said consumers are concerned about the environmental impact from carbon-intensive sources of energy and would likely want to seek out businesses that are transitioning away from those sources of pollution.

"However, they were unlikely to be aware of the details of this in relation to specific companies, and ads were therefore likely to mislead consumers if they misrepresented the contribution that lower-carbon initiatives played, or would play in the near future, as part of the overall balance of a company's activities," it ruled.


Veronica Wignall, co-director of Adfree Cities, said that companies like Shell should not be able to advertise at all given their track record on pollution.

"We need robust legislation to stop fossil fuel advertising -- but we also need U.K. advertising agencies to stop enabling clients like Shell that are not only on the wrong side of history, but a source of growing regulatory and reputational risk," she said.

Shell was ordered to stop running its campaigns in the United Kingdom.

RELATED Dutch airline KLM faces suit over 'greenwashing'

So-called greenwashing is nevertheless a global concern. The U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee in December lashed out at fossil fuel companies for obscuring some of their investment plans for fossil fuels in an effort to clean up their image.

The oversight committee released a 31-page memo summarizing the committee's investigation into fossil fuel industry disinformation. It suggested U.S. oil major Chevron presented a strategy to its board that Chevron would continue to invest in fossil fuels while others were transitioning to cleaner alternatives.

A VERY REAL SHOW TRIAL
Judge won't grant bail for ex-lawmaker Leila de Lima before Philippines drug trial


Sen. Leila de Lima (C) leaves the Philippine Senate in Pasay City, Philippines, on February 23, 2017, after she was arrested. Her bail before her trial was denied on Wednesday. 

File Photo by Joseph Vidal/Philippine Senate Public Relations and information bureau

June 7 (UPI) -- A Philippines court ruled on Wednesday that former Sen. Leila de Lima, a vocal critic of former President Rodrigo Duterte, must stay in prison until the last of three drug cases against her is heard later this month.

De Lima, who has been in prison for more than six years on drug charges filed by Duterte when he was in office, was cleared of one of the charges in May and had another one dropped. But a Muntinlupa court cited the strength of the last charge in denying her bail.

"Wherefore, premises considered, the instant petitions and motions for bail are hereby denied," Judge Romeo Buenaventura wrote in his ruling on Wednesday. "The presentation of the prosecution's evidence-in-chief set on June 19 and 26, all at 2:00 [local time] in the afternoon shall proceed as scheduled."

De Lima is charged with six others in a conspiracy to commit drug trading in a prison, in accusations that are similar to ones that already have been dropped and cleared. Her attorneys said the prosecution has failed to show evidence of de Lima's involvement.


Also charged in the case are former Bureau of Corrections chief Franklin Jesus Bucayu; Bucayu's former staff, Wilfredo Elli; inmate Jaybee Sebastian; Ronnie Dayan, de Lima's former security aide Joenel Sanchez; and Jad Dera. Sebastian died in 2020.

The court, though, admitted that there have been inconsistencies noted among witnesses but not enough to throw out the case.

"While the Court notes that indeed there were inconsistencies and contradictions in the statements of the prosecution witnesses, the same is not sufficient to discredit the credibility of their testimonies," the court said.

Amid soaring debt from mortgages, Canada makes surprise rate hike

NO SURPRISE, RBA RAISED THEIR RATES


After standing pat for months, the central bank of Canada announced Wednesday it was hiking its overnight lending rate by 25 basis points. Photo courtesy of the Bank of Canada


June 7 (UPI) -- The Central Bank of Canada hiked its lending rates after a five-month pause, saying Wednesday that its policies have yet to bring supply and demand back into balance.

The central bank put its overnight lending rate at 4.75% after announcing a 25-basis-point increase.

"The Governing Council decided to increase the policy interest rate, reflecting our view that monetary policy was not sufficiently restrictive to bring supply and demand back into balance and return inflation sustainably to the 2% target," it said.

The bank said the Canadian economy performed better than expected during the first quarter, with a 3.1% expansion for gross domestic product. Demand levels were considered more persistent than anticipated.

Consumer-level inflation, meanwhile, jumped to 4.4% in April, the first increase in 10 months. Lower energy prices since April could help cool inflationary pressures in the Canadian economy.

But so-called core inflation, which strips out volatile energy and food prices, remains elevated enough for the central bank to express concern that levels could "get stuck" above its target rate.

The bank said Wednesday it would continue to asses the situation moving forward.

