Warum Ex-Raucher zunehmen

DW: Wer mit dem Rauchen aufhört, wird dicker. Es wurde viel spekuliert, woran das liegen könnte - jetzt scheint die Ursache des Dilemmas geklärt zu sein. Und die hat nichts mit zu viel Schokolade oder Eis zu tun.

Rauchen ist ungesund. Punkt. Das ist so - ohne wenn und aber. Logische Konsequenz? Aufhören. Würden viele Raucher auch gerne, ist aber gar nicht so einfach. Ein Grund für viele, weiterzuqualmen ist die Angst, zuzunehmen. Und die scheint durchaus berechtigt zu sein. Etwa 80 Prozent der Raucher, die sich entschließen aufzuhören, nehmen danach durchschnittlich sieben Kilo zu. Das ist viel und vor allem frustrierend, da es nicht an zu viel Kompensations-Schokolade liegt. Auch Ex-Raucher, die gleichviel oder sogar weniger Kalorien als vor dem Rauchstopp zu sich nehmen, legen an Gewicht zu. » | Judith Harti | Donnerstag, 29. August 2013

Viel Schall um Rauch »

Rauchen gestattet: Wieso die Zigarette zum Film gehört »

Dollars vs Decency: Is China Taking Over New Zealand? | 60 Minutes Australia

In calling out China for its increasing aggression, human rights violations and COVID cover-ups, Australia is paying a hefty price for storming the high moral ground. A furious Beijing is doing everything it can, using trade tariffs to punish us economically. But across the Tasman it’s a completely different story. New Zealand has been much more circumspect – critics say weak – when it comes to its relationship with China. However, the tactic is being rewarded. Trade with China is booming, and the Kiwi economy is flying high. Despite the apparent prosperity, questions are being asked about the ethics of prioritising dollars over decency. And it’s clearly a touchy subject as reporter Tom Steinfort discovered when he tried to discuss the issue with an uncharacteristically sensitive New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern.

Dairy Milk May Lower Cholesterol and Reduce Coronary Heart Disease Risk

MEDICAL NEWS TODAY: A new study suggests that drinking dairy milk may lower cholesterol levels. / The study consists of a meta-analysis of three surveys involving over 400,000 individuals. / The scientists found that even though drinking milk leads to higher body mass index (BMI) and body fat, it still lowers the risk of coronary heart disease.

Dairy milk is a complex substance. For example, it contains 18 out of 20 essential proteins and amino acids, but it also contains saturated fats.

Perhaps this is why attempts to definitively identify its role in cardiometabolic diseases and its effect on cholesterol levels have produced conflicting results.

A newly published study from the University of Reading in the United Kingdom attempts to resolve such contradictions. The study is based on a meta-analysis of three existing large population studies.

The authors conclude that people who consume dairy milk have lower levels of both types of cholesterol and a lower risk of coronary heart disease than people who do not drink milk. » | Robby Berman | Friday, May 28, 2021

An Arms Race in America: Gun Buying Spiked During the Pandemic. It’s Still Up.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Preliminary research data show that about a fifth of all Americans who bought guns last year were first-time gun owners. Sales usually spike around elections, but the sheer volume is notable.

WASHINGTON — It was another week with another horrific mass shooting. In cities across the country, gun homicides were climbing. Democrats and Republicans argued over the causes. President Biden said enough.

But beneath the timeworn political cycle on guns in the United States, the country’s appetite for firearms has only been increasing, with more being bought by more Americans than ever before.

While gun sales have been climbing for decades — they often spike in election years and after high-profile crimes — Americans have been on an unusual, prolonged buying spree fueled by the coronavirus pandemic, the protests last summer and the fears they both stoked.

In March last year, federal background checks, a rough proxy for purchases, topped one million in a week for the first time since the government began tracking them in 1998. And the buying continued, through the protests in the summer and the election in the fall, until a week this spring broke the record with 1.2 million background checks. » | Sabrina Tavernise | Saturday, May 29, 2021

Americans are stuck on stupid! Unfortunately, you can't fix stupid. – © Mark

Phone Intercepts Shine More Light on Jordanian Prince’s Alleged Coup Attempt

THE GUARDIAN: Discussions took place before Prince Hamzah was put under house arrest

Aides to the former Jordanian heir Prince Hamzah sought pledges of allegiance on his behalf from tribal leaders and former military officers in the weeks before he was detained, conversations caught on phone intercepts and listening devices suggest.

The recordings are key pieces of evidence in the Jordanian government’s case against two men accused of acting as proxies for Hamzah in a failed attempt to oust his half-brother, King Abdullah, as monarch. Both men – Bassem Awadallah, a former envoy to Saudi Arabia, and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a cousin of the king – are expected to stand trial in Amman starting on Monday.

