The COVID-19 pandemic could affect availability and distribution of antiretroviral medicine used to treat HIV, UNAIDS said Monday.A recent survey conducted by UNAIDS showed the impacts that lockdowns and border closures imposed to stop the spread of the coronavirus will impede supplying prescriptions, particularly to low- and middle-income countries.A new study by UNAIDS shows the potential impacts that #COVID19 could have in low- and middle-income countries around the world on supplies of the generic antiretroviral medicines used to treat HIV.
— UNAIDS (@UNAIDS) June 22, 2020But the survey said that measures can still be taken to mitigate the risks.”It is vital that countries urgently make plans now to mitigate the possibility and impacts of higher costs and reduced availability of antiretroviral medicines,” Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS, said in Monday’s press release.”I call on countries and buyers of HIV medicines to act swiftly in order to ensure that everyone who is currently on treatment continues to be on it, saving lives and stopping new HIV infections,” she said.UNAIDS said it is working with global partners to fundraise to try to offset the costs of sourcing material for these drugs and transporting them, but that partnership with governments in question will be necessary.Roughly 24.5 million people were dependent on antiretroviral drugs in 2019, according to UNAIDS, which also estimates that a six-month disruption of availability of these drugs could lead to 500,000 additional AIDS-related death in sub-Saharan Africa alone.
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Month: June 2020
Luxury Fashion Challenged to Confront Racist Attitudes
When luxury fashion lined up social media posts to show solidarity with Black Lives Matters protests, brands got a whole lot of blowback.Transgender model and actress Munroe Bergdorf jumped on L’Oreal’s #BlackoutTuesday posts to accuse the beauty brand of hypocrisy for having fired her three years ago when she complained about racism in strong language. U.S. actor Tommy Dorfman, who appears in a recent campaign for Salvatore Ferragamo, called out the Italian luxury brand for what he called a “homophobic and racist work environment.”And ordinary Instagram followers piled on, challenging fashion houses to do more than post a black square on their virtual real estate, to instead make runways, magazine covers, boardrooms and creative studios living showcases of diversity.Global fashion brands have faced racial backlashes in the past, notably in the wake of scandals like the Gucci knitwear recalling blackface, Prada’s Little Black Sambo bag charm and Dolce&Gabbana’s anti-Asian comments.The U.S protests against systemic racism, which are spreading around the globe, are also putting the spotlight on the fashion world in its role as a cultural beacon, and emboldening insiders — some with lucrative deals that often assume their discretion — to speak up.”People have the fire under their bottoms,” said Tamu McPherson, an American content creator based in Milan who collaborates with top luxury brands. “Their stories are strong and their voices are being heard. If they industry ignores them, they can be kept accountable. Everyone is sharing, and corroborating, their stories.”McPherson has been working with luxury brands in Milan, Paris and New York since 2013, contributing to digital campaigns, story-telling and in-house diversity training.”In seven years, I am still one of the only black people invited into those spaces. That is unacceptable,” said McPherson, who urged greater racial inclusion in a letter posted June 6 on her “All the Pretty Birds” website, in which she described the fashion industry as “steeped in racism, anti-Blackness and white privilege.””For years, they did not want to listen. Now they are listening because of the pandemic and the shocking murders we could all pay attention to, because there were not any distractions. This is the moment,” she said.Ferragamo courted criticism when it responded to the protests with a post that said, “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion.”Dorfman shot back that people at the fashion house “have said heinous, transphobic, body phobic and racist things directly to me. I called them out every time and they promised to change.”A person close to Ferragamo said that the brand is committed to inclusivity, noting that it features models of all colors in its runway shows. Nearly half of Ferragamo’s Fall 2020 runway models were of diverse races.The pushback against the industry has had some early results. Bergdorf, who was sacked as L’Oreal UK’s first openly transgender model in 2017 for decrying “the racial violence of white people,” has now accepted a role as consultant on the U.K. Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board to help “influence and inform the brand.” The offer came after she highlighted the hypocrisy of the beauty company’s June 1 statement that it “stands in solidarity with the Black community, and against injustice of any kind … Speaking out is worth it.”The Fashion Spot, which has been tracking diversity on runways and magazine covers, has reported progress since launching its surveys in 2015. The Spring 2020 season had the highest level of diversity on runways in the four main fashion cities of Paris, Milan, New York and London, at 41.5%, only to dip for the Fall 2020 shows, to 40.6%. That remains an improvement from 17% in the website’s inaugural survey for Spring 2015.New York and London have led in diversity, while Paris and Milan tend to lag, according to the Fashion Spot’s data.After her post, McPherson said she has gotten feedback from some brands that her appeal was being shared internally.”The focus truly is on getting representation of Black, Indigenous and people of color integrated and hired at all levels of an organization, especially in decision-making positions and senior roles where they can advocate, educate and inform decisions,” McPherson said. “Now is the opportunity to rebuild.”After coming under fire for designs deemed racist, both Gucci and Prada last year announced long-term strategies to both promote diverse voices that have not been properly represented in fashion, including with scholarships.This time, the reckoning has gone to the fashion world’s highest levels. Anna Wintour has apologized in an internal email for not doing enough to elevate Black voices and publishing images and stories that have been racially and culturally “hurtful and intolerant” during her 32-year tenure at Vogue. Her comments came as Samira Nasr was named the first editor in chief of color in the 153-year history of U.S. Harper’s Bazaar.Supermodel Naomi Campbell — the first Black woman to appear on the cover of French Vogue — is publicly calling for equal pay for models of color and more representation generally, while acknowledging that in the past she has chosen to deal privately with such issues.”It is not something I call out, because I am personally someone who wants to rise to the challenge,” she told CNN. But she said, “in my business, it has gone on for long enough.”
