U$A FOR PROFIT MEDICINE 
Money woes can lead to devastating delays in cancer diagnoses
By Alan Mozes, HealthDay News

Patients diagnosed with cancer who had previously experienced at least one major money crisis were more likely to be identified with later-stage cancer than those without financial upheaval, a recent study found. Photo by leschgarth/Pixabay



Money woes have long been linked to worse healthcare. Now, a new study finds financially strapped patients often put off cancer screenings -- only to learn they have the disease when it's advanced and tougher to treat.

Researchers studied the financial background of nearly 102,000 patients diagnosed with cancer between 2014 and 2015. More than a third had previously experienced at least one major money crisis -- such as bankruptcy or eviction. And those people were more likely to be identified with later-stage cancer than those without financial upheaval.

Later stage disease meant stage 3 or stage 4 cancer.

"These findings are clinically relevant because survival following a cancer diagnosis is generally better for people diagnosed with earlier-stage disease compared with people diagnosed with later-stage disease," said study author Robin Yabroff, scientific vice president of health services research with the American Cancer Society.

"People who are financially vulnerable may be delaying or forgoing healthcare because they cannot afford it," she added.

Yabroff said much is known about the financial hardships that follow a cancer diagnosis, but researchers haven't studied the effects of financial upheaval prior to diagnosis.

She and her colleagues focused on a pool of newly diagnosed cancer patients residing in Seattle, Louisiana and Georgia. They were 21 to 69 years old.

Investigators reviewed consumer data compiled by LexisNexis, which revealed all financial "events" that had taken place in a courtroom setting, including liens, bankruptcies and evictions.

More than 36% of the patients had experienced such an event at least once before learning they had cancer.

Black, single or low-income patients were most likely to have endured a financial crisis, the study team observed. But wealthier folks were not immune: More than a quarter of the best-heeled patients also had a notable financial crisis in their background.

People who experienced major adverse financial events prior to a cancer diagnosis "were more likely to have later stage disease than people diagnosed with cancer but without these adverse financial events," said Yabroff.

According to KFF (formerly the Kaiser Family Foundation) data from 2022, roughly half of American adults say they have trouble affording medical care. KFF adds that about 4 in 10 acknowledge having either delayed or skipped care altogether in the prior year, as a result of cost.

The Affordable Care Act enabled many Americans to obtain free preventive services, including breast, cervical, colon and lung cancer screenings. But Yabroff pointed out that this applies only to people who have health insurance. Many people still lack insurance, she added, "and even some people with health insurance have problems affording healthcare." High co-pays and high deductibles, for example, may cause people to delay screenings or treatment.

In addition, "not all cancers have effective screening tests, and some of these other cancers can be detected in earlier stages during routine medical care," she said. But that depends on patients continuing to access routine care, which may not be possible for those beset by debt.

Yabroff also cited recent KFF survey findings that found 1 in 7 patients with medical debt has been denied healthcare because of unpaid medical bills.

"These barriers can delay follow-up of abnormal screening test results, which can delay cancer diagnosis," she said.

Yet another reason financial stress may ultimately delay a cancer diagnosis is that "people have a limited capacity for dealing with more than one crisis at a time," said James Maddux, a senior scholar with the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

"Whether it is due to lack of insurance coverage or lack of an emergency fund, any unexpected illness requiring major surgery, a lengthy hospital stay or long-term treatments can be a drain on people's finances," Maddux noted.

So, are there practical steps financially strapped folks could take?

"Routine medical care and cancer screening are lowest among people without health insurance coverage, so efforts to improve coverage for people without health insurance are critically important," said Yabroff.

But even for those who have insurance, "efforts to improve affordability are also important," she added.

Yabroff further pointed out that medical providers are often involved in connecting patients in need with relevant social services. Evaluation of the effectiveness of these efforts will be important, she said.

The findings were presented Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago. Research presented at meetings is usually considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

More information

There's more on money trouble and healthcare at the KFF.

Copyright © 2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

NOAA announces $2.6 billion to protect coastal communities


The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced $2.6 billion in funds for an initiative to protect coastal communities.

 Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich/UPI | License Photo

June 6 (UPI) -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced a new $2.6 billion initiative to protect coastal communities.

The initiative will use funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, as part of the Biden administration's Investing in America agenda.

About $400 million will be appropriated in coordination with American Indian nations.

Funds will also be used to improve the collection of weather data and strengthen the NOAA's research vehicles like airplanes and ships.

RELATED NOAA effort could help Alaska expand its marine aquaculture industry

"Under President Biden's leadership, we are making the most significant direct investment in climate resilience in the nation's history," said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

"As part of our more than $2.6 billion investment in regional coastal resiliency and conservation projects, we will be dedicating $390 million directly to Tribal priorities for habitat restoration and bolstering fish populations, and supplying crucial funding to ensure our coastal communities are better prepared for the effects of climate change," Raimondo continued.

The NOAA noted the importance of working with Indigenous populations for coastline protection.

"The historic $2.6 billion investment in climate resilience and coastal communities will help ensure communities tribes and vulnerable populations, have the resources and support needed to prepare, adapt and build resilience to weather and climate events," the NOAA said.

"This massive investment will go a long way in helping NOAA prepare communities for natural disasters and more effectively address the environmental and economic impacts to help millions recover from these events," said Deputy Secretary Don Graves.

