Far right takes to Lisbon streets to deny racism is a problem

LISBON (Reuters) - Hundreds of protesters marched through one of Lisbon’s main avenues on Saturday shouting “Portugal is not racist”, in a demonstration organised by the leader of a far-right party known for his derogatory remarks against ethnic minorities.

TELL THAT TO THE PEOPLE OF ANGOLA & MOZAMBIQUE AND BRAZIL

Portugal's far-right party Chega leader Andre Ventura marches with supporters in a protest against those who say racism exists in the country, in downtown Lisbon, Portugal, June 27, 2020. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante

Dozens of police officers were on standby as protesters wearing face masks marched and waved Portuguese flags in the demonstration organised by the leader of the Chega (Enough) party Andre Ventura, a former soccer commentator. There were no immediate reports of violence or arrests.

In October, Ventura won the far right’s first seat in parliament since Portugal’s dictatorship ended in 1974.

“Today will be history because after 40 years the right decided to go out on the streets,” Ventura, who has been involved in several controversies since the election, told a crowd of supporters.


In January, Ventura called for a Black fellow MP with dual Portuguese-Guinean citizenship to be “returned to her own country” after she proposed that items in Portuguese museums be sent back to their countries of origin.

A month later, Ventura questioned if Porto striker Moussa Marega, who quit a soccer match in protest after being subjected to monkey chants and other insults, was a victim of racism.

Saturday’s protests took place at a time when Portuguese authorities are worried about a wave of new coronavirus cases across Lisbon’s suburbs and have been forced to reintroduce certain lockdown measures.

“We are outdoors, we know the virus dies under a certain temperature, we are social distancing, we have masks and I believe we are complying with all rules,” said Chega supporter Joao Rodrigues.


The march came around three weeks after thousands gathered in Lisbon and other Portuguese cities in protest against racism and alleged police brutality.

Among the crowd of right-wingers at the Saturday demonstration, a 27-year-old man stood alone and waved a rainbow LGBT+ pride flag in protest.

“Someone has to show this ideology in 2020 is wrong,” Joao Pedro said.


Reporting by Catarina Demony, Miguel Pereira and Rafael Marchante; Editing by James Drummond and David Holmes

Scientists just beginning to understand the many health problems caused by COVID-19

Julie Steenhuysen Updated: Jun 27


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Scientists are only starting to grasp the vast array of health problems caused by the novel coronavirus, some of which may have lingering effects on patients and health systems for years to come, according to doctors and infectious disease experts.

Besides the respiratory issues that leave patients gasping for breath, the virus that causes COVID-19 attacks many organ systems, in some cases causing catastrophic damage.

"We thought this was only a respiratory virus. Turns out, it goes after the pancreas. It goes after the heart. It goes after the liver, the brain, the kidney and other organs. We didn't appreciate that in the beginning," said Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California.

In addition to respiratory distress, patients with COVID-19 can experience blood clotting disorders that can lead to strokes, and extreme inflammation that attacks multiple organ systems. The virus can also cause neurological complications that range from headache, dizziness and loss of taste or smell to seizures and confusion.

And recovery can be slow, incomplete and costly, with a huge impact on quality of life.

The broad and diverse manifestations of COVID-19 are somewhat unique, said Dr. Sadiya Khan, a cardiologist at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago.

With influenza, people with underlying heart conditions are also at higher risk of complications, Khan said. What is surprising about this virus is the extent of the complications occurring outside the lungs.

Khan believes there will be a huge healthcare expenditure and burden for individuals who have survived COVID-19.

LENGTHY REHAB FOR MANY

Patients who were in the intensive care unit or on a ventilator for weeks will need to spend extensive time in rehab to regain mobility and strength.

"It can take up to seven days for every one day that you're hospitalized to recover that type of strength," Khan said. "It's harder the older you are, and you may never get back to the same level of function."

While much of the focus has been on the minority of patients who experience severe disease, doctors increasingly are looking to the needs of patients who were not sick enough to require hospitalization, but are still suffering months after first becoming infected.

Studies are just getting underway to understand the long-term effects of infection, Jay Butler, deputy director of infectious diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters in a telephone briefing on Thursday.

"We hear anecdotal reports of people who have persistent fatigue, shortness of breath," Butler said. "How long that will last is hard to say."

