Frontline healthcare workers more likely to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 despite PPEby King's College London

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A new study published today in Lancet Public Health has found that front-line healthcare workers with adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) have a three-fold increased risk of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test, compared to the general population. Those with inadequate PPE had a further increase in risk. The study also found that healthcare workers from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds were more likely to test positive.

Using the COVID Symptom Tracker App, researchers from King's College London and Harvard looked at data from 2,035,395 individuals and 99,795 front-line health-care workers in the UK and US. The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 was 2747 cases per 100,000 front-line health-care workers compared with 242 cases per 100,000 people in the general community. A little over 20 percent of front-line health-care workers reported at least one symptom associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection compared with 14·4 percent of the general population; fatigue, loss of smell or taste, and hoarse voice were especially frequent.

BAME health-care workers were at an especially high risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, with at least a fivefold increased risk of infection compared with the non-Hispanic white general community.

Professor Sebastien Ourselin, senior author from King's College London said: "The findings of our study have tremendous impact for healthcare workers and hospitals. The data is clear in revealing that there is still an elevated risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection despite availability of PPE.

"In particular we note that that the BAME community experience elevated risk of infection and in some cases lack access to adequate PPE, or frequently reuse equipment."

Researchers say their study not only shows the importance of adequate availability and use of PPE, but also the crucial need for additional strategies to protect healthcare workers, such as ensuring correct application and removal of PPE and avoiding reuse which was associated with increased risk. 

Differences were also noted in PPE adequacy according to race and ethnicity, with non- Hispanic white health-care workers more frequently reporting reuse of or inadequate access to PPE, even after adjusting for exposure to patients with COVID-19.

Joint first author Dr. Mark Graham from King's College London said: "The work is important in the context of the widely reported higher death rates amongst healthcare workers from BAME backgrounds. Hopefully a better understanding of the factors contributing to these disparities will inform efforts to better protect workers."

Dr. Claire Steves, lead clinical researcher from King's College London said: "I'm very pleased we have now introduced masks and social distancing where possible for all interactions in hospitals—to protect ourselves and the population we serve. We need to ensure this is reinforced and sustained throughout the health service—including in health care settings outside hospitals, for example in care homes.

"Additional protective strategies are equally as important, such as implementing social distancing among healthcare staff. Stricter protocols for socialising among healthcare staff also need to be considered."


Explore further COVID risk calculator aims to help keep BAME healthcare workers safer

Journal information: The Lancet Public Health

Provided by King's College London

High COVID-19 risk among health care workers, especially those from minority backgrounds
by Massachusetts General Hospital

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

New research indicates that at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. and the U.K., frontline healthcare workers—particularly those from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic backgrounds—faced much higher risks of testing positive for COVID-19 than individuals in the general community. The study, which was conducted by a team led by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), is published in The Lancet Public Health.


Among 2,035,395 individuals in the community and 99,795 frontline healthcare workers who voluntarily used the COVID Symptom Study smartphone app developed by Zoe Global Ltd with scientific input from MGH and Kings College London, 5,545 new reports of a positive COVID-19 test were documented between March 24 and April 23, 2020.

Frontline healthcare workers had at least a threefold increased risk of COVID-19, after accounting for differences in testing frequency between frontline healthcare workers and the general community. Black, Asian, and minority ethnic healthcare workers appeared to be disproportionately affected, with a nearly twofold higher risk compared with white healthcare workers.

Also, frontline healthcare workers who reported inadequate availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, gloves, and gowns, had an especially elevated risk; however, adequate availability of PPE did not seem to completely reduce risk among healthcare workers caring for patients with COVID-19.

"Although it is clear that healthcare workers on the front line of the fight against COVID-19 have an increased risk of infection, our country continues to face vexing shortages of PPE," said senior author Andrew T. Chan, MD, Ph.D., chief of the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit at MGH and director of Cancer Epidemiology at the MGH Cancer Center. "Our results underscore the importance of providing adequate access to PPE and also suggest that systemic racism associated with inequalities to access to PPE likely contribute to the disproportionate risk of infection among minority frontline healthcare workers."

Dr. Chan hopes the study's findings bring greater awareness to the importance of ensuring an equitable supply chain of PPE and of developing additional strategies to protect all frontline healthcare workers. "This study demonstrates how the two major crises that the U.S. faces— the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic racism—are inextricably linked and need immediate attention," he added.


More information: Long H Nguyen et al, Risk of COVID-19 among front-line health-care workers and the general community: a prospective cohort study, The Lancet Public Health (2020). DOI: 10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30164-X

Journal information: The Lancet Public Health

Provided by Massachusetts General Hospital 

Google searches during pandemic hint at future increase in suicide

by Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

U.S. Google searches for information about financial difficulties and disaster relief increased sharply in March and April compared to pre-pandemic times, while googling related to suicide decreased, researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center have found.

Because previous research has shown that financial distress is strongly linked to suicide mortality, the researchers fear that the increase may predict a future increase in deaths from suicide.

The findings were published online in PLOS One.

"The scale of the increase in Google searches related to financial distress and disaster relief during the early months of the pandemic was remarkable, so this finding is concerning," says Madelyn Gould, Ph.D., MPH, Irving Philips Professor of Epidemiology in Psychiatry at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and senior author of the study.
Pandemics and suicide

Researchers in the United States and elsewhere have begun studying the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, but the impact on suicidal behavior and deaths is difficult to assess due to lag time in the availability of mortality data.

Previous studies suggest that suicide rates often decrease in the immediate aftermath of national disasters, such as 9/11, but may increase several months later, as seen after the 1918 flu pandemic and the 2003 SARS outbreak in Hong Kong.

Studies in the U.S. and internationally have linked Google search behavior with suicidal behavior, so in the current study, the researchers evaluated online searches about suicide and suicide risk factors during the early part of the pandemic and potential long-term impact on suicide.

The researchers used an algorithm to analyze Google trends data from March 3, 2019, to April 18, 2020, and identify proportional changes over time in searches for 18 terms related to suicide and known suicide risk factors.

"We didn't have a clear hypothesis about whether there would be an increase in suicide-related queries during this period of time, but we anticipated a national sense of community during the pandemic that might mitigate suicidal behavior in the short term," says Emily Halford, MPH, data analyst and the study's first author.

Unemployment, panic attacks, and loneliness may predict future suicide

The researchers found dramatic relative increases (in the thousands of percentages, in some cases) in Googling search terms related to financial distress—e.g., "I lost my job," "unemployment," and "furlough"—and for the national Disaster Distress Helpline.

The proportion of queries related to depression was slightly higher than the pre-pandemic period, and moderately higher for panic attack.

"It seems as though individuals are grappling with the immediate stresses of job loss and isolation and are reaching out to crisis services for help, but the impact on suicidal behavior hasn't yet manifested," says Gould. "Generally, depression can take longer to develop, whereas panic attacks may be a more immediate reaction to job loss and having to deal with emotionally charged events amidst the social isolation of the pandemic."