The calls and intercepts, which have been heard by the Guardian, took place over three weeks in March, a period in which officials say Hamzah tried to rally support from figures who could elevate what officials describe as a seditious plot into a serious challenge to Abdullah’s reign. » | Martin Chulov and Michael Safi | Sunday, May 30, 2021

Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds Marry in Secret Ceremony

THE OBSERVER: Pair exchanged vows at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday, according to newspapers

Boris Johnson has married Carrie Symonds at Westminster Cathedral in a ceremony planned in strict secrecy, according to newspapers.

The pair exchanged vows in front of a small group of close friends and family on Saturday, the Mail on Sunday and the Sun newspaper reported.

The ceremony had been planned for six months and a handful of church officials were involved in the preparation, according to the Sun.

The 30 guests invited, the maximum number under current lockdown restrictions, were said to have been informed only at the last minute. » | Nadeem Badshah | Saturday, May 29, 2021

Mail on Sunday: Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds wed in secret ceremony at Catholic Westminster Cathedral in front of 30 guests – the first Prime Minister to marry while in office for 199 years »

Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds marry in secret ceremony »

The Observer View on Deadly Government Incompetence>

THE OBSERVER: Dominic Cummings’ account confirmed what many knew – the government was unprepared for the pandemic and has remained that way for its duration

That Boris Johnson lacks the leadership skills, capability and integrity to guide the country through a national emergency is not a new insight: it has been clear for months. But the significance of Dominic Cummings’ testimony to the House of Commons last week was that the prime minister’s former adviser provided more evidence of Johnson’s culpability for decisions that cost countless lives.

Cummings himself is a man lacking in integrity, who will for ever be associated with the electoral deceit and the implicit racism of the Vote Leave campaign during the Brexit referendum. Although he expressed what appeared to be genuine contrition for his role in the policy disasters that caused people to die, he is unlikely to be a wholly reliable narrator. But that does not mean his account of what happened during his time advising Johnson can be dismissed out of hand. Much of what he said last week accords with what we already know in relation to Johnson’s failures and rings true about his well-established character flaws. » | Observer editorial | Sunday, May 10, 2021

Covid Deaths in US Fall to Level Not Seen Since March 2020 | The Mehdi Hasan Show

With Covid cases receding in the United States and Americans readjusting to life before the pandemic, Anand Giridharadas reflects on the lessons he hopes society has learned in the 14 months in between.

How Does North Korea Finance a Nuclear Weapons Program? | DW Documentary

How is it possible that North Korea can finance a nuclear weapons program? One of the poorest countries in the world is even able to worry the United States with its nuclear arsenal. The answer lies in the criminal activities of "Office 39".

The organization "Office 39" is a secret division of the government. Its goal is to obtain foreign currency by any means possible, providing Kim Jong Un’s totalitarian regime with financial resources. Drugs, counterfeit money, human trafficking, insurance fraud: nothing is off-limits for these North Korean gangsters. This documentary reveals their most spectacular schemes, and lays bare the sensational methods that have allowed the isolated country to circumvent UN sanctions and build up its nuclear program over a period of decades.

Rachat de la Metro Goldwyn Mayer : le cinéma selon Amazon

LE MONDE: Mercredi 26 mai, le groupe de Jeff Bezos a déboursé 8,45 milliards de dollars pour acquérir le studio et son catalogue de 4 000 films. Cet achat à prix d’or est une nouvelle illustration du pari que l’entreprise américaine fait sur le streaming, au détriment des salles de cinéma traditionnelles.

Editorial du « Monde ». Que ne ferait-on pas pour tenter de devenir le roi de la jungle du divertissement ? Amazon a signé, mercredi 26 mai, un chèque de 8,45 milliards de dollars (6,92 milliards d’euros) pour capturer le célèbre lion rugissant de la Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM). Cette opération constitue une nouvelle étape du mouvement de concentration dans le secteur de la production cinématographique, sous la pression de la montée en puissance des sites de streaming, c’est-à-dire de diffusion de contenus en continu sur Internet. Les principales plates-formes, comme Netflix, Hulu (Disney), Apple ou Amazon, cherchent à étoffer leurs catalogues à marche forcée pour attirer de plus en plus d’abonnés. » | Éditorial, Le Monde | jeudi 27 mai 2021

A Dangerous Cult Now Runs Britain – The Worshippers at the Temple of Johnson

THE GUARDIAN: No matter what the prime minister does, no matter the consequences, his devotees line up to heatedly excuse it

Last night’s Downing Street coronavirus briefing was given by Matt Hancock, now identifiable only by his dental records. According to Dominic Cummings, Hancock was a serial liar at a deadly level who should have been sacked 15 or 20 times. According to himself, Matt Hancock “threw a ring around care homes”. It would have been a lot better if he’d thrown the ring into Mount Doom instead.

