Lawmakers ejected in Hong Kong debate on Chinese anthem bill

By ZEN SOO

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Pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui, center, struggles with security personnel at the main chamber of the Legislative Council during the second day of debate on a bill that would criminalize insulting or abusing the Chinese anthem in Hong Kong, Thursday, May 28, 2020. A longer suspension followed the ejection of Ted Hui, who kicked the plastic bottle toward the president's dais after security officers tussled with him and it fell from his hands. (AP Photo)

HONG KONG (AP) — Three pro-democracy lawmakers were ejected from Hong Kong’s legislative chamber Thursday morning, disrupting the second day of debate on a contentious bill that would criminalize insulting or abusing the Chinese national anthem.

The legislature’s president, Andrew Leung, suspended the meeting minutes after it began and ejected Eddie Chu for holding up a sarcastic sign about a pro-Beijing lawmaker that read “Best Chairperson, Starry Lee.”

A second pro-democracy lawmaker was thrown out for yelling after the meeting resumed, and then a third after rushing forward with a large plastic bottle in a cloth bag that spilled its brownish contents on the floor in front of the president’s raised dais.

“We have wanted to use any method to stop this national anthem law getting passed by this legislature, which is basically controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, because the law is just another way of putting pressure on Hong Kong people,” Chu said outside the chamber.

In Beijing, China’s national legislature ratified a proposal to impose a national security law on Hong Kong, a Chinese territory that is supposed to have a high degree of autonomy under a “one-country, two systems” framework.

The measure is designed for the “steady implementation of ‘one country, two systems,’ and Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity and stability,” Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said. He was referring to the arrangement under which the territory retained its own Western-style social, legal and political institutions after being handed over from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

Speaking at a news conference Thursday following the closing of the NPC’s annual session, Li offered no details about what specific areas the law would cover.

Joining the U.S. and other countries in expressing concern, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said it was important for Hong Kong to have a “stable and democratic development.”

“We are deeply worried about the National People’s Congress this time conducting the vote amid deep concern within the international community and Hong Kong citizens” Suga said.

The city’s pro-democracy opposition sees both the security legislation and the anthem law as assaults on that autonomy, and the U.S. has called on China to back off on the security law.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified Congress on Wednesday that the Trump administration no longer regards Hong Kong as autonomous from mainland China, setting the stage for the possible withdrawal of the preferential trade and financial status the U.S. accords the former British colony.

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong, who rose to prominence as a student leader during 2014 pro-democracy demonstrations, applauded the U.S. announcement.

Sanctions or the freezing of Hong Kong’s special economic status would “let Beijing know it is a must to completely withdraw and stop the implementation of the national security law,” Wong said.

China blocked a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss the legislation Wednesday, with China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun tweeting that Hong Kong is “purely China’s internal affairs.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said ahead of Pompeo’s announcement that China would take necessary steps to fight back against any “erroneous foreign interference in Hong Kong’s affairs.”

Chu, the ejected lawmaker, said the legislature’s president had objected to his placard calling Lee an “illegal chairperson” during Wednesday’s first day of debate, so he made a new one that called her the best chairperson instead.

Lee was recently elected chair of a key committee that sent the anthem bill to the full legislature for consideration. Her election, which the pro-democracy opposition contends was illegal, ended a monthslong filibuster that had prevented the committee from acting on the bill and other legislation.

After the meeting restarted, pro-democracy lawmaker Ray Chan started yelling as Leung explained his decision to remove Chu, and the legislative president suspended the meeting again and ordered Chan ejected, too.

Other pro-democracy lawmakers surrounded Chan, who then hid under a table, as security officers tried to remove him. He eventually was carried out by officers.

A longer suspension followed the ejection of Ted Hui, who kicked the plastic bottle toward the president’s dais after security officers tussled with him and it fell from his hands.

Members left the chamber, security guards sprayed disinfectant and cleaning workers arrived to wipe the carpet. Then firefighters in full protective gear entered and collected evidence. They appeared to take samples from the floor using swabs.


