/media

  • As Hong Kong tightens Covid restrictions again, residents complain of being held ‘hostage’ | Hong Kong | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/09/as-hong-kong-tightens-covid-restrictions-again-residents-complain-of-be
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b976a0a415c91e7b781e7750530e62b5ccec6d70/0_400_5702_3424/master/5702.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    As Hong Kong tightens Covid restrictions again, residents complain of being held ‘hostage’
    Last modified on Wed 9 Feb 2022 06.19 GMT
    A viral open letter from a member of Facebook group, HK Moms, marked something of a shift in public opinion. The group is the type not usually preoccupied with the city’s political upheavals, but the letter revealed a limit had been reached.
    Addressing Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, it accused the government of holding its citizens hostage with new Covid measures – the toughest restrictions since June 2020.
    “You have tried for two years, and failed. When will you stop holding the citizen of this once Asia’s city hostage? When does the goalpost stop moving further and further away every time we get closer? When do we say enough is enough Carrie Lam?”
    On Wednesday leaks to the media, which had become semi-regular, claimed authorities were set to announce a third consecutive record day, with 1,161 new confirmed cases and about 800 preliminary positives. The figure doubled Tuesday’s, which in turn had doubled Sunday’s.
    In response, from Thursday Hongkongers will be subject to intense social restrictions including limits of two people gathering in public, or two households in private. There were some exemptions for carers and tradespeople, but the city was warned that authorities have strong contact tracing mechanism, and would be watching.The government also added religious premises, shopping malls, department stores, supermarkets, markets and barbers or hair salons to the forthcoming compulsory vaccine pass system, and doubled the financial penalties for non-compliance with compulsory testing orders.Hair salons and religious venues will be shut for at least two weeks. Photos on social media showed queues out the door of one barber.
    The new rules add to existing measures which has already seen much of Hong Kong largely shut down, just as other countries – including those which had also once chased zero-Covid – begin to open. It also coincides with city-wide food shortages related to border closures and Covid cases among truck drivers who bring produce in from China to the import-dependant market, leading to stressful scenes, shop closures, and inflated prices.On Tuesday Lam conceded people felt the strategy known as “dynamic zero” came at a “great economic and social price”.“But I would like to make it clear, people’s lives and health, and for the local medical system not to collapse, these are more in line with Hong Kong’s public interest.”
    Hong Kong’s battle with Covid has been more successful than many other nations – it has recorded about 16,600 cases and 213 deaths – containing several major waves of outbreak and often bringing the number down to zero.But the tough methods have also drawn extensive complaints for frequent changes to unnecessarily convoluted rules, sudden blanket travel bans, occasional bouts of illogicality or farce like the closure of beaches or the mass cull of pet hamsters, and instances of failure or incompetence, like the overwhelming of the Penny’s Bay quarantine facility.The fact that this all kept continuing even as vaccination rates increased, treatments improved, and the world began to reopen to itself began to grate.“We have done all you ask,” the HK Moms letter said.“We sat quietly as mental health takes a toll, as families are torn apart and as businesses close down because it is all in the hope of China reopening our borders,” it said.Reopening borders to mainland China has community support, according to recent polling. But Beijing will not give the go-ahead unless Hong Kong can reach and maintain zero-Covid.Despite rising public anger, Lam is sticking to dynamic zero, a containment strategy with the constant goal of reaching zero cases. Health experts have said the method, of quickly controlling outbreaks and then relaxing once it’s done, is uncontroversial as long as it works.“The zero-phase is not too bad apart from for people who have to travel,” said Prof Ben Cowling, an epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong, said.
    “The problem is if Hong Kong can’t sustain zero Covid what’s going to happen. If this outbreak gets bigger and bigger, what’s next? That could take a long time and there are costs in those measures.”

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#chine#sante#zerocovid#dynamiquezero#frontiere#circulation#economie

  • The whole world should be worried by the ‘siege of Ottawa’. This is about much more than a few anti-vaxx truckers | Arwa Mahdawi | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/08/ottawa-truckers-protest-anti-vaxx-canada
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d3ac75deaeea80c28e283f9f6527199326b1dca2/0_67_4256_2554/master/4256.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    There’s a lot going on in the world right now. If you’re not Canadian, then the protest in Ottawa might not be top of your list of things to worry about. But I’m afraid you should be worried. You should certainly be paying attention. What’s unfolding in Ottawa is not a grassroots protest that has spontaneously erupted out of the frustration of local lorry drivers. Rather, it’s an astroturfed movement – one that creates an impression of widespread grassroots support where little exists – funded by a global network of highly organised far-right groups and amplified by Facebook’s misinformation machine. The drama may be centred in Canada, but what is unfolding has repercussions for us all.

