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theindependent--2019-01-31--Mass starfish death is biggest disease epidemic ever seen in marine animals scientists say

theindependent

Mass starfish death is biggest disease epidemic ever seen in marine animals, scientists say

Starfish along the US Pacific coast have been hit by the worst-ever disease outbreak seen in wild marine animals with one key species almost entirely wiped out, scientists say. Sea star wasting disease has caused a “devastating” decline in the once-common sunflower sea star - Pycnopodia helianthoides - that is deemed important because it eats sea urchins which, left unchecked, can chew through swathes of kelp forests relied on by a host of other creatures. Researchers identified warming temperatures and increased deaths during their survey of P helianthoides in a 3,000km stretch of coast from California to British Columbia. Using data from divers and seabed trawls they found declines of up to 100 per cent in some areas, and said they feared the species may not recover. Its near-total disappearance between 2013 and 2017 has already been linked with an increase in urchin population and reduction in kelp, threatening biodiversity, according to the study published in Science Advances. In the paper, the scientists add: “Timing of peak declines in near-shore waters coincided with anomalously warm sea surface temperatures. “Increasingly warm or anomalous temperatures are being shown to influence the prevalence and severity of marine infectious diseases ... [while] experimental and field studies support a role for temperature in sea star wasting disease morbidity.” Animals affected by the disease, thought to be caused by a densovirus, develop white skin lesions before their arms fall off and they die. Researchers quantified the collapse of P helianthoides by using data spanning 2004 to 2017. The stars can reach up to one metre wide and have 24 arms.

Jon Sharman

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/starfish-deaths-sea-star-wasting-disease-us-pacific-coast-sunflower-warming-a8756716.html

2019-01-31 16:51:20+00:00

health

non-human diseases

thesun--2019-02-08--Deadly zombie deer disease sweeping US makes animals waste away and become super-aggressive with

thesun

Deadly ‘zombie deer disease’ sweeping US makes animals waste away and become super-aggressive… with fears it could spread to humans

A DEADLY infection that turns deer into zombie beasts is spreading across North America, a new report warns. And it's feared the so-called "zombie deer disease" could be transmitted to humans. Also known as chronic wasting disease (CWD), it attacks the brain, spinal cord and other tissues in deer, elk and moose. Animals affected become aggressive and rapidly lose weight and coordination before the illness kills them. Concern is now growing amid reports the horror disease has spread to 24 US states and two Canadian provinces. The US Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC) highlighted the issue in its 2019 report after it discovered the virus had spread to two more states since last year. But while there are fears zombie deer disease could become a new mad-cow epidemic, there is no evidence as yet to suggest humans could be harmed. However, a recent study found for the first time that macaques could get the virus after eating infected meat, sparking fears that a variant hitting humans could soon emerge. A separate study found that laboratory mice with some human genes could become infected, according to the CDC. The CDC report warns that the disease is spreading. It says: "In several locations where the disease is established, infection rates may exceed ten percent (one in ten), and localised infection rates of more than 25 percent (1 in 4) have been reported. "The infection rates among some captive deer can be much higher, with a rate of 70 per cent (nearly four in five) reported from at least one captive herd." The disease was first spotted in the wild 40 years ago, but has been seen in captive deer since the '60s. "Since 2000, the area known to be affected by CWD in free-ranging animals has increased to at least 24 states, including states in the Midwest, Southwest, and limited areas on the East Coast," the CDC says. "It is possible that CWD may also occur in other states without strong animal surveillance systems, but that cases haven’t been detected yet. "Once CWD is established in an area, the risk can remain for a long time in the environment. The affected areas are likely to continue to expand." The infection can be found in both free-ranging and farmed animals - but it can be years before an animal shows symptoms. We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.

Nicola STOW

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8381380/zombie-deer-disease-us-animals-waste-aggressive-spread-humans/

2019-02-08 09:21:14+00:00

health

non-human diseases

thevaccinereaction--2019-11-02--New Foot and Mouth Disease Animal Vaccine on Fast Track

thevaccinereaction

New Foot and Mouth Disease Animal Vaccine on Fast Track

Zoetis, Inc., the world’s largest manufacturer of drugs and vaccines for pets and livestock has signed an agreement with Texas A&M University’s Health Science Center for Innovation and Advanced Development and Manufacturing (CIADM) to develop a new animal vaccine for foot and mouth disease (FMD). The contract will establish a facility at Texas A&M for accelerating the development of vaccines for trans-boundary and emerging diseases, and creating a new vaccine to prevent foot and mouth disease (FMD) in livestock will be the initial focus.1 The National Pork Producers Council, the National Milk Producers Federation, the National Corn Growers Association and Iowa State University have been urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to quickly establish a FMD vaccine bank to prepare for a potential outbreak of FMD in U.S. livestock, even though the last outbreak was in 1929.2 Iowa State University and the Swine Health Information Center have played a central part in FMD research in livestock.3 The groups acknowledge that the USDA has taken some measures to create a vaccine bank; however, they are calling for the USDA to use funding included in the 2018 Farm Bill to purchase a large volume of vaccines to effectively contain an FMD outbreak if it occurs. Zoetis and Texas A&M to Build Biocontainment Lab Part of the agreement includes Zoetis setting up a 12,800-square-foot secure, biocontainment lab off-campus using modular cleanroom technology. The Trans-boundary and Emerging Disease Vaccine Development Facility is expected to open mid-2020 pending approval from USDA. Scientists creating an FMD vaccine will receive FMD strains for the Zoetis FMD vaccine design that are believed to be non-infectious to cattle and other livestock. According to Dr. John Hardham, Research Director in Global Biologics Research and Director of the Zoetis Center for Trans-boundary and Emerging Diseases: Typically vaccines are administered prior to an outbreak in order to “prevent” the disease from manifesting in the host; however, according to experts, pre-vaccinating livestock for FMD is not a viable option. Dr. James Roth, MD, a professor in the department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventative Medicine at Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine explains that if a country declares itself free internationally of FMD but have vaccinated for it, then, as outlined in international animal health rules, there would still be many safety and health regulations to go through in order to export the product.4 He says that: In addition, Dr. Roth has stated that it is not pragmatic to pre-vaccinate livestock for FMD because, “There’s 23 different strains. We’d have to use 23 different vaccines to cover all possible strains in the world.”3 He maintains that it is logical to argue against pre-vaccinating for a virus that has multiple strains, given that it is difficult to predict the virus strain that may cause the potential outbreak. Over the past few years, the failure of influenza vaccine for humans to prevent infection and transmission of type A and B influenza viruses has demonstrated the difficulty of predicting which influenza virus strains will cause disease in a given flu season.5 Public health officials admit that influenza vaccines fail to prevent influenza more than half the time.6 In most years, flu shots do not prevent the influenza because they do not contain the most prevalent influenza strains that are making people sick.3 New Test to Distinguish Vaccinated from Unvaccinated In the midst of the recent dialogue on FMD in livestock, Iowa State University, on behalf of the Swine Health Information Center, has developed a lab test to differentiate between FMD vaccine antibodies and antibodies that come from exposure to wild type virus in pigs.7 The test still needs to be approved by the USDA for use but experts are saying this represents a big step forward in being prepared for future FMD outbreaks.4 According to the executive director of the Swine Health Information Center Dr. Paul Sundberg: “There are FMD vaccines that are available and should we get FMD in North America, those vaccines will be probably be deployed to help control and prevent the spread of the virus.”5 He adds that: Dr. Sundberg explains that this lab test can differentiate between vaccine strain FMD virus antibodies and antibodies produced by the wild-type FMD virus. He states, “Thus we would be able to differentiate those animals and we’d know which animals are at higher risk of being further sources of virus to other animals, a real important distinction that we’ll need to have should we need to respond to an outbreak.”4 Although there are several questions that remain unanswered regarding wild type FMD virus, vaccine strain FMD virus and immunity to wild type FMD virus, this type of specific lab testing would help differentiate between the types of FMD infections in vaccinated and unvaccinated pigs during periods of FMD outbreaks. There have been many outbreaks of disease in highly vaccinated human populations. Although the blame is always placed on unvaccinated individuals, there is a lot of evidence that vaccinated persons show few or no symptoms but can still transmit infections to other people,8 9 and that vaccine strain live virus infections in those recently vaccinated can be mistaken for wild-type virus infections. An article published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology in 2017 revealed that PCR testing was used to check measles case samples taken during the 2015 California measles outbreak.10 Researchers found that about 40 percent of measles case specimens were identified as vaccine strain measles virus infections in recently vaccinated people, not wild-type measles, and stated:

Marco Caceres

https://thevaccinereaction.org/2019/11/new-foot-and-mouth-disease-animal-vaccine-on-fast-track/

Sat, 02 Nov 2019 19:03:07 +0000

health

non-human diseases

yna--2019-12-06--S. Korea to boost animal disease-related R&D amid spread of ASF

yna

S. Korea to boost animal disease-related R&D amid spread of ASF

South Korea has culled around 400,000 pigs in the northern part of the country this year, after experiencing its first-ever ASF outbreak in September. No outbreaks have been reported from pig farms so far since early October, but South Korea has been remaining vigilant in checking for further spread by wild boars.

http://yna.kr/AEN20191206002600320&section=news&input=rss

20191206170001

health

non-human diseases

naturalnews--2019-03-18--Threat of deadly African swine fever virus triggers biggest seizure of US agricultural products in

naturalnews

Threat of deadly African swine fever virus triggers biggest seizure of U.S. agricultural products in history

(Natural News) U.S. federal agents seized at least a million pounds of pork that was being smuggled from China into the country in more than 50 shipping containers via the ports of New York and New Jersey – meat that could be contaminated with a hemmorhagic virus that wipes out entire pig populations in Asia. African swine fever virus has ravaged the world’s largest hog industry in China and sent pork prices skyrocketing. Now the Chinese are considering greatly decreasing their imports of U.S. genetically modified soy that’s used as pig feed. The deadly pig virus spreads quite easily and is very resilient. And yes, the meat products and even the animal’s feed can carry the virus. When will an outbreak in the U.S. occur? It’s just a matter of time. The deadly pig virus has already spread to Russia and Eastern Europe. It seems just a matter of time before U.S. pigs catch it, spread it, out get wiped out in genocidal form, like in Asia now. U.S. border protections are loose and need a good ratcheting to prevent this catastrophe. All high-risk pork products should be banned by bio-security experts immediately. We need quarantine stations and increased cargo inspections, especially for imports coming from Russia and China. If the virus hits U.S. pigs, it could cost our economy tens of billions of dollars a year in losses. So far, scientists claim the pig virus is not transmittable to humans, but the virus could mutate into a form that is, and that dredges up another related horrific concern. 100% organic essential oil sets now available for your home and personal care, including Rosemary, Oregano, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree, Clary Sage and more, all 100% organic and laboratory tested for safety. A multitude of uses, from stress reduction to topical first aid. See the complete listing here, and help support this news site. Natural News has covered, repeatedly, how one insidious U.S. vaccine manufacturer (and pediatrician ironically) designed a childhood vaccine for Rotavirus using two strains of another deadly Asian pig virus called Circovirus. With no rhyme or reason, freak doctor Paul Offit mixed the deadly pig virus into his highly controversial “Rotateq” vaccine. The adverse events and side effects listed on that vaccine insert include intussusception – where the injected child’s intestines become entangled and the infant can die. Will the CDC and freak doctor Paul Offit design a new “mandatory” and “safe and effective” childhood vaccine that contains the African swine fever virus? Offit made millions off Rotateq, thanks to the CDC, while children across America are maimed and dying of “unknown” causes. Inspections aren’t enough, though. The U.S. needs radical changes made to not only the meat import industry, but the soy import industry, since the virus can transmit through animal feed. Plus, because most meat in America, including cow, chicken, turkey, and swine, is raised in corrupt, contaminated confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), parasites, pathogens, and viruses are already of epic concern. If the American “Big Food” industry, including meat and dairy, continue with business as usual, it’s almost unavoidable that some genocidal virus will break out everywhere. The African swine fever virus is easily spread through contact or contaminated meat products and can survive in processed meat, like hot dogs, deli meat, and sausages, for months on end. There is currently no cure for African swine fever virus, and once it’s discovered to have infected a herd, the farmers must wipe out every pig in the vicinity. In China, where half the world’s pigs live, well over half a million have been executed from threat of the virus spreading. The U.S. imports massive amounts of food from China, so the virus threat is of high concern. The virus can live outside the host in all kinds of conditions, even in dirt. Tune into Vaccines.news for more updates on imported deadly pig viruses that are used in U.S. vaccines to maim children.

S.D. Wells

http://www.naturalnews.com/2019-03-18-deadly-african-swine-fever-virus-seizure-of-agricultural-products.html

2019-03-18 20:47:43+00:00

health

non-human diseases

thedailybeast--2019-01-29--Denmarks Grand Plan Contain African Swine Flu With a Fence

thedailybeast

Denmark's Grand Plan: Contain African Swine Flu With a Fence

The United States isn’t the only country dealing with border wall controversy: Denmark is spending $12 million to erect a fence along its border with Germany in an attempt to keep foreign wild boar from coming in  and spreading African swine fever. Critics, though, told the Daily Beast the wall would be ineffective. “[It’s] likely not ... a practical way to keep the African swine fever; beyond the fact that wild boar are extremely powerful animals and likely they can make their way through or under it,” Viorel D. Popescu, an assistant professor of conservation biology at Ohio University who studies Eastern European forest ecology, told the Daily Beast via email. Denmark’s proposed fence, which will be completed by this fall, will stand 5 feet tall and will extend underground as well to prevent the boar digging under it. It will have regular gates and steps for humans to be able to cross over. The wall is the central effort to keep the disease from spreading to Danish pig farms, although the Danish government is also stripping back restrictions on hunting wild boar, calling for “wild boar hunts around the clock, as well as intensified efforts to hunt wild boar on state-owned and private land,” said a statement from the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food. Critics of the fence and mass culling of wild boar, including conservationists and hunters, point to several issues with the plans. The fence will have gaps for roads and waterways that boar can simply walk or swim through, making the $12 million project only partially effective. It also may prevent or hinder the free movement of other wildlife, specifically, wolves. Wolves had been extinct in Denmark for more than 200 years until a nascent pack recently crossed over the border, and they prey on wild boar. Wild boar are also useful to forest ecology: The rooting and digging they do on the forest floor helps germinate seeds and spread useful bacteria in the soil. “A barrier like that can potentially slow down invasion, but won’t stop it,” said Sara Kross, a  conservation biologist and director of Columbia University’s School of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology. “Any time you put up a fence it’s going to affect wildlife, hopefully wouldn’t affect other animals of conservation concern getting through.” Why the drastic measures? Wild boar can carry African swine fever, and Danish officials fear that these boar can wreak major destruction. Though the disease doesn’t affect humans, it is lethal to pigs within days, spreads quickly, and there is no cure or vaccine. African swine fever can spread rapidly through large herds, kills at almost a 100 percent rate, and can last in pigs that do survive it for up to two months. There’s a lot at stake for Danes. The pork industry, worth about $4.6 billion according to the country’s statistics department, is gigantic: The Danish Agriculture and Food Council reports that it takes about 5,000 farms to produce 28 million pigs annually (Denmark’s human population is about six million people). Pork accounts for more than 5 percent of Denmark’s total exports. If an African swine fever outbreak were to occur, "exports to non-EU countries would have to shut down," the Danish government said in a statement. It could cost the country $1.7bn (£1.3bn) billion in pork exports, according to the BBC. African swine fever hasn’t yet been spotted in Denmark or Germany, but there were a few outbreaks in Belgium (which also borders Germany) last fall. The disease has affected Lithuania and other Eurasian countries since 2014, where they are still attempting to fight it off. In Poland, another leading pork exporter, the government called for the mass slaughtering of the country’s entire population of wild boars—about 200,000 animals—and prompted protests online and in city streets in response. “It’s a political problem. Biosecurity is the only answer but it’s hard and costly,” Mikołaj Golachowski, a biologist and conservationist, told the Guardian. Research has shown that African swine flu spreads most effectively through discarded food and contaminated equipment, meaning that pig owners should be the first line of defense in preventing the disease. Golachowski also said that wild boar eat rodents and insect larvae, and killing them off could lead to a population boom in both types of pests. “Overall, such extreme measures have rarely (if ever) proven their worth, and conservation should be evidence-based, not politics-based,” Popescu said. Others, like Max A. E. Rossberg, chairman of the European Wilderness Society, said that blocking boars from moving won’t stop the disease from entering Denmark. “The African swine fever virus is found in uncooked or undercooked processed pork meat,” he told the Daily Beast via email. “The most common spreading of the virus is via garbage. People buy a salami sandwich and its remains end up in the food trays of pigs or wild boars rummage through the garbage and eat the salami. “As long as humans cross into Denmark, so will the virus make its way into Denmark.”

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thedailybeast/articles/~3/6ZcWIyrsl38/denmarks-grand-plan-contain-african-swine-flu-with-a-fence

2019-01-29 03:24:34+00:00

health

non-human diseases

globalresearch--2019-11-30--China’s African Swine Fever (ASF) “Spreading Globally”?

globalresearch

China’s African Swine Fever (ASF) “Spreading Globally”?

The worst outbreak of fatal African Swine Fever disease ever has devastated the world’s largest pig population, that of China, over the past months. Now it is spreading to neighboring states and even threatens the United States pig herds. The political and human impact could be far worse than imagined as a de facto pandemic disease situation spreads. Globalization of agribusiness is not helping matters. On August 3, 2018 a case of African Swine Fever (ASF) was confirmed in China’s Liaoning Province. Since then despite various measures to contain the deadly disease it has spread across China where as of November, 2019 in little more than a year, nearly half of China’s huge pig population has either died or been eliminated in a desperate effort to contain the disease. ASF is not deadly to humans but is 100% fatal to any pig that is infected. There is no known treatment to cure it. It can be spread by direct contact with an infected pig, body fluids, contact with equipment or clothing and via certain tick species. The China Agriculture Ministry issued a report in August that the size of China’s live pig herd had declined by a very precise 38.7% from August 2018. Industry sources suspect underreporting and put the actual number at more like 50%. In any event it is huge, and has impacted the politically sensitive measure of China food price inflation over the past year. Pork is a mainstay of the Chinese diet for meat protein and considered a national security issue. Most pigs in China are raised by small-scale farmers who face ruin now. According to reports inside China this has led many desperate small farmers to try to hide the presence of ASF in their herds, to slaughter and sell, to avoid financial ruin. The disease is especially dangerous. According to experts it’s hard to kill. One report notes, “It lives in feces for 11 days and blood for 15 weeks. It lives in salted meat for 182 days, dried meat for almost a year, and frozen meat for three years. The Chinese love to take meat snacks with them when they travel. Rules can be bent in Asia.” Even more alarming are reports that disposal of infected China pig carcasses is not safe. Rather than treating the infected dead pigs as biohazard and burying them far from the farm site the proper way burning them and treat the site as hazardous waste for a year or more, covering the site with lime, it has been documented that often small farmers bury the pigs next to the barn with no burning. That risks renewed outbreak of the disease. China had the world’s largest pig population at the beginning of 2018 with a population that was 440 million strong, out of a global population estimated at 769 million pigs. Now it could be down half of that, a major shock to world meat protein supplies. The speed of the spread of the disease across all China has clearly overtaxed the system there. However despite assurances, the spread has not been contained inside China. The ASF disease is spreading outside China as well. The Wall Street Journal noted, “In recent months, customs officials in Japan, Taiwan and Australia have found infected meat in other food products carried by tourists. And the disease has since been confirmed in herds in Vietnam, Mongolia and Cambodia.” The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that all provinces in Vietnam have reported ASF outbreaks and that more than 5,880,000 pigs have been culled since the first case was discovered in February. According to the FAO, as of November 21 significant African Swine Fever cases among pig populations in The Philippines, Laos and Timor Leste have also been documented. And wild boars carrying the disease have been detected at the border region in Russia with Mongolia. In several instances ASF virus gene was detected in pork products confiscated at Incheon Airport in Seoul South Korea brought by passengers from Shenyang City, China, an indication of how difficult containment is. Isolated cases have also been detected in EU countries including Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary which are acting swiftly to contain spread. It has also been documented in Moldavia, Belarus and Ukraine. Most recently, cases of the ASF have been detected in Poland not far from the German border. In early November African Swine Fever was found in 20 wild boar in Poland’s western Lubusz province near the Oder River, some 80 kilometers east of Germany, the European Union’s biggest hog producer. An alarming case was discovered over several weeks in March of a Chinese ship container at a port in Newark, New Jersey where Federal agents seized 1 million pounds of pork smuggled from China, the largest-ever U.S. seizure of agricultural products. The pork was hidden in containers of ramen noodles and laundry detergent. Authorities took it to determine if it was contaminated with ASF. There are many unanswered questions at this point about African Swine Fever pandemic spread. What is clear is that this is far more dangerous than we have so far been led to believe. In October, according to a new report by Henry Kamens, seven dead wild boar washed ashore in Denmark, a major pig producer country, and were disposed of without even being tested for ASF. F. William Engdahl is strategic risk consultant and lecturer, he holds a degree in politics from Princeton University and is a best-selling author on oil and geopolitics, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.” He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)

F. William Engdahl

https://www.globalresearch.ca/chinas-african-swine-fever-asf-spreading-globally/5696345

Sat, 30 Nov 2019 15:09:23 +0000

health

non-human diseases

sputnik--2019-11-08--Melting Arctic Sea Ice Induced by Climate Change Linked to Deadly Virus in Marine Animals

sputnik

Melting Arctic Sea Ice Induced by Climate Change Linked to Deadly Virus in Marine Animals

Scientists were baffled when sea otters in Alaska were initially diagnosed with PDV in 2004, since the disease had only been previously detected in Europe and on the East Coast of North America, the National Geographic reported. The disease was first detected in 1988 in northern Europe when it caused the death of around 18,000 seals. Symptoms of the disease - which is pathogenic for animals, particularly seals and other pinnipeds - include fever, labored breathing, discharge from the nose and eyes and eventually death. Using 15 years of Arctic sea ice measurements and data on the migration patterns of animals, the researchers concluded that melting of Arctic sea ice due to climate change opened new migration routes for marine mammals, allowing the virus to spread to previously unscathed areas. The researchers also used blood and nasal swab samples from animals like seals and otters in areas ranging from Southeast Asia to Russia to determine which populations had been exposed to PDV. “The loss of sea ice is leading marine wildlife to seek and forage in new habitats and removing that physical barrier, allowing for new pathways for them to move," Goldstein, who is also the associate director of the One Health Institute at the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, is quoted as saying by Science Daily. "As animals move and come in contact with other species, they carry opportunities to introduce and transmit new infectious disease, with potentially devastating impacts.” "As sea ice continues its melting trend, the opportunities for this virus and other pathogens to cross between North Atlantic and North Pacific marine mammals may become more common," researcher Elizabeth VanWormer concluded, Science Daily reported. "This study highlights the need to understand PDV transmission and the potential for outbreaks in sensitive species within this rapidly changing environment." PDV is not the only illness-causing microbe that may be spreading rapidly due to climate change. Warming ocean temperatures can also lead to the proliferation of dangerous algal blooms along the US West Coast, which can be deadly to animals, according to Shawn Johnson, the director of veterinary science at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California, NBC News reported. “We’re seeing more and more of these toxic blooms affecting our animals,” Johnson said. “This is not unique. It’s just another important piece of evidence showing that climate change is impacting the marine mammals all up and down the West Coast.”

https://sputniknews.com/environment/201911081077260679-melting-arctic-sea-ice-induced-by-climate-change-linked-to-deadly-virus-in-marine-animals/

Fri, 08 Nov 2019 21:58:53 +0300

health

non-human diseases

theguardianuk--2019-11-13--It’s not a conspiracy. Boris Johnson is just bad at laying wreaths and mopping floors | Joel Golby

theguardianuk

It’s not a conspiracy. Boris Johnson is just bad at laying wreaths and mopping floors | Joel Golby

Proud and elated to announce this week that I have managed to fill in two of my election bingo card squares: I got “Nigel Farage is up to something” and “conspiracy row involving the BBC” one day after another. I just need “man on the street yells directly in the face of standing MP”, “viral Sarah Vine column in which she coyly alludes to Michael Gove being horny” and “Jacob Rees-Mogg looms in the background, terribly” and I win a tenner off Chuka Umunna. Anyway, Armistice Day this week, which is either a sombre occasion for reflection on the unfathomably heroic sacrifice hundreds of thousands of soldiers made for our country (good) or a sort of competitive respect event in which there isn’t a single poppy big enough to show our thanks (bad). This year’s Cenotaph-adjacent vein-busters were basically the same as the previous years: “Fury as Jeremy Corbyn fails to shave his head and paint ‘LEST WE FORGET’ across his skull in poppy-red face paint” – and I, for one, am calling for fresh story lines. Nearby, Boris Johnson looked, frankly, as if he’d left my house at 10am in an Uber with a can of Dark Fruit for the road “to perk one up”. He looked like I’d been begging him to get two hours sleep – mate, please, you can use my bed, honestly – but he insists on playing The xx remixes off YouTube instead. Keeps asking me how the PlayStation controller works and whether it is possible to close any more curtains. His phone’s on 1% because he keeps Googling what time the shops open. That sort of thing. Only… oh? The footage of the wreath-laying on BBC Breakfast on Monday morning showed a markedly fresher-faced Johnson, laying a different coloured wreath, the right way up this time, and looking, well, as if he didn’t have an entry-stamp to The Dolphin on his inner wrist and £60 in notes in his wallet just in case. Eagle-eyed viewers immediately noticed the discrepancy, and the BBC issued a short mea culpa: the line they stuck to was that footage of the 2016 wreath-laying, prepared for a preview of the 2019 wreath laying, was accidentally used instead of footage of the 2019 ceremony. And because it’s 2019 we all accepted the apology and moved on. Ah, sorry, my mistake, no: because it’s 2019 we’re still talking about it days later and will continue to for many days and possibly years to come. Are there lessons from what history will refer to as #Wreathgate? On the one hand, it does seem like a particularly lazy conspiracy to make Boris Johnson look good: is anyone more likely to vote for the man because he combed his hair once three years ago, rather than looking like he finished all my cans at 3am and, in desperation, moved on to that Lucozade bottle full of amaretto I took to Leeds Fest this summer instead? Very hard to tell. On the other hand: if you’ve ever seen a nerd in a dark room editing video you would realise how particularly difficult it would be to reach three years back into the archives and accidentally splice one shot in among the fresh stuff – it is simply too many mouse-clicks to fathom. On a third hand, which is a thing: Rob Burley, the editor for BBC live political programmes and unlikely star of this election so far, came out and tweeted a Big And Bruising denial (“wave upon wave of insulting, self-righteous and hysterical tweets keep on coming because people really want it to be true”), which perversely makes me believe the conspiracy more. I don’t know what to do. What I do know is this: if you’re going to do a conspiracy in big, big 2019, do it a bit better than that. Do you know how many eyes are watching? Do you know how many high-functioning online entire subreddits dedicated to this there are? Do you know how on edge we all are after the whole Epstein thing? In 2016, American conspiracy heads got carried away and fired a rifle in a pizza parlour because it didn’t have a big enough basement. We’re not in the mood for this any more. You can’t go round splicing respectful footage into other respectful footage and thinking you can get away with it. Do better, BBC. Do better. Other things to hate or enjoy – delete as appropriate Sorry to double-down on Boris Johnson but the footage of him going to flooded Derbyshire and tepidly mopping up a Specsavers is very fascinating to me. There’s always something intriguing about watching politicians trying to act like people under the laser-hot glare of the media – we all remember how spectacularly Ed Miliband messed up eating a sandwich just because someone was watching him – but the man cleans like he’s only been introduced to the sheer concept of mopping in a short brief on the car ride over (“It’s a series of strings on the end of a stick, Boris, commonly used on the wetter end of domestic messes”). Would be very up for a series of videos of him just doing things over the next five weeks. Scratching his head over the recycling schedule. Logging into Netflix using only a TV remote. Changing the timer on his oven after the clocks go back. Sky News, hit me up for more. Two key policies from the Lib Dems this week: the first, a proposed lifelong-learning “skills wallet” grant of £10,000 for every adult in the UK – or about one year of tuition fees, if you’re counting. The skills wallet is a sort of manifesto equivalent of stepping on a rake you last left outside nine entire years ago – and has already been picked over by more cerebral columnists, so it falls to me to announce the second: a later breakfast policy at McDonald’s, suggested as a joke by Lib Dem HQ, which would be a disaster for this country. The strict 10.30am cut-off that currently exists works on two levels: it gets hungover people out of bed with some sort of deadline to work to, and it means cooks don’t have to keep a fried egg warm all day in an over-capacity kitchen. If you want an Egg McMuffin, wake up and get it. Anything beyond that is anti-worker, frankly. This should be a far bigger furore than it is. • Joel Golby is the author of Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant. He is writing a regular column during the election campaign

Joel Golby

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/13/boris-johnson-wreath-laying-lib-dems-egg-mcmuffin

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 11:58:47 GMT

human interest

ceremony

theguardianuk--2019-11-21--German SPD backs down after row over crude typo on memorial wreath

theguardianuk

German SPD backs down after row over crude typo on memorial wreath

Germany’s Social Democratic party has backed down after becoming locked in a blame game with a florist and a printer over who was responsible for misspelling “fascism” on a war memorial wreath so that it resembled the word “fuckup”. The error was only spotted once the wreath had been laid on Memorial Sunday, 17 November, when Germany traditionally commemorates the victims of war and fascism. Instead of the word “Faschismus” (fascism) the word “Verschissmuss” had been used. Although the word doesn’t exist, it closely resembles the word “verschissen” – a vulgar term for seriously messing up, close to “fucking up” in English. The SPD initially said it suspected an act of sabotage, either by the florist who took the order or by the printer who printed the slogan on a red ribbon in gold letters, and started legal action to find the culprit. The fact that the “mus” ends in double S, or “SS”, the acronym of the Schutzstaffel, the Nazi’s paramilitary unit, deepened the party’s suspicions that someone with either far-right or far-left sympathies was involved. But the party later backed down in a Facebook post headed: “Mistakes happen and are only human.” “It has now emerged that the error on the ribbon of our wreath was not a sabotage attempt but down to human error,” the local party wrote. “There was an unfortunate chain of unlucky events where, despite several people handling it, nobody noticed the mistake … “We deeply regret that the employee ... has handed in her notice ... we encourage her to go back to her job ... and would love to invite her for coffee and a chat.” Jacobs, the florists in the Ruhr valley town of Mülheim-Dümpten, which took the wreath order, called it an unfortunate transcribing error. Heinz Hartmann, the manager, said his colleague had received the order by telephone from the local SPD office, “as they have done for years”. She then sent her handwritten note to the printers via fax. Heinz-Jürgen Jahnke, who specialises in ribbon printing, told the newspaper Bild: “We received the order by fax on 12 November. Everything was clearly written and perfectly legible. I print whatever the customer wants,” he said. As to why he didn’t notice the odd spelling and alert the customer, he said: “We sometimes print Arabic, Italian and Polish texts. How can I check if they are correct?” The only reason for calling back a customer, he said, would be “if something is illegible”. Neither, apparently, did the florist notice anything when she picked up the wreath and delivered it, as requested by the SPD, to the memorial site. SPD members only noticed the highly embarrassing faux pas once the ceremony was under way. Hartmann said his florist had been so distressed about the error, news of which spread quickly on social media across the German-speaking world, that she had resigned. He was trying to persuade her to return, he said. Both Hartmann and Jahnke – who said he will take legal action to protect his reputation – have denied having any extreme political allegiances. Jahnke said he thinks the SPD should take more responsibility for what went wrong. “They should have simply faxed the text through to the poor florist, and then this wouldn’t have got so out of hand,” he told Bild. When the error was spotted, SPD member André Kasberger quickly stepped forward with a pair of nail scissors and cut off the offending word. The wreath ribbon was later replaced. Next year, the SPD said, it would be ordering and picking up its wreath in person.