The round of funding follows a $562 million investment announced in April, which will fund almost 150 projects under NOAA's Climate-Ready Coasts Initiative through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Extremely rare orange lobster caught in Maine

June 6 (UPI) -- A fishing crew off the shore of Maine found an ultra-rare orange lobster and decided to donate the crustacean to the University of New England.

Capt. Gregg Turner and his crew, Sage Blake and Mandy Cyr, caught the lobster while fishing aboard the boat Deborah and Megan.

"This is the first time I've ever seen one and the second time Captain Gregg has," Cyr told the Portland Press-Herald. "It's pretty exciting."

Orange lobsters are believed to account for only about 1 in 30 million lobsters, making them 30 times more uncommon than blue lobsters.

The crew donated the lobster to the University of New England for study.

Researchers said the lobster is missing a claw, and studying how the claw grows back could offer them some answers as to the origins of the orange coloration.

"One of the things we're going to be able to see here is that is her color due to genetics or is it due to the environment. As she grows it back, is it going to be the gorgeous orange or is it going to be a different color," Charles Tilburg, academic director at the School of Marine and Environmental Programs, told WGME-TV.

Baseless anti-trans claims fuel adoption of harmful laws

By Henry F. Fradella & Alexis Rowland

June 7,2023

THE CONVERSATION

New laws in states across the nation illustrate the increasingly hostile legislative landscape for LGBTQ+ people despite polls showing that most people in the United States want trans people to be protected from discrimination in public spaces on the basis of their gender. 

File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

June 6 (UPI) -- It has been seven years since North Carolina made headlines for enacting a "bathroom bill" -- legislation intended to prevent transgender people from using restrooms that align with their gender identity.

After boycotts threatened to cost the state more than $3.7 billion, legislators repealed the law in 2017. Since then, however, religious and political conservatives have successfully spread an anti-trans moral panic, or irrational fear, across the United States.

As far back as 2001, Republican lawmakers proposed the first of what are now nearly 900 anti-LGBTQ+ bills. More than 500 of these were introduced in 49 state legislatures and the U.S. Congress during the first five months of 2023. To date, at least 79 have passed.

Many of these anti-trans laws are written and financed by a group of far-right interest groups, including the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Family Research Council, the Liberty Counsel and the American Principles Project.

These groups claim their proposed laws would protect cisgender women and girls -- those whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth -- from the sorts of violent trans people that are often depicted in movies and other media.

But as criminologists, we know these claims are without merit. No reliable data supports the argument that transgender people commit violent crimes at higher rates than cisgender men and women. In fact, transgender people are more than four times as likely to be the victim of a crime as cisgender people.

Expanding reach

Anti-trans laws like the one enacted in Kansas over the governor's veto reach beyond restrooms to limit access to many sex-segregated spaces, including "locker rooms, prisons, domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers," based on the sex assigned at birth to a person who seeks to use those spaces.

As of the end of May, at least 18 states had enacted laws within the preceding 12 months that limit medically age-appropriate gender-affirming healthcare for trans minors, with similar bills pending in 14 more states. And Florida's barrage of anti-LGBTQ+ regulations even prohibits the mere discussion of sexuality and gender identity in schools through the 12th grade. Journalist Adam Rhodes called these efforts a "centrally coordinated attack on transgender existence."

We believe these laws and bills illustrate the increasingly hostile legislative landscape for LGBTQ+ people despite polls showing that most people in the United States want trans people to be protected from discrimination in public spaces on the basis of their gender

What the data show

A variety of myths, false narratives, bad science, misconceptions and outright misrepresentations undergird anti-trans laws. The reality, however, is that trans-exclusionary laws do not protect cisgender women and girls from harassment or violence. Rather, they result in dramatic increases in violent victimization for transgender and gender-nonconforming adults and children.

When laws permit transgender people to access sex-segregated spaces in accordance with their gender identities, crime rates do not increase. There is no association between trans-inclusive policies and more crime. As one of us wrote in a recent paper, this is likely because, just like cisgender folks, "transgender people use locker rooms and restrooms to change clothes and go to the bathroom," not for sexual gratification or predatory reasons.

Conversely, when trans people are forced by law to use sex-segregated spaces that align with the sex assigned to them at birth instead of their gender identity, two important facts should be noted.

First, no studies show that violent crime rates against cisgender women and girls in such spaces decrease. In other words, cisgender women and girls are no safer than they would be in the absence of anti-trans laws. Certainly, the possibility exists that a cisgender man might pose as a woman to go into certain spaces under false pretenses. But that same possibility remains regardless of whether transgender people are lawfully permitted in those spaces.

Second, trans people are significantly more likely to be victimized in sex-segregated spaces than are cisgender people. For instance, while incarcerated in facilities designated for men, trans women are nine to 13 times as likely to be sexually assaulted as the men with whom they are boarded.

In women's prisons, correctional staff are responsible for 41% of women's sexual victimization, with cisgender women committing the balance of nearly all prisoner-on-prisoner violence. Similarly, trans boys and girls who are barred from using the restrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity are respectively between 26% to 149% more likely to be sexually victimized in the locations they are forced to use than cisgender youths.

In society at large, between 84% and 90% of all crimes of sexual violence are perpetrated by someone the victim knows, not a stranger lurking in the shadows -- or the showers or restroom stalls. But trans and nonbinary people feel very unsafe in bathrooms and locker rooms, though others experience relative safety there. In fact, the largest study of its kind found that upward of 75% of trans men and 64% of trans women reported that they routinely avoid public restrooms to minimize their chances of being harassed or assaulted.

