President Joe Biden Tuesday morning issued an official White House LGBTQ Pride proclamation, the first since President Barack Obama.

David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement
June 01, 2021

Joe Biden (AFP)

In his "Proclamation on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Pride Month," (below) President Biden says he is "particularly honored by the service of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the first openly LGBTQ+ person to serve in the Cabinet, and Assistant Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine, the first openly transgender person to be confirmed by the Senate."

Biden notes that nearly 14% of his appointees are LGBTQ+, but he also acknowledges the "tragic spike in violence against transgender women of color," and says "LGBTQ+ individuals — especially youth who defy sex or gender norms — face bullying and harassment in educational settings and are at a disproportionate risk of self-harm and death by suicide. Some States have chosen to actively target transgender youth through discriminatory bills that defy our Nation's values of inclusivity and freedom for all."

The Biden proclamation begins by honoring the "uprising at the Stonewall Inn in June, 1969," which "sparked a liberation movement — a call to action that continues to inspire us to live up to our Nation's promise of equality, liberty, and justice for all,"

"Pride is a time to recall the trials the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) community has endured and to rejoice in the triumphs of trailblazing individuals who have bravely fought — and continue to fight — for full equality. Pride is both a jubilant communal celebration of visibility and a personal celebration of self-worth and dignity. This Pride Month, we recognize the valuable contributions of LGBTQ+ individuals across America, and we reaffirm our commitment to standing in solidarity with LGBTQ+ Americans in their ongoing struggle against discrimination and injustice."

One year ago on June 1, then-candidate Joe Biden issued issued a statement marking LGBTQ Pride month. One week later he issued an 8000 word policy plan on LGBTQ equality.

President Donald Trump, despite campaign promises and claims the LGBTQ community liked him never once issued an official LGBTQ Pride proclamation. In 2019 he posted a tweet, managing to turn the month's focus to himself, outraging LGBTQ Americans and allies, in an effort to cover up his horrific record on LGBTQ equity and issues.

Related: 114 Times Trump Threw the LGBTQ Community Under the Bus

Read President Biden's LGBTQ Pride Month proclamation:

A Proclamation on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, And Queer Pride Month, 2021 | the White House by davidbadash on Scribd

Vale workers in Sudbury reject contract offer and go on strike

Erik White 

CBC
3

© Erik White/CBC Members of United Steelworkers Local 6500 on the picketline out front of Vale's Copper Cliff smelter complex.

Picketlines are up at Vale's mines, mill and smelter in Sudbury as the union representing 2,400 workers have voted down a tentative agreement with the mining giant.

United Steelworkers Local 6500 says in a statement on its website that 87 per cent of members cast ballots in a ratification vote Monday night and 70 per cent rejected the deal the union bargaining committee was recommending.

"Thank you for your overwhelming support to return us to the bargaining table," reads the statement.

"We are newly energized with this result and are looking forward to bringing your message to the company to let them know our work is not complete."

In a release, Vale says "contingency plans have been implemented to preserve the integrity and safety of the plants and mines" in Sudbury.

Meanwhile, Vale refinery workers in Port Colborne, Ont. represented by Steelworkers Local 6200 accepted the new agreement.

 Erik White/CBC Some 2,400 mine, mill and smelter workers at Vale in Sudbury are now on strike for the first time since the year-long walkout in 2009-10.

"The company's offer, and the union bargaining team's endorsement of that offer, reflected months of hard work and commitment on both sides and a sincere demonstration to favourably conclude negotiations," Vale says in a statement.

"Vale is committed to the long-term sustainability of its base metals business and its Ontario operations. The company will continue discussions with USW in the hopes that both sides can find a path towards a ratified agreement in the near-term."

© Erik White/CBC Vale workers striking in front of Clarabelle Mill in Sudbury on the first morning of the first strike in a decade.

The tentative five-year contract would have seen workers receive a 4 per cent pay raise over the next four years, plus $2,500 recognition pay for the past year working through the COVID-19 pandemic and a $3,500 signing bonus.

The deal would have also seen some changes to pensions and benefits for mine, mill and smelter workers.

This is the first time USW 6500 members have been on the picketline since the year-long strike ended in July 2010, closing one of the longest periods of labour peace in the company's history.

Australia's 'cannibal' mouse infestation could be followed by a snake plague
Cheryl Santa Maria 

Southeastern Australia has been battling mouse plague for months, following a combination of heavy rain, cooler temperatures, and a high crop yield.

Australia’s mouse plague is getting worse and snakes could follow

Experts now worry the influx of mice could just be just the beginning of problems for the region, with worries a snake plague is on the way.

Gerard Dallow from a Sydney-based organization called Micropest told nine.com.au that "snakes are likely to follow" the rodents, potentially leading to a spike in their population numbers.

'CANNIBAL' MICE

The mice have been more than just a nuisance: farmers have lost thousands of dollars worth of crops and sustained equipment damage from the rodents.

Earlier this month, the plague left a family of five and their two pets homeless after descending on the home of the Ward family, chewing up the walls and munching on electrical wires on the roof, sparking a large fire that burned their home to the ground.

As the mice multiply in size and deplete food sources, things have taken a gruesome turn. Reports say the rodents have turned on one another, resorting to cannibalism as grains run low.

So far, rodents have "shut down 44 of our telecommunication towers on Monday across the southern half of New South Wales," Xavier Martin, the vice president of the New South Wales Farmers’ Association, told ITV News.