Kate Connolly in Berlin

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/21/german-spd-party-drops-legal-action-over-sabotaged-memorial

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 17:25:59 GMT

human interest

ceremony

thesun--2019-12-19--Apprentice star Luisa Zissman branded ‘Inspector Clueless’ for accusing handyman of stealing her fes

thesun

Apprentice star Luisa Zissman branded ‘Inspector Clueless’ for accusing handyman of stealing her festive wreath

FORMER Apprentice star Luisa Zissman wrongly accused a handyman of stealing her festive wreath in a video on Instagram. The entrepreneur, 31, was branded “Inspector Clueless” after outing innocent James Gibbs, 32, as a suspect. She posted a video of his red Land Rover to her 539,000 followers, saying she’d been tipped off it was seen at the time of the £250 Christmas door decoration theft. After driving around her village near Potters Bar, Herts, she said she’d seen a the car and a few doors up was a wreath that “looks like mine”. She added: “It’s had a few bits added to it on someone’s front door. I s**t you not.” James was made aware of the video by a pal — and it sparked a vicious war of words between him and the businesswoman. The dad of three said: “I watched the video and thought, ‘Hang on, I have had nothing to do with this’. “Anyone could see her video. They could then target me or my car by driving into the side of me or anything. I am a bit frightened. “It’s disgusting being accused of something that you haven’t done. She’s wrecking my reputation. “I haven’t got the money to take her to court. I’m just a normal bloke. I feel like I have been victimised. She can’t go around falsely accusing people of things. “I think she fancies herself as a bit of a DIY detective, but she’s failing badly.” The star, who previously managed to track down her stolen laptop, said she had later told her followers that the wreath she spotted turned out not to be her one. Tearing into James, she added: “I saw a car that matches the description and that was that. He’s a little bit fame hungry. “Nobody knows who he is. I didn’t put his house on Instagram. The person’s house and the video was the one with the wreath. Tell James get a f***ing life.” Posting on Instagram again she added: “I don’t know who you f***ing are you knob. “I didn’t show your house. I didn’t show your car numberplate. I have no idea who you are. Your existence is completely insignificant to me. You complete joke. This guy is the lowest of the low trying to sell a story on me about how I’ve ruined his f***ing life. Get a grip you absolute scumbag.” Hertfordshire Police confirmed a report was made to them, but said they told the caller it was not a police matter and they should contact Instagram. Luisa said the incident had helped her raise more than £4,000 for charity after she raffled off another wreath. • GOT a story? RING The Sun 0207 782 4104 or WHATSAPP 07423720250 or EMAIL exclusive@the-sun.co.uk

Emma James

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/10590436/luisa-zissman-apprentice-wrongly-accused-stealing-christmas-wreath/

Thu, 19 Dec 2019 23:14:40 +0000

human interest

ceremony

sputnik--2019-02-26--Kim Jong-uns Hanoi Welcome Ceremony Nearly RUINED by Sloppy Attendant VIDEO

sputnik

Kim Jong-un's Hanoi Welcome Ceremony Nearly RUINED by Sloppy Attendant (VIDEO)

Seconds after the DPRK chairman stepped off his train and walked down the red carpet to shake hands with a Vietnamese official, a man who was apparently tasked with accompanying Kim flows out of the train in the nick of time to stand right next to him. The three-day journey by train saw Kim Jong-un trundle all the way down from Pyongyang to Hanoi, where he is expected to meet with Donald Trump on Wednesday and Thursday. This will be their second summit after the landmark meeting in Singapore last June. Back then, the two leaders agreed to work toward the "complete de-nuclearisation" of the Korean peninsula — however, without a detailed plan or roadmap.

https://sputniknews.com/asia/201902261072751555-kim-yong-un-hanoi-welcome-ceremony-attendant-video/

2019-02-26 11:32:00+00:00

human interest

ceremony

theconservativetreehouse--2019-05-27--Formal Imperial Palace Welcome Ceremony Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako Welcome US President

theconservativetreehouse

Formal Imperial Palace Welcome Ceremony – Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako Welcome U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump…

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump become the first guests of Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako at the Imperial Palace. Following custom there are three components to the state visit: (1) The guest arrival and formal greeting by the Emperor and Empress. (2) The ceremonial anthems of both nations and the presentation of the imperial guard.  (3) A “state call” or discussion of diplomatic matters between the Emperor, Empress and their honored guests. During the official state call component there is an exchange of gifts. First, the arrival: The ‘inside palace’ greeting and introduction was not covered by international media. However, due to the significance of the visit (first of imperial era of Reiwa) it was broadcast on local Japanese media as below: For insight to the warmth of introduction by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako this broadcast video is interesting: Another Video of the International Feed: After the welcome ceremony, the president and first lady made a ‘state call‘ on the emperor and empress. The state call is held in an Imperial Palace room with no media presence (there was a singular, brief, video). The emperor and empress both speak fluent English (attended Oxford) and during the welcome ceremony they engaged with President Trump and First Lady Melania in English to enhance comfort. They are guests. However, during the official ‘state call‘ the Emperor and Empress are representing the imperial nation-state of Japan. As such, formality dictates conversation in Japanese and the use of translators. After the brief segment where cameras are permitted, the host and guest exchange gifts from each nation. [POOL] The President presented the Emperor an American-made viola in a custom case and a signed photo of American composer Aaron Copland. This vintage 1938 viola was handmade in Charleston, West Virginia. The President also presented the Emperor with a signed and framed photo of the President. The First Lady presented the Empress with a custom White House desk set featuring a pen made of Harvard tree wood. The Empress herself studied Economics at Harvard. This fountain pen was handcrafted from a red oak tree that still stands in Old Harvard Yard. The First Lady also presented the Empress with a signed and framed photo of the First Lady. The Emperor presented the President with a traditional Japanese pottery and porcelain bowl as well as a signed and framed photo of His Majesty the Emperor. The Empress presented the First Lady with an ornamental Japanese lacquer box with traditional design as well as a framed and signed photo of Her Majesty the Empress. [Note: It is long-standing custom of the Imperial Palace that their Majesties the Emperor and Empress exchange signed, framed photographs with their guests on the occasion of a State Visit.] At the conclusion of the Imperial Palace visit, President Trump and First Lady Melania travel to Akasaka Palace for bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Abe. At Akasaka Palace Melania Trump and Akie Abe will again meet, and likely go do something else, while their spouses talk business of state between the U.S. and Japan. Later today the President and First Lady will return to the Imperial Palace for a very formal state banquet hosted by Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako. The U.S. delegation will meet the top-tier of Japanese diplomacy and commerce over a formal dinner celebration.

sundance

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/05/26/formal-imperial-palace-welcome-ceremony-emperor-naruhito-and-empress-masako-welcome-u-s-president-donald-trump-and-first-lady-melania-trump/

2019-05-27 03:05:23+00:00

human interest

ceremony

theconservativetreehouse--2019-07-25--President Trump Participates in Honors Welcome Ceremony at the Pentagon

theconservativetreehouse

President Trump Participates in Honors Welcome Ceremony at the Pentagon…

Beautiful weather today in Virginia as President Trump and Vice President Pence participate in a military honors welcoming ceremony at the Pentagon to celebrate America’s new Secretary of Defense, Mark T. Esper.  [Video and Transcript Below] [Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much to our great Vice President, and thank you to all of the extraordinary patriots here at the United States Department of Defense, the world’s largest building. I’ve heard for many years, the world’s largest building. And it’s under great leadership. Your devotion, strength, and courage keep America safe, strong, and free. It’s because of you that the United States military is the most powerful fighting force on the face of the Earth. I want to express our gratitude to the Old Guard and to all of the service members in today’s review for their extraordinary commitment to excellence and their unwavering loyalty to our nation. It is the greatest honor of my life to serve as your Commander-in-Chief. Let me also recognize the incredible U.S. Navy Sea Chanters and the band for that beautiful rendition of our National Anthem. It was really beautiful, and thank you very much. Fantastic job. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you. We’re gathered here today to celebrate the swearing-in of America’s new Secretary of Defense, Mark T. Esper. Secretary Esper, your lifetime of noble service has prepared you for this immense responsibility. And that’s what it is: immense responsibility. On behalf of our entire country, thank you and congratulations. Congratulations. (Applause.) I have no doubt — I know you well — that you will thrive in the performance of your duties and make all Americans — everybody in this great country — all Americans very, very proud. They’re right now very proud, but they’re going to be even more so as time goes by. People love our country more than ever, and our country is respected again. Remember that. I’m delighted that many members of your family could be here for this special occasion, including your wonderful wife Leah, your mother Polly, and your children Luke and Katherine. Thank you. Thank you very much. Congratulations to a great family. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Great family. Also joining us are Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan, Acting Administrator Chris Pilkerton, Director Dan Coats, representatives Kay Granger, John Rice Carter, and many members of the diplomatic corps. With us, as well, are many distinguished military leaders: Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Paul Selva. Where is Paul? Paul? Paul. Acting Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy. Ryan? Hi, Ryan. Stand up, Ryan. You’re doing a great job. (Applause.) You’re filling big shoes, Ryan. Acting Secretary of the Air Force Matthew Donovan. Thank you very much. Thank you, Secretary. (Applause.) Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly. Thank you, Thomas. Great. (Applause.) Army Chief of Staff, General Mark Milley. Mark? Thank you, Mark. (Applause.) Congratulations to Mark. Marine Corps Commandant, General David Berger. General, thank you very much. (Applause.) Air Force Chief of Staff, General David Goldfein. General, thank you very much. (Applause.)  And Chief of Naval Operations Admiral, John Richardson. Thank you all. Thank you, Admiral. (Applause.) Over many decades, in times of war and peace, Mark Esper has answered the call of duty. He’s never failed. He hails from Uniontown, Pennsylvania — the hometown of his personal hero, the legendary former Secretary of Defense and a great one, George Marshall. Mark attended the United States Military Academy at West Point. Graduated in 1986, receiving a commission in the infantry. Soon, he earned his tab — Ranger Tab — and fought with the famed 101st Airborne Division in the Gulf War. He was awarded the Bronze Star and the Combat Infantryman Badge for his service. Brave guy. They all told me he was a brave guy. I knew that anyway. In total, Mark served in our nation’s military for 21 years. He completed his final active-duty assignment right here at the Pentagon on the Army staff and then returned six years later as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Negotiations Policy. Over his career, Mark has advanced our national security in a variety of other government and private sector roles. He has worked in both houses of Congress, advising lawmakers. I can see he had some talent because he won — was it 98 to what? No, you got 90, right? Can you believe this? I don’t believe it. I heard a “Ninety.” Ninety to eight, right? (Applause.) I don’t know. I haven’t heard that sound in a long time, Mark. (Laughter.) Now I’m worried. Ninety to eight. Wow. He served as Vice President of Raytheon. Along the way, Mark earned a master’s degree at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a PhD at George Washington University. In 2017, Mark was sworn in as Secretary of the United States Army, a position in which he earned universal admiration and respect. Tremendous respect. At the Department of Defense, Secretary Esper will work with more than 2 million service members and hundreds of thousands of civilian employees all dedicated to one critical mission: the defense of the nation and of this great nation’s people. I have absolute confidence that Mark will ensure that our incredible military is fully prepared to deter conflict and to defeat any foe. No enemy can match the awesome might of the American Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and the United States Marines. We had a budget approved when I first came in. Billions and billions of dollars more than it was previously, in the previous administration: $700 billion. Then I went to $716 billion. And I won’t even tell you what this one is. I can only tell you it’s even more. Because we have rebuilt things that nobody ever even thought of rebuilding. We’ve added the greatest planes in the world, the greatest missiles in the world. We’ve upgraded our nuclear very, very powerfully, including new. We never want to have to use it. Pray to God that we never have to use it. But we have the best in the world in every aspect of military. The sight of American warriors brings solace into the hearts of our friends and strikes fear into the hearts of our enemies. Our military today is more powerful, by far, than ever before. And three years ago, we could not have said that, could we, Mark? We’re giving our warfighters the tools they need to fight and win with overwhelming force. After years and years of budget cuts and all of the things that they’ve been doing to set us back with our military, we have more than made up for all of it. We’re building new tanks and ships and submarines and planes and missile systems to ensure that our warriors operate with unrivaled capability in conflict. Any battlefield will be a battlefield on which we win. We have given our service members their largest pay raise in nearly a decade. And under this administration, we have faced the challenge of our time with clear eyes, fresh thinking, and bold determination. Our first priority is always the safety and sovereignty of our nation and our citizens. Here at home, we have deployed military forces to confront the grave national security crisis on our southern border. And I want to thank all of the great military leaders for the help you’ve given us on our southern border. And, as you know, Mexico has now deployed 21,000 troops, which is something they’ve never done before. And they’ve been a tremendous help. Tremendous difference in the numbers — very rapidly. And we want to thank the country of Mexico and the President. No nation can be safe or secure that fails to control its borders. In Syria and Iraq, thanks to the bravery of our warriors and their allies, the ISIS territorial caliphate has been 100 percent and just absolutely destroyed. And we did it in a very quick moment of time. As soon as I said, “I want to do it and I want to do it fast,” our military kicked in and it happened very, very quickly. Today, we stand not far from where terrorists attacked the Pentagon on 9/11, claiming 184 precious lives. We will never forget the immortal sacrifice of those American patriots. We vow to do whatever it takes to protect our homeland, to safeguard our people from the threat of radical Islamic terrorism, and to preserve American freedom. Around the world, America faces new threats and strategic rivals, it seems like all the time. We have met this competition with unmatched confidence, purpose, and resolve. We talk to all of them and they talk to us with great, great respect. They respect our country so much more than they have for many, many decades. Right now, they respect us more than they have in many, many years. And it’s only going to get more so. We are ensuring American dominance across every warfighting domain — land, air, sea, cyber, and now space. That is why, under Secretary Esper’s leadership, we will — as Mike and Mark have already said, but it’s so exciting to say. And whenever I make a speech, people start going wild. They stand up and they clap, and I can’t sit them down. And I have to wait because I say, “We’re launching the United States Space Force.” They go absolutely wild. They understand that’s where it’s going to be at. And we’re going to be there, and we’re going to be there in every way that you can. As we aim ever higher, I know the men and women of this department will never let up and never rest easy. Together, we will fulfill our sacred mission to protect the greatest nation in the history of the world: the United States of America. With unyielding strength, we will defend our country, we will defend our people, and we will proudly defend our great American flag. Secretary Esper, congratulations again to you and your family. This is an incredible day in the life and fabled history of the United States. Secretary of Defense, do you ever see that, looking into — do you ever see that one? As I watch all of these great men and women — you’re going to do a great job, I have no doubt. Absolutely no doubt. (Applause.) No doubt. We cannot wait to see all that you will achieve for our nation as the new Secretary of Defense. I want to thank everybody for being here. Very special people. God bless you. God bless our military. And God bless America. Thank you very much everybody. (Applause.) Thank you.

sundance

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/07/25/president-trump-participates-in-honors-welcome-ceremony-at-the-pentagon/

2019-07-25 18:49:17+00:00

human interest

ceremony

aljazeera--2019-01-10--Peru Paraguay recall diplomats over Maduro inauguration

aljazeera

Peru, Paraguay recall diplomats over Maduro inauguration

Peru and Paraguay recalled their diplomats from Venezuela on Thursday, shortly after President Nicolas Maduro began his second term after winning a controversial election last year. Peru said it recalled its charge d'affaires from its embassy in Venezuela to protest what it called the "illegitimate" new term of Maduro, according to the Peruvian Foreign Ministry. In a statement on Thursday, the ministry said Maduro and 100 others linked to him or his government would be banned from entry to Peru. Maduro was sworn in for a controversial second six-year term following an election in 2018, which was largely boycotted by the opposition and criticised by the United States, European Union and others as a "sham". Peru's move came not long after Paraguay cut diplomatic ties with Venezuela just minutes after Maduro took his office in the Venezuela capital, Caracas. Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez made the announcement on national television, saying he would immediately withdraw his country's diplomats from Caracas. "There are no bad consequences when defending just causes," Benitez said. "The cause of liberty and democracy is a just cause." Earlier on Thursday, the Organization of American States voted not to recognise the legitimacy of Maduro's second six-year term, approving a resolution presented by several member states. The vote was 19 in favour, eight abstentions and six against. Samuel Moncada, Venezuela's ambassador to the bloc, slammed the decision, calling it "a hostile act ... against our nation". The US also added its condemnation, with National Security Adviser John Bolton tweeting that the US would not recognise "the Maduro dictatorship's illegitimate inauguration". "We will continue to increase pressure on the corrupt regime, support the democratic National Assembly, and call for democracy and freedom in Venezuela," he said. Shortly after, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned what he called Maduro's "usurpation of power". Days earlier, the Lima Group - made up of 14 Latin American countries and Canada - urged Maduro to cede power to the National Assembly until new elections can be held. Mexico, which has shifted to the left under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, was the only Lima Group member not to condemn Maduro's administration. Maduro hit back at global criticism of his new mandate, which will keep him at the helm of the oil-rich, cash-strapped country until at least 2025. During his inauguration, he said that the US and the Lima Group have turned his swearing-in ceremony into a war. Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo, reporting from Caracas, said that while China, Russia and other allies sent representatives to the ceremony, many more countries were noticeably absent. "There is no presence from the European Union or the United States, this is an example of how isolated Venezuela has become, not only internationally but also in the region. In spite of this, the president says that Venezuela has the allies it needs, including Russia and China," she said. Since 2015, Venezuela has been embroiled in a worsening economic crisis with hyperinflation soaring and millions of people fleeing food and medicine shortages.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/peru-paraguay-recall-diplomats-maduro-inauguration-190110180310100.html

2019-01-10 19:32:44+00:00

human interest

ceremony

bbc--2019-05-20--High-fives on the way to the inauguration

bbc

High-fives on the way to the inauguration

Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at his own presidential inauguration in high spirits, greeting the crowd with kisses, high-fives, selfies, and a photo-friendly muscle flex while ascending the steps to power.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-48336589

2019-05-20 10:00:12+00:00

human interest

ceremony

cbsnews--2019-01-08--Colorado takes step to left with governors inauguration

cbsnews

Colorado takes step to left with governor's inauguration

Colorado took a formal step to the left Tuesday with the inauguration of Democrat Jared Polis, the nation's first openly gay governor whose overwhelming election victory and party's consolidation of legislative control promise ambitious changes for energy and environmental regulation, health care and state-funded early childhood education. Several thousand people gathered on the state Capitol's west slope on a crisp morning to watch the ceremony under sunny skies. Current lawmakers and former governors attended the inauguration under tight security that included closed streets. Polis is a wealthy tech and education entrepreneur and former five-term congressman from Boulder. He succeeds Gov. John Hickenlooper, a centrist Democrat, former Denver mayor, petroleum geologist and beer pub entrepreneur who served the maximum two terms. Hickenlooper is considering a 2020 presidential run. Polis trounced then-state treasurer Walker Stapleton in November. Health care and Donald Trump's presidency were the top issues in the campaign. The planned festivities include an evening "Blue Sneaker Ball," named after the footwear Polis sported during his campaign. Pop singer and LGBTQ activist Cyndi Lauper and the R&B combo Nathaniel Rateliff & The Nightsweats were scheduled to perform. Former state Rep. Diane Primavera, a health care advocate, was being sworn in as lieutenant governor. Primavera is a cancer survivor and most recently led Colorado's Susan G. Komen Foundation chapter in its battle against breast cancer. Polis has promised action on oil and gas drilling and on marijuana policy. Hickenlooper brokered a tentative compromise on fracking between Colorado's expanding $32 billion oil and gas industry and environmentalists opposed to drilling. He also oversaw the creation of Colorado's first-in-the-nation recreational marijuana market, which opened in 2014. Polis once supported fracking limits but has abandoned the stance, saying there's a place for Colorado oil and gas exports even as he pursues a 100 percent renewable energy goal by 2040. Democratic lawmakers are working this session to strengthen air and water quality rules for the fossil fuels industry. Polis, who was a member of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, says he'd pursue more industry financing opportunities and add autism to the qualifying conditions for medical marijuana. Polis has called for universal health care, suggesting Colorado could partner with neighboring states to create a regional market. Lawmakers are studying a state-run insurance market for Colorado. Polis and Democrats also will pursue funding for full-day kindergarten — and, if Polis gets his way, universal preschool, modeled after an Oklahoma program. Polis earned his wealth by starting an internet company in college and revolutionizing the online greeting cards and floral retail industries. He served on the state board of education before going to Congress.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/colorados-jared-polis-to-become-nations-first-gay-governor/

2019-01-08 19:24:58+00:00

human interest

ceremony

chicagosuntimes--2019-01-14--READ Text of JB Pritzkers inauguration speech

chicagosuntimes

READ: Text of J.B. Pritzker’s inauguration speech

I want to begin today by thanking my family. First, my partner, my best friend, the love of my life, and now the First Lady of Illinois, MK Pritzker. My wonderful children Teddi and Donny. I love you more than life itself. And my parents Sue and Don Pritzker, who departed this world too soon more than three decades ago but who left behind a set of values around honor and decency that will endure as long as there are good people in the world. And please join me in giving an ovation for my partner and your Lieutenant Governor, the incomparable Juliana Stratton. I want to acknowledge the other distinguished guests here today: Chief Justice Lloyd Karmeier, President John Cullerton, Speaker Michael Madigan, Leader Bill Brady, Leader Jim Durkin, Attorney General-elect Kwame Raoul, Secretary of State Jesse White, Comptroller Susana Mendoza, Treasurer Mike Frerichs, Members of the General Assembly, Members of the Congressional delegation, Governor Jim Edgar, Governor Pat Quinn, Governor Bruce Rauner, Governor Jim Thompson, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and National Guard Adjutant General Richard Hayes. To all of you, on behalf of the people of Illinois, thank you for your service. Ladies and gentlemen, for 200 years Illinois has proudly stood as the beating heart of our Republic… a place whose people have high hope and clear vision. This is where Lincoln found the mettle to grip a warring nation in both hands and hold us together. This is where Obama came to organize and to witness the courage that runs deep in our communities – in whom he found the fortitude to launch his bid to make history. This is where the 13th and 19th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution were first ratified, ending slavery and guaranteeing a woman’s right to vote. This is where, on the Sunday morning after the Great Chicago Fire, Reverend Robert Collyer, pastor of the First Unitarian Church, an immigrant, an ardent anti-slavery abolitionist, and a women’s suffrage advocate, stood amidst the broken ruins of his once grand church and brought hope and vision to his devastated congregation. His parishioners gathered around him, the sun peeking through gutted walls and splintered beams, an overturned column serving as his pulpit. His words that morning have survived the 147 years since he delivered them…a testament to their power and truth: “What is lost?” he asked. “First, our homes. Second, our businesses. But these are temporary. … We have not lost our geography. Nature called the lakes, the forests, the prairies together in convention long before we were born, and they decided that on this spot a great city would be built. … We have not lost our hope. … The fire makes no difference to me. If you’ll stay here, I will. And we’ll work together, and help each other out of our troubles.” Since Reverend Collyer’s time, Americans have often had to gather in broken cathedrals – some of stone and glass – some of aspirations and promises – to reaffirm our faith in one another. We find ourselves at such a moment now. We contend every day with an economy that gives little and takes too much… that allows passion and work ethic to be overwhelmed by student loans, unexpected health emergencies and the rising cost of living. We want strong families, but we have yet to embrace more robust policies supporting paid parental leave and affordable child care that will sustain them. We watch 100-year storms that now come every year – and yet we don’t allow the science of climate change to guide our decision making. We fail to hold accountable leaders who sacrifice truth for personal gain – who substitute pageantry for patriotism. We are a nation founded on fearless ideas – and yet we move away from those drawn to that vision. We want better roads, better schools, better wages – but we vilify anyone who dares suggest a workable path to those things. We allow our schools, our movie theaters, our hospitals, our neighborhoods to become battlefields – legally accessible by the weapons of war. Our abdication of responsibility must end. Just a few weeks ago, I went to Mercy Hospital to attend a vigil honoring the victims of the murderous shootings there: To honor the police officer who ran into gunfire and not away. To honor the doctor – a University of Illinois graduate – who raised money for disadvantaged kids and led her church choir. To honor the pharmacist who went into medicine because she had struggled with health problems herself. These are the very best of Illinois. As a public servant, it’s hard to bear witness to violence such as this. But this job also exposes you to the people who stitch us back together time and again, to the Illinoisans who remind us what amazing capacity we have to change. At the Mercy Hospital vigil, Sister Barbara Centner read a Franciscan prayer that speaks to who we are in Illinois: “May God bless us with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, hunger, and war, so that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and turn their pain into joy. And may God bless us with enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in this world, so that we can do what others claim cannot be done, to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.” At 200 years old, Illinois is still a young promise. Our time here has been but a blink. In 2019, we must begin a new century with new maturity…and enough foolishness to believe we can make a difference. That starts with leadership that abandons single minded, arrogant notions. No. Everything is not broken. Our history is a story of leaps forward and occasional stumbles back – and a promise renewed with each generation that we will try harder…that we will do better…that big breakthroughs are built of centuries of selfless effort by unheralded heroes …that big change rides on what we can do together, not what one person attempts alone. Neighbors working side by side in Taylorville lost their homes and worldly possessions in the recent tornadoes. They know that what Reverend Collyer said after the Great Chicago Fire was right – we work together to help each other out of our troubles. So today, with all the challenges Illinois faces, Democrats and Republicans will work together, and we must begin with our most basic responsibilities. We will propose, debate and pass a balanced budget this year. It won’t be easy, but let’s confront this challenge with honesty. Our obligations as a state outmatch our resources. Our fiscal situation right now is challenging. And the solution requires a collective commitment to embracing hard choices. We need to bring real efficiencies to state government. Our information technology systems are outdated and cost more to maintain than they do to replace. Inexpensive healthcare prevention programs were decimated, causing higher spending to treat diseases that could have been cured. Balancing the budget means lowering the cost of government while delivering the high quality services Illinoisans deserve. But be clear about this: I won’t balance the budget on the backs of the starving, the sick, and the suffering. I won’t hollow out the functions of government to achieve an ideological agenda – I won’t make government the enemy and government employees the scapegoats. Responsible fiscal management is a marriage of numbers – and values. Which is why it’s time to start the earnest work of creating a fair tax system here in Illinois. Our regressive tax system, including property taxes and sales taxes, currently has the middle class paying more than double the rate the wealthy pay. That’s not fair, and it also doesn’t pay our bills. Today our state’s fiscal instability affects every single person who lives and works in Illinois…whether you earn millions or the minimum wage. It means that our government wastes tens of millions of dollars paying higher interest rates than almost any other state, and we scare businesses and families away because they fear our uncertain future. The current tax system is simply unsustainable. Others have lied to you about that fact. I won’t. The future of Illinois depends on the passage of a fair income tax, which will bring us into the 21st Century like most of our midwestern neighbors, and like the vast majority of the United States. I’m not naïve about what it will take to do this. All who enter a discussion about our state’s budget and a fair tax system in good faith will be welcomed to the table. But if you lead with partisanship and scare tactics you will be met with considerable political will. It is time to update and repair our state’s aging infrastructure. Railways, roads, bridges and fresh water arteries are on the verge of collapse. Crumbling bridges mean people’s lives are in danger. Deteriorating rail systems mean goods and services take longer to deliver and cost more. We are the nation’s supply chain hub and we must be built like it. Let’s remember too that an aging highway system is not just concrete and steel. It’s a longer commute home. It’s missing those golden hours between dinner and bedtime when your kids are young where you spend a few minutes reading a book together and talking about their day. The seemingly dry acts of government really do affect the richness and joy of our lives. We must treat the decisions we make together – the decisions of our elected officials to champion a cause and the decisions of our citizens to embrace or reject those efforts – with an eye to the pursuit of their happiness. As we enter Illinois’ third century, we must bring a renaissance to downstate Illinois which has been deprived of some basic resources for education and business building that are taken for granted elsewhere in our state. To begin, we will work to deliver high speed broadband internet coverage to everyone, in every corner of Illinois. Today every new job and every student is dependent upon connectivity, and no part of our state should be left out. Our future depends upon our actions today. That’s why we must embrace a broad vision of environmental protection, or else decisions are going to be forced upon us in ways that will offer us little control and catastrophic outcomes for our children. I believe in science. To that end, as one of my first acts as Governor, Illinois will become a member of the U.S. Climate Alliance, upholding the goals and ideals of the Paris Climate Accord. Working men and women deserve to have a governor and a Department of Labor that will enforce laws protecting workers’ wages and workers’ rights. And they deserve a $15 minimum wage. It’s good for the working families of Illinois and good for our economy. As your governor, I’ll be committed to helping us become the fastest growing big state economy in the nation. I will be our state’s best Chief Marketing Officer to attract jobs and businesses to Illinois. We will bring capital, technical assistance and mentorship to help Illinoisans across our state start and build new businesses and new jobs. Our economic success depends upon it. In the interests of keeping the public safe from harm, expanding true justice in our criminal justice system, and advancing economic inclusion, I will work with the legislature to legalize, tax and regulate the sale of recreational cannabis in Illinois. We will approach education with a holistic mindset – recognizing that students do best in community schools where teachers are paid well and where kids start learning at the earliest ages. And our economy grows when vocational training, community colleges and universities are strong. We will do all of this with the most diverse set of voices and perspectives that Illinois has ever seen. I have built a cabinet of people who bring with them experiences I don’t share, from communities I did not come from, with expertise I don’t have, because to lead well, all of Illinois must be represented in the decision making. Furthermore, I want all the children of Illinois to see someone who looks like them in my government. High hope and clear vision are what have built this state. Despite all the turmoil in this world, Illinoisans continue to build, innovate, create and dream. Our agriculture sector is built on some of the most fertile soil in the world, and it’s expanding, employing nearly a million people in every part of the state. We have nearly 13,000 manufacturing firms in Illinois that employ more than 580,000 people – many of them proud union workers with the best training in the world. One out of 10 computer science degrees in the nation comes from Illinois colleges and universities. Our entrepreneurs continue to be tireless dreamers, whether it’s Jamie Gladfelter creating a software development incubator in Galesburg, Jeremie Draper shaping glass in Peoria or Leif Anderson still using his grandfather’s original recipes to make and sell candy in Richmond. That’s the Illinois I see…one of possibility and promise. That’s the Illinois I know, one whose people are fearless and audacious. That’s the vision I have for our state…another century of boundless opportunity. When your faith in this future flags, I urge you to remember Reverend Collyer and his ruined church – how he was the vessel for his parishioners’ burnt hopes. How he saw the natural beauty of Illinois and knew nothing could steal that from them. I see the natural beauty of Illinois every day – in our people. More than anything else I see it in our capacity to be kind. Consider the story a few weeks ago of Casey Handal and Zadette Rosado. Casey and Zadette moved to Barrington last May and they proudly flew a rainbow flag behind their home. And then someone snuck into their yard and stole it, replacing their pride flag with an American flag – ironic because the thief doesn’t understand that you rob the American flag of meaning when you steal a person’s symbol of self-expression. That could have been the end of the story, but Casey and Zadette’s neighbor Kim Filian wouldn’t let it be. She put a pride flag in her yard in solidarity. And then she kept buying them because her neighbors kept asking for them too. Soon there were pride flags everywhere – a place that hate had tried to fill was conquered by love instead. As Kim noted: “Frankly, I’ve grown weary of this, of all this hate. And I gotta say, it just seemed like there was one thing that I could do that I had control of.” Remember that our ability to grow weary of hate fuels our enormous capacity to be kind. The bright moments of our past…the North Star of our future…are all lit not by ambition, partisanship or greed…but by kindness. A willingness to be kind is a virtue often overlooked in life…a commitment to be kind in politics can change the world. Over a century ago, public policy grounded by kindness offered a penniless immigrant to Illinois a bed to sleep in, a public school education and the opportunity to succeed. 130 years later, his great grandson just took the oath of office to be Governor of this great state. So thank you Illinois, for your faith in me. I promise to live up to it every day. Together let’s go into this new century with enough faith to help each other out of our troubles, with enough foolishness to believe we can make a difference in the world, and with enough kindness to find the courage to change. Thank you. God bless the state of Illinois. And God bless the United States of America.

Sun-Times Staff

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/j-b-pritzker-inauguration-address/

2019-01-14 18:28:37+00:00

human interest

ceremony

abcnews--2019-11-25--High school journalists who fought censorship win award

abcnews

High school journalists who fought censorship win award

Four Vermont high school journalists have won an award for fighting and conquering censorship. The Burlington High School student newspaper, The BHS Register, was awarded the Courage in Student Journalism Award on Saturday. It is sponsored by the Student Press Law Center, the Center for Scholastic Journalism at Kent State University and the National Scholastic Press Association. In fall 2018, the students broke a story online about a school employee facing unprofessional conduct charges. The students had sought the information through a public records request. The principal asked the students' adviser to take it down. The students removed it reluctantly but maintained links to it on social media that led to a page saying the story had been censored by the school administration. The students talked to legal experts, and the newspaper cited its rights under a law passed in Vermont in 2017 that protects the First Amendment rights of student journalists. Senior Julia Shannon-Grillo flew to Washington last week to attend the National High School Journalism Convention and accepted the award Saturday. She thanked everyone who followed the story last fall and said “now more than ever journalism matters,” according to a video of her speech she posted on Facebook. This story has been corrected to reflect that the name of an organization is the Student Press Law Center, not the Student Press Law Association.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/high-school-journalists-fought-censorship-win-award-67293578

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 17:19:09 -0500

human interest

accomplishment

adobochronicles--2019-01-24--Andanar Receives Best Medyas Personality of 2018 Award

adobochronicles

Andanar Receives “Best Medyas Personality of 2018” Award

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar was named Best Medyas Personality of 2018 by The Daily Tribune. Andanar was cited for his outstanding work in sock-med. The award is as pretigious as the “Filipino of the Year” honor given last year to Pinoy Ako Blog’s Jover Laurio by The Inquirer.

Pol Pinoy

https://adobochronicles.com/2019/01/23/andanar-receives-best-medyas-personality-of-2018-award/

2019-01-24 05:48:06+00:00

human interest

accomplishment

adobochronicles--2019-06-16--Rappler Receives Prestigious Award From Disney

adobochronicles

Rappler Receives Prestigious Award From Disney

HOLLYWOOD, California (The Adobo Chronicles, Hollywood Bureau) – There’s no stopping Maria Ressa and her online business, Rappler, from reaping international awards! Today, Disney announced that it was giving Rappler one of its most prestigious awards — the Disney Animator of the Year. The award was in recognition of Rappler’s animated version of the recent alleged sinking by a Chinese vessel of a Philippine fishing boat in the West Philippine Sea. Speaking with The Adobo Chronicles, Ressa said she is humbled by this great honor and credited her team of Rapplerettes that created this amazing video.

Pol Pinoy

https://adobochronicles.com/2019/06/16/rappler-receives-prestigious-award-from-disney/

2019-06-16 22:27:11+00:00

human interest

accomplishment

adobochronicles--2019-09-27--PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar Receives Prestigious Netizen Award

adobochronicles

PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar Receives Prestigious Netizen Award!

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – Secretary Martin Andanar of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) has been realint awards left and right. And center. Just days after he received the “Most Effective Communicator” award from the Philippine Cancer Society Inc. (PCSI), Andanar was honored by the National Coalition of Netizen Associations of the Philippines (NCNAP). The NCNAP award was for “Most Effective Miscommunicator.” In receiving this latest honor, Andanar thanked the NCNAP for reminding him that there are always two sides to a story, sometimes even three —PCSO’s, Rappler’s and the DDS online warriors. ”Oblivious as I may be to the work that PCOO is or is not doing, I am still humbled by this honor,” he added.