Hui later described the contents as a rotten plant, and said he wanted Leung to feel and smell the rotting of Hong Kong’s civilization and rule of law, and of the “one country, two systems” framework that democracy activists feel is under attack by China’s ruling Communist Party.

“I wanted him to taste it, unfortunately it (fell) on the ground because I was hit by security guards,” he said.

Hui rushed toward Leung as pro-democracy lawmakers were demanding that the legislature’s president explain which rules of procedure banned sarcastic placards, and then all held up or displayed the same “Best Chairperson, Starry Lee” sign.

Anti-Semitic crimes in Germany at highest level since 2001

BECAUSE THEY HAVE LEGITIMATED FASCIST PARTIES IN PARLIAMENT 

German police officers stand guard at the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund, Germany. Authorities in Germany recorded more than 2,000 anti-Semitic crimes in 2019, according to new figures Wednesday. File Photo by Friedemann Vogel/EPA

May 27 (UPI) -- Anti-Semitic crimes targeting members of the Jewish faith in Germany reached their highest level in almost two decades in 2019, according to new government figures Wednesday.

Police statistics show the number anti-Semitic crimes in Germany rose 13 percent last year to 2,032, the highest level since 2001.

Ninety-three percent of the crimes were attributed to right-wing perpetrators -- part of a general upsurge in which more than 41,000 cases of politically motivated crimes of all types were recorded, a rise of 14.2 percent.

German interior minister Horst Seehofer and Federal Police Commissioner Holger Munch warned that politically motivated crimes in Germany are increasing significantly and are being exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

"The biggest threat comes from the far right, we have to see that clearly," Seehofer said.

Georg Maier, interior minister of the German state of Thuringia, said the increase "represents a new dimension of threat against our democracy."

Anti-Semitic crimes in 2019 included three deaths, including that of conservative politician Walter Lubcke. A far-right extremist initially confessed to the crime before recanting.

Preliminary estimates in March prompted Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, to link the rising figures to prominence of the right-wing Alternative fuer Deutschland Party, which has become the largest opposition force in German Parliament since 2017.

"The breaking of taboos ... that we experience everywhere, which are largely fueled by the AfD, ultimately translate into action," he said.

UPDATED 
South Korea 'comfort women' activist group battles to survive amid scandal

The South Korean organization that first raised the issue of "comfort women" is defending its activities as counter-protests grow.

ByElizabeth Shim

Activists protest local newspapers that have published stories about Yoon Mi-hyang of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Wednesday. Photo by Elizabeth Shim/UPI

SEOUL, May 27 (UPI) -- An influential South Korean organization that has claimed for decades it represents the interests of "comfort women" forced to work in Japanese wartime brothels may be fighting for its life, in the wake of fund misappropriation allegations against the group's founder, Yoon Mi-hyang.

The Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery suggested at its weekly rally on Wednesday that the organization has been hit hard, following accusations from former comfort woman Lee Yong-soo that the victims were used as a front for Yoon's donation drives.

The group did not clarify whether the setbacks were financial, but did say activities among affiliated groups had "diminished" in the wake of the charges.

Lee Na-young, the newly elected president of the council, said the organization is "looking back and re-examining" the group's mistakes, including "being unable to resolve the pain of the victims and the prolonging of the problem for 30 or so years."
RELATED Exchange with North Korea must resume, South's politicians say

Lee did not directly address the accusations against Yoon, which include purchasing personal real estate and paying for tuition at an expensive U.S. school -- using money intended for the victims. The organization is believed to have collected at least millions of dollars.

Lee said the scandal fundamentally undermines the meaning and value of the comfort women movement, namely compelling the Japanese government to apologize for Japan's history of sexual violence.

Accusations directed at the council "reverse the progress of the last 30 years," Lee claimed.

RELATED Ex-comfort woman decries 'betrayal' in South Korea activist scandal

The new head of the council also took a moment to defend Yoon, calling her an activist who "devoted her entire life to solve the issue of Japanese wartime sex slavery."Accountability issues

One of the ways the council grew its presence was to bring former victims of wartime rape stations to the rallies. Many former comfort women took part in the rallies over the years, including Lee Yong-soo. On Wednesday, none of the elderly women came out to support Yoon.