Searches for terms related to loneliness were also meaningfully higher during the early pandemic period versus the prior year.

Gould adds that social distancing is one of the primary measures implemented to slow the spread of the coronavirus, "but this approach may have detrimental secondary effects, such as loneliness and exacerbation of preexisting mental illnesses, which are known suicide risk factors."

Meeting the anticipated need for crisis services

The researchers say that in light of an anticipated increase in suicidal crises, it will be important to ensure continued availability and accessibility of crisis services and other mental health services during the later stages of the pandemic.

"The current findings give us insight into how people have been dealing with the immediate emotional and financial effects of the pandemic," says Gould. "Encouragingly, individuals who Google terms related to suicide are directed to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. We are hoping that accessing this crisis service may ameliorate suicide risk among the individuals who have Googled suicide-related terms."

More Information

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 24/7 for free, confidential support by calling 1-800-273-8255 (1-800-273-TALK) and through online chats.

The paper is titled, "Google searches for suicide and suicide risk factors in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic," and was published online in PLOS One on July 24, 2020.


Explore further COVID-19 impact on suicide

More information: Emily A. Halford et al, Google searches for suicide and suicide risk factors in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, 

PLOS ONE (2020). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236777

Journal information: PLoS ONE


Provided by Columbia University Irving Medical Center

New printing process advances 3-D capabilities
by University of Massachusetts Lowell

This tensile object was created using 3D injection printing, a new technology invented by UMass Lowell Plastics Engineering Prof. David Kazmer. Credit: David Kazmer

More durable prosthetics and medical devices for patients and stronger parts for airplanes and automobiles are just some of the products that could be created through a new 3-D printing technology invented by a UMass Lowell researcher.


Substances such as plastics, metals and wax are used in 3-D printers to make products and parts for larger items, as the practice has disrupted the prototyping and manufacturing fields. Products created through the 3-D printing of plastics include everything from toys to drones. While the global market for 3-D plastics printers is estimated at $4 billion and growing, challenges remain in ensuring the printers create objects that are produced quickly, retain their strength and accurately reflect the shape desired, according to UMass Lowell's David Kazmer, a plastics engineering professor who led the research project.

Called injection printing, the technology Kazmer pioneered is featured in the academic journal Additive Manufacturing posted online last week.

The invention combines elements of 3-D printing and injection molding, a technique through which objects are created by filling mold cavities with molten materials. The marriage of the two processes increases the production rate of 3-D printing, while enhancing the strength and properties of the resulting products. The innovation typically produces objects about three times faster than conventional 3-D printing, which means jobs that once took about nine hours now only take three, according to Kazmer, who lives in Georgetown.

"The invention greatly improves the quality of the parts produced, making them fully dense with few cracks or voids, so they are much stronger. For technical applications, this is game-changing. The new process is also cost-effective because it can be used in existing 3-D printers, with only new software to program the machine needed," Kazmer said.
The process took about 18 months to develop. Austin Colon of Plymouth, a UMass Lowell Ph.D. candidate in plastics engineering, helped validate the technology alongside Kazmer, who teaches courses in product design, prototyping and process control, among other topics. He has filed for a patent on the new technology.


Explore furtherResearchers invent technology to remedy 3-D printing's 'weak spot'

More information: David O. Kazmer et al, Injection printing: additive molding via shell material extrusion and filling, Additive Manufacturing (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.addma.2020.101469

Satellite survey shows California's sinking coastal hotspots
by Arizona State University  JULY 31, 2020

Coastal elevation in California. Coastal zones, which are defined to be those with elevations less than 10 m, are shown in red. Segments of the coast with elevations higher than 10 m are colored by a yellow gradient. Credit: USGS NED.

A majority of the world population lives on low lying lands near the sea, some of which are predicted to submerge by the end of the 21st century due to rising sea levels.


The most relevant quantity for assessing the impacts of sea-level change on these communities is the relative sea-level rise—the elevation change between the Earth's surface height and sea surface height. For an observer standing on the coastland, relative sea-level rise is the net change in the sea level, which also includes the rise and fall of the land beneath observer's feet.

Now, using precise measurements from state-of-the-art satellite-based interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) that can detect the land surface rise and fall with millimeter accuracy, an Arizona State University research team has, for the first time, tracked the entire California coast's vertical land motion.

They've identified local hotspots of the sinking coast, in the cities of San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz and San Francisco, with a combined population of 4 to 8 million people exposed to rapid land subsidence, who will be at a higher flooding risk during the decades ahead of projected sea-level rise.

"We have ushered in a new era of coastal mapping at greater than 1,000 fold higher detail and resolution than ever before," said Manoochehr Shirzaei, who is the principal investigator of the NASA-funded project. "The unprecedented detail and submillimeter accuracy resolved in our vertical land motion dataset can transform the understanding of natural and anthropogenic changes in relative sea-level and associated hazards."

The results were published in this week's issue of Science Advances.

The research team included graduate student and lead author Em Blackwell, and faculty Manoochehr Shirzaei, Chandrakanta Ojha and Susanna Werth, all from the ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration (Werth has a dual appointment in the School of Geography and Urban Planning).

Em Blackwell had a keen interest in geology, and as Blackwell began graduate school, the applications of InSAR drew them to pursue this project. InSAR uses radar to measure the change in distance between the satellite and ground surface, producing highly accurate deformation maps of the Earth's surface at 10s m resolution over 100s km spatial extent.

Land subsidence can occur due to natural and anthropogenic processes or a combination of them. The natural processes comprise tectonics, glacial isostatic adjustment, sediment loading, and soil compaction. The anthropogenic causes include groundwater extraction and oil and gas production.


As of 2005, approximately 40 million people were exposed to a 1 in 100-year coastal flooding hazard, and by 2070 this number will grow more than threefold. The value of property exposed to flooding will increase to about 9% of the projected global Gross Domestic Product, with the U.S., Japan, and the Netherlands being the countries with the most exposure. These exposure estimates often rely only on projections of global average sea level rise and do not account for vertical land motion.

The study measured the entire 1350-kilometer long coast of California from 2007-2018, compiling 1000s of satellite images over time, used for making a vertical land motion map with 35-million-pixel at ~80 m resolution, comprising a wide range of coastal uplift and subsidence rates. Coastal communities' policymakers and the general public can freely download the data (link in supplemental data).

The four metropolitan areas majorly affected in these areas included San Francisco, Monterey Bay, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

"The vast majority of the San Francisco Bay perimeter is undergoing subsidence with rates reaching 5.9 mm/year," said Blackwell. "Notably, the San Francisco International Airport is subsiding with rates faster than 2.0 mm/year. The Monterey Bay Area, including the city of Santa Cruz, is rapidly sinking without any zones of uplift. Rates of subsidence for this area reach 8.7 mm/year. The Los Angeles area shows subsidence along small coastal zones, but most of the subsidence is occurring inland."

Areas of land uplift included north of the San Francisco Bay Area (3 to 5 mm/year) and Central California (same rate).