Elsewhere, it has emerged that a government that came to power promising to control our borders has allowed 1.59 million – ONE POINT FIVE NINE MILLION – travellers to fly into the UK in the four lockdown months from January to April alone , two-thirds of whom were not UK nationals. If we don’t open up fully in three weeks, make sure to thank the Conservatives by popping a couple more points on their poll ratings.

So yes: you’ve heard a lot of denials over the past 24 hours. But the biggest UK repository of denial remains the polls, where no revelation of incompetence or failure impacts other than positively for the government. A midweek poll saw the Conservatives climb six points, to 44%, which feels about perfect for a country where at that moment Cummings was claiming industrial levels of lying, incompetence and contempt for elderly and vulnerable people, and spiking it all with such details as Boris Johnson wanting Chris Whitty to inject him with the virus live on TV. Remember, even Donald Trump at his maddest only wanted other people to inject the disinfectant. » | Marina Hyde | Friday, May 28, 2021

German Voters’ View of Personal Wealth Causes Problems for the Left

THE GUARDIAN: Analysis: left-of-centre parties struggle to cut through as survey shows ‘everyone thinks they are middle class’

It is a country with levels of wealth inequality more similar to the US than France, and one where the richest 10% of the population already owned two-thirds of the national wealth before the pandemic further widened the gap.

Yet the inequality of German society and how to fix it is likely to play a minor role in the race to September elections this year, with those parties expected to offer solutions – the centre-left Social Democratic party (SPD) and the leftwing Die Linke – struggling in the polls.

A new study offers answers why, showing how a central perception fallacy among the German electorate on questions of income and wealth creates a major obstacle for the traditional left. » | Philip Oltermann in Berlin | Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Number of Smokers Has Reached All-time High of 1.1 Billion, Study Finds

THE GUARDIAN: Governments told to focus on stopping young from taking up habit that killed 8 million people in 2019

Smoking killed almost 8 million people in 2019 and the number of smokers rose as the habit was picked up by young people around the world, according to new research.

A study published in the Lancet on Thursday said efforts to curb the habit had been outstripped by population growth with 150 million more people smoking in the nine years from 1990, reaching an all-time high of 1.1 billion.

The study’s authors said governments need to focus on reducing the uptake of smoking among young people, as 89% of new smokers were addicted by the age of 25 but beyond that age were unlikely to start.

“Young people are particularly vulnerable to addiction, and with high rates of cessation remaining elusive worldwide, the tobacco epidemic will continue for years to come unless countries can dramatically reduce the number of new smokers starting each year,” said the study’s lead author Marissa Reitsma, a researcher at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Though the prevalence of smoking has reduced globally over the past three decades, it increased for men in 20 countries and for women in 12. Just 10 countries made up two-thirds of the world’s smoking population: China, India, Indonesia, the US, Russia, Bangladesh, Japan, Turkey, Vietnam and the Philippines. One in three tobacco smokers (341 million) live in China. » | Kaamil Ahmed | Thursday, May 27, 2021

South Africa tobacco ban greeted with cigarette smuggling boom »

QAnon Now as Popular in U.S. as Some Major Religions, Poll Suggests

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Fifteen percent of Americans believe that “patriots may have to resort to violence” to restore the country’s rightful order, the poll indicated.

As hopes fade for a bipartisan inquiry into the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, it’s increasingly clear that the Republican base remains in thrall to the web of untruths spun by Donald J. Trump — and perhaps even more outlandish lies, beyond those of the former president’s making.

A federal judge warned in an opinion yesterday that Mr. Trump’s insistence on the “big lie” — that the November election was stolen from him — still posed a serious threat. Presiding over the case of a man accused of storming Congress on Jan. 6, Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the United States District Court in Washington wrote: “The steady drumbeat that inspired defendant to take up arms has not faded away. Six months later, the canard that the election was stolen is being repeated daily on major news outlets and from the corridors of power in state and federal government, not to mention in the near-daily fulminations of the former president.”

But it’s not just the notion that the election was stolen that has caught on with the former president’s supporters. QAnon, an outlandish and ever-evolving conspiracy theory spread by some of Mr. Trump’s most ardent followers, has significant traction with a segment of the public — particularly Republicans and Americans who consume news from far-right sources. » | Giovanni Russonello | Thursday, May 27, 2021

‘House of One’: Berlin Lays First Stone for Multi-faith Worship Centre

THE GUARDIAN: Construction begins on project that will unite Muslims, Jews and Christians under one roof

Muslims, Jews and Christians are to be united for worship under one roof in Berlin in a groundbreaking project called ‘House of One’.

