We’ve released beavers to an area of river running through the edge of Exmoor in Somerset to help us tackle the challenges brought by climate change. The animals are “natural engineers” whose dam-building helps rivers to spread out and meander across the landscape, slowing down the passage of water and preventing flash flooding further downstream.
Beavers were once an important part of the UK’s ecosystem but they became extinct in the 16th century due to hunting for their fur, meat and scent glands. This project, approved by Natural England, will see a pair of beavers released into each of two fenced areas of woodland at Holnicote on the edge of Exmoor in Somerset. Another pair will be released at Valewood on the Black Down Estate on the edge of the South Downs.
This 209 March 2920 video from India says about itself:
Why Trust is at the Heart of a Hornbill Couple’s Relationship
Female hornbill moms display a remarkable amount of faith and trust in their male partners. If the male doesn’t come back to their sealed-off nest with food, she and her chick will starve.
It’s been described as the public health failure of the century. As the United States leads the world in coronavirus infections, a record number of Americans file for unemployment. Gasping for air, gasping for care; what does global health justice look like? We speak with two Yale professors who say decades of neoliberal austerity make it harder to fight the pandemic. They propose a New Deal for public health. Gregg Gonsalves is assistant professor in epidemiology of microbial diseases at Yale School of Public Health; Amy Kapczynski is professor of law at Yale Law School and co-founder of the Law and Political Economy blog. They are co-directors of the Global Health Justice Partnership.
This 30 March 2020 video from the USA says about itself:
“Housing Is Health”: Calls Grow for California to Give Vacant Homes to Unhoused People Amid Pandemic
We look at the crisis of homelessness during the coronavirus pandemic in California, where the number of cases has passed 6,000 with 132 deaths. The entire state has been ordered to shelter in place, leaving the state’s massive unhoused population extremely vulnerable. As the state braces for a surge in cases, tens of thousands of people are living on the streets. A recent study estimates that nearly 2,600 unhoused people will need to be hospitalized for the virus in Los Angeles alone — and nearly 1,000 will need intensive care. We speak with Martha Escudero, a member of a group of unhoused mothers, elders and families who have moved into vacant houses.
This 30 March 2020 video from the USA says about itself:
More than 100 million people across the United States have been ordered to stay home to prevent the spread of coronavirus, but what about people who are homeless? Tens of thousands of homeless people in New York City shelters and on the streets have been left with no way to safely shelter in place. We hear from people who are homeless, and speak with Kiana Davis, advocate and policy analyst with the Safety Net Project at the Urban Justice Center.
Greek anti-fascist resistance hero Manolis Glezos dies at 97
GREEK anti-fascist resistance fighter Manolis Glezos died today aged 97.
Famed for tearing down the swastika flag from the Acropolis with his friend Apostolos Santas at the age of 18 in 1941, Mr Glezos embarked on a lifetime of political struggle, being arrested as recently as 2012 for protesting against EU austerity measures being imposed on Greece.
Mr Glezos was sentenced to death for communist activity in 1948 during the Greek civil war, but this was commuted to life imprisonment in 1950. He was elected to parliament from prison a year later for the United Democratic Left, an organisation with close links to the then banned Communist Party. Released from jail in 1954, he was jailed again in 1958, prompting the Soviet Union to issue a stamp in his honour and award him the Lenin Peace Prize.
Highly intelligent, with powerful tentacles and a razor-sharp beak – the Humboldt squid is a true terror of the deep. This 2-metre long beast has a reputation as a man-eater, and it’s easy to see why.
TRAIN operators should be forced by the government to stand down all non-essential staff for the duration of the coronavirus crisis, transport union TSSA said today.
General secretary Manuel Cortes called on the Department for Transport to order companies to stop requiring workers such as ticket-office and platform-gate staff to report for duty.
The union criticised the actions of “callous rail bosses on six-figure salaries working from home who are needlessly putting our members in harm’s way.”
Union sources told the Star that if the government ignores the call, TSSA may hold a strike ballot.
URGENT changes should be made to the benefits system to protect disabled people and those who are seriously ill during the coronavirus pandemic, the Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC) says.
In a letter to Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey published today, the consortium of more than 100 organisations says that these groups are among those most at risk financially during the crisis.
Disabled people in work and parents of disabled children could lose out financially as a result of the state of emergency, it also warns.
Union blasts government for putting private hire drives at risk by failing to impose heath standards
THE government was accused today of putting lives in danger by failing to impose health regulations on private-hire vehicles to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The United Private Hire Drivers (UPHD) union warned that a “deadly combination of mixed messages and poor safety guidance” from the Department for Transport (DfT) and Transport for London (TfL), together with “operator greed” on the part of firms such as Uber and Addison Lee, could put the lives of drivers and passengers at risk.
Last week, the DfT said drivers should not be “generally considered critical workers” but they might be “considered so on a case-by-case basis.”
BORIS JOHNSON asking Donald Trump for help in obtaining extra ventilators for coronavirus patients shows a “scary degree of incompetence”, Global Justice Now told the Star.
The campaigning group was responding to the US president’s claim that the Prime Minister had made a “plea” for him to help.
Mr Trump said that he called Mr Johnson after the latter had been diagnosed with coronavirus and asked how he was doing. He claimed that Mr Johnson’s first words to him were “we need ventilators.”
Spain goes into mourning as coronavirus death toll keeps rising around the world: here.
The announcement was quickly followed by one from retail giant H&M stating that it too would withhold rent payments on high-street stores.
The steps take advantage of a temporary ban on evictions aimed at protecting private renters and echo similar decisions by firms such as Burger King in Britain.
💔😢 Didn’t know if we should share, but one of our grassroots Bernie offices in Florida was vandalized with swastikas. Sheriff sent a team to clean it up. But Bernie is just another old white man, right? pic.twitter.com/zRFxdTBKKQ
Dear Kitty. Some blog 