Going forward in the decades ahead, the coastal population is expected to grow to over 1 billion people by 2050, due to coastward migration. The future flood risk that these communities will face is mainly controlled by the rate of relative sea-level rise, namely, the combination of sea-level rise and vertical land motion. It is vital to include land subsidence into regional projections that are used to identify areas of potential flooding for the urbanized coast.

Beyond the study, the ASU research team is hopeful that others in the scientific community can build on their results to measure and identify coastal hazards more broadly in the U.S. and around the world.


Explore further Study says seas may be rising faster than thought

More information: "Tracking California's sinking coast from space: Implications for relative sea-level rise" Science Advances (2020). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba4551

Journal information: Science Advances

Provided by Arizona State University

Texas cave sediment upends meteorite explanation for global cooling

by Baylor University JULY 31,2020

Archaeologic excavations at Hall's Cave exposed sediments for geochemical analysis that span from circa 20,000 to 6,000 years. Credit: Michael Waters, Texas A&M University

Texas researchers from the University of Houston, Baylor University and Texas A&M University have discovered evidence for why the earth cooled dramatically 13,000 years ago, dropping temperatures by about 3 degrees Centigrade.

The evidence is buried in a Central Texas cave, where horizons of sediment have preserved unique geochemical signatures from ancient volcanic eruptions—signatures previously mistaken for extraterrestrial impacts, researchers say.

The resolution to this case of mistaken identity recently was reported in the journal Science Advances.

"This work shows that the geochemical signature associated with the cooling event is not unique but occurred four times between 9,000 and 15,000 years ago," said Alan Brandon, Ph.D., professor of geosciences at University of Houston. "Thus, the trigger for this cooling event didn't come from space. Prior geochemical evidence for a large meteor exploding in the atmosphere instead reflects a period of major volcanic eruptions."

After a volcano erupts, the global spread of aerosols reflects incoming solar radiation away from Earth and may lead to global cooling post eruption for one to five years, depending on the size and timescales of the eruption.

The study indicates that the episode of cooling, scientifically known as the Younger Dryas, was caused by numerous coincident Earth-based processes, not an extraterrestrial impact.

"The Younger Dryas, which occurred about 13,000 years ago, disrupted distinct warming at the end of the last ice age," said co-author Steven Forman, Ph.D., professor of geosciences at Baylor University.

The Earth's climate may have been at a tipping point at the Younger Dryas, possibly from the ice sheet discharge into the North Atlantic Ocean, enhanced snow cover and powerful volcanic eruptions that may have in combination led to intense Northern Hemisphere cooling, Forman said.
"This period of rapid cooling is associated with the extinction of a number of species, including mammoths and mastodons, and coincides with the appearance of early human occupants of the Clovis tradition," said co-author Michael Waters, Ph.D., director of the Center for the First Americans at Texas A&M University.

University of Houston scientists Brandon and doctoral candidate Nan Sun, lead author, accomplished the isotopic analysis of sediments collected from Hall's Cave in the Texas Hill Country. The analysis focused on difficult measurements at the parts per trillion on osmium and levels of highly siderophile elements, which include rare elements like iridium, ruthenium, platinum, palladium and rhenium. The researchers determined the elements in the Texas sediments were not present in the correct relative proportions to have been added by a meteor or asteroid that impacted Earth.

That meant the cooling could not have been caused by an extraterrestrial impact. It had to have been something happening on Earth. But what?

"The signature from the osmium isotope analysis and the relative proportion of the elements matched that previously reported in volcanic gases," Sun said.

Kenneth Befus, Ph.D., volcanologist at Baylor University, added that "these signatures were likely the result of major eruptions across the Northern Hemisphere, including volcanoes in the Aleutians, Cascades and even Europe."

"I was skeptical. We took every avenue we could to come up with an alternative explanation or even avoid this conclusion," Brandon said. "A volcanic eruption had been considered one possible explanation but was generally dismissed because there was no associated geochemical fingerprint."

A volcanic cause for the Younger Dryas is a new, exciting idea, he said. Whether a single major eruption of a volcano could drive the cooling observed, however, is still an open question, the researchers said.

Volcanic eruptions cause their most severe cooling near the source, usually in the year of the eruption, with substantially less cooling in the years after the eruption. The Younger Dryas cooling lasted about 1,200 years, so a sole volcanic eruptive cause is an important initiating factor, but other Earth system changes, such as cooling of the oceans and more snow cover were needed to sustain this colder period, Forman said.

This research underscores that extreme climate variability since the last ice age is attributed to unique Earth-bound drivers rather than extraterrestrial mechanisms. Such insights are important guidance for building better models of past and future climate change.


Explore further Research reveals how volcanic eruptions affect El Niño

More information: "Volcanic origin for Younger Dryas geochemical anomalies ca. 12,900 cal B.P." Science Advances (2020). advances.sciencemag.org/lookup … .1126/sciadv.aax8587

Journal information: Science Advances

Provided by Baylor University

How human sperm really swim: New research challenges centuries-old assumption

by University of Bristol    JULY 31, 2020

The sperm tail moves very rapidly in 3D, not from side-to-side in 2D as it was believed. Credit: polymaths-lab.com  VIDEO AT THE END 

A breakthrough in fertility science by researchers from Bristol and Mexico has shattered the universally accepted view of how sperm 'swim'.

More than three hundred years after Antonie van Leeuwenhoek used one of the earliest microscopes to describe human sperm as having a "tail, which, when swimming, lashes with a snakelike movement, like eels in water", scientists have revealed this is an optical illusion.
Using state-of-the-art 3-D microscopy and mathematics, Dr. Hermes Gadelha from the University of Bristol, Dr. Gabriel Corkidi and Dr. Alberto Darszon from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, have pioneered the reconstruction of the true movement of the sperm tail in 3-D.

Using a high-speed camera capable of recording over 55,000 frames in one second, and a microscope stage with a piezoelectric device to move the sample up and down at an incredibly high rate, they were able to scan the sperm swimming freely in 3-D.
The ground-breaking study, published in the journal Science Advances, reveals the sperm tail is in fact wonky and only wiggles on one side. While this should mean the sperm's one-sided stroke would have it swimming in circles, sperm have found a clever way to adapt and swim forwards.

"Human sperm figured out if they roll as they swim, much like playful otters corkscrewing through water, their one-sided stoke would average itself out, and they would swim forwards," said Dr. Gadelha, head of the Polymaths Laboratory at Bristol's Department of Engineering Mathematics and an expert in the mathematics of fertility.

"The sperms' rapid and highly synchronized spinning causes an illusion when seen from above with 2-D microscopes—the tail appears to have a side-to-side symmetric movement, "like eels in water", as described by Leeuwenhoek in the 17th century.

"However, our discovery shows sperm have developed a swimming technique to compensate for their lop-sidedness and in doing so have ingeniously solved a mathematical puzzle at a microscopic scale: by creating symmetry out of asymmetry," said Dr. Gadelha.

"The otter-like spinning of human sperm is however complex: the sperm head spins at the same time that the sperm tail rotates around the swimming direction. This is known in physics as precession, much like when the orbits of Earth and Mars precess around the sun."