The cornerstone of the multi-denominational temple was laid in the German capital on Thursday with supporters saying they hoped it would forge greater understanding between the three religions.

A mosque, a synagogue and a church will be combined on the site on Leipziger Strasse, in the area where Berlin has its historical origins, and on the former foundations of a 13th-century church, the Petrikirche, which was badly damaged during second world war bombing and pulled down during communism. » | Kate Connolly in Berlin | Thursday, May 27, 2021

Lisa Shaw Death: BBC Presenter Had Blood Clots after AstraZeneca Jab, Family Says

THE GUARDIAN: Radio Newcastle broadcaster had severe headaches a week after vaccine and fell seriously ill days later, relatives say

The award-winning BBC radio presenter Lisa Shaw died in hospital after suffering blood clots following her AstraZeneca vaccination, her family has said.

The 44-year-old, who was a well-known broadcaster in the north-east of England and had worked for BBC Radio Newcastle since 2015, developed severe headaches a week after having the jab and fell seriously ill a few days later, relatives said in a statement.

Shaw died at the Royal Victoria infirmary in Newcastle on Friday last week after being treated in intensive care for blood clots and bleeding. She was surrounded by family, the statement said. » | Lucy Campbell | Thursday, May 27, 2021

Switzerland Walks Out of Seven-year Treaty Talks with EU

THE GUARDIAN: Swiss say terms unacceptable despite Brussels’ claims they are better than those offered to UK

Switzerland has walked out of talks on a closer trading relationship with the European Union despite being offered better terms than the UK in key areas, EU officials have claimed.

On Wednesday the country’s foreign minister, Ignazio Cassis, pulled the plug on long-running discussions with the EU, saying that Berne’s conditions were “not met”.

Switzerland, while outside the EU, is the bloc’s fourth biggest trading partner and its economy is closely integrated with those of the 27 member states. Citizens of Switzerland and the EU member states have a mutual right to free movement.

But the Swiss government claimed it could not accept the EU’s demands to maintain and deepen ties as they would be rejected in a legally required referendum on a deal. » | Daniel Boffey in Brussels | Thursday, May 27, 2021

Navy Pilots Recall “Unsettling” 2004 Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP) Sighting

Cmdr. Dave Fravor and Lt. Cmdr. Alex Dietrich were training with the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group when the encounter occurred.

Bashar Al-Assad’s Political Advisor Slams US, Israel & Turkey: All of Syria Will Be Liberated!

On this episode of Going Underground, we speak to the political advisor to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad Bouthaina Shaaban, she discusses the Presidential Elections being held in Syria for the first time since 2014, accusations by NATO countries that the elections are a farce and the presence of international observers from Russia, China, India, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and other nations to observe the elections, the occupation of Syria by Israel, the US and Turkey and President Assad’s pledge to liberate every inch of Syria, the redefining of the international order away from Western countries, reconstruction efforts in Syria after the 10-year long war, regular Israeli airstrikes on Damascus and Israel’s occupation of Palestine and recent aerial bombardment campaign against Gaza, the West’s hypocrisy on human rights, attempts to improve relations with Saudi Arabia, why there is no room for negotiations with Erdogan’s Turkey unless he withdraws from Syria and much more!

Dr. Hanan Ashrawi: ‘Two State Solution Is Dead, Israel Destroyed It... Palestine Will Not Surrender!’

We speak to Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, former member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. She discusses why the two-state solution is dead, Israel’s responsibility for destroying it the international community’s inaction over Israel’s illegal occupations, annexations and airstrikes, the 11 days of aerial bombardment of Gaza which killed 248 including 66 children and Israel’s justifications that its strikes targeted Hamas, the severe economic and human damage in Gaza following the bombardment, US-UK-EU arms sales to Israel and replenishment of arms after the 11 days of Israeli bombardment, Joe Biden’s US blocking action at the UN to pressure Israel and much more!

Boris Johnson ‘Like Out of-Control Shopping Trolley’, Dominic Cummings Tells MPs

THE GUARDIAN: Former aide says media-obsessed prime minister made constant U-turns and ignored advice of officials

Dominic Cummings has laid bare the “surreal” chaos in Downing Street in March last year as the government grappled with the Covid pandemic, portraying the prime minister as obsessed with the media and making constant U-turns, “like a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other”.

During an extraordinary evidence session to MPs at Westminster on Wednesday, Boris Johnson’s former chief aide targeted the prime minister for personal criticism, saying Johnson regretted the first lockdown and held out against imposing later restrictions, despite the advice of many people inside Downing Street, and that overall, “tens of thousands of people died who didn’t need to die”.