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Thai Trials of COVID-19 Vaccine Reach Make-or-Break Stage
Thai scientists administered a second dose of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine to monkeys on Monday, looking for another positive response to enable clinical trials in humans as early as October. The Thai vaccine is one of at least 100 being worked on globally as the world reels from a devastating virus that has infected more than 8.7 million and killed 461,000, with Sunday’s 183,000 cases the highest reported in a single day. Thirteen monkeys were immunized on Monday and the next two weeks will be critical in determining whether researchers can proceed with further tests. “We’re going to analyze the immune response once again. If the immune response is very, very high, then this is a good one,” said Kiat Ruxrungtham, lead researcher of the COVID-19 vaccine development program at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University. Thailand’s government is backing the trials and hopes it can have a cost-effective vaccine manufactured domestically and ready for next year. The monkeys are divided into three groups, with one getting a high dose, another a low dose and the last none. They are receiving three injections in total, each a month apart. The first dose on May 23 prompted positive responses from all but one animal in the high-dose group and from three in the low-dose group, an outcome Kiat called “very impressive.” If there is a similar response after the second dose, Kiat said, the program would order 10,000 doses made for a human trial, adding that his group had been flooded with offers from volunteers. “The earliest we can get may be late September,” he said of the doses. “But we don’t expect it that soon, and the latest may be by November.”
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HIV Drug Sped to Approval 25 Years Ago Revolutionized Fight Against AIDS
AIDS activist Larry Kramer used to wear an oversized rectangular turquoise ring on his left finger, tinged with variations of green. A turquoise band circled a second finger. Two large turquoise rings decorated his other hand.When Kramer first moved to New York in the 1970s, a fortune teller told him he “must always wear something turquoise to look after your health.” He trusted the superstition, surviving hepatitis B and a liver transplant — and battling an HIV infection for more than 30 years.”God knows how,” Kramer told VOA in his final interview before he died of pneumonia on May 27, less than a month before his 85th birthday.Turquoise’s health benefits are unproven, but a revolutionary generation of antiviral drugs, the first of which was studied and approved 25 years ago, kept Kramer and millions of other HIV-positive people alive for decades.Before that success though, the search for an effective treatment took well over a decade and triggered some of the fiercest confrontations between Americans and their government during that period.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
FILE – Demonstrators from the organization ACT UP, angry with the federal government’s response to the AIDS crisis, protest in front of the headquarters of the Food and Drug Administration in Rockville, Md., Oct. 11, 1988.Silence = DeathWhat would prove to be ACT UP’s most consequential clash came on October 11, 1988, when the group shut down the headquarters of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the agency that approves and regulates medications in America. ACT UP blocked roads to the complex outside Washington, as participants lay on the ground in front of the building with mock tombstones, some reading, “RIP Killed by the FDA.” Activists hung a banner above the entranceway with ACT UP’s motto: Silence = Death.Richard Klein, who served as the FDA’s liaison with the AIDS community at the time, called ACT UP’s protest “a great wake-up call for the FDA.”In a recent VOA interview, Klein recalled “very heady days” as tensions boiled over between AIDS activists and federal officials. And he notes that changes did come about. Activists were added to FDA advisory committees as patient representatives. Patient access was expanded for experimental drug studies, many of which were fast-tracked and revamped. Trial subjects in placebo groups whose health deteriorated were reassigned to groups receiving the drug or drugs being tested.”It took people who were dying to really make the point of ‘We don’t want to die in these clinical trials,'” Klein said.Yet AIDS patients continued to die — 300,000 in the United States by 1995. Ending the plague was by no means a given.The most commonly prescribed drug at the time, azidothymidine or AZT, was developed in the 1960s and approved for AIDS treatment in 1987. AZT did initially slow the deterioration of patients’ immune systems. Inevitably, however, the HIV virus became resistant to the medication and the deadly progression of AIDS would resume.New class of drugsFourteen years into the epidemic, 1995 saw a breakthrough. In June of that year, the FDA authorized a study of saquinavir, the first of a new category of drugs called protease inhibitors designed to prevent the HIV virus from replicating,”This new class was seen as a way to possibly overcome the virus resistance issues,” Klein said. Saquinavir proved ineffective by itself. But, when combined with AZT and another anti-viral medication, the resulting “drug cocktail” brought about an increase in AIDS patients’ white blood cell counts, a clear indication that their immune systems had begun to recover. Critically, the HIV virus did not develop resistance to the cocktail.Fewer than four months after receiving the heartening results, the Richard Klein, who worked for more than 41 years with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said activists who served on FDA advisory committees, as seen here, forced the agency to change policies that laid the groundwork for future epidemics.Ending a feud Beyond physical healing, the advent of life-saving drugs allowed for the eventual transformation of a stormy public feud into a friendship. At the height of the AIDS epidemic, Larry Kramer branded Fauci, who was the face of the government’s efforts to combat HIV, an “incompetent idiot” and a “murderer.” Over time, the two men grew to respect and appreciate each other. Kramer called Fauci a “friend” in his interview with VOA. Writing for Time magazine after Kramer’s death, Fauci lauded his activism, adding, “I will miss a lot about Larry, but I think his warmth most of all.” Protease inhibitor drugs saved countless people after 1995, including Kevin Taylor, who shared his story with VOA. The 57-year-old Richmond, Virginia, man is still living with HIV, 35 years after he tested positive for the virus and doctors told him to get his affairs in order in anticipation of an early death. Taylor says HIV medications gave him a new lease on life: “Not necessarily to be cured, but to least have some kind of life as opposed to just living in the shadows waiting for your end to come.” Drugs keep HIV at bay, reducing viral loads to undetectable levels for many. In recent years, the same drugs have proven effective in preventing HIV infections when taken prophylactically by those at high risk for contracting the virus. Despite these advances, there is no cure and no effective vaccine for HIV/AIDS.
