Post No. 1,564 - In this week’s news

Stay safe - wash your hands, practice social distancing, and follow informed medical advice - and be considerate towards those at risk or in situations of vulnerability (including economic) while the COVID-19 pandemic is a problem.

This is a new, very cut down series of posts based on some observations on matters that struck a personal note: unlike the former “Gnwmythr’s News”, it is not trying to convey key events.

Content Warning: the linked articles and their descriptions here may be about violence, abuse, hate, and other problems.

My articles this week include:   in defence of democracy;   on education.

On personal / spiritual matters:   the loss of talking;   reflection;   shrinking . . . .

In this week’s news:   the search for Russian soldiers from WW2;   the need for less frantic parenting;   a book on early human rights work - behind the Iron Curtain;   the real Lord of the Flies - which occurred in the Pacific, 15 years after the book was published, was quite positive;   “our secret superpower is our ability to cooperate”;   a suggestion that steel making could be green if based on hydrogen;   staggering levels of assaults on school principals;   why our cat is an indoor cat;   the harvesting of an indigenous grass.

In the environmental arena, where we have been fighting World War III for some time now:   increasing heat and humidity waves;   Australia’s GHG emissions have not reduced as much as others;   millions will be “trapped indoors” by extreme heat by 2060;   Norway’s sovereign wealth fund’s divestment includes one Australian company (over coal), with another put on a watch list;
Other environmental matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   Brazil (deforestation in the Amazon basin);   more on the circular economy;   another call for a green recovery;   urban air quality has improved because of the lockdown. 

On human and animal rights:
   more appalling attacks on human rights in Australia;   the ignored issue of social class;
   a controversial religious figure who knew and failed to act on child abuse is unlikely to be charged . . . but his church is facing hundreds of claims;   a notorious bigot has resigned;
   police who conducted illegal strip searches in NSW will not be punished;   abusive police in Peru will be protected by new laws;   Hong Kong police have also been cleared on their violence . . . ;   police in Guinea have killed six protestors;
   an LGBTIQ+ youth homelessness fund;   a person charged with a cold case suspected gay hate murder may be positioning themself for a gay panic defence or manslaughter charge;   utter stupidity has led to homophobic hate crimes in Morocco;   an activist in Fiji;   transphobia in the UK;
   concerns about repressive regimes that may be elected to the UN Human Rights Council;
   a world class misogynistic bigot / cretin in Australia said a woman would get breast cancer from playing footy;
   West Papua’s struggle for independence is increasingly violent - and hidden;
   European navy’s are switching from sending refugees back to atrocities to stopping arms running;
   the pandemic has shown the importance of secure housing;
   Israel is forcing Palestinians into almost ghetto-like conditions;   more condemnation of Israel’s plan to annex the West bank;
   anger is a useful motivator for human rights.
Immigration and refugee matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   Malaysia;   Nigeria/Niger;   USA/Mexico;
racism matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   children;   USA;   USA;   Australia (jailing of indigenous youth);
trafficking/slavery/child abuse matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   UK;   UK;   Eritrea / Europe;
LGBTIQ+ matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   Australia;   early 20^th century Germany (good news);   UK;   Brazil (good news);   Germany (good news);   USA;   Europe;   Costa Rica;   Panama;   Japan;
sexism matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   China;
other freedom of the press matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   Australia;
other civil & political rights matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   Saudi Arabia (disappeared);   Kyrgyzstan;   Kyrgyzstan;   Syria;   Uzbekistan; and
other matters (good and bad) have occurred in:   Venezuela.

In the related human rights arena of employment:   the ongoing need for workplace flexibility;   wages are looking even more sickly;   India.

Risks or occurrences of atrocities, mass violence and/or war(s) this week in:   the misogynistic violent extremists in Afghanistan have shown their true baby killer colours by attacking a maternity hospital;   spending continues on nuclear weapons;   the pandemic may decrease the risks of inter-state conflict but increase the risks of intra-state conflict;   Syria (attacks on medical staff, and need to lift aid restrictions);   landmines;   Thailand (lack of accountability for past massacre);   skirmishes on the “China”(Tibet)-India border;   Mali;   Niger - and here;   Libya/Turkey;   Canadian police ignored warnings of the violence of the person who committed a recent mass murder;   DR Congo - and here;   Sudan - and here, here, here, and here;   Nigeria;   Mozambique;   Israel;   Israel;   a warning that Israel annexing the West Bank would cause massive conflict;   the importance of accurately measuring violent extremists’ impacts;   burma.

In the governance, politics, public ethics, and society arena:   ongoing ethical concerns in Australia, including more evidence of abuse of position in the “sports rort” affair;   people in the UK want quality of life ahead of the economy;   some compensation from banks for their past abuses;   Australia’s unpreparedness for cyberwar;   traumatising admissions in one city have led to some mental health patients avoiding hospital - and the response seems defensive;   “making cyberspace safe for democracy”;   the Australia-China disagreement over barley and the “unimaginative” (I would say human-rights-denying or just stupid) response of businesses and those focused on the economy to problems between China - which has a track record of hiding its economic coercion - and Australia;   a major tech company has paid a large tax assessment;   Malaysia’s amateurish government needs an opposition.