“They shut down one of our key government servers in one of the departments today so they couldn’t respond. The mice are into everything. If I walk out of the door there now and stand still they’ll climb out the outside of my trousers and inside of my trousers, they’re just running about everywhere.”

THE DANGERS OF SNAKES

While the snakes likely won't cause structural damage to homes or tear through crops like the mice, southeastern Australia is home to about 100 species of venomous snakes.

© Provided by The Weather Network
File photo: A large Red-bellied Black Snake in Awabakal Reserve, Dudley, New South Wales. (Oliver Neuman/Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0)

While there has been no documented uptick in snake populations yet, the reptiles tend to be most active in autumn (which runs until May) and spring, which begins in September.

US Supreme Court rejects Johnson & Johnson’s appeal of $2 billion penalty in baby powder cancer case

PUBLISHED TUE, JUN 1 2021
Tucker Higgins@IN/TUCKER-HIGGINS

KEY POINTS

The Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Johnson & Johnson seeking to undo a $2.1 billion damages award against it over allegations that asbestos in its talc powder products, including baby powder, caused women to develop ovarian cancer.

The top court announced in an order with no noted dissents that it will not hear the case.

Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh recused themselves from consideration of the case, according to the order.


In this photo illustration, a container of Johnson’s baby powder made by Johnson and Johnson sits on a table on July 13, 2018 in San Francisco, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal from Johnson & Johnson seeking to undo a $2.1 billion award against it over allegations that asbestos in its talc powder products, including baby powder, caused women to develop ovarian cancer.

The top court announced in an order with no noted dissents that it will not hear the case. Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh recused themselves from consideration of the case, according to the order.

Johnson & Johnson had asked the top court to review the penalty against it after the amount was upheld by the Missouri Supreme Court last year. A state appeals court earlier reduced the penalty against Johnson & Johnson from more than $4 billion.

The dispute featured fierce legal firepower on both sides, with former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal arguing on behalf of the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based pharmaceutical maker and Ken Starr, the former Whitewater prosecutor, representing women with ovarian cancer who sued the company.

Johnson & Johnson said it stopped selling its talc-based baby powder in the United States and Canada in May 2020, citing reduced demand “fueled by misinformation around the safety of the product and a constant barrage of litigation advertising.”

The company had said that it is facing more than 21,800 lawsuits against it over its talc products.

Starr wrote in his brief urging the justices not to review the case that Johnson & Johnson “knew for decades that their talc powders contained asbestos, a highly carcinogenic substance with no known safe exposure level.”

“They could have protected customers by switching from talc to cornstarch, as their own scientists proposed as early as 1973. But talc was cheaper and petitioners were unwilling to sacrifice profits for a safer product,” he wrote.

In contrast, Katyal argued that “federal regulators and respected health organizations have rejected calls for warnings on talc, and comprehensive epidemiological studies tracking tens of thousands of talc users have found no meaningful association between cosmetic talc use and ovarian cancer.”

Katyal said that attorneys for those who had sued Johnson & Johnson had searched the country “for women who were both diagnosed with ovarian cancer and among the millions who used Petitioners’ talc products.”

“They put dozens of plaintiffs on the stand to discuss their experiences with cancer, and the jury awards billions of dollars in punitive damages supposedly to punish Petitioners,” he wrote. “Lawyers can then follow this script and file the same claims with new plaintiffs and seek new outsized awards, over and over again.”

In a statement on Tuesday, Johnson & Johnson said that the Supreme Court’s decision left important legal questions unresolved.

“The matters that were before the court are related to legal procedure, and not safety,” the company said. “Decades of independent scientific evaluations confirm Johnson’s Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos, and does not cause cancer.”

Starr did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Johnson & Johnson shares were down more than 1% on Tuesday morning.

READ THE FUCKING COMIC
'The Sandman' Creator Neil Gaiman Defends Casting Nonbinary Actor to Play Nonbinary Character

"The Sandman" author Neil Gaiman slammed criticism over the weekend of the recent castings announced for Netflix's TV adaptation of his beloved comic book series, which includes a nonbinary actor playing Desire — who is a nonbinary character in "The Sandman" — and Black actress Kirby Howell-Baptiste set as Death — a character that visually depicted as white in the comics

© TheWrap

"I give all the f–ks about the work," Gaiman tweeted Saturday in response to a user who accused the "The Sandman" creator of selling out, saying it "irks" them Gaiman doesn't "give a f–k" about standing by his work. "I spent 30 years successfully battling bad movies of Sandman. I give zero f–ks about people who don't understand/ haven't read Sandman whining about a non-binary Desire or that Death isn't white enough. Watch the show, make up your minds."

Described as "a rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama and legend are seamlessly interwoven," Netflix's "The Sandman" follows the people and places affected by Morpheus, the Dream King, as he mends the cosmic -- and human -- mistakes he's made during his vast existence.

Last Wednesday, Gaiman and Netflix revealed 12 additions to the cast of their "The Sandman" TV series, which stars Tom Sturridge as Dream of the Endless/Morpheus. Among the names Gaiman unveiled via blog post were Howell-Baptiste as Death, "Dream's wiser, nicer, and much more sensible sister," and nonbinary actor Mason Alexander Park as Desire, "Dream's sibling and everything you want, whatever you want and whoever you are."

