Sunday, 31 May 2020

Live: South Carolina Gov. McMaster holds press conference with law enforcement | NBC News - NBC News

Live: South Carolina Gov. McMaster holds press conference with law enforcement | NBC News  NBC NewsView Full Coverage on Google News

* This article was originally published here

Extreme night owls: ‘I can’t tell anyone what time I go to bed’

What happens when your natural sleeping pattern is at odds with the rest of the world? For as long as she can remember, Jenny Carter has gone to bed late and not woken up until late the following morning, sometimes even the early afternoon. Growing up, she didn’t have a bedtime, and at university she preferred to write her essays between 6pm and 10pm. She loves evenings. They’re when she feels the most creative and can concentrate the best. But that’s not when her employer or society expects her to be productive. “Going to bed at a ‘normal’ time feels so unnatural to me,” she says. “But society just doesn’t cater for people whose sleep cycle doesn’t fit the generic 9 to 5.” She has got into trouble at work for her timekeeping, which has led to disciplinary action. “I’ve had to write off so many events, meetings and opportunities, because they were in the morning and I just knew I wouldn’t be awake.” Continue reading...
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George Floyd: second night of US anti-racism protests – in pictures

Protests over the death of George Floyd and other police killings of black people spread across the country as mayors imposed curfews and governors called in the national guard * Police forcefully cracking down on protests across US * Unrest comes to White House * As protests rage, Trump comments inflame tensions * George Floyd protests – live updates Continue reading...
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Hannah Gadsby: 'You don’t do a show like Nanette without a tough shell'

The Australian standup feared she would spook audiences with her frank examination of trauma, but it made her a star. With new show Douglas on Netflix, she’s taking risks of a different kind Soon after she opens her new standup comedy show, Douglas, the Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby challenges the audience by asking: “If you’re here because of Nanette, why? What the fuck are you expecting of this show? I’m sorry, but, if it’s more trauma, I’m fresh out.” Douglas, now available on Netflix, is Gadsby’s follow up to her global standup phenomenon, Nanette. Nanette was a scream of visceral soul-baring, with Gadsby venting her rage and pain about being a woman, being gay, about homophobia (recounting how she’d been beaten up in the street), institutionalised misogyny, and more, all the while deconstructing comedy itself. By the time Nanette aired on Netflix in 2018, Gadsby, now 42, had been performing standup for more than a decade, as well as acting and writing, but her blistering honesty, and refusal to let audiences off the hook, hit a universal nerve. Nanette was hailed as a #MeToo-era comedy game-changer, garnering awards including the (shared) best comedy prize at the 2017 Edinburgh fringe, introducing Gadsby to America and a wider international audience, and winning fans such as Roxane Gay, Monica Lewinsky and Emma Thompson. Continue reading...
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Saturday, 30 May 2020

Moroto looks beautiful even with rubbish.

By Teba Arukol
Moroto looks beautiful even with rubbish. If we managed it better, we can be much better* @ Marble City Moroto.

Security Officers Gunned Down At Oakland Federal Building; One Dead, One Wounded - CBS San Francisco

Security Officers Gunned Down At Oakland Federal Building; One Dead, One Wounded  CBS San FranciscoView Full Coverage on Google News

* This article was originally published here

Protests spread across US in response to George Floyd killing – video

Protests against police brutality ignited across the US overnight and into Saturday morning following the killing of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, who died after a white police officer kneeled on his neck. Demonstrators chanted 'hands up, don't shoot' and 'I can't breathe' as they clashed with police * George Floyd killing sparks protests across US: at a glance guide * George Floyd protests: man killed in Detroit as demonstrations rage across US – live Continue reading...
http://dlvr.it/RXfq0z

Kylie Jenner in row with Forbes over billionaire status

Kardashian family member reacts angrily to magazine’s claim she spun ‘a web of lies’ A row has broken out between one of the world’s leading business magazines and the youngest member of reality TV’s most famous family over the value of her cosmetics company. Forbes magazine has accused Kylie Jenner, the youngest half-sister of Kim Kardashian West, of spinning a “web of lies” to inflate the size and success of her business. It claimed her family went to unusual lengths to present its youngest adult member as being richer than she was. Continue reading...
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Hong Kong officials lash out at Trump plan to strip city of special status