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Greece Demands Return of Parthenon Marbles from Britain
Ratcheting up fresh pressure, Greece has blasted the British Museum for exhibiting the Parthenon marbles, calling the collection “stolen” treasures and demanding the masterpieces be returned to Athens. The call comes as Greece celebrates the 11th anniversary of the New Acropolis Museum, a four-story, state of the art edifice built to house the ancient treasures and weaken Britain’s claim that it is best able to look after the 2,500-year-old masterpieces.
“Since September 2003 when construction work for the Acropolis Museum began, Greece has systematically demanded the return of the sculptures on display in the British Museum because they are the product of theft,” the country’s culture minister Lina Mendoni said. “The current Greek government – like any Greek government – is not going to stop claiming the stolen sculptures which the British Museum, contrary to any moral principle, continues to hold illegally,” she told the Athens daily Ta Nea.
Depicting figures of ancient Greek mythology, the 75-meter frieze and its 17 statues were sawed off the Parthenon temple and shipped to London by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century, during his tenure as Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
Bankrupted by the venture, the British aristocrat sold them to the British Museum in 1816, where they became a major attraction and began one of the world’s longest running cultural disputes.
Mendoni said “It is sad that one of the world’s largest and most important museums is still governed by outdated, colonialist views.” While successive governments in Britain have opposed calls for the return of the sculptures to Greece, pressure has mounted in recent years with a bandwagon of celebrities and politicians joining the repatriation campaign.
Greece’s center-right government is also stepping up efforts to win back the treasures as the country gears up for its bicentennial independence anniversary next year.A municipal worker wearing a protective suit sprays disinfectant outside Acropolis museum as the Parthenon temple is seen in the background in Athens on March 24, 2020.While 50 meters of the 115-block Parthenon frieze is displayed in Athens, eight other museums scattered across Europe house fragments of it, including the Louvre and the British Museum.
Last year, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis secured a key agreement from French President Macron to allow the Louvre to lend a small fragment of the Parthenon in light of those celebrations.
Macron has become the first Western leader to initiate a comprehensive review of colonial looting, repatriating significant collections to Africa – a move traditionally resisted by leading museums in the West, including the British Museum.
A similar loan request was made to the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson but it was quickly knocked down by the British Museum, saying any swap would require Athens to relinquish ownership claims to the prized treasures — a request Greece has emphatically refused.
“Without the supreme symbol of culture, the Parthenon, Western Civilization cannot exist, and this symbol deserves to be reunited with its expatriate sculptures,” Mendoni told a local broadcaster in May.
Government officials have refused to clarify whether Athens has followed up with any alternative proposal to the British Museum. Nor have they said whether Greece would resort to legal action against Britain in a bid to win back the marbles.
“In law, a thief is not allowed to keep his or her ill-gotten gains, no matter how long ago they were taken, or how much he or she may have improved them,” said Geoffrey Robertson, a leading human rights attorney whom the government in Athens recruited in 2014 to consider legal action.
“In the past, a lot of cultural property was wrongfully extracted from places that are now independent states. They want the loot sent back to where it was created and to the people for whom it has most meaning.”
In its pamphlets, the British Museum argues that its free-of-charge entrance attracts millions of visitors every year from around the work, making the ancient Greek masterpieces available to the public within the context of a wide swath of human civilization — a claim Greece insists is now defunct with its $200 million mammoth museum.
An austere building wedged within the chaotic sprawl of a crowded old neighborhood, the new Acropolis museum was initially scheduled to open in time for the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics.
But legal fights over the expropriation of some 25 buildings, as well as archaeological findings unearthed at the site, derailed the project by more than 5 years.
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Noose Found at Stall of NASCAR’s Only Black Driver
The popular U.S. race car series NASCAR is investigating what it called Sunday a “heinous act” after a noose was found in the team garage of Bubba Wallace, its only top-level Black driver. Wallace said he was “incredibly saddened” and added that the act is “a painful reminder of how much further we have to go as a society and how persistent we must be in the fight against racism.” He stressed the need to advocate for a community that is welcoming to everyone, and said those involved in the sport “will not be deterred by the reprehensible actions of those who seek to spread hate.” Wallace drew widespread support from other drivers for his push two weeks ago to get NASCAR to ban the presence of the confederate flag at its races. NASCAR said in a statement it will do everything it can to identify who was responsible for the noose “and eliminate them from our sport.” The incident happened at Talladega Superspeedway in the southern state of Alabama, which was scheduled to host a race Sunday before it was interrupted by rain. Protesters on Saturday and Sunday drove cars and trucks flying the confederate flag on roads near the track.