When announcing the casting of Park as Desire, Gaiman wrote, "We had barely started looking when (they/them) reached out on Twitter, and threw their hat into the ring. We were thrilled when they got the part," and for Death, he said, "Significantly harder to cast than you might imagine (well, than I imagined, anyway). Hundreds of talented women from all around the planet auditioned, and they were brilliant, and none of them were right. Someone who could speak the truth to Dream, on the one hand, but also be the person you'd want to meet when your life was done on the other. And then we saw Kirby Howell-Baptiste's (she/her) audition and we knew we had our Death."

Gaiman has been defending his casting choices on Twitter for days, mocking users ignorant of the fact Desire is a nonbinary character, and amplifying voices of "Sandman" readers speaking to how the inclusion of the character helped them.

"Desire. Mad that DESIRE isn't affixed to one gender. Have these people read Sandman?" one person tweeted, to which Gaiman responded: "I don't think so, no."

"Wasn't Desire… always non-binary…??," another wrote, with Gaiman saying: "Well, yes. But you'd have to have read the comics to know that. And the shouty people appear to have skipped that step."

Gaiman also retweeted John Scalzi's response in support of Gaiman's choice: "Desire in Sandman was really the first time I encountered in fiction the idea of a person being non-binary. It helped me when reality presented me with out non-binary people, some of whom I now know and love. I can't imagine reading Sandman and desiring Desire as anything other."

Kyrgyzstan in full control of Kumtor gold mine as Centerra takes legal action


KUMTOR MINE, Kyrgyzstan (Reuters) - Authorities in Kyrgyzstan said they are in full control of the giant Kumtor gold mine after taking over management of the mine from Canada's Centerra Gold which has taken legal action over the seizure.

© Reuters/VLADIMIR PIROGOV A general view of the lake near Petrov glacier, main water source for the Kumtor open pit gold mine, in Tien Shan mountains

Kumtor, the largest foreign investment project in Kyrgyzstan, was operated by Centerra Gold until last month when Kyrgyz lawmakers passed a law giving the state power to temporarily take control of the mine and appoint "external management" to address alleged environmental and safety problems.

The move came months after nationalist politician Sadyr Japarov, a long-time supporter of Kumtor nationalisation, won a landslide victory in a presidential election in January.

"All units are working without interruptions at the moment," Nurdin Usenov, acting chief production officer at the mine, told reporters during a government-sponsored media tour to Kumtor last Friday.
The mine will stick to output plans approved under Centerra Gold, he said, which amounted to 470,000 to 510,000 ounces, or 14.62 to 15.86 tonnes, this year.

Centerra Gold said this week its Kyrgyz units, Kumtor Gold Co and Kumtor Operating Co, had commenced bankruptcy proceedings in a U.S. court following the nationalisation of the mine by the former Soviet republic.

Kyrgyzstan has a long history of disputes with Centerra Gold over how to share profits from the country's biggest industrial enterprise.

Dinara Kutmanova, the head of state environment and climate committee, said during the media tour the operator of one of the world's highest-altitude mines had damaged nearby glaciers by dumping more than a billion tonnes of waste rock there.

Scott Perry, Centerra Gold president and chief executive, said the accusations were without merit.

"If you look at our operating activities ... it's approved annually by the government's regulatory authorities and related agencies and they've never asked us to make any changes to the way we operate the mine," he told Reuters in an interview.

"Unfortunately I have to say that it really appears to be a concerted effort to falsely justify a nationalisation of the mine."

Centerra said bankruptcy proceedings would prevent further efforts by the Kyrgyz government to strip Kumtor Gold of its assets or otherwise "improperly dispose" of the Kumtor mine in violation of its investment agreements with the company.

The company had earlier initiated international arbitration proceedings against Bishkek.

(Reporting by Vladimir Pirogov; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov in Almaty. Editing by Jane Merriman)

TOPICS FOR YOU

15% of Americans believe QAnon conspiracy theories, claim ‘true American patriots may have to resort to violence,’ poll shows

Updated 10:31 AM; Today 
By Benjamin Kail | bkail@masslive.com


Fifteen percent of Americans — including nearly a quarter of Republicans — say they believe “the government, media and financial worlds in the U.S. are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation,” according to a recent poll by the Public Religion Research Institute and Interfaith Youth Core that examined far-right QAnon conspiracy theories.

The PRRI survey of more than 5,000 Americans in March shows the QAnon conspiracy theories have maintained its grip on 15% to 20% of Americans, becoming just as popular as some major religions even after its accusations have been debunked and several predictions fell flat. The online movement — pegged by the FBI as a “political fringe conspiracy theory” and domestic terror threat — began in 2017 after an anonymous 4chan poster predicted then-President Donald Trump would lead a war against a secret cabal.

QAnon believers — many of whom joined the pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in a deadly, failed attempt to stop Congress from sealing President Joe Biden’s victory — are closely linked with Trump’s ongoing baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Seventy-three percent of QAnon believers think Trump should still be in the White House, where Biden has called out increasing threats to democracy in the U.S. and abroad.

