Misc news & happenings thread#1 (world community)

[Syne]

(US) Idaho anti-masker rants that she has to 'dress like a freaking Muslim' with a Peruvian scarf wrapped around her head as a burka while attending college classes
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...scarf.html

SUMMARY POINTS:

• Idaho anti-masker rants that she has to 'dress like a freaking Muslim' with a Peruvian scarf wrapped around her head as a burka while attending college classes
  
• The woman - who identified herself as Katie Dugger - was among the many irate residents who spoke during Monday's city council meeting in Lewiston, Idaho
  
• Dugger wore a multi-colored poncho and a floor length skirt along with a purple scarf
  
• She would later clarify that the scarf came from Peru but that she was wearing it as a burka so that she could attend classes at Lewis-Clark State College
  
• 'This is thin enough that I can breathe through it... so the way for me to go to school and get my education is I have to dress like a freaking Muslim,' she said
  
• Before wrapping up, Katie told people to wear a mask if they felt they needed to while voicing her skepticism for the vaccine
  
• 'If they want to get a vaccine, let them get a vaccine and get Bell's palsy and fall over dead two weeks later,' Dugger declared
  
• Katie Dugger's appearance on Monday was immediately followed by her husband, Jeff Dugger, who continued on with the onslaught against masks (MORE - details)
  

And? Why can't people decide what they want to wear for themselves? Only fascists would say otherwise.

[C C]

(CAN) Cougar appears on trail camera northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-b...-1.5891572

EXCERPTS: There has been another cougar photographed just outside of Thunder Bay, Ont. On Monday evening, an adult cougar showed up on trail camera owned by Adam Massaro. Massaro said he normally has a lot of lynx on his property, located five kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay in Kaministiquia, but he had never seen a cougar.

"I was walking down to check my trail cam [Wednesday night]," Massaro said, "and I noticed the cat tracks in the snow and they looked quite a bit bigger than a lynx. So I sent a picture of them to my fiance as a joke and said 'maybe there is a cougar around' and I checked the camera and yup, that's what it was."

Massaro said there is a good chance the cougar was looking for deer on his property, where he has a mineral block and some alfalfa out to feed the deer near the trail camera. [...] "It actually walked close to my house," he said. "It walked down the trail from my hunting stand area, then must have seen the house and took a 90 into the bush."

Massaro shared nearly a dozen of the trail camera photos of the cougar with CBC News. The cat appears around 8:31 p.m. on Monday, and is still hanging around at 8:36 p.m. The cougar is large, healthy and in several shots seems to be yawning.

There has been a flurry of cougar activity around Thunder Bay over the past few months. [...] On March 25, 2017, the carcass of a cougar was found frozen in a snowbank on Boreal Road, northwest of Thunder Bay. The animal was emaciated and had likely died due to starvation. That cougar had a large number of porcupine quills in its snout, mouth and throat. It was the first confirmed wild cougar carcass found in Ontario... (MORE - details, images)
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It was the first confirmed wild cougar carcass found in Ontario.

Well, that's a better record than Bigfoot. Large, wild animals in general seem unusually adept at finding secretive places to die, or else their remains are getting quickly scavenged, bones broken-up, and scattered over an area.

[C C]

Gene editing: Should livestock and crops be genetically engineered in the UK?
https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/gene-e...in-the-uk/

EXCERPTS: Unlike older types of ‘transgenic’ genetic modification, this process doesn’t introduce foreign DNA into the gene. [...] In 2018, the European Court of Justice ruled that gene-edited crops should be considered the same as other genetically modified crops under EU law, a ruling Eustice called “flawed and stifling to scientific progress”. Prime Minister Boris Johnson shares a similar view. In 2019 he pledged to “liberate the UK’s extraordinary bioscience sector from anti-genetic-modification rules”.

Gene editing is a relatively new and fast-evolving technology. The first type of gene editing, using CRISPR/Cas9, was only developed in 2012 (the two women that developed it won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry).

Views on regulating the use of gene editing in producing genetically modified animals or crops have generally fallen into two camps [...] The first camp argues that as gene-edited crops or livestock could have arisen through traditional breeding processes, they should not be classed as genetically modified organisms, meaning they wouldn’t be subject to genetic modification regulations.

The second camp holds that any organism made through gene editing should be regulated as a genetically modified organism, regardless of whether the final product could have been made using traditional breeding. Countries such as the US, Australia and Japan have taken the former, more relaxed, approach, while the EU has taken the latter, more stringent one.