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Heat Wave Shatters Record in Siberian Town
One of the coldest places on Earth on Saturday became one of the hottest places on Earth. A Russian heat wave sent the thermometer in the Siberian town of Verkhoyansk soaring to 38 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Meteorologists say that would be the highest temperature ever recorded north of the Arctic Circle. Verkhoyansk is about 10 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. Temperatures in the town average 40 degrees below zero Celsius (-40 Fahrenheit) in winter, and it rarely gets warmer than 20 degrees (68 Fahrenheit) in summer. Experts blame the unusual heat wave on a massive high-pressure system that has been stalled over Siberia for almost two weeks, preventing cooler air from flowing south. All of Russia has experienced an uncharacteristically warm winter and spring this year with average temperatures breaking records in the first five months of the year set in 2016.
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Trump vs. Twitter: The Debate Over Free Speech, Censorship in Social Media
Twitter has been important in burnishing the image President Donald Trump wants to portray of a brash straight-talking politician, but the social media company has recently begun to flag Trump’s tweets when they are deemed misleading. Other online platforms like Facebook and Snap are making their own decisions about content. Tina Trinh reports.Produced by: Tina Trinh
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Rare ‘Ring of Fire’ Solar Eclipse Crossed Skies of Africa, Asia
Many amateur astronomers in Africa and Asia had the chance to observe Sunday, for the summer solstice, a rare solar eclipse of the “ring of fire” type, despite the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus and sometimes unfavorable climatic conditions.This astronomical phenomenon, which occurs once or twice a year, started soon after sunrise in central Africa, passing through the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan and Ethiopia before heading to Asia, to finish in the Pacific Ocean, south of the island of Guam, at 09:32 GMT, after having notably crossed India and China. In this type of eclipse, the moon passes in front of the sun, in an alignment with the earth, but instead of completely blocking the sun, there remains a ring, called “ring of fire.”It was above India, in the state of Uttarakhand, near the border with China that the eclipse was “maximum” at 12:10 local time (06:40 GMT): earth, moon and sun were perfectly lined up for 38 seconds.In Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, a little away from the ideal route, the curious could only observe a partial eclipse, with the clouds appearing for a few seconds at the precise moment when the moon should have come to hide almost entirely the sun.Despite everything, “it was very exciting because I am obsessed with eclipses,” said Susan Murabana, founder with her husband, Chu, of the educational program “Traveling telescope,” told AFP.Installed with their telescope on the roof of a residential district, they allowed dozens of people to observe the eclipse, via Facebook and Zoom platforms.Normally, she and her husband would probably have taken people to camp near Lake Magadi (South), where the sky is generally clearer. But because of the coronavirus, movement into and out of Nairobi is prohibited.In the Gulf countries, the observation of the phenomenon was thwarted by the humidity and dust of the summer heat.In Sri Lanka, also because of COVID-19, the planetarium was closed to avoid gatherings.Only about 15 students gathered around a telescope at the University of Colombo, the capital, broadcasting the images of the eclipse live on Facebook.”There is a lot of misinformation around eclipses and we are trying to combat them in our program,” professor Chandana Jayaratne, who heads the university’s department of astronomy and space science, told AFP.”For example, in Sri Lanka, pregnant women are told not to go out for fear that their babies will be born with heart defects. But we want to show people that an eclipse is nothing more than a game of shadows and light,” he said.On the other hand, specialists stress the need to wear special eclipse glasses, approved welders’ masks, or to use the means of observation of amateur astronomers, but not to look at the star with the naked eye, even with sunglasses, which do not filter UV light.In Hong Kong, dozens of spectators, experienced astronomers with telescopes or families, gathered in a park by the sea to attend the 90-minute show.The crowd shouted in joy as the clouds cleared making the eclipse clearly visible.Only 2% of the earth’s surface was affected by the total phase of the eclipse, which makes the phenomenon exceptional.