At least 20% of Americans believe a core QAnon tenet that “There is a storm coming soon that will sweep away the elites in power and restore the rightful leaders.” Fifteen percent say the country is “so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country,” according to the poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

Twenty-three percent of Republicans buy QAnon’s theories compared to 14% of independents and 8% of Democrats. Republicans are four times likelier than Democrats — 28% to 7% — to believe so-called “patriots” may have to take up arms, the poll showed. Those who follow far-right outlets are more than three times as likely to fall for QAnon’s core claims than those who rely on local news sources. Americans without a college education are three times more likely to be QAnon believers.

The survey results match up with a December NPR and Ipsos poll that showed 17% believe QAnon’s false theories and more than a third of Americans buy into the notion that a “deep state” worked to undermine Trump.

In an interview with The Chicago Tribune, PRRI founder Robby Jones likened the phenomenon to a religion, both in terms of numbers and the fervor fueling QAnon believers’ convictions.

“It’s one thing to say that most Americans laugh off these outlandish beliefs, but when you take into consideration that these beliefs are linked to a kind of apocalyptic thinking and violence, then it becomes something quite different,” he said.

Reed Berkowitz, an alternate reality game designer, wrote in The Washington Post in May that “Q has specifically followed the model of an alternate reality game using many of the same techniques.” Berkowitz called it “the gamification of propaganda. QAnon was a game that played people.”

In April, FBI Director Christopher Wray noted the agency was not investigating the online movement itself, but said there are serious concerns that it “may be an inspiration for violent attacks.”

“We’re concerned about the potential that [people’s vulnerability to QAnon] can lead to violence,” Wray told the Senate Intelligence Committee. “Where it is an inspiration for federal crime, we’re going to aggressively pursue it.”

In 2019, the FBI listed QAnon among “fringe political conspiracy theories very likely to encourage the targeting of specific people, places and organizations, thereby increasing the risk of extremist violence.”

In his Memorial Day address Monday, Biden sought to fire up Americans against ongoing attacks on democratic norms, decency, freedom and voting rights, both abroad and at home.

Biden invoked former U.S. Sen. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, arguing the New England statesman’s 1830 cry of “Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable” resonates “even now.”

“Democracy must be defended at all costs,” Biden said. “That’s the soul of America. And I believe it’s a soul worth fighting for. A soul worth dying for. The soul of America is animated by the perennial battle between our worst instincts — which we’ve seen of late — and our better angels. Between ‘Me first’ and ‘We the people,’ between greed and generosity, cruelty and kindness, captivity and freedom ... between dreams for democracy and the appetite for autocracy.”

European countries urge explanation on alleged U.S. spying on Merkel, officials
(Xinhua) 14:45, June 01, 2021

BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- European countries demanded the United States and Denmark for an explanation as soon as possible on reports that the U.S. intelligence agency had used Danish infrastructure to spy on senior European officials, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The Danish Defense Intelligence Service (FE) has given the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) open internet access to spy on senior politicians of neighboring countries including Germany, Sweden, Norway, and France, Denmark's national broadcaster DR News reported on Sunday.

Danish Minister of Defense Trine Bramsen responded to media reports by sending an email to DR News, saying that the government will not "enter into speculation about any intelligence matters from the press or others ... systematic wiretapping of close allies is unacceptable."

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that all must be clarified concerning reports on the U.S. spying and urged "complete transparency and resolution of the matter by our Danish and American partners."

This "is unacceptable between allies, even less between allies and European partners," Macron was quoted by French daily Le Monde following a French-German council of ministers.

Merkel said she "could only agree" with Macron's comments, adding she was "reassured" by Bramsen's condemnation of any such spying.

Besides Merkel, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the candidate for chancellor Peer Steinbrueck were among those the NSA had spied on, DR said.

"It is grotesque that friendly intelligence services are indeed intercepting and spying on top representatives of other countries," Steinbrueck told German broadcaster ARD. "Politically I consider it a scandal."

In Paris, French Minister for European Affairs Clement Beaune told France Info radio that the DR report needed to be checked and that, if confirmed, it would be a "serious" matter.

"These potential facts, they are serious. They must be checked," he said, adding there could be "some diplomatic protests."

"It is extremely serious, we need to see if our partners in the EU, the Danes, have committed errors or faults in their cooperation with American services," he noted.

Jens Holm, a member of the Swedish Parliament, called on investigation into "who exactly was monitored, when and how."

"This is extremely outrageous," Holms told local media, adding that the situation elicits memories of the Cold War.

The governments of Norway and Sweden are pressing the Danish government and demanding immediate answers about the alleged NSA espionage through Danish cables.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said Norway had asked Denmark "for all the information they have."

"It's unacceptable if countries which have close allied cooperation feel the need to spy on one another," Solberg told public broadcaster NRK.

Norway's Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen also told broadcaster NRK that the country takes the allegations seriously.

Swedish Minister of Defense Peter Hultqvist said on state broadcaster SVT on Sunday that he "asked to be fully informed about matters concerning Swedish citizens, companies and interests."

"And then we have to see how the answer sounds from a political side in Denmark," Hultqvist said, adding that he had been "in contact with Denmark's defense minister to ask if Danish platforms have been used to spy on Swedish politicians."

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)

U.S. disseminates political, information, moral virus with conspiracy theory on coronavirus origin
(Xinhua) 16:52, June 01, 2021

BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government has recently joined forces with some unscrupulous media outlets to hype up the so-called "laboratory leak" conspiracy theory on the origin of COVID-19 during the virtual World Health Assembly, which has drawn concern and criticism from the international community.

