Existing quiet cooperation has been under way for months, say authors of Guardian comment articleAn opportunity for a new beginning between Saudi Arabia and Iran has been presented by Joe Biden’s presidency, two leading Saudi and Iranians close to their diplomatic leaderships are proposing in an article in the Guardian today.The article is co-written by Abdulaziz Sager, the Saudi Arabian chairman and founder of the Gulf Research Center, and Hossein Mousavian, a former senior Iranian diplomat and now a nuclear specialist based at Princeton University. Continue reading...
We need sleep, rest, exercise, love and fun to remain passably human. But for many of us in lockdown, the most pressing job is to avoid conflict with our loved ones
Centralised approach was meant to underline Europe’s solidarity but has had opposite effectThe EU has made an almighty hash of procuring treatments for Covid-19. Vaccine centres are running short of supplies as a result. National governments want jabs rather than excuses for what has gone wrong. The search for scapegoats is on.Stripped of the legal wrangling between Brussels and AstraZeneca, the protectionist plan to ban exports of drugs and the now-abandoned plan to close the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, the EU has been incompetent – and no amount of bully-boy tactics can get away from that fact. Continue reading...
A recent study shows family money and background plays a crucial role for startups, and can be one of the primary sources of fundingWhat do Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk really have in common? Sure, they’re all tech billionaires, super smart people, savvy innovators and successful entrepreneurs. But there’s another thing: they all had families who helped them at the very beginning.Bill Gates’s mom introduced him to executives at IBM, which helped him forge a deal for his first operating system MS-DOS. Bezos’s parents were early investors in Amazon. Musk comes from a wealthy, South African background. Among other well-known entrepreneurs, Mark Zuckerberg reportedly took a $100,000 loan from his father to start Facebook. Michael Dell’s parents offered some seed money for his fledging computer business. Nike founder Phil Knight credits his parents for helping him start the company too. Continue reading...
Travel between jurisdictions creates ‘unfair opportunities’ and disrupts infrastructure, experts say – though the impulse may be understandableWith more than 50 unique vaccination plans across the United States, one’s access to the Covid-19 vaccine depends in large part on where one lives. In Wisconsin, mink farmers are being considered for the next phase of vaccine prioritization. In New Jersey, smokers can get priority access to the vaccine. In Colorado, journalists fall under the category of frontline workers.This complex system has given rise to a new type of pandemic travel – dubbed “vaccine tourism” – in which people cross state or even country lines to get earlier access. Without standardized protocol, and because of the fractured American health system, tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people have gotten vaccines outside their home states. Continue reading...
Abandoned by her parents at age three, she was raised by nuns and built a life from nothing. The mismanaged pandemic claimed her life too soonA few days before Christmas, I dropped groceries at my grandma Debbie’s door and stood in the middle of her lawn. It was our pandemic ritual that we had perfected after nine months of lockdown. Continue reading...
The financial titans silenced the ‘retail investors’ who sought to boost an unloved video store chainFor those of us who are as intimate with the inner workings of the stock market as we are with the circuitry of the Large Hadron Collider, the brouhaha over GameStop has been illuminating. While the story may seem esoteric, it is highly revealing of the way economic and political power operates today, laying bare both the irrationality of the market and the reach of corporate privilege.For those who don’t know, GameStop is a US video game retailer that has lost much of its market share to online trade and whose stock plummeted from $56 (£40) a share in 2013 to about $5 in 2019. It is set to close 450 shops this year. Some big hedge funds decided that they would cash in on GameStop’s misery by shorting its shares. A short is a bet that an asset, such as a share, will decline in price. It’s a manoeuvre that can generate huge profits. But if the asset price doesn’t fall, investors can also lose a lot of money. Continue reading...
In fighting the battle for hedge fund elites, Steven Cohen revealed his true coloursAnyone who still associates the ownership of art with the possession of virtue must have woken from their fanciful trance last week. Collectors have shown their true colours. On Thursday, the multibillionaire financier Steven Cohen was lambasted across America for his involvement in the notorious shorting of GameStop shares. Teaming up with a former protege, he fought the battle for hedge fund elites against ordinary investors – a dirty great Goliath trying to oppress all the Davids on Reddit.Related: The GameStop affair is like tulip mania on steroids | Dan Davies Continue reading...
