Saturday, July 10, 2021

In Spanien hat das Virus wieder Hochsaison

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Auf der Iberischen Halbinsel stecken sich vor allem Jüngere mit den Mutanten an. Die fünfte Corona-Welle gefährdet die spanische Sommersaison.

Die spanische Sommersaison ist in Gefahr. Nachdem die französische Regierung vor einem Spanien-Urlaub gewarnt hatte, hat die deutsche Bundesregierung am Freitag das gesamte Land zum Risikogebiet erklärt. Bisher war das nur für rund ein halbes Dutzend Regionen der Fall – allen voran Katalonien, das zum neuen Corona-Hotspot Spaniens wurde. Seit drei Wochen steigen die Fallzahlen wieder stark an. Nach Angaben des Gesundheitsministeriums lag die Sieben-Tage-Inzidenz am Freitagmittag bei 179 und am Abend bereits bei 199 Neuinfektionen pro 100.000 Einwohnern.

In Katalonien betrug die Inzidenz sogar 448. Immer mehr spanische Regionen verhängen deshalb neue Restriktionen. In Katalonien mussten am Freitag Diskotheken und Nachtclubs nach nur gut drei Wochen wieder schließen. Auf Mallorca und seinen Nachbarinseln verzichtet man auf geplante Öffnungen im Nachtleben. Valencia, die Kanaren und andere Regionalregierungen forderten die Zentralregierung dazu auf, nächtliche Ausgangssperren zu ermöglichen. » | Von Hans Christian Rößler, Madrid | Freitag, 9. Juli 2021

Sufjan Stevens - Mystery of Love – from the Soundtrack of Call Me By Your Name

Friday, July 09, 2021

Lebanon Faces Dire Crisis after the Elite Plundered the State for Decades, Exacerbating Inequality

Jul 9, 2021 • Lebanon is days away from a “social explosion,” according to the country’s prime minister, amid what the World Bank has described as one of the worst economic depressions in modern history. The country’s currency has lost more than 90% of its value, unemployment has skyrocketed, and fuel prices have soared. Most homes and businesses, and even hospitals, only have power for a few hours each day, and pharmacies are running low on medicine. The U.N. has warned over three-quarters of households in Lebanon do not have enough food or money to buy food. Lebanon is also facing a massive political crisis following the devastating explosion at the Port of Beirut last August, which killed over 200 people, injured 7,000 and left more than a quarter-million Beirut residents unhoused. Nisreen Salti, an economics professor at the American University of Beirut, says “the entire system crumbled” in Lebanon due to decades of structural inequality. “The business and political class that benefited from the system was able to plunder the economy for 20-odd years,” Salti says. We also speak with Middle East scholar Ziad Abu-Rish of Bard College. He says the economic crisis and the port explosion, for which there have been no major prosecutions, both reveal the impunity with which the country’s elites operate. “Part of the problem is the total lack of accountability,” Abu-Rish says.

Joe Cocker: Up Where We Belong

Provided to YouTube by Parlophone UK

The Beach Boys: I Can Hear Music

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group

The Beach Boys: God Only Knows (Remastered)

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group

Covid-19 : Emmanuel Macron s’adressera aux Français lundi à 20 heures ; le variant Delta « bientôt majoritaire » dans le pays, selon Olivier Véran

LE MONDE : Ce vendredi, le conseil scientifique a préconisé « une obligation vaccinale pour les soignants » ainsi que des « mesures partielles de restriction » pour cet été dans les zones les plus touchées.

Emmanuel Macron prendra la parole lundi 12 juillet à 20 heures pour s’adresser aux Français, a annoncé l’Elysée vendredi. Cette allocution intervient dans un contexte de dégradation de la situation sanitaire en raison de la propagation du variant Delta du SARS-CoV-2.

Cette allocution, prévue depuis plusieurs jours, interviendra deux mois et demi après l’entretien qu’avait donné, le 29 avril, le chef de l’Etat à la presse quotidienne régionale, et dans lequel il détaillait le calendrier du déconfinement. L’Elysée n’a pas donné de détails quant au contenu de l’intervention, mais l’entourage d’Emmanuel Macron a récemment fait savoir qu’elle avait pour objectif de définir le cap à suivre pour les dix derniers mois de la fin du quinquennat, en particulier sur des réformes telles que celle des retraites. » | Le Monde avec AFP | vendredi 9 juillet 2021

Un abonnement numérique du Monde (mensuel ou annuel) est disponible ici »

Taliban Sweep through Herat Province as Afghan Advance Continues

THE GUARDIAN: Fears grow for Kabul government after militant group seizes two key border crossings

The Taliban has swept through western Herat province, seizing two key border crossings to Iran and Turkmenistan, and much of the countryside beyond city limits.

