Because of the coronavirus pandemic, few people were present at the freeing of Ollie, Marsh, Quinten, Maltezer, Pika, Jacqueline, Leonie, Fritzie and Balou.
What happens when stereotypes and fear about Covid-19 arrive before the actual disease does? In the video above, Katherine Oung, a 11th grader in Florida, shows what teenagers like her and her friends face as the coronavirus pandemic brings to the surface the racism underlying her community.
Britain: Covid-19 couldn’t be more dangerous – so shut the construction sites. If managers continue to ignore reasonable requests and health advice, then it’s time to organise coronavirus walkouts to force greedy employers to close down building sites, says DAVE SMITH.
BORIS JOHNSON has “broken his promise” to tenants by failing to ban evictions and suspend rent for 20 million people who face financial hardship during the global pandemic, Labour said today.
Shadow housing secretary John Healey said the emergency Coronavirus Bill simply offers “extra time” for tenants to “pack their bags” rather than the protection from eviction that Labour pushed for.
Last week, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government said that emergency legislation would “suspend new evictions from social or private rented accommodation while this national emergency is taking place.”
British spies ‘have ignored’ threat of global pandemics. More Britons have died from Covid-19 in the last few weeks than from terrorist acts in the last 20 years, Declassified UK finds: here.
Britain: Labour MP to returns to previous job as a care worker during Covid-19 pandemic. Nadia Whittome said the care system is in serious danger of falling apart: here.
Dozens released from Yarl’s Wood after detainee diagnosed with Covid-19: here.
Covid-19 outbreak in Hove care home prompts calls for urgent support for social care: here.
Deaths from fuel poverty could soar amid the pandemic, campaigners warn: here.
Italian workers set to strike after accusing bosses of putting profits over health: here.
Humpback whales have found a safe haven on the tip of Chile. Bad weather means the region is relatively untouched by humans. Humpback whale populations have grown five-fold in Francisco Coloane Marine Park. Almost 20 years ago biologists only counted 40 individuals in the park. Now, they’ve counted 190.
Globally there are around 87 cetacean species, and conservation efforts to protect humpback whales have been among the most successful. Hunting humpback whales has been banned since the ‘60s.
Researchers recommend new guidelines for noise levels from whale-watching boats after having carried out experiments with humpback whales. They exposed the whales to different levels of boat-engine noises while observing the current guidelines for whale-watching — keeping 100 meters distance, for instance — while monitoring the whales’ behavior closely with a drone camera. The researchers concluded that the noise level from a boat’s engine should stay below 150 decibels: here.
“The arrival of a medical brigade from Cuba to Italy is pretty historic. You have a leading European nation accepting support in the form of a medical team from a small Caribbean island,” says our guest, Peter Kornbluh, director of the Cuba Documentation Project at the National Security Archive at George Washington University. “It just goes to the history of Cuba’s deep and long-lasting commitment to humanitarian solidarity with other countries.” Kornbluh covers Cuba for The Nation magazine.