Computer-assisted semen analysis systems in use today, both in clinics and for research, still use 2-D views to look at sperm movement. Therefore, like Leeuwenhoek's first microscope, they are still prone to this illusion of symmetry while assessing semen quality. This discovery, with its novel use of 3-D microscope technology combined with mathematics, may provide fresh hope for unlocking the secrets of human reproduction.

Sperm tail moves like a precessing spinning top that cancels out the one-sided swimming stroke in an ingenious corkscrew motion: Symmetry is achieved through asymmetry, enabling human sperm to swim forwards. Credit: polymaths-lab.com

"With over half of infertility caused by male factors, understanding the human sperm tail is fundamental to developing future diagnostic tools to identify unhealthy sperm," adds Dr. Gadelha, whose work has previously revealed the biomechanics of sperm bendiness and the precise rhythmic tendencies that characterize how a sperm moves forward.

Dr. Corkidi and Dr. Darszon pioneered the 3-D microscopy for sperm swimming.
"This was an incredible surprise, and we believe our state-of the-art 3-D microscope will unveil many more hidden secrets in nature. One day this technology will become available to clinical centers," said Dr. Corkidi.

"This discovery will revolutionize our understanding of sperm motility and its impact on natural fertilization. So little is known about the intricate environment inside the female reproductive tract and how sperm swimming impinge on fertilization. These new tools open our eyes to the amazing capabilities sperm have," said Dr. Darszon.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/watch-3d-video-reveal-how-sperm-really-swim

Explore further

Doing more with less: Sperm without a fully active tail move faster and more efficiently, new study finds
https://phys.org/news/2020-07-sperm-fully-tail-faster-efficiently.html

More information: "Human sperm uses asymmetric and anisotropic flagellar controls to regulate swimming symmetry and cell steering" Science Advances (2020). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba5168

Journal information: Science Advances 

Provided by University of Bristol

700-km Brazil 'megaflash' sets lightning record: UN

The UN weather agency measures lightning using satellite imagery technology

The UN's weather agency announced Thursday the longest lightning bolt on record—a single flash in Brazil on October 31, 2018 that cut the sky across more than 700 kilometers.

That is equivalent to the distance between Boston and Washington DC in the United States, or between London and Basel, Switzerland, the World Meteorological Organization said in a statement.

WMO's committee of experts on weather and climate extremes also reported a new world record for the duration of a lightning flash, with a single flash that developed continuously over northern Argentina on March 4, 2019 lasting for a full 16.73 seconds.The new "megaflash" records, which were verified with new satellite lightning imagery technology, were more than double the previous known record-holders, WMO said.

The previous record for the longest detected distance for a single lightning flash was 321 kilometers (199 miles), measured on June 20, 2007 in the US state of Oklahoma, WMO said.

The previous duration record was 7.74 seconds, measured on August 30, 2012 in southern France, it said.

'Extraordinary records'

The new measurements reveal "extraordinary records from single lightning flash events," Randall Cerveny, the chief rapporteur in the WMO expert committee, said in the statement.

"It is likely that even greater extremes still exist, and that we will be able to observe them as lightning detection technology improves," he said.

The previous records were assessed using data collected by ground-based so-called lightning mapping array networks, which many lightning scientists acknowledge face upper limits in the scale of lightning that can be observed, WMO said.

It hailed recent advances in space-based lightning mapping that allow for measuring "flash extent and duration continuously over broad geo-spatial domains."

This has allowed for the detection of "previously unobserved extremes in lightning occurrence, known as 'megaflashes'," Michael J. Peterson, of the Space and Remote Sensing Group of Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US, said in the statement.

Megaflashes, he said, "are defined as horizontal mesoscale lightning discharges that reach hundreds of kilometers in length."

The UN agency occasionally reveals quirky weather-related milestones, like in 2016 revealing a record wave measurement of a behemoth that towered 19 metres (62.3 feet)—taller than a six-storey building—above the North Atlantic.

All such records are stored in the WMO Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes.

The archive currently includes two other lightning-related extremes.

One is for the most people killed by a single direct strike of lightning, when 21 people died in Zimbabwe in 1975 as they huddled for safety in a hut that was hit.

The other is for an indirect strike, when 469 people died in Dronka, Egypt when lightning struck a set of oil tanks in 1994, causing burning oil to flood the town.


Explore further France strikes with longest-lasting lightning bolt

Smoke from Navy ship fire in San Diego contained toxic chemicals

THE WAR MACHINE IS TOXIC

Air sampling has revealed that the Navy ship that burned in San Diego Bay early this month blanketed nearby communities with smoke containing toxic chemicals. ... Testing found more than a dozen potentially harmful substances, such as benzene, chloromethane and acetonitrile.

THEY ARE MADE FOR DEATH WITH NO CONCERN FOR LINGERING CHRONIC ILLNESS OF SURVIVORS

Smoke from Navy ship fire in San Diego contained toxic chemicals

A golfer plays on as a fire burns on the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego on July 12.
(Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images )

By JOSHUA EMERSON SMITH
JULY 27, 2020

SAN DIEGO —
Air sampling has revealed that the Navy ship that burned in San Diego Bay early this month blanketed nearby communities with smoke containing toxic chemicals.

As black smoke poured off the amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard, people in portside communities complained of headaches and nausea, and residents as far north as Escondido reported smelling smoke from the blaze.

The findings from the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District contradict earlier statements by the Navy that “there’s nothing toxic in there.” Testing found more than a dozen potentially harmful substances, such as benzene, chloromethane and acetonitrile.

Still, state and local air-quality officials agreed residents have little to fear. Their relatively brief exposure to the toxic smoke is unlikely to cause any negative, long-term health effects, according to a review of the data by the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.

“At those levels, over that short period of time, there were no known great health risks,” said Donna Durckel, spokeswoman for the county’s air district.

Mostly, the fire produced fine particulate matter, a common pollutant created by everything from lighting bonfires to driving cars and trucks.

Community members have started organizing under the banner Navy Ship Fire Community Advocates. The group is working with several law firms to explore potential legal action against the federal government.

The group maintains that the Navy should have alerted residents to the potential impacts sooner. It’s now calling for the military to draft an emergency notification plan.

The San Diego air district issued the Navy a notice of violation for creating a public nuisance and contaminating the air a day after the fire started on July 12. The action will probably result in a negotiated financial penalty.

Top district officials said there was little the Navy could do to control the smoke after the fire started.

“Because of the magnitude of this incident, it would have been difficult to avoid these violations,” said Mahiany Luther, chief of compliance for the air district. “I’m not aware of any measure that they could have implemented to prevent the impact on the communities.”