With bagel shop trips and visits to local restaurants, the president and vice-president have signalled they intend to engage with the city – unlike the previous administrationIt was just like any other Sunday, recalls Andrew Dana, owner and founder of the Call Your Mother deli in Washington DC. “I was at the Georgetown store until about noon and then I left because we close at 2pm and I said, how much can happen in the next two hours? By the time I got home, my phone had exploded.”Dana’s staff were eager to tell him about the deli’s newest and most famous customer: the president of the United States. Joe Biden had waved from his extensive motorcade as his son, Hunter, and a member of the Secret Service collected four bagels and left a tip of more than 50%. The publicity boost was instant: sales at Call Your Mother’s locations in Washington are up almost 80% over the past week. Continue reading...
Despite national failures at the ballot box, radicalised state parties are fighting for Trump’s election lies and defending QAnon followersIn Arizona and Oregon, they rebuked opponents of Donald Trump’s assault on democracy. In Hawaii, they defended followers of the QAnon conspiracy movement. And in Texas, they adopted a slogan with dark historical connotations: “We are the storm.”To understand the future of the Republican party, start with the army of increasingly radicalised foot soldiers who shape it at state level. Continue reading...
PBS documentary on 9to5 shows how women’s organizing efforts in 1970s to better working conditions echos many of today’s social justice movementsIn the early 1970s, a group of female clerical workers in Boston, Massachusetts, began organizing for better wages, advancement opportunities, and an end to sexual harassment. Their organizing efforts spurred a nationwide movement called 9to5, formed to improve working conditions for women across the board, and eventually toward the goal of forming unions within the workplace.Related: American Factory review – a sobering documentary by the Obamas Continue reading...
Many have dreamt of making linemen into props and tight ends into locks. In ‘RugbyTown USA’, they think they’ve found a way“To be honest,” says Garrald McDowell, “I thought it was, like, a scam.”Related: Major League Rugby faces a pandemic – and corrosive politics Continue reading...
The new president can achieve huge and vital reform and relief without the party of Trump – and they know itIf there were ever a time for bold government, it is now. Covid, joblessness, poverty, raging inequality and our last chance to preserve the planet are together creating an existential inflection point.Related: Trump may be out of office, but Republicans are still angry and ready to do his bidding Continue reading...
Jen Ellis, a Vermont elementary school teacher, joins forces with the Vermont Teddy Bear Company to meet demandThe teacher who created the recycled wool mittens that Bernie Sanders wore to the presidential inauguration and which triggered endless social media memes is now partnering with the Vermont Teddy Bear Company to meet soaring demand.Some of the proceeds will go to the Make-A-Wish Vermont charity. Continue reading...
Investigator whose cases include Jonestown mass suicides and political scandals suffered head injury in San FranciscoJack Palladino, the private investigator who has worked on high-profile cases ranging from the Jonestown mass suicides to celebrity and political scandals, has been placed on life support after suffering a head injury during an attempted robbery.Palladino, 70, had just stepped outside his San Francisco home on Thursday to try out his new camera when a car pulled up and a man jumped out to grab it from him, police and the detective’s stepson Nick Chapman told the San Francisco Chronicle. Continue reading...
Officials work to pinpoint doses in pipeline between federal distribution and administration by statesThe Biden administration has spent its first week in office attempting to manually track down 20m vaccine doses in the pipeline between federal distribution and administration at clinic sites, when a dose finally reaches a patient’s arm.The Trump administration’s strategy pushed the response to the coronavirus pandemic to individual states and omitted pipeline tracking information between distribution and when the shot is actually administered, Biden administration officials told Politico. Continue reading...
The story of the disgraced doctor and MMR tells us much about the spread of fearYou should always ask the hard questions and the hardest one to ask about Covid and free speech is why does the law tolerate anti-vaccine propaganda? The liberal exemption offered by John Stuart Mill’s harm principle does not apply. However unpopular it is to say it on the identitarian left, the harm principle holds that free societies must tolerate speech that is offensive and unpopular as long as it does not incite the physical harm of others.Related: Facebook removes Save Our Rights UK Covid denial videos Continue reading...
Australian of the Year Grace Tame helped change the law for sexual assault survivors – but more needs to be doneOn Monday sexual assault survivor Grace Tame was named 2021 Australian of the Year for her extraordinary bravery and advocacy raising awareness about child sexual abuse and the warning signs of grooming.Grace, who was groomed and repeatedly raped by her 58-year-old maths teacher at age 15, rose to prominence via the #LetHerSpeak campaign after it was discovered she could not reveal her own name in the media due to an archaic victim “gag-law” in her home state of Tasmania. Continue reading...