He claimed the prime minister had repeatedly said in respect of the first lockdown, “I should have been the mayor of Jaws and kept the beaches open,” and confirmed reports that in October, Johnson said he would see “bodies pile high” rather than order a third lockdown.

Cummings described the general situation in Downing Steet as “an out-of-control movie”. »| Heather Stewart and Peter Walker | Wednesday, May 26, 2021

The Dominic Cummings circus is an indictment of the entire governing class »

Cummings brought to life what many already knew about Johnson’s failures »

‘Mob Boss’ Assad’s Dynasty Tightens Grip over Husk of Syria

THE GUARDIAN: Country’s emergence as a mafia state leaves today’s election result in little doubt

Tyrant, war criminal, mob boss or, to his loyalists, their shrewd saviour: views about Bashar al-Assad rarely fall in between. As the Syrian leader faces a presidential poll on Wednesday – the result a foregone conclusion – a truer test of the authority he wields across a broken country has taken shape away from the political banners and faux campaigning.

In battered towns and villages, ravaged by a decade of savagery, the now veteran president has been clawing back losses, consolidating himself as the only figure who could plot a course from the ruins of the region’s most devastating modern conflict. Slowly, over the past year, Assad and his extended family have been shoring up their influence. Seldom seen during much of the crisis, he has become a fixture in what remains of Syria’s industrial heartland, visiting factories, pressing employees on their hardships, and hosting delegations with an ease few observed at the height of the fighting.

Syria’s allies Russia and Iran may have done the heavy lifting to save the regime from defeat on the battlefields but a more traditional structure, the house of Assad, has been just as integral in holding the country together from within. The husk of Syria is, in many ways, more under the Assad family’s control than at the war’s outset. Power structures established over four decades have anchored dynasty and dictatorship. » | Martin Chulov, Middle East correspondent | Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Ireland Condemns ‘de facto Annexation’ of Palestinian Land by Israel

THE GUARDIAN: Foreign minister Simon Coveney supports parliamentary motion and says treatment of Palestinians is ‘manifestly unequal’

Ireland’s government has supported a parliamentary motion condemning the “de facto annexation” of Palestinian land by Israeli authorities in what it said was the first use of the phrase by a European Union government in relation to Israel.

Ireland’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, supported the motion on Tuesday, and condemned what he described as Israel’s “manifestly unequal” treatment of the Palestinian people.

But he also insisted on adding a condemnation of recent rocket attacks on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas before he agreed to government support for the motion, which had been tabled by the opposition Sinn Fein party.

“The scale, pace and strategic nature of Israel’s actions on settlement expansion and the intent behind it have brought us to a point where we need to be honest about what is actually happening on the ground. ... It is de facto annexation,” Coveney told parliament. » | Reuters | Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Retired US Navy Chief Explains Tech Witnessed in UFO Aircraft Sighting

CNN's Chris Cuomo talks to Sean Cahil, retired US Navy Chief Master-at-Arms, and Christopher Mellon, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, about the forthcoming government report on UFO sightings.

Whistleblower who spoke out on UFOs claims Pentagon tried to discredit him »

The Missing Years of Jesus | National Geographic

Tory Islamophobia Report a ‘Whitewash’, Say Muslims in Party

THE GUARDIAN: Inquiry deems comments from PM were insensitive but finds no evidence of ‘institutional racism’

A long-awaited review into Islamophobia within the Conservative party has been condemned as a whitewash by Muslim Tories despite criticising the language used by Boris Johnson and the mayoral campaign run by Zac Goldsmith for being insensitive to Muslim communities.

The prime minister’s comments, in which he compared women wearing the burqa to letterboxes, were singled out in the review headed by Prof Swaran Singh.

The inquiry found that anti-Muslim sentiment was still present at local association and individual levels, but claims of “institutional racism” were not borne out by evidence of the way complaints were handled.

Senior Muslim figures within the party said the review was inadequate and failed to address deep prejudices in the party. Sajjad Karim, who was a Tory MEP for more than a decade and chaired the European parliament’s working group on Islamophobia, said: “The manner in which this inquiry has been conducted means it is nothing but an attempt to whitewash deep-rooted issues out of sight. » | Rajeev Syal | Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Belarus Is Isolated as Other Countries Move to Ban Flights

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The extraordinary forced landing of a commercial flight with a Belarusian dissident aboard escalated into one of the biggest flare-ups in East-West tensions in recent years.

MOSCOW — The tray tables were being raised and the seat backs returned to their upright positions as passengers on Ryanair Flight 4978 prepared for the scheduled landing in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. Then the plane made an abrupt U-turn.