Pol Pinoy

https://adobochronicles.com/2019/09/26/pcoo-secretary-martin-andanar-receives-prestigious-netizen-award/

2019-09-27 01:32:26+00:00

human interest

accomplishment

aljazeera--2019-01-07--Egyptian American Rami Malek shines at Golden Globe Awards

aljazeera

Egyptian American Rami Malek shines at Golden Globe Awards

Egyptian American actor Rami Malek has won the Golden Globe Award for best actor in a drama for his portrayal of rock group Queen's frontman Freddie Mercury in the biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody. Accepting the award, the 37-year-old said he was "beyond moved" before thanking Mercury's Queen bandmates, Brian May and Roger Taylor. "Thank you to Freddie Mercury for giving me the joy of a lifetime. I love you, you beautiful man. This is for and because of you," said Malek. The movie, which was directed by Bryan Singer, picked up the gong for Best Drama, beating Ryan Coogler's Black Panther and Bradley Cooper's A Star is Born. Other winners on the night included Glenn Close, who won Best Actress for her performance in The Wife and Alfonso Cuaron, who won Best Director for his film, Roma. Critics have praised Cuaron's Spanish-language film about a housekeeper to a middle-class family in Mexico, which received the award for Best Foreign Language film and is considered a contender for this year's Oscars. Adored by fans, but largely panned by critics, Bohemian Rhapsody pulled off a surprise upset Sunday night, overcoming favourite A Star is Born to win the nod, while the race-relations comedy Green Book netted the prize for Best Motion Picture -Comedy or Musical. While Hollywood uncharacteristically stayed away from politics, Christian Bale made several barbs at former US Vice President Dick Cheney after winning the best actor award in a musical or comedy for his portrayal of the Haliburton CEO, who became what many regard as the White House's most powerful number two. "Thank you to Satan for giving me inspiration on how to play this role," Bale said after winning for his performance in the political satire film Vice.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/01/egyptian-american-rami-malek-shines-golden-globe-awards-190107065950391.html

2019-01-07 09:48:21+00:00

human interest

accomplishment

aljazeera--2019-04-23--Al Jazeera wins four Webby awards

aljazeera

Al Jazeera wins four Webby awards

The Al Jazeera Media Network has won four Webby awards in a contest that is often referred to as the Emmy's of the online world. The Qatar-based network's wins emerged from out of more than 13,000 entries from an array of media organisations, including the Washington Post, National Geographic, Disney, New York Times, Huffington Post, Vox and many more. Adhering to its motto of giving "a voice to the voiceless", Al Jazeera's AJ Short Growing up too fast in Afghanistan picked up a Webby jury win as well as a top prize in the People's Voice category. The short film tells the heart-rending story of 14-year-old Khudai, whose father was killed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS). Khudai would like to live a normal childhood but now must face the hard reality of ensuring the survival of his five younger sisters and mother. "I see other kids with their school bags and pens and wish I went to school too, studied, read and wrote," Khudai explained in the short film, which has been recognised by other award competitions this year. Contrast, Al Jazeera's virtual reality unit, also picked up a win for Best Series in the People's Voice competition for 7 Stories for 7 Years. The series tracks the aspirations of seven Syrian teens in one of the world's largest refugee camps, Zaatari, in Jordan. Marah, one of the characters in the series, is 18 and the mother of a five-month-old son. She's also a photographer and filmmaker. "My message to every girl in the world is do not stop dreaming for any reason," Marah said in the 360 film. Carlos van Meek, director of Digital Innovation and Programming, said he is proud of his team's performance and considers winning the awards proof that there is room for news and current affairs in the digital space. "These wins show that Al Jazeera Digital is well positioned to continue telling strong stories from places like Afghanistan and Syrian refugee camps in Jordan long after the media spotlight may have faded," he said. "Awards like the Webby's reinforce Al Jazeera's mission to empower people by sharing their stories with a global audience," van Meek added. The AJ+ English online series In Real Life also scooped up a win for its 14-minute expose of pandemic food wastage in the United States. The show's producer-presenter, Yara Elmjouie, noted that one-third of all edible food is discarded every year in the US, thrown into dumpsters by restaurants, supermarkets and consumers. Medals will be conferred during the 23rd annual Webby gala to be held in New York City on May 13, an event that is well attended by media members, innovators and celebrities.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/04/al-jazeera-wins-webby-awards-190423155246741.html

2019-04-23 17:48:17+00:00

human interest

accomplishment

bbc--2019-01-11--Award for Milwaukee bus driver who saved toddler

bbc

Award for Milwaukee bus driver who saved toddler

A bus driver in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has been honoured for saving a toddler wandering alone in freezing conditions. Irena Ivic, who works for the Milwaukee County Transit System, spotted the child running along an overpass in December.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46838788

2019-01-11 12:32:54+00:00

human interest

accomplishment

bbc--2019-02-13--Kings of the jungle on top in photo award

bbc

Kings of the jungle on top in photo award

A photograph of a pair of male lions, entitled Bond of Brothers, is the winner of the People's Choice Award at this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. It was taken by professional photographer David Lloyd, who saw off competition from more than 45,000 entries. A shortlist of 25 images was selected by the Natural History Museum and opened to the public to vote for their favourite. "I'm so pleased that this image did well because it illustrates the emotion and feeling of animals and emphasises that this is not limited to humans," says Lloyd, who is from New Zealand but living in London. "It is something I think more people need to be aware of for the sake of all animals." The picture can be seen at the Natural History Museum alongside other highly, commended entries, four of which are shown here. All photographs courtesy Wildlife Photographer of the Year

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-47216227

2019-02-13 00:19:58+00:00

human interest

accomplishment

bbc--2019-11-13--Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019: The winning image

bbc

Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2019: The winning image

Frightened fish, shy bears, sarcastic owls and birds that were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. These are the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards finalists - but we imagine there wasn't much to laugh about for the subject of the winning image, above. It was taken by Sarah Skinner in Botswana, and shows a lion club "playing"... The young lioness "continues to thrive in the pride", according to Sarah, who also wanted to "encourage everyone, as a collective" to do their best to help conserve wildlife "so that future generations can enjoy them in the same way I have during my career". Have a look below at some of the finalists. A version of this article showing the finalists was originally published in September. Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-49690173

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 06:21:21 GMT

human interest

accomplishment

bbcuk--2019-02-26--British photographer wins photo award

bbcuk

British photographer wins photo award

A photograph showing the exact moment a pack of grey reef sharks catch and devour a parrotfish sees Briton Richard Barnden named Underwater Photographer of the Year 2019. The picture, The Gauntlet, was taken late at night on the reefs of French Polynesia in the centre of the Pacific Ocean. "As I descended, hundreds of sharks covered the bottom. This unlucky parrotfish flinched - and that tiny movement alerted the swarm of sharks," said Barnden. "The mayhem hurtled straight towards me and I instinctively pressed the shutter, moments later all that remained was a rain of parrotfish scales in the darkness - and this photo on my camera." Alexander Mustard, who chaired the panel of judges, said; "Photography is about preserving moments - and what an unforgettable instant this is. "Using a wide-angle lens, the photographer takes us into the full drama of the hunt, as a melee of grey reef sharks rise like a breaking wave to tear apart their prey, truly revealing the ocean's wilder side." Eduardo Acevedo, from Tenerife, was named Marine Conservation Photographer of the Year 2019 for his photo showing a loggerhead turtle entangled in a discarded plastic fishing net. Korean Taeyup Kim was named Up & Coming Underwater Photographer of the Year 2019 for a technically challenging image half in and half out of the water, which shows healthy corals growing in front of a resort in French Polynesia. "This photo was physically tough to shoot, holding the heavy camera exactly in this position while floating in the water," said Kim. The title of Most Promising British Underwater Photographer 2019 goes to Malcolm Nimmo, from Plymouth. His image, of a compass jellyfish, was taken while snorkelling off the Scilly Islands. "Maintaining both the surface features and subject illumination requires high strobe power settings and hence careful strobe positioning," said Nimmo. "Hopefully this image highlights the beautiful marine environments we are lucky to have around the UK." The competition had 13 categories, testing photographers with themes such as Macro, Wide Angle, Behaviour and Wreck Photography, as well as four categories for photos taken in British waters. All photographs copyright Underwater Photographer of the Year 2019

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-47371328

2019-02-26 12:48:43+00:00

human interest

accomplishment

abcnews--2019-12-07--Tuskegee Airman celebrates 100th birthday with flight

abcnews

Tuskegee Airman celebrates 100th birthday with flight

A member of the Tuskegee Airmen celebrated his 100th birthday by taking a flight. Retired Army Air Forces Col. Charles McGee flew a private jet Friday between Frederick, Maryland, and Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, news outlets reported. The Tuskegee Airmen is the nickname of the first African American unit to fly combat airplanes in World War II. The Air Force recently honored the famed group of airmen with the naming of its new trainer jet. McGee is one of the Air Force's most celebrated pilots. He flew 409 fighter combat missions over three wars. McGee, who turned 100 on Saturday, attributes positive thinking to his longevity.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/tuskegee-airman-celebrates-100th-birthday-flight-67570544

Sat, 07 Dec 2019 17:45:35 -0500

human interest

anniversary

aljazeera--2019-07-06--Tibetans celebrate Dalai Lamas birthday as he turns 84

aljazeera

Tibetans celebrate Dalai Lama's birthday as he turns 84

Tibetans around the world are celebrating the Dalai Lama's birthday. As the Tibetan spiritual leader, who lives in self-imposed exile in India, turns 84, the question about his successor has become more pressing.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/tibetans-celebrate-dalai-lamas-birthday-turns-84-190706164429571.html

2019-07-06 16:44:29+00:00

human interest

anniversary

aljazeera--2019-10-01--Communist China celebrates 70th birthday as Hong Kong simmers

aljazeera

Communist China celebrates 70th birthday as Hong Kong simmers

China's President Xi Jinping has opened celebrations to mark 70 years of Communist rule, vowing that "no force" would be able to shake the country, as a parade of massed troops and military hardware showcased Chinese muscle in the face of an unprecedented challenge to its authority in Hong Kong. "There is no force that can shake the foundation of this great nation," Xi told invited delegates on Tuesday as he stood at the Tiananmen Square gate where Mao Zedong declared the People's Republic of China in October 1949. "No force will be able to stop the steady march forward of the Chinese people and Chinese nation." Authorities in Beijing tightened security in the city ahead of the invitation-only event, cleaning up neighbourhoods, banning dogs of a certain size from the streets and ordering birds caged. Ordinary people had to stay at home if they wanted to see the event, which was broadcast live on national television. After his speech, Xi, the country's most powerful leader since Mao, reviewed the troops from the rear of an open-topped Red Flag or Hongqi limousine, nodding occasionally to the personnel before him. New weapons - including a hypersonic ballistic nuclear missile capable of breaching anti-missile defences to reach the United States - were rolled out across the tarmac, and soldiers marched in unison across the vast square. The display of military might comes as Xi faces a series of challenges that threaten the economy and risk stability at home. "The CCP is anxious," Xun Zhou, an expert in Chinese politics at Britain's University of Essex, wrote in a paper in The Conversation. "Alongside continued unrest in Hong Kong and tensions with Taiwan, China's economy is flagging, the wealth gap growing, and health scandals increasing. Fewer and fewer people in China trust the current leadership." There is also pressure internationally, amid a trade war with the US, the detention of two Canadians in the wake of the arrest of a senior Huawei executive in Canada, and horror at the mass detention of ethnic Uighurs in the far western province of Xinjiang, to which China has responded by saying the Uighurs are being held in "vocational training centres". In Hong Kong, protesters were in no mood to celebrate. Al Jazeera's Scott Heidler said protesters were eager to use the occasion to drive their message home. "It's a very, very important day generally for the People's Republic of China but especially for Xi Jinping,” he said. "He has really pushed forward in his leadership this 'one China' policy and what we've seen here in Hong Kong with these protesters is going against that." Hong Kong's streets were quiet on Tuesday morning, with many shops opting to close and police issuing ominous warnings of trouble as the city's traditional flag-raising ceremony was moved indoors. Since June, Hong Kong has been embroiled in the worst unrest since it reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, with riot police and protesters engaged in running battles on the streets. Demonstrations began on Tuesday afternoon, as thousands of black-clad protesters began to march in defiance of a police decision to reject a permit for a rally. "Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong," they chanted. Some of the protesters torched the Chinese national flag. Hong Kong's acting leader - Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung - said at the flag-raising ceremony that the city had become "unrecognisable" as a result of the protests. Embattled Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam was in Beijing, pictured smiling alongside Communist Party grandees and other guests on Monday watching the air display, march and a showcase of China's newest weapons. After 17 weeks of protests in Hong Kong, Victor Gao, vice president at the Centre for China and Globalisation in Beijing, said it was up to Lam and her government to "step up and do their job" in addressing the situation in the territory. Xi referenced the "one country, two systems" policy under which Hong Kong enjoys freedoms unseen on the mainland in his speech, stressing it was crucial for the "long-term prosperity and stability" of Hong Kong and Macau, formerly a Portuguese colony. Guy Saint-Jacques, Canada's Ambassador to China from 2012 to 2016, told Al Jazeera that "unity" remained one of China's paramount goals. "The problem with Hong Kong is that China doesn't know how to handle the protests," Saint-Jacques said from Montreal. "They don't have a habit of democracy and they don't know how it works. (And) they worry that the contestation in Hong Kong could spread to the mainland." Xi's call for unity was also directed at Taiwan, the self-ruled island where the defeated nationalists set up a government in 1949. People on the island, which China has vowed to retake by force if necessary, appeared to have little interest in the celebrations on the mainland, even with the events in Hong Kong and Taiwan's own elections due in January. "Frankly, there is no 'reunifying', since Taiwan is an independent country," said Joyce Kao, a 31-year-old marketing manager who said she had never watched the celebration and never would. As expected, Xi referred again in Tuesday's address to his "Chinese dream"; his plan to rejuvenate China and return the country to what he sees as its rightful place in the world. "Today has to be understood mainly in terms of China's domestic politics," said Geoff Raby, who was Australia's ambassador to China between 2007 and 2011. "This is all very much about reaffirming the leading role of the Communist Party, Xi's role at the top of the Communist Party and the extent to which the Communist Party is responsible for building a strong, prosperous and internationally-respected country." The Communist Party has held on to power for 70 years, despite the deaths of tens of millions of people as a result of Mao's Great Leap Forward, and the violent upheaval of the Cultural Revolution that only came to an end when Mao died in 1976. A more open economic policy initiated by Deng Xiaoping, who followed Mao as paramount leader, helped kick-start growth and development. He also authorised the use of force to maintain power, most notoriously in Tiananmen Square in 1989. With additional reporting by Violet Law in Hong Kong and Randy Mulyanto in Taipei.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/communist-china-celebrates-70th-birthday-hong-kong-simmers-191001062112764.html

2019-10-01 08:13:36+00:00

human interest

anniversary

aljazeera--2019-11-12--Sikhs mark Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary in Pakistan

aljazeera

Sikhs mark Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary in Pakistan

Nankana Sahib, Pakistan - When Sikh devotee Gurmit Singh crossed the Indian border to visit Sikhism's holiest sites in Pakistan this month, he set out on the journey alone. At 67, Gurmit Singh had hoped his family in the Indian city of Chandigarh would join him, but their applications were rejected. • Guru Nanak and the promise of an inclusive Pakistan • Pakistan to launch university in honour of first Sikh Guru Nonetheless, Gurmit Singh had grown up dreaming of visiting Sikhism's most cherished sites and was determined to fulfil his lifelong dream of seeing Kartarpur, the town where Sikhism's founder, Guru Nanak, was believed to have spent his final years. "I didn't know what to expect. My goal in life was to see these holy sites," he told Al Jazeera. On Tuesday morning, Gurmit Singh, and thousands of Sikhs from around the world, poured into the eastern city of Nankana Sahib to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak at the ornate, palatial structure of the Gurdwara Janam Asthan. Guru Nanak was born in this city in 1469. Today, the predominantly Muslim town attracts Sikh pilgrims from around the globe. Pakistan is officially home to 20,000 Sikhs, who number about 20 million worldwide, with the vast majority in India. In 1947, when India and Pakistan gained independence from the British, the state of Punjab was cleaved in half, permanently dividing Sikhism's holiest sites between the South Asian rivals. Under a 1974 bilateral agreement, India and Pakistan opened the possibility of undertaking cross-border pilgrimages to visit each other's religious shrines. This year saw Guru Nanak's birth celebrations increase in prominence due to the opening of the Kartarpur corridor, a nearly five-kilometre (3-mile) long land-link that allows Sikhs from India visa-free access to one of Sikhism's holiest shrines in Pakistan. Prior to the construction of the corridor, thousands of Sikhs would stand on the fence along the India-Pakistan border to gaze at the gurdwara (Sikh temple) through a telescope, tears clouding their eyes. Now, up to 5,000 pilgrims a day have been permitted by the Pakistani government. "The Kartarpur corridor will promote peace and harmony between the two countries at a time when everything - including trade - is at a standstill," said Aamer Ahmed, chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), the main government body tasked with maintaining Sikh and Hindu religious sites across Pakistan. "Pakistan is the land of the Sikhs," echoed Imran Gondal, the ETPB's Deputy Secretary of Shrines. "We encourage them to visit Pakistan." In previous years, however, Sikh pilgrimages had been interrupted by the bitter enmity that periodically mars relations between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours. Recently, the ongoing Kashmir dispute locked the rivals into a prolonged tension, with Pakistan suspending trade, downgrading diplomatic ties, and raising the issue at every international forum. Ramesh Singh Arora, a leading Pakistani Sikh politician who introduced the country's first Sikh marriage legislation, said that Pakistan had been committed to opening the Kartarpur corridor on time. "If you look at the last 10 months, there was a lot of tension between these two countries," said Arora. "But the Pakistani government didn't stop the construction work at Kartarpur. It wanted to send the message that it would give the Sikhs free and open access to Kartarpur." Other Indian Sikh pilgrims, such as 66-year-old Paulkaur Singh, saw their trip to Pakistan as a way to heal the wounds of the Partition, the violent event that saw mass displacement and population exchanges as the South Asian borders were redrawn in 1947. Paulkaur Singh's husband had fled Bahawalpur, a city in Pakistan's Punjab province, to go to Haryana on the Indian side. He never reconnected with the home that he left behind in his dash towards safety and a new country. Someday, Paulkaur Singh hopes to have a glimpse of her late husband's city, but she said it currently feels impossible on a government-approved travel itinerary restricted to Sikh heritage sites. For now, Paulkaur Singh contends herself with being able to see Kartarpur in person, calling it her "asli ghar" (or true home). Unable to reach their revered holy site for decades, many Indian Sikhs had simply watched from afar. "Now we can do darshan openly," Paulkaur Singh said. 'No difference between us' At the gurdwara's "sarovar" (or sacred pool) where Sikhs take a ceremonial bath, the Indian Sikhs were also joined by Pakistan's own minorities. Muzawer Mal, a Nanakpanthi Hindu from Pakistan's southeast Sindh province, stood beaming at the site of Guru Nanak's birthplace. "I came here five times to roam with my 12 children. We have such a strong connection to Guru Nanak," he said. "There is no difference between us, we are all Guru Nanak's followers," echoed Esardas Punjabi, a 55-year-old Nanakpanthi Hindu who had taken a 12-hour bus from Shikarpur, Pakistan to celebrate with Indian Sikhs. "I am extremely happy to be here." Nanakpanthis are followers of Guru Nanak, though some of them may also identify themselves as Hindus. A significant number of them live in Pakistan's Sindh province. Among Nankana Sahib's celebrants was a group of Sikhs from North America and Europe, who had undertaken a special "Journey to Kartarpur" road trip to the holy site, crisscrossing Turkey, Iran, the United Kingdom, Italy, and the rest of Europe to spread a message of peace. The group visited gurdwaras in Europe to collect donations and eventually reached Pakistan's Punjab province, where security officials offered steaming cups of tea and bantered in Punjabi, recalled 61-year-old Ranjit Singh Sandhu. Sandhu, who runs a truck company in Canada, said the highlight of his trip was the number of tea invites he received. "Every person treats us respectfully. They offered us cups of chai and wanted to show us around, but we didn't have time," he chuckles. Sandhu said he believed that ordinary people want peace on both sides, and that little divides the citizens in both countries. "There is no difference between them. The police are the same on both sides of the border, the food and drinks are the same. The only difference is the name. We are Sikhs, they are Muslims, but we are the same people," he said. "If Guru Nanak blesses us, I would love to come every year."

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/sikhs-mark-guru-nanak-550th-birth-anniversary-pakistan-191112142615985.html

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 15:53:11 GMT

human interest

anniversary

bbc--2019-01-21--Woman dances with Mountie for her 100th birthday

bbc

Woman dances with Mountie for her 100th birthday

George Jackson, 88, is part of a group of pensioners trying their hands at the art of free running in order to improve their mobility and balance.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46926680

2019-01-21 17:12:00+00:00

human interest

anniversary

bbc--2019-02-27--Joes 100th birthday card appeal goes global

bbc

Joe's 100th birthday card appeal goes global

A World War Two veteran who asked to be sent 100 cards for his 100th birthday says he is "really excited" to have received thousands from all over the world. A photograph of Joe Cuba holding a handwritten sign has been shared thousands of times on social media. It reads: "I'm a WW2 veteran who will be turning 100 on 2 March 2019. I would like to receive 100 birthday cards." So far, he has received 10,000 cards - and his birthday is still days away. Joe told BBC News: "I really didn't expect all the cards. I got a whole bunch of them - and I couldn't thank everyone enough." Stephanie Veitenheimer, who works at Brookdale Midwestern Community, where Joe lives, in Texas, US, made the original appeal. She told BBC News: "I asked Joe what he wanted for his birthday and he said, 'Nothing really, just happiness,' so I said, 'Well, why don't we get you 100 cards?'" Puerto Rico, Guam, Germany and the UK are some of the countries Joe has received cards from. His post is being placed on tables in an empty apartment at Brookdale Midwestern for Joe and his daughter to look at. Stephanie said they had also heard from people in Japan, Australia, New Zealand who said their cards were in the post. The reaction had been "just mad", she added. You might also like: Such is the popularity of Joe's birthday appeal, people are now sharing images on social media of the cards they are about to send. Eline van de Laar, in the Netherlands, tweeted: "My card is ready for posting. Joe Cuba, here it comes," followed by the hashtag #Kleinemoeitegrootplezier (little effort, big fun). And on Instagram, people are making their own cards for Joe and posting them under the tag #joecuba. Artists are also choosing to draw Joe and thank him for his military service. He was a technical sergeant in the United States Army Air Forces. This drawing by Bea Smith is on it's way to Texas from Hungary. Petenoir posted "a little kindness" to a "complete stranger", saying: "I don't know him, I sure do wish him the happiest 100th birthday and certainly thank him for serving in a war that impacted the world." Joe's even been sent flowers from people who have seen his birthday card appeal on the platform. This is one of about 100 gifts he's been given. And staff at Brookdale Midwestern have been keeping Joe's fans updated on how his birthday celebrations are progressing, with pictures of the postman making deliveries. Joe said he had fun plans for his actual birthday, on 2 March. "All of my friends will come over for dinner and a get-together," he said. He also has a week's worth of celebrations brought about by his new-found fame, including parties and visits from schools. There's even a young kangaroo - a joey - coming to meet him.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47369748

2019-02-27 09:40:36+00:00

human interest

anniversary

bbc--2019-07-07--Frida Kahlo Parade celebrates 112 years since her birth

bbc

Frida Kahlo: Parade celebrates 112 years since her birth

It's 112 years since iconic artist Frida Kahlo was born. People in Coyoacan, just south of Mexico City, have donned their best Frida Kahlo outfits to celebrate her life. Vibrant dresses, braided hair and her distinctive unibrow have all made an appearance.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-48898016

2019-07-07 19:15:35+00:00

human interest

anniversary

bbc--2019-11-12--Guru Nanak: Sikh founder's 550th birthday celebrated

bbc

Guru Nanak: Sikh founder's 550th birthday celebrated

Celebrations have taken place in India and Pakistan to mark the 550th anniversary of the birth of Guru Nanak - the founder of Sikhism. The anniversary comes just a few days after the historic opening of the Kartarpur corridor, which allows Indians access to one of Sikhism's holiest shrines in Pakistan without having to apply for a visa. Tensions between the neighbours have made it difficult for Indian pilgrims to visit the site in Pakistan in recent years. But an agreement reached last month allows Indians to make the 4km (2.5-mile) crossing to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur - where Guru Nanak spent the last 18 years of his life. On Tuesday, Sikh pilgrims in Pakistan gathered at Nankana Sahib, the birth place of Guru Nanak, which is about 80km (50 miles) from the city of Lahore. Large numbers of devotees, including women, took part in the religious rituals. The auspicious day for Sikhs was also marked in India, where Guru Nanak's birth anniversary is an annual public holiday. Sikh devotees gathered in huge numbers at the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara in the capital Delhi. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted the nation on the occasion, saying it was "a day to rededicate ourselves" to Guru Nanak's "dream of a just, inclusive and harmonious society". Though Guru Nanak's anniversary is an important event for Sikhs annually, this time the celebrations were more special due to the opening of the Kartarpur corridor. Devotees from across the world visit the Kartarpur shrine every year to commemorate his birth. Indian Sikhs will now be able to visit with just their passports, but they will not be allowed to leave the site or stay overnight. The Golden Temple in Amritsar, in north-western India, is the holiest Gurdwara (where Sikhs worship). On the eve of the anniversary, it was lit up to host processions as Sikh worshippers took part in the three-day celebration of Guru Nanak's birth. On the first day of the celebrations, Sikhs read the Sikh holy book - the Guru Granth Sahib - from beginning to end. As is the tradition on the second day, the holy book was paraded through the streets of Amritsar on Monday in a hand-held carriage. The procession was led by five people representing the original Panj Pyare - the Five Beloved Ones - who helped shape the religion. You might also be interested in:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50380898

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 16:20:24 GMT

human interest

anniversary

breitbart--2019-11-10--United States Marine Corps Celebrates 244th Birthday

breitbart

United States Marine Corps Celebrates 244th Birthday

The United States Marine Corps celebrated its 244th birthday Sunday, marking its establishment by the Second Continental Congress in 1775. “As Commander in Chief, I send my best wishes to the United States Marine Corps on its 244th birthday,” President Trump wrote in a press release Sunday. Since 1775, Marines have been known for always being faithful in their duty to defend our country and Constitution and for striking fear in the hearts of America’s adversaries. From their inception at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, Marines have fought in “every clime and place” without ever losing their nerve. As we solemnly look ahead to the 75th Anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima this coming February, we are reminded that even in the face of hostile enemy fire, Marines never falter and never fail. The courage shown over the course of that battle—memorably captured in the iconic photo of our flag being raised on Mount Suribachi—is forever enshrined in the heart of our Nation. In recounting the 244 historic years of the United States Marine Corps, we remember the courage and conviction of the Marines who laid down their lives in defense of freedom. Their relentless toughness, outstanding leadership, and unwavering allegiance are invaluable assets to our Nation, protecting our freedom and our way of life. Melania and I pray that God watch over all of the men and women of our Armed Forces and their families, and may He continue to bless the United States of America. Deputy Secretary of Defense, David L. Norquist also offered his heartfelt birthday wishes to the Corps. To commemorate the special day, most commands give Birthday Balls, which include a pageant and cake cutting ceremony, according to Military.com. Traditionally, the first piece of Birthday cake is presented to the oldest Marine present and the second piece to the youngest Marine present. When and where this tradition began remains unknown. Some records indicate this practice, and others vary it depending on the dignitaries present at the ball. First pieces of cake have been presented to newlyweds, the Secretary of the Navy, governors, and others, but generally speaking, the first pieces of cake go to the oldest and youngest Marines at the ball. Vice President Mike Pence offered his thanks to the Marines for their continuous efforts to protect the nation Saturday afternoon. “As America’s expeditionary force in readiness since 1775, the U.S. Marines are forward deployed to win our Nation’s battles swiftly and aggressively in times of crisis,” the Marines website read. What sets Marines apart from any other fighting force on the globe isn’t just how they’re trained, the equipment they use or their tactics. It’s something much more primal—it’s the fighting spirit that lives within every Marine and drives them to accept nothing less than victory in all situations. That determination to win, eagerness to fight, and high standard of excellence are all traits strengthened in the Corps. The Corps tweeted a video on Sunday that celebrated its incredible accomplishments over the past 244 years.

Amy Furr

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/breitbart/~3/X5FK_swXf5A/

Sun, 10 Nov 2019 21:04:36 +0000

human interest

anniversary

cbsnews--2019-10-01--Jimmy Carter celebrates 95th birthday

cbsnews

Jimmy Carter celebrates 95th birthday

Former President Jimmy Carter is celebrating his 95th birthday on Tuesday, October 1, solidifying his spot as the longest living president in United States history. The 39th president, who's made a mark in his post-White House years as a human rights activist, author, professor, and church Sunday School teacher, is sharing the celebration with the public by offering a discounted admission fee to his presidential library. The Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta announced the admission price on Tuesday would be just 95 cents — one penny for every year Mr. Carter has been alive. Mr. Carter officially became the oldest living president in history earlier this year, when he surpassed former President George H.W. Bush at 94 years and 172 days old. It's been 38 years since Mr. Carter left office, and he's continued to work hard even in his retirement.  In 2002, he became the only U.S. president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for work done after his time in office. He's written over 30 books and served as University Distinguished Professor at Emory University for more than three decades. He finally got tenure at the school at age 94 — 37 years after he began teaching there. Over the years, he's also been a leading force behind Habitat for Humanity, volunteering to build homes for people in need. Mr. Carter has also battled through many health struggles. In 2015, he was diagnosed with melanoma that spread to his brain and liver. "I was prepared to go, but things turned out for the better," he told CBS News, after immunotherapy treatments beat back the cancer. The former president also holds another important title: husband. He and his wife Rosalynn Carter have been married for more than 72 years. Earlier this year, Mr. Carter broke his hip at his home when he fell while leaving to go turkey hunting. He subsequently had hip replacement surgery. But less than a month later, the tenacious 94-year-old was back to teaching Sunday school.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-jimmy-carter-birthday-today-former-president-celebrates-95-oldest-living-president-2019-10-01/

2019-10-01 23:52:48+00:00

human interest

anniversary

bbc--2019-12-28--1,000 addresses published in UK honours list error

bbc

1,000 addresses published in UK honours list error

A list of more than 1,000 addresses of New Years Honours recipients, including those of senior police officers and politicians, has been accidentally published by the government. The file was uploaded to the official website, but has since been removed. The Cabinet Office told the BBC: "We apologise to all those affected and are looking into how this happened." Among the addresses are those of Sir Elton John and former director of public prosecutions Alison Saunders. • Famous names in the New Year Honours Also on the list of 1,097 honours recipients are high-profile names such as cricketer Ben Stokes, former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith, TV cook Nadiya Hussain, and former Ofcom boss Sharon White. A government spokesman said: "A version of the New Year Honours 2020 list was published in error which contained recipients' addresses. "The information was removed as soon as possible. "We have reported the matter to the ICO [Information Commissioner's Office] and are contacting all those affected directly." The ICO, which has the power to fine organisations for data breaches, said it will be "making enquiries". 'Much depends on the attitude of those affected' There is no doubt that this is a serious data breach and the government, of all organisations, should be better acquainted with the law on disclosing sensitive personal information. But while some of the celebrities and the police officers awarded honours may be concerned about their privacy and security, it would have been far more serious if the home addresses of those on the list of gallantry awards had been leaked. The Information Commissioner's Office has so far only levied one fine under the new Data Protection Act which came into effect in 2018 - a London pharmacy was fined £275,000 for careless storage of the very sensitive medical data of half a million people. Lawyers who specialise in data protection think the ICO will see this as a less serious case of human error and may let the Cabinet Office escape with a warning about improving its practices. But they say much now depends on the attitude of those who have seen their data leaked - they could decide to bring civil claims against the government for putting in the public domain information many of them have been determined to keep private. Data rights lawyer Ravi Naik said the government could face legal action from those whose addresses were published, as well as from the ICO. He also warned that anyone who came across the information should tell the ICO and not pass it onto others - because they themselves might face legal action. Simon Winch, a sustainability professional from London, was among those who were able to access the sensitive information. He told the BBC: "I clicked on the link on the gov.uk website at around 11pm on Friday and the spreadsheet opened up. "At first I thought everyone on the list had given their permission to publish their personal addresses. But then I saw that some quite sensitive names were on there." • Holocaust survivor who hid in cellar is honoured Another source told the BBC they accessed the file just after midnight on Saturday but were unable to do so by 05:00 GMT. The Cabinet Office said the document was visible for around an hour. Most of the entries in the spreadsheet include full addresses - including house numbers and postcodes. A separate list, that does not appear to be involved in the breach, covers gallantry awards for police, ambulance and fire staff and military personnel.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50929543

Sat, 28 Dec 2019 20:48:23 GMT

human interest

people

bbcuk--2019-04-17--Government in email privacy blunder

bbcuk

Government in email privacy blunder

A government department responsible for data protection laws has shared the contact details of hundreds of journalists. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport emailed more than 300 recipients in a way that allowed their addresses to be seen by other people. The email - seen by the BBC - contained a press release about age-checks for adult websites. Digital Minister Margot James said the incident was "embarrassing". She added: "It was an error and we're evaluating at the moment whether that was a breach of data protection law." In the email sent on Wednesday, the department said new rules would offer "robust data protection conditions", adding: "Government has listened carefully to privacy concerns." A DCMS Spokesperson said: "In sending a news release to journalists an administrative, human error meant email addresses could be seen by others. DCMS takes data privacy extremely seriously and we apologise to those affected." It is the second time this month a government department has made a mistake of this kind. The Home Office previously admitted breaching data protection rules when it launched the Windrush compensation scheme. It shared the contact details of Windrush migrants in an email about the scheme. An internal review was launched and Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes apologised "unreservedly" for what she said was an "administrative error". The data breach affected five batches of emails, each with 100 recipients, Ms Nokes added.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47962405

2019-04-17 13:54:13+00:00

human interest

people

adobochronicles--2019-05-27--Mix-up Maria Ressa Receives Award From Colombia Not Columbia University

adobochronicles

Mix-up: Maria Ressa Receives Award From Colombia, Not Columbia University

NEW YORK, New York (The Adobo Chronicles, New York Bureau) – It was a big misunderstanding. Rappler CEO Maria Ressa arrived at Columbia University in New York City to receive yet another award for her supposed journalistic skills and advocacy, particularly for standing up to what she is calling a “dictator” in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. But alas, Ressa misread the award letter. It was from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (National University of Colombia) in Bogota.  The South American  school awarded Ressa a Courage Award for her and her online outfit’s coverage of Duterte’s war on drugs. Luckily for Ressa, the Dean of the Journalism School at Columbia — fellow anti-Dutertard Sheila Coronel — is a very good friend. So Coronel let Ressa address the 2019 graduates of the school. Just to save face. Meanwhile, in Bogota, the Colombia University gave Ressa the award in absencia.

Pol Pinoy

https://adobochronicles.com/2019/05/27/mix-up-maria-ressa-receives-award-from-colombia-not-columbia-university/

2019-05-27 23:00:56+00:00

human interest

people

bbc--2019-02-24--Arrizabalaga incident a misunderstanding - Sarri

bbc

Arrizabalaga incident a misunderstanding - Sarri

Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri says the incident involving goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga in the Carabao Cup final was a "misunderstanding". The club record £71m signing appeared to defy the Italian's attempt to substitute him in extra time before Manchester City won on penalties. Sarri appeared furious and walked down the tunnel before quickly returning. "I misunderstood the problem and only realised the situation when the doctor arrived at the bench," said Sarri. "He understood I asked for a change for his physical problem. He said, 'I haven't a physical problem' - and he was right." The 24-year-old later echoed his manager's words and insisted the incident was caused by "confusion". "It was misunderstood. In no moment was it my intention to disobey, or anything like that with the boss," said Arrizabalaga. "It was two or three minutes of confusion until the medics got to the bench and they explained everything well. "He thought I couldn't continue, and - fundamentally - I was trying to say that physically I was fine." Spaniard Arrizabalaga initially went down with cramp - prompting the Chelsea bench to ready reserve goalkeeper Willy Caballero. Sarri was visibly angry as his goalkeeper refused to follow orders from the touchline but eventually conceded following a conversation with referee Jonathan Moss. "I realised after, when the doctor arrived. I have talked to him [Moss] but only to clarify because now I have understood the situation," Sarri said. "It was a big misunderstanding because I understood the keeper had cramp and was unable to go to penalties. But it was not cramp and he could go to the penalties. "I needed to return [down the tunnel] to be quiet." Speaking to Sky Sports, former Chelsea captain John Terry said he believed Sarri's "misunderstanding" explanation was a decision taken to protect his goalkeeper. "Whether that has been dealt with inside the dressing room, I don't know," said Terry. "Publicly, that's his approach. He's protecting his player." Ex-Napoli manager Sarri has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks, following a 6-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Premier League and an FA Cup exit at the hands of Manchester United. Yet despite doubts over his future, the Blues produced a resolute performance in Sunday's final as Sarri demonstrated a back-up plan to his 'Sarri-ball' philosophy. "Here I am very happy and in the last three matches we are improving and have improved a lot," said Sarri. "Today showed everyone we could be a very solid team because we conceded nothing to the opponents, and to Manchester City that is not easy. "I am proud of the players. I think the club would be proud of that performance too, because the performance was very good against, in my opinion, the best club in Europe."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/47352319

2019-02-24 22:03:27+00:00

human interest

people

bbc--2019-04-30--Cricketers coming out was misunderstanding

bbc

Cricketer's coming out was 'misunderstanding'

Australian all-rounder James Faulkner says the support he has received from the LGBT community is "fantastic" - but it came after a misunderstanding. Faulkner shared a picture on Instagram alongside his mother and a man he described as his "boyfriend". Followers, including former cricketers Glenn Maxwell and Shaun Tait, responded by praising his "great courage". "There seems to be a misunderstanding about my post from last night, I am not gay," said Faulkner. "However, it has been fantastic to see the support from and for the LBGT community. Let's never forget love is love. Good on everyone for being so supportive." Faulkner, who is set to play Twenty20 cricket for Lancashire this summer, has played one Test and 69 one-day internationals for Australia. He was man of the match in the 2015 World Cup final. He added that the man in the picture was "just a great friend. Last night marked five years of being house mates!" and edited his original post to included "best mate!!!". Cricket Australia (CA) released a statement after the post gained widespread attention, apologising for "any unintended offence". "Cricket Australia does not consider the social commentary this morning from James Faulkner to be a joke, nor does James," it said. "His comment was made as a genuine reflection of his relationship with his business partner, best friend and house mate of five years. He was not contacted for clarification before some outlets reported his Instagram post as an announcement of a homosexual relationship. "James and CA are supportive of the LGBQTI community and recognises coming out can be an incredibly emotional time. The post was not in any way meant to make light of this." Somerset's Steven Davies became the first active male professional cricketer to come out as gay in 2011.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/48102477

2019-04-30 07:16:41+00:00

human interest

people

bbcuk--2019-07-19--Stoke-on-Trent mums cancer misdiagnosis down to human error

bbcuk

Stoke-on-Trent mum's cancer misdiagnosis down to 'human error'

A mother underwent a double mastectomy after doctors wrongly diagnosed her with an aggressive form of cancer. Sarah Boyle, 28, was told she had triple negative breast cancer after she had difficulty breastfeeding her baby. Mrs Boyle underwent chemotherapy and later needed reconstructive surgery before the mistake was noticed, leaving her "traumatised". The hospital that treated her apologised, saying it was "human error" that led to her being misdiagnosed. Mrs Boyle, from Stoke-on-Trent, said life had been "incredibly difficult" for her, as well as her husband Stephen, 31, and their two sons since she was told she needed treatment at the end of 2016. "Being told I had cancer was awful, but then to go through all of the treatment and surgery to then be told it was unnecessary was traumatising," she said. She went to Royal Stoke Hospital when she noticed her six-month-old son Teddy becoming "very distressed" when she tried to feed him from her right breast. After a biopsy and a scan, she was told she had breast cancer and was sent for treatment. "Ultimately the misreporting of the biopsy was a human error," said a spokesperson for the University Hospital of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNW), which runs the hospital. Mrs Boyle said her treatment meant she was unable to breastfeed her second son, Louis, who is seven months old, and now she was concerned about future health complications, including "actually developing cancer". The trust offered an "unreserved apology" to Mrs Boyle and said it "understands how devastating this has been". It said all cancer diagnoses were reviewed by a second pathologist. Mrs Boyle is now pursuing a legal claim against the trust, which has admitted liability. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-49049988

2019-07-19 15:52:43+00:00

human interest

people

birminghammail--2019-01-07--Vegan left livid with Pizza Hut after being given dairy ice cream

birminghammail

Vegan left livid with Pizza Hut after being given dairy ice cream

A vegan has received an apology from one of the nation's best-loved restaurant chains - after he was given dairy ice cream. Pizza Hut has said sorry to Kori Paul Swabey after the gaffe at a Plymouth branch of the pizza chain. Kori was left "outraged" after he ordered the new jackfruit pizza and then asked the waitress if the restaurant had any vegan desserts, to which she recommended the ice cream. To his horror, he later discovered they were not suitable for his animal product-free diet, Plymouth Live reported. Pizza Hut apologised for the "human error" and said it will be taking "appropriate action" at the restaurant to ensure it doesn't happen again. Kori said: "The woman went away and came back and ensured me that their ice cream factory is vegan. "I asked if the toppings are all vegan too and the waitress said yes. "I ate the ice cream, but the toppings when I checked the bottles clearly stated they contained milk. "It's like she just rushed it because it was busy." Kori, who has only recently become vegan but is not doing it for Veganuary and is "passionate" about animals and the planet, said he was left feeling like his choice to not eat animal products was not taken seriously. He said: "This is appalling. "I feel like my lifestyle has been mocked. "It's a mistake that shouldn't have happened, I could have had an allergy to milk. "Even though I haven’t been vegan long, it’s still something I’m passionate and serious about. "I should be able to eat somewhere and know exactly what it is I’m eating. "Staff everywhere should be educated on ingredients for vegans and those with allergies. "It's the fact that they have been promoting their new vegan menu for Veganuary, but the staff aren't aware what's vegan." Kori said that when he complained to the manager, he was offered a free meal, but doesn't want to return. "The manager said it's really concerning" said Kori. A spokesperson for Pizza Hut said: “Ensuring the welfare of our guests is extremely important to us. "All of our nutritional and allergen information is available in a printed book in each of our restaurants and also online. "All of our staff receive specialist training, however due to the variety of ingredients used within the restaurant menu, and the diverse range of enquiries, as a rule we do direct guests to check the information for themselves through the formats available. "We’re sorry that in this instance, the wrong information was given to the customer as a result of human error. "We are in contact with the customer and are taking appropriate action at this restaurant to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

James Rodger

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/vegan-left-livid-pizza-hut-15639223

2019-01-07 09:54:25+00:00

human interest

people

citizenfreepress--2019-12-27--US Army wtf! moment…

citizenfreepress

US Army wtf! moment…

US Army base near North Korea blared an emergency signal instead of taps A U.S. military base near North Korea accidentally blared an emergency siren on Thursday meant to signal an imminent attack. A video posted by U.S Army WTF! Moments claimed to show the siren wailing at 10 p.m. instead of the usual taps bugle call played to mark the end of the day on the base. “Human error” resulted in the false alarm throwing Camp Casey, a U.S. Army base in South Korea, into high alert for a few moments before the mistake could be cleared up, Army spokesman Lt. Col. Martyn Crighton told the Greenwich Time.