Extremist congresswoman says she had ‘great’ phone call with Donald Trump and hails his supportRepublican party leaders will meet with extremist Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene next week as an ongoing crisis over her racist and bizarre political views continues to roil American politics.Meanwhile, Greene tweeted on Saturday that she had had a phone call with Donald Trump which she described as “great” and that she was “so grateful for his support” – probably cementing her position as a champion of the far-right Trumpist wing of the party. Continue reading...
by Carla K Johnson, Angeliki Kastanis and Kat Staffor on (#5DH80)
Associated Press analysis of 17 US states and two cities finds Black people inoculated at disproportionately low levelsA racial gap has opened up in the United States’ Covid-19 vaccination drive, with Black Americans in many places lagging behind whites in receiving shots, an Associated Press analysis shows.An early look at the 17 states and two cities that have released racial breakdowns through 25 January found that Black people in all places are getting inoculated at levels below their share of the general population, in some cases significantly below. Continue reading...
The ‘people’s trading app’ at the heart of the GameStop gamble has flourished thanks to Wall Street investmentRobinhood is the amateurs’ share trading platform at the heart of the attempt by an army of small investors to outsmart Wall Street by buying shares in companies such as GameStop, costing hedge funds billions in the process.The company has upset the applecart of US stock investing by waiving the commission that traditional brokers charge customers to play the markets. That, plus its user-friendly app, has made trading much cheaper and easier for ordinary people, regardless of their experience, enticing more than 13 million users at the last count. Continue reading...
The dramatic struggle over video game chain’s shares suggests markets must now contend with a breed of angry, young, networked investorsWhen Ben, 28, a software engineer from Leeds, bought two shares in US games retailer GameStop for £460, it was for one reason, he says: “When they make the film about this in years to come, I’ll know I was there at the frontline with a bunch of idiots on the internet, trying to bring down Wall Street.”For Emma Rivers from East Sussex, who invested £1,400 in the same company – having known little about it a few weeks ago – it has all been about sending a message that capitalism has had its day. Continue reading...
Children in the US will ‘hopefully’ start to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by late spring or early summer, said Dr Anthony Fauci.Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, the head of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, was speaking at a White House coronavirus briefing, an event re-instituted by the new president after falling away during the last months of the Trump administration
by Samuel Gilbert in Sierra Vista, Arizona on (#5DH1H)
Remains of 227 migrants found last year, said Humane Borders, while at least 7,000 have died along US-Mexico border since 1998When the remains of two undocumented migrants were found in the desert of south-western Arizona last July, one body lay next to an arrow drawn in the sand, pointing north, with the word “HELP” written beneath.The men had perished while attempting to cross into the US from Mexico, according to border patrol. Out of a group of three, one survived and told the federal agents their human smuggler had left the other two behind in the remote wilderness area. Continue reading...
In 2021 legislative sessions, lawmakers in 28 states have pushed a whopping 106 bills that would restrict voting accessIt’s been less than a month since rightwing insurrectionists stormed the Capitol building in a deadly riot incited by the former president and his false claims of mass voter fraud. In the riot’s wake, many prominent Republicans have tried to distance themselves from the attackers and those who spurred them on. “The mob was fed lies,” said the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people.”Those “other powerful people” were powerful members of the Republican party and leading voices in conservative media, who are now either claiming we simply need to move on for the sake of healing, or saying that actually, the riot was the left’s fault. But while some Republicans are positioning themselves as honest and reasonable by condemning the riot and recognizing that it was sparked by lies about voter fraud, their party’s actions and policy priorities tell a very different story. Because as our nation remains rocked by an attack on the heart of our democracy, Republicans are using the same baseless lies that fueled it to push a staggering number of laws to scale back voting rights. Continue reading...
The average number of daily deaths from coronavirus among the county’s Latino residents increases from 3.5 deaths to 40 deaths per 100,000The average number of Latino residents dying from coronavirus each day in Los Angeles county has increased by more than 1,000% since November, according to county public health officials.Los Angeles is battling one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in the US, amid a winter surge that has left hospitals across the region overwhelmed. LA county’s Latino population has faced the brunt of the crisis. Continue reading...
The tennis player on being there for her daughter, crying a lot and bringing back dinosaursBorn in Michigan, Serena Williams, 39 made her professional tennis debut at the age of 14. The winner of four Olympic gold medals and 23 grand slam singles titles, Serena is married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. They have a three-year-old daughter and live in Beverly Hills. She recently launched a luggage collection with global lifestyle brand Away.What is your greatest fear?