Criticism follows the US president accusing Beijing of breaking its word over Hong Kong for imposing national security laws Senior Hong Kong government officials have criticised moves by Donald Trump to strip the city of its special status in a bid to punish China for imposing national security laws on the global financial hub. Speaking hours after Trump said the city no longer warranted economic privileges and some officials could face sanctions, security minister John Lee told reporters on Saturday that Hong Kong’s government could not be threatened and would push ahead with the new laws.  Continue reading...
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Friday, 29 May 2020

Lady Gaga: Chromatica review – Gaga rediscovers the riot on her most personal album

Returning to the sound of her maximalist electro-pop heyday, Gaga explores buried trauma, mental illness and the complexities of fame on this return to form A criticism often levelled at Lady Gaga is that the fantastical imagery she constructs around her albums eclipses the music itself. But it’s a sliding scale – and one that certainly mattered less when she was knocking out undeniable dance-pop party starters like Poker Face and Just Dance, or cementing her status as pop’s freaky outlier on the twisted Bad Romance. That she appeared in alien-like form in that song’s video made perfect sense: here was a chameleonic pop superstar in the vein of Bowie, Prince and Madonna opening a portal to an escapist dimension. Later, it made sense that she would lean into the imagery of hair metal on 2011’s gloriously OTT, Springsteen-referencing Born This Way. Yet on 2013’s bloated Artpop – billed as an exploration of the “reverse Warholian” phenomenon in pop culture, whatever that may be, and featuring at least one performance in which she employed a “vomit artist” to puke green paint on her chest – the aesthetic felt more like desperate distraction tactics. Continue reading...
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Why US anti-vaxxers will refuse a coronavirus vaccine – video

In a recent survey, 24% of Americans said they will refuse a coronavirus vaccine. Adam Gabbatt investigates the anti-vaxxer movement in the United States – and how the pandemic is helping to fuel its resurgence * Another threat looming in the fight against coronavirus: anti-vaxxers Continue reading...
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CNN crew released from police custody after they were arrested live on air in Minneapolis - CNN

CNN crew released from police custody after they were arrested live on air in Minneapolis  CNNView Full Coverage on Google News

* This article was originally published here

STORIES OF HOPE, RECOVERY AND HOSPITALITY NEEDED FOR KARAMOJA?

I found this post from Teba Arukol's Facebook wall which was posted on the 13th May 2014. I found it relevant to blog it. There is little coverage media has done for Karamoja.

Lokiru Paul
------------------

By Teba Arukol

Yesterday, i really dared to storm into the NTV News Rooms at their Serena Based hub.

I was seeking for how to tell the Karamoja story right through the press.

My argument has been, the press in Uganda, and beyond is helping enemies of Karamoja to paint the region and its peoples devilish, a place never to visit.

Day in, Day out you hear stories of agony, despair, war, misery, disease, rape and anything bad they come across as they ply their thing across the region. 

While meeting their crew that travels Karamoja whenever they do, i tasked them to explain why always Karamoja!

Stories like Machines cannot recognize Karamoja thumb prints, hunger in Karamoja, Hepatitis in the region etc etc etc.

While some of these stories are true, it is not a representative of the region. There is more to report about Karamoja than painting stories of desparity.

Karamoja needs a good picture now more than ever. 

Visit Kidepo Valley National Park, one of the best in Africa. Talk about its positive contribution to this country.

Explore the most conservative culture in sub-saharan Africa, Ngikarimojong. Tell its tales of creativity and innovation, origin of humanity.

Visit the Karamoja gold mines, most unique than ever before found in Uganda. 

Ever built a house with cement from Tororo? That is the product of Karamoja.

Do you know Karamoja provides Egypt, Italy etc etc with Marble blocks for hybrid tiles?