For political purposes, the U.S. side continues to cross the moral bottom line, maliciously concocting conspiracy theories and spreading misinformation, which has fueled an anti-science trend, exacerbated racial discrimination, and undermined the global fight against the pandemic.

The United States has indeed become the creator and disseminator of a political, information and moral virus.

POLITICAL VIRUS

U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement on Wednesday that he has called for a U.S.-based probe into the origin of COVID-19, and given U.S. intelligence agencies 90 days to report on whether the virus originated from an animal source or from a laboratory accident.

Meanwhile, U.S. media outlets such as The Wall Street Journal have once again hyped up the lab leak conspiracy theory on the origin of the virus.

However, according to a report on the global tracing of the virus origin released by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 30, the introduction of COVID-19 through a laboratory incident was considered to be an "extremely unlikely" pathway.

Washington is using virus origin-tracing to create chaos in order to serve its own political purposes. It is trying to politicize the scientific agenda based on the presumption of guilt.

Experts have pointed out that origin-tracing is a scientific issue which should be carried out jointly by scientists across the world. Most countries have reached a consensus that this issue should not be politicized.

Recently, the WHO has reiterated its call for a "de-politicized environment" for studying the origin of the COVID-19 virus. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, called on "everyone out there to separate, if they can, the politics of this issue from the science."

"If you expect scientists to do their work, if you expect scientists to collaborate and actually get the answers that you want, actually seek in a non-blaming environment to find the origin of the virus, so we may all learn how to prevent this happening in the future, we would ask that this be done in a de-politicized environment where science and health are the objective of this and not (put the) blame on politics," he said.

Jeremy Farrar, director of charitable foundation Wellcome Trust, and a renowned medical researcher, has said that there is no place for "unsubstantiated rumor, or conspiracy theories often fueled for political purposes" when it comes to COVID-19 origin-tracing.

"The origins of SARS-CoV-2 are not yet certain -- it is possible the origin will never be fully established -- but nature is a powerful force and, in my view, the most likely scenario is that the virus crossed from animals to humans. The best scientific evidence available to date points to this," said Farrar in a statement provided to Xinhua.

INFORMATION VIRUS

Since the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, some U.S. politicians have ganged up with media outlets to construct narratives by cutting out facts and fabricating lies, in an attempt to misguide and control international public opinion.

A report published on Feb. 12 by The New York Times deliberately distorted and garbled the remarks by members of a WHO expert team sent to China on a COVID-19 origin-tracing mission.

In response, British zoologist Peter Daszak, a member of the WHO team misquoted by the U.S. media, clarified immediately via Twitter that "this was NOT my experience on the WHO mission."

"As lead of animal/environment working group I found trust & openness with my China counterparts. We DID get access to critical new data throughout. We DID increase our understanding of likely spillover pathways," Daszak wrote.

A so-called timeline by The Washington Post published on May 25, which tried to fan the lab leak conspiracy theory, was also strongly refuted by experts.

Kari Debbink, assistant professor at the Department of Natural Science of Bowie State University in the United States, tweeted that the timeline is "trash."

"This piece presents facts from a highly biased perspective meant to mislead people into thinking a lab leak is extremely likely," she wrote.

Ryan, the WHO senior official, said it's "quite disturbing" to see over the past few days "more and more and more discourse in the media with terribly little actual news or evidence or new material" concerning the possible origin of COVID-19.

Such media outlets as Fox News and The Washington Post have "fished" the story on the lab leak conspiracy theory "out of the right-wing's political wet market and polished it off for public consumption," said a report by U.S. independent news website Grayzone in late April last year. "Though neither outlet published a single piece of concrete evidence to support their claims."

Experts have pointed out that it is neither professional nor scientific for the United States to apply intelligence to the origin-tracing of COVID-19.

"The U.S. intelligence forces were asked to show if they had any information that might be helpful. They haven't done that as yet," Dominic Dwyer, a member of the WHO team sent to China and a professor at the University of Sydney, said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Friday.

"The fact that President Biden says he's getting conflicting reports from his intelligence agencies, to me, suggests there is no clear evidence, otherwise it would be obvious what was going on," he said.

MORAL VIRUS

Analysts said politicizing COVID-19 origin-tracing is an unethical and unpopular move that will only encourage discrimination and hatred against Asians, hinder fact- and science-based international cooperation on origin-tracing, and erode global anti-pandemic efforts.

To draw public attention to the problem, a group of 27 prominent public health scientists from outside China issued in February 2020 a co-signed statement in British medical journal The Lancet and warned that "the rapid, open, and transparent sharing of data on this outbreak is now being threatened by rumors and misinformation around its origins."

"We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin," said the scientists.

Sadly, the warning has been neglected in the United States. Whenever scientists speak out against conspiracy theories, they will be attacked by right-wing U.S. politicians and media practitioners. According to research by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, anti-Asian hate crimes rose by 149 percent in 2020 in 16 U.S. cities.

Citing some scientists, an article published Thursday in British scientific journal Nature said "the rhetoric around an alleged lab leak has grown so toxic that it's fuelling online bullying of scientists and anti-Asian harassment in the United States, as well as offending researchers and authorities in China whose cooperation is needed."

Hume Field, a science and policy advisor for China and Southeast Asia of EcoHealth Alliance in New York, told Xinhua on Friday that politicizing science just generates "doubt" and "mistrust" between Chinese and Western scientists, and fundamentally undermines joint global efforts needed to prevail against the virus and the pandemic.