Lauren Richardson, director of studies and lecturer at the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at the Australian National University, told UPI in an email the council and the victims have a long history of tensions, and that their interests have not always aligned.

RELATED South Korea legal group denies urging repatriation of defectors

"This is because the council was never led by victims, but activists," Richardson said. "Therefore there have always been accountability issues with its representation of the victims."

The analyst said the council did help bring the women public and official recognition, but the group may have sought Japanese state-level compensation even when some of the victims "were prepared to settle for less."

Misappropriation of funds by the council was also suspected decades ago, when Japanese professors involved in implementing the 1995 Asian Women's Fund in South Korea complained the money was not reaching the victims, according to Richardson.

Clusters of counter-protesters surrounded the council's rally on Wednesday. The different groups appeared to agree on Yoon's culpability, but varied slightly on the issue of relations with Japan.

Right wing South Korean groups The Wind of Freedom, Freedom Korea National Defense Corps and Turn Right, said Wednesday Yoon did not even provide meals for the elderly victims as she "dragged them from rally to rally," even though the "grandmothers complained they were hungry."

"If you have a conscience, if you have been using the grandmothers to forward your own agenda, the least you can do is give them something to eat," they said.

The conservative coalition of groups did not suggest the search for a just solution to past sufferings should be suspended because of the accusations against Yoon, even as the council said the demise of the group would lead to an end to the comfort women movement. They focused instead on the charge that Yoon "emptied the pockets of citizens in order to enrich herself, for her glory and honor."

"She fooled us for 30 years, while emptying out the piggy banks of small children. Yoon swindled the grandmothers."


Ex-comfort woman decries 'betrayal' in South Korea activist scandal
By Elizabeth Shim


Former South Korean comfort woman Lee Yong-soo has spoken out against Yoon Mi-hyang, head of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo

May 25 (UPI) -- The former South Korean comfort woman who accused an activist of misappropriating funds said Monday she had been "betrayed overnight" after being "used" by lawmaker-elect Yoon Mi-hyang for three decades.

Lee Yong-soo, 91, said Monday at a press conference in the South Korean city of Daegu her relationship with Yoon began in June 1992, Yonhap reported.

Yoon had requested former comfort women who had come forward at the time to gather at a church, where, according to Lee, Yoon distributed about $1,000 in cash to each woman.

According to Lee, Yoon claimed the money was from a retired teacher in Japan. Lee also said she had no idea how Yoon handled cash as Yoon grew her organization, presently known as the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery.

RELATED Accusations against South Korea comfort women activist center on real estate deals

Referring to allegations Yoon used comfort women funds collected from the public -- including South Korean and Japanese students -- to enrich herself, Lee said she had been "living in the dark."

"Had I known the Japanese had paid 1 billion yen, I would have sent it back," Lee told reporters, referring to the 2015 formal agreement between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and former South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Yoon may have been apprised of the fund while leaving the surviving victims in the dark.

The money was returned following protests from some of the victims.

On Monday, Lee also said Yoon had "committed a crime," and should be justly punished.

Lauren Richardson, director of studies and lecturer at the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at the Australian National University, told UPI on Monday the Korean Council played a definitive role in the failure of the 2015 accord, which "did not meet its demands."

"It's important to note that some of the former 'comfort women' are in agreement with the Council's demands, but some are not," Richardson said.

The Council rejected offers from Japan on behalf of victims, even when some of the victims were "prepared to settle for less."

Misappropriation of funds by the Council was also suspected decades ago, when some of the Japanese professors involved in implementing the 1995 Asian Women's Fund in South Korea complained the money was not reaching the victims, according to Richardson.

Accusations against South Korea comfort women activist center on real estate deals
By Elizabeth Shim


A South Korean activist at the forefront of comfort women's issues is under growing scrutiny. File Photo by Keizo Mori/UPI | License Photo

May 18 (UPI) -- A prominent South Korean activist who advocates for former comfort women is refusing to resign as allegations grow over misappropriated funds intended for victims of Japanese wartime brothels.