Smith writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

WHICH  CALLS BULLSHIT ON THIS 

Regulators: San Diego Ship Fire Smoke Not a Health Risk7.28.20

FILE - Smoke rises from the USS Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego Sunday, July 12, 2020, in San Diego after an explosion and fire Sunday on board the ship at Naval Base San Diego. Smoke from the fire that ravaged a Navy warship in San Diego Bay contained elevated levels of toxins, but air-quality authorities said area residents had little to fear. The San Diego County Air Pollution Control District found that smoke from the USS Bonhomme Richard contained a dozen potentially harmful substances, such as benzene chloromethane and acetonitrile, the San Diego Union-Tribune Reported. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy, File)


SAN DIEGO (AP) — Smoke from the fire that ravaged a Navy warship in San Diego Bay contained elevated levels of toxins, but air-quality authorities said area residents had little to fear.

The San Diego County Air Pollution Control District found that smoke from the USS Bonhomme Richard contained a dozen potentially harmful substances, such as benzene chloromethane and acetonitrile, the San Diego Union-Tribune Reported.

RELATED

Navy: Ship Fire in San Diego Extinguished

Officials: Firefighting System Was Inoperable on Navy Ship

“At those levels, over that short period of time, there were no known great health risks,” said Donna Durckel, spokeswoman for the county’s air district.

The fire mostly produced a common pollutant known as fine particulate matter.

The district issued the Navy a notice of violation for creating a public nuisance and contaminating the air.

The fire began July 12 and swept through much of the ship, which was docked for a long period of maintenance. The Navy has yet to say whether the vessel will be repaired.

Content copyright the Associated Press. © copyright 2020. All rights reserved.

New report reveals toxic chemicals in smoke from USS Bonhomme Richard
While multiple chemicals were present, they believe the chemical Benzene in the toxic smoke was not at levels causing health concerns.


Author: Chris Gros (Reporter)
Published: 7:01 AM PDT July 28, 2020

NATIONAL CITY, Calif. — San Diego County’s Air Pollution Control District released a report stating that the smoke from the USS Bonhomme Richard was full of toxic chemicals. The report directly contradicts what Navy officials initially told the public.

The state’s Office of Environmental Hazard Assessment also reviewed the samples taken of the air. While chemicals were present, they believe the chemical Benzene in the toxic smoke was not at levels causing health concerns.

However, it wasn’t just elevated levels of Benzene found in the samples. The smoke also contained chloromethane and acetonitrile.

The samples were taken from sites nearby the burning ship, the closes one being Sherman Elementary. Residents from as far away as Vista reported seeing smoke and smelling a plastic or electrical-like odor.
People who live in Barrio Logan, Logan Heights, and National City are especially concerned. Advocates say these areas have suffered the most because of the air pollution from the fire. Many families were forced into lockdown because of the smoke. The advocate said, “I began hearing from elders in the community that they couldn't breathe, they had to close their windows in the heat. They were struggling and had very little support and no one was communicating with them."

A group has been created to ask that a contingency plan be put in place in case another fire or something similar happens again. They are also calling on the Navy to improve communication with neighboring residents.

The full "Elevated Compound Data Report" can be found below.
https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/dam/sdc/apcd/PDF/Misc/APCD-Elevated-Compounds-Data-071220.pdf

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Which Notable Republicans Are Voting For Biden In The Fall Election?

By Wesley Dockery
08/01/20

Although many Republicans are sticking with President Donald Trump in the fall election, some conservative voices are refusing to vote for the incumbent, and instead have declared their support for presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Most notably, the Lincoln Project PAC, a Republican-backed group opposing Trump's re-election, have expressed their support for Biden. Conservative attorney George Conway, the husband of Trump’s assistant Kellyanne Conway, revealed in March that he had donated the maximum allowable amount to Biden’s campaign. Steve Schmidt, a campaign strategist who ran John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, also backs Biden.

Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Arizona senator, has said she will vote for Biden, saying “politics is personal” for her. Trump has routinely mocked John McCain, saying in 2015 that he was “not a war hero.”

In June, former Secretary of State Colin Powell announced his endorsement of Biden, on CNN's “State of the Union.” Powell, a Republican who served in George W. Bush's cabinet, said Trump had “drifted away” from the Constitution. Powell also supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.


Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and a former Republican presidential candidate, said she would vote for Biden due to his character.

“I am encouraged that Joe Biden is a person of humility and empathy and character. I think he’s demonstrated that through his life. And I think we need humility and empathy everywhere in public life right now. And I think character counts,” Fiorina told The Atlantic in June.

Bill Weld, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts, has suggested he would back Biden over Trump. “Could I vote for a Democrat? Hell yes. If it's Trump against Joe Biden, I'm with Biden in a heartbeat,” said during a CNN conference in October.

Philippines losing virus war, doctors warn Duterte

Issued on: 01/08/2020 -

The Philippines imposed one of the harshest lockdowns in the world in mid-March, that kept people at home except to buy food and seek health treatment Ted ALJIBE AFP/File

Manila (AFP)

Dozens of doctors' groups on Saturday warned that the Philippines was losing the coronavirus fight, urging President Rodrigo Duterte to tighten a recently eased lockdown as cases surged and hospitals turned away patients.

Eighty medical associations representing tens of thousands of doctors signed the open letter, a day after the country posted a record single-day count of more than 4,000 new infections, pushing the total past 93,000.

"Healthcare workers are united in sounding off a distress signal to the nation -- our healthcare system has been overwhelmed," the letter said

"We are waging a losing battle against COVID-19, and we need to draw up a consolidated, definitive plan of action."

An increasing number of health workers have fallen ill or quit their jobs, while some packed hospitals are now refusing to admit new patients, it added.

The government has blamed poor compliance with health protocols for the sharp increase in infections.

The country imposed one of the harshest lockdowns in the world in mid-March, that kept people at home except to buy food and seek health treatment.

But the government recently loosened the restrictions to allow people to return to work after predictions that the Philippine economy will fall into recession, with millions of jobs already lost.

In the open letter, doctors urged Duterte to put the capital Manila and surrounding provinces back under "enhanced community quarantine" until August 15 to give the country time to "refine our pandemic control strategies".

In response, Duterte's spokesman Harry Roque said the government was balancing the health and economy of the nation.

"The strict lockdown in Metro Manila has served its purpose, and we need to intensify other strategies," he added.

Health department officials earlier this week acknowledged hospital bed availability was drying up and the government has had limited success in hiring new doctors, nurses and other health care workers.

The letter said contact tracing was "failing miserably" and public transport and workplace settings were often unsafe.

Lei Alfonso, an official of the Philippine Society of Public Health Physicians, told a news conference on Saturday that the developments "will push us to the brink to become the next New York City, where Covid-19 patients die at home or (on) stretchers".

President Duterte on Thursday called on Filipinos to keep faith in his ability to swiftly procure a vaccine to be produced by China, a key supporter of his rule.

© 2020 AFP

Italy's Lampedusa new target of far-right anger over migrants

THE OLD IMPERIAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES ABANDON THEIR COLONIES

Issued on: 01/08/2020 - 04:12Modified: 01/08/2020 - 04:10

Most of the recent arrivals hail from Tunisia, a country battling high unemployment and political instability Alberto PIZZOLI AFP

Lampedusa (Italy) (AFP)

Out in the Mediterranean, under a baking sun, fisherman Ezio Billeci comes across a boat of vulnerable migrants and calls for help, but for hours the only response he gets from Italian authorities is to "stand by".