(Web editor: Shi Xi, Liang Jun)

Commentary: Discredited American reporter plays disinformation game again
(Xinhua) 16:04, June 01, 2021

NEW YORK, June 1 (Xinhua) -- After being ridiculed and debunked for about a whole year, the "lab-leak conspiracy" concerning COVID-19's origin suddenly gained traction over the past week, with all U.S. media reports citing a story by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that quoted dubious sources.

It was not the first time that the U.S. mainstream media had willingly played a role in the U.S. war of disinformation. By readily following the White House's old playbook of manipulating media reports to sell its wicked agenda, some U.S. reporters and their employers are endangering not only their careers, but global efforts to fight an unprecedented global health crisis.

By quoting a so-called "previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report," the WSJ story hinted a far-fetched connection between the "sick staff" of a Wuhan lab and the COVID-19 outbreak.

Yet the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which had not been exposed to the virus before Dec. 30, 2019, has not registered any infection among its staff and graduate students.

What is more, when the name of Michael R. Gordon appeared as the first writer of the WSJ story, people should have second thoughts before believing the theory proposed in the story.

Gordon was a correspondent for The New York Times (NYT) before joining WSJ in late 2017. His credibility as a reporter was tarnished on multiple occasions for inaccurate coverage and relying on anonymous sources.

For example, on Sept. 8, 2002, Gordon and Judith Miller published a report titled "U.S. Says Hussein Intensifies Quest for A-Bomb Parts," which played a key role in raising public support for the unjustified Iraq War. The only sources for his story were either "anonymous American officials" or "Intelligence experts."

Gordon, on his own, or with Miller, wrote some of the key, and badly misleading or downright inaccurate, articles about the fabricated Iraqi possession of weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the 2003 invasion, including the infamous "aluminum tubes" story.

SourceWatch, run by the Center for Media and Democracy, said that in late 2006, Gordon also wrote a series of reports touting an escalation in Iraq, while "there were of course plenty of Iraqis and some Americans Gordon could also have found, eager to say the exact opposite."

Gordon's WSJ story on the COVID-19 origin is strongly reminiscent of the botched U.S. war of disinformation ahead of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. First, Gordon obtained so-called "information" from "a previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report," and recounted it with amplification. Other media followed up, widely citing the Gordon story to hype up the topic. A few days later, the White House called for an intelligence report on the origins of COVID-19 within 90 days.

As U.S. reporters Amy Goodman and David Goodman said in 2004, this was the "classic disinformation two-step," in which the White House first leaks a lie to a U.S. media outlet, and the latter publishes it as a startling expose; then, the White House conveniently masquerades behind the credibility of the media.

Tracing the origin of COVID-19 should be both scientific and professional, and there should be no room for either political manipulation or media fabrication. Otherwise, global efforts to fight the virus and save lives would be seriously hampered.

By engaging in troubling coverage on the origin of COVID-19, Gordon has made himself an accomplice in the botched U.S. war of disinformation. His credibility as a reporter is tainted every time when his tricks are exposed, and this is just another instance of this.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)

UPDATED

Naomi Osaka withdraws from French Open amid feud over press conferences

Naomi Osaka competes at the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on March 29. File photo by Gary I Rothstein/UPI | License Photo

May 31 (UPI) -- Japanese women's tennis star Naomi Osaka pulled out of the French Open Monday amid a controversy over her reluctance to attend press conferences due to her stated mental health concerns.

The second-seeded Osaka, who was scheduled to face Ana Bogdan following Sunday's first-round victory over Patricia Maria Tig, said in a statement posted to her Twitter account that it was "the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being" to withdraw.

Speaking of her decision last week to skip mandatory skip press conferences during Roland Garros because of what she called the media's disregard of athletes' "mental health," the Osaka wrote she recognized her move has taken the focus off the tennis being played in Paris.

"I never wanted to be a distraction and I accept that my timing was not ideal and my message could have been clearer," she stated. "More importantly I would never trivialize mental health or use the term lightly."

RELATED Tennis star Naomi Osaka fined $15K for not speaking to French Open media

In her original statement issued Wednesday, the 23-year-old star said she would not be conducting any press interviews during the tournament.

"We're often sat there and asked questions that we've been asked multiple times before or asked questions that bring doubt into our minds and I'm just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me," she wrote.

Osaka said she expected to be fined for her actions, and after skipping the press conference following Sunday's win over Tig, the four Grand Slam tournaments indeed announced she would face a $15,000 penalty.

RELATED Reflective Naomi Osaka thrives on perspective for tennis hot streak

On Monday, Osaka stated her reluctance to engage in press interviews stems from acute social anxiety and is not meant personally.

The four-time Grand Slam tourney winner wrote she has suffered from "long bouts of depression" since the 2018 US Open final, when she defeated Serena Williams in a controversial match during which her opponent received a game penalty.

"Anyone that knows me knows I'm introverted, and anyone that has seen me at the tournaments will notice that I'm often wearing headphones as that helps dull my social anxiety," Osaka wrote.

RELATED Australian Open: Naomi Osaka wins fourth Grand Slam

She apologized to some journalists and wrote of experiencing "huge waves of anxiety" before speaking with the media.