Yoon Mi-hyang, president of the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, is accused of misusing funds for a comfort women community home and possibly using donations to purchase her personal apartment in 2012, Yonhap reported Monday.

The community-living facility for the elderly women, located outside Seoul, was purchased by Yoon's NGO for about $600,000. The group received donations from Hyundai Heavy Industries, according to The Korea Times.

Meanwhile, Yoon's father received about $60,000 for maintaining the building.



RELATED North Korea denied abducting South Koreans on 1969 flight, document shows

The Korean Council also spent about $80,000 on interior design for the house.

In an interview with South Korea's CBS Radio, Yoon, a lawmaker-elect with the ruling Democratic Party, said the money on interior design and equipment was spent in order to "make the grandmothers feel good" about their residence.

The women were never moved into the house, however, according to reports.


Yoon has also denied claims she purchased her current home, an apartment, using funds from her organization. According to local reports, the activist purchased her home before she sold her previous house, inviting allegations she may have used funds that did not belong to her household.

A Korean Council source told local newspaper Hankyoreh the organization has always been "a one-woman system" under Yoon for 20 years. Employees and volunteers are not trusted with internal information, particularly on the flow of funds, which may have been under the exclusive supervision of Yoon.

Yoon's appointment to the National Assembly came under scrutiny earlier this month, when former comfort woman Lee Yong-soo accused the activist of misappropriating funds and "using" past victims of wartime rape stations as a front for her money-raising activities.

Lee, who has said she was first raped at the age of 16 at a Japanese military brothel in Taiwan, told reporters she and other women had never seen the funds raised during rallies and other donation drives. Yoon has not addressed Lee's charges directly.

Ohio counties sue major pharmacies for role in opioid crisis

A pair of Ohio counties field a lawsuit alleging CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Giant Eagle and pharmacies operated by Walmart were complicit in perpetuating the opioid crisis by selling excess amounts of the drug. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo


May 27 (UPI) -- Two Ohio counties on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against several major U.S. pharmacies, stating they were complicit in perpetuating the opioid crisis.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in Cleveland alleges that pharmacies operated by CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Giant Eagle and Walmart sold excess quantities of opioids and failed to report suspiciously large orders and sales.

"The crisis arose not only from the opioid manufacturers' deliberate marketing strategy, but from distributors' and pharmacies' equally deliberate efforts to evade restrictions on opioid distribution and dispensing," the suit states. "These distributors and pharmacies acted without regard for the lives that would be trammeled in pursuit of profit."

In the complaint, the counties allege that CVS worked with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to offer its pharmacists seminars on pain management so they would be able to reassure patients and doctors about the safety of opioids.

CVS also partnered with Endo Pharmaceuticals to send letters to patients encouraging them to maintain prescriptions of the opioid Opana. The Food and Drug Administration ordered the extended-release version of Opana removed from the market in 2017 due to extensive abuse, the suit states.

Further, the suit states that a Rite Aid in the town of Painesville, Ohio, which has a population of 19,524, sold more than 4.2 million doses of oxycodone and hydrocodone while the retailer offered bonuses to stores with the highest productivity.

Other retailers, including Walgreens and Walmart allegedly sought to circumvent federal oversight policies that required them to report large orders to the FDA.

Walgreens and CVS both signed deals with distributors, which stated they would be permitted to regulate their own orders without oversight from the distributors.

In 2012, Walmart placed a fixed limit on opioid quantities it would distribute to stores, but allowed stores to place additional orders from third-party distributors.

CVS responded to the suit in a statement to The New York Times, stating that pharmacists are only responsible for dispensing opioids to patients.

"Opioids are made and marketed by drug manufacturers, not pharmacists," the company said. "Pharmacists dispense opioid prescriptions written by a licensed physician for a legitimate medical need."

Few in U.S. with private insurance receive opioid overdose follow-up treatment


Having health insurance is no guarantee of receiving treatment following an opioid overdose, according to a new study. Photo by LizM/Pixabay

May 27 (UPI) -- Fewer than 20 percent of people with private healthcare insurance who suffered a non-fatal opioid overdose ultimately receive abuse or addiction treatment, according to a study published Wednesday by JAMA Network Open.