It was the latest part of Afghanistan to collapse in the face of a rapid militant advance, during which they have taken control of areas far beyond their original southern strongholds. Their speed has fuelled fears the government in Kabul could fall within months.

In Herat, the civil war era warlord Ismail Khan called up his supporters overnight, and deployed armed units to guard key parts of the city and its outskirts. He is in his mid-70s, but called on all armed men in the city to join the fight and promised to go to the frontline himself. » | Emma Graham-Harrison in Kabul and Akhtar Mohammad Makoii in Herat | Friday, July 9, 2021

La Lituanie va construire un mur à la frontière avec la Biélorussie

LE QUOTIDIEN : La Lituanie a annoncé vendredi qu’elle allait construire un mur à la frontière avec le Bélarus, suite à une forte augmentation du nombre de migrants arrivant via ce pays.

Les forces armées de Lituanie, pays membre de l’Union européenne et de l’Otan, ont d’ores et déjà commencé à installer des barbelés le long de la frontière, une mesure rapide destinée à dissuader les migrants, pour la plupart originaires du Moyen-Orient et d’Afrique, de passer du côté lituanien. “La première étape est une clôture en fil de fer barbelé. Dans un deuxième temps, nous allons construire une clôture physique”, longue d’environ 550 kilomètres, a déclaré la ministre lituanienne de l’Intérieur, Agne Bilotaite. » | LQ/AFP | vendredi 9 juillet 2021

Call Me By Your Name | Official Trailer HD (2017)

Aug 1, 2017 • CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, the new film by Luca Guadagnino, is a sensual and transcendent tale of first love, based on the acclaimed novel by André Aciman.

It’s the summer of 1983 in the north of Italy, and Elio Perlman (Timothée Chalamet), a precocious 17- year-old American-Italian boy, spends his days in his family’s 17th century villa transcribing and playing classical music, reading, and flirting with his friend Marzia (Esther Garrel).

Elio enjoys a close relationship with his father (Michael Stuhlbarg), an eminent professor specializing in Greco-Roman culture, and his mother Annella (Amira Casar), a translator, who favor him with the fruits of high culture in a setting that overflows with natural delights. While Elio’s sophistication and intellectual gifts suggest he is already a fully-fledged adult, there is much that yet remains innocent and unformed about him, particularly about matters of the heart.

One day, Oliver (Armie Hammer), a charming American scholar working on his doctorate, arrives as the annual summer intern tasked with helping Elio’s father. Amid the sun-drenched splendor of the setting, Elio and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will alter their lives forever.



I am no film buff, but I streamed this movie two Christmases ago. It put more than a little sparkle into what would otherwise have been a pretty dull Christmas for me. If you’re feeling blue, try this fix: it is sure to buck you up. It did me; no end!

Actually, I found the movie by chance; I stumbled upon an ad for it online. God knows how it got there! You know the kind of ad I mean: one of those often bothersome ads dangling in the ether in the corner of your screen. So, without further ado and out of more than a little boredom, I clicked on it. Thank God! I had never heard of the film before. Watching that film turned out to be a Christmas-changer for me! I cannot tell you how many times I watched it over the Christmas period because I lost count!

The film hits all your senses – head on! You’ll feel as if you’re in Italy with all the characters. In a grand, old villa. It’s rather mesmerizing; it’s certainly delightful, too. Truly delightful! Warning: It is not for those without an iota of fantasy, for the boring, or for the prudes. If you are easily shocked, don’t watch it! The movie will take you on a ride. You might even end up in seventh heaven! Go for it! And enjoy! © Mark

Democracy Now! Top US & World Headlines — July 9, 2021

Climate Change in the Desert | DW Documentary

Jun 30, 2020 • Climate change is leaving its mark on Morocco’s oases, too. Sandstorms are becoming more and more frequent, groundwater levels are sinking and palm trees are shrivelling up and dying. An age-old way of life is in danger.

Halim Sbai says an oasis really is a paradise. But drought and desertification are now taking their toll on oases like M'hamid El Ghizlane in southeastern Morocco where he grew up. The survival of a whole region is at stake. Over hundreds of kilometers between the Anti-Atlas Mountains and the Sahara desert there is one palm-fringed oasis after the next. Close to two million people live in these settlements. Up to now, many earned their living by harvesting dates from the palm trees. But this is proving more and more difficult. Decreasing and irregular rainfall is having a devastating impact on the trees and their yields.

Halim Sbai is planting new palm trees and preserving as much precious water as he can in a bid to keep the oasis of M'hamid El Ghizlane and the region’s traditional way of life alive. Up to now, he has also been supplementing his income with earnings from tourism. Global warming could put an end to all this.