Lies drive harm

Because criminological data does not support trans-exclusionary laws or policies, advocates of anti-trans laws often resort to lies, flawed anecdotal evidence, or what fact-checkers have called "extreme cherry-picking" to support their position.

For instance, one of us documented how isolated news stories, often from notoriously transphobic tabloids, conflate the actions of sexual predators with the "dangerousness" of trans women. Although there are undeniably examples of actual transgender people committing crimes, even deeply troubling ones, they are not evidence of any behavioral trends among the broader class of trans people. No such data exists.

We believe the spate of anti-trans proposals represents a textbook example of crime-control theater -- an unnecessary, ineffective and harmful legislative response to unfounded fearmongering.

Anti-trans laws are not just baseless. They're hurtful and damaging, especially to LGBTQ+ teenagers. Recent polls indicate that more than 60% of these people experience deteriorating mental health -- including depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts -- as a result of laws and policies aimed at restricting their personhood.

The criminological research is clear that anti-trans laws do not help the people they are claimed to protect. In fact, these laws inflict harm on people who are even more vulnerable.

Henry F. Fradella is a professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and an affiliate professor in the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. Alexis Rowland is a Ph.D. student in criminology, law and society at the University of California, Irvine.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors.

Ukrainian dam collapse ‘no immediate risk’ to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

But IAEA says damage to Nova Kakhovka dam raises long-term concerns for power station’s future

Julian Borger in Kyiv

THE GUARDIAN

Tue 6 Jun 2023

The collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam and the draining of the reservoir behind it does not pose an immediate safety threat to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant further upstream, but will have long-term implications for its future, according to Ukrainian and UN experts.

The Ukrainian nuclear energy corporation, Energoatom, put out a statement on the Telegram social media platform saying the situation at the plant, the biggest nuclear power station in Europe, was “under control”.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, said in a statement: “our current assessment is that there is no immediate risk to the safety of the plant.”


Nova Kakhovka dam: everything you need to know about Ukraine’s strategically important reservoir

But there are long-term concerns, both over safety and the possibility of the plant becoming operational again in the coming years. Oleksiy, a former reactor operator and shift supervisor at the plant, pointed out that all six reactors had been shut down since the plant found itself on the frontline after the Russian invasion.

Five of the reactors are in “cold shutdown”, turned off completely and being cooled, and one is in “hot shutdown”, kept at 200-250C so it would be easier to restart if conditions allowed, and to supply winter heating to the neighbouring town of Energodar.

Oleksiy, who left after Russian forces occupied the plant in March last year and is now elsewhere in Ukraine, said the last reactor should be shut down and that the plant had sufficient resources to keep all reactor cores cool.

“I think that the damage of the dam doesn’t impact the plant immediately, because they are being cooled by the safety systems located at the plant, which are spray systems,” he said. “The plant has a cooling lake, about two or three kilometres in diameter.”

The Energoatom statement said the cooling lake was filled and was at 16.6 metres (54.5ft), “which is sufficient for the power plant’s needs”.

Mariana Budjeryn, a Ukrainian nuclear scientist, said: “The fact that there’s an artificial pond next to the ZNPP [Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant] where water can be maintained above the reservoir level, and the fact that the reactors are in cold shutdown, offers some reassurance and increased time to respond if ZNPP starts getting affected.”

But Budjeryn, who is a senior research associate on the project on managing the atom at Harvard University, added: “The bigger problem – who is going to do it? ZNPP is already down-staffed to bare bones.”

Oleksiy said that over time water would evaporate from the cooling lake and if it could not be filled from the vast reservoir created upstream of the Nova Kakhovka dam, the turbines and the power plant could not be operated.

In his statement, Grossi said that the cooling pond should last “for some months” but it was imperative it was not damaged in fighting. The water is used to cool not just the reactor cores, but also the spent fuel and the diesel generators used for safety systems.“Absence of cooling water in the essential cooling water systems for an extended period of time would cause fuel melt and inoperability of the emergency diesel generators,” he warned.

Budjeryn pointed to another implication of the dam collapse regarding the future of the Russian occupied nuclear plant, which Russian occupying forces have allegedly mined. “If the Russians would do this with Kakhovka, there’s no guarantee they won’t blow up the reactor units at ZNPP that are also reportedly mined – three of the six,” she said. “It wouldn’t cause a Chornobyl, but massive disruption, local contamination and long-term damage to Ukraine.”

Does Russia’s attack on a Ukraine dam amount to a war crime? Experts pour in

aa/kb 06.06.2023, 

Photo: Lorena Sopena/Europa Press via Getty Images.

Ukraine accused Russia on Tuesday, June 6, of blowing up the Nova Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River that separates Russian and Ukrainian forces in southern Ukraine, inundating a populated region of the war zone and forcing villagers to flee.

Russians blow up dam in occupied city, Kherson at risk of flooding

Kyiv on Tuesday accused Russia of blowing up a dam and causing widespread flooding in southern Ukraine. About 80 settlements are at risk of...see more

The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said on Tuesday it was investigating the blast at the Nova Kakhovka dam, situated in Russian-occupied territory, as a war crime and as a possible act of environmental destruction, or “ecocide.”

Russia had conducted a winter campaign of air strikes on Ukrainian energy and utilities infrastructure, damaging up to 50 percent of the energy infrastructure. Kyiv said this constitutes a war crime, while Moscow said the targets were legitimate.