Martin Scorsese’s Netflix series of conversations with this slightly fearsome – and to be frank, grumpy old lady – has brightened my daysLike a lot of New Yorkers, I have a Fran Lebowitz story – not a classic one, but it gives a flavour of the woman. It was the early noughties, and I was walking out of a fashion show. Among the celebrities dolled up like birds of paradise, a more pigeonesque figure in a pair of jeans and a blue blazer stood out. “Oh my God, that’s Fran Lebowitz!” I gasped, inwardly and outwardly. As she started to light her cigarette, someone told her to wait until she was outside.“Oh, for God’s sake,” she said, and stomped off. Continue reading...
Rather than retreating from the company’s over-valued shares, traders have embraced them with nihilistic exuberanceWhen I worked in high finance it was a running joke that day traders – small retail traders – were like beetles sifting through the dung of the big funds that truly drove the markets. They are in a weak position, given their lack of capital and coordination, but an entire retail brokerage industry – nowadays exemplified by companies such as Robinhood – is designed to cultivate a myth of their heroic status.That’s why the GameStop story stands out. In his book Liar’s Poker, former Wall Street trader Michael Lewis described powerful traders who work for big investment banks as “big swinging dicks”, but the folk appeal of the GameStop saga stems from the fact that a swarm of “little swinging dicks” have seemingly banded together to become a giant swinging dick, defying gravity to push the price of a stock far beyond its actual underlying value. Continue reading...
Abolishing the filibuster could allow Senate Democrats to pass Joe Biden’s agenda, but there are risksWhile the US Senate has temporarily averted a showdown over its so-called filibuster rule, the issue appears likely to resurface, as the wafer-thin Democratic majority endeavors to pass Joe Biden’s legislative agenda into law – and Republicans try to stop them. Here’s what you need to know: Continue reading...
With Republicans planning to obstruct the president’s agenda, some Democrats are pushing Biden to support eliminating the filibusterJoe Biden rose to power by promising bold action to confront the numerous crises facing the United States – namely the coronavirus pandemic, a struggling economy and the climate emergency. Over his first two weeks in office, the new president has signed a series of executive orders aimed at following through on those promises. Continue reading...
As Mitch McConnell goes into battle for the minority once again, Adam Jentleson’s book is perfectly timedFor nearly a month, Mitch McConnell and his Senate Republicans have waged the parliamentary equivalent of a guerrilla war. Having lost the Georgia runoffs and with them the Senate, McConnell has still managed to stymie formal reorganization of the chamber. In an already sulfurous political landscape, the filibuster – the need for super-majorities of 60 votes to pass legislation – looms once again as a flashpoint.Related: ‘The perfect target’: Russia cultivated Trump as asset for 40 years – ex-KGB spy Continue reading...
Democratic congresswoman said Marjorie Taylor Greene and her staff refused to wear masks and berated herThe Democratic representative Cori Bush said she is moving her office away from that of Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene due to safety concerns after Greene and her staff berated her and refused to wear masks. Continue reading...
When a freezer where the supply was stored failed, the hospitals sent out word over social media so it wouldn’t go to wasteSeattle hospitals rushed out Covid-19 vaccines to hundreds of people in the middle of the night after a freezer they were being stored in failed.It’s not clear what exactly caused the freezer failure Thursday night, but the Northwest and Montlake campuses of the UW Medical Center and the Swedish Medical Center received more than 1,300 vaccine doses that needed to be used before they expired at 5.30am Friday, the Seattle Times reported. Continue reading...
Covid-19 vaccines not yet approved for children, but they are a key step in pursuit of widespread immunityChildren in the US will “hopefully” start to be vaccinated against Covid-19 by late spring or early summer, Dr Anthony Fauci said on Friday.Related: Black Americans receiving Covid vaccines at lower rates than whites Continue reading...
Officials said they shut down operation after student Andrei Doroshin sought to monetize informationWhen Philadelphia began getting its first batches of Covid-19 vaccines, it looked to partner with someone who could get a mass vaccination site up and running quickly.City hall officials might have looked across the skyline to the world-renowned health providers at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University or Jefferson Health. Continue reading...
National Weather Service says to ‘make sure all exposed skin is protected’ as city’s temperatures as low as 15F to 20F on FridayPlunging temperatures gripped New York on Friday, with the US National Weather Service warning that people in the city risked getting frostbite if they ventured outdoors unprotected.If people did need to be outside, the weather service advised to wear gloves and hats. It added in a warning bulletin that “frostbite can occur in a short amount of time, so dress in layers and make sure all exposed skin is protected”. Continue reading...