Kane

https://www.citizenfreepress.com/breaking/us-army-base-near-nkorea-accidentally-blared-emergency-signal-instead-of-taps-raw/

Fri, 27 Dec 2019 17:42:19 +0000

human interest

people

conservativehome--2019-10-01--Clifton-Brown This was a minor verbal misunderstandingI am mortified

conservativehome

Clifton-Brown: “This was a minor verbal misunderstanding…I am mortified”

In a statement given to ConservativeHome this afternoon about today’s incident, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown told us: “This was a minor verbal misunderstanding. The police have not contacted me at all. I am mortified that something so minor seems to have been blown out of all proportion and if anyone has been offended, I apologise unreservedly. I will co-operate with the Party in any investigation.” It’s not yet known if any formal action or inquiry from the Conservative Party will follow.

Mark Wallace

https://www.conservativehome.com/parliament/2019/10/clifton-brown-statement-this-was-a-minor-verbal-misunderstanding-i-am-mortified.html

2019-10-01 18:25:43+00:00

human interest

people

freedombunker--2019-02-21--Woman Who Got in the Wrong Uber Thought She Was Being Sex-Trafficked She Wasnt

freedombunker

Woman Who Got in the Wrong Uber Thought She Was Being Sex-Trafficked. She Wasn’t.

A woman leaving the Tampa Internartional Airport on Monday got into the wrong Uber. For some reason, she thought she was being kidnapped and sold into sex slavery. Later, the woman penned this harrowing Facebook post about the incident, which has been shared half a million times. She wrote: Last night I was picked up by an Uber. Same car, female driver. I MADE A MISTAKE. I got in before checking, as she opened the back door for me from her seat. She drove erratically and didn't speak. About 10 minutes in, my actual Uber called me asking where I was. My voice cracked, because in that instant I knew. "A car... I think I need help." She told me not to hang up and to get out of the car however I possibly could. The lady refused to stop or respond to me. I told her she was driving by my friends (random girls I saw) and they would call the cops. She slowed a little, pointing at her phone saying "Uber. I take you back then." I said, no here is fine. She kept going. I booked it out the door, car still moving. She sped off. I later was told by numerous people she is a sex traffic worker. They use women to lure people in, and possibly hang out in the Uber lot to steal rides of similar looking cars. The cops didn't come, but my real Uber driver did Cristin Cinquino, and hugged me, kept me safe, and cried with me. Always, always check your Uber. I'm lucky. Actually, she was unlucky. She got in the wrong Uber and it proceeded to take her in the wrong direction. But as the Orlando Sentinel soon reported: Tampa police, however, say it was all a misunderstanding. Hurley's ride wasn't a kidnapping situation, and the driver wasn't a sex-trafficking victim, police said. Instead, Tampa police spokesman Eddy Durkin said, the woman was just another Uber driver with a similar car, whose primary language is Spanish and who doesn't speak much English, leading to the confusion. "The person that posted it got into the wrong car and there was a language barrier," Durkin told the Orlando Sentinel on Wednesday. "It's as simple as that. This had nothing to do with sex trafficking." The police checked out the story with everyone involved and consider the case closed. But why did this woman immediately assume she was being sex-trafficked—and why did half a million people gullibly share her story? The answer to the first is because sex trafficking is a moral panic. It has become a go-to eyeball-getter in the media, where it is portrayed Taken-style: Some random stranger grabs a random young person and sells them at the equivalent of a Sotheby's auction. This is nonsense. As Beth Boggess, FBI supervisory special agent who heads Colorado's violent crimes against children unit, explained to KUSA TV: But if sex traffickers aren't kidnapping people right and left, why does a Facebook post like this one get shared so much? I think there's two things going on, besides a mistaken perception of the magnitude of this crime. Firt, people love to be helpful. If all it takes to save a life is to press "share," who wouldn't? Second, people love to be at the center of excitement. If, by sharing this post, we are playing a small role in this thrillingly heinous story, well, it's better than no walk-on part at all. The problem is that sharing this post does not spread helpful advice. It spreads unnecessary fear. Instead, consider sharing this very post, or this one, or any of Elizabeth Nolan Brown's articles on the subject. Headline: Woman Not Sex-Trafficked by Uber Driver, Everything Is Fine. Pass it on.

Ed Krayewski

http://freedombunker.com/2019/02/21/woman-who-got-in-the-wrong-uber-thought-she-was-being-sex-trafficked-she-wasnt/

2019-02-21 19:55:00+00:00

human interest

people

bbc--2019-04-03--Animal testing US closes kitten slaughterhouse after outcry

bbc

Animal testing: US closes 'kitten slaughterhouse' after outcry

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) says it will stop killing cats in a research programme, following strong public criticism. Cats and kittens have been used to research toxoplasmosis - a potentially deadly parasitic illness usually caught from cats or tainted food. The animals were fed infected meat, and the parasite's eggs harvested for use in other experiments. After the research the animals were euthanised. Veterinary groups say that the disease is treatable and the cats should have been adopted. More than 3,000 kittens have been put down since the programme was launched in 1982, campaigners the White Coat Waste Project (WCWP) say, with the programme costing more than $22m (£17m). In March, bipartisan legislation, known as the Kitten Act, was introduced in Congress to end the practice, describing it as "taxpayer-funded kitten slaughter". In a statement, the USDA said that "toxoplasmosis research has been redirected and the use of cats... has been discontinued and will not be reinstated". One of the key figures behind the bill, Democrat Representative Jimmy Panetta, said the announcement showed what was possible in politics. The 14 remaining cats on the programme are to be adopted by USDA employees. The department has said its research helped halve the rate of toxoplasmosis infections, which is particularly dangerous for unborn children and people with compromised immune systems.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47795500

2019-04-03 01:44:39+00:00

human interest

animal

bbcuk--2019-02-19--Puppy and kitten pet shop sales could be banned in Wales

bbcuk

Puppy and kitten pet shop sales could be banned in Wales

The sale of puppies and kittens through pet shops would be banned in Wales under plans being put out to consultation. Wales' rural affairs minister Lesley Griffiths said there was clear evidence such sales can contribute to an increase risk of disease. The move would mean buyers would have to deal directly with a breeder or a rehoming centre. People have until 17 May to give their views on the ban. The UK government has consulted on a similar ban in England - dubbed Lucy's Law, named after a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel rescued from a puppy farm. Lucy, who had been kept in a cage most of her life, had a curved spine, bald patches and epilepsy after years of mistreatment. Ms Griffiths said: "There is clear evidence that the sale of puppies and kittens via third parties has the potential to contribute to an increased risk of disease and a lack of socialisation and habituation for the puppies and kittens, compared to when people buy directly from the breeder. "The vast majority of those buying a new puppy or kitten do so with the best of intentions. "However, it is not always immediately apparent to the buyer where their new pet originated, or in what conditions it was raised. This consultation is an opportunity to gather as much information as possible to enable us to make lasting improvements to the welfare of puppies and kittens bred in Wales." She said banning commercial third-party sales "may only be one aspect of this".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-47280898

2019-02-19 00:23:47+00:00

human interest

animal

bbcuk--2019-08-13--CCTV footage released over kittens dumped in pub

bbcuk

CCTV footage released over kittens dumped in pub

CCTV footage has been released of a man the RSPCA wants to trace after a litter of kittens were found dumped in a pub toilet in Lincoln. The kittens - three females and one male - were found in a black bag with the words 'May Contain Prosecco' printed on it, in the men's toilet at The Ritz Wetherspoons pub on 25 June. Four other kittens were found abandoned in the same toilets in March 2018.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-49334151

2019-08-13 12:23:10+00:00

human interest

animal

bbcuk--2019-10-11--Border Collie becomes foster mum to six abandoned kittens

bbcuk

Border Collie becomes foster mum to six abandoned kittens

Six abandoned kittens are being cared for by an unlikely mum - a dog. The litter was only one week old when it was found by workers on a building site. Brought to Oak Tree Animals' Charity in Wetheral, Cumbria, staff and Skye the Border Collie have been caring for them around the clock to ensure their survival. Intake team leader, Caroline Yon, said: "With the best will in the world, as humans we can't replicate 100% what their mum would do for them and Skye's about the next best thing."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-50019249

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 23:36:55 GMT

human interest

animal

birminghammail--2019-03-13--Four abandoned kittens found dumped like rubbish next to bins

birminghammail

Four abandoned kittens found 'dumped like rubbish' next to bins

Four kittens were found after they were “dumped like rubbish” in a cardboard box and left at the side of some bins. The shocking discovery was made by a passer-by in Scafell Drive, Perry Common, on Wednesday, March 6. According to the RSPCA, the woman saw the box by some bins - near to Wyrley House - and as she walked past she noticed it move. Four black and white kittens – who are believed to be around ten-weeks-old – were found inside. The woman called the RSPCA about the incident and Cara Gibbon, animal collection officer (ACO), was sent to the scene. Cara rushed the cats, two female and two male, to the Coventry branch of the RSPCA where they will be cared for until they are ready to be re-homed. All appeared to be in relatively good health although one female is now receiving veterinary attention at Newbrook Animal Hospital. She said: “It is awful to think these kittens were just dumped like rubbish and left by the side of some bins. “It is just lucky that the lady saw the box they were in moving and cared enough to investigate. “All four of the kittens are lovely and are recovering well in our care after their ordeal. “I am now trying to trace the callous person responsible for doing this and am appealing for anyone with information to get in touch.” Anyone with information about who dumped the kittens should call the RSPCA appeals line on 0300 123 8018.

Jordan Coussins

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/four-abandoned-kittens-found-dumped-15965273

2019-03-13 08:33:50+00:00

human interest

animal

birminghammail--2019-07-07--One-week-old kittens heartbreakingly found in bin during 31C heatwave

birminghammail

One-week-old kittens heartbreakingly found in bin during 31C heatwave

A group of adorable one-week-old kittens were heartbreakingly found dumped in a bin. The creatures - who are unbelievably cute - were recovered from a trash can on the hottest day of the year so far. The cute kitties were found wrapped in a bag and had been put in a box and dumped in a bin in temperatures of 31C. They were found by a member of the public in Derby, East Midlands, last Saturday (June 29), reports StokeonTrentLive. A spokesman for the RSPCA said the kittens were believed to have be dumped deliberately and whoever did it had "no intention for them to be found". They were brought to Derby's RSPCA shelter by an inspector and have since been named Biff (after Biffa), Maggie and Fern (Magfern) and Stig (Stig of the Dump). A spokesman for the animal charity said: "On the hottest day of the year a member of the public heard a chorus of loud and distressed squeaks coming from a black bin. "On inspection the person discovered four one-week-old kittens. "The kittens were wrapped in a bag and put inside a box in the bin, there was no intention for them to be found. "As the kittens are without their mum a dedicated team member at Abbey Street Animal Re-homing Centre has taken the kittens in to be hand-reared. "At such a young age, the kittens require round the clock care as well as sufficient nurturing and love to ensure they thrive without their mum. The kittens are feeding well and will be ready to be re-homed as soon as they are old enough. "Cases such as this highlight the importance of neutering your cats. "The kittens in this story are very lucky to have been found, but without being neutered their mother will carry on to have more kittens, and who knows where any future litters could end up." The kittens will be available for reservation once they are five-to-six weeks old. They will not be able to go out to their new homes until they are eight-weeks-old and healthy. For more information about the cats call RSPCA Derby on 01332 344620.

newsdesk@birminghamlive.co.uk (Paige Oldfield, Louise Elliott, James Rodger)

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/one-week-old-kittens-heartbreakingly-16545405

2019-07-07 12:45:24+00:00

human interest

animal

birminghammail--2019-10-08--Kitten fights for life after routine microchipping at Tamworth Pets At Home

birminghammail

Kitten fights for life after routine microchipping at Tamworth Pets At Home

A kitten was left fighting for life after it was microchipped in a routine procedure at Pets At Home. Owner Steven Stringer took tiny Norris to the Tamworth branch of the store on September 30. But the feline became so unwell afterwards, vets allegedly offered to put him down. Norris - named after Steven's granddad - was unable to lift his head, move his paws and struggled to open his eyes after the procedure, reports the Daily Mirror . But Steven took the decision to move the kitten to Willows Vet Centre in Solihull, where Norris fought back from the brink. Pets At Home confirmed Norris was taken ill after the procedure, which was carried out by an 'experienced, fully-trained' member of staff. In an emotional public post on Facebook shortly after the procedure, Steven's friend Paul Anthony - who bought the kitten - wrote: "He can’t lift his head, move his paws and can’t hold his eyes open for a long time. "It's possible the microchip needle went too far and damaged his brain. "He is just a tiny kitten who went for a standard microchip. "They are removing the chip now so they can do an MRI scan and we are now at a specialist vets. "Absolutely heartbreaking please pray for him. A video posted to Facebook shows little Norris falling over and struggling to walk with little coordination. He has a red bandage on his leg covering a catheter and a shaved patch on his neck. Norris faced a fight for life in the hours following the procedure but has now "defied all odds" according to Paul and is slowly recovering. After four days at Willows Vets - who Paul credited with saving Norris' life - the kitten has returned home, where he is being nursed back to full fitness. He continues to walk with a limp, but undergoes daily physiotherapy. Steven has now created a public Facebook page where he has urged fans of the tiny furball to follow his recovery. 'Little Norris and His Road to Recovery' has already amassed more than 7,000 followers. "He is doing better day-by-day. Still early days but it's a massive improvement." Microchips are typically implanted under the animal's skin and gives the pet their own unique code in order to trace them if they get lost. Pets At Home's own website reads: "A qualified microchip planter will place the microchip under the loose skin by your pets shoulder blades. "The microchipping process is quick and painless, but it should be done by a qualified professional because complications can arise if performed incorrectly." In a statement to the Mirror , a Pets at Home spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that sadly a kitten became ill following a microchip procedure, performed at the Pets at Home Tamworth store. “The procedure was carried out by an experienced, fully trained Pets at Home colleague, who is understandably upset by what has happened. "Pets at Home are working with the specialist veterinary hospital where we transferred the kitten after providing initial care, to understand what happened. “Pets at Home are in contact with the kitten’s owner and are fully supporting them, and our colleague, at this time.”

newsdesk@birminghamlive.co.uk (Rosaleen Fenton, Charlotte Paxton)

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/kitten-fights-life-after-routine-17050581

Tue, 8 Oct 2019 12:58:14 +0000

human interest

animal

cnbc--2019-04-02--USDA ends practice of deadly experiments on kittens

cnbc

USDA ends practice of deadly experiments on kittens

Facing mounting pressure, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday it will cease the controversial practice of laboratory test research using cats. The USDA has been using kittens and cats in taxpayer-funded research to study parasites that can cause death to humans from foodborne illness. NBC News reported March 19 that the USDA's practice included feeding dog and cat meat obtained in "Asian meat markets" to cats. Last month, bipartisan legislation was introduced in Congress to end the agency's experiments on kittens. In a statement Tuesday, USDA said the Agricultural Research Service's "toxoplasmosis research has been redirected and the use of cats as part of any research protocol in any ARS laboratory has been discontinued and will not be reinstated." The agency didn't make mention of any dogs in its release. "I commend the USDA for their decision to end this type of testing on kittens," said Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., who authored the House version of the bipartisan KITTEN Act, or the Kittens in Traumatic Testing Ends Now Act of 2019. "They listened to the people and responded appropriately to our concerns. This is how our institutions, our government, and our democracy should and must work." When the KITTEN Act was announced last month, backers noted in a release that the USDA's experiments on cats and kittens involved "hundreds of kittens bred, fed parasite-infected raw meat, and then killed annually." Republican Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, who co-introduced the legislation, said at the time the "cruel testing practices" cost taxpayers more than $650,000 annually and "put the lives of innocent kittens in danger." Other cosponsors of the House legislation included GOP Rep. Brian Mast of Florida and Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin of Michigan. A companion piece of legislation was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR). "With all the awful reports coming out, it was clear that Americans opposed USDA's cruel testing on kittens," Rep. Mast said in a statement. "This is a decisive victory against government animal abuse and wasteful spending." Mast also lauded the USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue for ending the experiments but also called on other federal government agencies to "put a permanent end to abusive and painful animal testing." "Food safety in ARS is of paramount importance for agriculture and the public we serve," Chavonda Jacobs-Young, administrator of USDA's ARS agency, said in a statement. "We are continually assessing our research and priorities and aligning our resources to the problems of highest national priority." USDA said its research into toxoplasmosis has yielded results, including helping to cut the prevalence of the Toxoplasma gondii parasite by as much as 50 percent in the U.S. It said the parasite causing toxoplasmosis is especially dangerous to individuals with weak immune systems, such as children and HIV patients. "Over the course of this research, ARS worked to minimize reliance on cats," USDA said. It added that "no cats have been infected with taxoplasmosis pathogens or euthanized since September 2018." Finally, USDA said an external independent panel charged with reviewing the safety of adopting the cats now recommends that the animals never infected be made available for adoption. The agency said it is currently in the process of adopting these 14 cats to employees of the USDA and in accordance with regulatory guidelines.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/02/usda-ends-practice-of-deadly-experiments-on-kittens.html

2019-04-02 17:05:00+00:00

human interest

animal

cnn--2019-04-02--USDA wont test on kittens anymore

cnn

USDA won't test on kittens anymore

The department's Agricultural Research Service had been using kittens to conduct research on the Toxoplasma gondii parasite. According to the department, the parasite "causes toxoplasmosis, a disease considered to be a leading cause of death from foodborne illness in the United States, especially for individuals with weak immune systems such as children and HIV patients." In a statement, USDA said the kittens were used in the research because they were "the only hosts in which (the parasite) can complete its life cycle and produce (eggs)." The department said ARS' research on the disease "has reached its maturity" and that the use of kittens "has been discontinued and will not be reinstated." The USDA did not respond to CNN's request for comment. The department, which said it hasn't had any infected kittens in its facilities since September, said it plans to allow USDA employees to adopt more than a dozen kittens that had not been infected with the parasite. Last year, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and now-former Republican Rep. Mike Bishop of Michigan introduced legislation to stop the USDA from using kittens in its research. "The USDA breeds up to 100 kittens a year, feeds them parasite-infected meat in order to have the parasite's eggs harvested for use in other experiments, and then kills the kittens," Merkley said last year. "This bill would essentially stop this process." On Tuesday, California Democratic Rep. Jimmy Panetta, who co-sponsored the House bill, praised the move, saying in a statement that the USDA "listened to the people and responded appropriately to our concerns." Rep. Brian Mast, a Florida Republican, also applauded the move Tuesday, writing in a statement that the decision is a "decisive victory against government animal abuse and wasteful spending."

Devan Cole

http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/cnn_allpolitics/~3/ly46SUS4P9o/index.html

2019-04-02 16:40:29+00:00

human interest

animal

eveningstandard--2019-04-03--US ends animal testing programme aposthat saw dead cats fed to kittensapos

eveningstandard

US ends animal testing programme 'that saw dead cats fed to kittens'

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced it will stop using cats for food safety research, following public outcry at the practice labelled “kitten cannibalism”. The USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) had been using kittens to research toxoplasmois, a potentially fatal parasitic disease often caught from contaminated food. At eight weeks old, the kittens were fed raw meat infected with the T. gondii parasite. Their faeces were then collected for up to three weeks to harvest eggs for use in food safety experiments. Cat meat was allegedly used for the testing as they were the only host animal in which infection could complete its life cycle. A report published last month by anti-animal testing organisation The White Coat Project  (WCWP) said that as recently as 2015, the USDA had bought dead dogs, cats and other animals from meat markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and fed their body parts to the lab-bred cats as part of the research. More than 3,000 kittens have been put down since the programme was launched in 1982, the WCWP found, with the programme costing more than £17m. “These healthy kittens—who briefly pass the parasite’s eggs and become immune within weeks—are then killed and incinerated by USDA because they are no longer useful,” the report states. The report was met with widespread outcry across social media and within the American Congress. In March, Congress introduced new bipartisan legislation, known as the Kitten Act, to end the practice, describing it as "taxpayer-funded kitten slaughter". In a statement on Tuesday, the USDA announced: "toxoplasmosis research has been redirected and the use of cats has been discontinued and will not be reinstated". The agency also announced that the remaining 14 cats in its labs would be adopted by USDA employees. California Democratic Representative Jimmy Panetta, who co-sponsored the House bill, applauded the move, writing in a statement that the USDA had "listened responded appropriately to our concerns."

Harriet Brewis

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/us-ends-animal-testing-programme-that-saw-dead-cats-fed-to-kittens-a4107851.html

2019-04-03 08:15:00+00:00

human interest

animal

eveningstandard--2019-01-09--What is palm oil Why do products contain it and how can it cause deforestation

eveningstandard

What is palm oil? Why do products contain it and how can it cause deforestation?

More and more brands are choosing to go palm oil free with their products. This includes Iceland supermarkets who are banning the use of palm oil from their own brand products from 2019 – making them the first UK supermarket to do so. The reason behind this? Palm oil’s ‘harmful environmental impact,' which is having a devastating impact on wildlife and tropical forests. Here's everything you need to know about the production, uses and dangers of palm oil: A type of vegetable oil that is made from the fruit of oil palm trees. It is the most commonly used vegetable oil with around 66 million tonnes produced each year – and it’s found in around half of all supermarket products. Dr Emma Keller from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) told BBC Newsround: "Palm oil is a super-efficient crop, meaning that we can produce a lot more palm oil per area of land compared to other oil crops like soybean oil or coconut oil." Palm oil production has also provided jobs for “millions of small farmers”, helping them to get out of poverty. Over the past century, the demand for palm oil has risen dramatically which means large areas of tropical forest in south-east Asia and Africa have been destroyed as a result. Between 1990 and 2008 palm oil production was responsible for 8 per cent of the world’s deforestation as forests are burnt to clear areas for people to grow oil palms – which, in some cases, is illegal. Burning these forests means destroying the habitats for wildlife and plants in the area, with elephants, orangutans, tigers and rhinos among the animals affected. In fact, around 100,000 orangutans were lost between 1999 and 2015 due to palm oil production, other animals are being pushed to extinction and indigenous people are losing their homes. Furthermore, destruction of rainforests contributes to rising greenhouse gas emissions which contributes to climate change. Many everyday products contain palm oil including lipstick, shampoo, detergent, chocolate, biscuits, soap, ice cream and pizza dough – so it's difficult to avoid it completely. The solution? Try to choose palm oil free products where you can to cut down your consumption. The lower the demand for palm oil based products, the more likely brands will be to change their policies. More efforts need to be made to monitor palm oil and make sure it's produced sustainably, without harming animals and forests during the process.

Laura Hampson

https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/foodanddrink/what-is-palm-oil-orangutans-forests-a3811606.html

2019-01-09 11:39:00+00:00

human interest

plant

theindependent--2019-02-16--Plan to plant genetically engineered trees throughout US to save dying forests

theindependent

Plan to plant genetically engineered trees throughout US to save dying forests

Plans are under way to plant swathes of genetically engineered trees across the ailing forests of North America in a bid to save them from the ravages of disease and pests. Species such as the ash tree and whitebark pine have faced catastrophic declines of up to half their populations after creatures introduced from overseas tore through their defences. With some trees driven to the brink of extinction, some scientists have called for drastic action to help forests fight back against the pests. “The reason they are so deadly is that native species are not genetically adapted to defend against them,” explained Dr Ines Ibanez, an ecologist from the University of Michigan. This problem can be fixed by providing trees with the genetic tools they need to fight their attackers. “People are interested in exploring the potential of biotechnology, which could be used to introduce a specific trait unto a tree species or make it resistant or tolerant a disease or pest,” said Dr Jason Delborne, a social scientist at North Carolina State University While genetic engineering normally takes place within tight restrictions, these GM trees would be created with the express intention of spreading far and wide. This prompted the US government to enlist Drs Delborne and Ibanez along with other collaborators from across the academic spectrum to assess whether the nation should embark on such an enormous leap into the unknown. Their work has come at a crucial time, as efforts to genetically modify trees are already under way. Perhaps the most successful project has been one targeting the American chestnut, which was all but wiped out by a fungal blight in the mid-1900s. Chestnuts used to make up around a quarter of the trees in eastern US forests, but after 6 billion were killed the remnant population is nothing but stumps. But the tree may have found a saviour in the form of a pioneering project led by Professor William Powell at SUNY-ESF, which has created chestnut trees with an extra gene from wheat that detoxifies the fungus. Tests have shown these new strains are resistant to the blight, providing hope for the future of the species. “The goal for them is to make it deregulated so they could plant it freely in the environment, then over a decade you could plant chestnut tees and they would spread and repopulate the forest. That’s the vision,” said Prof Powell. Unlike many GM species, these trees would not be commercial given the primary end goal is simply to restore nature to its former glory and not make money. Nevertheless, such technologies could still face a backlash, and the scientists presenting their work at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington DC urged caution. “Some people love that idea, others say ‘You want to release a GMO in wild forests, are you kidding?’ said Dr Delborne. Dr Ibanez said a broad range of measures will be necessary to save the nation’s forests, including breeding programmes and the search for natural genetic resistance in populations. While genetic engineering cannot yet be viewed as a silver bullet to solve the problem, it may still prove essential. “We may start losing species quite fast, and want to have this in our toolbox,” she said.

Josh Gabbatiss

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/trees-genetic-engineering-gm-pests-diseases-invasive-species-extinction-fungus-a8782061.html

2019-02-16 14:04:38+00:00

human interest

plant

bbc--2019-09-20--The man who stopped a mega-dam and saved Borneos rainforest

bbc

The man who stopped a mega-dam and saved Borneo's rainforest

Swimming in the Arctic with Down's syndrome Trym is the first person to live on the Svalbard Islands with Down's syndrome and he isn't letting it hold him back.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-49753290

2019-09-20 03:45:04+00:00

human interest

plant

bbcuk--2019-09-29--David Attenborough Save Sussexs magical kelp forests

bbcuk

David Attenborough: Save Sussex's magical kelp forests

Sir David Attenborough is supporting a campaign to help save an important marine habitat. Kelp forests off the West Sussex coast are among the most biodiverse environments on the planet, but they have been damaged by changing fishing habits and the dumping of sediment on the seafloor. Kelp is also important in reducing the impact of climate change. According to one estimate, globally it can absorb about 600 million tonnes of carbon a year, twice as much as UK emits annually. Sir David has backed an initiative by the Sussex Wildlife Trust and the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority to introduce an inshore trawler exclusion zone to help the kelp regenerate. See more on Inside Out South on BBC One in the south of England on Monday September 30 at 19:30 GMT and on the BBC iPlayer here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-49853729

2019-09-29 23:13:22+00:00

human interest

plant

foreignpolicy--2019-08-19--It Isnt Too Late to Save the Brazilian Rainforest

foreignpolicy

It Isn’t Too Late to Save the Brazilian Rainforest

It Isn’t Too Late to Save the Brazilian Rainforest The fate of the Amazon is intertwined with the fate of the world. If 20-25 percent of its tree cover is cut down, scientists estimate, the basin’s capacity to absorb carbon dioxide would be severely compromised, taking out of operation one of the world’s largest carbon sinks. Owing to accelerating rates of deforestation to make way for cattle, soy farming, and gold mining, this tipping point could be reached within a decade. The Amazon basin plays a critical role in stabilizing the global climate. It is vast, spanning almost 3 million square miles and incorporating 40 percent of the world’s tropical forests, 20 percent of its fresh water supply, and producing 20 percent of the air we breathe. Through a process called evapotranspiration, it also influences the planet’s cloud cover and circulation of ocean currents. But the Amazon basin is in trouble, particularly the nearly 2 million square miles of it located in Brazil. Deforestation rates there were almost 50 percent higher between August 2018 and July 2019 compared with the same period a year before. The country’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has made the opening up of the Amazon to massive resource extraction a central pillar of his government’s economic agenda. Backed by powerful rural politicians and the agricultural and mining lobby, Bolsonaro has sought to dismantle Brazil’s environmental protections and agencies and ramp up access to mining concessions, especially on protected indigenous land. To hasten the process, the president is freezing the demarcation of new indigenous land and stripping the national indigenous foundation, known as Funai, of its powers. Such strategies are dangerous; the protection of indigenous lands is widely considered to be among the best strategies to conserve forests and avoid loss of biodiversity. Already, deforestation is rising and illegal mining spreading. The chief culprits for deforestation include cattle ranchers, who are responsible for more than three-quarters of land clearances. But widespread mining of iron, gold, and other minerals is credited with up to a 10th of all forest loss. Agri-industrial giants are also clearing tracts of land to make way for soy and corn, although their direct impact on deforestation is more limited because their footprints are smaller. Despite evidence to the contrary, the Brazilian government denies that there is a problem. Confronted with remote sensing data showing rising forest loss from the National Institute for Space Research, Brazil’s national scientific agency, the president sacked the agency’s director, describing its findings as “fake news.” That same week, he publicly rebuked the leaders of Germany and France after they expressed concern about soaring levels of deforestation and widespread human rights abuses in indigenous and Afro-Brazilian communities. On learning that the French foreign minister had met with local environmental groups, Bolsonaro called off a planned meeting, potentially imperiling the ratification of a massive new trade pact with the European Union. Most Brazilians disapprove of their government’s moves, and more than 86 percent of them oppose opening up protected indigenous areas to mining. A number of environmental and indigenous organizations have started resisting deregulation efforts in Brazil and holding protests in the capital. In the past month, eight former environment ministers, a former agriculture minister, and seven state governors have publicly rejected the federal government’s measures. And after months of verbal jousting, Germany and then Norway suspended their contributions to the more than $1 billion Amazon Fund, a mechanism created in 2008 to help Brazil protect its forests and 300 tribal groups living in the Amazon. Not surprisingly, conservation and protection efforts face an uphill battle. A big part of the problem is that the federal government simply dismisses all opposition. Several top officials do not believe that climate change is real and seem convinced that foreign governments and civil society groups are intent on sabotaging Bolsonaro’s administration. His foreign minister, Ernesto Araújo, has denounced climate change as a Marxist plot. He has the backing of some in the armed forces, which have long been suspicious of indigenous and environmental groups, and of many conservative governors who support the federal government’s agenda, especially when it comes to the economic development of forested areas. But there are ways to put pressure on Bolsonaro. Domestically, increased investment by public and private groups in the scientific detection of illegal deforestation and environmental crime, measures to reduce land grabbing and the unproductive use of land for cattle grazing, incentives for producing alternate crops, and sustained enforcement of existing laws are all essential. To be sure, given the current hostility of the federal government, most of these measures are off the table. But the international community has other options available, including penalties for companies with dirty supply chains, divestment strategies targeting key violators, product boycotts, and public campaigns. Meanwhile, one of most powerful ways to protect the region is by working with businesses, rather than against them. Take the case of the cattle industry: It might not seem like a likely candidate for progressive policy, but many international importers and sellers are increasingly sensitive to “greening” their supply chains given global consumer backlash about the Amazon. Domestic meat producers in Brazil are particularly wary since the larger chains that sell their products in Brazil—Carrefour, Casino, Walmart, and others—are foreign-owned (and are committed to zero-carbon standards, in principle). Several Brazilian business coalitions are already pushing back. The Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development and the Brazilian Agribusiness Association have criticized government proposals to open up protected forests. And Brazilian policymakers could face more pressure soon. Given that Brazil’s finance minister has promised to phase out a wide range of subsidies to local producers, businesses will soon need to turn to much more demanding international creditors for access to capital. If they don’t change their practices, their businesses will suffer. Already, as part of the Brazilian climate, forestry, and agriculture coalition, some of the country’s largest beef-packing companies, agricultural producers, and land owners are taking steps to clean up their supply chains. They can be encouraged along. The London Stock Exchange recently unveiled its Responsible Commodities Facility, essentially the world’s first green bonds scheme to provide low interest credit lines for sustainable food production. Farmers who commit to avoid clearing forests for agriculture will have access to up to $1 billion over the next four years to produce close to 190 million tons of soy and corn. The facility also seeks to protect and restore tens of thousands of square miles of natural habitat in the Brazilian savanna regions in order to take hundreds of millions of tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Although still in its early days, Marfrig Global Foods, one of the world’s largest beef producers, also launched sustainability bonds last month. The $500 million, decadelong offering brings together several large banks—Bradesco, Santander, BTG, Nomura, HSBC, XP, and Rabobank, among others—to support practices that avoid deforestation and reduce carbon emissions. Marfrig already launched several initiatives to encourage suppliers to adopt zero-carbon practices. Meanwhile, a Chinese-owned trading firm—COFCO International—has also joined forces with 20 banks to issue a $2.1 billion financing facility to support sustainability in Brazil’s agricultural sector. COFCO has decided to assess loan repayments based on local companies’ progress in meeting environmental, social, and corporate governance targets. The goal is to promote the sustainable production of soy and reinvest savings into reforestation and protecting land in the Amazon. Rival traders such as Olam and Louis Dreyfus have agreed to renew similar arrangements valued at over $750 million. Both companies are already among the biggest exporters of soybeans in the country and have linked performance to sustainability goals. Many others are following suit. While some critics label these types of financing arrangements as “greenwashing”—that is, attempts to make a company or practice seem more environmentally friendly than it is—the reality is that growing numbers of banks are under scrutiny from their own compliance departments and the wider public and are wary of the reputational risks associated with inaction. There is no doubt that a combination of incentives and penalties is needed to help promote better stewardship of the Amazon basin. A healthier Amazon is in the interest of not just the international community but also Brazilians, who could suffer greatly should deforestation rates cross a point of no return. In the short term, resistance is crucial to keep a bad situation from getting worse. But in the longer term, the best solution brings responsible governments, civil society groups, and businesses together to create solutions.

Robert Muggah

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/08/19/it-isnt-too-late-to-save-the-brazilian-rainforest/

2019-08-19 19:55:25+00:00

human interest

plant

latimes--2019-09-12--Opinion California can help save the Amazon rainforest Do we have the guts to try

latimes

Opinion: California can help save the Amazon rainforest. Do we have the guts to try?