Moreover, black and Hispanic opioid users were less likely than their white counterparts to get treatment within 90 days of experiencing an overdose, the authors found.

"An opioid overdose is more than an isolated event -- for people that survive, it is an opportunity to engage in treatment for opioid use disorder," study co-author Dr. Austin S. Kilaru, an emergency physician at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, told UPI.

"However, even commercially insured patients have lower rates of treatment after opioid overdose than we think is acceptable," he said.

RELATED Increasing opioid doses doesn't reduce pain, study shows

Opioids include illegal drugs such as heroin, as well as prescription pain medications. Heroin overdoses are believed to have increased by as much as 50 percent in the United States during the last decade, based on estimates from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Some 11 million people misused prescription opioid pain medications in 2017, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Such misuse accounts for more than 1,000 visits daily to U.S. emergency rooms, the agency estimated.

For the study, Kilaru and his colleagues analyzed data from a large, unidentified private health insurance carrier, focusing on claims over a five-year period, from October 2011 to September 2016.

RELATED Study: Opioid overdose 14 times more likely in general public than cancer survivors



In all, 6,451 people covered by the insurer suffered a non-fatal opioid overdose during the study period, and most were older adults around 45 years old, researchers found.

Just 1,069 patients, or roughly 17 percent, received follow-up treatment within 90 days after their overdose, according to the researchers. Older age appears to reduce the likelihood of receiving follow-up care, they added.

"The current rate of treatment is not adequate," Kilaru said. "Our healthcare system must encourage coordinated care so that vulnerable patients, like those with opioid use disorder, successfully transition from the hospital to sustainable, ongoing treatment."

RELATED Study: Overdose risk doubles for young people with family on opioids

Currently, "our healthcare system lets too many patients fall through the cracks," he said.

Boeing sends layoff notices to more than 6,000 employees


A Boeing 787-9 performs a demonstration flight at international Paris Air Show at Le Bourget, France, last June. File Photo by Eco Clement/UPI | License Photo


May 27 (UPI) -- Boeing said Wednesday it is laying off more than 6,000 employees in the first phase of its plans to reduce its workforce by 10 percent as the airline industry reels from the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter to employees, Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun said the first 6,770 workers to be involuntarily laid off under the reductions are being notified by the aviation giant this week.

"We will provide all the support we can to those of you impacted by the [layoffs] -- including severance pay, COBRA healthcare coverage for U.S. employees and career transition services," he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a "devastating impact" on the airline industry, the CEO said, resulting in deep reductions in the number of commercial jets and services that Boeing's airline customers will need "over the next few years."

"I wish there were some other way," he said of the layoffs.

Boeing last month said it is seeking to shed 10 percent of its worldwide workforce of around 160,000 through a combination of voluntary and involuntary layoffs and early retirements.

More than 5,000 additional Boeing employees have been approved for voluntary separations.

In addition to the air travel disruptions caused by the pandemic, Boeing has been suffering financially since its fleet of 737 Max jetliners was grounded in March 2019 due to trouble with the model's automated flight software.

It confirmed that in April it lost more than 100 orders for the 737 Max, won no new orders and delivered just six aircraft.

Report: USAF covered up incidents of racial bias

A report on Wednesday by Protect Our Defenders alleges that the U.S. Air Force knew about racial bias within its ranks but failed to follow through on recommendations. Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force

May 27 (UPI) -- The U.S. Air Force tried to cover up racial bias in its justice system, a report by an independent advocacy group said Wednesday.

The 25-page report was issued by Protect Our Defenders, a Virginia-based group with a self-described mission of "ending the epidemic of rape and sexual assault in the military and to combating a culture of pervasive misogyny, sexual harassment, and retribution against victims."

Using the Freedom of Information Act and a prior report portraying racial disparities in the military justice system, it said that an Air Force working group failed to meet regularly and offer only superficial recommendations in fixing a perceived racial bias.