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K-pop Idol Yohan Mourned by Family, Fans
Yohan, a member of K-pop group TST, died last week. He was 28 years old. “We are sad to relay the most unfortunate, sorrowful news,” wrote TST’s record label, KJ Music Entertainment, in a June 17 release to Allkpop, a U.S.-based Korean pop website. “On June 16, TST member Yohan left this world.” The cause of his death remains undisclosed. The label shared that they would not reveal the cause of his death to respect his family’s wishes. “The late Yohan’s family is currently in deep mourning,” the statement read. “The family has pleaded that media articles about Yohan’s passing, such as those making speculations about the cause of his death, be refrained out of respect.” Yohan’s death is the most recent in a string of young Korean celebrity deaths in the last year, which include singer and actress Sulli, 25, who died by suicide in October 2019, singer Goo Hara, 28, who died by suicide in November 2019, and actor Cha In-ha, 27, whose cause of death was not disclosed.News reports say these cases shed light on the dark side of Korea’s entertainment industry, which includes cyberbullying and lack of mental health support. Yohan’s sudden death came as a shock for many fans because until recently, he was actively interacting with his followers on social media. Kim Jeong-hwan, Yohan’s real name, was seen interacting with fans last month on V LIVE, a South Korean video streaming service that allows stars to broadcast live videos and interact with fans. In a V LIVE video published last month, Yohan introduced the novel Everyone Turns 30 by Chae-won Pyeon to his fans and read an excerpt from the epilogue:“While I don’t desire to be a leading role, has the way I’ve been living my life for the past 30 years been so lousy that I don’t even get to be an extra? Everyone on this stage called life is worthy to get a spotlight, whether as a lead or as an extra.”“To be honest,” Yohan explained, “this part touched me the most. I’ve always carried a similar thought in my mind. Honestly, I have been thinking a lot on this recently and have tried to look back on myself.”Yohan communicated with his fans four times through V LIVE in May. He also participated in TST’s fourth single “COUNTDOWN” which was released in January. Fans have been expressing their deep condolences to the late singer online. TST fan and twitter user @igotcaratinyzen paid respects by buying and naming a star after the late singer.I bought & named a star after our precious #Yohan#TST. I made sure to find a big bright star that’s especially visible in Seoul in June, not that it can’t be seen any other time of the year. I wanted to make sure it was visible in June. #restinpeaceyohan#ripyohan@FS7_officialpic.twitter.com/RJayh8AT4R— 🖤💔Rest In Peace Yohan💔🖤 🐳Mr. Whale Out Soon🐳 (@igotcaratinyzen) June 17, 2020TST fans, also known as “Hanas,” are also streaming their song “Paradise (2018),” noting that Yohan often expressed he wanted this song to become famous.reminder to please watch/stream paradise as it was yohan’s favorite song thank you 💗https://t.co/mZjPifAnNX#SparklingJeonghwan#AlwaysWithTst#YohanIsOurParadisepic.twitter.com/IkZPcW8LNO— summer ♡ bday girl!! (@oddsohn) June 18, 2020Fans of other K-pop groups have also expressed their condolences through social media. Twitter account @GlobalBlackPink, an international fan page for Korean girl group BLACKPINK, paid their respects by refraining from trending any BLACKPINK hashtags June 17.We wont be trending any hashtags today for giving respect to Top Secret (TST) Yohan’s Death. Our deepest condolences to His family, friends and fans. May he rest in peace🙏— GLOBAL BLACKPINK 💙⁰⁶²⁶ (@GlobalBlackPink) June 16, 2020BTS fan account @btsallure on Twitter also encouraged its followers to stream Paradise.tw// deathHello, if you have time please listen (stream) paradise by tst, Yohan said he always wanted for that song to be famous.Someone so special will never be forgotten, deepest condolences to his family, friends and fans. May his soul rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/5crNXMHoW1— arri⁷🍯 (@btsallure) June 17, 2020Other Korean celebrities have been expressing their grief on social media.Kiseop Lee, former member of K-pop group U-KISS, commented, “I love you a lot, Yohan … I miss you” on Yohan’s last Instagram post published May 31. Yohan’s Instagram account has been memorialized. View this post on Instagram 여행가고 싶다✈A post shared by 김요한 (@yohanee0416) on May 31, 2020 at 2:32am PDTYohan debuted with the group NOM (No Other Man) in 2015 and joined TST (also known as Top Secret) in 2017 as a vocalist after NOM’s disbandment. TST is most famous for their songs “Mind Control (2017),” “Paradise (2018),” and “Wake Up (2019).” Surviving members of TST are Ain, Junghoon, K, Yonghyeon and Wooyoung.
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Tom Petty’s Family Condemns Trump Campaign’s Use of Late Musician’s Song
The family of late rock musician Tom Petty has filed a cease and desist motion after President Trump’s campaign played a song by Petty at a campaign rally.
Trump played the song “I won’t back down” at his campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday. Hours later, Petty’s family posted a statement condemning the use of the song on social media.
“Trump was in no way authorized to use this song to further a campaign that leaves too many Americans and common sense behind,” the statement said.
The family said Petty wrote the 1989 song “for the underdog, for the common man and for EVERYONE.”
“We want to make it clear that we believe everyone is free to vote as they like, think as they like, but the Petty family doesn’t stand for this,” the statement went on.
The statement, signed by Petty’s daughters, ex-wife, and wife, said they had issued an official cease and desist notice to what they called a “campaign of hate”.pic.twitter.com/mxToRoHWNn— Tom Petty (@tompetty) June 21, 2020Neil Young, R.E.M., and Rihanna are among a growing list of musicians who have objected to Trump’s use of their music in his political campaigns.
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Comedian DL Hughley COVID-19 Positive after Fainting Onstage
Comedian DL Hughley COVID-19 Positive after Fainting Onstage Comedian D.L. Hughley announced he tested positive for COVID-19 after collapsing onstage during a performance in Nashville, Tennessee. The stand-up comedian, 57, lost consciousness while performing at the Zanies comedy nightclub on Friday night and was hospitalized, news outlets reported. On Saturday, Hughley posted a video on Twitter in which he said he was treated for exhaustion and dehydration afterward. “I also tested positive for COVID-19, which blew me away,” he says in the video. “I was what they call asymptomatic. I didn’t have any symptoms, the classic symptoms.” Hughley plans to quarantine in his Nashville hotel room for 14 days. The remaining two nights of his four-night engagement at Zanies were canceled, according to the club’s online calendar. “Our friend D.L. Hughley had a medical emergency while performing on Friday and was hospitalized overnight. According to his publicist, he was suffering from exhaustion after working & traveling this week,” the club posted on Facebook. “Love ya, D.L. and we’ll look forward to seeing this King of Comedy back in Nashville soon!” Hughley said he still hasn’t exhibited any of the typical symptoms associated with the coronavirus, including shortness of breath and fever. “So, in addition to all the other stuff you have to look out for,” Hughley advises in the video, if you “pass out in the middle of a show, onstage, you probably need to get tested.” In addition to stand-up comedy, Hughley is also an actor, author and radio and television host. He starred in Spike Lee’s 2000 concert film, “The Original Kings of Comedy,” alongside Steve Harvey, Bernie Mac and Cedric the Entertainer. Hughley also produced and starred in “The Hughleys,” which aired on ABC and UPN from 1998 to 2002 and hosted a CNN talk show. He currently hosts the radio show “The D.L. Hughley Show,” which is syndicated in dozens of markets. “Thank you for your prayers and your well wishes — and a few more of them wouldn’t hurt,” Hughley says in the video.