Fires burning in Brazil and the broader Amazon basin are shining a spotlight on the role of forests and land use in the climate change challenge. Next week, the California Air Resources Board will hold a hearing that could have a direct impact on such fires. On Sept. 19, the board will vote on whether to endorse its proposed Tropical Forest Standard. California has been working on this standard for 11 years through a unique partnership with 37 other states and provinces from 10 countries around the world, including all of the states in the Brazilian Amazon. Full disclosure: I have served as the project lead for this effort since its inception. At its core, the Tropical Forest Standard establishes a set of performance benchmarks for what a high-quality state or provincial approach to reducing deforestation should aim for. States or provinces that meet the standard might be eligible in the future to raise money to fund sustainable practices by participating in the California carbon cap-and-trade system. Emitters in California — an oil company, say — would purchase offsets tied to emissions reduction in the forest provinces. That then allows the oil company to meet part of its compliance obligations here. But even if these faraway forest offsets are never bought and sold in our carbon market, jurisdictions that meet the benchmarks could use the standard to access other opportunities. Much of the proposed standard is technical, relating to quantification of emissions reductions, monitoring and verification. Some of it is focused on process and governance issues, establishing a robust set of principles for what constitutes proper collaboration between state and provincial governments and indigenous and local communities. These principles have been jointly developed and are now widely endorsed by governments, indigenous peoples organizations and civil society groups around the world. There is nothing in the world today like the Tropical Forest Standard, and we should not hold our breath waiting for the United Nations or national governments to fill that gap. Critics have already decided that the Tropical Forest Standard cannot possibly work. They point out that it will be difficult to verify and enforce the benchmarks. They worry that because of that, the program may just make it easier for large emitters in California to buy dubious offsets and continue emitting. And, of course, even if it does work, the Tropical Forest Standard cannot solve the problem of tropical deforestation by itself. But the standard is worth trying. Like so much of California’s approach to climate policy, it is an experiment, one that has a lot of potential upside with very limited downside risk. The program contains multiple safeguards to protect the integrity of the California cap-and-trade program. Even if a jurisdiction can meet the standard, there is no guarantee that it would be able to link with California’s program. Before that could happen, it would have to gain further approval in Sacramento. It is quite possible that California could adopt the Tropical Forest Standard and never pursue a linkage with a tropical forest jurisdiction. Why then move forward with it? Two reasons. First, the standard sends an important signal to California’s tropical forest partners that they are not in this alone. Abandoning the standard now would do the opposite. This is especially critical for forest states in Brazil now that the federal government has pulled back from forest protection. Governors in Brazil, Peru or Mexico might feel a little more comfortable taking some political risks to step up on forests and climate if they can point to an ongoing partnership with California. In a world of triage and tragic choices, every little bit of courage by a political leader is a precious resource. Second, states and provinces that meet the standard’s criteria would be in a much better position to unlock more sources of public and private financing, even if the offsets aren’t part of our cap-and-trade market. Without a doubt, many of these tropical forest jurisdictions are poor, with limited capacity and far too little support from national and international partners. And, yes, in many of these tropical frontiers, there are problems of corruption, illegal land grabs, narco-trafficking and violence against indigenous and local communities. We can’t solve these problems by ignoring them, and the standard is a way of engaging them. The great risk is that leaders in those tropical forest provinces who are committed to sustainable efforts will give up or lose the next election. They need and deserve our support. They need to know that the world is watching and that if they stay on the path of forest protection their efforts will be recognized and rewarded. More than anything, they need to be able to make a compelling case to the people in their jurisdictions that forest protection can deliver meaningful economic opportunities. California has a chance to do its part in this effort by staying in the fight alongside these states and provinces. This is what climate leadership looks like in a bottom-up world. William Boyd is a professor at the UCLA School of Law and the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. Since 2009, he has served as the project lead for the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force.

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-09-11/la-oe-uc-fossil-fuel-divestment-endowment

2019-09-12 10:00:41+00:00

human interest

plant

nationalinterest--2019-12-30--How to Save the Rainforest (And These Incredibly Cute Animals)

nationalinterest

How to Save the Rainforest (And These Incredibly Cute Animals)

Lemurs are the world’s most endangered mammals, but planting trees can help save them. The island of Madagascar off the southeastern coast of Africa hosts at least 12,000 plant species and 700 vertebrate species, 80% to 90% of which are found nowhere else on Earth. Isolated for the last 88 million years and covering an area approximately the size of the northeastern United States, Madagascar is one of the world’s hottest biodiversity hotspots. Its island-wide species diversity is striking, but its tropical forest biodiversity is truly exceptional. Sadly, human activities are ravaging tropical forests worldwide. Habitat fragmentation, over-harvesting of wood and other forest products, over-hunting, invasive species, pollution and climate change are depleting many of these forests’ native species. Among these threats, climate change receives special attention because of its global reach. But in my research, I have found that in Madagascar it is not the dominant reason for species decline, although of course it’s an important long-term factor. As a primatologist and lemur specialist, I study how human pressures affect Madagascar’s highly diverse and endemic signature species. In two recent studies, colleagues and I have found that in particular, the ruffed lemur – an important seed disperser and indicator of rainforest health – is being disproportionately impacted by human activities. Importantly, habitat loss is driving ruffed lemurs’ distributions and genetic health. These findings will be key to helping save them. Madagascar has lost nearly half (44%) of its forests within the last 60 years, largely due to slash-and-burn agriculture – known locally as “tavy” – and charcoal production. Habitat loss and fragmentation runs throughout Madagascar’s history, and the rates of change are staggering. This destruction threatens Madagascar’s biodiversity and its human population. Nearly 50% of the country’s remaining forest is now located within 300 feet (100 meters) of an unforested area. Deforestation, illegal hunting and collection for the pet trade are pushing many species toward the brink of extinction. In fact, the International Union for Conservation of Nature estimates that 95% of Madagascar’s lemurs are now threatened, making them the world’s most endangered mammals. Pressure on Madagascar’s biodiversity has significantly increased over the last decade. In a newly published study, climate scientist Toni Lyn Morelli, species distribution expert Adam Smith and I worked with 19 other researchers to study how deforestation and climate change will affect two critically endangered ruffed lemur species over the next century. Using combinations of different deforestation and climate change scenarios, we estimate that suitable rainforest habitat could be reduced by as much as 93%. If left unchecked, deforestation alone could effectively eliminate ruffed lemurs’ entire eastern rainforest habitat and with it, the animals themselves. In sum, for these lemurs the effects of forest loss will outpace climate change. But we also found that if current protected areas lose no more forest, climate change and deforestation outside of parks will reduce suitable habitat by only 62%. This means that maintaining and enhancing the integrity of protected areas will be essential for saving Madagascar’s rainforest habitats. In a study published in November 2019, my colleagues and I showed that ruffed lemurs depend on habitat cover to survive. We investigated natural and human-caused impediments that prevent the lemurs from spreading across their range, and tracked the movement of their genes as they ranged between habitats and reproduced. This movement, known as gene flow, is important for maintaining genetic variability within populations, allowing lemurs to adapt to their ever-changing environments. Based on this analysis, we parsed out which landscape variables – including rivers, elevation, roads, habitat quality and human population density – best explained gene flow in ruffed lemurs. We found that human activity was the best predictor of ruffed lemurs’ population structure and gene flow. Deforestation alongside human communities was the most significant barrier. Taken together, these and other lines of evidence show that deforestation poses an imminent threat to conservation on Madagascar. Based on our projections, habitat loss is a more immediate threat to lemurs than climate change, at least in the immediate future. This matters not only for lemurs, but also for other plants and animals in the areas where lemurs are found. The same is true at the global level: More than one-third (about 36.5%) of Earth’s plant species are exceedingly rare and disproportionately affected by human use of land. Regions where the most rare species live are experiencing higher levels of human impact. Scientists have warned that the fate of Madagascar’s rich natural heritage hangs in the balance. Results from our work suggest that strengthening protected areas and reforestation efforts will help to mitigate this devastation while environmentalists work toward long-term solutions for curbing the runaway greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change. Already, nonprofits are working hard toward these goals. A partnership between Dr. Edward E. Louis Jr., founder of Madagascar Biodiversity Partnership and director of Conservation Genetics at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, and the Arbor Day Foundation’s Plant Madagascar project has replanted nearly 3 million trees throughout Kianjavato, one region identified by our study. Members of Centre ValBio’s reforestation team – a nonprofit based just outside of Ranomafana National Park that facilitates our ruffed lemur research – are following suit. At an international conference in Nairobi earlier this year, Madagascar’s president, Andry Rajoelina, promised to reforest 40,000 hectares (99,000 acres) every year for the next five years – the equivalent of 75,000 football fields. This commitment, while encouraging, unfortunately lacks a coherent implementation plan. Our projections highlight areas of habitat persistence, as well as areas where ruffed lemurs could experience near-complete habitat loss or genetic isolation in the not-so-distant future. Lemurs are an effective indicator of total non-primate community richness in Madagascar, which is another way of saying that protecting lemurs will protect biodiversity. Our results can help pinpoint where to start. [ Like what you’ve read? Want more? Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter. ] This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Andrea L. Baden

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/how-save-rainforest-and-these-incredibly-cute-animals-108801

Mon, 30 Dec 2019 07:36 EST

human interest

plant

theguardianuk--2019-09-04--Grow your own forest how to plant trees to help save the planet

theguardianuk

Grow your own forest: how to plant trees to help save the planet

‘Tree planting ‘has mind-blowing potential’ to tackle climate crisis.” That’s how the Guardian reported findings from the Crowther Lab in Switzerland two months ago. Billions more trees, scientists claimed, could remove two-thirds of all the carbon dioxide created by human activity. Forest restoration “isn’t just one of our climate change solutions, it is overwhelmingly the top one,” said the lead scientist, climate change ecologist Tom Crowther. Such a programme might take 100 years to be fully effective, but along the way it would reduce the consequences of the climate crisis – protecting soil from erosion, reducing the risk of flooding and providing habitats for a vast range of animals and other plant species. Some baby steps are already being taken, such as the Bonn Challenge, a global attempt to reforest 350m hectares by 2030. In the UK, tree-planting initiatives include the Northern Forest, which will be made up of 25m trees, spanning the north of England from Liverpool to Hull. But we need to do much, much more. Another study led by Crowther, published in Nature in 2015, estimated that while there are more than 3 trillion trees in the world, that number had fallen by 46% since the dawn of human civilisation. In Brazil, the Amazon rainforest continues to shrink by the equivalent of three football fields every minute as land is turned over to cattle ranching, soya-bean production and mining. In August alone, an area the size of Hong Kong disappeared, not including losses from fires. If you want to do your bit, here are some answers to the big questions. In its recent report Net Zero: the UK’s contribution to stopping global warming, the Committee on Climate Change says the UK needs to increase its woodland from 13% of land area to 17% (the European average is around 35%). We need to be planting 30,000 hectares annually. “In the 2018-19 season, we did just under 13,000 hectares, of which 11,000 were in Scotland,” says John Tucker, director of woodland outreach at the Woodland Trust. “If you looked at England, we probably need six times more tree-planting. We are way off where we should be.” In order to hit the target, says Jon Stokes, director of trees, science and research at the Tree Council, “we need a radically different approach in terms of funding, incentives, land availability, harnessing people power and private-public involvement. Existing woodlands are also valuable habitats and an essential source of carbon capture, however they are not always managed effectively. Improving the management of existing woodlands could maximise their ability to store and capture carbon, and should therefore be a key part of any plan to increase tree numbers or canopy cover.” Can people planting trees in their garden make much of a dent? “One individual tree might not make a difference but if 10m people put one tree in, that would,” says Tucker. “If people feel they want to do something, then planting a tree in the right place is a good thing to do … Get trees that are produced from seed that is sourced from the UK and grown in the UK. We want to avoid encouraging people to buy trees that have been imported because that brings with it a risk of disease.” It isn’t simply a case of filling every available space with trees. Species need to be chosen carefully to ensure they grow well – especially on deforested or degraded land – and fit into the existing ecosystem. “There are other landscapes – such as grasslands and peatlands – which are rich in biodiversity and can also lock up lots of carbon dioxide in their own right. These must be protected and here it might not be appropriate to plant trees,” says Stokes. Isabella Tree, author of Wilding, who, with her husband Charles Burrell, turned a 1,400-hectare farm in West Sussex into one of the country’s biggest “rewilding” projects, is not in favour of plantations. “The advantages of natural regeneration are absolutely huge and haven’t really been taken seriously,” she claims. Creating forest plantations, she says, would require first spraying the area with a weedkiller, such as glyphosate. “Then you’re transporting people in by car, with saplings that have been grown in nurseries in an artificial high-carbon system. They may have been imported, so you’ve got a disease risk there. They also won’t have all the mycorrhizas [beneficial fungi] that they would have had if they were grown in the wild. It’s a human choice what tree is planted where, and we’re not always the best judge of that.” Saplings are usually protected with a plastic tube that doesn’t biodegrade, and also creates “a micro-environment that can encourage a buildup of condensation, so those saplings are often prone to rot and disease buildup. They also encourage the saplings to grow fast and tall, so they are etiolated stems. That may be fine if you’re a forester and you want to grow trees with great tall trunks, but not if you want to get a natural landscape back.” The alternative is to let nature do it. “You allow thorny scrub to grow up, and that happens with birds and wind dispersing seed across your landscape – it’s one of the most biodiverse habitats there is, but in the UK we have zero tolerance for it.” A single jay, for instance, can plant thousands of acorns in a month, she says. “That thorny scrub becomes essentially nature’s barbed wire, to protect that sapling as it grows, so deer and rabbits can’t get at it. The sapling is instantly plugged into all the fungi associates of the scrub and the trees around it, so it’s like getting an intravenous injection of nutrients and minerals from the get-go. That tree will be much healthier and much more resilient than a tree that has been artificially planted. At the end, what you’ll get is an open woodscape, with lateral branches, which is a huge habitat for birds and bats, and a scrubby landscape where you’ve got the next generation of trees coming up. It sequesters carbon in a much more dynamic way than a closed-canopy, single-generational plantation.” One of the obstacles, she says, is funding. It is simple to request funds for, say, 500 oaks in a certain area. It is less easy to say we want to allow trees to regenerate naturally, but can’t say how many that will be. “The funding paradigm doesn’t fit natural regeneration – and that’s one of the big problems.” You don’t need permission, but you do need to think about what species will grow where you live, and also how big it could get. “It’s no use planting an oak tree two feet outside your back door – it will damage your house,” says Tucker. “You need to think about house foundations, underground drains, overhead power lines and make sure the tree is going to be in a place where it can grow and not have any adverse impact.” Think about the effect on your neighbours, too. Smaller species include apple trees or rowan. “The act of planting must not be seen as the end of this process,” Stokes adds. “Aftercare is absolutely vital for young and newly planted trees; without aftercare, we could plant many trees that simply die or don’t grow to a size where they can provide benefits such as capturing carbon.” You can’t plant on waste ground or in your local park without permission from the landowner – that could well be the local council and, says Tucker: “They might be interested in people approaching them and asking them if they can plant trees on their land.” Other good places to try may be school or hospital grounds. If you’re planting more than two hectares of forest (less if it’s a “sensitive area”), you may need to contact your local Forestry Commission office “about whether you need what is, in effect, planning permission to create a new woodland”. There may also be funding available. “We need more trees everywhere, but they perform different functions,” says Tucker. Leaving aside carbon sequestration, “In the rural situation, soil erosion is a real problem and trees in the right place, because their roots help improve water infiltration, can reduce runoff. In our cities, trees can be really good for improving air quality. As the climate warms up, shading in our towns and cities is going to become increasingly important and trees can perform that role. Surface-water flooding is a big problem in cities now and trees can help alleviate some of those flash-flooding episodes.” “Not many of the recent planting grants have been for urban trees, so it’s great to see the Urban Tree Challenge Fund promising to plant 130,000 new urban trees,” adds Stokes. The Tree Council has a national network of volunteers called tree wardens, who help conserve trees in their community. There may also be local tree-planting groups. If there aren’t, you could set up your own (the Woodland Trust offers free planting packs for community groups). Trees for Cities is another organisation that runs tree-planting projects. Donate money or volunteer. There are numerous reforestation charities operating around the world, such as the International Tree Foundation, and TreeSisters, which plants 2.2m trees across the tropics, including in India, Kenya and Brazil, every year. Beyond that, support international organisations that promote the rights of indigenous people, whose land stores nearly a quarter of the carbon stored in tropical forests, and who are best placed to protect forested areas by monitor and report illegal logging. In the UK, lobby the government to take reforestation seriously. “Tree planting rates in the UK in the past probably eight years have been the lowest for a generation, so we are miles off where we should be,” says Tucker. “Stopping deforestation is really important, because about 10% of carbon dioxide emissions come from deforestation,” adds Dominick Spracklen, professor of biosphere-atmosphere interactions at the University of Leeds. Many products we wouldn’t even think of contribute to the problem. “Ask questions,” says Stephen Donofrio, from the organisation Forest Trends. Ask the supermarkets where the palm oil in their products comes from, or the soya feed used to farm their meat. Ask sportswear companies where the leather in their trainers was sourced. Ask the person responsible for your pension fund how much deforestation its investments are causing. “Even if that person doesn’t know the answer, you’ve asked the question and hopefully others will, too, to the point where this comes on to their radar.” Simon Lewis, professor of global change science at University College London, says we should “support the rewilding forest restoration schemes. Lobby companies – and to get legislation – so that the food production chain is deforestation-free. On a personal level, reducing your meat and dairy consumption will take pressure off the land to allow the possibility of having more forest.” Above all, we mustn’t get complacent. “There are people who think we can keep using fossil fuels, and plant a few trees, and it’s all going to be all right,” says Spracklen. “That’s not going to solve climate change on its own.”

Emine Saner

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/sep/04/grow-your-own-forest-how-to-plant-trees-to-help-save-the-planet

2019-09-04 05:00:20+00:00

human interest

plant

theguardianuk--2019-11-12--'We depend on the Tongass': Alaskans fight to save US’s largest national forest

theguardianuk

'We depend on the Tongass': Alaskans fight to save US’s largest national forest

Tribal leaders, fishermen and environmentalists from Alaska will testify before Congress on Wednesday in a bid to save America’s biggest national forest – the latest battle against the Trump administration’s assault on environmental protections. The Tongass national forest, one of the world’s last intact temperate rainforests which plays a crucial role in fighting the climate crisis, is under threat of logging as Alaska seeks exemption from the Roadless Rule, which protects millions of acres of pristine forests across the US. The Tongass is considered the “crown jewel” of the national forest system, sequestering huge amounts of carbon dioxide to keep the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere. The Roadless Rule prevents mass clearcutting of trees in undeveloped forested areas and is seen as one of the most broadly supported environmental protections in the US. Donald Trump has reportedly intervened in the Alaska case, raising fears that other states with strong extractive industry lobbying machines will seek to fast-track similar exemptions without properly consulting communities on the impact that felling trees in wilderness areas will have. “There are indications that many other states are watching to see what happens with Alaska, which has shown us how this administration is blindly following whatever industry, corporations and lobbyists want without thinking about future generations,” said Blaine Miller-McFeeley, senior legislative representative at the legal not-for-profit Earthjustice. Wednesday’s hearing by the Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Land (NPFPL) will hear evidence on the potentially devastating consequences for the Tongass and its people. “We’ve been here for thousands of years. These are our lands and we depend on the Tongass for food security,” Joel Jackson, 63, president of the organized village of Kake, said. “Tribes everywhere are worried and watching very closely at what they’re trying to do in Alaska,” added Jackson, who will testify. “Tourism and commercial fishing run this region economically, not timber, which is a pathetically small sector,” said Lance Preston, 47, a fisherman and board member of the Seafood Producers Cooperative in Sitka. “The salmon already faces challenges from ocean acidification and warming … A very small minority stands to gain economically by being very irresponsible.” Stretching 16m acres over 500 miles, the Tongass is unique in its size and biodiversity, with thousands of islands, waterways, glacial fjords and green valleys flanked by rugged mountains and sprawling forests of old-growth cedar, spruce and hemlock trees. It is home to myriad species including wild Pacific salmon, brown bears, wolves, Sitka black-tailed deer and bald eagles, and attracts more than a million visitors annually. The Roadless Rule was adopted during the Clinton administration after an extensive public consultation, in which 96% of the 1 million participants nationwide supported protection for unspoiled forests. Since then Alaska has fought the regulation, but its efforts to roll back the protection have been repeatedly thwarted in Congress and the courts. Then, the state’s petition for an exemption was granted by the Department of Agriculture in August 2018 without consulting any tribal nations. The state was given $2m in federal funds by the Forest Service (FS) to help facilitate dialogue about six potential outcomes ranging from no change to full exemption. At least 10% of this money was given to the Alaska Forest Association – a timber industry group – to aid their participation in the process, according to documents obtained by KTOO. The Angoon Cooperative Association, Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes, Hoonah Indian Association, Hydaburg Cooperative Association, organized village of Kake and organized village of Kasaan – which all have roots in the Tongass dating back thousands of years – were belatedly offered a seat at the table as “cooperating agencies” alongside the state in the review process. The tribes say they were not given any financial support leaving them scrambling to make sense of complex long document. Their requests for extensions were repeatedly denied. In June, Trump held a private meeting with Alaska’s governor, Mike Dunleavy, on Air Force One. Shortly after, Trump instructed the agriculture secretary, Sonny Perdue, to grant a full exemption, according to the Washington Post. Last month, a full exemption, opening the door for the logging industry to bulldoze roads and clearcut trees over 9m acres, was recommended in the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). In response, tribal leaders wrote to Perdue condemning the federal government’s rushed and unfair handling of the proposed exemption, which they said “represents the most controversial and potentially destructive assault on our way of life to date”. In the Tongass, the tribes mostly live on isolated islands, relying on salmon fishing, deer, moose, grouse and berries. This traditional diet remains extremely important amid rising food prices and cuts to ferry services. “All communities deserve to have access to the resources they rely on for subsistence, but this administration has gone out of its way to change the rules for their friends who seek to profit off those resources,” said the New Mexico congresswoman Deb Haaland, chair of the NPFPL. In May, fellow committee member and Arizona congressman Ruben Gallego, and the Washington senator Maria Cantwell, senior member of the Senate energy and natural resources committee, introduced legislation to codify the Roadless Rule in order to permanently protect millions of acres of pristine national forests. The 2019 Roadless Area Conservation Act would prevent state exemptions to the rule, which nationwide protects habitats for 1,600 threatened or endangered species, reduces wildfire risk and supplies clean drinking water to 60 million Americans and 350 communities across the US. “The administration continues to try to solve 21st-century problems with 19th-century thinking, trying to extract a relatively small amount from our few remaining pristine natural areas,” said Cantwell. Nationally, public support for the Roadless Rule remains strong: a Pew poll in March of this year found three-quarters of respondents want protections to remain in place. Locally, the vast majority of south-east Alaska’s 32 native and white communities also support the current roadless protection. But the Alaska congressman Don Young, the Republican leader of the NPFPL, believes the Roadless Rule has been a “disaster” for his home state. He has been working closely with Trump, senior White House staff and the rest of the Alaska delegation to secure an exemption. “Congressman Young believes an exemption is needed to not only boost the economy of south-east Alaska, but to bolster the long-term health of the Tongass national forest by promoting active resource management,” a spokesperson said. The rule already allows for individual exemptions: in Alaska, every single request for the Tongass to date – more than 50 – for projects like mines and dams has been approved. Dunleavy’s office did not respond to requests for comment, but has previously blamed the rule for destroying logging and thousands of jobs. The timber industry contributes less than 1% to the south-east Alaska economy, compared to 25% by the fishing and tourism industries combined. Tongass waterways produce 80% of the commercial salmon annually harvested from south-east Alaska, valued at $60m. The FS has lost almost $600m on Tongass timber sales over the last 20 years, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. The FS is legally obliged to take into account public opinion before making its final decision, which is expected in mid-2020. If it is fully repealed as Alaskan Republicans want, 5m acres of the Chugach national forest, which is second only to the Tongass in roadless acreage, could also be threatened, according to the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. In both forests, vital food sources and Native cultural and sacred sites are at risk. “If we didn’t have wild food to eat, we would be starving right now. We are living in virtual poverty because of the systems of government,” said Wanda Culip, a Tlingit advocate for the Tongass in Hoonah. “The Roadless Rule is just the latest example of how we jump through hoops but get nowhere – there is no due process for indigenous communities. We are nuisance communities standing in the way of industry profits.”

Nina Lakhani

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/12/alaska-tongass-national-forest-environmental-protections-climate-crisis

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 07:00:32 GMT

human interest

plant

theindependent--2019-04-24--The fight to save Polandaposs Bialowieza Forest from destruction

theindependent

The fight to save Poland's Bialowieza Forest from destruction

The forest floor is a graveyard, covered with fallen spruce and oak trees. But beneath the broken limbs and rotting leaves, thousands of species of insects are feeding in Bialowieza Forest. Fungi of many types are found only here and sprout year-round. More are discovered every year. More than 200 species of birds, including rare woodpeckers and owls, fill the air with song. “There is more life in a dead spruce than a living one,” says Professor Rafal Kowalczyk, the leader of the Mammal Research Institute at the Polish Academy of Sciences, during a tour of the forest – one of Europe’s last remaining primeval forests and part of an ecosystem largely untouched since the last glaciers receded from the continent more than 10,000 years ago. It has been more than a year since the European Court of Justice ordered an end to logging in the forest, finding that it posed a clear threat to the world heritage site. The scars, though, are still visible – from the tracks gouged into the earth by the heavy machinery used to cut down thousands of ancient trees to the gaping holes in the canopy created by their removal. The ruling was a major defeat for Poland’s governing Law and Justice party, which supported the logging. Warsaw initially defied the court order, but relented when faced with a fine of €100,000 (about £87,000) for each day it violated the directive. The battle over Bialowieza is just one of many being waged by the right-wing government against the European Union, which has accused Poland of posing a risk to democratic values and the rule of law by trying to pack its courts and restrict press freedoms. Now there are fears that the Polish government is once again drawing up plans to increase logging in the area, skirting the ruling by increasing the quota for wood in the hundreds of square miles of forest that lies outside the boundaries of the world heritage site. The protected part of the Bialowieza woodland, which covers about 550 square miles and extends into neighbouring Belarus, was long the hunting ground for European nobility and royalty, including Lithuanian dukes, Polish kings and Russian czars. During the German occupation of Poland, Hermann Göring was so enamoured of the forest that he drew up plans to create the world’s largest hunting grounds and establish a Nazi Jurassic Park of sorts, reintroducing prehistoric animals to the landscape. As a playground of the rich and powerful, Bialowieza was spared the fate of so many of the continent’s other forests, most of which were razed and some of which were turned into intensively controlled versions of nature. The order imposed on some of these European forests is remarkable. Armies of forest rangers relentlessly clear dead wood and undergrowth to create near perfect carpets beneath the pines. The woods can feel more like nurseries than wild spaces. “We have forgotten what nature looks like,” Kowalczyk says. But Bialowieza has remained wild and unruly. Its remoteness and mostly pristine condition helped make it the site of one of the continent’s great conservation victories – the reintroduction of bison after the last free-roaming animal was hunted and killed in 1919. The forest is now home to Europe’s largest herd of bison, or wisent. “Most people, when they think about forests, think about managed nature,” says Kowalczyk, who first came to Bialowieza in the 1980s. “This place is so different than any forest I had ever seen.” While the bison was a big success story, a much smaller creature, the hairy little bark beetle, set off the logging fight. Spruce trees, especially when in a weakened state, make a perfect mating ground for the beetles. The male bores into the tree, creating a chamber where he will release pheromones to attract females. He will mate with several of them, who in turn will deposit dozens of eggs in the chamber before flying off to find new mates. The larvae left behind will feed on the vascular tissue of the tree. By the time they pupate, the damage they have done often has sucked the life from the spruce. The tracks from the beetles, known as printers, can still be spotted in felled trees all across the forest. Warmer winters, brought on by climate change, have allowed the population to explode. And the preference of forest managers for spruce trees has expanded the territory where they can thrive. By 2016, it was clear that the beetle infestation in Bialowieza was devastating large tracts of trees. For many scientists, the best way to manage the infestation was to leave it alone, letting nature take its course. “The bark beetle has been a part of the ecosystem for hundreds of years,” says Adam Bohdan, a biologist from the Wild Poland Foundation. “This phenomenon is a natural adaptation to the new climate situation.” But the Polish government did not agree. It argued that the lack of human intervention in the forest would doom it. So Jan Szyszko, the environment minister at the time, ordered a large-scale logging campaign, allowing heavy machinery to roll into pristine areas of woodland. “We will rebuild the valuable habitats in the Bialowieza Forest by removing dead trees as much as is necessary and restoring the oaks and ashes,” Szyszko declared in 2016. The move was greeted with outrage, with protesters descending on the forest, setting up an encampment and forming human blockades to try to stop the heavy machinery. An army of more than 1,000 forest rangers from around the country was dispatched to a small village on the border of Belarus ready to confront the activists. At times, tempers boiled over into violence. Skirmishes broke out as activists engaged in coordinated acts of civil disobedience. But it was not until the European court threatened financial penalties that the logging ended. A report issued by Unesco in February found that the “logging operations and other forest management activities have disrupted the ecological and natural processes in the property”. But it was not beyond repair, according to the report. And the forest is much quieter now. New life is replacing the old, although beetles remain a problem with no easy solution. “In the natural forest, there is two times more dead wood than living,” says Bohdan, who took part in the protests a year ago. “It is really a unique laboratory.” “But all the time,” he says, “there is a worry that they will start logging again.”

Marc Santora

https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/poland-forest-logging-bialowieza-deforestation-environment-a8870801.html

2019-04-24 10:56:06+00:00

human interest

plant

eveningstandard--2019-01-02--Best exercise bikes UK Home fitness and spin bikes plus sale offers on now

eveningstandard

Best exercise bikes UK: Home fitness and spin bikes plus sale offers on now

Fitness tends to fall into its own category of goals as each individual begins to question their health and wellbeing during these dark and cold months which, by the way is completely normal, and even us personal trainers are accustomed to it. Don’t be fooled by the word ‘exercise bike’ traditionally associated with the idea of old-fashioned cardio equipment that brings back memories of the long, painful hours previously spent in commercial gyms. These days, with the ever expanding fitness industry and the hype of the ‘boutique’ gym model, we have been exposed to far more exciting ways of working out on a bike - which has also helped push brands to create even more innovative products. There’s no reason to not get the same sweat on from the comfort of your own home with one with a well made exercise bike so we have rounded up a selection of the best exercise bikes worth investing in 2019. See below top personal trainer picks below or jump straight to the offer pages: Best selling and on sale exercise bikes from: London’s leading spin instructor and Founder of Chelsea Fitness Club, Alex Rogers gets down to details on why the BKOOL pro 2 is worth investing in. She says, “BKOOL are one of the most recognisable players in the turbo trainer game thanks to their advanced cycling simulator bringing outdoor realism into your indoor training life. If you wanted to load up a training video of a velodrome session or a simulation of a ride up Alpe d’Huez, the Smart Go system will be able to simulate the resistance you’d encounter as if you were out completing the ride for real, including the gradient and even the effect of drafting. This brings the trainer much closer to imitating the real life scenarios you’re training for. What’s more, you can real time ride with your friends from home, its like a cycle XBOX game! You can even make money by winning races on this one too, which is always an added bonus.” Incredibly effective, this slick and stylish model is a great option if you are a beginner looking to take your training to the next level. Designed with a huge focus on comfort and ease, your ride will feel smooth and natural with comfortable seating and an adjustable handlebar. The LCD monitor feature also allows you to track your heart rate and performance for each workout. See more top rated exercise bikes on Amazon For anyone into their CrossFit training, you will be familiar with this love/hate piece of equipment. The Assault Bike is the perfect option for high-intensity interval training. Powered solely by you, resistance and intensity increases as you create a larger power output. Not only will you have to work your lower body and upper body simultaneously but this particular piece of equipment takes a great deal of mental strength to power you through too. “At LOMAX, we favour the Assault Bike as a go-to piece of cardio equipment as it guarantees a quick and intense workout, testing our clients to channel their inner athlete, not to mention it’s efficient in size and easy to move around.” Says Jonny Sayle, Managing Director of Lomax Bespoke Health. Perfect for serious gym-goers, this spectacular piece of equipment really allows you to embody the mind of an athlete. Not only does the belt driven steel fan ensure a smooth, consistent ride, but the design is incredibly savvy and minimal with a stunning black powdercoat finish. It’s the perfect machine for conditioning and will definitely put your endurance to the test. If you love the idea of re-creating famous race tracks, or even creating your own Tour de France experience the new ProForm model is perfect for you. Designed to give you the exact feel of an outdoor cycling experience, this model has been created with a high definition screen, video workouts, 24 preset tour workout apps and two-inch audio speakers. If you’re looking to tone your legs and burn some serious kcals, invest in one of these bad boys and watch your fitness transform. “I advise all my clients to purchase a Keiser M3 if they are looking to recreate the buzz of an indoor cycling class at the comfort of their own home. They are incredibly efficient, light-weight, long-distance and pretty savvy in both design and ride”. Advises Danny Osbourne, Fitness Manager of ONE LDN. The Essentials Pack by One Peloton has everything you need to take your fitness to ultimate heights and really commit to finding your inner cyclist. “Peloton brings the excitement and energy of group cycling classes to the comfort of your own home. We stream 14 hours of live cycling classes a day, and allow access to a further 10,000 plus previously recorded classes on demand - all taken by the world's best instructors. What's great is it caters for all levels, and offers a range of class lengths and types to suit your mood and ability. So there really is no excuse NOT to get cycling!” says Ben Aldis, Leading Peloton Instructor in London. ES Best product reviews are unbiased, independent advice you can trust. On some occasions, we earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we never allow this to bias our coverage. The reviews are compiled through a mix of expert opinion and real-world testing. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter

Kelly Marks

https://www.standard.co.uk/shopping/esbest/gadgets-tech/fitness/best-exercise-bikes-a4011376.html

2019-01-02 15:25:00+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

exercise and fitness

eveningstandard--2019-02-28--Best fitness apps 2019 Top workout apps for weight loss womenaposs health HIIT exercises and yo

eveningstandard

Best fitness apps 2019: Top workout apps for weight loss, women's health, HIIT exercises and yoga

Mobile phones are changing our lives in so many ways, and our health and fitness is no exception. So many people are turning to apps to work on their fitness, using virtual personal trainers to guide them through exercise plans to improve fitness levels. But with hundreds of apps available to help different aspects of our health, it can be difficult to know which apps are the most helpful. So Future London has taken a look at some of the top-rated workout apps on the Apple App Store, so you can decide which might be best for you. This app does what it says on the tin. Sign up for a commitment to work out for 30 days and the team behind the app says you will watch your body transform. The app eases you in slowly with shorter, slightly less intense exercises and encourages you to build up intensity each time. You need to pay and subscribe to take the challenge, which unlocks hundreds of exercises with accompanying videos and allows you to track your progress. For those of us who suffer from dreaded ‘gym anxiety’, this app is the perfect solution. It is designed to make sure you can complete all its workouts within the comfort of your own home. The app gives you custom workouts based on your fitness levels, gender, weight and age. According to the team behind the app, all exercises can be completed without any equipment. You can also track your progress on the app by logging photos of ‘before and after’. This app acknowledges that women are busy people – so it makes its workouts short and effective so you can fit them into your schedule. In fact, most workouts take just seven minutes out of your day – and don’t require any fitness equipment. If you’re downloading from the Apple App Store, you also connect Workout for Women to your Apple Health app to keep an eye on your progress. Working out doesn’t necessarily have to be about losing weight, with so many other physical and mental health benefits to keeping fit. But for those who do want to shed a few pounds, this app could be the right app for you. The app starts by quizzing you about your body and what you want to achieve from your workouts. Once you have completed the questions, the app will tailor a workout and meal plan for you. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial on the app before you need to pay to subscribe to the service. This app offers a range of 12 high intensity (HIIT) exercises, with 30 second sets and 10 second rests. It claims to give a full-body workout with its free exercises and is guided by a voice. Although there is a free tier to the app, you can pay to unlock a workout log and create custom workouts for yourself, while getting access to a larger library of exercises. Although cardio and weight training is key to improving fitness levels, the importance of lower intensity exercise should not be ignored. So why not incorporate some yoga into your fitness regime? This app offers short yoga workouts designed by experts to improve your strength, flexibility and mental well-being. You need to subscribe to get access to the yoga courses provided in the app, which are tailored to focus on different parts of the body.

https://www.standard.co.uk/futurelondon/health/yoga-7-minute-workout-hiit-wellness-a4079216.html