  • Neo-Nazis and QAnon: how Canadian truckers’ anti-vaccine protest was steered by extremists | Canada | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/08/canada-ottawa-trucker-protest-extremist-qanon-neo-nazi
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/d3ac75deaeea80c28e283f9f6527199326b1dca2/0_118_4256_2553/master/4256.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    Neo-Nazis and QAnon: how Canadian truckers’ anti-vaccine protest was steered by extremists
    Thousands of demonstrators have successfully occupied Canada’s frigid capital for days, and say they plan on staying as long as it takes to thwart the country’s vaccine requirements.The brazen occupation of Ottawa came as a result of unprecedented coordination between various anti-vaccine and anti-government organizations and activists, and has been seized on by similar groups around the world.
    It may herald the revenge of the anti-vaxxers.The so-called “freedom convoy” – which departed for Ottawa on 23 January – was the brainchild of James Bauder, an admitted conspiracy theorist who has endorsed the QAnon movement and called Covid-19 “the biggest political scam in history”. Bauder’s group, Canada Unity, contends that vaccine mandates and passports are illegal under Canada’s constitution, the Nuremberg Code and a host of other international conventions.Bauder has long been a fringe figure, but his movement caught a gulf stream of support after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last year that truckers crossing the US-Canada border would need to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. The supposed plight of the truckers proved to be a compelling public relations angle and attracted an array of fellow travelers. Until now, a litany of organizations had protested Canada’s strict public health measures, but largely in isolation. One such group, Hold Fast Canada, had organized pickets of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s headquarters, where they claimed that concentration camps had already been introduced in the country. Another group, Action4Canada, launched legal challenges to mask and vaccine mandates. In one 400-page court filing, they allege that the “false pronouncement of a Covid-19 ‘pandemic’” was carried out, at least in part, by Bill Gates and a “New World (Economic) Order” to facilitate the injection of 5G-enabled microchips into the population.
    Both groups are listed as “participating groups” on the Canada Unity website, and sent vehicles and personnel to join the convoy.
    Other organizers joined Bauder, including Chris Barber, a Saskatchewan trucker who was fined $14,000 in October for violating provincial public health measures; Tamara Lich, an activist for a fringe political party advocating that Western Canada should become an independent state; Benjamin Dichter, who has warned of the “growing Islamization of Canada”; and Pat King, an anti-government agitator who has repeatedly called for Trudeau to be arrested. Since they have arrived in Ottawa, the extreme elements of the protest have been visible: neo-Nazi and Confederate flags were seen flying, QAnon logos were emblazoned on trucks and signs and stickers were pasted to telephone poles around the occupied area bear Trudeau’s face, reading: “Wanted for crimes against humanity.” The official line from Bauder and his co-organizers, however, has remained focused; in a Facebook live broadcast, Bauder instructed his supporters to “stop talking about the vaccine” and instead stick to message of “freedom”.
    Such strict message control has attracted mainstream support. Numerous members of the Conservative party, Canada’s official opposition, have come out to meet the protesters. Elon Musk and Donald Trump have both endorsed the convoy. Fox broadcasters Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson have provided glowing updates on the continuing occupation. Bauder vowed the convoy would camp out in Ottawa until their demands are met, insisting to his followers that a “memorandum of understanding” would force the government’s hand, possibly even triggering fresh elections, if enough people sign.A Canada Unity organizer went further, saying it would require the Senate to “go after the prime minister” for “corruption” and “fascism”. There is no legal basis for those claims.King has laid out a more direct plan of action to the occupiers: “What we want to focus on is our politicians, their houses, their locations,” he said in a January Facebook stream. If political pressure doesn’t work, King said, blocking major supply chains “will be later on”.Soon after, the head of security for Parliament issued an extraordinary warning to Members of Parliament to avoid the protest entirely, for their own safety.The occupiers have deliberately made life difficult for anyone in Ottawa’s downtown core. Trucks have been laying on their air horns throughout the day, often well into the early morning hours. An Ottawa court granted an injunction Monday afternoon, ordering that the honking must cease.In the shadow of Parliament, a flatbed truck was converted into a stage – functioning as a speaker’s corner during the day, where far-right politicians and occupiers took the microphone to decry Trudeau and Covid vaccines. At night, the stage functions as a DJ booth for raucous dance parties.Anti-COVID-19 vaccine mandate demonstrators gather as a truck convoy blocks the highway at the busy U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alberta, Canada, Monday, Jan. 31, 2022. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)
    Technology has made the occupation even easier: drivers share information on routes and the best ways to evade police barricades via the walkie talkie app Zello. Organizers in other cities use the secure messaging app Telegram to share information, coordinate messaging and plan solidarity protests.The occupiers now have the resources to stay for an extended period of time: they have raised more than C$6mthrough various crowdfunding platforms, in cash and Bitcoin, despite having been booted from GoFundMe’s platform after raising over C$10m.The Ottawa occupation is proof that a few thousand determined protesters can overwhelm police and shut down major cities with enough vehicles and coordination. Solidarity convoys have already shut down the busy Coutts border crossing between Alberta and Montana, strained police resources in Toronto and Quebec City, and activists as far away as Helsinki, Canberra, London, and Brussels have taken not. On the convoy channels, protestors warn this is just the beginning.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#canada#etatsunis#vaccination#manifestation#circulation#antivax#islamisation#ideologie

  • Australia to reopen international border on 21 February | Australia news | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/07/australia-to-reopen-international-border-on-21-february
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/2664d0cff25d891c85577f2d0c90662810ad033b/0_113_5568_3341/master/5568.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    Australia to reopen international border on 21 February
    Scott Morrison announces all fully vaccinated visa holders will be able to enter, two years after Covid border closure
    Australia will open its border for fully vaccinated tourists and all visa holders, a decision branded “bittersweet” by those who have missed funerals in recent weeks due to ongoing restrictions.Scott Morrison on Monday announced the nation would open to all fully vaccinated visa holders, including tourists, on 21 February, almost two years after borders were first closed.The borders have been progressively opening since November, but some groups including bridging visa holders, some immediate family members and tourists were yet to be allowed exemption-free travel.The announcement on Monday provoked mixed emotions among those who have remained trapped by ongoing restrictions in recent months, including for Gold Coast resident Amy Jade Newsome, who is on a bridging visa while she waits a decision on a skilled worker visa.
    Newsome was denied a compassionate exemption to attend her aunt’s funeral in the UK last month, meaning she would have been trapped abroad if she had left Australia.“It’s bittersweet and almost like the timing, it just couldn’t be any worse, I guess,” Newsome told Guardian Australia.
    “I’m happy to be able to go home, but it’s been just over a month and now I can go? It’s a huge amount of emotions. Anger, happiness, frustration – I’m happy for everyone else and myself, I suppose, that we can go home.”
    Bridging visa holders were the last temporary visa category subject to a closed border, forcing them to apply for travel exemptions. Freedom of information data showed about 70% of bridging visa holders’ exemption applications were being rejected.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#australie#sante#frontiere#circulation#retour#visa#tourisme#visatravail