Today, Karamoja has over 900 youths (call them students) in Universities of Kampala and beyond pursuing different courses. This is a change in itself. We cannot wait for you to see this, we shall takeover!

You got to visit this region and report to the world better.

Rio animal shelter delivers pets to Brazilians in lockdown – in pictures

To meet rising demand for animal companions in lockdown, Public Animal Shelter in Rio de Janeiro allows people to check the profiles of available cats and dogs via social media. It then delivers the chosen pet to their new home * Coronavirus – latest updates * See all our coronavirus coverage Continue reading...
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Thursday, 28 May 2020

Joe Biden addresses US as its coronavirus death toll passes 100,000 – video

Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, has addressed the US as the country’s coronavirus death toll passes 100,000. The US has recorded more deaths from the disease than any other country, and almost three times as many as the second-ranking country, Britain, which has recorded more than 37,000 Covid-19 deaths. The grim milestone comes even as many states relax measures intended to stop the spread of the coronavirus * Coronavirus – latest updates * See all our coronavirus coverage Continue reading...
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Dominic Cummings potentially broke lockdown rules, say Durham police

Force says trip to Barnard Castle was possible breach but does not warrant further action * Coronavirus – latest updates * See all our coronavirus coverage Dominic Cummings’ trip to Barnard Castle potentially broke lockdown rules and would have led to police sending him back to his family’s estate had he been stopped, Durham police have concluded.  The 60-mile round trip on 12 April by the prime minister’s senior aide from his family’s Durham farm is assessed by Durham police as a potential breach, but does not warrant any further action, they say. Continue reading...
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Tractor trailer driver dead after shootout in Geneseo. What we know now - Democrat & Chronicle

  1. Tractor trailer driver dead after shootout in Geneseo. What we know now  Democrat & Chronicle
  2. Gunman dead following tractor-trailer chase, shootout in New York: police  Fox News
  3. Suspect in tractor-trailer crash dead after shootout in Geneseo  RochesterFirst
  4. Tractor trailer driver dead after wild chase on I-390  13WHAM-TV
  5. Tractor-trailer chase zig-zags across three counties before ending with driver shot, killed in Geneseo  The Daily News Online
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News


* This article was originally published here

French power couple given jail terms for money laundering

Patrick and Isabelle Balkany, Paris suburb’s mayor and deputy, hid €13m from tax authorities A rightwing power couple who have run a rich Paris suburb for almost 40 years and who are close friends of the former president Nicolas Sarkozy have been given prison sentences for money laundering. Patrick Balkany, the mayor of Levallois-Perret, and his wife, Isabelle, were convicted of hiding at least €13m from tax authorities via a complex network of offshore companies between 2007 and 2014. Continue reading...
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Wednesday, 27 May 2020

Extradition of Huawei Executive Clears a Major Legal Hurdle in Canada - The New York Times

  1. Extradition of Huawei Executive Clears a Major Legal Hurdle in Canada  The New York Times
  2. Meng Wanzhou: Canada court rules Huawei CFO extradition case can continue  BBC News
  3. Huawei CFO Loses Bid to End U.S. Extradition Fight in Canada  Bloomberg
  4. Canadian Judge Rules U.S. Met Legal Test to Seek Huawei Executive’s Extradition  The Wall Street Journal
  5. Explainer: What happens next in Huawei CFO's U.S. extradition case  Reuters
  6. View Full Coverage on Google News


* This article was originally published here

Ancient Roman mosaic floor discovered under vines in Italy

Pristine ‘archaeological treasure’ near Verona may date to 3rd century AD, say experts A perfectly preserved ancient Roman mosaic floor has been discovered near the northern Italian city of Verona. Archaeologists were astonished by the find as it came almost a century after the remains of a villa, believed to date to the 3rd century AD, were unearthed in a hilly area above the town of Negrar di Valpolicella. Continue reading...
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Israeli president tells Australian PM: alleged abuser Malka Leifer will not ‘evade justice’