For many passengers, it initially seemed like one of those unexpected delays in airline travel. But after the pilot announced the plane had been diverted to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, one passenger — Roman Protasevich, a prominent Belarusian opposition journalist who had been living in exile since 2019 — grew terrified, certain that he faced arrest.

“He panicked because we were about to land in Minsk,” Marius Rutkauskas, who was sitting one row ahead of Mr. Protasevich, told the Lithuanian broadcaster LRT upon arrival in Vilnius.

Sunday’s ordeal — described by many European officials as an extraordinary, state-sponsored hijacking by Belarus to seize Mr. Protasevich — quickly led to one of the most severe East-West flare-ups in recent years.

Meeting Monday evening in Brussels, European Union leaders called on all E.U.- based airlines to stop flying over Belarus and began the process of banning Belarusian airlines from flying over the bloc’s airspace or landing in its airports — effectively severing the country’s direct air connections to Western Europe. » | Anton Troianovski | Monday, May 24, 2021

A State-Sponsored Skyjacking Can’t Go Unanswered »

Israël-Palestine : changer de paradigme

LE MONDE: Editorial. Une nouvelle approche du règlement du conflit, fondée sur des droits égaux pour les deux peuples, s’impose si l’on veut éviter une cinquième guerre à Gaza.

Editorial du « Monde ». Et maintenant ? Au lendemain du cessez-le-feu qui a mis fin, jeudi 20 mai, à la quatrième guerre de Gaza après onze jours d’hostilités, Israéliens, Palestiniens, diplomates arabes et occidentaux sont renvoyés à cette question lancinante.

En 2009, 2012 et 2014, à l’issue des trois précédentes confrontations, les uns et les autres ont paru prendre de grandes résolutions : conférence pour la reconstruction de l’enclave, mesures de desserrement du blocus pesant sur ce territoire, pourparlers en vue d’une réconciliation du Hamas et du Fatah. Mais faute de détermination véritable de la part des intéressés, ces initiatives louables ont à chaque fois fini par péricliter, ouvrant la voie à l’escalade suivante.

Pour en finir avec ce rituel macabre, il faut rompre avec les formules toutes faites, quasi pavloviennes, auxquelles la communauté internationale se raccroche par peur du vide et manque de courage ou d’imagination. Sans une levée rapide et intégrale de l’embargo – égyptien et israélien – qui étrangle les 2 millions d’habitants de Gaza, le « retour au calme » dont se félicitent les chancelleries est une sinistre illusion. Il n’y a pas de calme possible dans un ghetto à l’agonie. » | Éditorial, Le Monde | samedi 22 mai 2021

Super Blood Moon 2021: Total Lunar Eclipse Will Bring Cosmic Show across Pacific on Wednesday

THE GUARDIAN: Hawaii will have the best view of May’s full supermoon, followed by California, the Pacific north-west, New Zealand and Australia

The first total lunar eclipse in more than two years coincides with a supermoon this week for quite a cosmic show.

This super “blood” moon will be visible on Wednesday across the Pacific – offering the best viewing – as well as the western half of North America, the bottom of South America and eastern Asia.

Better look quick: the total eclipse will last about 15 minutes as Earth passes directly between the moon and the sun. But the entire show will last five hours, as Earth’s shadow gradually covers the moon, then starts to ebb. The reddish-orange color is the result of all the sunrises and sunsets in Earth’s atmosphere projected on to the surface of the eclipsed moon.

“Hawaii has the best seat in the house and then short of that will be California and the Pacific north-west,” said Nasa’s Noah Petro, the project scientist for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. New Zealand and Australia also will have prime viewing. » | Associated Press | Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Céline Dion - All By Myself (Official Remastered HD Video)

Abba - Thank You For The Music (Official Video)

Abba - Super Trouper

The Beach Boys: I Can Hear Music

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group

Scottish Independence: 'Queen to Head Charm Offensive to Save Union'

THE NATIONAL: THE Queen is to lead a Royal "charm offensive" to help save the Union – with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge expected to play a key role, it is being reported.

The strategy, which is said to be discreetly backed by Downing Street, received its effective launch on Saturday when Prince William described the "special place" Scotland has in his heart.

He made the comments in his address to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh as he and his wife embark on a week-long campaign in Scotland to win over hearts and minds. » | Kathleen Nutt | Chief Political Reporter | Sunday, May 23, 2021

Royals have dropped any pretence that they are neutral on independence »

Definitely, Maybe (3/9) Movie CLIP - Smoke-Off (2008) HD

Naughty, but nice! Those were the days! Not so many health Nazis around in those days! People had foibles, they knew they had foibles, and they enjoyed their foibles, too! Then came the Puritans! The rest, as they say, is history.