  • https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/23/uks-propaganda-leaflets-inspired-1960s-massacre-of-indonesian-communist

    UK’s propaganda leaflets inspired 1960s massacre of Indonesian communists

    Paul Lashmar, Nicholas Gilby and James Oliver
    Sun 23 Jan 2022 09.15 GMT

    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/bf9a28a1aeeb7106122147cb60854ec5c49fc9da/72_268_4379_2628/master/4379.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    Shocking new details have emerged of Britain’s role in one of the most brutal massacres of the postwar 20th century.

    Last year the Observer revealed how British officials secretly deployed black propaganda in the 1960s to incite prominent Indonesians to “cut out” the “communist cancer”.

    It is estimated that at least 500,000 people linked to the Indonesia communist party (PKI) were eliminated between 1965 and 1966.

    Documents newly released in the National Archives show how propaganda specialists from the Foreign Office sent hundreds of inflammatory pamphlets to leading anti-communists in Indonesia, inciting them to kill the foreign minister Dr Subandrio and claiming that ethnic Chinese Indonesians deserved the violence meted out to them.❞ (...).

    #Indonésie #massacre #anticommunisme #impérialisme

  • ‘It stopped me having sex for a year’: why Generation Z is turning its back on sex-positive feminism | Sex | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/feb/02/it-stopped-me-having-sex-for-a-year-why-generation-z-is-turning-its-bac
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/fb4d0e67e52deb850c808eb1400d79ae95a71843/0_179_5000_3002/master/5000.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    “Since sex has become easier to get,” she writes, “love has become harder to find.” Through her Instagram account and the dating column she writes for OK! magazine, she hears regularly from women tolerating activities they don’t enjoy in bed for fear of being rejected for someone more willing – an age-old story, except that those sexual norms are now set by #pornography.

    #pornographie #sexe #amour

    cf : https://seenthis.net/messages/939936

    • Generation Z is the most sexually fluid generation yet – only 54% of its members define themselves as exclusively attracted to members of the opposite sex, compared with 81% of baby boomers – and is arguably the most adventurous. More than one in 10 teenagers claim to have had anal sex by the age of 18, according to the UK’s authoritative National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles, which also found under-24s almost as likely as middle-aged people to have had more than 10 partners, despite being sexually active for many fewer years. But the generation most likely to have its first sexual experience via a phone screen seems increasingly willing to question what that means for individuals’ lives.

      bon le truc des générations alphabétique là... néanmoins.

    • A third of British women under 40 have experienced unwanted slapping, spitting, choking or gagging in bed, according to research carried out for the pressure group We Can’t Consent to This, which campaigns to limit the so-called “rough sex” defence for murder (used by men who killed their partners to argue that the women died accidentally, in consensual sex games). It is one of a string of recent grassroots campaigns led by young women against tech-enabled forms of sexual aggression, from the unsolicited sending of “dick pics” to sharing intimate photos online.

    • While women who enjoy rough sex have an absolute right to pursue it without shame, Lala argues, the normalisation of pain in porn may provide cover for some abusive men, and make women feel prudish for refusing potentially dangerous acts like choking. “A lot of young men have co-opted BDSM [bondage, discipline or domination, sadism and masochism]. They’re not into power plays and consent. They just like hurting women.”

    • “I think we’re on the edge of a real anti-sex backlash,” says the activist and writer Laurie Penny, author of Sexual Revolution: Modern Fascism and the Feminist Fightback, who points out that destigmatising sex has freed women to talk about what were once taboo subjects. “A culture where sex is stigmatised is also one where we can’t talk about any of those things and I don’t believe there’s anything progressive about a society that wants to control or limit women’s sexuality.”

    • But Penny agrees the “sex-positive” label is becoming outdated in a culture where old constraints on sexual behaviour are gone but the threat of male violence endures. “In this apparently sexually liberated culture, women still don’t feel able to have boundaries and say what they want, and everything is dictated by what men feel they’re supposed to want . I don’t think the problem is too much sexual liberation, I think it’s not enough. You have to actually deal with sexual violence in order to create substantive sexual liberation.”

    • The missing element of this half-finished revolution, Lala argues, is a cultural shift in men’s attitudes. “Sex-positive feminism has laid the foundations, it’s given us a platform and a voice and a space to use our voices. But without getting men on board and proper sex education, we’re all going to be on the same old hamster wheel.”

    • Recently, she counselled a man who had been choking his girlfriend during sex for years. It was only when the girlfriend mustered the courage to say she didn’t like it that he admitted he didn’t like it, either. They were both, it turned out, going along with what they thought the other one wanted, and each secretly wishing the other would make it stop.

      #normes

  • Here’s how Republicans ‘dismembered’ a Democratic stronghold | US voting rights | The Guardian

    Un magnifique “gerrymandring”, véritable cas d’école. La géographie est politique !

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2022/jan/25/nashville-tennessee-gerrymandering-congress-republicans
    –-----
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1c0b0a907d1f77e770204ad96badd870218838d8/0_1_2240_1344/master/2240.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    Republican lawmakers in Tennessee gave final approval on Monday to an aggressive plan to split Nashville, a Democratic bastion, in a deeply Republican state, into several congressional districts as part of an effort to tilt the state’s congressional map in their favor. The plan is now waiting for approval from Governor Bill Lee, who is likely to sign it.