The episode off the island of Lampedusa symbolises what critics say is the government's lax response to managing migration in a period exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic -- accusations led by the anti-immigrant far-right.

Most of the recent arrivals hail from Tunisia, a country battling high unemployment and political instability. But Italy has its own financial woes -- figures released Friday showed it plunged deep into recession -- prompting resentment towards so-called economic migrants.

Several episodes in recent days of breakouts from overcrowded reception centres have also sparked fears among local populations that the migrants who did not respect quarantine orders could be spreading the virus throughout Italy.

Exasperated local mayors have appealed for help from the government, which has in some cases sent in army back-up.

Far-right rising star Giorgia Meloni, head of the Brothers of Italy party, accused the centre-left ruling coalition this week of having used draconian measures this spring to ensure Italians respected the coronavirus lockdown, but was now letting migrants roam free.

"You have the nerve to chase people on the beach with drones, and now you allow thousands of illegal immigrants to enter Italy, transgress our borders and violate quarantine, wandering around infected," she said in an angry address to parliament.

- No emergency? -

Many of the small boats carrying Tunisians to Italy land on the tiny island of Lampedusa. Its ex-mayor Giusi Nicolini, who won the UNESCO Peace Prize in early 2017 for her efforts with migrants, has insisted there "is no emergency".

"They say we are overrun (with migrants) for political purposes," she said in an interview this week with La Stampa daily.

A widely-circulated photograph of a Tunisian family with straw sunhats and trolley suitcases arriving by boat with their pet poodle fuelled the far-right, as did a video of beach-going tourists watching as new migrants disembarked on nearby rocks.

"The illegal immigrants are arriving in droves, even with poodles who've clearly escaped from Libyan camps," quipped opposition chief Matteo Salvini, head of the anti-immigrant League, Italy's most popular party.

On Thursday, Lampedusa's local League representative, along with the centre-right Forza Italia party, filed a complaint against Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese, accusing her of destroying nascent tourism on the island.

According to Italy's interior ministry, nearly half of the 11,191 migrants who have arrived in Italy this year through July 24 have set sail from Tunisia. Of them, nearly 4,000 are Tunisian citizens.

Over 2,000 migrants arrived last week alone, according to the UN Refugee Agency -- more than double the previous week.

- 'Look the other way' -

The interior ministry has acknowledged that the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 in Tunisia has fed an "exceptional flow of economic migrants" to Italy's borders, while the virus has made managing numerous daily arrivals more complex.

After specifically singling out Tunisians escaping mandatory quarantine, Lamorgese said Wednesday that the army would guard reception centres, while two ships of 600 places each would be available soon to hold migrants during quarantine.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has remained silent about the recent arrivals, reflecting tensions within the party over how to respond, given that Salvini famously built his voter base on an anti-immigrant policy that the left has failed to counter.

Salvini, who faces trial later this year for allegedly illegally detaining migrants by refusing to let them disembark from a rescue ship, insists that charity ships and others who save migrants at sea encourage more people to attempt the dangerous journey.

"But I can't do that, I can't. Lives at sea should be saved. Full stop," he said.

© 2020 AFP

S. Korean sect leader arrested for hindering virus efforts
AMERICA SHOULD DO THE SAME WITH THEIR RIGHT WING RELIGIOUS LEADERS WHO DISMISS COVID-19 RULES
Issued on: 01/08/2020 - 06:24Modified: 01/08/2020 - 06:22

Lee Man-hee, head of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus - POOL/AFP

Seoul (AFP)

The elderly leader of a secretive South Korean sect at the centre of the country's early coronavirus outbreak was arrested on Saturday for allegedly hindering the government's effort to contain the epidemic.

Lee Man-hee, 88, is the head of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, which is often condemned as a cult.

People linked to the church accounted for more than half of the South's 4,000-plus coronavirus cases in February when the country was enduring one of the worst early outbreaks in the world.


As of July 19, those connected with the church made up 38 percent of all confirmed coronavirus cases in the country, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Lee is accused of giving inaccurate records of church gatherings and false lists of its members to health authorities.

He was taken into custody early Saturday "after the Suwon District Court granted an arrest warrant at 1:20 am", a court spokesperson told AFP.

The judge said there "have been circumstances indicating systematic attempts to destroy evidence" by Lee, Yonhap news agency reported.

Shincheonji has claimed its members face social stigma and discrimination if their beliefs become publicly known, dissuading some from responding to official inquiries.

Lee is also accused of embezzling 5.6 billion won ($4.69 million) from church funds and holding religious events at public facilities without approval.

He apologised back in March for the spread of the disease.

The South has since been returning largely to normal, appearing to have brought the outbreak under control with an extensive "trace, test and treat" programme.

Officials in the east Asian nation of 52 million announced 31 new cases Saturday, taking the total to 14,336.

© 2020 AFP

In southern Spain, fruit pickers ditched as virus spreads

Issued on: 01/08/2020 -

Seasonal workers have been left on their own in southern Spain after their shantytowns burnt down and coronavirus cases surged once again 

CRISTINA QUICLER AFP/File

Lepe (Spain) (AFP)

Lamine Diakite has been on the street for two weeks since the Spanish shantytown he was staying in burnt down, one of hundreds of fruit pickers abandoned as coronavirus cases soar.

To protest at their situation, he and dozens of other African workers have taken their mattresses and are sleeping in a square outside the town hall in Lepe, near the Portuguese border.

"Our huts have been burnt down leaving more than 200 of us in the street," said Diakite, a 32-year-old Malian.

"And during the pandemic, that's a risk for us and for the rest of the population."

Known for its strawberries, Lepe in southern Spain supplies a large part of the European market.

Here, as in other agricultural areas, workers live in basic shelters without light or running water, cobbled together from wooden pallets, plastic sheeting and mattresses, spaces they trade among themselves for around 250 euros ($300).

Despite the unsanitary conditions and impossibility of observing social distancing, no coronavirus tests have been carried out in the camps, the migrants and Lepe officials say.

Even so, many have gone on to work in other areas of Spain, such as Lerida in the north east where regional authorities reimposed a two-week lockdown in July after the emergence of a new outbreak linked to seasonal workers.

"It's very likely there will continue to be outbreaks linked to seasonal workers," the health ministry's emergencies coordinator Fernando Simon warned this week.

At the moment, only the northern region of La Rioja has taken drastic measures, pledging to test all seasonal workers whether they have a contract or not.

- Migrants suspect arson -

In mid-July, three shantytowns went up in flames around Lepe in a string of fires that began just after the picking season for strawberries, raspberries and blueberries ended.

"It was a crazy night," recalls Ismaila Fall, a 30-year-old Senegalese man who tried to put out the blaze with water and sand and suspects it was deliberate.

But when it comes to finding a solution, neither the state nor local authorities are willing to take responsibility.