Vow comes after Jerusalem court ruled ex-teacher is mentally fit to stand trial and be extradited over 74 sexual assault charges The alleged child abuser Malka Leifer will not be allowed to “evade justice”, Israel’s president has promised Australia’s prime minister, a day after a Jerusalem court ruled the former headteacher was mentally fit to stand trial and be extradited. “The state of Israel will not allow anyone to use its institutions to evade justice,” Reuven Rivlin told Scott Morrison in a phone call on Wednesday focused on the developing trial, his office said. Continue reading...
http://dlvr.it/RXS8Tt

Protests in Minneapolis over death of George Floyd after arrest – in pictures

Hundreds of protesters gathered on Tuesday evening to demand justice for George Floyd, an African American man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck as he lay on the ground during an arrest. Footage of the incident showed Floyd shouting ‘I cannot breathe’ and ‘Don’t kill me’ * FBI investigates George Floyd death Continue reading...
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Tuesday, 26 May 2020

Lockdowns Loosen Further as NYSE Trading Floor Reopens - The Wall Street Journal

Lockdowns Loosen Further as NYSE Trading Floor Reopens  The Wall Street JournalView Full Coverage on Google News

* This article was originally published here

Brexit talks 'risk stalemate' if no progress on key issues

EU sources say union needs to see movement from Britain in terms of fair competition Brexit talks risk reaching a stalemate if there is no progress in the next round of negotiations between the European Union and the British government, EU sources have said. The two sides are due to resume talks next week, the final round scheduled before a “high-level conference” in June to assess progress before the end-of-year deadline. Continue reading...
http://dlvr.it/RXNRgs

Rio Tinto blasts 46,000-year-old Aboriginal site to expand iron ore mine

Mining company was given permission to blast Juukan Gorge cave, which provided a 4,000-year-old genetic link to present-day traditional owners A sacred site in Western Australia that showed 46,000 years of continual occupation and provided a 4,000-year-old genetic link to present-day traditional owners has been destroyed in the expansion of an iron ore mine. The cave in Juukan Gorge the Hammersley Ranges, about 60km from Mt Tom Price, is one of the oldest in the western Pilbara region and the only inland site in Australia to show signs of continual human occupation through the last ice age. It was blasted along with another sacred site on Sunday. Continue reading...
http://dlvr.it/RXNRgP

Lufthansa agrees €9bn bailout with German government

State to take 20% stake in airline, which has been struggling after coronavirus reduced flights Germany has thrown Lufthansa a €9bn (£8bn) lifeline, agreeing a bailout that gives Berlin a veto in the event of a hostile bid for the airline. The largest German corporate rescue since the coronavirus crisis struck will result in the government taking a 20% stake, which could rise to 25% plus one share in the event of a takeover attempt, as it seeks to protect thousands of jobs. Continue reading...
http://dlvr.it/RXMqWw

Monday, 25 May 2020

Life, death and humanity on a Covid-19 ward: ‘We thought we were ready. But we were overwhelmed’

© Giles Duley/INSTITUTE

GQ HYPE

Award-winning photographer Giles Duley spent a fortnight capturing the response to the coronavirus across three NHS hospitals. This is what he saw

For two weeks I’ve been documenting the response to Covid-19 by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in three hospitals: Charing Cross, St Mary’s and Hammersmith. From A&E to the laboratories, admin staff to intensive care unit (ICU) nurses, the first ward to be switched to a Covid-19 cohort and heart surgery, I’ve seen the complex, multidiscipline response to this crisis by the NHS. 

© Giles Duley/INSTITUTE

What strikes me most is the professionalism and calmness and, most importantly, the sense of being a team where every player is crucial. After one meeting a nurse pulls me aside and says, “Please make sure you document the work of the cleaners. They’ve been amazing,” after another, a junior doctor, asked me to make sure I focus on the nurses. Everybody is full of praise for their colleagues. Again and again I’m told, “I only got through this because of the support of my team.”