  • Long Covid: nearly 2m days lost in NHS staff absences in England | Long Covid | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jan/24/long-covid-nearly-2m-days-lost-in-nhs-staff-absences-in-england
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b6141173a70caeb36776cba04dfb2fb7a6315a58/0_59_3000_1799/master/3000.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    “Thousands of frontline workers are now living with an often debilitating condition after being exposed to the virus while protecting this country,” she said. “They cannot now be abandoned.”

  • Taiwan sees sharp rise in Covid cases, posing risk to Lunar New Year | Coronavirus | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/22/taiwan-sees-sharp-rise-in-covid-cases-posing-risk-to-lunar-new-year
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b7b9b9f360794ffc83b16a82ef3b806bdfdd494d/0_12_3500_2101/master/3500.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    Taiwan sees sharp rise in Covid cases, posing risk to Lunar New Year
    Taiwan has reported a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases with a cluster among workers at a factory threatening authorities’ tenuous control of an Omicron outbreak on the eve of Lunar New Year.
    On Saturday, Taiwan’s centre for disease control reported 82 domestic cases, including 63 found at the Taoyuan factory in a first round of testing on Friday. Most of those sick are migrant workers, health and welfare minister Chen Shih-chung said.Taiwan maintains strict controls on its borders, with the few eligible entrants sent into 14 days of quarantine, seven days of self-managed semi-isolation, and multiple tests. With Omicron sweeping around the world, larger numbers of positive cases have been reported among new arrivals, despite requirements for a negative test before boarding departure flights.
    In recent weeks authorities have responded to clusters in Taoyuan connected to the international airport, and another in the southern city of Kaohsiung. Among Saturday’s figures were 14 new cases in the latter cluster, but the CDC said the airport cluster appears to have stabilised after tracing and isolation efforts. Saturday’s figures followed 23 cases reported on Friday, in Taoyuan and Kaohsiung. Taiwan has adopted a zero-Covid strategy in practice, if not formal policy, which has kept the island relatively Covid free for most of the pandemic. Its largest outbreak in the second half of 2021 saw more than 800 died after the Alpha variant infected thousands and a small rural outbreak of Delta infected 17, but it was eventually brought back to zero. In the months since, vaccination rates have increased and booster shots have begun to be rolled out. The capital city Taipei on Friday launched a mandatory vaccine passport for entry into some venues, like bars and clubs. On Saturday the CDC said 73% of migrant workers were vaccinated with two doses.
    Governments and companies in Taiwan were criticised last year for poor treatment of migrant workers during the outbreak. Thousands were ordered to remain in crowded dorms, which many feared put them at higher risk of contracting Covid-19, and they were subjected to harsher restrictions than local employees who worked along side them. On Saturday, the ministry of labor recommended migrant workers in Taoyuan not go out into the city or Greater Taipei, and said companies which employ 50 or more migrant workers to conduct mass testing.
    With Lunar New Year holidays beginning next week, authorities urged people to be cautious in mixing with others and travel, but did not impose restrictions.The increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant has challenged the remaining jurisdictions with zero Covid strategies. In nearby Hong Kong authorities found at least 75 community cases at a residential block on Friday, the South China Morning Post reported. Another residential block was placed into a five-day lockdown on Friday after 34 cases were detected.Hong Kong has reintroduced social restrictions and imposed other controversial measures, including ordering the surrender and destruction of more than 2,000 hamsters across the city after 11 were found to be infected at a pet shop where an employee fell ill with Covid.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#taiwan#sante#travailleurmigrant#cluster#isolement#test#zerocovid

  • All plan B Covid restrictions, including mask wearing, to end in England | Health policy | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/19/boris-johnson-announces-end-to-all-omicron-covid-restrictions-in-englan
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/72a69bec8d428aaadbb2299fa1a098e5c09cc2a7/0_188_5653_3392/master/5653.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    Boris Johnson has announced the end of all Covid measures introduced to combat the Omicron variant – compulsory mask-wearing on public transport and in shops, guidance to work from home and vaccine certificates – from next week.

    The prime minister also told the Commons that the legal requirement on people with coronavirus to self-isolate would be allowed to lapse when the regulations expired on 24 March, and that date could be brought forward.

  • Novak Djokovic leaves Australia after court upholds visa cancellation | Novak Djokovic | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jan/16/novak-djokovic-to-be-deported-from-australia-after-losing-appeal-agains
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/446870c29389b02d19ef003378a05bebd8a4f326/0_159_3500_2101/master/3500.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    Novak Djokovic leaves Australia after court upholds visa cancellation
    Serbian tennis player seen boarding plane to Dubai hours after decision left him ‘extremely disappointed’. Novak Djokovic has been deported from Australia ahead of the Australian Open after the full federal court dismissed the world No 1’s bid to restore his visa.The Serbian tennis player was seen boarding an Emirates flight from Melbourne to Dubai hours after the court rejected his challenge to the decision of Australian immigration minister, Alex Hawke, to cancel the visa. The flight left shortly after 10.30pm local time (11.30am GMT).Hawke had cancelled the visa on Friday on the basis Djokovic’s presence in Australia might risk “civil unrest” as he is a “talisman of anti-vaccination sentiment”. And on Sunday, Chief Justice James Allsop announced the court unanimously dismissed Djokovic’s application, with costs to be paid by the tennis star.Allsop explained the decision of the court did not reflect on “the merits or wisdom of the decision” but rather whether it was so irrational as to be unlawful. Full reasons will follow at a later date.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#australie#serbie#sante#sport#elite#vaccination#test#visa#frontiere#circulation