While coronavirus symptoms typically resolve in two or three weeks, an estimated 1 in 10 experience prolonged symptoms, Dr. Helen Salisbury of the University of Oxford wrote in the British Medical Journal on Tuesday.

Salisbury said many of her patients have normal chest X-rays and no sign of inflammation, but they are still not back to normal.

"If you previously ran 5k three times a week and now feel breathless after a single flight of stairs, or if you cough incessantly and are too exhausted to return to work, then the fear that you may never regain your previous health is very real," she wrote.

Dr. Igor Koralnik, chief of neuro-infectious diseases at Northwestern Medicine, reviewed current scientific literature and found about half of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 had neurological complications, such as dizziness, decreased alertness, difficulty concentrating, disorders of smell and taste, seizures, strokes, weakness and muscle pain.

Koralnik, whose findings were published in the Annals of Neurology, has started an outpatient clinic for COVID-19 patients to study whether these neurological problems are temporary or permanent.

Khan sees parallels with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Much of the early focus was on deaths.

"In recent years, we've been very focused on the cardiovascular complications of HIV survivorship," Khan said.

(This story corrects spelling of doctor's name to Khan instead of Kahn in last two paragraphs)

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; additional reporting by Caroline Humer and Nancy Lapid in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

Canada's treatment of some farm workers a 'national disgrace': minister

FILE PHOTO - Canada's Minister of Health Patty Hajdu speaks during a meeting of the special committee on the COVID-19 pandemic, as efforts continue to help slow the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada June 16, 2020. REUTERS/Blair Gable

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The treatment of migrant workers in Canada by some farmers is disgraceful and the federal government is seeking to fix the problem, the country’s health minister told a parliamentary committee on Friday, as farms battle COVID-19 outbreaks among their employees.

Outbreaks of coronavirus infections have killed three people and infected hundreds more on farms in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, in recent weeks.

Health Minister Patty Hajdu said she had heard stories about the treatment of migrant workers that “would curl your hair,” and the way some farms treat them now is “a national disgrace.”

IT IS A HISTORICAL PHENOMENA BAD FARMER BROWN, THE IWW ORGANIZED FARM WORKERS AT THE BEGINNING OF LAST CENTURY, POST WWII IT WAS CPCML ORGANIZING AMONG EAST INDIAN WORKERS IN BC.

Hajdu added that she was working with Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough “on how to reform the temporary foreign worker program” but gave no details on what those reforms might look like.

Canadian farmers rely on some 60,000 temporary foreign workers, predominantly from Latin America and the Caribbean to plant and harvest crops. Many live in crowded bunkhouses where the virus can spread quickly.

“All the PPE (personal protective equipment) in the world will not protect you if you are sleeping in a bunkhouse that is housing 12 to 15 people that may not have any ability for distancing, certainly no private washrooms or kitchen,” Hajdu said when asked whether Canada would consider providing migrant workers with PPE upon their arrival in Canada.

Migrant farm workers are considered a vulnerable population and need to be supported should they fall ill, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam told reporters on Thursday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has also said Canada must do more to protect migrant farm workers, who are considered essential workers.

Earlier this week, an Ontario official said the province would allow some people who have tested positive for COVID-19 but do not have symptoms to immediately return to work, provided precautions were in place.

Canada cop found guilty of 2016 assault of Black man

TORONTO (Reuters) - A white off-duty police officer was found guilty of assault in a 2016 attack on a Black man, a Canadian judge ruled in a livestreamed hearing on Friday.

Michael Theriault, a Toronto police officer, and his brother Christian Theriault, who was not from the police department, were charged with aggravated assault and obstruction of justice after the pair violently attacked Dafonte Miller in Whitby, Ontario, 50 km (30 miles) east of Toronto, using their fists and a pipe.

Miller, who was 19 at the time, lost his left eye as a result of the attack, which has drawn attention for its racial overtones and prompted questions about police brutality.

In recent weeks, police brutality against people of color has been gaining widespread attention in Canada, including an alleged attack on Chief Allan Adams, an indigenous leader in Alberta.
The brothers argued that they were acting in self-defense, after they allegedly found Miller attempting to steal their parents’ car.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Joseph Di Luca said although it was not his job to conduct an inquiry into race and policing, he was “mindful of the need to carefully consider the radicalized context from which this case arises,” local media reported.