The Geneva Conventions and its protocols explicitly ban war-time attacks on “installations containing dangerous forces” such as dams due to the risk posed to civilians, a prohibition likely to come into focus after the destruction of the huge Ukrainian dam.

Attack on a dam: What kind of crime?

The 1949 Geneva Convention’s subsequent protocols specifically cover attacks on “installations containing dangerous forces”, such as hydroelectric dams. Such installations should not be attacked even if they are legitimate military objectives, “if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population”, the protocols, dating from 1977 say.

There is no mention of dams in the 1998 founding statute of the International Criminal Court. But the statute does criminalize “intentionally launching an attack in the knowledge that such attack will cause incidental loss of life or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment which would be clearly excessive in relation to the concrete and direct overall military advantage anticipated.”

In a blog for the European Journal of International law on Tuesday, international law professor Marko Milanović of the University of Reading said the dam’s destruction could amount to a war crime, or the graver offense of a crime against humanity, if it was carried out by Russia - “knowing of the harm that can befall the civilian population.”

What does International Law say?

The Geneva Conventions and additional protocols shaped by international courts say that parties involved in a military conflict must distinguish between “civilian objects and military objectives”, and that attacks on civilian objects are forbidden.

This prohibition is also codified in the Rome Statute of the ICC, which opened an investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine soon after Russia’s February 2022 invasion, and has been examining the attacks on infrastructure.

The prohibition seems clear-cut however some infrastructure owned and used by civilians can also be classified a military objective. Military objectives are defined as “those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action”, and whose destruction or capture “offers a definite military advantage”.



Polish Foreign Ministry condemns Russia’s attack on Nova Kakhovka dam

Referring to the recent attack on the Nova Kakhovka dam, Poland’s Foreign Ministry “absolutely” condemned “another unprecedented act of Russian...see more

Energy infrastructure: military or civilian?

Power infrastructure has long been considered a valid military objective as long as it supports an enemy army’s activities, even if the system also supports the civilian population, writes military law expert Michael Schmitt in the Articles of War blog run by the Lieber Institute for Law & Warfare at the United States Military Academy West Point.

Milanović said a dam “is not a military objective by its nature, but it may be such by its purpose or use.”

In his blog he added: “The real question here is whether the dam was making ‘an effective contribution to military action’.”

How military needs are balanced against civilian

But even if some targets could be considered military objectives, that is not the end of the story, says Katharine Fortin, associate professor of international law at Utrecht University.

The military must consider whether the damage and loss incurred by civilians in such attacks are excessive compared to the concrete and direct military advantage, she said.

Milanović makes a similar argument. He says that even if a dam could be seen as a military objective, an attack could be legally classified as disproportionate - for instance, if the incidental loss of civilian life or damage to civilian objects is excessive when examining the direct military advantage expected.


source: REUTERS

Destroyed dam likely to hinder Ukraine before Russia

Moscow and Kyiv traded blame for the damage to the Kakhovka dam

 (Photo: AFP/STRINGER)

07 Jun 2023 

PARIS: The gaping hole blasted into a key hydroelectric dam in southern Ukraine on Tuesday (Jun 6) will severely impede Kyiv's efforts to reconquer territory lost to Russia, even if Moscow risks seeing its defensive lines submerged.

Moscow and Kyiv traded blame for the damage to the Kakhovka dam, which is designed to supply water to the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014, which could now be facing serious water supply problems.

But Western observers believe the sabotage is a Russian attempt to harm Kyiv in the short term, just as Ukraine prepares to launch a counteroffensive to regain areas in the east.

Kyiv shares the same view, having accused Russia of having "blown up" the dam in order to "slow down" its operation.

Floods have already forced thousands to evacuate and risks interrupting ongoing Ukrainian military operations.

The rising water in the Kherson region will make it very difficult for Ukraine forces to carry out any operation involving crossing the river to reclaim the eastern bank, in the direction of Crimea.

"Following the logic of cui bono (who benefits), Russia would be the obvious culprit, since by causing floods downstream of Nova Kakhovka, the Russians would complicate Ukraine's efforts to cross, winning time, which would allow them to focus on other sections of the front," said Sergey Radchenko, a history professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, in a Twitter post.

"I can't see anything near beneficial to Ukraine in this case. More destroyed infrastructure, more downed electricity production facilities, more suffering for Ukrainian civilians, a limitation of Ukrainian offensive and logistics options," said Stephane Audrand, an independent consultant on international risks.

FLOODS AS A WEAPON OF WAR

The risk of strikes on the strategic Kakhovka facility, located in the Russian-occupied areas of the Kherson region, has been brandished since October by both Ukrainians and Russians.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of having "undermined the dam", one of the largest in Ukraine. Russian authorities retorted: "lies".

Destruction of this magnitude, likely to cause considerable harm to civilians, is considered a war crime under the 1949 Additional Protocols to the Geneva Convention.

"Dams, dykes and nuclear electrical generating stations, shall not be made the object of attack, even where these objects are military objectives, if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population," according to Article 56.

Contemporary history offers many examples of the destruction of dams and floods in Europe for defensive and offensive purposes.

In 1941, the Soviet Union blew up a huge dam in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia to slow the German advance.

In May 1943, the British Royal Air Force bombed German dams in the Ruhr valley, the country's industrial heartland.