  • Philippines accused of being ‘anti-poor’ with public transport ban on Covid unvaccinated | Philippines | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/14/philippines-accused-of-being-anti-poor-with-public-transport-ban-on-cov
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/e96f96791206df4f69d5380577b8fd0d7594a1ab/0_37_2000_1200/master/2000.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    Philippines accused of being ‘anti-poor’ with public transport ban on Covid unvaccinated. The Philippine government has defended a controversial ban that prevents unvaccinated people from using public transport in the capital of Manila, denying that the policy is “anti-poor”.
    The “no vaccination, no ride” policy is designed to curb a recent wave of Covid infections and applies to all modes of transport to and from Metro Manila, including public buses, jeepneys, rail, boats and planes. The policy will be fully implemented from Monday, according to local media, when passengers will be required to show proof of vaccination.Less than half of Filipinos are fully vaccinated, though vaccination rates are higher in the capital, at more than 90% of the eligible population. Rights groups, including the Philippine Commission on Human Rights and Amnesty International, have criticised the transport ban for unvaccinated people, warning that it penalises the poorest, who are less likely to have the option of working from home or of travelling in a private vehicle. “The reality is that ordinary Filipinos continue to rely on public transportation in attaining basic needs, such as for food, work and accessing health services,” the Philippine Commission on Human Rights said in a statement. It fears that even those who should be exempt from the rules could still struggle to access essential goods or services because they do not have a private vehicle. The Philippine Commission on Human Rights said the government should find less punitive ways to promote vaccination. “We continue to urge the government to address vaccine hesitancy and the low vaccination rate in the country with education that addresses common misconceptions and positive encouragement,” it said.The Department of Transportation, however, said the policy was not “anti-poor, draconian or punitive”, adding: “We believe that it is more anti-poor and anti-life if we do not impose interventions that will prevent loss of life due to non-vaccinations.” It said exemptions would be made for people who were unable to receive a vaccination for medical reasons, as well as those who needed to buy essential goods or travel to a vaccination site. The Philippines has experienced a recent surge in infections, which health experts have blamed on the more transmissible Omicron variant. The country reported a record 34,021 cases on Thursday, the highest since the start of the pandemic, half of which were reported in the national capital region. A further 82 deaths were confirmed.The rise in cases has placed a strain on public services, including hospitals and schools, as well as private businesses. Schools in the capital have announced they will close for a week, with no online or in-person classes, while the government has placed limits on the amount of paracetamol and other over-the-counter medicines that can be bought by one individual or household, due to shortages in shops.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#sante#philippines#deplacementinterne#vaccination#pauvre#omicron#inegalite#transport

  • Millions more Chinese people ordered into lockdown to fight Covid outbreaks | China | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/11/millions-more-chinese-ordered-into-lockdown-to-fight-covid-outbreaks
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a13d18d8b64803e2c61a6b7f680c3d5dbc90faa0/0_43_3264_1958/master/3264.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    Millions more Chinese people ordered into lockdown to fight Covid outbreaks. Omicron cases prompt tough measures in Anyang, a city of five million, as concerns grows ahead of Winter Olympics
    Millions more people in China have been ordered into lockdown and Hong Kong has banned transit passengers from 150 places as China continues to battle outbreaks across several provinces a few weeks before the Winter Olympics.China’s national health commission reported 110 new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases for Monday, including 87 in Henan province, 13 in Shaanxi, and 10 in Tianjin.The cases in Henan, which include at least some of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, prompted the lockdown of five million residents in the city of Anyang on Monday evening. Anyang recorded 58 of the 87 Henan cases. At least two Omicron cases have been confirmed in the city in recent days, linked to an outbreak in Tianjin, about 500km away.Anyang residents have been ordered into their homes and banned from driving on the roads, according to the state news agency Xinhua. Non-essential businesses have been closed down. Also in Henan, Zhengzhou city has closed schools and kindergartens and barred in-restaurant dining, while Yuzhou remains in lockdown.Xi’an city in northern China is in its third week of strict lockdown, while Shenzhen in the south has implemented targeted lockdowns of some housing compounds and launched a mass testing drive.
    Across numerous Chinese cities, public and long distance transport has been reduced or suspended, including multiple flights from the US.Tianjin is of particular concern to authorities over its proximity to Beijing, and officials have pledged to fulfil the city’s role as a “moat” to protect the capital. The origin of the Omicron strain is eluding officials. Zhang Ying, the deputy director of the city’s CDC, recently said it may have been spreading “for some time” before it was detected.With the Winter Olympics just around the corner, there are mounting concerns and rumours circulating about harsher restrictions to come. On Saturday a 39-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly disseminating false information about plans to shut down the popular Beijing party district Sanlitun, and on Tuesday the Beijing organising committee rejected rumours of plans to close some or all of the city during the games. Deputy director Huang Chun said the Omicron variant was spreading quickly around the world but the “closed loop” system for athletes, employees and others attending was running “smoothly” and there was no need to adjust it unless there was an outbreak within it.In Hong Kong, where a relatively small number of Omicron cases have also been detected, authorities have reportedly planned to ban all international transit passengers coming from about 150 places. Bloomberg reported on Monday the ban would be extended to air passengers from “Group A” countries, which have been designated high-risk, from 15 January to 14 February. According to Bloomberg, diplomats, government officials, athletes and staff travelling to the Games would be exempt from the ban.China is under pressure to maintain its official commitment to a zero-Covid strategy which has been challenged by the latest outbreaks and Omicron cases. As of December officials claimed to have fully vaccinated more than 82% of the population. However there are concerns that Omicron has a substantial ability to evade immune responses and current vaccines are less effective.
    China uses Sinovac and Sinopharm, two domestically developed and produced vaccines based on inactivated viruses. Dr Daryl Cheng, medical leader for the Melbourne vaccine education centre, said there were concerns that these types of vaccines appear to have a higher rate of breakthrough infections with Omicron.“We’re stuck in a perfect storm at the moment where Omicron is significantly infectious, and in places like China where they may have a higher rate of breakthrough infections,” Cheng told the Guardian.“It puts the population at significant risk of infection … [and] if you’re going for Covid-zero it puts higher strain on resources.”
    Cheng said Sinovac and Sinopharm – like all currently used vaccines – were developed before Omicron appeared, and so it was expected that they all would have reduced effectiveness, as happens with vaccines against new variations of the flu, which are adjusted each year.Some countries are giving a booster on top of citizens’ two doses with a different type of vaccine, often an mRNA type. China had indicated it would approve the mRNA vaccine developed by Pfizer for domestic use in 2021 but has not done so. There are no mRNA vaccines approved for use in China. Cheng said China may be developing an mRNA vaccine but Omicron was “spreading by the day”.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#chine#hongkong#sante#variant#omicron#circulation#zerocovid#confinement#depistage#resident#etranger#vaccination#deplacementinterne#restrictionsanitaire