Christian Theriault was found not guilty of aggravated assault. Both brothers were found not guilty of obstruction of justice.

The court is scheduled to return on July 15 to discuss a sentencing hearing.

Reporting by Moira Warburton in Toronto; editing by Jonathan Oatis

Canadian visa program may lure tech workers blocked by Trump

YOU'RE LOSS OUR GAIN TRUMP MAKES HEAD HUNTING EVEN EASIER

"NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK" AMERICA PROVERB
TORONTO/OTTAWA (Reuters) - A fast-track visa program that Canada launched in 2017 has attracted a growing number of tech workers, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest immigration crackdown is set to further boost intake once COVID-19 restrictions ease, lawyers say.

FILE PHOTO: Marco Mendicino poses with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after being sworn-in as Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship during the presentation of Trudeau's new cabinet, at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada November 20, 2019. REUTERS/Blair Gable

The number of successful applicants to Canada’s Global Skills Strategy (GSS) program rose five-fold over its first three years, with more than 23,000 workers approved under the top five tech categories, data provided to Reuters by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) shows.

More than 2,300 applications for those same top five tech roles were approved from January to March 2020, ahead of the COVID-19 shutdowns that led to border closures and a sharp drop in immigration. The program boasts a two-week processing time.

Immigration lawyers told Reuters they were broadly in favor of the program, which some described as transparent and consistent, and an example of how Canada has been able to take advantage of Trump’s immigration stance since he entered the White House in 2017.

“There are employers who have non-U.S. employees in the U.S. who are definitely looking seriously at Canada,” said Kyle Hyndman, a partner with McCrea Immigration Law in Vancouver, who was contacted this week by a “major” company about bringing employees to Canada.

On Monday, Trump issued a presidential proclamation that temporarily blocks foreign workers from entering the United States on certain visas, which a Trump administration official said would create 525,000 jobs for U.S. workers.


“The fact that people started contacting me pretty much the next day is perhaps a suggestion that there are going to be more people interested,” Hyndman said.

U.S. technology companies including Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc, Facebook Inc and Netflix Inc have in recent years expanded their Canadian operations, although most companies declined to comment on their GSS usage or how Trump’s recent announcement will impact their hiring plans.

Tobi Lutke, the chief executive officer of Canadian e-commerce company Shopify, was quick to tout the Canada’s attraction following Trump’s immigration move.

The program “has made it possible to hire top talent beyond our borders,” said Sandeep Anand, senior lead on the global mobility team at Shopify, adding that it has helped relocate employees to Canada.

The majority of approved applicants to the fast-track visa program were computer programmers and interactive media developers, followed by information systems analysts and consultants, the IRCC data shows.

Indian citizens accounted for 62.1% of successful applicants to the fast-track program, followed by Chinese citizens. Nearly 1,000 U.S. citizens also have seen their applications approved.


The GSS data only covers the period up to March of this year, just before broader immigration in Canada fell off a cliff due to border closures to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. Lawyers, however, don’t expect it to last.

Betsy Kane, one of the founding partners of Capelle Kane Immigration Lawyers in Ottawa, said the program is going to see a surge of applications.

“Whenever one door shuts, the other door is sought.”


Reporting by Moira Warburton in Toronto and Steve Scherer in Ottawa; Additional reporting by Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by Denny Thomas and Paul Simao

Dead dolphins wash up on France's shores in record numbers
CANCALE, France (Reuters) - Dead dolphins are washing up on France’s Atlantic coast in such high numbers that local populations of the mammals are at risk, marine biologists say.

The overwhelming majority drowned in the nets of fishing trawlers. Post mortems often show fractures, broken tails and flippers and deep incisions cut into their skin by the nets. Some have been mutilated as fishermen release their bodies.

“We’re reaching mortality rates that threaten the survival of the dolphin population in the Bay of Gascony,” said Morgane Perri, a marine biologist in Brittany, western France.

“For the last three years, we’ve seen more than 1,000 deaths (dolphins and porpoises) over a four-month period each winter.”

Common dolphins are the hardest hit. Scientists believe those found on beaches represent a small fraction of the total number dying in fishing nets off the coast of France. The real number is likely to be five to 10 times higher, they estimate.

Dolphins have for decades been caught in fishing nets in the Atlantic waters off western Europe. But marine scientists say the spike in numbers in recent years is a result of shifting fishing practices, and in particular the fishing vessels that trawl in pairs for sea bass.