Staff at Charing Cross Hospital A&E. At the change of each shift the teams gather to share information. The response to Covid-19 is constantly evolving and staff need to be aware of new procedures and protocols, 11 May 2020

© Giles Duley/INSTITUTE

This project has particular meaning to me. Following an accident in 2011 – I stepped on an IED while out in Afghanistan working as a photographer – I spent a year in hospital, much of that time in wards of the hospitals I’m now documenting. Some of the staff I’m now working with were responsible for saving my life. Indeed, it was they who asked me to come and document the hospitals during this unprecedented time. It was the 46 days I spent in an ICU, much of that time on a ventilator, that left the most traumatic memories and returning was not an easy decision. The nightmares from that time have never left me.

Staff on the night shift at St Mary’s paediatric ICU (PICU) check a patient’s monitor, 8 May 2020

© Giles Duley/INSTITUTE

To enter an intensive care unit at night is to enter a place of ghosts. It is a place between life and death, where patients’ lives are maintained by machines and drugs that take over many of the body’s functions. The doctors and nurses, like modern-day alchemists, control the ventilators, drips, PICC lines, feeding tubes, medications and monitors that sustain life. It’s a process that doesn’t stop; even throughout the night a patient’s bloods and vital signs are recorded and analysed and adjustments are made. There is a constant whir of servos, bleeps and alarms; lights flash and monitors record the slightest change in vital signs. 

Dr Sabeena Qureshi holds the hand of a ventilated patient in St Mary’s PICU, 8 May 2020

© Giles Duley/INSTITUTE

This work was hard enough before Covid-19 but now the task is a brutal physical battle for the ICU staff. Scrubs, gloves, apron, shoe covers, disposable apron, mask, visor, second gloves and then tape must all be donned before entering the unit. It’s unbearably hot and hard to breathe through the mask; even the simplest of tasks is exhausting. Like a Grand Prix driver, the staff are pushed to the limits of endurance while having to stay alert, as a moment of distraction could prove critical to a patient’s survival. As the PPE takes so long to remove it’s impossible to stop for a sip of water or to take a toilet break. The teams are working 12-hour shifts, often with only one break.

Emergency technical assistant João Carlos Ruivo Alves steps into the ‘red zone’ (for Covid-19-positive patients) at Charing Cross A&E, 11 May 2020

© Giles Duley/INSTITUTE

A Covid-19 intensive care unit is brutal: the stark environment, the physical strains, the knowledge that some patients won’t survive. Yet, despite all this, what I find in these units is the greatest of humanity. The staff go about their work with professionalism and focus. They are the strongest of teams, all supporting each other and, most movingly, they treat their patients with such compassion and dignity.  

At Charing Cross Hospital A&E, staff nurse Mhelody M Castillo prepares a patient for a swab test that will determine if he is Covid-19-positive, 11 May 2020

© Giles Duley/INSTITUTE

As the doctors do their rounds, even though most patients are in induced comas and those conscious are barely responsive, they take their time and talk to their patients, hold their hands, comfort and encourage. The nurses, despite being under so much pressure, do the same, always explaining what they are doing, looking into the eyes of their patients as they inject drugs through the PICC lines or take more bloods.

The night shift team in St Mary’s PICU discuss the treatment of a ventilated patient, 8 May 2020

© Giles Duley/INSTITUTE

One patient has been taken off the ventilator and is slowly waking from his induced coma. Confused and disorientated by the drugs still in his body and unable to speak because of a tracheostomy, he taps on his phone. No personal items are allowed in ICU – the staff must leave their mobiles and even ID cards outside – but the one exception is each patient has their phone with them. As no family members are allowed to visit, this is their only connection to the outside world and their loved ones. He taps the phone again and sister Amy Hunter picks it up. “You want to speak with your family?” Hunter asks. The patient’s eyes widen, pleading silently. Sister Hunter tries to unlock his phone but is unable. The patient is still too weak to do it himself, so the nurse places it back down beside him and squeezes his hand. “We’ll figure it out, I promise. Till then I’m here.”

The ICU night shift team at St Mary’s PICU dons PPE before entering the unit, 8 May 2020

© Giles Duley/INSTITUTE

“This pandemic felt like a huge wave that was going across the world and it was going to hit us like a tsunami. I think that time waiting was the most terrifying thing for me,” explains Dr Sabeena Qureshi. Normally, she is a consultant paediatric anaesthetist at St Mary’s Hospital, but as the Covid-19 spread, her ward was switched to an adult ICU. 