  • Covid hospitalizations among US children soar as schools under pressure | US news | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/05/covid-hospitalizations-us-children-omicron-schools-hospitals
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/7da7b4fc87431a254dc285fde4490b874a8a0512/0_214_6773_4068/master/6773.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    In New York, hospitalizations among kids quadrupled. In Washington DC, children’s hospital admissions have roughly doubled. In Texas, children’s hospitalizations were described as “staggering”. In Alabama, cases were “like a rocket ship”. In Louisiana, one doctor said: “We’ve never seen anything like it.” In Ohio, one associate professor of internal medicine and pediatrics critical care recently told ABC news: “We’re on fire.”

    #enfants #covid

  • Ghislaine Maxwell, the Demon Queen, is behind bars. Does she have a secret that could unlock her shackles? | Ghislaine Maxwell | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/02/ghislaine-maxwell-the-demon-queen-is-behind-bars-does-she-have-a-secret
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/96a82fc6f56f3683358eb8ac0c3acca65149987b/0_1564_3600_2160/master/3600.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    She has a secret key that could unlock her shackles. What if she sings, tells the feds what she knows, gives up the overmighty men who, along with her one-time lover Jeffrey Epstein, abused women more child than adult back in her pomp? She could cut her jail time down to 10 years and be out in seven, thanks to good behaviour.

    But to do that, Maxwell – once the bosom pal of the second son of the Queen of England, two US presidents, and our prime minister, Boris Johnson, on the word of his sister, Rachel – would have to admit that she had been Epstein’s $30m pimp, that she treated a host of underage women as nothings, trash, that she did great wrong, that she was sorry.

    No sign of that. I do feel pity for Maxwell, for the dark chasm between how her life was and the wretched place she is in now but her lack of remorse, her failure to address reality, her unwillingness to express a smidgen of regret to her victims hardens the heart. And therein lies her tragedy, the darkest fairytale of modern times.

    • One can only ask why did Epstein pay her $30m? The prosecution case was, simply put, that no 16-year-old girl would fly to the middle of nowhere in New Mexico to spend a weekend with Epstein but if her mother were told that Maxwell was going to be there, then you might. The same goes for the other three victims: Jane and Kate and Carolyn. Maxwell got her $30m and in return she provided cover for the paedophile. I sat through the evidence and came to the conclusion that she was as guilty as sin. So did the other reporters. So did the jury.

  • I’m a climate scientist. Don’t Look Up captures the madness I see every day | Peter Kalmus | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/29/climate-scientist-dont-look-up-madness
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a11ad0f31f23adf37d11d0c2d2e7b78836992013/0_24_3500_2101/master/3500.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    he movie Don’t Look Up is satire. But speaking as a climate scientist doing everything I can to wake people up and avoid planetary destruction, it’s also the most accurate film about society’s terrifying non-response to climate breakdown I’ve seen.

    • Yep, j’ai vu le film l’autre jour, et je l’ai trouvé étonnamment très pertinent (il faut juste oublier le fait qu’il est très américano-centré, mais c’est pas le plus important). Ça paraît à la fois complètement grossi et caricatural… et étrangement plausible avec des déjà-vu issus du réel…

      Dans le film, tant que le désastre n’est pas fatalement visible, rien ne se passe.

      Et ça recoupe aussi donc avec l’actu Covid. C’est d’autant plus flagrant que la connaissance scientifique pour se protéger du Covid est bien plus simple à appréhender / comprendre et à appliquer que pour ce qui concerne le climat, et malgré cela ça reste la fête du slip (spéciale dédicace aux anti-masques particulièrement…), alors même que les effets du Covid sont visibles, rapides, dévastateurs / dramatiques.

      Alors évidemment chercher à endiguer le réchauffement / dérèglement du climat, même après toutes ces années de de connaissances et consensus scientifique sur le sujet, ça parait tellement… loin…

      Et au moins, le film le montre sans passer par quatre chemins.

      #climat #film #science #politique #ignorance #dont_look_up

      But this isn’t a film about how humanity would respond to a planet-killing comet; it’s a film about how humanity is responding to planet-killing climate breakdown.