Jetzt auch in der Schweiz: Ehe für alle kann kommen

Jun 11, 2020 • Das Schweizer Parlament hat den Weg dafür freigemacht, homosexuelle Paare heterosexuellen gleichzustellen. Heißt: Ehe für alle, Adoptionsrecht und die Möglichkeit künstlicher Befruchtung für lesbische Paare.


Der Weg wurde vom Ständerat am 1. Dezember 2020 für „Ehe für Alle“ freigemacht; das Referendum soll am 26. September dieses Jahr stattfinden. – Mark

Gladys Berejiklian Faces Instability Within as a Covid Storm Brews Outside

THE GUARDIAN: Disgruntled cabinet colleagues touting a plan B are making NSW premier’s job of imposing a lockdown on the public even harder

The New South Wales premier, Gladys Berejiklian, emerged from her crisis briefing at the Department of Health on Friday looking more stressed – with good reason.

All the signs are that NSW is losing control of this outbreak of the Delta strain of Covid-19, despite the increasingly stringent lockdown rules.

“To 8pm last night there were 44 cases of community transmission. Regrettably, 29 of those were either partially or fully exposed to the community and that is the number that is really concerning us,” Berejiklian said on Friday.

“It tells us that both the case numbers and unfortunately the number of people who may be exposed or have been exposed in the community is going to go up.” » | Anne Davies | Friday, July 9, 2021

Cold, wet and windy weather ahead for Sydney could pose added risk in Covid lockdown »

NSW Covid update: stronger restrictions for Sydney as Gladys Berejiklian flags lockdown extension »

Attacke in Spanien: «Vom Patriarchat getötet»

TAGES ANZEIGER: In Spanien stirbt ein 24-jähriger homosexueller Mann nach einem Angriff auf offener Strasse. Zehntausende protestieren gegen das Hassverbrechen.

Es war am vergangenen Samstag gegen drei Uhr morgens, als der 24-jährige Samuel L. zusammen mit ein paar Freundinnen vor einer Diskothek im galicischen A Coruña stand. Erst am Tag zuvor hatte die Region im Nordwesten Spaniens die Discos nach langer Corona-Pause wieder aufgemacht. Samuels Freundinnen sagten hinterher, er habe per Video telefoniert, da habe ihn ein anderer junger Mann angepöbelt: Er solle aufhören, ihn zu filmen, wenn er nicht wolle, dass er ihn umbringe. Er habe Samuel einen Faustschlag verpasst. Dann hätten sich noch mehr Leute, sechs oder sieben, auf Samuel gestürzt, ihn geschlagen und getreten und mit abfälligen Ausdrücken für Homosexuelle beschimpft. Samuel L. überlebte diese Attacke nicht, er starb kurze Zeit später in einem Spital. » | Karin Janker aus Madrid | Donnerstag, 8. Juli 2021

Bangladesh: plus de 50 morts dans le gigantesque incendie d'une usine

LE POINT : Au moins 52 personnes ont péri et une trentaine ont été blessées selon les autorités vendredi dans un gigantesque incendie qui a ravagé une usine près de Dacca au Bangladesh, où de nombreux ouvriers ont dû sauter par les fenêtres pour échapper au brasier.

On ignorait encore vendredi le nombre total de personnes qui se trouvaient dans le bâtiment de six étages situé à Rupganj, une ville industrielle proche de la capitale. Et des familles continuaient d'attendre des nouvelles de leurs proches près de l'usine qui était toujours la proie des flammes. » | Source AFP | vendredi 9 juillet 2021

James Taylor : How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved by You)

ClioHughes : Siccome trovavo solo versioni live, ho pensato di caricare la canzone originale. Tutti i diritti riservati ©

The Eagles : Lyin' Eyes (Remastered)

Nov 1, 2018 • Provided to YouTube by Rhino/Elektra

The Eagles : Hotel California (Remastered)

Nov 1, 2018 • Provided to YouTube by Rhino/Elektra

Pro LGBT Protest against New Hungarian Law

EURONEWS: Hungarian civil organisations protested against a new law that Budapest says cracks down on paedophilia and critics argue is an attack on the LGBT community.

In Budapest, protesters set up a 10-metre tall heart balloon in the colours of the rainbow. The EU has also expressed outrage over the law.

This is a homophobic and transphobic law that blames the LGBTQ community for the crimes against children. So it makes consensual love of two people equal to a crime. It is unacceptable. – Dávid Vig Director of Amnesty International Hungary

But late modifications included a ban on the "display or promotion" of homosexuality and gender reassignment to under-18s, as well as restrictions on sex education in schools. » | Catriona O’Sullivan | Updated: Thursday, July 8, 2021