Current UK regulations mean gene-edited crops can technically come to market, but the regulatory process is both lengthy and extremely costly [...] other scientists are more sceptical about the benefits that gene editing can bring and are concerned about its potential dangers. ... Antoniou says gene editing is not as highly precise as is often claimed and can bring about unintended mutations. [...] In Antoniou’s view, gene editing is “unquestionably” a genetic modification procedure and should continue being regulated in the UK as it is in the EU.

But many scientists argue that gene editing is crucial to supporting a more sustainable food system... (MORE - details)

[C C]

(UK) Martin Lewis gives warning after energy companies collapse
https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/some...ts-4948363

EXCERPT: . . . Green Network Energy and Simplicity Energy have now ceased trading, which is going to leave more than 400,000 households without a supplier. Green Network Energy provided around 360,000 domestic customers with gas and electricity, while Simplicity Energy had around 50,000 customers, reports the Mirror.

[...] Speaking on the ITV Money Show on Thursday, Martin Lewis said customers should not act in haste. "You don't need to do anything yet," the money expert told viewers. Your supplier will remain the same for now, and, in a few weeks, Ofgem, the energy regulator, will automatically move you to a new company with a replacement tariff."

However, he suggested that bill-payers take a meter reading and email it to themselves with a timestamp... (MORE -details)

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(UK) UK-EU talks aim to defuse Brexit tensions over Northern Ireland
https://www.cp24.com/world/uk-eu-talks-a...-1.5294230

EXCERPT: . . . The border checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. are a contentious product of Brexit. Since the U.K. left the European Union's economic structures at the end of 2020, customs and veterinary checks have been imposed on goods moving between Britain and the bloc - and on some British goods going to Northern Ireland, because it shares a border with EU member Ireland.

The checks are strongly opposed by pro-British Unionist politicians, who say they drive a wedge between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. They are calling on the British government to rip up a section of its divorce agreement with the EU known as the Northern Ireland Protocol, which gives the region a separate trade status to the rest of the U.K.

[...] Senior politicians from Britain, Northern Ireland and the European Union held inconclusive talks Wednesday in a bid to ease post-Brexit trade tensions that have shaken Northern Ireland's delicate political balance.

British Cabinet minister Michael Gove, European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic and the leaders of Northern Ireland's Catholic-Protestant power-sharing government held a video conference to discuss problems that have erupted barely a month after the U.K. made an economic split from the 27-nation EU. Sefcovic is expected to travel to London next week for more talks.

Northern Ireland authorities halted veterinary checks and withdrew border staff this week from Belfast and Larne ports after threatening graffiti appeared referring to port workers as targets, and staff reported seeing people writing down vehicle license plate numbers... (MORE - details)

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(UK) Can an adult child seek maintenance from their parents?
https://www.familylaw.co.uk/news_and_com...ir-parents

RELEASE: There have recently been two cases in which adult children have begun court proceedings seeking a formal court order to force their parents into providing ongoing financial support to them.

The first was reported from Italy in August and involved a 35 year old man applying for a top up to his wages earned as a part time music teacher from his parents. Amazingly a lower court had found that his parents should provide him with a monthly stipend as his wages were not enough for him to live on. The Supreme Court in Italy reversed the decision and ruled that parents are not financially responsible for their children for life.

Now in a similar case in FS v RS and JS [2020] EWFC 63, the English courts have been asked to consider the same issue. This time the Applicant was 41 years old. He is a qualified solicitor, holding a degree in modern history, a master’s degree in taxation and presently studying for Chartered Tax Advisory exams. He has however been unemployed since 2011 and suffers from various mental health difficulties, although the extent of these was unclear.

He was living in a flat in London which was paid for by his parents who lived in Dubai. The application apparently arose following a falling out between son and parents which led to the parents limiting the financial assistance paid.

The application was for maintenance and the court considered the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, the Children Act 1989, Human Rights Act 1999 and the court’s inherent jurisdiction. The decision was given by Sir James Munby who described the application as “most unusual” and “unprecedented”.

It was noted that when statutory language is clear, there is a limit as to how far statutory interpretation can go. If the objective of the statute is clear any proposed “read down” under human rights law which would be inconsistent should not accordingly be undertaken. As such there was nothing within the noted listed statutes which would allow for any such order to be made.