"(These migrants) are the government's problem, not the town hall's, we can't regularise their situation," insisted Manuel Mora, mayor of Lucena del Puerto, where another camp burned down.

"Before the harvest, they should have a PCR test but that costs the farmer a lot of money, so the government should help" by providing them, said Juan Jose Alvarez Alcalde, who heads the ASAJA farmworkers union.

There have been makeshift encampments in the Lepe area going back to 1980s, with the UN's expert on poverty and human rights Olivier De Schutter calling on local authorities to urgently "end the situation of degradation in which seasonal agricultural workers live".

The town hall had suggested the army set up a field camp on a plot of industrial land, but the military rejected because of the extreme summer heat, a government source told AFP.

"We need a network of lodgings in all agricultural communities" in the area, concluded Jesus Toronjo, deputy head of the Lepe town council.

He added that it was looking at a ranch owned by the municipality with space for 800 people.

Any solution would require cooperation between local authorities with support from the regional or central government, but that does not look likely given a proliferation of local power struggles.

"Everyone is just passing the buck," explained Antonio Abad who heads an NGO called ASISTI that helps migrants.

"The problem is the lack of political will" with an immigrant population that "doesn't take part in polls."

© 2020 AFP

Trump says fed agents to stay in Portland until police 'cleanup'

Issued on: 01/08/2020


Washington (AFP)

US federal officers will stay in the protest-wracked city of Portland until local law enforcement officials finish a "cleanup of anarchists and agitators," President Donald Trump said.

The forces -- whose deployment was seen by many as part of the president's law-and-order strategy for re-election and exacerbated tensions between authorities and anti-racism protestors -- had been scheduled to begin their phased pullout from Portland on Thursday.

Trump tweeted late Friday: "Homeland Security is not leaving Portland until local police complete cleanup of Anarchists and Agitators!"


Hundreds of demonstrators were still on the streets of downtown Portland on Saturday morning, without any federal law enforcement in sight.

Earlier, Portland police cleared parks and nearby roads around the city center on Friday in anticipation of the phased pullout by federal forces.

City mayor Ted Wheeler said the deployment was part of the agreement for federal officers to leave.

In a tweet late Friday, Wheeler thanked the peaceful protestors, and said they had "reclaimed the space that has been a staging ground for violence, to share their powerful message of reformative justice."

Earlier this month the Trump administration sent federal tactical teams, many wearing combat-like gear, to intervene in the city after weeks of protests against racism and police brutality saw windows broken and graffiti scrawled on the federal courthouse and other buildings.


But their deployment inflamed the situation, especially following footage of protesters being snatched off the street by federal agents and put into unmarked cars.

Democrats said the intervention reeked of a "police state" and that it was a political move to show Trump -- who is struggling in the polls ahead of November's presidential election -- to voters as a strict law-and-order president.

Attorney General Bill Barr has defended the use of federal officers, and rejected any suggestion of the political motivation.

"In the wake of George Floyd's death, violent rioters and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests to wreak senseless havoc and destruction on innocent victims," Barr said in testimony to the House Judiciary Committee.

Under an agreement between Oregon officials and the Trump administration on Wednesday, the federal forces were to begin withdrawing from the city on Thursday.


However, their pullout was conditional on local law enforcement ensuring the security of the federal courthouse and other buildings that have been targeted by protesters.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, who warned earlier this week a full pullout depended on the security situation "significantly" improving.

And on Thursday Trump reiterated the need for federal intervention.

"The governor and the mayor, we've been dealing with them, and we think they don't know what they're doing, because this should not have been going on for 60 days," he told reporters.

"It's not our job to go in and clean out the cities. That's supposed to be done by local law enforcement," Trump added.

© 2020 AFP

Massive protests in Russia's far east rattle Kremlin
"We're living through a moment of democracy but it will doubtless be fleeting."



Issued on: 01/08/2020 -

Police have been reserved in their response to the unprecedented protests in the region Aleksandr Yanyshev AFP

Khabarovsk (Russia) (AFP)

Locals say a struggle for democratic freedoms is unfolding in the far eastern Russian city of Khabarovsk, where the arrest of a popular governor has unleashed massive protests.

"Sometimes I feel like crying with joy when I see everyone so united," 21-year-old student Yekaterina Ishchenko told AFP.

For the last three weeks, she and thousands of other residents of the city 6,000 kilometres (3,700 miles) east of Moscow have taken to the streets, with another huge rally due on Saturday.


For Ishchenko, this is her first taste of political activism.

Tens of thousands attended a rally last weekend, according to journalists and activists, while police put the figure at just 6,500.

Such protests are rare in the region seven time zones away from the capital, where most opposition protests take place.

They were sparked by the arrest on July 9 of regional governor Sergei Furgal.

Investigators accused the 50-year-old former businessman of ordering two contract killings and an attempted murder 15 years ago.

He was flown to Moscow where he is being held in custody.

His supporters see the probe as aimed at removing an overly independent politician, elected in 2018 after standing against an incumbent from the ruling party backing President Vladimir Putin.

"It's a slap in the face for us. We voted for him!" said 72-year-old pensioner Marina Beletskaya.

Furgal is a member of the nationalist party LDPR which is generally loyal to the Kremlin.

He became a popular governor, with supporters describing him as energetic and ready to listen. Locally, his level of popularity rivalled Putin's.

- Conflict with Moscow -

"After we elected Furgal, the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District was moved from here to Vladivostok," said 22-year-old Victoria Sakharova, a sales assistant, referring to the port city on the Pacific coast.

"This was clearly because we elected an opposition candidate."

Around the size of Turkey, the Khabarovsk region has a population of just 1.3 million.

One factor fuelling protests is long-standing resentment among residents who feel ignored by Moscow.

Added to this are the economic worries in this region bordering China where metallurgy, coal mining and forestry are the main areas of employment.

State media has largely ignored the protests but more independent outlets have described the events positively.

In a recent editorial Vedomosti daily called the protests a "new symbol" representing opposition of "regions against the centre".

Some protesters shout slogans expressing anger at Putin.

Khabarovsk was one of those least supportive regions in a July 1 vote on changing the constitution to allow Putin to extend his rule. The "yes" vote was 15 percent below the national average.

- Sent from Moscow -

In a bid to appease the protesters, Moscow appointed a new acting governor from Furgal's LDPR party, Mikhail Degtyarev.

But the 39-year-old MP, known for proposing wacky bills, has faced a chilly reception.

He made matters worse by claiming not to "have time" to meet protesters and alleging they received backing from foreign "provocateurs".

"We should have chosen a local person to replace him ourselves. But instead we were sent someone who only knows Khabarovsk from 5,000-ruble banknotes," said Sakharova. The banknote (worth $68) depicts views of the city.

In a sign that the scale of the protests may have spooked the regional authorities the police have shown unusual restraint, allowing the protests to go ahead and only detaining a handful of people.

Even Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov this week praised the police's forbearance while unauthorised protests are usually quickly broken up in Russia.