2019-02-28 14:14:59+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

exercise and fitness

npr--2019-01-14--From Couch Potato To Fitness Buff How I Learned To Love Exercise

npr

From Couch Potato To Fitness Buff: How I Learned To Love Exercise

"Feeling better isn't just this selfish, hedonic thing — it actually is fuel. I consider energy from taking care of yourself as essential fuel for the things that matter most in our lives," says Michelle Segar, a psychologist at the University of Michigan who studies how we sustain healthy behaviors like exercise. **Saviour Giyorges / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm Premium** ****hide caption**** ****toggle caption**** Saviour Giyorges / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm Premium "Feeling better isn't just this selfish, hedonic thing — it actually is fuel. I consider energy from taking care of yourself as essential fuel for the things that matter most in our lives," says Michelle Segar, a psychologist at the University of Michigan who studies how we sustain healthy behaviors like exercise. Saviour Giyorges / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm Premium I have become the type of person that used to mystify me. I ... am a fitness fanatic. That was certainly not the case a year and a half ago. Back then, like a lot of Americans, I was mostly sedentary (unless you count walking to meetings). Which is ironic, because, as a **** senior editor for NPR's science, food and health team, it is literally my job to know better. But, with two small kids, a full-time job and recurring insomnia, I didn't have the time or energy to work out. And I'm not going tell you how much I used to weigh, but it wasn't healthy. So what changed? For starters, I reframed what I thought of as exercise. "The research does now show that basically all movement counts, and anything is better than nothing," says [Michelle Segar](https://michellesegar.com/), a psychologist and director of the University of Michigan Sport, Health and Activity Research and Policy Center. She studies how we sustain healthy behaviors, and she says one big stumbling block for people is that they fail to take advantage of the exercise opportunities they can build into their daily lives, like taking the stairs or walking to work. "I've been astounded that even up until today, very educated people don't know — don't believe — that walking actually 'counts' as valid exercise," she says. That was a big hang-up for me. I used to think if I wasn't sweaty or huffing away on the treadmill for at least a half-hour straight, why bother? But so much more counts as moderate exercise, science now tells us. There's actually a pretty geeky but cool scientific resource called the [Compendium of Physical Activities](https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/home). It's used by researchers to compare apples and oranges when it comes to exercise. And it uses a value called a MET, or metabolic equivalent. "Just sitting, doing nothing, is a MET value of 1 — you're working at your resting metabolic rate," explains [Loretta DiPietro](https://publichealth.gwu.edu/departments/exercise-and-nutrition- sciences/loretta-dipietro), an exercise research scientist at George Washington University's Milken Institute School of Public Health. "An activity that, say, is 2 METs makes you work at twice your resting metabolic rate. So getting up and walking across the room is about 2 METS." DiPietro says the Compendium lists the MET values for all kinds of activities — everything from [mopping](https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities /Activity-Categories/home-activity) (that's about 3.5 METS) to line [dancing](https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities /Activity-Categories/dancing). (That can be almost 8 METS!) But to count as moderately intense exercise, the magic number you want to hit is between 3 and 6 METS. (Alas, even the most vigorous sexual activity [falls just short of that](https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity- Categories/sexual-activity), according to the Compendium — though DiPietro suggests with a laugh that more research may be needed.) Turns out, lots of regular activities meet the magic mark. [Climb the stairs](https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/Activity- Categories/walking) slowly and that's 4 METs. Climb them quickly and it's nearly 9 METS, which means you're burning nearly nine times as many calories as you would just sitting. Even vacuuming counts, if you do it with gusto. And researchers now know that the health benefits of these [little movements add up](https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1161/jaha.117.007678). Just taking short breaks to get out of your chair and walk throughout the day can help [regulate blood sugar](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29158249) and blood pressure, helping to ward off diseases like Type 2 diabetes and hypertension. And while it won't make you an athlete, moving throughout the day, even in short but repeated spurts, has been [linked to a lower risk of dying prematurely](https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1161/jaha.117.007678). When you think of it as something that can be broken down throughout the day, the idea of getting at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week — as federal guidelines [recommend ](https://health.gov/paguidelines/second- edition/10things/)\-- becomes less daunting. "Think about it like putting pennies in a piggy bank," says DiPietro. "You think, 'Oh, I'm putting in three pennies here,' and you're thinking, 'Oh, this doesn't add up to much.' But at the end of the month, it does indeed." Knowing this really changed the way I think about exercise. Instead of seeing exercise as all or nothing, I started to think about it like climbing a ladder. It's OK to start at the bottom rung and work your way up. So I started with small bursts of movement throughout my day. Instead of sending an email to a co-worker, I'd walk over and talk to them. I'd skip the elevator and take the stairs. I'd do squats at my desk and take short walks around the office whenever I could fit it in. I'd do one-on-one meetings with co-workers while walking and talking. The more I did, the stronger I felt — and the more I wanted to do. I started using the elliptical that was gathering dust in my basement. I made a rule: I'm only allowed to watch Netflix while working out or moving in some other way (like washing dishes or folding laundry). Then a curious thing happened: The more I exercised, the more my body craved it. These days, I even take spin class and do [high-intensity interval training](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/01/13/684432540/get- fit-faster-this-22-minute-workout-has-you-covered). And while I did lose weight during this process (which was pretty nice — I am now at a healthy weight), that's not what's kept me going. For me, exercise has become a bodily need. I just don't feel right without it. And while I used to think I didn't have time to work out, nowadays I don't see how I could get through my busy days without the energy I get from exercise. (And my [insomnia is pretty much gone](https://www.npr.org/sections/health- shots/2013/08/15/212263806/chronic-insomnia-hitting-the-treadmill-could-help- eventually).) **** As psychologist Michelle Seger notes, there are tons of documented mental benefits to exercise. "We know that it helps people generate energy. We know that it boosts mood," she says. "We know that it improves executive functioning and all the tasks associated with that — focus, creativity. There are so many positives that happen when you move." In fact, even though lots of people start exercising this time of year to lose weight, Seger says for many people, weight loss isn't actually a good motivator over the long haul, because it can take way too long to see any results, and our brains are not wired to strive for long-term payoff. Weight is much more a factor of what we eat — and eating a 600-calorie muffin takes no time at all. Working it off, on the other hand, takes a good long time. Given that reality, Seger says focusing on the immediate rewards from exercise can be more effective at keeping you motivated. "When you have more energy and you're a happier person, you bring that much more enthusiasm and energy and performance to your role in your work, your patience as a parent, __ [and] as a partner to someone," she says. "Feeling better isn't just this selfish, hedonic thing — it actually is fuel. I consider energy from taking care of yourself as essential fuel for the things that matter most in our lives." If you've been sedentary, adding more movement into your day is a good place to start an exercise habit. Just grab that bottom rung. Remember, you have to start somewhere. _Like this article? Listen to it as a_[ _podcast_](https://www.npr.org/2018/12/12/676129459/get-started-exercising) _. It's part of Life Kit, NPR's new family of podcasts for navigating your life — everything from_[ _finances_](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510330/secrets-of- saving-and-investing) _to_[ _diet_](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510328/eat- your-way-to-a-healthier-life) _and_[ _exercise_](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510329/learn-to-love-exercising) _to raising kids. Sign up for the_[ _newsletter_](https://www.npr.org/newsletter /life-kit) _to learn more and follow_[@NPRLifeKit](https://twitter.com/nprlifekit) _on Twitter. Email us at_[lifekit@npr.org](mailto:lifekit@npr.org) _. Follow NPR's Maria Godoy_[ _@mgodoyh_](https://twitter.com/mgodoyh?lang=en) _._

Maria Godoy

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/01/14/684118974/from-couch-potato-to-fitness-buff-how-i-learned-to-love-exercise?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news

2019-01-14 10:00:00+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

exercise and fitness

thedailyrecord--2019-06-03--Bizarre exercise class involving GOATS is a hit with Scots fitness fans

thedailyrecord

Bizarre exercise class involving GOATS is a hit with Scots fitness fans

A fitness class has become the first in Scotland to practice pilates - with goats. The bizarre exercise , which involves two baby goats climbing on top of participants, has taken off at Bellcraig Farm, Glenrothes, Fife. Organiser Jo Munro said one-year-old kids Hazel and Mabel love to interact with humans at the fitness class. The loveable animals help release feel-good hormones such as serotonin and make pilate-goers relax more as they stretch on their mats in a barn. Instructor Jo, 39, was inspired to launch the first classes in Scotland after taking part in goat yoga classes while on holiday in the US. The classes of up to six participants start by collecting the kids from the field before standing on mats in a stone built cottage. The group, which is the first in the UK to use African pygmy goats, warms up, while their four-legged friends inquisitively sniff around. Jo, from Edinburgh, said: "I went to California last year and it's massive there so I went and tried it and thought I have to bring this back to Scotland. "It's not sore but the goats are reasonably heavy so it does make it more challenging. "The kids are quite agile and nimble so it can be like a massage with their hooves, but you wouldn't want it on your bare skin. "When people arrive we go and collect the goats from the field and take them into this little stone cottage which has a stove so it's nice and cosy. "There is a maximum of six people to two goats. "Goat pilates is something everyone has seen on YouTube and I think you either love it or hate it. "It is complete hilarity and it makes everyone really happy and they leave on a high feeling really joyful. "There is an animal therapy side to it. You let out endorphins that make you feel good, like when you pet an animal. "The goats add that extra element to the pilates. If you are holding a plank with a 10kg goat on your back it is going to be much harder." Once the classes are finished participants will be able to feed the lambs and play with the farm's dogs. And it has proved a hit with Scots as classes book up. Jo said: "We have been doing it for a couple of months now and it has been really popular with fully booked classes. "It seems to have really captured people who were intrigued and finding it really cute."

reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk (Ellie Forbes)

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/bizarre-exercise-class-involving-goats-16246104

2019-06-03 08:27:04+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

exercise and fitness

theguardianuk--2019-06-29--Fitness tips eco-friendly ways to exercise

theguardianuk

Fitness tips: eco-friendly ways to exercise

Try a gym powered by human energy. Terra Hale in London runs the lights and speakers on pedal power – one class generates enough energy to supply a computer for a day. In Brighton, Eco Gym has cardio equipment that puts 74% of energy back into the grid, as well as energy-saving lighting, eco showers and no single-use plastics. A portmanteau of “jogging” and “plocka” (“to pick” in Swedish), ploggers collect rubbish while they run. See @Plogolution on Twitter and @PloggingUK on Instagram for a group near you. Pick sustainable fabrics: bamboo fibre leggings and sports bras are biodegradable. Asquith has an eco-performance fabric based on bamboo, called Bambor. Find an all-rubber or jute yoga mat (try YogaMatters), and look for a BPA-free water bottle, made from stainless steel (try Chilly’s Bottles) or sustainably sourced bamboo (Global WakeCup).

Caitlin Tilley and Zainab Saleem

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jun/29/eco-friendly-ways-to-exercise

2019-06-29 06:00:58+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

exercise and fitness

theonion--2019-09-25--New Fitness Tracker Monitors Amount Of Exercise Users Watch On TV

theonion

New Fitness Tracker Monitors Amount Of Exercise Users Watch On TV

SAN FRANCISCO—Hailing the product as a huge step forward in health monitor technology, representatives from Fitbit held a product-reveal event today at which shareholders were shown a new fitness tracker capable of monitoring the amount of exercise the wearer watches on television. “Using the latest in optical nerve monitoring, the Fitbit Tele-View Alta allows users to set and achieve goals for watching televised activity of all types,” said Fitbit CEO James Park, emphasizing how the Tele-View Alta allows users to track activity from commercials, sports games, and training montages, making special mention of a feature enabling the device to remind the user to turn on the television if a significant interval had passed since the wearer saw a character stand or stretch. “I think our user community will be pleasantly surprised at how much exercise they watch, whether they’re catching a passing glance of a character walking on TV in a store window display or watching a home improvement host climb stairs while they’re at the dentist. As long as they avoid watching sedentary characters or seeing themselves in the mirror, they’ll hit their exercise-watching goal well before their viewing binge is over.” Early beta testers of the new Tele-View Alta have already figured out how to cheat the system by leaving the tracker in front of the TV while they sleep.

The Onion

https://www.theonion.com/new-fitness-tracker-monitors-amount-of-exercise-users-w-1838458922

2019-09-25 21:02:00+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

exercise and fitness

birminghammail--2019-06-03--Fitness class becomes first in UK to practice pilates with GOATS

birminghammail

Fitness class becomes first in UK to practice pilates with GOATS

A fitness class has become the first in Scotland to practice pilates - with GOATS. The bizarre exercise, which involves two baby goats climbing on top of participants, has taken off at Bellcraig Farm, Glenrothes, Fife. Organiser Jo Munro said one-year-old kids Hazel and Mabel love to interact with humans at the fitness class. The loveable animals help release "feelgood" hormones such as serotonin and make pilate-goers relax more as they stretch on their mats in a barn. Instructor Jo, 39, was inspired to launch the first classes in Scotland after taking part in goat yoga classes while on holiday in the US. The classes of up to six participants start by collecting the kids from the field before standing on mats in a stone built cottage. The group, which is the first in the UK to use African pygmy goats, warms up, while their four-legged friends inquisitively sniff around. Jo, from Edinburgh, said: "I went to California last year and it's massive there so I went and tried it and thought I have to bring this back to Scotland. "It's not sore but the goats are reasonably heavy so it does make it more challenging. "The kids are quite agile and nimble so it can be like a massage with their hooves, but you wouldn't want it on your bare skin. "When people arrive we go and collect the goats from the field and take them into this little stone cottage which has a stove so it's nice and cosy. "There is a maximum of six people to two goats. "Goat pilates is something everyone has seen on YouTube and I think you either love it or hate it. "It is complete hilarity and it makes everyone really happy and they leave on a high feeling really joyful. "There is an animal therapy side to it. You let out endorphins that make you feel good, like when you pet an animal. "The goats add that extra element to the pilates. If you are holding a plank with a 10kg goat on your back it is going to be much harder." Once the classes are finished participants will be able to feed the lambs and play with the farm's dogs. And it has proved a hit with Scots as classes book up. Jo said: "We have been doing it for a couple of months now and it has been really popular with fully booked classes. "It seems to have really captured people who were intrigued and finding it really cute."

newsdesk@birminghamlive.co.uk (James Rodger)

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/fitness-class-becomes-first-uk-16369830

2019-06-03 08:48:04+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

exercise and fitness

eveningstandard--2019-03-18--Class review Mat Pilates classes at Equinox

eveningstandard

Class review: Mat Pilates classes at Equinox

When and where There are two oh-so-hot Equinox spots in London, and one on the way. The ornate workout palace on the fifth floor of the Roof Gardens building in Kensington is still recognised as the OG headquarters, and it’s here that mat Pilates classes are held every Tuesday and Thursday at 11am (also available at St James’s). Each session mixes up the order of exercises but the gist remains the same: core contractions and stretches to strengthen core muscles and sculpt abs, arms, legs and glutes. The 60-minute class is carefully guided through stretches to test your tensile strength. Think teeth-gnashing plank variations, leg circles, spine stretches and roll-ups as you slowly contort your body through its paces. The one hundred, well known to most, involves lying down, raising your lower back and leg to 45-degree angles and pumping the palms of your hands, as if patting adjacent invisible dogs. Scissor kicks are also horizontal: raise your head again and pull your legs alternately towards your head. Equinox uses accessories to vary the routines: a fitness ring increases resistance when placed between your legs for compression, and a pillow-like “yoga bubble” provides a challenge when performing back arches. There’s no rest, but it’s taken at a steady pace. Pilates is about building strength from the inside out. Equinox promises that by engaging your core and back muscles, you’ll carry yourself as though you’ve been lifted up. A light prickle. It’s tense, constantly, but that’s what you’re there for. Well-hewn west Londoners with perfect form and a mid-morning hour to spare during a working week. “Don’t panic” is what we want from an instructor when grappling with spine rolls and back arches. Marcela was that to a tee, quietly correcting the form of any stragglers (me). A water bottle. Towels are provided but the only water bottles are plastic, so bring your own reusable one and fill up from the chilled taps. Becalmed. Mellow mood music stretched out for the hour. Civilised. Equinox’s gyms have everything, from towels to shampoos and soaps in the shower, and even a hair-gel dispenser. Arrive early for a chat with the instructor, but don’t expect things to kick off on time. Because it’s a mid-morning matter, people strolled in at leisure until about five past. If you don’t feel the burn straight away, fear not — the morning after is going to be tense (in a good way).

https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/health/review-of-mat-pilates-classes-equinox-a4094441.html

2019-03-18 11:41:48+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

exercise and fitness

eveningstandard--2019-09-02--Dynamic Pilates at Heartcore - class review

eveningstandard

Dynamic Pilates at Heartcore - class review

When and where A 60-minute, high-energy workout on the CoreFormer, an ultra-luxe adaptation of the reformer machine you’ll be used to at other studios. The instructor, Alice, will lead you through a series of toning and stretching exercises using resistance from springs and pulleys (she’ll tell you which ones to use) and a Pilates ring. Expect a mixture of lying down, standing up and squat exercises, from lunges on the reformer bed to plank work. Embrace the burn: there are only five of you in a class so there’s no hiding, and as Alice will tell you: “The vibe is connection, not speed.” Lunge, pulse and glide your way through a class and you can burn up to 700 calories. Steadying the carriage takes inner strength and you’ll feel it in your legs, glutes and core. The Tuesday night crowd is a mix of lithe yogis and toned Chelsea mums. The Duchess of Sussex revealed she was a Heartcore disciple during her pre-royal days so keep an eye out — Kensington Palace is just around the corner. Alice usually does the Tuesday class. She’s warm and approachable and gives you options of different springs depending on your ability and how you’re feeling that day. She knows the regulars and makes conversation as you plank, glide and stretch, asking you what other exercise you do and giving you tips on your form. There’s a water machine with cups in the corner of the studio, so don’t worry if you forget a water bottle. You don’t need trainers — bring grippy socks, or go barefoot. You’ll need your own towel. Alice’s chilled-out vibes will help you de-stress after work. There’s a small changing room next to the studio, with a cubicle, toilet and shower. Deodorant and hairbrushes are available, and there are cubby-holes for leaving your bags in the corner of the studio. Space is tight so arrive in your kit if you can. The studio is tucked down a little side street so leave yourself time to find it. Alice likes to keep an eye out for new members so introduce yourself at the start. You’ll get your sweat on more than your regular Pilates class — expect to feel it in your core up to two days later.

https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/health/dynamic-pilates-at-heartcore-review-a4226711.html

2019-09-02 09:05:02+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

exercise and fitness

theguardianuk--2019-09-07--Fit in my 40s I hated Pilates the first time I tried it Now Ive had an epiphany Zoe Williams

theguardianuk

Fit in my 40s: I hated Pilates the first time I tried it. Now I’ve had an epiphany | Zoe Williams

The most important lesson I’ve learned in the whole great arc of my fitness career is: just because you hated it the first time, doesn’t mean it’s not for you. This is why I returned to Pilates, which I previously felt was like soulless yoga (functional, painful, boring). Plus I was persuaded to try again by a friend – not by her words, but by the way she looks: like a dancer, except not haughty. We went together to a local teacher called Dario Novo. It was reformer Pilates: long benches with weighted springs that you adjust according to your ability and the exercise, plus multiple straps to truss yourself into when you want to do something especially complicated to your arms and legs. Pilates moves are not especially graceful or exhilarating; it’s one foot (or arm) on the frame of the bench while the other slides the moving part backwards and forwards. This is nursery slope stuff, of course, but the principles are control, slowness, repetition, and this is not something I can immediately understand with my body. It really helps if someone explains what the purpose is, and the mechanisms for it. The exercises are designed to work groups of muscles to the point of failure: it’s not commonly associated with gentler pursuits like Pilates and barre work, but they work on exactly the same lines. To get your muscles to the point of failure, you need to work through four motor unit types. Your body “recruits” fibres in a given order: slow twitch first; then, when those fail, the intermediate muscle fibres; finally – in the Novo Pilates model, during the last two to 20 seconds of the set – your fast-twitch fibres. As you progressively overload each element of the muscle, you get the greatest metabolic response. The best analogy I’ve read is that it’s like overtime: when you get to that stubborn last line of defence in the muscle, you’re effectively paying double for the same move. The bit that remained mysterious was that it didn’t feel painful, as such: one minute I was pushing a limb in and out in a leisurely fashion, then 60 seconds later it just stopped. I simply couldn’t. Usually when I’m about to fail, I have an early-warning system of at least five minutes, if not a day, during which everything that comes before is unbearable. The sheer precision of these manoeuvres is incredible. This won’t sound like a ringing endorsement, but the next day, I thought I had flu. It wasn’t the self-righteous exhaustion of strength training; it was a semi-enjoyable, unfightable, full-body weakness, the kind of thing that happens to someone in a novel when they’ve had an epiphany or been poisoned. It helped that I could stay in bed all day. Again, that doesn’t sound like a recommendation, but it is. It may be the first time I’ve understood a fitness objective, done the fitness thing, and seen the objective realised. Never use momentum to complete a move: make your muscles do the work

Zoe Williams

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/sep/07/reformer-pilates-zoe-williams-fit-in-my-40s

2019-09-07 06:00:23+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

exercise and fitness

eveningstandard--2019-04-23--Best outdoor games for all ages

eveningstandard

Best outdoor games for all ages

As warmer weather approaches it’s time to start thinking about how to make the most of the summer sunshine. Naturally, that means planning to spend a lot more time outdoors. The question is though, how to keep the whole family entertained whilst you're out there? The answer: outdoor games. Ahead of the summer holidays, why not invest in some for your family? Not only does game-playing deliver the perfect opportunity for quality bonding, but if your games are educational, the kids can learn things whilst they're at leisure as well. Of course, outdoor games not just for children, they can be enjoyed by adults too. Indeed, there are a number of adult-only activities you can take to barbecues or parties to ensure those celebrations are elevated to the next level of fun. To accommodate all these requirements, we have sought out a wide range of games both for adults and children; games suitable for a range of spaces, from smaller patios to gardens and parks. Bring beach volley to your back garden with this inflatable net that can be used in either a pool or on the grass. With tropical vibes, the set includes a net, ball and repair kit. Beer pong often goes hand-in-hand with summer parties and for those lucky enough to have a pool or space for a large paddling pool, this inflatable will allow you to take the game into the water. With space for 10 cups, as well as cup holders around the outside for spectators, this beer pong table (6ft long x 3ft wide) has a built-in cooler in the centre providing space for up to 18 drinks. Strictly just for adults. This game takes a more luxe approach to the classic beer pong game as the cups are designed to be filled with either Prosecco or Champagne. Get the whole party involved with this fun grown-up activity that is sure to go down a treat (especially for those who don’t like beer). The set is comprised of 12 glasses and three pink ping pong balls. Take your classic pack of 54 cards and give them an XXL approach with this set. Play oversized versions of your favourite card games with the whole family, or transform it into adult-only fun and play for money. You can also attempt to build a tower using the cards. You’ve probably played Jenga before, but the garden variation is just so much bigger and – some would say – better. This tumble tower from Jaques of London is made from ethically-sourced New Zealand pine wood and contains 63 blocks, all of which can be constructed to create a tower that’s over three feet tall. All you have to do is take it in turns to take a block away – without knocking down the tower, of course. The set comes complete with a canvas carrier bag and it’s a good one for both families and groups of friends whiling away summer afternoons in the park. Take a traditional chess board game outside, supersize it and you’ve got yourself an interactive garden game. Great fun for the family or as a novelty party activity, these chess pieces can be moved by hand and set up with minimal effort. The tallest piece (the King) is 20.5cm high and you could always put the children to work moving the pieces while you strategise your win! If you’re after a garden game and one party guests will remember, you can’t get better than this. £45 | Not on the High Street | Whether it’s for the garden, the beach or both, a good bat and ball set is hard to beat. What makes this one so special, we hear you ask? Well it’s partly down to its designer, Frescobol Carioca – famed for luxury beach accessories, founded in the heart of Rio de Janeiro back in 1945. The bats have been handcrafted in Brazil from layers of wood off-cuts before being coated in a hard-wearing resin to protect them from sand and sea water. A neoprene grip makes for easy playing, so you’ve really no excuse to miss the ball. Add to that, its unique shape and striking finish, and you can see why it’s a set to be proud of. Family get-togethers or picnics in the park wouldn’t be the same without a round of rounders. An old UK favourite, this bat and ball game requires two teams and is a great source of exercise too. This colourful set provides everything you need: a wooden bat, ball, four wooden base markers and a box to keep them all in. What it doesn't include though, is the power required to hit that ball far enough away so you can run to the fourth post in one go. (You have to bring that.) We predict heaps of fun will be had with this outdoor table tennis table. Easily moved around, thanks to its wheels, whether you're playing against one person, taking part in a mini tournament or trying a Round Robin-style game, the hours of enjoyment you will get out of this makes it worth splashing out on. Featuring height adjusters on all four legs (so it'll be level, even on uneven surfaces), the table is made with quality materials and includes four bats, three balls, a clip net and post set, plus a five-year guarantee. You really can’t go wrong with giant snakes and ladders. Just move your counter around the board and aim to climb those ladders, whilst avoiding the snakes. This game comes with a multi-coloured mat (which measures 2m x 2m, and can be wiped clean), plus an inflatable dice and counters for up to four people. Can provide hours of family fun. Keeping kids occupied isn’t always an easy task, but a game of quoits should do the trick – at least for a while anyway. The idea is to take it in turns to throw the rope quoits over the five-pin wooden stand to earn yourself points. Simple, right? It’s said that the game was played back in Medieval times, although back then it was more likely to have been horseshoes that were thrown at iron pegs driven into the ground. This set is for up to five players, suitable for kids and young adults wanting to test their luck. A school sports day classic, this game requires your little one to run a short race balancing an egg on a spoon and making sure it doesn't fall off. A 'no mess' alternative to the original game, this one uses plastic eggs filled with bean bags designed to look like broken eggs. Suitable for children of 3+ years, the set contains four spoons and four eggs. Great for helping with spelling and counting, these foam mats come in assorted colours and include all letters of the alphabet and numbers 0 to 9. The pieces measure 25cm x 25cm and fit together to create a large, soft play area that your little ones can crawl around on. The mats can be arranged to create fun games like hopscotch and the letters can be detached so your kids can form words. Designed for children from 1+ years, this mat is both entertaining and educational. Win-win. The classic Connect 4 game has been given a supersized twist with this variation. Transform your outdoor space into a fun playground for your kids and their friends with this set, which is suitable for children from 5+ and is easily stored in a nylon canvas bag. Bowling is great for both hand-eye coordination and counting skills and this game requires your little one to use the red ball included to knock down the pins. Brightly coloured in design, the pins boast playful smiling faces and are kid-sized, standing at 8-inches tall. Suitable for little ones of 2+ years. With skill and strategy involved, dominoes is so much more than a fun pastime. It is a great resource for developing mathematical skills. Designed for two or more players, the set includes 28 lightweight dominoes with a larger twist at 10 x 18.3 x 1.8cm. ES Best product reviews are unbiased, independent advice you can trust. On some occasions, we earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we never allow this to bias our coverage. The reviews are compiled through a mix of expert opinion and real-world testing. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter

Laurie Davidson, Ellie Davis

https://www.standard.co.uk/shopping/esbest/home-garden/outdoor-games/best-outdoor-games-for-all-ages-a4119561.html

2019-04-23 10:01:08+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

leisure

thedailycaller--2019-04-03--This Great Outdoor Game Is On Sale For 25

thedailycaller

This Great Outdoor Game Is On Sale For $25

It’s picnic season and that means time to have fun outdoors. During this time of year, we always enjoy getting out the yard games. One of our perennial favorites is Ladder Golf because it is Great Outdoor Game. The game involves two sets of short plastic ladder configurations and six sets of colored golf balls attached by thick rope. These roped balls are called “bolas” and they are tossed at the ladders to score points. The ladders are placed about 15 feet apart in a flat area of the yard. Each participant has three tries to either land their bola on one of the rungs or knock off their opponent’s bola. The higher the rung, the higher the score. The other great thing about Ladder Golf is its portability . The game is lightweight and doesn’t take up a lot of space. You can easily take it with you to a picnic, the beach, camping, even the drive-ins. It only takes two minutes to set-up and you are ready to start playing. I promise, wherever it goes, it will be the hit of the party! If you don’t already own a set, now is the time to get one. Go Sports has a sturdy kid-friendly edition of this game called Ladder Toss. The balls are made of rubber so you can play indoors or out. Amazon regularly sells the Go Sports game for $49.99. Right now, they have it on sale for half price. You can purchase Go Sports Ladder Toss, complete with its own backpack carrying case, rules, and built-in score trackers, on online for only $25.37! Plus, it has free shipping. This is an amazing deal . Go Sports uses upgraded PVC that is 50% thicker than the leading economy version of this game. It is durable and the premium construction is built to last. Go Sports even stands behind its product by offering a 100% satisfaction lifetime guarantee. You can’t beat that! Have a suggestion for a cool product or great deal that you think Daily Caller readers need to know about? Email the Daily Dealer at dealer@dailycaller.com. Follow The Daily Dealer on Twitter and Facebook The Daily Caller is devoted to showing you things that you’ll like or find interesting. We do have partnerships with affiliates, so The Daily Caller may get a small share of the revenue from any purchase.

Anne Kocsis

https://dailycaller.com/2019/04/03/this-great-outdoor-game-is-on-sale-for-25/

2019-04-03 21:35:17+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

leisure

theindependent--2019-06-07--How to throw the ultimate summer picnic From food to outdoor games

theindependent

How to throw the ultimate summer picnic: From food to outdoor games

As balmy nights become the norm and long weekends of sunshine stretch out before us, it’s time to make the most of alfresco dining while we can. However, throwing a quintessential British picnic without a hitch is no mean-feat. After all, rising temperatures don't bode well for a picnic box full of ice-cream, fruit, and white wine that requires chilling at the best of times, let alone when you want to impress your nearest and dearest with your culinary skills. In order to host a fun and stress-free picnic, the key is in the planning. From the best kit to invest in to the perfect food to pack, here’s our ultimate guide to throwing a summer picnic: Crisps and dip are always well received, but to balance out the excess, something more substantial and nutritious is needed. After all, a day of lounging around in the sun calls for some balance. A good picnic should contain a centrepiece main, perhaps a quiche, a pie or something that can be easily sliced and dished out. Think about the time of year - in spring, wild garlic and asparagus will be abundant, whilst August is perfect for picking runner beans, courgettes, strawberries and raspberries. Try and incorporate at least one seasonal element into your feast. You’ll want a side salad but try to avoid anything too leafy which will wilt at the first sign of sun. Instead opt for a pasta or grain-based dish, such as quinoa or couscous, and add veg with a bit of bite – think crispy red peppers, chickpeas and feta. Take any dressings along in a separate pot and add just before serving. Of course, a picnic wouldn’t be complete without the finger food – scotch eggs, sausage rolls and mini frittatas are a picnic staple for good reason. Little hands find this "grab and go" food easy to eat – just don’t forget to pack the wet wipes. And just because traditionally these were often made with meat, don’t be afraid to mix things up and create a selection of modern veggie options alongside the classics. No one wants a soggy bottom so for your sandwiches you’ll want to choose a substantial bread, such as sourdough or a French stick, which will hold all the fillings in place until you’re ready for them. Again, the best picnic desserts will be eaten with your hands. Soothe that sweet tooth with bite size brownies, fresh strawberries and cupcakes. If dining in a group, why not each take responsibility for a course and help spread the picnic prep? Finally, don’t forget a good selection of drinks! There’s simply nothing worse than lukewarm drinks on a hot summer’s day. White wine and rosé should be chilled thoroughly before packing in a cool jacket. And although often saved for the colder months, a thermos flask is a very useful bit of picnic kit. Fill one with ice cubes which can be added to soft drinks and freeze larger water bottles which will melt slowly throughout the day when left in a shady spot. Whether you choose to stow your kit in a traditional wicker basket or a cool bag, you’ll need to ensure everything has been packed in sturdy (read: leak-proof) boxes. With a couple of well thought out pieces, everything will stay fresh, cool and appetising all day. Here’s our guide to the ultimate picnic kit: Look out for "lock and lock" designs to ensure there are no leaks, even if your bag gets bashed about a bit. See-through plastic is also helpful so you can see what each box is containing without the need to open. You'll ideally want containers that come in a variety of sizes and can be stacked in your basket when full and nestled in the cupboard once empty. Freeze ice packs the night before and pack around food to keep everything cool. For wine, a cooling jacket is a must, as they're reusable and work in the same way as the ice packs but are perfectly shaped to the bottle. However, they’d also work with soft drinks too! Check out the Thermos Ice Packs and Vacu Vin The Wine Show Active Wine Cooler for some much-needed inspiration. Say no to single-use plastics with a set of reusable or eco plates and cutlery. Biodegradable bamboo or sustainable wood is a good option if you’d rather bin everything at the end of the day, otherwise reusable sets are more sturdy and will come in handy if you think you’ll be a frequent picnicker. Look out for enamel or melamine plates if you’re willing to invest. Weak paper plates are not your friend – they may be cheap but they will feel like a false economy when you’re doubling up to avoid seepage. This reactive picnic range from M&S is pretty enough to use in the garden at home and has a whole range of shapes and sizes to mix and match. A bumper pack of sustainable cutlery should keep you going a while or mix and match. For the most joyful napkins in town, head to Meri Meri – we’ll let you make the tough decision between toucans, unicorns or rainbows. There’s no need to forgo proper cups, choose from a selection of sturdy and reusable champagne flutes, wine glasses and tumblers, such as this one from John Lewis. As nice as it is to feel the grass between your toes, a sturdy picnic blanket is a must for laying out your feast. We like one with a wipe clean backing which will stop any dew seeping through. This one from John Lewis packs up easily and is jazzy enough for your kids to be able to see you across a crowded park. Work off some of that picnic food with a rousing game of football, frisbee or with a bat & ball set for hours of fun, whatever the age. So, you’ve packed your picnic and are ready to go! If you’re looking for location inspiration, The National Trust provides a great resource. Simply type in your postcode and it will tell you your nearest green space to park your picnic. Wherever you are in the UK, you’ll have a local park to get lost in. As long as you’ve packed the following, your picnic is sure to be a success: If that all sounds like too much effort but you still want to luxuriate in the sun with a feast fit for a king, why not pick up one of these pre-prepared options and head to the nearest park? This Italian feast comes in a reusable cool bag with plenty for two to share. Tuck into freshly baked focaccia and a selection of antipasti alongside filling chicken and black rice salads. Mini apricot tarts and pretty almond macaroons are provided for dessert, leaving you to just grab a bottle of wine. Order in advance and pick up on the day for fuss-free al fresco dining. There’s also a totally plant-based option available as well as individual kids picnics for your little ones. Fortnum & Mason The Victoria Picnic: £95, for two people Containing everything you need for a romantic feast for two, Fortnum & Mason have stuffed their iconic eau de nil cool bag with smoked almonds and olives, Scottish smoked salmon to smother on rye bread and butter, classic scotch eggs and sausage rolls, as well as luxury side salads. For dessert, chocolate brownies won’t disappoint and they’ve even packed a bottle of plonk too. Water, glasses, disposable cutlery and a mini salt & pepper shaker complete the kit. Available to collect from store or deliver within the M25 Pique Food: from £40, for two people Plastic-free picnics, pre-prepared and delivered throughout Greater London. Fresh food comes packed in recyclable packaging as standard, but if you want a proper wicker basket and blanket, you can add that as an extra. Cutlery, plates, cups, napkins and condiments are included with a selection of classic picnic dishes on the menu. Think caramelised onion & thyme sausage rolls, mini salt beef bagels, hummus & crudités and brownies for dessert. Particularly useful if you’re going to an event such as Ascot and they can even arrange a full picnic party set-up for you. While spring brings warmer weather it also marks the start of the hay fever season. If you’re one of the 18 million people affected in the UK, it makes sense to try to help prevent the symptoms of hay fever.  A single dose of Pirinase Hayfever Relief For Adults 0.05% Nasal Spray in each nostril once a day could help relieve sneezing, a runny nose, nasal congestion, and itchy and watery eyes. Find out more  or click   to buy online For the relief of allergy symptoms. Pirinase Allergy 0.05% Nasal Spray contains fluticasone. Always read the label. Trademarks are owned by or licensed to the GSK group of companies.