The inherent jurisdiction is also subject to limitations. If there is no statutory ability to grant relief, then the court’s inherent jurisdiction will not necessarily provide an alternative. It certainly cannot be used to reverse the outcome under a statutory scheme.

The application was summarily dismissed and the Applicant ordered to pay his parents’ legal costs. The Applicant sought permission to appeal but this was refused.

Whilst perhaps both of these cases have been referred to quite frivolously with the outcome being considered obvious, they do of course involve real families, real disputes and no doubt real heartache. I wonder what the future will hold for these families following these applications. Hopefully some form of reconciliation will prove possible.

[C C]

(CANADA) Canada labels the Proud Boys, other neo-Nazi groups as terrorists
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-...-1.5899186

INTRO: Public Safety Minister Bill Blair announced today that the federal government will designate 13 groups as terrorist entities, adding some white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups to a list already populated with militant Islamist organizations.

The federal government will now classify the Proud Boys (a neo-fascist organization with chapters in Canada and the U.S.), the Atomwaffen Division, AWD (a group that calls for acts of violence against racial, religious and ethnic groups), and the Base (another neo-Nazi organization that advocates for violence to incite a race war), as terrorist entities under the Criminal Code.

The government considers these three groups, along with another new addition, the Russian Imperial Movement (a Russian paramilitary group with ties to neo-Nazi groups worldwide), as "ideologically motivated violent extremists."

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) defines the term as extremism driven by a range of grievances and ideas from across the traditional ideological spectrum.

"No matter the ideological motivation, they're all hateful, intolerant and, as we've seen, they can be highly dangerous," Blair said Wednesday, adding that he hopes expanding the terrorist list will send a message to groups intent on sowing division and hate and causing harm, that their actions will not be tolerated by law enforcement.

"Their violent actions and rhetoric are fuelled by white supremacy, anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia, Islamophobia and misogyny, and unfortunately, often in combination of all of the above. On several different occasions we have seen the tragic results that this type of extremism can bring to Canadian soil, Blair said referencing the 2017 Quebec City mosque attack and the 2018 Toronto van attack.

A group is added to the terrorist list if Canada's security and intelligence agencies, after an "extremely rigorous" probe, find "reasonable grounds to believe that an entity has knowingly participated in or facilitated a terrorist activity," the government said in announcing the new designations.

It is not necessarily a crime to be a member of these groups, but designating an organization as a terrorist entity can have serious criminal and financial consequences.

Banks can now freeze assets and police can charge anyone who financially or materially supports such a group... (MORE)

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(CANADA) Canada the only G7 country to take vaccines from fund that helps developing countries
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics...eveloping/

EXCERPTS: Canada is the only G7 country to draw on a supply of COVID-19 vaccines meant primarily for developing countries, according to new data released Wednesday. The COVAX program, co-ordinated by the World Health Organization and Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, pools funds from wealthier countries to buy vaccines for themselves and for 92 low- and middle-income nations that can’t afford to buy on their own.

Information released Wednesday by Gavi shows Canada is among just a few rich countries exercising their options to buy vaccines from the international group. The vast majority of countries receiving the first vaccine shipments from COVAX are low- and middle-income countries. Other wealthy countries on the list receiving the vaccines include New Zealand and Singapore.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has come under intense political pressure for a vaccine rollout that in its first two months has been beset by delays, and repeatedly lowered expectations. Amid a global supply crunch with only a few COVID-19 vaccines approved, countries in the European Union are under similar pressure but held off drawing on the limited doses COVAX has available.

[...] Health justice advocates are questioning Canada’s decision to take vaccines from COVAX at a time when high-risk people in poorer countries are still waiting for vaccines.

“It shows that COVAX is not a sustainable solution for low-income and middle-income countries,” said Fatima Hassan, head of the Health Justice Initiative, a South African advocacy group.

“COVAX has a pecking order, and it prioritizes the self-funded countries like Canada,” she said. “It’s not based on global health needs, it’s based on how much money a country is able to put into COVAX.”

Canada’s decision to accept vaccines from COVAX is “the clearest evidence yet of how rich countries are hedging their bets,” Ms. Hassan said.

“We’re seeing richer nations taking a lot of supplies from different mechanisms, while a lot of health-care workers in poorer parts of the world are not getting vaccinated. Is that fair and just? No, it isn’t.”