"In particular, we will be evaluating whether the evolution of excess demand, inflation expectations, wage growth and corporate pricing behavior are consistent with achieving the inflation target," it said.

A research note from James Knightly and Francesco Pesole at investment bank ING said surprise rate hike sets the tone for further action when the bank meets again in July.

"There was little in the way of forward guidance other than to say it will continue to evaluate inflation, wage and demand dynamics," they wrote. "Nonetheless, having restarted hiking after a five-month period the odds certainly favor at least one additional move.

The Canadian economy was already feeling some strains before the surprise rate hike, however. The government said last month that its citizens had the highest levels of household debt among the Group of Seven countries.

About three quarters of all household debt in Canada is attributed to housing mortgages, making the country particularly vulnerable to any future global economic crisis, according to the report by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Should the central bank hike rates further as expected, it would only add to the debt burden by way of higher mortgage rates.

Human Rights Campaign declares LGBTQ+ state of emergency

The largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization in the United States declared a state of emergency for the first time in its over four decades of existence. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo


June 6 (UPI) -- The largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization in the United States on Tuesday declared a state of emergency for the first time in its over four decades of existence.

The Human Rights Campaign, based in Washington, made the declaration "following an unprecedented and dangerous spike in anti-LGBTQ+ legislative assaults sweeping state houses this year."

The group says the "dizzying patchwork" of anti-LGBTQ legislation dotting parts of the country can make it dangerous for members of that community to travel there. It is offering a guidebook detailing the various rules and regulations by state, as well a person's individual rights.

A report published by the group Tuesday, titled LGBTQ+ Americans Under Attack, finds there have been 525 bills introduced in 41 state legislatures over the last year, attacking the LGBTQ+ community. Over 200 of those bills specifically target the transgender community, the group says.

RAINBOWS ARE NOT ENOUGH

 

RELATED Baseless anti-trans claims fuel adoption of harmful laws

More than 75 have since been signed into law so far this year, restricting access to medical care, education and recreational activities, according to the report.

Gender non-conforming youth, in particular it says, have been the hardest hit demographic.

"LGBTQ+ Americans are living in a state of emergency. The multiplying threats facing millions in our community are not just perceived - they are real, tangible and dangerous. In many cases they are resulting in violence against LGBTQ+ people, forcing families to uproot their lives and flee their homes in search of safer states, and triggering a tidal wave of increased homophobia and transphobia that puts the safety of each and every one of us at risk," Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.



"There is an imminent threat to the health and safety of millions of LGBTQ+ people and families, who are living every day in uncertainty and fear. Our number one priority will always be ensuring that LGBTQ+ people are safe and have the tools they need to defend and protect themselves against acts of hostility, discrimination and -- in the most extreme cases -- violence."

CRIMINAL CRYPTO CAPITALI$M
SEC complaint accuses Coinbase of running unauthorized crypto exchange
By Patrick Hilsman


The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaing against Coinbase on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York, accusing it of operating an unauthorized crypto exchange. 

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

June 6 (UPI) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against Coinbase on Tuesday, accusing the firm of operating an unauthorized cryptocurrency exchange.

The SEC's complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, accuses the firm of "unlawfully facilitating the buying and selling of crypto asset securities," intertwining "the traditional services of an exchange, broker and clearing agency without having registered any of those functions with the commission as required by law."

By failing to compartmentalize functions that should normally be separate, the SEC said Coinbase failed to protect its customers.

"Coinbase's alleged failures deprive investors of critical protections, including rulebooks that prevent fraud and manipulation, proper disclosure, safeguards against conflicts of interest and routine inspection by the SEC," SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said in a press release.

In February, a former Coinbase manager, Ishan Wahi, pleaded guilty to insider trading, admitting that he gave confidential information about cryptocurrencies to his brother Nikhil Wahi.

The SEC has taken multiple actions against cryptocurrency firms in recent months.

In January, Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to charges including wire fraud, conspiracy by misusing customer funds and conspiracy to commit money laundering in the collapse of his FTX crypto exchange and hedge fund Alameda Research.

On Monday, the SEC sued the cryptocurrency trader Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao for operating unregistered exchanges.

EASY MONEY: CRYPTOCURRENCY, CASINO CAPITALISM, AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF FRAUD
by Ben McKenzie, Jacob Silverman
Release July 17,2023|

Amazon.com: Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud: 9781419766398: McKenzie, Ben, Silverman, Jacob: Books