Stacey Smith

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/summer-picnic-guide-tips-2019-food-cutlery-outdoor-games-park-a8936846.html

2019-06-07 13:30:00+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

leisure

theindependent--2019-07-03--10 best outdoor games that get the whole family playing together in the sun

theindependent

10 best outdoor games that get the whole family playing together in the sun

There’s nothing quite like an early summer heatwave to get you in the mood for some family fun in the sun. But while the sun’s welcome appearance might be enough to coax the kids outside, working out how to keep them occupied outdoors can be tricky. Cries of “I’m bored” are no fun at the best of times, but that’s the last thing you want to hear when you’re encouraging your little darlings to top up their Vitamin D levels – and trying to keep them away from digital distractions. Which is where decent outdoor games come in. Playing outdoors shouldn’t necessarily mean spending lots of money, but climbing trees and making daisy chains can only hold a modern child’s attention for so long. At some stage, if you want to ensure hours of outdoor play, you’ll need to invest in some carefully-chosen games. Carefully-chosen, because there are lots of outdoor games that top various must-buy lists at the start of summer, only to end up forgotten in a corner of the garden before long. Thankfully, there are also lots of brilliant outdoor games that will keep everyone entertained beyond the first flush of summer enthusiasm – and actually stand the test of time. Our tip? Avoid gimmicky games unless they come well recommended – we tried out several in the course of writing this, and anything that the kids quickly lost interest was consigned to the “no chance” pile. If you’re looking for an outdoor game that will be enjoyed by young and old alike, stick to the classic garden games. Modern twists on old-fashioned games tend to enthral the grandparents but also hold the attention of youngsters who like to think they’ve seen it all. Finally, factor in how much space you have and where you’ll be using your outdoor games. A long-distance frisbee is frustrating unless you’ve got a park or a beach nearby, and even then you’ll want to minimise the chances of it colliding with an unsuspecting passerby. Above all, remember that game play isn’t all about harmony and winning. Even the least competitive family members can quickly find themselves drawn into a cheating scandal when outdoor games are involved. It’s to be expected. Appoint an independent adjudicator where possible and above all, remember to have fun. We tested these outdoor games over a period of three weeks with three children aged five, 12 and 14 years old. We set them up in the garden and took into account how easy they were to set up and which games the children returned to play with repeatedly, as well as how long each item held their attention for. We also took each item to the beach or to the park to test for portability and travel use. You can trust our independent reviews. We may earn commission from some of the retailers, but we never allow this to influence selections, which are formed from real-world testing and expert advice. This revenue helps us to fund journalism across The Independent. It’s an old-skool classic but this is about as much fun as it’s possible to have in the garden with kids of all ages. Our teen tester is so hooked that he appears in the kitchen late in the evening with a bat in his hand and a hopeful expression on his face, and our youngest tester has been outdoors perfecting her swing every single day since this arrived. We love that it works on any surface – fill the base with sand or water and it converts to a carry case that holds all the parts when you’re travelling. This exceeded all our expectations: it’s so much sturdier and more robust than we imagined and was a complete hit with absolutely everyone – including Grandpa. But be warned, the arrow hits the target with an almighty thwack. The set comes with a bow, two suction cup arrows and a target, and our only complaint is that one bow isn’t really enough. A spare would have meant twice the fun and fewer squabbles over turn-taking. Billed as the furthest thrown flying object in the world – apparently it was used to set a Guinness World Record for the farthest throw at 406m – this flying ring has rubber edges so it’s soft to catch. The aerodynamic design makes it easy to throw – even for our five year old tester. Thei claims are true; you can actually play catch with a friend 100m away. A lovely outdoor toy for younger kids and one you won’t mind looking at even when it’s cluttering up your house, this wooden hoopla game comes with five rope hoops for throwing over the five cute woodland characters. It’s a good choice of game for helping little ones develop their hand-eye coordination. This is a brilliant idea and very well executed. You get five classic garden games – snakes and ladders, noughts and crosses, and draughts plus quoits and inflatable dice – and the weatherproof foam pieces slot together easily. Our five-year-old tester enjoyed the set so much that she’s taken to keeping it as a permanent playmat in her bedroom. We had no idea there was an outdoor variation on this classic family game but this has literally provided hours of fun for all ages. We even took it camping! It comes with a rulebook, scorecards, two pencils and two inflatable pigs, all of which fit neatly into a handy string bag. Our five-year-old loved the opportunity to practice counting by keeping score, and our teen testers just enjoyed the hilarity of chucking inflatable pigs around the garden. Think Jenga, only if you’d been shrunk like Alice in Wonderland. This larger-than-life tumble tower game is big enough to cause a stir at your garden party but not so huge that you need to be worried if it falls over near you. It’s made of FSC-certified fir wood, too. We don’t know about you, but the thing about garden games is that it’s easy to lose bits when you finally put them away at the end of the summer. So we love that this rounders set – complete with four wooden posts, a bat and a soft tennis ball – comes in a handy printed cotton bag. The pieces won’t get lost and it’s easy to cart to the park or the beach. This is a real bargain if you’re looking for a cheap and cheerful outdoor game to perk the kids up when their summer spirits are flagging. You get two double-sided bats, each with velcro on one side, plus a rubber ball and a velcro ball. For such an affordable game, we like that it offers enough versatility to keep kids of different ages interested. Our five-year-old tester loved the velcro option, while her older brothers preferred battling it out without the velcro assistance. You need a still day to get the most fun out of this outsized chess set – we found a sea breeze quickly blew things off course – but when the weather is in your favour, it’s heaps of fun. The pieces are 30cm high and it comes with a 1.2m square playing mat. The Mookie pro all surface swingball is by far our favourite outdoor family game. It has engaged everyone from ages five to 75 and we love that it’s so portable – we’re even taking ours on holiday! The Decathlon geologic soft archery set also scores top marks with us all – hours of fun guaranteed. IndyBest product reviews are unbiased, independent advice you can trust. On some occasions, we earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we never allow this to bias our coverage. The reviews are compiled through a mix of expert opinion and real-world testing.

Heidi Scrimgeour

https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/kids/toys-activities/best-outdoor-games-kids-family-toys-summer-garden-party-wedding-a8987076.html

2019-07-03 16:31:00+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

leisure

birminghammail--2019-06-29--Why the streets of Wolverhampton are turning into a massive board game

birminghammail

Why the streets of Wolverhampton are turning into a massive board game

Time to channel your inner big kid as the streets of Wolverhampton are set to become a life-sized board game for a day. If you've always fancied yourself as a Miss Marple or thought you could solve murder mysteries better than Poirot, now is your chance as a giant detective game is taking over the city. CluedUpp is just like a giant, outdoor version of the board game Cluedo and is taking place on September 7. A clever play on words of one of the region's most popular shows, the Wolverhampton version of the game is called "Sneaky Finders". If you sign up, you and your mates will become a team of detectives tasked with solving a case as you stalk the streets, tracking down virtual witnesses and eliminating suspects. The game is set in the fictitious town of Millingham and kicks off from 10am and runs up into until 5pm. To get involved you'll need a group of at least two people, a smartphone, a creative team name and 1920's attire (optional). Depending on how good a detective team you are, the event will last anywhere between one and four hours - but the average squad of detectives take around 2 hours 20 minutes to solve the crime. Tickets cost £36 per team of up to six adults. You only need to purchase one ticket per team of six adults. Children under 16 years old can play as extra for FREE. While youngsters can take part, the game is not designed to be played or solved by children on their own. At the end, prizes will be awarded to: - Fastest team - Best fancy dress (Sneaky Finders / 1920’s inspired) - Best team picture - Best team name - Best little detective (kids prize) - Best K-9 detective (dogs prize)

newsdesk@birminghamlive.co.uk (Oprah Flash)

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/streets-wolverhampton-turning-massive-board-16360139

2019-06-29 04:30:00+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

leisure

birminghammail--2019-11-14--Smyths Toys announce top board games for Christmas 2019 - including Monopoly and Pictionary

birminghammail

Smyths Toys announce top board games for Christmas 2019 - including Monopoly and Pictionary

Picture the scene - Christmas lunch is over and the whole family are in the living room waiting for the annual board game to begin. If you're tired of the usual options in your cupboard and want something new to play then Smyths Toys is here to help. The toy shop has announced its top board games for Christmas 2019 and there's plenty to keep the whole family entertained. Take on a challenge with hilarious board games like Pictionary Air and Buckaroo, or challenge your skills of time and take your place in the hot seat with 5 Second Rule! For those of who enjoy a a never-ending game of Monopoly, try out the new Monopoly Voice Banking or Monopoly Fortnite! The great news is some of the board games on the top 10 are also in the sale, so you won't have to break the bank to have some fun. Below are this year's must haves for the season ahead, according to Smyths Toys . You can shop for your chosen board game on the Smyths Toys website or in your nearest store .

newsdesk@birminghamlive.co.uk (Katie Brooks)

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/shopping/smyths-toys-announce-top-board-17257838

Thu, 14 Nov 2019 20:54:53 +0000

lifestyle and leisure

leisure

chicagotribune--2019-11-04--Construction, sick passengers, pigeons and landmarks: New board game re-creates the mess and fun of

chicagotribune

Construction, sick passengers, pigeons and landmarks: New board game re-creates the mess and fun of riding the CTA 'L'

It might be raining, so all the trains are packed, cutting the value of your dice roll. Or you might fall asleep on the train and have to move all the way to the end of whatever line you’re on. Players can use tokens to transfer to bus lines. Winning is a mix of luck and strategy, like getting around in real life.

Mary Wisniewski

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/transportation/ct-biz-cta-l-board-game-20191104-ekrrqjpibbca7buhnsrqk4ekxm-story.html

Mon, 4 Nov 2019 12:18:51 PST

lifestyle and leisure

leisure

eveningstandard--2019-08-13--Best party games for adults: The super fun board games, cards and quizzes to entertain your friends

eveningstandard

Best party games for adults: The super fun board games, cards and quizzes to entertain your friends with in 2019

In the digital era, the simple pleasures of a board game have been almost forgotten. But there’s something about gathering your nearest together for a few hours of screen-free fun. Where once board games were part of the Christmas schedule or trundled out for once-a-year get-togethers, game nights are now the star of the show. You don’t have to leave the comfort of your sofa nor the convenience of your stocked fridge to have an epic game night in of your own. Not when we’ve rounded up the best games to play with friends and family, all of which you can shop online and have delivered straight to your door. From family favourites to games you probably shouldn’t play with your gran, here are the best games for adults. Best for: judging friends for their inexplicable crushes If you’ve ever harboured a soft spot on an unexpected celebrity (that'd be Ian Hislop for us) this is the game for you. The pack brings together 55 famous and eccentric British men, rating them for sex appeal, charisma, style, likeability and fame (Albert Square’s very own Romeo Ian Beale is among the worst cards, scoring a measly 1 out of 10 in each category). Think less footballers with six-packs, more comedians with dad-bods. The player holding the worst card at the end loses. With a five-star rating, Weird Crushes is a game that will trigger endless debates and help you see your friends in a whole new light. We can't wait to play. See more adult party games from Firebox Now That's What I Call Music Board Game Best for: combining karaoke with quiz... quizzaoke? This trivia game will really test your knowledge of hits from the 80s (arguably the greatest musical era) right up to 21st century bangers. Tasks will see you sing covers or mime song titles to be crowned the winner. Extra bonus points for an impassioned air guitar solo? Well, we'll leave that to your discretion. £15.53 | Amazon | But it now A much loved game that’s been around since 1903, there are hundreds of versions of Monopoly available - including a Stranger Things one. The latest iteration looks to thwart cheaters, as it is voice activated and Mr Monopoly manages all the cash from the depths of this top hat. Best for: finding out who’s top dog, once and for all You only have to look at news headlines to feel like you're living in an episode of Black Mirror these days, but if you really want to feel as if you've entered a dystopian Charlie Brooker universe, try a game of Nosedive. Inspired by the Black Mirror episode of the same name (series three, episode one), this devilish board game sees players rate each other and compete to live the 'perfect life'. It's been released in the US but we're still waiting for it to arrive on our shores. However you can pre-order the game on the link below. Best for: never looking your mates in the eye again A spin-off from the hit Channel 4 show, this official game promises to dish up the most awkward meal of your life. Split your group into pairs and get ready to answer uncomfortable questions that go up the scale of awkwardness, from Starters, Mains to finally, the excruciatingly Dessert round (think questions like "who would have more people at their funeral?" and "Who would give a better lap dance?"). It's awkward but fun in a very British way. Best for: trying out your poker face There's just no beating a classic game of cards, whether you're into Texas Hold 'Em, rummy or the simple joys of snap. Give your deck an upgrade with this cool pack complete with colourful Day of the Dead illustrations by artist Ricardo Cavolo. As well as this, there's a huge variety of other illustrated games to be found at Laurence King, including Dog Bingo and Cat Bingo! A smart card game to roll out after your next dinner party, this is the F.A.O version of the classic game, charades. There are 100 cards to provide inspiration for your mime, featuring famous books, films, songs, plays and TV shows that everyone will have heard of. Perfect for playing with friends old and new, this is sure to keep the party going for as long as you do. Scrabble may have just celebrated its 70th birthday, but the ultimate rainy-day board game remains in a continual state of flux as language evolves and new words become officially accepted in the game. Recent entrants include the likes of fatberg, upskirting and manspreading. To celebrate seven decades of sparking small family feuds, Mattel has released this slick black and gold Scrabble board, complete with matching letter tiles. Keep things fair with Collins Official Scrabble Words, the official, comprehensive word list by Collins Dictionaries, £19.99 from Amazon. Best for: keeping your favourite fantasy show alive The show may be over but if your passion for Game of Thrones is still going strong, channel it at a game night with your friends with this GoT-edition of Risk. A game of strategic conquest across Westeros, the pack includes a beautiful bespoke board complete with famous locations from the series, along with crafted game pieces and key characters such as the Mother of Dragons, Tyrion Lannister and Sansa Stark. Best for: stopping dinner guests from falling into a food coma Treat your loved ones to an after-dinner quiz with Ridley's Games. Topics span everything from literature and wine, to philosophy and retro cars. Split your group into teams and watch them do battle for quiz supremacy. Hot Seat Card Game: The Party Game About Your Friends Best for: seeing yourself from your friends' perspective The next time you have a party that needs livening up, pull out this pack of cards. Hot Seat helps you discover who knows you best by guessing your answers to awkward questions written on the game cards. There are 200 questions to get through, giving everyone a chance to sit in the Hot Seat. Ideal for your next BBQ or house party, the more people in play, the better. This beautiful white marble and copper set of Solitaire will look stunning as a piece of home décor as well as a quiet game for two. Best for: pretending to be big screen stars This two-player game recreates the corny, cheesy, cliche moments of a classic rom-com. Every run through offers different scenarios and results, so it's a game you can play over and over. Each round can last up to two hours, so crack this open the next time you need a rainy day distraction. If you're throwing a party or need a fun drinking game, Weird Crushes: British Hunks is our top pick for getting everyone involved. Our top rainy day pick goes to Now That's What I Call Music - because who doesn't love a singalong? Meanwhile Monopoly's latest voice-operated iteration is our best pick for wholesome family-friendly fun. ESBest product reviews are unbiased, independent advice you can trust. On some occasions, we earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we never allow this to bias our coverage. The reviews are compiled through a mix of expert opinion and real-world testing. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter

Abha Shah

https://www.standard.co.uk/shopping/esbest/kids/toys-games/best-party-games-for-adults-a4194231.html

Tue, 13 Aug 2019 11:16:00 GMT

lifestyle and leisure

leisure

france24--2019-12-25--French board game about class struggle and politics sells out in three weeks

france24

French board game about class struggle and politics sells out in three weeks

The board game Kapital! shows how the mechanisms of class conflict work in French society. In less than three weeks, board game lovers in France bought all 10,000 copies of Kapital!, a new game about class struggle, injustice and French politics created by a married couple of French sociologists. Monique Pinçon-Charlot, who created the game with her husband Michel, reads from a Kapital! playing card that says, “You are entering the exclusive club of individuals who own the world’s most luxurious cruise ships…” But, not everyone can join this club. One player will draw the good lot and fall among the rich; others will be the struggling poor and middle class. All players have to fight their way to the “tax haven” at the conclusion of the board. “Not only [do] you have to arrive first, but also you should have money, as well as social, cultural and symbolic capital. But just like in real life, the dominant player has the biggest chance to win,” Pinçon-Charlot said. The sociologists created the game to raise awareness about social injustice, and the gap between the rich and poor. “The subtitle of the game is ‘Who will win the class war?’ because the extreme extent of social dominance and exploitation in Emmanuel Macron’s France has reached such a point that it is no longer a class struggle, but rather a war,” Pinçon-Charlot said. The game was an instant success, selling out in less than three weeks. Hugo Munler, a salesperson at a board game store in Paris, said, “People look for creative ideas – and this one is creative. That’s why it’s sold out. We receive about ten calls a day.” Kapital! tackles society and politics against a French background. But its creators believe it could be easily adjusted to suit other countries. France 24 reporters Thameen Al-Kheetan and Lilia Khelfaoui tell us the story.

Thameen KHEETAN

https://www.france24.com/en/20191225-french-board-game-about-class-struggle-and-politics-sells-out-in-three-weeks

Wed, 25 Dec 2019 19:38:08 GMT

lifestyle and leisure

leisure

newsweek--2019-01-24--Russia Chemical Attacks Board Game Released A Bridge of Friendship

newsweek

Russia Chemical Attacks Board Game Released: ‘A Bridge of Friendship’

A board game is on sale in Russia seemingly celebrating the alleged Kremlin-ordered chemical attack that killed one and wounded several in the British city of Salisbury. The game, called “Our Guys in Salisbury,” allows players to follow the route of the Russian intelligence agents accused of carrying out the attack. According to The Guardian, players travel from Moscow through various European cities on the way to their final destination in the U.K. The finish line is Salisbury, marked by images of the city’s cathedral—which Russian agents Anatoliy Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin famously gave as the reason for their trip to the city—and figures in hazmat suits, poking fun at the bulky protective gear worn by emergency responders in the aftermath of the attack. The board also sports images of a spray bottle covered in a green skull and crossbones—a reference to the perfume bottle that police said was used to transport and deliver the deadly toxin—and two figures resembling Chepiga and Mishkin. Supposed images of the game were shared online several weeks ago, though it was initially unclear whether the board had been photoshopped. But earlier this week, a Reuters correspondent in Russia posted new images of the game’s packaging, sparking new speculation that it was in fact real. Later reports established the game’s veracity, and explained it was developed in November by the Igroland toymaker based in Moscow. The Telegraph reported that its creator, Mikhail Bober, was interviewed by Russian state media on Tuesday and said 5,000 copies had already been made. According to the BBC, the game is selling for around $1.31 online. Bober explained he came up with the idea after witnessing the intense—and in his mind excessive—coverage of the Novichok attack. “In some way, this was an idea of our answer to western media: enough already,” he said. “To us it’s not funny anymore. It’s sad. This needs to stop.” “We didn’t want to offend anyone,” Bober explained. “On the contrary, we wanted to support our countrymen who might be offended by this situation … a lot of things are said and a lot of it without any proof.” British investigators have charged the two GRB agents in absentia for their role in the poisonings. The initial target was former Soviet agent Sergei Skripal, who fell ill alongside his daughter Yulia. Both survived, as did a police officer who was hospitalized after discovering the pair collapsed on a park bench. Almost four months later, two more people in Salisbury— Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess—were affected. It is believed Rowley and Sturgess discovered the discarded perfume bottle in which the Novichok was stored and sprayed themselves with it. Though Rowley survived after treatment, Sturgess died in hospital. The British government has alleged that the plot was approved at the very highest levels of the Russian government, making President Vladimir Putin ultimately responsible. According to The Guardian, Bober said, “The idea of the game is a kind of joke, and a bridge of friendship. We aren’t playing around with the ideas of security forces or with poisoning.” “I think if we wanted to seriously troll and offend anyone, we would have done it differently … The idea was kind, to connect Russia with Europe,” he added. Other Russian organizations have previously been criticized for making light of the Novichok incident. State-backed broadcaster Russia Today, for example, sent out scaled-down chocolate models of Salisbury Cathedral as an end-of-year gift to fellow news organizations earlier this year. Bober said the company would consider a reprint of the game given the attention it has received. “If we rely on the PR that we’ve just gotten, we’ll make a much larger printing. We are businessmen. We’re thinking in terms of quantities and money,” he said. But some topics are off limits for the developer. When asked if he would make another game about Russia’s involvement in Crimea and Ukraine, he said, “Definitely not about Ukraine, a fair number of people have died there, there are a lot of opinions and everyone has their own truth.” “There are victims there, it would be stupid to use it in a commercial project,” he explained.

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-chemical-attack-board-game-novichok-salisbury-uk-1303373?utm_source=Public&utm_medium=Feed&utm_campaign=Distribution

2019-01-24 15:42:57+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

leisure

21stcenturywire--2019-01-24--LAVROV You Dont Need Mueller to Know Whos Interfering in Venezuelan Elections

21stcenturywire

LAVROV: ‘You Don’t Need Mueller to Know Who’s Interfering in Venezuelan Elections’

IMAGE: US Neocons, led this week by VP Mike Pence, are trying to flex their regime change muscles in Venezuela, while being mocked by Russian foreign minister Sergie Lavrov. Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov mocked the United States today in a statement which pointed out what election meddling really looks like. Of course, Lavrov was referring to Washington’s regime change exploits in Venezuela – and a level of direct interference by the U.S. expressly designed to disrupt and destabilize the South American country. He went on the expose the complete farce of Robert Mueller’s ‘Special Counsel’ and investigation into the illusive ‘Trump-Russia collusion,’ now into its third year. He states: The US, which is paranoid about somebody interfering in their elections, even though they have no proof of that, themselves are trying to rule the fates of other peoples. What they actually do is interfere in their internal affairs. There is no need for [US special counsel Robert] Mueller to determine that. Earlier this week, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence delivered a bizarre bilingual TV address targeting Latin American audiences in the hopes of drumming-up political support for Washington’s choice to lead Venezuela, ‘opposition’ leader Juan Guaido, the president of the self-styled parallel government-in-opposition known as the “National Assembly.” Pence issued his message of support for Guadio and urged Venezuelans to ‘take to the streets,’ assuring them that they will have the “unwavering support of the United States.” Soon after, President Donald Trump also announced he is formally recognizing the unelected Guaido as the ‘legitimate president of Venezuela.’ The aggressive U.S. move comes just three weeks after Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro (image, left) was inaugurated for his second term. US-backed Guaido chose not to run in the election, claiming instead that he and other opposition candidates were “boycotting” the election. Oddly, Washington is using this opposition boycott as ‘proof’ that Maduro’s election was somehow illegitimate. Maduro has retaliated against Washington’s open affront by announcing he will now break-off of diplomatic relations with Washington, and has already ordered that all U.S. diplomats and mission personnel leave Venezuela within 72 hours.

21wire

https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/01/24/lavrov-you-dont-need-mueller-to-know-u-s-is-interfering-in-venezuelan-elections/

2019-01-24 15:50:59+00:00

politics

election

21stcenturywire--2019-02-21--Bernie Looked the Other Way on Wasserman Schultz Florida Election Rigging

21stcenturywire

Bernie ‘Looked the Other Way’ on Wasserman Schultz, Florida Election Rigging

Why did Bernie abandon challenger Tim Canova and ‘Election Integrity’ in Florida? This is abundant evidence that election rigging has been rife in South Florida’s notoriously corrupt Broward County. Former Florida congressional candidate Tim Canova exposed the DNC election fiddling through a series of independent investigations, following his challenge to former disgraced Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Talk Show host Jimmy Dore interviews Canova about the controversy, and also explains how Bernie Sanders remained quiet on the matter in order to placate the Democratic Party elite. Watch:

21wire

https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/02/21/bernie-looked-the-other-way-on-wasserman-schultz-florida-election-rigging/

2019-02-21 15:24:10+00:00

politics

election

21stcenturywire--2019-03-26--Extra Time Christopher Steele British Meddling in US Election

21stcenturywire

Extra Time: Christopher Steele & British Meddling in US Election

Welcome to Extra Time, a special segment available each week to 21WIRE.TV Members. It was never “Russian Meddling” in the 2016 Election, but rather, meddling from within the ‘special relationship’. One of the key actors in the #Russiagate hoax is ‘former’ British intelligence officer Christopher Steele who helped to compile the notorious Trump Dossier which was meant to discredit the new American president by portraying him as ‘compromised’ by the Russians. Now that the Mueller Investigation has hit the rocks, we take a closer look at Steele and discover he has been the Establishment’s key man used to implicate Russia for a series of high profile international crimes. Clues reveal the real meaning behind Russiagate, which may surprise come people. 21WIRE.TV MEMBERS CAN WATCH OUR SPECIAL EXTRA SESSION HERE: UKC Extra Time: Off-Air Discussion with Patrick & Mike

21wire

https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/03/26/extra-time-christopher-steele-british-meddling-in-us-election/

2019-03-26 13:41:32+00:00

politics

election

21stcenturywire--2019-03-26--Ukraine Presidential Election Two Oligarchs and a Comedian

21stcenturywire

Ukraine Presidential Election: ‘Two Oligarchs and a Comedian’

On March 31, the first round of the 2019 presidential election will take place in Ukraine. A record number of candidates – 39 – is campaigning for the presidential post in the biggest country in Europe. Most of them have no real chance of victory. According to polls, there are three main candidates – comedian Vladimir Zelenskiy, the ruling oligarch Petro Poroshenko and the contesting oligarch Yuliya Timoshenko. . Despite the high number of presidential candidates, their election programmes are mostly focused on four topics: the military conflict in the eastern part of the country, the Crimea issue, political reforms and the economic situation. Presidential candidates employ populist rhetoric and make fantastic promises of various sorts. Since the “Revolution of Dignity” in 2014, the real opposition in the country has been fully suppressed by repressive measures. Nationalistic propaganda and war hysteria are the dominating and main attribute of public politics and media coverage. In this kind of political situation it’s unlikely that potential presidents of Ukraine are going to turn their promises into reality. As has been repeatedly demonstrated, it’s always possible to call critics of the ruling government “Kremlin agents”, to accidentally find in their flats maps showing Crimea as a part of Russia or use another contrived pretext to detain them over treason. However, leaders of the presidential race and marginal candidates do have some differences in their public rhetoric. The election programme of Petro Poroshenko is called “A major country with free and happy people.” He promises that Ukraine will join the EU and NATO as a regional leader: the leader of the agrarian sector in Europe; one of five new global leaders in the IT sector; regional leader of industrial development; the transport hub of Eastern Europe; one of the ten most visited European countries under the slogan “A fashionable country, which the world is discovering.” The basic principle of the program is: “Money follows people.” This all sounds nice, but it is not very clear, just as it is not clear when exactly the country will join the EU. In 2014, the leaders of the coup used more unambiguous phrases promising their adherents almost immediate accession to the EU, a victory over corruption, and a living standard supported by Europe. Poroshenko is going to return Donbass and Crimea through “political means”, which in fact does not seem to exclude artillery strikes and diversions with civilian casualties reported from the conflict zone on a regular basis. Yulia Tymoshenko assures that she has an “alternative”strategy for Crimea and Donbass, but what this might be is still a secret. She promises to reduce the Parliament by 100 deputies (there are currently 450), and halve the price of gas, hot water and heating. Volodymyr Zelensky was nominated by the Servant of the People Party, named after the comedy series of the same name on Ukrainian television. He says that he will attend the cabinet for only one term. He asked his fans on the Internet to write his political programme. The same approach was declared as the tool to form his future Cabinet. Promises – obvious populism: the removal of immunity from the president, deputies and judges; the introduction of a law on impeachment, the fight against rising tariffs, voting in elections and referenda via the Internet among others. Zelensky promises to put an end to the war in the Donbass region and return the lost territories. Additionally, the comedian intends to receive compensation for damages from Russia. Zelensky’s high rating is a result of a strong mood of protest in the country and fatigue with the empty promises of professional politicians. The rating of the other candidates is not really high enough to allow them to claim victory in the upcoming election. Nonetheless, some of them have some very original promises. For example, Ilya Kiva promises to increase the military budget to 10% of GDP, stop cooperation with the IMF and introduce a visa regime with Russia. Ruslan Koshulinsky wants to use a polygraph to test candidates for officials and deputies for separatism. He also intends to suspend diplomatic relations and all bilateral treaties with Russia. Vladimir Petrov says that he will provide every Ukrainian with free internet, apparently with the help of coupons, though, it must be added “in specific daily and monthly limits.”  He also promises free daily bread. The political system of Ukraine was completely destroyed by propaganda, censorship, false promises, widespread corruption, nepotism and dependency. On the one hand, the political elite is not interested in the real opinion of the people, and the populist “pro-Western” and “anti-Russian” rhetoric is a convenient tool for knocking out aid from the EU and the US. On the other hand, the more depressed the population, the less it trusts the populist promises already made, and in order to get a reaction the authorities will need to whip tensions up further…

21wire

https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/03/26/ukraine-presidential-election-two-oligarchs-and-a-comedian/

2019-03-26 17:15:02+00:00

politics

election

21stcenturywire--2019-04-02--Extra Time Ukraine Election Comedy Populism or Something Else

21stcenturywire

Extra Time: Ukraine Election Comedy – Populism or Something Else?

Welcome to Extra Time, a special segment available each week to 21WIRE.TV Members. This week saw the unthinkable: Ukrainian comedian and actor Volodymyr Zelensky won round one of the presidential election, beating the US-installed puppet leader Petro Poroshenko. But this actually follows a trend of similarly profiled political parties and figures coming into power in Italy (5 Star), Spain (Podemos), with Trump in the US. Are we seeing a genuine political watershed event? What will this mean for the Ukraine, NATO, EU and the US going forward. 21WIRE.TV MEMBERS CAN WATCH OUR SPECIAL EXTRA SESSION HERE: UKC Extra Time: Off-Air Discussion with Patrick & Mike

21wire

https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/04/02/ukraine-elections-zelensky-wins/

2019-04-02 09:00:37+00:00

politics

election

21stcenturywire--2019-04-08--Have Israels Election Campaigns Exposed It as a Fascist State

21stcenturywire

Have Israel’s Election Campaigns Exposed It as a Fascist State?

Tomorrow, Israelis will head to the voting booths to elect their next government. Whether Israel re-elects Benjamin Netanyahu, an even further to the right politician or the number one competitor, former chief of staff of Israel’s military, Benny Gantz, one thing has already been concluded for Israel. Israel will continue its descent into an even more openly militaristic and ultimately fascist state. One positive thing that has came out of this Israeli election, regardless of its outcome, is what has been exposed about Israel to the world. If we take for example, the two most likely candidates to become the next Israeli Prime Minister, Benny Gantz and Benjamin Netanyahu, we will see a clear picture of what they understand of the Israeli population. I say this, because politicians will run their campaigns with the specific aim of enticing their potential voters with what is seen to represent them. So what are the problematic key issues that both Gantz and Netanyahu have ran on? Back in March, current Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu decided to make two controversial moves in order to attract support for his campaign. The first was attempting to align himself with the Kahanist mentality baring Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) Party, a far-right racist party whose ideology aligns with the Kach movement, a group so extreme that even Israel has outlawed it. The second was to unnecessarily hitting the headlines replying to the instagram comments of Israeli TV star, Rotem Sela, who questioned the language used by Israeli Culture Minister, Miri Regev, when referring to Arab parties in Israel. Netanyahu lashed out, claiming that Israel “is not a country of all its citizens” and is for “Jews alone”. Roughly 25% of Israeli citizenship owners are Palestinians – or as Israel describes them “Arab Israelis” – and are essentially second class citizens. Another interesting move taken in Israel, was to prohibit the ‘Arab Israeli’ Party called Balad from being elected to Knesset, Netanyahu even accused the party leader of being a terrorist. Netanyahu then went ahead and traveled to the United States, where he was received by US president Donald Trump, who signed for him an official decree recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the illegally annexed – as of 1981- Golan from Syria. Benjamin Netanyahu also has consistently reminded his population that under his rule the ‘Nation State Bill’ was passed, which downgraded Arabic from a national language and isolated all non-Jewish minority populations by stating that Israel is the a state in which only Jews are to have self determination. Netanyahu also reminds his people that he was the PM under which Donald Trump recognized, on behalf of the US, that Jerusalem is the Capital of Israel. Other than running on a platform of far-right rhetoric and illegal expansion into a foreign country, Netanyahu also ran on militarism. Russia’s Putin also handed Netanyahu yet another gift, adding to the military pride side of his campaign, giving the remains of an Israeli Staff Sergeant whose body was lost during Israel’s murderous war upon Lebanon in 1982, which resulted in the murder of roughly 15,000 people in Lebanon. This was extremely significant because well over 1.2 million Russian Jews – most of which value a close Israeli-Russian alliance – live in Israel (not including those living amongst the approximately 750,000 illegal settler in the West Bank). The move from Russia undoubtedly will win over votes to Netanyahu in the coming election. We talk about Russia’s involvement in US elections, but this seems to have been largely missed by western media, Putin has even been accused of betraying its ally Syria over this timely campaign gift to Likud’s Netanyahu. Many other things have been said and done by Benjamin Netanyahu, that have been called out as racist, but perhaps the most significant thing that he has stated, is that he will officially annex Illegal West Bank settlements into Israel. If this is the case and the United States, which earlier this year removed the term occupied from its description of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, we could see another attempt by Israel to commit yet another mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. And then we have the “Centrist” opposition, in Benny Gantz’s ‘Blue and White’, which has ran a campaign along very similar lines. Benny Gantz was Chief of Staff of Israel’s Military during the 2014 war upon the besieged Gaza Strip, a war in which over 2000 Gazan civilians were massacred, and Gantz has made it his mission to bolster of his performance as a mass murderer in Gaza. A former paratrooper, Mr. Gantz also believes that the Israeli population will vote for him if he talks about his ability to kill Arabs. As Gaza is the weak-spot of Netanyahu, due to Israelis overwhelmingly disapproving of his “weak stance” on the issue, Gantz has began to capitalize. Benny Gantz, the centrist opposition, has ran his campaign, promising to finish Hamas in Gaza and wipe out all the militant factions in the Gaza Strip, his solution is more bombs than Netanyahu, more aggression than Netanyahu and to deal with the Gaza Strip in a much harsher way. Ultimately, no matter who wins tomorrow, the Palestinians and surrounding countries in the region, lose. The only other options, that will likely gain significant power, to Netanyahu’s Likud and Gantz’s Kahol Lavan, are far-right groups with Israeli Labour weaker than it has ever been. The days of left wing tyrants are over and the time for right wing war mongers is now and with it comes the Israeli population, as the society continues to drift further towards the far-right. *** Author Robert Inlakesh is a special contributor to 21WIRE and European correspondent for Press TV. He has reported from on the ground in occupied Palestine. See more of his work here.