"The Air Force has engaged in a multi-year effort to keep the findings and recommendations of its working group hidden, forcing POD to file suit in federal court," a statement on Wednesday said. "A U.S. District Court in Connecticut referred to the Air Force's investigation as a 'mystery,' questioned whether it conducted any 'real governmental decision making process,' and accused it of trying to change its story and 'plug gaps' over time."

It cited a slide in a 2017 presentation to Air Force headquarters, which said, "the data reflects a persistent and consistent racial disparity" in the Air Force justice system. Another slide said African American airmen of the E-2 rank, the lowest in the Air Force, are disciplined at double the rate of other demographics.

That slide added, "If this were the case for airmen that were female, versus male, we were would have concerns about what is making the difference, and investigate -- we clearly must address this disparity in the same way."

The Air Force has done nothing to solve the problem, POD president Don Christensen, a former Air Force colonel and former Air Force chief prosecutor, said.

"Instead, the Air Force dedicated time and effort to cover up its failure to act on any solutions," Christensen said. "All service members must have faith that they are treated equally when facing punishment. The Air Force has utterly failed to do that."

In a statement by Lt. Col. Ann Stefanek, the Air Force acknowledged that it is working on a long-standing problem.

"While we have taken steps to elevate unconscious bias training at all levels of our command structure, we have more work to do to identify and remove barriers that stand in the way of our people's succes

Listen to the science: it was wrong to go ahead with major sporting events

New report suggests Cheltenham Festival and Liverpool match ‘increased several-fold’ the number of Covid-19 cases

Barry Glendenning Wed 27 May 2020
 

Huge crowds attended the Cheltenham Festival from 10-13 March, despite widespread public misgivings. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/the Guardian

Now we know. The much-maligned decisions to go ahead with the Cheltenham Festival and Liverpool’s Champions League match against Atlético Madrid in March “caused increased suffering and death”, according to the scientist leading the UK’s largest Covid-19 tracking project. Well, colour all those who foresaw that particular revelation coming down the pipe surprised.

In much the same way that you don’t need to be an optician to appreciate that loading the family into the car for a 60-mile pre-journey journey is not the best way to test your eyesight, an intimate working knowledge of Bunsen burners, pipettes and Erlenmeyer flasks was never going to be a prerequisite for forecasting that hundreds of thousands of sports fans rubbing shoulders in close proximity during a pandemic would result in unnecessary illness and fatalities.

Officials to investigate potential Covid-19 link with Liverpool match
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/24/officials-to-investigate-potential-covid-19-link-with-liverpool-match

It now seems beyond much doubt that since Liverpool last played a match, their game against Atlético added to an excess UK death toll that has now risen well above Anfield’s 54,074 capacity. Sadly, it cannot be proved beyond all doubt and it is this lack of total certainty those responsible for not just allowing but encouraging people to attend these mass gatherings have chosen to cling.

Let’s hear what they have to say. “There are many factors that could influence the number of cases in a particular area, including population density, age, general health, and the position of an area on the pandemic curve,” said a government statement issued to BBC Radio’s File On 4 – Game Changer, its author apparently affronted by the very notion that cramming 250,000 punters on to a provincial racecourse across four days for a glorified booze-up may be among the more obvious ones.

Thousands of Atlético Madrid supporters travelled to Liverpool for the Champions League match on 12 March. Photograph: Alex Livesey/ Danehouse/Getty Images

This official unwillingness to countenance the results of meticulous scientific research seems all the more galling when we recall various government ministers repeatedly using – you’ve guessed it – science of the weirdest variety as a shield with which to defend themselves against critics of what were quite obviously very bad decisions. Decisions taken, the government insist, on the back of “continuous consultation with scientific and medical experts”. Experts such as their own chief scientific officer, Sir Patrick Vallance, who at the time was referencing the idea of herd immunity that could scarcely have been more ill-advised.

Experts call for inquiry into local death toll after Cheltenham Festival
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/apr/21/experts-inquiry-cheltenham-festival-coronavirus-deaths

Speaking specifically about events in the Cotswolds and at Anfield, Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, said data collected from millions of volunteers revealed cases of Covid-19 “increased several-fold” in both areas and the reasons were abundantly clear. “Sporting events should have been shut down at least a week earlier,” he said. “Because they’ll have caused increased suffering and death that otherwise wouldn’t have occurred.”