On disasters this week:   two cyclones and pandemic in Haiti;   a cyclone in the Philippines;   floods (and war) in Yemen;   locusts in Pakistan;   more details on the problems with post-bushfire aid.

Internationally:   more than a dozen deaths from a friendly fire incident in Iran;   third time lucky for forming a government in Iraq;   the standings of China and the USA have both suffered;   opportunities in Iraq.

In Africa:   protests against Kenya’s distrusted government;   suspicious deaths in custody in Burkina Faso will be investigated;   a Ponzi scheme is being run by a mobile banking platform in Zimbabwe;   Egypt is still relocating its capital;   action against corruption in Nigeria and DR Congo.

On the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus (there are other novel coronaviruses) (seven major risks to watch here, and seven sins of thought to avoid here):
   discussions on democracy;   another warning on the dangers on recovery (mislabelled immunity) certificates;   another speculation on what the world may be like after the pandemic;   more on managing zoonotic diseases;   a Reuters exclusive reports that US airline staff had been told not to force passengers to wear masks (no doubt to prevent violence);   corruption is killing people;

   good stories:   children may need their imaginary friends now;   foster carers;   Italy;

   medical aspects:   concerns about possible IP issues around a COVID-19 vaccine;   gambling problems;   why some places insist on a double negative test before discharging COVID-19 patients;   routine medical tests are being delayed - leading to clinics applying for help to stay open;   lack of knowledge on the difference between bacterial and viral infections;   with an article this week on the human costs of lockdown, the imminent global mental health crisis;   the virus may never go away;

   human rights aspects (crisis . . . running summary of impacts on elections here):   increased online risks for children;   impact on LGBTIQ people;   racist police responses;   a “tsunami of xenophobia and hate”;   the pandemic has reached Rohingya refugee camps, and is impacting refugees generally, including in South Sudan;   genetic privacy risks;   China is using the pandemic to increase religious oppression;   a deportation from the USA illustrates several human rights aspects;   inequality shows in the pandemic’s fatalities;   Colombia;   South Korea;   Uganda;   Lebanon (failure to consider people with disabilities);   how to address the educational risks for children;   remember older people;   prisoner releases are excluding children;   requests for visa extensions on compassionate grounds have been rejected; 
   more opportunistic surveillance in:   India;
   suppression of journalism in:   Tajikistan,   the Philippines,   Bangladesh,   surrogate babies are stuck in limbo;   “more than 500 girls have been rescued from child marriage in northern Ethiopia since schools were shut due to the new coronavirus”;   Zimbabwe;
   increased opportunistic oppression / reduction of democracy in: Egypt,   Algeria,   Uganda;   Brazil;   Samoa;   Zimbabwe;   Tibet;

   environmental impacts:   Thailand;

   Australia:   a call for a better Australia after the pandemic, and a call for full employment;   calls by senior public figures to “end the ‘undemocratic ’ adjournment of parliament”;   the need for massive cultural and economic changes for people to stop going to work when ill;   dealing with high expectations;   some limited easing of restrictions;   accidental homeschoolers may continue after the pandemic;   a warning not to stop being cautious;   more on the digital divide;   a speculation on what universities might look like after the pandemic;   racism;   refugees from surveillance states will - understandably - not download the app;   police will rein in their arrogance, aggression, and authoritarianism;   some retailers are showing an appalling vindictiveness of their suppliers;   members of one Indigenous community are camping on a river bank to avoid coronavirus risks in overcrowded homes;   some men are finally realising the mental load and exhaustion of housework;   the tracing app has an update;   against a review of the benefits of “JobKeeper and JobSeeker” and economic issues generally, the looming end-of-financial-support crisis;

   internationally:   South Korea has reversed some of its easing after a spike in cases;   a fire in a Russian hospital;   some easing in the UK - but not all will;   China is trying to continue its role in Libya on a “nonaligned” basis;   legal aspects of NZ’s lockdown;   Russia appears to be choosing the wrong moment to ease restrictions;   three Gulf States are reported to have sought medical help from Israel;   India appears to be struggling;   elderly cultural guardians in South and Central America are being shielded;   concerns about flight rules in India;   Viêt Nám’s quick border closure and emphasis on testing resulted in no deaths and fewer than 300 infections - Taiwan’s approach was similar;   a US expert has testified “that states should follow health experts’ recommendations to wait for signs including a declining number of new infections before reopening”;   a railway ticket officer in the UK has died after being spat on (which is clearly assault, and either manslaughter or murder, IMO);   demand for flu shots has led to vulnerable groups not getting theirs (including me);   in Singapore, a jailing for breach of a stay home order;   Bangladesh;   Bangladesh garment factories;   the fatal false sense of security in rural USA;   small businesses in SE Asia;   more migrant works have been killed as they walk home in India;

   Africa:   plans to end civil wars have been disrupted;   Somalia;   groundwater contamination risks from mass graves;   Somalia’s capacity has been weakened by years of conflict;   Benin will still vote - and Burundi (with major concerns over fairness in the latter);   water shortages in Kenya;   no updates in Tanzania;   some easing of restrictions in Niger;

   globally:   the problem of conspiracy nutjobs;   poverty and inequality will soar;   the world’s first “travel bubble”;   physical distancing ignored at some airports (and locally, based on what I’ve seen); public transport risks;   zoos.