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Trump vs. Twitter: The Debate Over Free Speech and Censorship in Social Media
Twitter has been important in burnishing the image President Donald Trump wants to portray of a brash straight-talking politician, but the social media company has recently begun to flag Trump’s tweets when they are deemed misleading. Other online platforms like Facebook and Snap are making their own decisions about content. Tina Trinh reports.Produced by: Tina Trinh
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Tiz the Law Wins Belmont Stakes
Tiz the Law won the Belmont Stakes in front of empty stands on Saturday, clinching the first leg of Thoroughbred horse racing’s Triple Crown.The colt was followed by Dr Post and Max Player at the New York event, which is usually the last leg of the three races that make up the Triple Crown. This year, however, it was contested first as the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes had to be postponed until later in the season because of the COVID-19 outbreak, which has claimed more than 121,000 lives in the United States.Spectators were barred from attending the race because of the pandemic.In other horse racing news Saturday, London’s Royal Ascot witnessed its biggest-priced winner as 150-1 shot Nando Parrado won the Coventry Stakes.Trained by Clive Cox, Nando Parrado was steered home by jockey Adam Kirby.”The price was a shock. He is a proper horse and we loved him from the start,” Cox said.The previous record was set in 1990 when 100-1 outsider Fox Chapel won the Britannia Stakes. Flashmans Papers was also a 100-1 shot when winning at the iconic meeting in 2008.
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Sickle Cell Patients Ask for Protection Against COVID-19 as Confirmed Cases Increase to Over 11, 000
Sickle cell patients in Cameroon on this year’s World Sickle Cell Day on June 19, asked to be given additional care and support. They say the genetic disorder primarily seen in people of African descent puts them more at risk of COVID-19.About 200 sickle cell patients visited hospitals and the Cameroon Red Cross office in the capital Yaoundé, Friday to complain that they were being sidelined in efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus in the central African state. Forty-year old Dieudonne Mackiti, father of two children living with the disease, says he expects the government to provide face masks and hand sanitizers free of charge and to ask hospitals to give preferential treatment to sickle cell patients when they visit.He says he has come out on World Sickle Cell Day to ask the government to pay more attention to its citizens who are living with the genetic disorder and are more likely to have severe complications and die if they are infected with COVID-19. He says he believes that one of his two sons living with sickle cell contracted COVID-19 at the hospital he took the child to for regular health care.Mackiti said his family was ostractized by his neighbors after information that his son tested COVID-19 positive leaked. He said the stigma from COVID-19 combined with age-old superstitious beliefs that sickle cell is divine punishment for wrongdoing and that children with the disease are mysterious was making live very difficult for his family.Cameroon’s health ministry says sickle cell patients already have respiratory difficulties which may be very complicated and difficult to handle should they be infected with COVID-19. It says people living with blood disorders such as sickle cell disease have an increased risk of developing serious COVID-19 symptoms and recommends that they should stock up on essential medicines and supplies that can last for several weeks.Laurantine Mandeng of the Cameroon Association of Young Sickle Cell Patients says most sickle cell patients in Cameroon are poor and cannot raise money to buy COVID-19 protection kits.Mandeng says only the Cameroon Red cross has been able to assist them with face masks and hand sanitizers. She says she asked that the supplies should be sent to associations of sickle cell patients and specialized hospitals that take care of people living with the genetic disorder because she does not want sickle cell patients to be infected with COVID-19 when they visit regular hospitals.Cameroon health minister Manaouda Malachie says sickle cell patients like other Cameroons will be given free face masks, buckets and soap and hand sanitizers to protect themselves from the coronavirus. Manaouda says he has observed that some sickle cell patients just like many other Cameroonians are refusing to obey barrier measures like keeping a distance of at least a meter and a half from each other, washing hands regularly or using hand sanitizers and wearing face masks. He says for Cameroon to be saved from the killer virus, all its citizens including sickle cell patients must observe measures the government has put in place to stop COVID-19.Cameroon says the prevalence of sickle cell is 20 percent among its 25 million population.Sickle cell is an inherited red blood cell disorder in which there aren’t enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen throughout the body of patients.