Carried out by the RAF squadron 617 - which earned the nickname "Dambusters" -- this operation destroyed two of three dams and damaged the third.

The effort was immortalised in the 1955 film "The Dam Busters".

The flooding tactic was also practised in the First World War.

In the autumn of 1914, during the Battle of Yser, French and Belgian forces unleashed floods to slow the advance of German troops who were attempted in cross the Yser River toward Dunkirk.

The flooding was orchestrated by tampering with the system of locks in Nieuwpoort, which regulates the influx of seawater and drainage to flood plains.

Kremlin continues its ‘glorious Soviet tradition’ of blowing up dams on retreat

Michał Woźniak 06.06.2023

Dnipro HPP destroyed by Soviet forces while retreating from advancing Germans, late 1941. 

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The destruction of the Kakhovka dam is not the first time that the Kremlin decided to blast an important piece of infrastructure to impede the opponent’s advance. A similar fate befell the dam in Dnipro (then Dniepropetrovsk) in late August 1941.

Russians have planted explosives inside the huge Nova Kakhovka dam, Zelenskyy says

Russia predictably now claims that the Kakhovka dam has been destroyed due to a Ukrainian attack. But Russians packed the dam full of explosives months ago, and Ukraine raised alarm about it.

The initial Russian reporting on what happened included denying that any explosion had occurred at all, followed by several contradictory narratives floating around simultaneously, until, the expected Kyiv blaming started suggesting that the dam was destroyed deliberately but the Russians did not realize the scale of the damage they wrought.

Those parroting the Kremlin talking points immediately pointed out, that the destruction of the dam will result in Crimea losing its water supply. And after all, why would Russia willingly cut off the supply of water to Crimea if one of the reasons for launching the full-scale invasion was to unblock the supply of water flowing into the peninsula through the North Crimea Canal?

Russians shell evacuees, no drinking water in Crimea, long-term effects expected

Such people, whether out of ignorance or willfully, ignore the fact that Crimea is within the internationally recognized border of Ukraine and Kyiv is dead set on reclaiming it. A deliberate destruction of the dam does not benefit Ukraine, either in the short or in the long term, in the least.

Russian invaders are facing an imminent Ukrainian counteroffensive. The destruction of the dam might impede Ukrainian operations below the dam and serves as an added headache for Kyiv, now forced to deal with evacuating civilians.

The destruction of the dam by the Kremlin makes much more sense, not only because Russians have more to benefit from it, but also because, unlike Kyiv, Moscow does not care about civilian casualties.



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It definitely does not care about Ukrainian civilians. As evidenced by the fact that Kherson began to be shelled by Russians immediately upon their withdrawal, it does not care about the people that live in areas that, according to the result of the “referendums” it conducted last year, are now Russians. Failure to react adequately to incursions by Russian partisans proves that Putin does not even care about Russian people living in Russian territory, which should not be surprising considering that mobilized men are sent into the Ukrainian meatgrinder with outdated equipment and with little to no training.

But first and foremost, the Kremlin does not care about people living in Ukraine. And it is not the first time it has shown so. Not only during this war. Not only when Stalin implemented his campaign of engineered starvation, the Holodomor.

When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, the German forces rapidly advanced deep into the European parts of the Soviet Union. Hitler’s columns occupied large swathes of Belarus and Ukraine, as well as the recently annexed Baltic States.

In a desperate attempt to halt the invaders, on August 29, 1941, the Soviets deliberately destroyed the Dnieprostroi dam in Dniepropetrovsk (modern-day Dnipro) as part of their scorched earth policy and in an attempt to cause flooding that would hamper further German advances.

The destruction of the dam, which was a massive and costly engineering project that was the pride of the Soviet empire was touted as a great sacrifice and proof of the Soviet people’s determined resistance against fascism.

“We blew up the Dnieper dam so as not to allow this first child of the Soviet five-year Plan to fall into the hands of Hitler’s bandits. All measures were taken so as not to permit the Germans to make use of the dam and machinery,” said Solomon Lozovsky, the spokesman for the Kremlin at the time.

“The Observer”, a British Sunday newspaper further reported in its next issue that “The Soviet spokesman. Mr Lozovsky, announcing its destruction, said that not only the government but all Soviet citizens were determined to conduct the war in such a manner that German strength should grow weaker daily, contrary to what had happened in the west, where every new occupation had added to the German war potential.

‘Here the Germans will not get raw materials, food, or machinery,’ he said. Crops were destroyed or harvested and hidden, and much of the farm machinery was taken away.” What was not so loudly spoken about was that the flooding caused the deaths of between 20,000 and perhaps even more than 100,000 Ukrainians, Soviet citizens, who lived downriver from the dam. Although even that could perhaps be twisted into a narrative about sacrifice.



Intentional flooding by Ukrainian forces possibly saved Kyiv

In this war, Ukraine has resorted to a similar move by opening a dam on the Irpin River, which may have helped stop the Russian advance on Kyiv early in the war. The difference is that decision did not result in the deaths of Ukrainians. And seeing how the Russians behave in the occupied territories, it possibly saved millions.

By contrast, the destruction of the dam in Dniepropetrovsk in 1941 did little to stop the Germans from further advancing and causing millions of deaths (in no small part due to how Stalin waged the war) but it did cause additional and pointless deaths of Soviet citizens who lives mattered little to the Kremlin.

But at least back in 1941, the despot in the Kremlin had the courage to make the decision to destroy the dam and present it as a determined action of a nation defending itself from Nazi invasion.