Not content with having giddily boasted about shaking hands “with everybody” in a hospital on the same day his scientific advisers warned against doing anything of the kind, Boris Johnson’s presence at Twickenham for a Six Nations rugby match a few days later would go on to be cited by Cheltenham Festival organisers as one of the main reasons they decided to press ahead with four days of racing despite widespread public misgivings. At the time, the decision looked baffling. With the benefit of the kind of 20-20 hindsight you can only develop on a trip to Barnard Castle, it now seems insane.

Liverpool v Atlético virus links 'interesting hypothesis', says government scientist
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/20/liverpool-v-atletico-virus-links-interesting-hypothesis-says-government-scientist

This was back in the days before Johnson and his cabinet were portentously urging us to stay at home and save lives. In mid-March, assorted frontbenchers were whistling an entirely different tune, insisting mass gatherings in sporting amphitheatres were just what the doctor ordered.

“There’s no reason for people not to attend such events or to cancel them at this stage,” said the culture secretary, Oliver Dowden, in response to increasingly loud calls to call off Cheltenham and top-flight football, while the Tory MP for Tewkesbury, Laurence Robertson, was also extremely vocal in his support for the lucrative racing festival that takes place annually in his constituency.

“The disruption to people’s lives, and the risk to their livelihoods, caused by cancelling events and activities would be too great to justify [cancelling] at the moment,” Robertson said in the buildup. “This assessment would include the potential costs to local businesses in Gloucestershire, which would run into tens of millions, if the Festival were to be cancelled. This morning the chief medical officer endorsed this approach.”

‘I thought it was appalling': anger over Atlético fans attending Anfield

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/mar/22/liverpool-atletico-madrid-coronavirus-champions-league

A noted racing enthusiast who subsequently came under fire for failing to declare in time all of the £4,000 worth of hospitality he received over the four days of Festival, Robertson put his tardiness down to an oversight. This month he lost his father to coronavirus and on Tuesday said being unable to visit the 89-year-old in hospital as he fought for his life would “haunt me for the rest of my days”. The MP spoke out as he called on Johnson to sack Dominic Cummings for his well-documented lockdown escapades.

Robertson may or may not regret the enthusiasm with which he lobbied for his constituency’s annual cash cow in March, although his entirely reasonable pre-Festival caveat that “a change of policy would be introduced if the scientific and medical evidence points in that direction” suggests the personal grief he has since endured may have prompted regrets.

The current scientific and medical evidence appears to leave us in little or no doubt mass gatherings at major sporting events should have been banned much earlier, even if our leaders remain predictably unwilling to listen to the kind of independent expert testimony it doesn’t suit them to hear.

Cop26: Glasgow climate change conference 2020

UK urged to tie green recovery from Covid-19 crisis to Cop26 summit

Climate experts push Britain, as talks host, to work on ‘zero carbon’ route from pandemic


Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent
THE GUARDIAN Thu 28 May 2020

Former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, fourth from right, at the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in December 2019. Photograph: Cristina Quicler/AFP/Getty Images

The UK government must urgently set out clear plans on a green recovery from the coronavirus crisis if the delayed UN climate summit is to be a success, say leading experts.

The climate talks known as Cop26 and scheduled to be held in Glasgow, are expected to be postponed by a year from their original date this November, dashing hopes that the summit would be swiftly reconvened. A formal decision on the delay will be taken by the UN Thursday evening.

Tying the Cop26 talks to a green recovery from the Covid-19 crisis is now essential to regain momentum and ensure the summit produces the fresh global commitment needed on the climate crisis, experts say.

Mary Robinson, former UN climate envoy, and chair of the Elders group of international leader, said: “Very definitely we need to tie together a green recovery and Cop26 – that is imperative. UK leadership can and should urge forward a net-zero carbon transition from the Covid-19 crisis. Leadership is needed, moral, political, economic and social leadership.”

Achim Steiner, administrator of the UN Development Programme, said: “The UK presidency comes at an absolutely critical time. There is an extraordinary opportunity to restart the economy and look at creative ways [to recover]. We need to find ways to become more resilient.”