Back in the day, it was cool to smoke. These days, to be cool, you have to be anti-smoking, anti-meat-eating, pro-vegan or at least vegetarian. You mustn’t smoke, you mustn’t drink milk (only processed milk substitutes will do), and you have to jog or go to the gym. Oh, and you have to be a killjoy, too! You can’t be cool if you aren’t a killjoy.

Welcome to the new world!

San Francisco - Scott McKenzie

1967: The Counterculture Year That Changed the World | Summer of Love | Timeline

In 1967 an expressive, colourful musical force painted a backdrop of social change, fashion, love, turmoil and war. The world remembers the Summer of Love in 1967 as one of those moments when a unique and creative explosion of music and popular culture arrived in the UK and USA.

Boris Johnson to Marry Fiancée Carrie Symonds in July 2022, Report Says

THE GUARDIAN: Couple have been engaged since late 2019 but had put their marriage plans on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic

Boris Johnson is reportedly to marry his fiancee [sic], Carrie Symonds, in July 2022 after sending save-the-date cards to family and friends, according to the Sun.

They have been engaged since late 2019 but, like many couples, had put their marriage plans on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic with numbers able to attend ceremonies curtailed.

While this will be Johnson third marriage, it will be the first for Symonds.

It is unknown where exactly the couple will celebrate the occasion. However, the prime minister’s Buckinghamshire residence, Chequers, is tipped to host the wedding. Another possible venue is said to be the Port Lympne safari park in Kent, as Symonds works for the conservation charity. » | Edna Mohamed | Monday, May 24, 2021

Who is Boris Johnson’s first wife, former Tatler cover girl Allegra Mostyn-Owen? »

Marina Wheeler opens up about life post-Boris Johnson »

People in England ‘Face Three-year Waits for Dentist Appointments’

THE GUARDIAN: Damning report shows surgeries have ‘thousands’ of people on waiting lists

People are being told to wait until 2024 for dentist appointments while others are being removed from their practice lists for not making appointments sooner, according to a damning report into the state of dentistry.

Dental surgeries have reported that they have thousands of people on their waiting lists, while patients are unable to access care after ringing round numerous dental surgeries, a watchdog has warned.

Delays have resulted in the worsening of painful symptoms and in one instance even led to a patient needing hospital treatment after overdosing on painkillers, it said.

But Healthwatch England said that some people are being offered swift private care as an alternative at the same dental practice, with some patients reporting that they felt pressured to pay for their treatment.

Some practices appeared to be prioritising private care, it added. » | PA Media | Monday, May 24, 2021

Belarus Accused of ‘Hijacking’ Ryanair Flight Diverted to Arrest Blogger

THE GUARDIAN: Roman Protasevich is wanted for organising last year’s protests against Alexander Lukashenko

Belarus has been accused of hijacking a European jetliner and engaging in an act of state terrorism when it forced a Ryanair flight to perform an emergency landing in Minsk after a bomb threat and arrested an opposition blogger critical of authoritarian president Alexander Lukashenko.

Roman Protasevich, a former editor of the influential Telegram channels Nexta and Nexta Live, was detained by police after his flight was diverted to Minsk national airport. Minsk confirmed that Lukashenko ordered his military to scramble a Mig-29 fighter to escort the plane.

The Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said the plane had been “hijacked” and accused Lukashenko of a “reprehensible act of state terrorism”. He said he would demand new sanctions against Belarus at a European Council meeting scheduled for Monday.

Tom Tugendhat, the chair of the UK foreign affairs select committee, said: “If aircraft can be forced to the ground … in order to punish the political opponents of tyrants, then journalists here in the UK, politicians anywhere in Europe will find it harder to speak out.” » | Andrew Roth in Moscow | Sunday, May 23, 2021

US joins global outcry at Belarus over seizure of blogger from Ryanair flight »

Brexit Chaos - Clueless Lord Frost Talks Gibberish about Looking for Opportunities Going Forward

Every day we learn more about the damage to our economy caused by the unnecessary self-inflicted madness that is Brexit. At the same time it is becoming clear as evidenced by his appearance before the House of Commons EU Scrutiny Committee, that even Lord Frost, the man elevated to the peerage and made a cabinet minister for negotiating the TCA and Withdrawal Agreements which he now wants to change that he does not have a clue. Instead he talks of an opportunity to find opportunities and a new philosophy to take forward broadly.