      We live in a society in which, despite extraordinarily clear, present, and worsening climate danger, more than half of Republican members of Congress still say climate change is a hoax and many more wish to block action, and in which the official Democratic party platform still enshrines massive subsidies to the fossil fuel industry; in which the current president ran on a promise that “nothing will fundamentally change”, and the speaker of the House dismissed even a modest climate plan as “the green dream or whatever”; in which the largest delegation to Cop26 was the fossil fuel industry, and the White House sold drilling rights to a huge tract of the Gulf of Mexico after the summit; in which world leaders say that climate is an “existential threat to humanity” while simultaneously expanding fossil fuel production; in which major newspapers still run fossil fuel ads, and climate news is routinely overshadowed by sports; in which entrepreneurs push incredibly risky tech solutions and billionaires sell the absurdist fantasy that humanity can just move to Mars.

      After 15 years of working to raise climate urgency, I’ve concluded that the public in general, and world leaders in particular, underestimate how rapid, serious and permanent climate and ecological breakdown will be if humanity fails to mobilize.

    • Vu aussi et la mécanique (politique, médiatique...) paraît criante de vérité.

      Jusqu’à DiCaprio qui passe tout le film a essayer d’éveiller la conscience des gens et qui, dans la vraie vie, avait réservé sa place de touriste spacial https://www.lepoint.fr/people/un-vol-dans-l-espace-avec-leonardo-dicaprio-vendu-1-million-de-dollars-26-05 (j’ai pas bien compris s’il en était revenu ou pas, l’info semble dater)

    • lourd. sur la dénégation -non pas en haut mais en bas - je recommande vivement l’article paru il y a un an maintenant : Dénégation et radicalité, ou quand le Chat Botté réduit l’ogre en souris... qui aurait pu être prescrit en guise de premier secours à bien des gauchos, anars, totos, syndicalistes, gilets jaunes...
      https://seenthis.net/messages/849453

      léger. le film est longuet et le refus de tout réalisme permet une étonnante coexistence chez ces dividus dirigeants de bêtise absolue, d’infantilisme, de dénégation et de cynisme instrumental et manipulateur (or même pour diriger « mal », il faut prévoir, savoir), sans homogénéité ni contradiction. c’est surprenant (si ce nest pas juste la manière usuelle à réinventer à chaque fois de laisser de la liberté au spectateur)
      le film est pas bon, ni réellement drôle, maisl’écho avec Trump, et les autres, et avec la gestion de la pandémie, le rapport science/gouvernement reste bienvenu

  • Billie Eilish: abuse of minors is ‘everywhere’ | Fashion | The Guardian
    http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2021/may/02/billie-eilish-says-all-her-age-group-have-suffered-sexual-misbehaviour
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/776b9f1713efd10ff9854ac82aae23997d1669fc/0_490_2722_1631/master/2722.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    “It doesn’t matter who you are, what your life is, your situation, who you surround yourself with, how strong you are, how smart you are. You can always be taken advantage of. That’s a big problem in the world of domestic abuse or statutory rape – girls that were very confident and strong-willed finding themselves in situations where they’re like, ‘oh my god, I’m the victim here?’ And it’s so embarrassing and humiliating and demoralising to be in that position of thinking you know so much and then you realise, I’m being abused right now.”

  • Sajid Javid clears England’s travel red list as Omicron takes hold | Transport policy | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/dec/14/englands-travel-red-list-to-be-cleared-again-as-omicron-takes-hold
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0bb5c74d6e582ccd553dae044f23b34285936e8b/0_0_6278_3767/master/6278.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    Sajid Javid clears England’s travel red list as Omicron takes hold
    All 11 countries to be removed from list as concerns about importing variant diminish
    All 11 countries on England’s travel red list are to be taken off it from 4am on Wednesday, amid diminishing concern about Omicron cases being imported into the country.Given that the variant has already taken hold in the UK – making up a third of new infections in London – the health secretary, Sajid Javid, announced that mandatory hotel quarantine for those arriving from some southern African countries was set to end.Instead, all travellers arriving in England will be able to isolate at home. If double-vaccinated, they can be released with a negative PCR test taken within two days of arrival. If not they must stay at home for 10 days and get a test before day two and another on day eight or later.The red list was cleared at the end of October, but after the discovery of the Omicron variant in South Africa, 11 countries were put back on it. They were: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.Omicron’s spread through the UK has been swift. The UK Health Security Agency said on Monday that the number of confirmed cases of the variant was 4,700, but estimated daily infections were about 200,000.Javid announced in parliament on Tuesday that the red list was being emptied, saying it had become “less effective in slowing the incursion of Omicron from abroad”. He said the requirement to get tested before departure would remain in place.He had hinted at the move in a statement to the Commons last week. Under pressure from Tory MPs who raised concerns about the aviation and tourism sectors, Javid said that because Omicron cases would probably spread quickly in the UK, there would be “less need to have any kind of travel restrictions at all”.As health restrictions are devolved, it will be up to the administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland whether to follow suit.Last week, EU leaders discussed easing similar curbs. Reuters reported a senior official as saying the travel ban was “a time-limited measure” but there were no immediate plans to lift it.The US has kept up its own travel ban, with the White House’s chief medical adviser saying action was taken when the country was “in the dark” about the variant, to give time to assess its threat.Some political leaders in southern Africa said the restrictions were unfair. Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa, said he was “deeply disappointed” by the action. According to the BBC, he said: “The only thing the prohibition on travel will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to, and recover from, the pandemic.”Akinwumi Adesina, the president of the African Development Bank Group, tweeted last week: “Now that Omicron has been found in many non-African and developed countries, why are travels from those countries not banned? Singling out African countries is very unfair, non-scientific and discriminatory.”