Jason Nickerson, humanitarian affairs adviser at Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), said there is a danger that Canada’s use of COVAX could contribute to global health inequities... (MORE - details)

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(CANADA) House committee changes rule to prevent MPs from hiring their in-laws
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics...r-in-laws/

EXCERPTS: The House of Commons has banned MPs from using their parliamentary budgets to hire their in-laws.

The rule preventing MPs from hiring family members was expanded last Thursday to include in-laws by the House governance committee, the Board of Internal Economy. It follows reporting from The Globe and Mail in November that former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer employed his wife’s sister, an interior designer, from 2007 to 2020.

Mr. Scheer terminated her employment at his Regina constituency office after the Globe report. “I understand that in this case, following the rules may not have been enough,” he said in a statement at the time.

[...] Mr. Scheer, who was speaker of the House from 2011 to 2015, oversaw the last rule change, when the Board of Internal Economy stopped MPs from hiring their siblings but put no limits on employing their in-laws. Until the ban on hiring siblings took effect in 2012, Mr. Scheer also employed his sister, from 2008 to 2012... (MORE - details)

[Syne]

Do Canadians actually have free and fair elections? If so, they are morons, just by extension of their own government. The Proud Boys are neither neo-fascist, neo-Nazi, nor terrorists. They are simply Western-chauvinists, who think Western culture and values are better than others, and that's objectively true.

[C C]

Wallet lost in Antarctica in '60s returned to California man
https://www.kob.com/news/wallet-lost-in-...n/6002902/

INTRO: Paul Grisham's wallet was missing for so long at the bottom of the world he forgot all about it. Fifty-three years later, the 91-year-old San Diego man has the billfold back along with mementos of his 13-month assignment as a Navy meteorologist on Antarctica in the 1960s.

"I was just blown away," Grisham told The San Diego Union-Tribune after the wallet was returned on Saturday. "There was a long series of people involved who tracked me down and ran me to ground."

The wallet contained his Navy ID card, driver license, a pocket reference card on what to do during atomic, biological and chemical attack, a beer ration punch card, a tax withholding statement and receipts for money orders sent to his wife.

Grisham, who was raised in Douglas, Arizona, enlisted in the Navy in 1948. He became a weather technician and then a weather forecaster. He was assigned to Antarctica as part of "Operation Deep Freeze," which supported civilian scientists, and shipped out to the frozen continent in October 1967. At the time, he was in his 30s and married with two toddlers.

"I went down there kicking and screaming," he told the Union-Tribune. At some point while down on "The Ice," Grisham lost the wallet, something he later forgot about... (MORE - details)

[C C]

(UK) AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine has been confusing from the start
https://www.theverge.com/22274371/covid-...ca-variant

EXCERPTS: South Africa announced this week that it’s stopping the use of the AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine after a small study found that it wasn’t effective against mild and moderate disease. Other vaccines are also less effective in South Africa, where a variant of the virus with mutations that can dodge antibodies is circulating widely. The AstraZeneca-Oxford product appears to be the worst of all, and it fell down to less than 50 percent effective (the benchmark health agencies set for COVID-19 vaccines).

It’s another hit for the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, which has been dogged by shaky relationships with regulators and limited transparency for months. But it’s also a confusing result: the small trial wasn’t able to figure out if the vaccine could protect against severe disease and death, just that it didn’t perform well against mild and moderate cases.

The rollout of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has been messy from the start. The team behind it was one of the most vocally optimistic groups about the potential of its product, and the company said last spring that it could start delivering doses by September 2020. [...] Those projections would prove unrealistic.

Clinical trials of the vaccine were paused over safety concerns in September, slowing its progress, and initial data wasn’t released until late November. ... Later, it turned out that the high efficacy [90%] was only in a small number of people who were incorrectly given weaker doses of the vaccine. Weirdly, the company’s two full-strength doses seemed less effective. The data was hard to interpret and seemed counterintuitive to researchers.

Still, the United Kingdom authorized the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine in December. In one bit of good news, a study last week indicated that it could protect people against the more contagious variant spreading widely there. But that variant is still changing. In a few cases in the UK, it has developed one of the mutations that helps the variant most prevalent in South Africa avoid antibodies.

The halting rollout and confusion around the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine shows how much of a lucky break both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines were. They are both overwhelmingly effective...

It may turn out that the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine still helps protect against hospitalization and death from the coronavirus variant in South Africa... (MORE)