"So here in Paris I was already feeling vulnerable and anxious so I thought it was better to exercise self‑care and skip the press conferences," she stated. "I announced it preemptively because I do feel like the rules are quite outdated in parts and I wanted to highlight that.

"I wrote privately to the tournament apologizing and saying that I would be more than happy to speak with them after the tournament as the slams are intense."

upi.com/7101142

Naomi Osaka Receives Support From Steph Curry, AOC After Withdrawing From French Open Over Mental Health Concerns

By Katherine HugginsMay 31st, 2021,

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Tennis champion Naomi Osaka received support from prominent athletes and politicians following her withdrawal from the French Open due to mental health concerns.

Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam winner, announced her departure from the tournament on Monday, noting that she will also be taking “some time away from the court.”

She explained that the required press interviews stressed her, and that she gets “huge waves of anxiety” before speaking “to the world’s media.” Osaka announced last Wednesday that she would not be doing press at the French Open, because she believes it to be harmful to athletes’ mental health.

On Sunday, she was fined $15,000 over her refusal to speak to the media, which the French Open said was a breach of contract.

Several athletes expressed support for Osaka’s decision to prioritize her mental health.

Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry wrote on Twitter that he had “major respect” for her announcement.

“You shouldn’t ever have to make a decison like this-but so damn impressive taking the high road when the powers that be dont protect their own,” Curry said.

Memphis Grizzlies’ Ja Morant chimed in as well, writing “we with you” to Osaka.

Osaka received support from NFL players as well, with Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson similarly writing “We are with you… #Courage.”

“I support you Naomi,” wrote Tyler Lockett, a wide receiver for the Seahawks.

“As human beings we have to do better at supporting each other,” Lockett said. “Mental health is real. And to fine a person for trying to protect their peace is not giving somebody a safe place to be a persons best self.”

Politicians also offered words of support to Osaka on Monday.

“Proud of you,” wrote Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro (D) tweeted that Osaka could “spark needed changes” in post-game press conferences and commended her for “revealing as she has been about her mental health.”

“A post-game press conference is often qualitatively different from other press events,” Castro wrote. “The questions center a lot on the athlete’s psychology. Politicians or others don’t often get probed like that. So Osaka’s connection between this experience and her mental health rings true.”

He later added, “I hope it will inspire sports organizations and the sports journalism industry to show maturity as well—make positive changes. It’s past time.”

In response to Osaka’s withdrawal, the French Open released a statement Monday saying they “wish her the best and quickest possible recovery.” They added that they “remain very committed to all athletes’ well-being and to continually improving every aspect of players’ experience in our Tournament, including with the Media, like we have always strived to do.”

Serena Williams Speaks Out with Support for Naomi Osaka After Her Withdrawal from French Open

TUE, 01 JUNE 2021 

Serena Williams has sent a message of support for Naomi Osaka after the young tennis star decided to withdraw from the 2021 French Open.

Naomi previously announced that she wouldn’t be doing press at the tournament and would accept any fines that were imposed on her. She said the press conferences were affecting her mental health as they gave her anxiety during an already stressful time. Eventually, Naomi decided to withdraw from the tournament completely after she was threatened with expulsion.

While doing her own press conference after a win in round one on Monday (May 31), Serena commented on the news.

“Honestly I just found out before I walked into the press conference, so that’s the extent of it right now for me,” Serena told reporters.

Serena was asked about Naomi‘s comments about the press conferences affecting her mental health.

“The only thing I feel is that I feel for Naomi. I feel like I wish I could give her a hug because I know what it’s like. Like I said, I’ve been in those positions. We have different personalities, and people are different. Not everyone is the same. I’m thick [skinned]. Other people are thin. Everyone is different and everyone handles things differently,” Serena said. “You just have to let her handle it the way she wants to, in the best way she thinks she can, and that`s the only thing I can say. I think she`s doing the best that she can.”

“You have to be able to make an effort and say, I need help with A, B, C, and D, and talk to someone,” she continued. “Whether it`s someone at the WTA or whether it’s someone in your life. Maybe it’s someone that you just talk to on a weekly basis. I’ve been in that position, too. I’ve definitely had opportunities to talk to people, kind of get things off my chest that I can`t necessarily talk to anyone in my family or anyone that I know.”


Support for Naomi Osaka after her withdrawal from French Open in row about post-match media duties

Japan's Naomi Osaka celebrates after defeating Romania's Patricia Maria Tig during their first round match of the French open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium Sunday, May 30, 2021 in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)


Nick Mulvenney
June 01 2021 

Leading figures in tennis and sport have rallied to support Naomi Osaka after the women's world number two withdrew from the French Open in a row about post-match media duties, saying she had been suffering from "depression" and "anxiety".

One of the biggest names in sport, Osaka stunned the tennis world when she pulled out of the Grand Slam after being fined and threatened with expulsion for refusing to show up at an obligatory news conference on Sunday.

The four-times Grand Slam champion had signalled her intentions to skip her media duties to protect her mental well-being on social media and returned to Twitter on Monday to announce her withdrawal.

"I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone can go back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris," she wrote.


ARCHIVE: Naomi Osaka says quarantine gave her a 'chance to slow down'.

While her original stance had earned little backing from her fellow professionals, most of whom saying that dealing with the media was part of the job, her withdrawal triggered a wave of support from around the sporting world.

"So proud of you," multiple Grand Slam winner Venus Williams posted on Twitter. "Take care of yourself and see you back winning soon!"