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Beyoncé Drops Surprise Single ‘Black Parade’ on Juneteenth
Beyoncé did not let Juneteenth pass without dropping one of her signature surprises — a new single called “Black Parade.””I’m going back to the South, I’m going back where my roots ain’t watered down,” Beyoncé sings, opening the track. At several points on Friday’s release, the singer tells listeners to “Follow my parade.”Proceeds from the song will benefit black-owned small businesses, a message entitled “Black Parade Route” on the singer’s website said. The post included links to dozens of black-owned businesses.”Happy Juneteenth. Being Black is your activism. Black excellence is a form of protest. Black joy is your right,” the message said.Juneteenth commemorates when the last enslaved African Americans learned they were free. While the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the South beginning Jan. 1, 1863, it wasn’t enforced in many places until after the end of the Civil War two years later. Confederate soldiers surrendered in April 1865, but word didn’t reach the last enslaved black people until June 19, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to Galveston, Texas.”We got rhythm, we got pride, we birth kings, we birth tribes,” Beyoncé sings toward the end of the nearly five-minute song.Juneteenth — typically a day of both joy and pain — was marked with new urgency this year, amid weekslong protests over police brutality and racism sparked by the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man, in police custody.Beyoncé spoke out on social media in the wake of Floyd’s death.”We’re broken and we’re disgusted. We cannot normalize this pain,” she said in an Instagram video that called for people to sign a petition demanding justice for Floyd.The singer also joined the call for charges against the officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor, who was gunned down in March by officers who burst into her Kentucky home. Beyoncé wrote in a letter Sunday to Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron that the three Louisville police officers “must be held accountable for their actions.” Cameron has asked for patience amid a probe, but Louisville’s mayor announced Friday that one of the officers would be fired.The release of “Black Parade” is the singer’s latest philanthropic effort. In April she announced her BeyGOOD charity would partner with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s Start Small campaign to provide $6 million in relief funds to a variety of groups working to provide basic necessities in cities like Detroit, Houston, New York and New Orleans.It’s also the latest surprise release from the singer, who along with husband Jay-Z released the nine-track album “Everything Is Love” in 2018 with no notice. In 2013, Beyoncé released the self-titled album “Beyoncé,” also without any notice.”I hope we continue to share joy and celebrate each other, even in the midst of struggle,” she wrote in an Instagram post announcing the release of “Black Parade.” “Please continue to remember our beauty, strength and power.”
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Giant Footprints Linked to Predatory Australian Dinosaur
Giant footprints found in a disused coal mine belong to Australia’s biggest predatory dinosaur, according to new research.Analysis by the University of Queensland estimates this huge meat-eating predator was about 10 meters long, almost as big as a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The tracks were found in the ceilings of old coal mines in the 1950s but were only recently scientifically examined.For years, they lay untouched in a museum but have now been investigated by paleontologist Anthony Romilio. He said they are likely to have been made by a fearsome prehistoric creature. His study is published in the journal Historical Biology.Romilio says while no bones have been found, the tracks provide a fascinating window into the distant past.“We find many more footprints than what we do skeletons, and we can tell by the shape that this particular animal was a meat-eating dinosaur,” he said. “We can tell by the size — nearly 80 centimeters in length — that the animal that made them had legs about 3 meters long, and probably a body up to 10 meters long. We can tell the environments in which they lived as well as the community of dinosaurs.”Dinosaur bones and fossils have been found in most parts of Australia, but the continent’s flat, exposed landscape is not considered suitable for preserving the remains of the ancient creatures.However, the state of Queensland has provided some significant discoveries.Fossils indicate it was home to an Ankylosaurus, which was covered in bony armor to protect it from carnivores.The Muttaburrasaurus was named after the small town of Muttaburra in Queensland, and was a huge herbivore, up to 8 meters tall, with a beak and sharp teeth for eating plants. Scientists believe it would have lived in forests near the edge of a giant inland sea that covered vast areas of central Australia 110 million years ago.Many dinosaur species became extinct around 66 million years ago, but their descendants still exist in abundance today: birds.
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Police Use of Facial Recognition Technology Raises Alarm in Wake of George Floyd Death
Activists want to ban police from using facial recognition — and now some big tech companies are scaling back cooperation with law enforcement. Deana Mitchell reports.Camera: Deana Mitchell Produced by: Deana Mitchell
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Boy Who Sang of Being Young Black Man Signs Recording Contract
Keedron Bryant, the 12-year-old who grabbed attention on social media with his passionate performance about being a young black man in today’s world, has signed a deal with Warner Records. The song’s official release on Friday coincides with Juneteenth, which commemorates the emancipation of slaves in the U.S. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo reports.