Robert Inlakesh

https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/04/08/israeli_elections_expose_israel_as_facist_state/

2019-04-08 20:03:02+00:00

politics

election

21stcenturywire--2019-05-30--Israel to Hold New Election After Netanyahu Fails to Form Coalition Government

21stcenturywire

Israel to Hold New Election After Netanyahu Fails to Form Coalition Government

It was a rough day for Israel’s “Prime Minister for life” Benjamin Netanyahu, after Israeli parliament voted 74-45 to dissolve itself when for the first time in the country’s history, the PM elect failed to form a new coalition government. New elections  are scheduled to be held on September 17th. Hoping to stitch together a motley alliance of Far Right nationalists and ultra-Orthodox blocs, Netanyahu was unable to reach a coalition deal following last month’s tight election which saw the sitting PM win by a narrow margin against former military chief of staff Benny Gantz. Critics say this latest debacle underscores an increasingly unpopular Netanyuhu and his Likud party’s lack of a mandate after winning a mere 35 of the Knesset’s 120 seats in April’s election. According to Haaretz, Coalition negotiations had been in a deadlock due to infighting between Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman and the Hassidic faction of ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism over Lieberman’s draft bill which would require orthodox yeshiva students, who are currently exempt from mandatory IDF conscription, to be drafted to the Israeli military. Following today’s decision, an angry Netanyahu launched into a tirade against fellow cohort and Zionist extremist Lieberman. Watch:

21wire

https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/05/30/israel-to-hold-new-election-after-netanyahu-fails-to-form-coalition-government/

2019-05-30 13:32:31+00:00

politics

election

21stcenturywire--2019-06-29--Istanbul Election Re-Run The Culmination of an AKP Policy of Sunnification

21stcenturywire

İstanbul Election Re-Run: The Culmination of an AKP Policy of ‘Sunnification’

The Justice and Development Party (or AKP, represented by the colour yellow) has been ruling Turkey throughout most of  the 21st century, a fact that might have led some to forget that other political parties do exist as well in today’s Turkey: even Atatürk’s Republican People’s Party (or CHP, represented by the colour red), the main opposition, but also the National Movement Party (or MHP, represented by the colour blue), the AKP’s recent Islamofascist friend and ally. These three parties, in conjunction with the Kurds, represented by the proscribed terror group PKK (or Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê meaning Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and the political party HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party, represented by the colour purple), dominate the country’s political discourse. On 31 March 2019, Turkey held nationwide local elections . . . elections that once again saw the ruling AKP carry the day – with two notable exceptions, however: the metropolitan municipalities of Ankara and İstanbul were won by candidates running for the opposition CHP. And particularly, the loss of the latter was a severe blow for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the AKP’s party leader and the nation’s first popularly elected Absolute President (or Prez). As a result, though quite momentous, it did not come as a surprise that the İstanbul outcome was eventually challenged and a re-run ordered. In spite of this tried and tested AKP strategy, on 23 June, the CHP candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu once again emerged victorious, even gathering a grand total of 54.21% of the vote, leaving his AKP rival Binali Yıldırm trailing with a mere 44.99%. During the original election run on 31 March, nationwide, more than 57 million Turks (or Turkish citizens) were registered to vote, and, on the day itself, voter turnout stood at just under 85%. And subsequently, Turkey’s electoral map looks overwhelmingly yellow (with a few blue allied dots) and a number of red and purple spots in the fringes. The Prez and his henchmen tried hard to portray these local elections as a kind of referendum on whether or not the Turkish public-at-large was still in favour of rigid AKP rule and its surreptitious slide into a what I have termed a “post-Kemalist reality” in 2016. And, by and large, the outcome seemed to all but vindicate Tayyip Erdoğan’s drive towards re-imagining the Republic of Turkey as a pseudo-Ottoman Sunni superpower in the region and beyond. Were it not that two major exceptions bucked the trend – Ankara and İstanbul. And particularly the latter defeat was hard to swallow for the Prez – after all, that’s where he made his own debut on Turkey’s political stage in 1994, and the city’s patronage network is an important source of monetary income for his many hangers-on, whether individual or institutional (in the shape of pious and less pious foundations or vakıfs and the like). This loss of İstanbul (and to a minor extent, Ankara) led the political scientist Dr Burcu Değirmen-Dysart to argue somewhat hyperbolically that “Turkey’s March 31 local elections revealed that more and more people grew discontent with Erdogan’s and his party’s tightening authoritarian grip,” commenting about a month later (30 April 2019). And two weeks following the AKP’s lackluster performance in İstanbul, the news agency Reuters matter-of-factly reported that the outcome “was annulled last week [6 May 2019] in Istanbul and will be re-run on June 23.” Pundits and other know-it-alls (myself included) immediately began pontificating that this re-run could only mean that the Prez had a plan and that the AKP contender Binali Yıldırım (whom I have christened Hapless during his tenure as Turkey’s final PM, 24 May 2016-16 April 2017) was sure to assume residency in Saraçhane (where the offices of the İBB or İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality are housed) at the end of this month. The Persistence of Memory: İstanbul as a City of Faith Though in the immediate aftermath of the İstanbul elections, nobody really knew much about the CHP candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu, other than the fact that he had led the İstanbul municipality of Beylikdüzü (2014-19) or even beyond that he originally hailed from the Black Sea region’s city of Trabzon. In the intervening period (6 May-23 June), he made sure that there’d be no one left in Turkey (or abroad, for that matter) who didn’t know the name İmamoğlu. His re-election campaign adopted the slogan #HerŞeyÇokGüzelOlacak (or ‘Everything will be very beautiful’ (or good), and in the days before the re-run, his innumerable trips all over the place, his speeches and television appearances turned the softly-spoken man into a veritable anti-AKP icon, appealing not just to Erdoğan’s traditional enemy base but also to Turks whom one might normally assume to be AKP supporters, if not Erdoğan voters. İmamoğlu and his team used 47 days to craft a skillful operation that knew a couple of highlights sure to make a wider audience enamoured with the CHP candidate, and not just in İstanbul. The campaign period coincided with the month of Ramazan (the month-long period of fast observed by pious Muslims throughout the world, 5 May-3 June 2019) – which is normally a time in Turkey when hungry taxi drivers become irate and nothing much happens otherwise, but AKP supporters (or obviously ‘pious’ fasting Turks) become highly visible at night, strolling through specially erected Ramazan markets, as the one on the Hippodrome in Sultanahmet, as well as on Turkey’s national television channels hosting requisite pious fasting programmes for the duration. But not this year, this year a lively and colourful election campaign was fought, with İmamoğlu as a pious man from a solidly conservative background (in the period 1984-87, his father was a member of Turgut Özal [1927-93]’s ANAP [or Motherland Part], a right-wing political party that enacted many pro-Islamic policies and was nebulously linked to the Naqshbandi brotherhood), able to charm people all around while abstaining from food or drink from sunrise to sunset. In my opinion, a well-played stratagem of İmamoğlu’s was his appearance on CNN Türk, effectively just another AKP propaganda channel (20 May 2019). The well-known journalist Ahmet Hakan conducted the interview, which he conspicuously cut short right before the CHP candidate was about to talk about his plans for İstanbul and his determination to root out waste and corruption in the city’s municipal offices. İmamoğlu’s team had clearly given a number of advertising clips to the channel beforehand, clips which were aired during the intervals. One of these clips told the backstory of İmamoğlu’s by-now famous slogan #HerŞeyÇokGüzelOlacak. The footage shown appeared to consist of recordings made by  İmamoğlu’s team during the ongoing campaign. One clip focused on a boy who kept chasing İmamoğlu’s convoy and at one stage, the candidate talks directly to the boy who addresses the candidate with the colloquial phrase Abi, reserved for men advanced of one’s own age. The boy literally said, ‘Ekrem Abi, everything will be very beautiful’ (or, “her şey çok güzel olacak”). CNN Türk aired this clip (and many others) during the intermissions in the broadcast, and its effect on the viewers must have been far from insignificant. But, in spite of the generally positive mood engendered, at one stage during the interview, İmamoğlu countered claims that, were he to become Mayor of İstanbul, alcoholic beverages would be served in social facilities pertaining to the Metropolitan Municipality (Belediye Sosyal Tesisleri). In response, he related how he had established six social facilities in Beylikdüzü, and that alcohol is definitely not being served there. Though this was but a passing segment in the interview, this affirmation that as Mayor of İstanbul, İmamoğlu would all but continue Erdoğan’s strict restriction policy on the free  distribution of alcoholic beverages surely shocked some viewers, albeit many shrugged it off. Still, as I explained as long as ago as 2011, a “strict interpretation of Islam explicitly prohibits the drinking of intoxicants in this world.” But not in Kemalist Turkey, which was very different from its Muslim neighbours in this respect, as “Turkey’s Muslim citizens have had legal access to alcohol since 1926.” This free availability of alcoholic beverages has become problematic in AKP-led Turkey. In 2016, the Prez famously praised the Turkish yoghurt beverage of Ayran as the country’s “national drink” in favour of the aniseed liquor Rakı, normally cited in this context. But apart from this brief episode, Hakan and İmamoğlu successfully skirted dealing with the issue of Islam during the interview, arguably taking it as a given that, in AKP-led Turkey, adherence to the Prophet’s tenets is universal and not to be questioned. Still many secularist opponents of the AKP regime must have felt somewhat disappointed by the CHP candidate’s assurances. Another well-played strategem came at the end of the fast, in Turkey marked by a three-day public holiday (traditionally known as Şeker Bayramı, but now as Ramazan Bayramı, under AKP directives) when joyful celebrations occasion family and other visits (known in Turkish as Bayramlaşma). İmamoğlu flew home to the Black Sea region (his home turf which is known in Turkish as his memleket, 5 June 2019). İmamoğlu planned to alight in the cities of Trabzon, Giresun and Ordu, using social media accounts to promulgate the news. His get-together with the people of Trabzon morphed into a giant meeting, exceeding all expectations and surprising everyone. The rally counted many hundreds, many thousands of participants and İmamoğlu addressed the crowd in a most persuasive way: “I would like to remind you, as your brother who knows he will be chosen anew during the [upcoming] elections for the Metropolitan Municipality of İstanbul, that I will also engage in [this] fight for democracy. For that reason I am in need of the support of all of my fellow-occupants [of my memleket] who are here. Pray for me and it is therefore absolutely necessary that you talk to your relatives in İstanbul.” In this cunning way, the CHP candidate employed his visit to his memleket to boost his national visibility, while simultaneously placating İstanbul voters with a Black Sea background to cast their ballots in his favuor rather than for his AKP rival, which would have been their natural course given that the Prez’s own memleket is adjacent home city of Rize. Moreover, the Black Sea area’s inhabitants are notoriously pious as well as “ingenious, witty, and kind,” if we are to believe the İstanbul-based journalist Jennifer Hattam. And the CHP candidate’s words really seem to contain hints of possible long-term strategies to be pursued in years to come, as İmamoğlu rather emphatically stressed  that he will “fight for democracy.” Whereas the opposition capitalised on the themes of hope and faith, the AKP camp opted to rehash its well-worn themes of fear and unrest, falling short of doing a complete re-run of the 2015 narrative. At the very outset of June, with 22 days to go, for instance, the Prez himself addressed a crowd of believers, admonishing them with the words, “[t]his is İstanbul, otherwise known as İslambol [meaning replete or adorned with Islam]. This is not Constantinople, but there are those who would like to see [the city] as such.” Harking back to an Ottoman tradition, clearly attested in the reigns of Ahmed III (1703-30) and his son Abdülhamid I (1774-89) (but according to some, even present in Mehmed II (1451-81)’s day, though the latter seems dubious at best), Tayyip Erdoğan attempted to frighten his Muslim audience that a CHP victory would usher in a return of repressive anti-Islamic policies commonly associated with the figure of Atatürk and his party in the minds of Turkey’s pious Islamists. Arguably, Erdoğan based his allegations on a spurious article that appeared in the Greek press following İmamoğlu’s 31 March victory, an article that received a lot of coverage in Turkey’s AKP-dominated media landscape. The piece carries the provocative headline “Ekrem Imamoglu: The ‘Greek’ who ‘conquered’ Istanbul’.” This slanderous sample of printed libel declares summarily that “Ekrem Imamoglu is according to some reports of Pontian origin and a Greek-speaker.” Going back to Ottoman days, the north-eastern corner of the Black Sea littoral was home to a sizeable Greek-speaking population group, usually referred to as ‘Pontian Greeks.’ This Orthodox population group was ethnically cleansed in the period running up to the establishment of the Turkish Republic (1923). But with four days to go before election day, the Prez played the Kurdish card. In 2015, he had used that card to awaken fears of renewed war and conflict with the Kurdish terror group PKK, to coax citizens into voting for the AKP in the then-electoral re-run (1 November 2015). But now the AKP decided to use another hand. The propaganda rag Daily Sabah put it like this: “Abdullah Öcalan [popularly known as Apo], the jailed leader of the PKK terrorist group, called on pro-PKK People’s Democratic Party (HDP) not to side with any other party in the Istanbul mayoral election rerun on Sunday. Öcalan made the statement in a letter that was shared with members of the press Thursday [, 20 June 2019] by academic Ali Kemal Özcan.” In other words, Apo all but tacitly supported the Prez asking Kurds not to vote rather than vote for the CHP candidate. An intervention that, in the aftermath of İmamoğlu’s unexpectedly large 23 June victory, led Ahmet Hakan to proclaim that “[t]his election’s biggest loser is  Abdullah Öcalan,” a statement that must have left many baffled and flabbergasted. If anything though, this weird episode, which even saw Apo’s brother Osman Öcalan appear on the state-run television channel TRT Kurdî, all but discloses the apparently close and even organic links between Öcalan and Erdoğan, between the PKK and the AKP. With regard to the actual İstanbul re-run, though, appearing before a crowd of businessmen a week prior to the vote, the Prez appeared sanguine (even somewhat resigned or even reconciled), saying that this “election only aims to appoint a mayor,” even calling the whole thing but a “simple change in the shopfront.” Explaining himself somewhat, Erdoğan added that the AKP holds 25 out of a total 39 municipalities in the metropolitan area of İstanbul (16 June 2019). And, following his massive victory, İmamoğlu again descends upon his offices in Saraçhane, only to find that “his powers and those of fellow mayors across the country are being whittled down, [as] part of a broader strategy to hobble opposition-run municipalities’ ability to govern effectively,” as expressed by the always well-informed journalist Amberin Zaman. Mustafa Kemal’s Party Embraces Islam: The Culmination of the AKP Policy of Sunnification In spite of this seeming entente between an erstwhile Marxist-Leninist outfit-now-espousing Libertarian Municipalism (PKK) and a political party grounded in political Islam and arguably embracing Pan-Islamism (AKP), the reality on the ground appears very different. The reality on the ground in the New Turkey (as coined by the AKP) is such that its policy of Sunnification (my coinage) has led to a near-universal acceptance that Turkey’s future lies within bounds established in the 7th century CE, albeit employing the full technological and scientific benefits of the 21st century (in a Turkish version of what the left-liberal Pakistani journalist Nadeem Paracha has termed ‘Maududi-ism’). And the vast majority of Turks have now voluntarily adopted a lifestyle supposedly more in line with the Prophet’s example. Still, the press seems happy to report every now and then that younger generations are turning away from religion and that even İman-Hatip (secondary education institution intended to train government employed imams or prayer leaders) graduates are turning towards deism in favour theism (meaning that they seem to be all but abandoning Allah). These arguably diversionary if not downright ‘fake’ reports notwithstanding, the concept of Islam has well and truly taken its place at the heart of Turkish society again, in rural as well as urban settings. The world of politics has also been deeply affected by this trend. The CHP, as the party founded by Mustafa Kemal-who-became-Atatürk, has quite naturally also been subject to this encroachment. In the course of the year 2008, the then-party leader Deniz Baykal initiated accepting headscarfed women into the ranks of the Republican People’s Party. In February 2009, Baykal was quoted as saying that he can see “signs [that] a new political wind has started blowing swiftly” throughout Turkey. In a similar ceremony held in the same year’s November, he made the following programmatic announcement: “[w]e are all on our way, together with [women wearing] headscarfs, [women wearing] turbans [which in today’s Turkey refers to more elaborate forms of head-covering], bare-headed [women], young, old, women, men.” In Kemalist Turkey, the “thorny headscarf issue” signified opposition to a greater visibility of Islam in Turkey’s public and political life. The Quran seems quite adamant that women should dress modestly, particularly avoiding gratuitous displays of cleavage, which should be covered or veiled (‘hijab’, Quran 24:31). But the usage of the term “hijab” has led to the universal assumption that women should cover their hair as well as their cleavage. For that reason, in Kemalist Turkey, headscarfed women were a focal point in the debate surrounding Islam and fundamentalism (irtica). Baykal’s move to accept headscarfed women into the CHP ranks thus denoted a sharp reversal in attitude and appreciation on the part of the party leadership. As leader of the CHP, Baykal (1992-2010) was at the time fighting the PM Tayyip Erdoğan, and in that capacity he oftentimes attacked his opponent using the most vitriolic of words. In his long political career though he never really tasted any tangible success or victory. And the same is true for his successor Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu who took up his job on 22 May 2010. Prior to taking over Baykal’s job, when he was the Vice Chairman of the CHP faction, Kılıçdaroğlu declared publicy that “[w]e need to open our arms to” headscarfed ladies, indicating that this “overture” would not lead to losses but instead to “profitable” outcomes in the long run. A strategy that led the rather prominent CHP member Canan Kaftancıoğlu to admit during a live television broadcast on 11 May 2017 that her party is committing “taqiyya in order to gain votes from the right,” adding that she was “concerned” about that. The concept of ‘Taqiyya’ is an Islamic concept usually associated with the Shi’a faction but really an “integral part of Islam,” as can be read on a dedicated webpage provided by the Non Profit Organisation, the Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project (DILP). The same source defines the concept as a “precautionary dissimulation or denial of religious [or ideological] belief and practice in the face of persecution.” As a result, Kaftancıoğlu all but admitted that her party had been sliding towards accepting the new Islamic status quo in Turkey, albeit that she personally interprets this development as a conscious tactic or ruse rather than a straightforward political development – a political development that sees the nominally social-democratic Republican People’s Party adopting right-wing and/or outright Islamic or Islamist attitudes and policies. But whether merely taqiyya or not, it is only now that the openly pious and devout Ekrem İmamoğlu has twice won the mayor’s seat of metropolitan İstanbul, that Kılıçdaroğlu’s party been successful, even allowing the latter to climb on top of an election bus to give a ‘balcony speech’ – something that has been turned into a political tradition by Tayyip Erdoğan in this century. Despite the fact that the actual winner of the contest was İmamoğlu, Kılıçdaroğlu gave his speech as the “architect of the 31 March victory.” For the party leader had appointed the candidate who was to win the city of İstanbul in a landslide – a choice reminiscent of his pick of Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu to compete for the presidency in 2014. Back then, Tayyip Erdoğan easily defeated his rivals in the first round with a handsome landslide. Kılıçdaroğlu’s pick was greeted with shock and amazement at the time, as the CHP candidate was the “former head of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC),” and ideologically very much in line with Erdoğan and his AKP as a self-professed academic with Islamist leanings. In the same way, this year’s victorious pick also seems at odds with the self-described ‘secularist’ CHP. In the aftermath of the 31 March elections, the academic theologian and writer Prof. Dr Hilmi Demir tweeted the insightful query: “[t]he elections were not won by the CHP but by İmamoğlu and Mansur [the now-mayor of Ankara]. Why did they win, because they are not [really] part of the CHP.” In a crafty manner, Dr Demir utilised the 140 characters at his disposal to pierce any kind of delusional bubble that might have engulfed CHP voters in İstanbul, Ankara and beyond. The successful Ankara contender Mansur Yavaş is a politician hailing from the  Islamofascist tradition of the MHP who had in 2009 tried to become mayor of Turkey’s capital running on an MHP ticket. When he was not put forward as an MHP candidate in 2013, Yavaş joined the CHP instead, finally reaching his goal this year. As for Kılıçdaroğlu’s İstanbul pick, beyond the right-wing atmosphere in his family and personal life, his character as a pious Muslim led many to assume that İmamoğlu would join the AKP to become another henchman. A little book that appeared in April 2016, carrying the unlikely title Ekrem İmamoğlu Benim Sevgili Başkanım (or, ‘Ekrem İmamoğlu My Beloved Leader’), written by the journalist Şirin Mine Kılıç, paints a sympathetic portrait of the man and his vision. Kılıç describes the politician as an individual endowed with a strong sense of “responsibility” from a young age, starting in his primary school days, also inserting the adjectives “honest” and “sincere” into the descriptive assessment of her ‘Beloved Leader’. Kılıç writes that “his political preference became clear from 2000 onward. He became a convinced CHP voter.” The reason was his personal discovery of the figure of Atatürk and his role in the foundation of the country, Mine Kılıç argues.  İmamoğlu joined the CHP in 2008, and was elected as the head of the party’s youth wing the following year. The local CHP chapter in the Istanbul district of Beylikdüzü selected him as its president on 16 September 2009 – being re-elected on 8 March 2012, only to resign on 15 July 2013 to run for mayor of Beylikdüzü. On 30 March 2014 he was elected as mayor, easily defeating the AKP incumbent Yusuf Uzun. Proving his pious credentials as mayor, İmamoğlu marked the 77th anniversary of Atatürk’s death by organising a reading of the Mevlid in the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Mosque in Beylikdüzü on 10 November 2015. The construction of this huge mosque, able to accommodate up to 4,000 worshippers, begun in the 1990s, and was but completed in the first decade of this century. And İmamoğlu also had the building and its adjacent area refurbished in the same year (2015), even incorporating a dedicated compound for the celebration of weddings (known as Nikah Salonu, in Turkish). Combining his dedication ot the Prophet and his love for Atatürk, İmamoğlu employed the mosque for a public recital of a poem (Mathnawi, or Mesnevi in Tiurkish) celebrating the birth of Muhammad on 12 Rabi’ul-Awwal. In the Ottoman tradition, the Mathnawi Vesîletü’n-necât, written by Süleyman Çelebi in the year 1409/812, stands out as the prime example in this context. The first documented public recitation of the Mevlid occurred in the reign of Sultan Murad III (1574-95), in the year 1588/996. In fact, it is all but customary in pious (or Islamist) circles in Turkey to have the Mevlid recited on important occasions, such as university graduations and funerals, or the anniversary of Atatürk’s death in this case. What I have termed the AKP policy of Sunnification has now come full circle in Turkey, I would argue. The reins of government are still firmly held by the Prez and his AKP henchmen. Beyond purely party political contests and rivalries, however, it seems beyond doubt that the state founded by Mustafa Kemal in 1923 no longer exists. Instead, the New Turkey is a place rejoicing in manifold manfestations of pseudo-Ottoman kitsch and an increasing encroachment of Muslim mores into public and private life. Even the CHP, a one-time bastion of so-called ‘Turkish Secularism,’ has now completely succumbed to the seductive lure of Quranic and other pious recitations, as evidenced in the recent reversals in Ankara and İstanbul. Already in early March, the academic and political commentator Erol Mütercimler, whom the journalist and HaberTürk columnist Oray Eğin has somewhat flippantly called “[t]he man who knows everything,” predicted that the CHP candidate would be victorious in İstanbul, if able to capture “at least 9% of those who [normally] vote AKP,” as well as 4% of MHP voters. In the same breath, he also remarked that İmamoğlu hails from “rightwing, conservative roots.” And now, the previously little know mayor of Beylikdüzü district of Istanbul has stepped on the national (as well as international) stage with a bang, with a big bang even. In Trabzon, he told a quasi-hysterical crowd that his intention is to “fight for democracy,” and, if anything, I would argue that İmamoğlu is positioning himself for a future confrontation with none other than  Tayyip Erdoğan himself. The local press and population seem to support such a development, and on an international level, it looks as if the now-newly installed Mayor of Metropolitan of İstanbul is being appropriated wholesale in order to be groomed for a future role. In the wake of election day, the New York Times carried the headline “A New Dawn in Turkey After Erdogan Loses Istanbul” (24 June 2019). İmamoğlu appeared on CNN International via video-link from Taksim to chat with Christiane Amapour (26 June 2019). Speaking in Turkish, Ekrem İmamoğlu told Amanpour and the rest of the world that his victory on “June 23rd showed us that no one, no individual or power, can stand in the way of the will of the people, no politician has the luxury to ignore that fact.” Arguably, he was talking about the Prez or, at the very least, that is how Amapour took his words, presumably in conjunction with the majority of her global audience. In today’s polarised world, the figure of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has become somewhat of a universal bogeyman – oftentimes appearing in a phrase also including Trump and Putin, as if constituting a veritable ‘unholy trinity of evil-doers.’ As a result, there are those who are now thinking that, come 2023, a CHP President could very well be taking up residency in the Beştepe Palace, Erdoğan’s White (or Ak, as in his preferred moniker for his party, the Ak Parti rather than AKP) Palace. In fact, there appear to be some striking parallels between İmamoğlu and Erdoğan. Hinting at the distinct possibility that the first is being groomed to be Turkey’s new saviour, there is the fact that the latter’s rise to power was at the very least approved (if not, encouraged or even engineered) by Washington. Following the AKP’s victory in 2002, Tayyip Erdoğan became the country’s Prime Minister on 14 March 2003. But his ties to America stretch back to his days as Mayor of Istanbul (1994-98): “Erdogan had been in the U.S. on 17-25 April 1995; on 17-22 November 1996; on 20-23 December 1996; on 26 March 1998; on 26 July 2000; and on 4 July 2001 . . . and one last time, in February 2002,” as I wrote in 2014. In the same piece, I next posed the following query: “Did the Clinton White House try to influence the course of Turkish politics by means of entertaining the self-professed proponent of the Sharia and was the Bush White House merely following the precedent set by its predecessor in grooming its champion of moderate Islam?” Given the fact that Turkey’s current Absolute President no longer enjoys the West’s support as a member of the ‘unholy trinity of evil-doers,’ one could argue that İmamoğlu’s sudden arrival on the scene is all but fortuitous. Though the latter makes a big show of his love for Atatürk, his personal life and habits more than indicate that he could very easily function as a new champion of moderate Islam to replace the old but no longer ‘useful’ or even desired champion. And for that reason, the Prez’s words that “whoever wins Istanbul, wins Turkey” might prove very true in the long run. His initial stint as mayor of the city ushered in a 25-year period of AKP rule in Turkey’s biggest and most important city. The news agency Reuters‘ Orhan Çoşkun now even reports that some of Erdoğan’s stalwart allies have started abandoning ship: “Former allies of Turkey’s Erdogan plan rival party after Istanbul defeat.” But for now, people are happy and opponents of the AKP regime rejoice, and nobody really knows what will happen next. Is this now really the beginning of the end or will the Prez bounce back and once again resume his place in the hearts and minds of the Turkish population?!??  Or, will İmamoğlu ever so gently replace him as the new face of an Islamic Turkey where the figure of Atatürk is once again revered, albeit re-reinterpreted?!??  As the first popularly elected President of the Republic, Tayyip Erdoğan set out to complete Mustafa Kemal’s accomplishments “by means of reviving the Turks’ ties to their Muslim creed and uniting all the ethnic groups and sub-groups living on Anatolian soil under the banner of Islam.” As illustrated at the outset, already as mayor of Beylikdüzü, İmamoğlu has undertaken steps to integrate the figure of Atatürk into the Turkish version of Islam. Perhaps this new approach to Republican history will lead the way to the future, as a time when a smiling and sympathetic yet pious and devout political leader that is no one else but Ekrem İmamoğlu will reintegrate Turkey into the world, as an indispensable part and parcel of the West and gateway to the East. *** 21WIRE special contributor Dr. Can Erimtan is an independent historian and geo-political analyst who used to live in Istanbul. At present, he is in self-imposed exile from Turkey. He has  a wide interest in the politics, history and culture of the Balkans, the greater Middle East, and the world beyond. He attended the VUB in Brussels and did his graduate work at the universities of Essex and Oxford. In Oxford, Erimtan was a member of Lady Margaret Hall and he obtained his doctorate in Modern History in 2002. His publications include the revisionist monograph “Ottomans Looking West?” as well as numerous scholarly articles. In Istanbul, Erimtan started publishing in Today’s Zaman and in Hürriyet Daily News. In the next instance, he became the Turkey Editor of the İstanbul Gazette. Subsequently, he commenced writing for RT Op-Edge, NEO, and finally, the 21st Century Wire. You can find him on Twitter at @theerimtanangle

21wire

https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/06/29/istanbul-election-re-run-the-culmination-of-an-akp-policy-of-sunnification/

2019-06-29 09:22:22+00:00

politics

election

21stcenturywire--2019-08-19--Maduro Government Showed Willingness for New Elections During Secret Talks

21stcenturywire

Maduro Government Showed ‘Willingness’ for New Elections During Secret Talks

Earlier this year, Norway was hosting multiple rounds of talks between Venezuela’s actual government, and the US-backed opposition, which posits a future situation in which they will end up being the government. The demands from the opposition and the US are to hold new elections, and according to those familiar with the May talks, they say the Maduro government signaled a willingness to hold an election in 9-12 months, assuming it would end the persistent US regime change attempts. That Maduro was willing for a new vote is surprising, and he might see it as a way out, since the US-backed opposition didn’t run in the 2018 election at all, which led them and the US to declare the vote illegitimate. It’s also interesting that the US was involved at all, as the US expressed anger at the very idea of the Norway talks at the time, and chided Norway for having them. Now, officials say the US has opened up secret lines of communications with a number of members of Maduro’s inner circle. The secret US talks don’t seem directly related to the secret Norway election proposal, but rather to the already failed US coup attempt, as the US is still trying to convince Venezuela’s leadership they won’t face further retribution if they betray Maduro and allow regime change. The US inclination to have regime change just happen unilaterally based on a demand seems intact, related to Trump’s talk of a naval blockade of the entire, large country. It’s not clear where that leaves the election as of right now, though the US may ultimately view a proper election as a very last resort kind of idea.

21wire

https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/08/19/venezuelas-maduro-govt-showed-willingness-for-new-elections-during-secret-talks/

2019-08-19 15:53:27+00:00

politics

election

21stcenturywire--2019-08-24--The Irony US-Appointed Democratic President of Venezuela Threatens to Boycott Early Elections

21stcenturywire

The Irony: US-Appointed ‘Democratic President’ of Venezuela Threatens to Boycott Early Elections

As with most things about US foreign policy today, the irony of this situation is just too much to bear. After Juan Guaidó, the self-styled ‘democratic president’ of Venezuela, declared himself to be Venezuela’s rightful ruler on January 23, 2019, he was quickly recognised by Washington DC and then dutifully by those nations subservient to US foreign policy dictates. For weeks, opposition ringleaders and pro-US mobs celebrated, believing that by some miraculous sequence of events – that the Maduro “regime” would fall within days. Seven months later, Nicholas Maduro is still in power, and the Guaidó mobs have dissipated. What’s worse, Washington’s “interim leader” Guaidó is now instructing his opposition followers not to participate in the upcoming legislative elections. In other words, he and Washington are shunning democracy altogether in Venezuela. In an interview on Friday, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido announced that he and the rest of the opposition would refuse to participate in any early legislative elections called by the Maduro government. Maduro allies have suggested they’d like to hold an election for the National Assembly in January or earlier. The parliament’s term is officially set to end in December of 2020, and elections would normally be held a few months before that. Guaido is the majority leader in the National Assembly, and has used that position to declare himself the rightful ruler of Venezuela. Guaido says the assembly will remain in place until Maduro is removed from power, arguing no free elections are possible until then. It’s clear Maduro would like to replace Guaido with a parliament leader more friendly to his continued rule, and it was also raised as a possibility that fresh elections might resolve complaints about the manner in which Maduro won. So far its not clear either side is willing to move forward with that unless they are confident the outcome benefits them.

21wire

https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/08/24/the-irony-us-appointed-democratic-president-of-venezuela-threatens-to-boycott-early-elections/

2019-08-24 10:00:31+00:00

politics

election

eveningstandard--2019-04-23--The four-day paint challenge for redecorating your home

eveningstandard

The four-day paint challenge for redecorating your home

Spring is the ideal time to decorate. Fittingly, it’s also National Home Improvement Month. Its “ambassador”, TV’s Georgina Burnett, has created a painting plan below. But first choose your brand and colours. One of the most informed experts on “historic” shades is Patrick Baty, who is celebrating more than 50 years at his family store at Papers and Paints, 4 Park Walk, SW10. Full of advice for a larger market is the established Brewers, which has 25 stores within the M25 stocking the designer brands as well as Albany, its good-value own label. Alternatively, order an all-brands box of colour cards for £5.95 from designerpaint.com, which also offers helpful “live chat”. Spend the weekend working out a scheme — and give the work to someone else. Paint prices vary hugely. B&Q has a GoodHome edit in “curated”colours, including speciality paints for tiles, kitchen cupboards and stairs. It costs from £12 for 2.5 litres of emulsion. More upmarket brands charge upwards of £45 for the same quantity. Check out the deals on realhomes.com and hotukdeals.com. Marianne Shillingford of Dulux warns against the cheapest paint, however. “Built-in toughness and superior coverage means less time decorating,” she says. She loves a “mid-century modern colour palette. Try Mustard Blanket with Polished Pebble, Dipped Chocolate and Timeless”. More than 1.3 million people have downloaded the helpful Dulux Visualiser App. You can also phone 0333 222 7171 for technical advice. At Crown, colour consultant Judy Smith loves Powdered Clay, “a warm neutral”, adding pops of orange and red. “Stick to only a few colours throughout your home,” she says. Homebase has a “three for two” deal on Crown coloured emulsion. Designers Guild offers 156 high-pigment colours in five qualities made by Mylands, Britain’s oldest family paint maker (265-277 King’s Road, SW3). Over the road — as well as in W1 — is a new showroom for Little Greene, currently collaborating with the National Trust. Londoners love Farrow & Ball, which has 132 colours in 11 finishes at 14 showrooms within the M25. Its Estate Emulsion is £46.50 for 2.5 litres and the wallpapers are handcrafted using Farrow & Ball paints for a perfect match. Its flagship store is at 249 Fulham Road, SW3. Craig & Rose (“paints of quality since 1829”) has showrooms in Notting Hill and Chiswick. Look out for its metallic. Sandersons blends pattern and paint and issued its first small palette in 1900. Now it has 154 hues in three finishes, with emulsion costing £45 for 2.5 litres. For advice and samples, go to the Style Library store in Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, SW10. You can also explore Zoffany paints, famous for its rich jewel tones that complement its sophisticated wall coverings and fabrics. Pull the carpet away from the walls. Put quick-dry filler into holes and level off with an old credit card. Scrape flaking paint from the woodwork, and lightly sand. Edge the woodwork with masking tape. Now it gets exciting. Prime the walls, mixing in a little of your top coat. Allow to dry completely. “Cut in” with an angled brush the areas that are too tight for rollers (but not too thickly): skirtings, ceiling and corners. Use a roller and emulsion to fill in each area before it’s completely dry. To avoid tide marks, roller a large W on the wall in one go. Then fill in the gaps, and repeat. Go over with vertical lines. Wipe splashes off the woodwork while they are still damp. Keep the roller well loaded, and wash it out at the end of the day. Apply extra coat(s) to walls as needed. Touch up the paintwork. Decant the paint into a “kettle” (tub), apply quick-drying all-in-one primer/undercoat with a medium-angled brush for a clean edge. You may need two coats. During breaks wrap the brushes in cling film or an old plastic bag. Once dry, lightly sand. Apply the top coat, a hard-wearing acrylic paint. Leave to dry and wash brushes. Remove masking tape before completely dry. Remove the dust sheets, put the room back together and go to the pub.

Barbara Chandler

https://www.standard.co.uk/homesandproperty/spring-paint-trends-the-fourday-paint-challenge-for-redecorating-your-home-a4124306.html

2019-04-23 14:59:56+00:00

lifestyle and leisure

lifestyle

drudgereport--2019-11-05--Woman goes blind tattooing eyeballs...

drudgereport

Woman goes blind tattooing eyeballs...

A 24-year-old NSW woman who spent over $37,000 in body modifications went blind for three weeks after tattooing her eyeballs blue. A woman who has spent over $37,000 modifying her body reveals she went blind for three weeks after getting her eyeballs tattooed with blue ink. Amber Luke, 24, from NSW underwent an excruciating and dangerous 40-minute procedure to transform her eyes. It was the latest in a string of body modifications the body piercer has done, included getting 200 tattoos on her body, having her tongue split and her earlobes stretched. Blue-haired Amber has also had a boob job, cheek and lip fillers and pointed implants placed in her ears. Amber, who calls herself the Blue Eyed White Dragon and first developed her bizarre fascination with extreme modifications at 16, said the eyeball job was the most dangerous procedure she has done to date. Speaking to Barcroft Media, she said: “I can’t even begin to describe to you what the feeling was like, the best thing I can give you is once the eyeball was penetrated with the ink, it felt like [the tattoo artist] grabbed 10 shards of glass and rubbed it in my eye. “That happened four times per eye, that was pretty brutal. Unfortunately, my artist went too deep into my eyeball. “If your eyeball procedure’s done correctly, you’re not supposed to go blind at all. “I was blind for three weeks. That was pretty brutal.” Amber said she hopes to fully cover her body with tattoos by March 2020 – but she won’t get any more extreme modifications done. She said: “I don’t plan on getting any more body modifications that are extreme in that manner. So no more tongue splitting, no more eyeball tattooing.” Amber’s mum Vikki said she broke down in tears when her daughter got the blue ink tattooed on her eyeballs. Vikki added: “’Where do I start? I cried. I said a few choice words as anyone would. ‘Why would you do that to yourself, knowing that there is a danger to it?’ “As we know as the parents, some kids will just do what they want to do, regardless of what we say. “But I brought her into the world with the best skills that I could give, the best that I could give her it’s just for me to be there and go along the journey with her. And prop her up, and love her. “She never saw herself as being beautiful. She didn’t see herself through my eyes. “But I’ve supported her because I could actually see the transition, the growth and how it’s made her come to who she is today. “I think over time, I’ve learned to actually understand that it doesn’t change you. It’s the society’s perception on it.” The self-professed “blue-eyed dragon” went all the way to America to add to her frightening look by getting a set of specially created fangs made to go inside her mouth. And they’re not just for aesthetics, as the tattoo lover admits they’re sharp enough to pierce through skin - something she finds incredibly “pleasing”. Amber first started having issues with her body when she was 14, after being diagnosed with depression - and it was this news that made her determined to change her appearance. She explained: “I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted from life, but now I have the confidence to look however I want to. And I don’t worry what I’m going to look like when I’m older.” And while she’s often met with mixed reactions from strangers, with many often trolling her and leaving horrible comments, Amber isn’t phased by what other people think. She concluded: “I’m not harming anyone, I’m doing what I want to do and if it makes me get up in the morning and be a happy person, then so be it.” This story first appeared in The Sun and is reproduced here with permission

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Tue, 05 Nov 2019 13:10:37 GMT

lifestyle and leisure

lifestyle