The Cop26 talks are seen as vital because nations are obliged under the Paris agreement of 2015 to present renewed plans every five years on how to meet the legally binding goal of holding global heating to no more than 2C, and preferably no more than 1.5C, above pre-industrial levels.

Current commitments on curbing emissions, set in Paris, would take the world far beyond those limits, to about 3C of heating, which scientists say would spell disaster around the world. That means fresh national commitments on carbon reductions by 2030 must be set this year, ahead of the Cop26 talks.

As host nation the UK carries responsibility for bringing governments together to make Cop26, the most important conference since Paris in 2015, a success.

Without a clear plan of its own to reach net-zero carbon emissions, a target enshrined in British law, the UK will struggle for credibility in urging other countries to come forward with national plans, according to participants and close observers of the talks.

Some countries would like to see the UK present a formal submission to the UN, setting out its emissions reduction targets for 2030 and 2050. Known as a nationally determined contribution (NDC), these formal plans are a legal requirement under the Paris accord.

“It would be a very welcome and important signal [to set out an NDC],” said Steiner. “We need to see a high level of ambition and a national strategy.”

Christiana Figueres, the former UN climate chief, told a committee of MPs last week: “It definitely would set a good example to other countries. I believe the UK should do it as soon as it responsibly can.”

Developing countries are also anxious that NDCs should not be delayed by the long hiatus before Cop26.

Janine Felson, Belize’s ambassador to the UN and chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, said: “All developed countries should bring forward their NDCs.”

Few large-scale economies have submitted an NDC yet. Chile, the original host of Cop25, in 2019 (before the transfer to Madrid), submitted its plan earlier this year, Norway has strengthened its NDC, and Rwanda last week became the first African nation to do so. Japan set out plans that drew widespread criticism for lack of ambition but China, India, the EU, and other large green house gas emitters are still holding back.

Leading figures have said that the formal submission of NDCs can wait while ministers and officials consider the impact of the Covid-19 crisis. Yet the UK has to urgently show leadership by announcing concrete measures for a green economic recovery.

Lord Stern, a climate economist, said: “It’s more important to set out actions for a green recovery, that is key. We can do that now, bring forward these carbon reductions. Set out policies and then we can see how the NDC can become more ambitious.”

The Committee on Climate Change, the UK government’s independent advisers, has delayed until December the publication of its advice on the country’s sixth carbon budget, in order to take account of the impact of the Covid-19 crisis. Chris Stark, chief executive of the committee, said it would be better for the government to delay the NDC too.

Setting out a formal NDC was less urgent than setting out a clear direction for the economic recovery, added Robinson. “I was very close to despair in January,” she said, referring to a flawed start to the UK’s presidency, when the government fired its initial choice for Cop president, the former MP Claire O’Neill, and failed to produce a clear plan for the summit. “I could not see an ambition [to have a good Cop26]. Now Covid-19 has turned the world upside down. We have to get up momentum for a green and nature-based recovery.”

The delay of Cop26 also means that other international meetings can lay the ground for success. The UK holds the 2021 presidency of the G7 group of industrialised nations, whose leaders are likely to meet in the summer when Cop26 will be discussed. Italy, co-host with the UK of Cop26, will chair the G20 with a similar aim.

Carbon dioxide emissions have fallen sharply amid the lockdowns, by about 17% on average in early April, according to a recent study. But that will have no measurable effect on efforts to meet the Paris goals, as emissions will resume their rise as the lockdowns ease unless lasting changes are made to countries’ energy production and consumption patterns.

A spokesperson for the UK government said: “As hosts of Cop26 and the first major economy to legislate for net zero, the UK is committed to delivering a clean and resilient economic recovery from Covid-19.

“The great global challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss have not gone away and it will be the duty of every responsible government to see our economies are revived and rebuilt in a way that stands the test of time. That’s why we’re calling on all nations to come forward with more ambitious climate plans.”

DEAR AMERICA;

NOV 3 

THE CHOICE IS 

THE GRIFTER

 OR THE GAFFER