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US Insurers Eye Legionnaires’ Disease Safeguards as Buildings Reopen From Lockdowns
Commercial insurers are scrutinizing building managers’ efforts to avoid outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease as they reopen movie theaters, gyms, schools and offices that had been closed for months because of the coronavirus pandemic, industry sources told Reuters. Legionnaires’ disease is a severe, sometimes lethal form of pneumonia caused by the Legionella bacteria that build up in pipes. Environmental insurers, which collect roughly $2 billion in annual premiums, would be on the hook for damages if there are outbreaks at buildings they cover. “Legionella could be the deadliest waterborne illness in the U.S. and another deadly consequence of COVID,” said Veronica Benzinger, environmental service group leader for insurance broker Aon plc, referring to the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. The pandemic shutdown of businesses and schools has led to an unprecedented amount of stagnant water in dormant buildings. It becomes a breeding ground for Legionella bacteria, which can be spread from toilets, sinks, showers and air-conditioning systems. Some insurers are intensifying Legionnaires’ precautions before adding new clients or renewing coverage, insurers and brokers said. For instance, they may ask customers to document how they maintain plumbing and cooling systems. Large commercial office buildings and manufacturing plants have professional maintenance staff who likely kept water flowing throughout the crisis. Smaller buildings that insurers cover are at higher risk, experts said. To avoid contamination, they must flush and sanitize pipes and disinfect cooling towers that use water to lower air temperature, they said. The bacteria and disease get their name from a deadly outbreak following a 1976 American Legion convention in a Philadelphia hotel. The bacteria were ultimately discovered in the cooling tower of the hotel’s air-conditioning system. Nearly 50,000 people were infected with Legionnaires’ disease between 2000 and 2015, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preparing buildingsAllianz SE has added Legionnaires’ prevention to broader discussions with large industrial clients about the coronavirus pandemic, said Scott Steinmetz, global head of risk consulting within MidCorp, part of an Allianz specialty insurance unit. Allianz has engineers helping customers prepare for reopening, he said. Allianz and AXA SA are also sending bulletins to clients about water system maintenance. Insurers might limit Legionnaire’s coverage amounts or impose higher deductibles if building systems are outdated, brokers said. Insurers were already worried about possible outbreaks, because of elevated lawsuits and claims. They are stepping up their scrutiny even more because of the coronavirus pandemic. In April, Illinois agreed to pay $6.4 million to families of patients who died of Legionnaires’ disease at a state-run veterans home. Other deaths have occurred in New York and Michigan.
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Humanitarian Air Service Could Run Out of Money
The U.N.’s World Food Program says its humanitarian air service could stop at the end of July without more funds to keep operating.
The service transports food, health supplies and other necessities to millions of poor, vulnerable people around the world. The thousands of aid workers flown to emergency hot spots provide people with urgent assistance they need but could not otherwise receive.
The service is at risk because the World Food Program has received only 14 percent of the $965 million it needs to keep functioning. WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said global aid operations will be severely compromised if the service shuts down.
“Hospitals in developing countries would not receive desperately needed medical supplies,” she said. “Health centers serving pregnant women and undernourished children would not receive life-saving nutritional products for the prevention and treatment of malnutrition.” The WFP said if a substantial amount of money is not donated by the end of the first week of July, its global network of passengers and cargo services in support of the humanitarian community will stop at the end of July.
“With the pandemic showing no signs of abating, it is crucial that the response does not stop now when it is needed most,” Byrs said. In recent months, WFP leaders say the air service has transported huge volumes of urgently needed medical supplies, including personal protective equipment, face masks and ventilators, as well as staff from scores of aid organizations.
During that time, it says WFP-contracted air ambulances have carried out 16 medical evacuations.
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‘Hamilton,’ ‘Phantom’ Will Be Off London Stages Until 2021
Some of London’s biggest West End shows, including “Hamilton” and “The Phantom of the Opera,” won’t reopen until next year, producers announced Wednesday, as arts bodies warned that Britain faces a “cultural catastrophe” because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Producer Cameron Mackintosh, his producing partners and his Delfont Mackintosh Theatres group said “Hamilton,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” Mary Poppins” and “Les Miserables,” would return “as early as practical in 2021.”
The company said it was talking to staff about “potential redundancies.”
Mackintosh, one of Britain’s biggest and wealthiest theater producers, said the decision was “heartbreaking” and criticized Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government for offering stage producers “no tangible practical support beyond offers to go into debt, which I don’t want to do.”
He said the government’s “inability to say when the impossible constraints of social distancing will be lifted makes it equally impossible for us to properly plan for whatever the new future is.”
Music, theater, art, design, architecture and publishing generate billions for the British economy each year, but the country’s clubs, theaters, cinemas, concert halls and art galleries shut down in March as part of a nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Shops and outdoor spaces such as zoos are now starting to reopen, but indoor venues remain closed because of social distancing rules that require people to remain two meters (6 ½ feet) apart.
The government says it’s reviewing the distance rule amid pressure from retailers, restaurateurs and others to cut it to one meter (three feet).
The government has penciled in a July 4 re-opening date for pubs and restaurants, but Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden acknowledged that “it is going to be exceptionally difficult” for theaters to open.
Dowden said at a news conference that he planned to gather representatives from theaters, choirs and orchestras with medical experts in the next week to work on a “road map” for safe performances.
A study released Wednesday by research firm Oxford Economics projected that the U.K.’s creative industries could lose 74 billion pounds ($93 billion) in revenue this year and a fifth of the U.K.’s 2 million creative-sector jobs could disappear.
Chief executive Caroline Norbury of the Creative Industries Federation, which lobbies for arts and culture, said that “without additional government support, we are heading for a cultural catastrophe.”
“Thousands of world-leading creative businesses are set to close their doors, hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost and billions will be lost to our economy,” she said.
Norbury and other culture-sector leaders called on the government to set up a “cultural renewal fund” and continue support programs that have supported self-employed people and furloughed workers during the lockdown. The Treasury plans to scale back the programs in the next few months.
A letter to the government signed by almost 100 theater artists including actors James McAvoy and Wendell Pierce and “Fleabag” creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge warned that “British theater is on the brink of ruin.”
“The pandemic has brought theater to its knees,” the letter said. “Theaters do not have the money to operate viably with physical distancing. It is difficult to see venues opening before the end of the year.”
Dowden said the government was looking at “what further support we can give” to the arts.
“I know how essential our theaters, our music venues and the performing arts are to our wider cultural ecosystem,” he said. “Culture is our calling card.”
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