Williams's sister Serena and younger American players Coco Gauff and Sloane Stephens also chimed in with messages of support as the focus shifted from Osaka's responsibilities to her wellbeing.

Billie Jean King echoed comments from fellow women's tennis trailblazer Martina Navratilova about the importance of mental health.

"It's incredibly brave that Naomi Osaka has revealed her truth about her struggle with depression," King wrote on social media.

"Right now, the important thing is that we give her the space and time she needs. We wish her well."

There were also messages of support posted on social media from athletes in other sports, with golf's Michelle Wie, NFL players Russell Wilson and Tyler Lockett as well as multiple Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt offering their backing.

"You shouldn't ever have to make a decision like this -- but so damn impressive taking the high road when the powers that be don't protect their own. Major respect," wrote NBA All Star Steph Curry.

There was some criticism of Roland Garros organisers for their handling of the matter.

French Tennis Federation President Gilles Moretton read a prepared statement on Monday offering Osaka their support but the irony of him not taking questions, given the context of the row, was not lost on some.

"So the FFT handled the Ms Osaka mental health concerns without empathy or sensitivity. Then the FFT President refuses to take questions at a presser. An own goal," wrote former Australian tennis official Richard Ings.

Japan's Osaka, who according to sports business website Sportico earned $55.2 million over the past 12 months, is expected to be one of the biggest attractions at the Tokyo Olympics in July and August.

The 23-year-old concluded her statement by saying she would be taking some time away from tennis and organisers of that already troubled event will be desperately hoping she will be back on court long before the Games get underway

Israeli Court Extends Detention of 2 Journalists
MAY 31, 2021

An Israeli court on Friday extended the detention of two Palestinian journalists detained by police in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem.

The lawyer representing the Palestinian journalists, Jad Qadmani, said the Israeli magistrate court in West Jerusalem extended the detention of Al-Qafiyah television reporter Ziynet al-Halawani and cameraman Wahbi Mekkiye at the request of the prosecutor’s office.

He told Anadolu News Agency that Israeli police brutally attacked the journalists and footage of the attack was presented to the court. “However, the court decided to extend the detention period of the two journalists for a few more days,” he said.

The journalists were detained while on duty late Thursday.

Mekkiye was beaten and sustained injuries while police tried to detain him.

Makkiye and Halawani spent the night in a detention center.

Israeli Assault on Journalist Caught on Video

 MAY 10, 2021

Another Anadolu Agency correspondent in Jerusalem, Esat Firat, was injured Monday after being attacked by the Israeli police at Al-Aqsa Mosque complex.

While covering the events on the complex, a stun grenade thrown by the Israeli police hit Firat, causing bleeding in the right side of his abdomen.

Medical units intervened to treat his injury.

Firat was the third Anadolu Agency journalist attacked by the Israeli police. Earlier, two photographers were targeted while they were covering the Israeli forces’ attacks on worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Earlier on Monday, Fayez Abu Rumaila, an Anadolu Agency photojournalist in occupied East Jerusalem, said he was brutally attacked by Israeli occupation forces while covering clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex.

Abu Rumaila said he was doing his job at Al-Aqsa Mosque in the morning before heading to a field clinic to photograph Palestinians injured during the clashes.

“Israeli police forces stormed the clinic and attacked us brutally,” he said, noting that he had bruises all over his body.

Israeli forces “put me in a corner and assaulted me with rifle butts, batons, hands and legs … and threw me under their feet on the ground,” the photojournalist recalled.

 

Abu Rumaila continued: “The soldiers kept assaulting me until an officer came and took me from their hands … I told them that I am a journalist, but they kept beating me everywhere.”

For his part, Mustafa Kharouf, another Anadolu Agency photojournalist, said he was hit by a rubber bullet in the chest while he was providing aid to an injured medic.

Kharouf said Israeli forces pushed them outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, adding that when he left Jerusalem’s Old City and headed towards his vehicle near the wall of Al-Rahma Cemetery, he found a medic injured by a stun grenade shrapnel.

“The injured paramedic was lying next to his car, so I tried to fulfill the humanitarian call and provided aid to him,” Kharouf said.

“I began calling for paramedics near him to rescue their wounded colleague until a soldier shot me with a rubber bullet in my chest,” he said.

Anadolu Agency has issued a statement calling on Israel to respect human rights and internationally-recognized protections on journalists.

Anadolu Agency Director General Serdar Karagoz on Twitter criticized the Israeli police’s mistreatment of the agency staff.

“Our cameraman Fayez Abu Rumaila was attacked by Israeli police while he was recording the injustices taking place in Jerusalem,” Karagoz said.

“I urge Israeli officials to act with respect for human rights, the law, and journalism,” he stressed.

On Monday morning, the Israeli police forces stormed the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and attacked Palestinian worshippers inside the compound.

More than 305 Palestinians were injured in the attacks, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Hundreds of Palestinians had gathered inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound at dawn to prevent Israeli settlers from storming the holy site.

Extremist Jews have called for storming Al-Aqsa Mosque to celebrate the anniversary of the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel occupied East Jerusalem, as “Jerusalem Day” according to the Hebrew calendar.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the world’s third-holiest site for Muslims. Jews call the area the “Temple Mount,” claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Israeli invasion of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It annexed the entire city in 1980, in a move never recognized by the international community.