Today, the Kremlin also claims to be fighting “Nazis” in Ukraine. Why then, is the Kremlin not willing to claim the destruction of the dam as a necessary step taken in a fight against the “Nazi regime in Kyiv”?

Because in spite of the propaganda the Kremlin continues to spout, it knows very well that there is no Nazi regime in Kyiv.

Putin, his spokesman Peskov, FM Lavrov, Defense Minister Shoigu, all realize (and they also understand that everyone in the world knows it full well) that the only regime present in Ukraine that resembles the Nazis is represented by the Russian invasion forces.

source: TVP WORLD

OECD slightly raises world GDP growth forecast to 2.7%


Ali Bekhtaoui and Laurent Thomet
Wed, 7 June 2023 

China's sooner-than-expected reopening after Covid is helping the global economic recovery, the OECD says

The OECD slightly raised its growth outlook for the world economy on Wednesday as inflation eases and China has dropped Covid restrictions, but it warned the recovery faces a "long road".

The Paris-based organisation forecast an economic expansion of 2.7 percent, up from 2.6 percent in its previous report in March, with upgrades for the United States, China and the eurozone.

But it is still under the 3.3 percent growth recorded in 2022.

"The global economy is turning a corner but faces a long road ahead to attain strong and sustainable growth," OECD chief economist Clare Lombardelli wrote in the OECD's Economic Outlook.

"The recovery will be weak by past standards," Lombardelli wrote.

The growth forecast for 2024 remains unchanged at 2.9 percent.

- 'Signs of stress' -

A drop in energy prices, the untangling of supply chain bottlenecks and China's sooner-than-expected reopening are contributing to the recovery, the OECD said.

But core inflation, which strips out volatile energy and food prices, is higher than previously expected, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The OECD said this may force central banks, which have already raised interest rates in efforts to tame consumer prices, to further hike borrowing costs.

"Central banks need to maintain restrictive monetary policies until there are clear signs that underlying inflationary pressures are abating," Lombardelli said.

At the same time, the organisation warned that higher interest rates around the world are "increasingly being felt", notably in property and financial markets.

"Signs of stress have started to appear in some financial market segments as investors reassess risks, and credit conditions are tightening," the report said.

The banking sector was rocked in March by the collapse of US regional lender SVB, whose demise was partly blamed on high rates bringing down the value of its bond portfolio.

The crisis reverberated across the Atlantic, with the Swiss government forcing Swiss banking giant UBS to take over troubled rival Credit Suisse.

"Should further financial market stress arise, central banks should deploy financial policy instruments to enhance liquidity and minimise contagion risks," Lombardelli wrote.

- Debt danger -

The OECD also warned that almost all countries have budget deficits and higher debt levels than before the pandemic as they propped up their economies to withstand the shocks of Covid restrictions and Russia's war in Ukraine.

"As the recovery takes hold, fiscal support should be scaled back and better targeted," Lombardelli said.

As energy prices, which soared following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, fall further, government should withdraw schemes aimed at supporting consumers, the OECD said.

The OECD raised its 2023 growth forecasts for the United States, the world's biggest economy, to 1.6 percent and China, the second biggest, to 5.4 percent -- both an increase of 0.1 percentage points.

The eurozone also got a slight 0.1-point bump to 0.9 percent.

Britain was upgraded out of recession territory, with growth now forecast at 0.3 percent instead of a contraction.

The OECD, however, sharply lowered the outlook for Germany, with zero growth now expected for Europe's economy while Japan's GDP will grow 1.3 percent, a slight downgrade.

lth/rl

Global economy in a 'precarious position,' the World Bank finds

June 6 (UPI) -- Global economic growth is on a sharp decline and the severity of the situation could easily trickle down to emerging markets, the World Bank said Tuesday.

The bank on Tuesday said the global economy is on pace to contract by 1% from 2022 to expand by only 2.1% this year. For emerging markets and developing economies, not including China, growth could drop from 4.1% last year to 2.9% this year.

Both of those forecasts represent deep downgrades from previous World Bank estimates.

"The world economy is in a precarious position," said Indermit Gill, the banks chief economist and senior vice president.

Most major economies are facing headwinds from inflationary pressures that have lasted for more than a year. Energy prices last year were buoyed by sanctions targeting Russia's energy sector in response to the war in Ukraine, though prices for food and rents also spiked.

Meanwhile, some support programs designed to help lower-income families during the COVID-19 pandemic have ended. While that's certainly the case for developed economies with the means to fund such programs, developing economies are also seeing a trickle-down impact from global inflation.

"Many developing economies are struggling to cope with weak growth, persistently high inflation, and record debt levels," said Ayhan Kose, a deputy chief economist at the bank. "Yet new hazards - such as the possibility of more widespread spillovers from renewed financial stress in advanced economies - could make matters even worse for them."

For developing economies, the World Bank found the pandemic and the shocks from the war in Ukraine have been a setback and economic activity is on pace to drop by 5% relative to the start of the pandemic in late 2019.

"In low-income countries -- especially the poorest -- the damage is stark," the bank said. "In more than one-third of these countries, per capita incomes in 2024 will still be below 2019 levels."

In the advanced economies, meanwhile, growth in the United States, the world's largest economy, could dip below 1% by next year due in large part to the hike in lending rates from the Federal Reserve.