Trump's Legal Nightmare Coming True? Criminal Probe Opened

The Trump Organization is now under criminal investigation after the New York Attorney General joined the Manhattan DA’s probe into Trump’s business dealings and finances. Up until this point, the AG investigation into the former president was a civil probe. Trump denies all wrongdoing and calls the probe "corrupt." MSNBC’s Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber discusses the significance of this step and Trump’s reaction to the probe with former SDNY prosecutor John Flannery, MSNBC’s political contributor Dr. Jason Johnson, and The New York Times's Emily Bazelon.

Trump Cornered? Feds Trying to Flip Trump Organization Executive in Criminal Probe

Citizen Trump is facing serious legal heat now that the Trump Organization is officially under a criminal probe. Prosecutors are targeting Trump's top executive Allen Weisselberg, who is also now under criminal investigation over taxes. Weisselberg has obtained his own legal counsel. MSNBC's Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber discusses the latest updates in the case with Washington Post reporter Libby Casey, former federal prosecutor Dan Alonso, and former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman. (This interview is from MSNBC’s ‘The Beat with Ari Melber’.)

Petition Calls for Smoking Ban on All Spanish Beaches

THE GUARDIAN: More than 283,000 back call to rid Spain’s coastline of smoke and discarded cigarette butts

A petition signed by more than 283,000 people calling on Spain to ban smoking at all its beaches has been delivered to the country’s environment minister.

For more than two years the organisation No Fumadores (No Smokers) has been gathering signatures aimed at transforming Spain’s 3,084 miles (4,964km) of coastline into areas free of cigarette smoke and discarded cigarette butts.

The petition, delivered to the minister Teresa Ribera, calls on the government to introduce national legislation on the issue, Raquel Fernández Megina of No Fumadores said in a statement published on Friday. The hundreds of thousands of signatures gathered, she added, “send the message that we can’t wait any longer”. » | Ashifa Kassam in Madrid | Sunday, May 23, 2021

Lock Him Up! Why Is Repeat Offender Donald Trump Still a Free Man?

THE GUARDIAN: The ex-president is accused of abuse of power, fraud, tax evasion and more but he has not been charged with anything

A sudden fall from power always comes hard. King Alfred was reduced to skulking in a Somerset bog. A distraught Napoleon talked to coffee bushes on St Helena. Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia hung around the haberdashery department of Jolly’s in Bath. Uganda’s Idi Amin plotted bloody revenge from a Novotel in Jeddah. Only Alfred the Great made a successful comeback.

All of which brings us to Donald Trump, currently in exile at his luxury club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Whingeing amid the manicured greens and bunkers of his exclusive golf course, the defeated president recalls an ageing Bonnie Prince Charlie – a sort of “king over the water” with water features. Like deposed leaders throughout history, he obsesses about a return to power.

Yet as Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell moves to kill off a 9/11-style national commission to investigate the 6 January Capitol Hill insurrection, the pressing question is not whether Trump can maintain cult-like sway over Republicans, or even whether he will run again in 2024. The question that should most concern Americans who care about democracy is: why isn’t Trump in jail? » | Simon Tisdall | Sunday, May 23, 2021

Long Slide Looms for World Population, with Sweeping Ramifications

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Fewer babies’ cries. More abandoned homes. Toward the middle of this century, as deaths start to exceed births, changes will come that are hard to fathom.

All over the world, countries are confronting population stagnation and a fertility bust, a dizzying reversal unmatched in recorded history that will make first-birthday parties a rarer sight than funerals, and empty homes a common eyesore.

Maternity wards are already shutting down in Italy. Ghost cities are appearing in northeastern China. Universities in South Korea can’t find enough students, and in Germany, hundreds of thousands of properties have been razed, with the land turned into parks.

Like an avalanche, the demographic forces — pushing toward more deaths than births — seem to be expanding and accelerating. Though some countries continue to see their populations grow, especially in Africa, fertility rates are falling nearly everywhere else. Demographers now predict that by the latter half of the century or possibly earlier, the global population will enter a sustained decline for the first time. » | Damien Cave, Emma Bubola and Choe Sang-Hun | Saturday, May 22, 2021

Germany Suspends Travel from the U.K. amid Concerns of a Variant’s Spread

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Germany is banning most travel from Britain starting on Sunday amid concerns about the spread of a coronavirus variant first discovered in India, the German authorities said on Friday.

German citizens and residents will still be allowed to enter the country from Britain but will be required to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival, Germany’s public health institution said as it classified Britain as an area of concern because of the variant.

The move came just days after Britain reopened its museums and cinemas and resumed allowing indoor service in pubs and restaurants. Many people in Britain have been looking forward to traveling abroad in the coming months, and Spain is set to welcome visitors arriving from Britain without a coronavirus test starting on Monday. » | Elian Peltier | Sunday, May 23, 2021