Mastodawn

girlfreddy Jul 1, 2024

Scientists wary of bird flu pandemic 'unfolding in slow motion'

https://sh.itjust.works/post/21631161

Scientists wary of bird flu pandemic 'unfolding in slow motion' - sh.itjust.works

Scientists tracking the spread of bird flu are increasingly concerned that gaps in surveillance may keep them several steps behind a new pandemic, according to Reuters interviews with more than a dozen leading disease experts. Many of them have been monitoring the new subtype of H5N1 avian flu in migratory birds since 2020. But the spread of the virus to 129 dairy herds in 12 U.S. states, opens new tab signals a change that could bring it closer to becoming transmissible between humans. Infections also have been found in other mammals, from alpacas to house cats. “It almost seems like a pandemic unfolding in slow motion,” said Scott Hensley, a professor of microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania. “Right now, the threat is pretty low … but that could change in a heartbeat.” The earlier the warning of a jump to humans, the sooner global health officials can take steps to protect people by launching vaccine development, wide-scale testing and containment measures.

girlfreddy Jul 1, 2024

Norway blocks sale of last private land on Svalbard after Chinese interest

https://sh.itjust.works/post/21630971

girlfreddy Jul 1, 2024

Behind the ‘last firewall’: Hill Democrats scramble to save themselves

https://sh.itjust.works/post/21630882

Behind the ‘last firewall’: Hill Democrats scramble to save themselves - sh.itjust.works

As President Joe Biden’s campaign scrambles to calm nerves about the president’s disastrous debate performance, Democrats on Capitol Hill are growing increasingly furious at those around him and increasingly despondent about his prospects for re-election — and their own chances of winning House and Senate majorities. Conversations about a strategy shift are already underway, with some Democratic lawmakers and many deep-pocketed donors plotting how, should Biden continue in the race, to ensure a congressional check on a second Donald Trump term. “The way I’m talking to my donors is: The House is the last firewall, folks. We have to flip the House,” one frontline House Democrat told Playbook last night. “Ninety-nine percent of the people I talked to can’t get their credit card out fast enough.” But make no mistake: The despair and frustration are real, and it is pushing upward inside the party. It has been felt acutely by frontline members — the swing-district Democrats who would be the cornerstone of any majority. Donors blew up their phones over the weekend, with some prodding them to go public with a group letter calling for a new candidate, an idea that some discussed over the weekend.

girlfreddy Jul 1, 2024

Under pressure on plane safety, Boeing is buying stressed supplier Spirit for $4.7 billion

https://sh.itjust.works/post/21630117

girlfreddy Jul 1, 2024

Israel releases director of hospital it says was used as a Hamas base. He alleges abuse in custody

https://sh.itjust.works/post/21630014

girlfreddy Dec 18, 2023

PA seeks probe after Israeli ‘bulldozers crush patients’ at Gaza hospital

https://sh.itjust.works/post/11227040

PA seeks probe after Israeli ‘bulldozers crush patients’ at Gaza hospital - sh.itjust.works

On Saturday, doctors and other witnesses said Israeli forces bulldozed tents housing displaced Palestinians near the hospital – one of the 11 hospitals still functioning inside Gaza since Israel launched its military offensive on October 7 – and crushed them to death. Witnesses told Al Jazeera that civilians were deliberately targeted. “People were buried alive using bulldozers. Who could do that? All those who committed this crime should be brought to justice and taken to the international criminal court,” a witness said. Several videos shared on social media also appear to show people crushed under the rubble in front of the Kamal Adwan Hospital. *** WARNING - the following video is graphic in some places. Video link here. [https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2023/12/18/people-buried-alive-during-israeli-raid-on-gaza-hospital]

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girlfreddy Dec 18, 2023

Here’s the thing … it’s not just that he’d be worse the second time around, but exponentially worse because he’d have learned from his mistakes.

Another 4 years of his rule and America would literally be unrecognisable.

girlfreddy Dec 18, 2023

Trump to install loyalists to reshape U.S. foreign policy on China, NATO and Ukraine

https://sh.itjust.works/post/11220146

Trump to install loyalists to reshape U.S. foreign policy on China, NATO and Ukraine - sh.itjust.works

The result would enable Trump to make sweeping changes to the U.S. stance on issues ranging from the Ukraine war to trade with China, as well as to the federal institutions that implement - and sometimes constrain - foreign policy, the aides and diplomats said. During his 2017-2021 term, Trump struggled to impose his sometimes impulsive and erratic vision on the U.S. national security establishment. He often voiced frustration at top officials who slow-walked, shelved, or talked him out of some of his schemes. Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in his memoir that he twice raised objections to Trump’s suggestion of missile strikes on drug cartels in Mexico, the U.S.'s biggest trade partner. The former president has not commented. “President Trump came to realize that personnel is policy,” said Robert O’Brien, Trump’s fourth and final national security adviser. “At the outset of his administration, there were a lot of people that were interested in implementing their own policies, not the president’s policies.” Having more loyalists in place would allow Trump to advance his foreign policy priorities faster and more efficiently than he was able to when previously in office, the current and former aides said.

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girlfreddy Dec 18, 2023

This is on the Republicans alone.

girlfreddy Dec 18, 2023

Ukrainian troops face artillery shortages, scale back some operations - commander

https://sh.itjust.works/post/11219144

Ukrainian troops face artillery shortages, scale back some operations - commander - sh.itjust.works

Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi was speaking after Republican lawmakers held up a $60-billion U.S. aid package and Hungary blocked 50 billion euros ($54.5 billion) in European Union funding for Kyiv as it battles Russia’s invasion. “There’s a problem with ammunition, especially post-Soviet (shells) - that’s 122 mm, 152 mm. And today these problems exist across the entire front line,” he said in an interview. Tarnavskyi said the shortage of artillery shells was a “very big problem” and the drop in foreign military aid was having an impact on the battlefield. “The volumes that we have today are not sufficient for us today, given our needs. So, we’re redistributing it. We’re replanning tasks that we had set for ourselves and making them smaller because we need to provide for them,” he said, without providing details.