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#grandebretagne#omicron#sante#angola#botswana#eswantini#lesotho#malawi#mozambique#namibie#nigeria#africadusud#zambie#zimbabwe#frontiere#circulation#santepublique#restrictionsanitaire

  • US author to give away £10,000 prize cash over role of sponsor in opioid crisis | Books | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/dec/03/us-author-to-give-away-10000-prize-cash-over-role-of-sponsor-in-opioid-
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/bdc8478ba6000c534212a09a8e6cc3fb8f7d103e/755_118_1051_631/master/1051.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    US author to give away £10,000 prize cash over role of sponsor in opioid crisis

    Investigative reporter Patrick Radden Keefe will give money from business book of the year shortlisting to charity over involvement of McKinsey firm
    Patrick Radden Keefe
    ‘Irony’ … the New Yorker writer Patrick Radden Keefe. Photograph: Albert Llop/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock
    Lucy Knight
    Fri 3 Dec 2021 18.24 GMT

    Last modified on Fri 3 Dec 2021 18.26 GMT

    The American writer Patrick Radden Keefe has said he will give away the £10,000 he was awarded by a book prize whose sponsor helped to sell the opioid painkiller OxyContin.

    Radden Keefe’s damning investigative book Empire of Pain deals with the opioid addiction crisis, focusing on the role of the Sackler family. He was one of six authors shortlisted for the prize, sponsored by the consultancy McKinsey, five of whom, including him, each received runner-up awards of £10,000.

    Tweeting about the “irony” on Thursday, the New Yorker journalist and author posted a photo of himself at the Financial Times/McKinsey business book of the year 2021 award ceremony at the National Gallery in London, pointing to a sign reading “The Sackler Room”. The Sacklers’ company Purdue Pharma sold the OxyContin painkiller which is said to have fuelled the US’s opioid crisis.

    I’m told it was the British who invented irony, so a short 🧵 about my experience last night in London. My book on the Sacklers, Empire of Pain, had been shortlisted for the FT / McKinsey Business Book of the Year award… pic.twitter.com/DnP7HiUzvm
    — Patrick Radden Keefe (@praddenkeefe) December 2, 2021

    In a further tweet, Keefe went on to write that “if you throw a brick in the London art world, you’ll hit a Sackler room”, because the family were keen supporters of art and made generous donations to many prominent galleries.

    What was more ironic than the ceremony being held in a room next to one named after the Sacklers, he continued, was the fact that he had been shortlisted for an award sponsored by McKinsey & Company. The consultancy firm had previously advised the Sacklers and Purdue on how to “turbocharge” sales of OxyContin, and in February agreed to pay nearly $600m in settlement for its role in the opioid crisis.

    This “made for some pretty fraught emotions”, said Keefe. “On the one hand, it means a great deal to me to see this book recognised. On the other, I could not take part in the lovely gala dinner and not at least acknowledge the proverbial elephant.”

    He has chosen to donate the money he received as a shortlisted author to the charity Odyssey House, which works to help people recover from drug and alcohol abuse.

    The writer, who won the Baillie Gifford prize for nonfiction in November, lost out on the business book of the year award to Nicole Perlroth, whose winning book This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends is about the cyber weapons arms race.

    Keefe was keen to stress that he believes the jury was “100% independent” and not in any way influenced by the prize’s sponsor.

    #Patick_Radden_Keefe #Opioides #Prix_littéraire

  • Omicron Covid variant discovered in west Africa and the Gulf | Coronavirus | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/01/omicron-covid-variant-discovered-in-west-africa-and-the-gulf
    https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/56b84c9ef8ce79954fdca128fff8ce4e565a7f17/0_192_5760_3456/master/5760.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

    Omicron Covid variant discovered in west Africa and the Gulf

    US tightens border controls as more countries report first cases of coronavirus variant
    The Omicron variant of Covid-19 has been identified in west Africa and the Gulf, as the US said it was further tightening its border controls. Washington’s announcement was made as more countries reported their first cases of the variant, suggesting it is spreading around the globe.
    With Ghana, Nigeria, Norway, Saudi Arabia and South Korea among the latest states to record cases, Omicron has been identified in 24 countries.
    Dozens of countries have imposed stricter travel rules, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday it was requiring all air travellers entering the country to show a negative Covid-19 test performed within one day of departure.Fifty-six countries were reportedly implementing travel measures to guard against Omicron despite warnings by the World Health Organization that “introducing blunt, blanket measures … will only worsen inequities”.However, a report on Wednesday suggesting that retrospective analysis in Nigeria had found evidence of Omicron as early as October – raising fears it had been circulating weeks earlier than first thought – proved to be incorrect.In fact, the genetic sequence identified in October was for the prevalent Delta variant of the virus, Nigerian health authorities said.Saudi Arabia became the first Gulf state to identify an Omicron case on Wednesday. Authorities in Riyadh said the variant had been identified in a traveller arriving from a north African country, without naming it.
    In Asia, South Korea confirmed its first cases, and Japan asked international airlines to stop taking new reservations for all flights arriving in the country until the end of December in a further tightening of already strict border controls. The transportation ministry said the request was an emergency precaution.The move by the world’s third-largest economy, coupled with its recent return to a ban on foreign visitors, is among the most stringent anywhere, and more in line with its cloistered neighbour China than with some other democracies in the region.This week the World Health Organization urged countries to avoid blanket travel bans.Japan has confirmed a second case of the Omicron variant in a person who arrived from Peru, one day after it reported its first case in a Namibian diplomat.
    Scientists are working frantically to determine how threatening Omicron is. Much remains unknown about the new variant, which has been identified in more than 20 countries, including whether it is more contagious, whether it makes people more seriously ill, and whether it can thwart the vaccine.
    Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, said more would be known about the variant in two to four weeks as scientists grow and test lab samples of the virus.

    #Covid-19#migrant#migration#monde#sante#variant#omicron#frontiere#circulation#economie#visiteur#oms#etranger