In Europe, the contraction is already apparent in a forecast for a 0.4% expansion in 2023, down from the 3.5% growth rate last year.

Deadly booze brings profit and pain to Kenya's streets

Issued on: 07/06/2023 -

Nairobi (AFP) – Along a polluted riverside, smoking charred oil drums in Mathare are cooking up chang'aa, a potent liquor that's both a scourge and a lifeline.

In the Nairobi slum of Mathare, people use oil drums to distil chang’aa, a powerful and illicit alcohol © Amaury Falt-Brown / AFP


In this slum in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, back-alley distilleries are famous for cheap moonshine that's powerful enough to fell grown men.

Twenty Kenyan shillings (15 US cents) will buy you a glass of super-strength alcohol that is your invitation to oblivion.

Kenya's government wants to stamp out illicit booze but defenders of chang'aa says the business brings in badly needed jobs in places like Mathare, where some 200,000 people live in closely-packed poverty.

Others, though, acknowledge that the chang'aa also brings deep health and social problems -- and regulation brings the chance of addressing them.

The whole issue is complex, says Moses Kimani, a second-generation chang'aa maker from Mathare.

He gave up the activity to help young people in the community find alternative livelihoods.

"We also know that chang'aa isn't bad, because at the end of the day it brings something to the table and allows families to survive," he told AFP in Mathare.

But its effect on drinkers is undeniably harmful, and Kimani swore never to touch a drop after witnessing firsthand its devastating impact on friends and neighbours.

Poverty and unemployment run deep in Mathare -- defenders of chang'aa say illegal brewing creates badly-needed jobs

 © Amaury Falt-Brown / AFP

"Within three years you could not even recognise them. Even their faces had changed," said the 30-year-old, who founded Vision Bearerz Youth Group in 2017.
'Kill me quick'

Traditionally made by distilling grain like millet and maize (corn), modern-day chang'aa is commonly laced with toxic substances to speed up fermentation and add potency, Kimani said.

Chang'aa -- known colloquially "kill me quick" -- has been known to do exactly that, with cases of drinkers being poisoned by a bad batch or even suffering blindness or death.
Residue waste from the fermentation process of chang’aa © Amaury Falt-Brown / AFP

In Mathare, it is not uncommon to see chang'aa drinkers passed out on the street, with pedestrians stepping over their seemingly lifeless forms.

Mathias, who only gave his first name, bears the tell-tale signs of heavy chang'aa drinking.

Mumbling and confused, with deeply bloodshot eyes and a haggard appearance well beyond his years, the 27-year-old says he started drinking after the death of his child and collapse of his marriage.
Kenya © AFP / AFP

Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua -- a devout Christian who says quitting drinking helped him on the path to high office -- is leading the government's crusade against the trade.

He wants stiff fines and jail terms for anyone caught making, selling or consuming illicit booze.

"This war must be won... we have a problem and a responsibility to save a generation," Gachagua told senior government officials in April.

- 'Chang'aa is everything' -

But sending in police to smash up the stills in Mathare would only inflict economic pain on a community with few other options, activists and producers say.

Water and molasses are key ingredients in making chang'aa. After fermentation, the mix is distilled by boiling over a fire, with a pan of cool water to create condensation 

© Amaury Falt-Brown / AFP

"This is the only work available to us," said a 34-year-old chang'aa producer in Mathare who asked only to be identified as Johnson.

He said he earned the equivalent of around $2 to $3 a day.

"It's a good job, because you don't need an education to do it."

The economic impact resonates far beyond Mathare's riverside where the chang'aa is distilled, or the countless bars pouring out measures of the clear spirit.

Women supply the masses of firewood needed to keep the stills burning day and night, labourers scurry back and forth transporting deliveries, and nearby businesses sell their wares to brewers and drinkers alike.

"Chang'aa is everything," says Kimani, who was raised in a chang'aa producing household, and still has family members in the business.

"If chang'aa is wiped out, there will be hunger and a lot of crime. No one will be able to pay their rent."

The government tried to legalise chang'aa in 2010 to blunt the black market, but roadside operations continued to flourish, and the regulatory effort ultimately failed.

Kimani still thinks standardising the product would make it safer and go some way to addressing its problems.

Moses Kimani, head of the Vision Bearerz Youth Group (VBYG), works in a vegetable garden that funds community activities in Mathare © Amaury Falt-Brown / AFP

Felix Orwaka, a 24-year-old Mathare youth activist, agreed it was a conundrum.

"Any activity that takes place here depends on the chang'aa business," he said.

But he was still determined to address the social fractures it causes while pushing government leaders to offer alternatives for underemployed youth.

"We should not normalise chang'aa as an economic activity for our youth," said Orwaka, the founder of the Upcoming African Youth Organization.

CLIMATE CRISIS 
Heatwave in Bangladesh leads to school closures, power cuts

Reuters / Jun 6, 2023

Children cool off in the Buriganga River in Dhaka on Tuesday. (AFP photo)

DHAKA: A searing heatwave in Bangladesh spurred the closure of primary schools this week and triggered frequent power cuts, worsening conditions for residents unable to run fans to cool themselves as weather officials warned relief was not imminent.

The maximum temperature soared to nearly 41 degrees Celsius (105.8 Fahrenheit) from 32 degrees Celcius 10 days ago. The Bangladesh Meteorological Department warned that there was no end in sight for the heat.

Scientists have said climate change is contributing to more frequent, severe, and longer heat waves during summer months.