French law requires fishermen to declare all cetacean by-catch. But Perri said this rarely happened.

The National Committee of Maritime Fishermen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The slow reproduction rates of dolphins, which are mammals and need to surface in order to breathe, means they are particularly vulnerable to sharp falls in numbers, according to the Pelagis Observatory in La Rochelle.

Population models show numbers are stable, said Helene Peltier, a researcher at the observatory. “But once you see the decline, it’s too late.”


Activist group Sea Shepherd wants trawlers to be banned from fishing in sea bass spawning grounds and better monitoring of fisheries. Acoustic ‘pingers’ designed to repel dolphins are also being trialled on some fishing boats.

“There is no single miracle solution,” Peltier said.

In West Bank, Israeli settler leaders complicate annexation plan

ITAMAR, West Bank (Reuters) - Jewish settler leaders who resist the creation of a Palestinian state are complicating Israel’s plans to annex scores of settlements in the occupied West Bank under U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace blueprint.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet is due next month to discuss the annexation plan, under which Israel would apply sovereignty over 30% of the West Bank - in areas where most of its about 130 settlements are located.

The plan is opposed by the Palestinians, who seek a state in all of the West Bank, as well as in the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as a capital. Most world powers agree.

The plan also faces resistance from settler leaders who oppose Trump’s calls for a future Palestinian state that would envelop at least 15 Jewish settlements - despite U.S. guarantees of protection for, and access to, the future “enclaves”.

“We’re talking about strangling a community,” said Hananel Elkayam, mayor of Itamar settlement, one of the 15 named in the plan.

In misgivings echoed in the other 14, Elkayam predicted residents would be unable to commute to jobs through territory that would be in a new Palestinian state, would by denied construction and would be at greater risk of attack than now.

“I would tell (Trump): Thanks very much for the plan, thanks very much for the great affection for the Jewish people (but) we’ll set our own destiny,” Elkayam said.

KEEPING DOOR TO DIPLOMACY OPEN

U.S. officials will this week discuss whether to give Israel the green light for annexation moves seen by the Palestinians and many other countries as illegal land-grabs.

Israel’s West Bank settlements were built by successive governments on land captured in a 1967 war. More than 400,000 Israelis now live there, with another 200,000 in East Jerusalem, which was also taken in 1967.

A Direct Poll survey last week found 56.8% of settlers support the Trump plan, more than the Israeli average.

Elkayam and other settler leaders say that backing is for annexation - on condition that plans for Palestinian statehood are scrapped.

Israeli and U.S. officials want to be seen as keeping a door open to diplomacy. Where that door might lead worries Yochai Damri, head of a regional council that includes four of the 15 listed settlements.

Damri sees Palestinian statehood becoming more likely if the Republican president is defeated by Democrat Joe Biden in November’s U.S. election, and if, or when, Netanyahu is succeeded by centrist Benny Gantz, the Israeli premier’s partner in a fragile unity government.

The Trump plan says residents of the future enclaves can stay put “unless they choose otherwise”. Damri and other settlers hear in that a hint that they should quit to make way for Palestinian territorial contiguity.


Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Timothy Heritage

Kremlin dismisses Japan's objection to geological survey in Okhotsk Sea
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Friday it had a sovereign right to carry out work in the Sea of Okhotsk off Russia’s far eastern coast after a Japanese official objected to Moscow conducting a geological survey there.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga described Russia’s survey as unacceptable and in conflict with Tokyo’s position on four Russian-held islands claimed by Japan, the Japan Times cited him as saying.

“Russia has a sovereign right to carry out any research on its territory,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov during a conference call on Friday.

The geological survey in the Sea of Okhotsk, near the disputed islands, began on June 18 and is set to last for three months, Russian news agencies reported.

Japan calls the four Russian-held islands, off its main northern island of Hokkaido, the Northern Territories. Known in Russia as the Southern Kuriles, the islands were seized by Soviet forces in the closing days of World War Two.

The territorial issue has blighted relations between Russia and Japan for decades and has prevented them from signing a formal peace treaty ending World War Two.

Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Gareth Jones

Outgoing U.S. ambassador to Germany defends troop withdrawal plan


FILE PHOTO: Richard Grenell U.S. Ambassador to Germany attends the "Rally for Equal Rights at the United Nations (Protesting Anti-Israeli Bias)" aside of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 18, 2019. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

BERLIN (Reuters) - The United States is planning to withdraw troops from Germany because Americans are against “paying too much” for other countries’ security, the outgoing U.S. ambassador said late on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. military to remove 9,500 troops from Germany, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.


The move would reduce the U.S. contingent to 25,000.

Richard Grenell, who resigned as U.S. ambassador to Germany on June 1, told Bild Live late on Wednesday: “American taxpayers no longer feel like paying too much for the defence of other countries.”


“There will still be 25,000 soldiers in Germany, that’s no small number,” he added, according to a German translation of his remarks.

The troop move is the latest twist in relations between Berlin and Washington that have often been strained during Trump’s presidency. Trump has pressed Germany to raise defence spending and accused Berlin of being a “captive” of Russia due to its partial reliance on Russian energy.

Trump’s decision to cut U.S. troop levels in Germany blindsided a number of senior national security officials, according to five sources familiar with the matter, and the Pentagon had yet to receive a formal order to carry it out, Reuters has learned.


Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Tom Brown

Full text of Philonise Floyd's statement to U.S. Congress

(Reuters) - Here is the text of the prepared testimony to a U.S. congressional hearing on Wednesday of Philonise Floyd, whose brother George Floyd’s death under the knee of a white police officer roused worldwide protests against racial injustice:


George Floyd's brother Philonise Floyd is joined by civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump during a recess in the hearing on the House Judiciary Committee on Policing Practices and Law Enforcement Accountability at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, U.S. June 10, 2020. Michael Reynolds/Pool via REUTERS

“Chairman Jerrold Nadler and members of the Committee:

“Thank you for the invitation to be here today to talk about my big brother, George. The world knows him as George, but I called him Perry. Yesterday, we laid him to rest. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I’m the big brother now. So it was my job to comfort our brothers and sisters, Perry’s kids, and everyone who loved him. And that’s a lot of people. I have to be the strong one now, because it’s what George would have done.

“And me being the big brother now is why I’m here today. To do what Perry always did for us – to take care of the family and others. I couldn’t take care of George the day he was killed, but maybe by speaking with you today, I can help make sure that his death isn’t in vain. To make sure that he is more than another face on a T-shirt. More than another name on a list that won’t stop growing.


“George always made sacrifices for his family. And he made sacrifices for complete strangers. He gave the little that he had to help others. He was our gentle giant. I was reminded of that when I watched the video of his murder. He was mild mannered; he didn’t fight back. He listened to the officers. He called them ‘sir.’ The men who took his life, who suffocated him for eight minutes and 46 seconds. He still called them ‘sir’ as he begged for his life.

“I can’t tell you the kind of pain you feel when you watch something like that. When you watch your big brother, who you’ve looked up to your whole life, die. Die begging for your mom.

“I’m tired. I’m tired of the pain I’m feeling now and I’m tired of the pain I feel every time another black person is killed for no reason. I’m here today to ask you to make it stop. Stop the pain. Stop us from being tired. George’s calls for help were ignored. Please listen to the call I’m making to you now, to the calls of our family, and to the calls ringing out in the streets across the world. People of all backgrounds, genders and race have come together to demand change. Honor them, honor George, and make the necessary changes that make law enforcement the solution – and not the problem. Hold them accountable when they do something wrong. Teach them what it means to treat people with empathy and respect. Teach them what necessary force is. Teach them that deadly force should be used rarely and only when life is at risk.

“George wasn’t hurting anyone that day. He didn’t deserve to die over twenty dollars. I am asking you, is that what a black man’s life is worth? Twenty dollars? This is 2020. Enough is enough. The people marching in the streets are telling you enough is enough. Be the leaders that this country, this world, needs. Do the right thing.


“The people elected you to speak for them, to make positive change. George’s name means something. You have the opportunity here to make your names mean something, too.

“If his death ends up changing the world for the better. And I think it will. I think it has. Then he died as he lived. It is on you to make sure his death isn’t in vain. I didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to Perry while he was here. I was robbed of that. But, I know he’s looking down on us now. Perry, look at what you did, big brother. You’re changing the world. Thank you for everything. For taking care of us when you were on Earth, and for taking care of all of us now. I hope you found mama and can rest in peace and power.”


Compiled by Scott Malone