"We're living through a moment of democracy but it will doubtless be fleeting."

video-rco/alf/er

© 2020 AFP

Sinti and Roma fear for their Holocaust memorial in Berlin

Germany’s rail company, Deutsche Bahn, wants to build a suburban train line that would run under Berlin’s memorial to the Sinti and Roma murdered in the Holocaust. Activists are up in arms about the plan.



Whenever Roxanna-Lorraine Witt visits Berlin, she goes to the memorial to the murdered Sinti and Roma in Tiergarten, the city’s sprawling central park. It’s a special place for her. None of her grandmother’s five siblings survived the Nazi’s systematic murder of the Sinti and Roma.

The memorial may be under threat. Witt fears it won’t survive if a new track for the city’s commuter line gets built beneath it.

Read more: Nazis carried out mass murder of Sinti and Roma in Auschwitz

"It should be clear that this monument is sacrosanct," she said. "There is a political responsibility to protect it." That activists like her have to protest to protect it is itself a scandal, she added.

For Roxanna-Lorraine Witt the Memorial to the Sinti and Roma is a precious place

It has taken a long time for Germany to collectively remember the Sinti and Roma killed in the Holocaust.

The mass murder was called the Porajmos, meaning "devouring." Exact numbers don’t exist, but 500,000 people are estimated to have been killed. For decades, Sinti and Roma said they felt discriminated against by German authorities and overlooked as a victim group.

The German government only acknowledged the murder as a genocide in 1982.


The memorial is close to the Reichstag — a triangular stone in a circular pool representing the badges Sinti and Roma were forced to wear by the Nazis
Kept out of the loop

The memorial, just 50 meters (164 feet) from the German parliament building, was unveiled in 2012, and seen as Germany finally taking responsibility for the groups’ plight. It consists of a dark, circular pool of water upon which sits a triangular stone, which represents the badges Sinti and Roma were forced to wear in Nazi concentration camps to identify them as such.

Read more: Holocaust remembrance in Germany is a changing culture

The proximity to the government quarter poses the problem. The new rail line is set to run right through it, which may lead to the monument being dismantled.


Plans for the new train line see it run right across the Sinti and Roma Memorial

"It’s inconceivable that something would happen to this monument without speaking to us," said Romani Rose, the head of the Central Council of Sinti and Roma in Germany.

Rose has spent his life fighting for the recognition of Nazi crimes against Sinti and Roma. He’s known for leading hunger strikes in 1980 on the grounds of Dachau, the former concentration camp, to raise awareness of the Sinti and Roma role in the Holocaust.

Romani Rose is the top representative of Sinti and Roma in Germany
Deutsche Bahn reacts

A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn says the company is "totally blown away" that the impact on a memorial could be problematic, according to the Tageszeitung newspaper. Witt organized a protest against the rail construction in June.

"The memorial is a gravesite for those whose ashes are still in Auschwitz. This is a holy place not only for Sinti and Roma, but for all people," Witt said, adding she is furious that the memorial’s future could be "negotiable" in a way others are not.

Read more: Jewish memorial stones dug out and taken to construction dump

Deutsche Bahn seemed to bend to the uproar in Berlin and online. Though declining to comment to DW, a company news release said "the memorial will not be touched." It also noted that the project is only in its early stages, and a long way off from seeking actual building permission.



REMEMBERING NAZI GENOCIDE OF SINTI AND ROMA
Serving the fatherland

Many German Sinti fought for Germany not only in the First World War but also in the Wehrmacht from 1939 on. In 1941 the German high command ordered all "Gypsies and Gypsy half-breeds" to be dismissed from active military service for "racial-political reasons." Alfons Lampert and his wife Elsa were then deported to Auschwitz, where they were killed.

1234567891011
A sense of discrimination

Zimbabwe: Star author among several arrests at anti-government protests in Harare

Booker Prize nominee Tsitsi Dangarembga was bundled into a police truck in Harare during anti-government protests. The demonstrations coincided with the second anniversary of President Mnangagwa's election.


Award-winning author and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga was among scores of people arrested in Zimbabwe on Friday as hundreds of military troops and police attempted to thwart anti-government protests.

Dangarembga, 61, was shoved into a police truck as she demonstrated in the upmarket Harare suburb of Borrowdale. Another protester alongside her was also bundled into the vehicle.

Read more: Tsitsi Dangarembga, the author behind one of the '100 stories that shaped the world'

Streets clear as military deployed

As a result of law enforcement restrictions, streets in the Zimbabwean capital, home to some 1.5 million people, soon became deserted as police and troops scrutinized documents at checkpoints to prevent unauthorized entry to certain parts of the city.

Opposition politician Jacob Ngarivhume, head of a small party called Transform Zimbabwe, had called for protesters to demonstrate against alleged state corruption and the country's crumbling economy.

The demonstrations were aimed at coinciding with the second anniversary of President Emmerson Mnangagwa's election victory, which opposition leaders have claimed was won fraudulently.

However, most people stayed home on Friday after police on Thursday warned of a severe response to those wishing to protest.

"All security arms of government are on full alert and will deal decisively with any individuals or groups fomenting violence," police spokesman Paul Nyathi said in a statement.

Protest organizers focused their frustration on the ruling political party, using the hashtag #ZANUPFmustgo on social media.

Read more: Zimbabwe compensates white farmers with billions

Mounting unease

Tensions are rising in Zimbabwe as the perennially-shaky economy faces added pressure. Inflation is more than 700%, the second highest in the world. Furthermore, the coronavirus pandemic has overwhelmed the country's threadbare health system.

President Mnangagwa described the demonstrations as "an insurrection to overthrow our democratically-elected government." He added that security agents "will be vigilant and on high alert."

Speaking at the burial on Friday of cabinet minister Perence Shiri, who died from the coronavirus, Mnangagwa did not directly refer to the demonstrations but called for unity and urged citizens to avoid causing unrest.


Mnangagwa appeared at the funeral with the capital's streets deserted as security forces took charge

Mnangagwa has been in power since November 2017 after replacing longstanding freedom fighter turned authoritarian Robert Mugabe. The army ultimately ousted Mugabe, only to put one of the former president's closest allies in charge in his stead. Mnangagwa secured his first full term as president in July the following year after the country held a general election.

Read more: Pressure mounts on Zimbabwe to release investigative journalist

Charges 'unclear'

Fadzayi Mahere, spokeswoman of the main opposition MDC Alliance party, was also arrested on Friday, though the charges against her and Booker Prize nominee Tsitsi Dangarembga were not immediately clear, according to their attorneys.

Dangarembga wrote the prize-winning novel "Nervous Conditions" in 1988. It was the first book written by a Black woman from Zimbabwe to be published in English and she was subsequently awarded the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 1989.

jsi/msh (AFP, AP)

DW RECOMMENDS
South African writer Pumla Gqola on books and liberation

Twenty-five years after the first post-apartheid elections took place in South Africa, Pumla Gqola, a prominent feminist author in the country, shares her views on democracy with DW.


Date 31.07.2020
Keywords Zimbabwe, protests, ZANU-PF, Harare, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Emerson Mnangagwa

Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3gFRr