Bangladesh could face power cuts for two more weeks, said Nasrul Hamid, minister of state for power, energy and mineral resources, as a fuel shortage sparked shutdowns of several power-generating units, including its biggest coal-fired plant.

"Due to the global energy crisis and the unprecedented surge in international currency markets, we are exposed to this unwanted load shedding," Hamid said in a Facebook post.

This heatwave comes as the country already grapples with power cuts that have hurt its economy in recent months, including its crucial apparel sector that accounts for more than 80% of its exports.

“The weather is unreasonably hot these days but the hours-long power cuts further add to our miseries,” said Mizanur Rahman, a shopkeeper in the capital Dhaka.

Residents were seeking medical attention due to the heat.

"We are getting many patients who have suffered heat-stroke or other heat-related problems," said Shafiqul Islam, a physician in the northwestern part of the country.

Authorities have been encouraging residents to stay indoors and drink water, but the heatwave along with power cuts have also resulted in water shortages in many places.

"The water shortage and the heat are suffocating us," said Mohammad Sultan, 52, a rickshaw puller.
"Not a leaf is moving anywhere. There's no shade. It is becoming tough to pull a rickshaw. Very difficult!," he said.

"I lost over 20 (chickens alone today) due to excessive heat. The electricity is going off for over two hours at a time. I can't even sleep properly. I feel so helpless,” chicken seller Mohaamd Suman, 37, said.
The power crunch could also disrupt summer clothes supplies for retailers such as Walmart, Gap Inc,

 H&M , VF Corp, Zara and American Eagle Outfitters , some of Bangladesh's largest export customers.

The loss of exports will exacerbate issues around the country's dollar reserves, which have plunged by nearly a third in the 12 months through April to a seven-year low, and limited its ability to pay for fuel imports.

"I am deeply sorry for your suffering. I also want to assure you this situation is temporary. We will be back in good condition very soon," Hamid, the state power official, said.

Cash-strapped Bangladesh shuts power plant as heatwave hits

'World's Best Restaurant' To Reopen In Spain As Museum

By Rosa SULLEIRO

June 7, 2023

Spanish chef Ferran Adria poses next to sculptures he calls "Bullinanos" outside the elBulli restaurant which is set to reopen as a museum

LLUIS GENE

Pictures by Lluís Gené. 

Video by Anahí Aradas

Spain's elBulli, repeatedly voted the world's best restaurant before it closed over a decade ago, is set to reopen as a museum dedicated to the culinary revolution it sparked.

Nestled in an isolated cove on Spain's northeastern tip, the museum is dubbed "elBulli1846" -- a reference to the 1,846 dishes ground-breaking chef Ferran Adria says were developed at the eatery.


"It's not about coming here to eat, but to understand what happened in elBulli," the 61-year-old told AFP near the kitchen of the restaurant he ran for over two decades.


The museum will open on June 15, nearly 12 years after the restaurant served its final dish to the public.

Visitors will be able to see hundreds of photos, notebooks, trophies and models made of plastic or wax that emulate some of the innovative dishes which were served at the eatery.


Plastic reproductions of elBulli dishes on display

LLUIS GENE

Adria pioneered the culinary trend known as molecular gastronomy, which deconstructs ingredients and recombines them in unexpected ways.

The results are foods with surprising combinations and textures, such as fruit foams, gazpacho popsicles and caramelised quails.

Under Adria's watch elBulli achieved the coveted Michelin three-star status and was rated the world's best restaurant a record five times by British magazine The Restaurant.

"What we did here was find the limits of what can be done in a gastronomic experience," Adria said.

"What are the physical, mental and even spiritual limits that humans have. And that search paved paths for others."

Some of the world's most famous chefs were trained by Adria at elBulli, including Denmark's Rene Redzepi of Noma and Italy's Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana.

A foundation set up to maintain elBulli's legacy invested 11 million euros ($11.8 million) in the museum.

Plans to expand the building on the idyllic Cala Montjoi cove near the towns of Roses had to be adjusted after they ran into opposition form environmentalists.

Adria headed to the white-walled restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean in 1983 for a one month internship on the recommendation of a friend.

He was invited to join the restaurant's staff as a line cook the following year, and became its solo head chef in 1987.

Adria bought the restaurant in 1990 with his business partner Juli Soler, who passed away in 2015.

"The most important thing that happened to me at elBulli is that I discovered for the first time passion for cuisine," he said.

"At the table, when the staff ate together, we did not talk about football, or our weekends, we talked about cuisine."

The restaurant opened usually just six months of the year to give Adria and his staff time to conceive new dishes.

The meal consisted of a set menu comprising dozens of small dishes which cost around 325 euros, including a drink, when the restaurant closed in 2011.

A team of 70 people prepared the meals for the 50 guests who managed to get a reservation.

Adria said he accepted that his culinary innovations did not please everyone.


Ferran Adria outside his restaurant in 2007

LLUIS GENE

"In the end they are new things and it's a shock after the other, it is normal that it makes you reflect on what you like," he said.

In the final years of the restaurant, demand for reservations was so high that Adria allocated seats mostly through a lottery.

When Adria decided to close the restaurant, he justified the move saying it "had become a monster".

"I was very certain that we were right to close. We had reached what we felt was a satisfactory experience at the maximum level," Adria told AFP.

"And once we reached it we said 'why do we have to continue?'. The mission of elBulli was not this, it was finding the limits," he added.

© Agence France-Presse