Cleaners Rene Molinga and Raj Ramgi disinfect one of the bays in Charing Cross Hospital A&E, 11 May 2020

© Giles Duley/INSTITUTE

“In our network we were hearing of hospitals that were suddenly, overnight, overwhelmed by patients that were intubated and put on ventilators and we knew it was going to happen. We were ready, we were set up and then it didn’t hit for about a week and we thought, ‘Maybe it’s not going to happen?’ But that was the calm before the storm – literally the tide going out before the tsunami hit. And then it hit.

St Mary’s PICU, 8 May 2020

© Giles Duley/INSTITUTE

“Although we had been told by our counterparts in other countries ‘these patients are really sick’, I don’t think we really understood. Then the first patients came and we knew. We knew as doctors and nurses that whatever we did these patients were getting worse. We were overwhelmed by the number, how sick they were and that they all came in at the same time. We thought we were ready and then we realised we had no idea. I don’t think we realised quite how infectious the disease was and quite how devastating it was.

Jacinto Mendoza, a cleaner, with staff nurse Cora Cosmod at Charing Cross Hospital A&E, 11 May 2020

© Giles Duley/INSTITUTE

“It was amazing how the nurses coped, because they are the majority of the staff in ICU. It was a very coordinated effort. And although things were changing rapidly day by day, we were ready to adapt. In the morning our plan was maybe X-Y-Z; by the afternoon we’d be back to the start of the alphabet and off again, rewriting the book.”

At St Mary’s PICU, lead nurse Amy Hunter tries to unlock a patient’s phone so his family can speak to him for the first time since coming off a ventilator, 8 May 2020

© Giles Duley/INSTITUTE

This first wave did get close to overwhelming the NHS. This virus is complex, aggressive and still not fully understood. And, for the teams, they are dealing with the realisation that what started as a sprint is turning into a marathon. The analogy most used when describing it to me is the Aids epidemic; patients often present with confusing and unique symptoms. 

Emergency technical assistant João Carlos Ruivo Alves taking bloods in the red zone of Charing Cross A&E, 11 May 2020

© Giles Duley/INSTITUTE

In the worst cases it seems to be the body’s own response to the virus that is proving fatal. The most serious cases are a puzzle that deeply challenges the clinical staff. I’ve documented frontline hospitals in warzones, Ebola outbreaks and worked with medical NGOs in other humanitarian crises and this virus is deeply worrying. This is not the flu. An uncontrolled second wave or a slight mutation of the virus could be catastrophic. As for the potential devastation it could cause in developing countries or packed refugee camps, it’s unimaginable.

Cleta Ng, a senior sister at Charing Cross Hospital A&E, takes a call about an incoming ambulance with a suspected Covid-19 patient, 11 May 2020

© Giles Duley/INSTITUTE

The majority of the staff I’ve met working on these wards are uncomfortable with the word “hero”. It is, of course, used with best intentions, but they are worried there is a danger we forget that the staff are human. Cleaners, porters, nurses, doctors, admin teams, lab technicians – all the staff have been under huge physical and emotional stress these past months and many will need support in the months ahead. They also need us to do our part in making sure they are not again faced with the level of pressure reached at the peak. 

© Giles Duley/INSTITUTE

Politicians and media constantly use the analogy of this being a war and the NHS staff being at our frontline. I have witnessed war and I can tell you that this is the opposite. War is devoid of humanity. It is inhumane and cold. What I see in these hospitals is all that is good in humanity. The hospital staff, despite all their challenges and fears, go about their work with calmness, professionalism, compassion and dedication. They are the best of us and I feel humbled to have witnessed their work.

In the Land of the Very Old

Jan 23, 2024 — by Sam Toperoff in  Original  for THE SUNDAY LONG READ 1. Passports, or Prescriptions I am writing this in a blue notebook I ...