Bolivia’s president urges citizens to take to streets to defend against apparent coup | Bolivia | The Guardian

Bolivia’s president Luis Arce has urged citizens to take to the streets to defend the country’s democracy from an apparent coup attempt after heavily armed army troops seized control of La Paz’s political heart and military police were filmed trying to force their way into the former government palace.

“We need the Bolivian people to mobilize and organize themselves against this coup d’état and in favour of democracy,” Arce said in a video message filmed at the Great House of the People, the official presidential residence in Bolivia’s de facto capital of La Paz.

Flanked by members of his cabinet, Arce declared: “We cannot allow, once again, attempted coups to claim Bolivian lives.”

Source: Bolivia’s president urges citizens to take to streets to defend against apparent coup | Bolivia | The Guardian

The Guardian view on Netanyahu’s leadership: making enemies and clinging to far-right friends | Editorial | The Guardian

While Benjamin Netanyahu picks fights at home and abroad, he is more closely tied than ever to the worst parts of the domestic political realm. Last week, Israel’s prime minister laid into its chief ally, the US, which has reproved him but done little to stop the war in Gaza, or avert the looming and surely disastrous conflict with Hezbollah. On Monday, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, labelled António Guterres an “accomplice to terror” and alleged his sole aim had been “to help Hamas survive this war”, after the secretary-general accused Israel (without directly naming it) of spreading misinformation about him.

Yet Mr Netanyahu will go to any lengths to keep his far-right coalition partners in the fold. He granted political legitimacy to the Otzma Yehudit party of Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, and to the Religious Zionist party of the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, when he invited them into power. He clings to them increasingly desperately. Without them, he faces not only the loss of his position but trial on the corruption charges that have hung over his head for so long. The far right saw off US attempts to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal, laying bare the growing rift between the Israel Defense Forces and the government…on Tuesday, Israel’s supreme court ruled that ultra-Orthodox men must be drafted for military service, threatening the coalition. The exemption originated when the Haredi community was small; now it is projected to account for more than a fifth of the population by 2042. This is a long-running battle, with governments repeatedly dodging the issue to avoid alienating ultra-Orthodox voters.

But the row has been supercharged by the war in Gaza and escalating clashes with Hezbollah. Last week, the government backed a draft bill raising the exemption age for reservists and expanding the length of service. For many Israelis – including in the prime minister’s Likud party – the exemption no longer looks like an abstract issue but a political favour granted at the direct expense of themselves or their children.

Mr Netanyahu’s departure would not be a magic solution: another prime minister’s policies on Hezbollah and Gaza’s future would probably not look so different. The Biden administration remains reluctant to use its potential leverage – arms supplies, diplomatic positioning and sanctions even against Mr Smotrich – as it should to stop the war in Gaza and the tightening hold on the West Bank. But an administration governed by a sober consideration of Israel’s needs and priorities, rather than driven by personal political survival, might at least find its way to a hostage-and-ceasefire deal and free itself from the dangerous grip of the far right.

Source: The Guardian view on Netanyahu’s leadership: making enemies and clinging to far-right friends | Editorial | The Guardian

USDA confirms more H5N1 detections in dairy herds and cats | CIDRAP

More detections in cats, other mammals, wild birds

APHIS today added reports of nine more H5N1 detections in mammals across four states, of which five were domestic cats. The infected cats were from Minnesota (Kandiyohi County) and Texas (Hartley County). Other detections involved raccoons from Michigan and New Mexico, a striped skunk for New Mexico, and a red fox from Minnesota.

Source: USDA confirms more H5N1 detections in dairy herds and cats | CIDRAP

CDC panel revises RSV vaccine recommendations for adults | CIDRAP

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine advisory group today updated its advice for use of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine in adults, which now recommends that all people ages 75 and older receive a single lifetime dose, and that people ages 60 to 74 who have certain underlying conditions also receive a dose of the vaccine.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendations, which still need to be accepted by the CDC director, represent an evolving RSV vaccine landscape and availability, as well as new scientific findings that the group uses to guide it policy recommendations.

(Me: at $300 at Kroger Pharmacy that’s a pretty heavy load for Medicare Part A and B folks)

Source: CDC panel revises RSV vaccine recommendations for adults | CIDRAP

Remdesivir tied to 54% lower risk of death among hospitalized COVID patients | CIDRAP

A comparison study based on two large, open-label studies links the antiviral drug remdesivir (Veklury) to a 54% lower risk of all-cause death and shorter hospital stays compared with standard of care (SOC) alone in hospitalized COVID-19 patients requiring supplemental oxygen in 2020.

A Tulane University-led research team that included scientists from remdesivir maker Gilead Sciences compared data on the use of remdesivir from the extension phase of a landmark open-label study with that of real-world data on SOC COVID-19 treatment alone. The open-label study found no significant difference in benefit between remdesivir given for 5 or 10 days, while the real-world study found a 62% lower risk of death after 14 days of remdesivir.

Source: Remdesivir tied to 54% lower risk of death among hospitalized COVID patients | CIDRAP

Fun For All On BOTH Sides Of The Pond | Filosofa’s Word

The election season in the U.S. is literally never-ending.  These days, the rhetoric and preening for one election begins the very day after the last one, so we never get a break from it all.  In the UK, election season lasts one month.  Ponder on that one for a minute … what if our candidates only had one month in which to paint themselves as the best person for the job, or in desperation, paint their opponent with some faux brush?  I think it would improve the air quality here!

Our dear friend David opines just a bit on both our elections and the UK elections coming up next Thursday, and he definitely gives us something to think about other than our own muddle.  We here in the U.S. have been so focused on our own troubles — the possibility of an ignorant madman, backed by an evil cabal being elected — that we haven’t paid much attention to the upcoming elections elsewhere.  David’s post helped me to remember that what happens over there is just as important for the world at large as what happens here in the U.S., and that the far right is gaining momentum all over the western world.  Thank you, David, for this bit of enlightenment … and for keeping Nigel Farage on your side of the pond!!!

Source: Fun For All On BOTH Sides Of The Pond | Filosofa’s Word

As chocolate prices skyrocket from decades of deforestation, adopting agroforestry is key (commentary)

  • It’s been reported that climate change is the reason for record high chocolate prices, but what’s received less attention is the root cause of the problem.
  • Chocolate costs more now due to decades of deforestation by the cocoa industry in West Africa, where much of the world’s supply is grown, earning it the moniker of “cannibal commodity.”
  • “The good news is that chocolate companies and producer governments still can address the problem. To contain the impacts of past deforestation and promote predictability in production, they must transform all existing monoculture cocoa to shade-grown or agroforestry cocoa,” a new op-ed argues.

While working for the NGO Mighty Earth, I broke open a shocking scandal: the Ivory Coast—the world’s top cocoa-producing country—lost 94% of its forests since 1990. The Ivory Coast is not a rinky-dink footnote for the chocolate industry: it’s the top global cocoa producing country in the world. In Ghana, the world’s second largest cocoa producer, 80% to 90% of forests were destroyed in that same time. Roughly a third of the deforestation in both countries was for cocoa.

Forests are essentially rain machines: kill forests, and the rains go haywire. Without forests, you lose the rainfall they make possible. You lose forests’ ability to buffer agricultural systems like cocoa from droughts by keeping soils moist. Air moisture that forests generate also vanishes.

Additionally, you lose forests’ air-conditioning effect, which keeps air cool and moist, thereby protecting nearby agricultural systems (like cocoa) from heat domes. Have you ever walked into a forest and felt a delicious moist coolness caressing your skin? Imagine losing that at an epic scale. Imagine losing 94% of a country’s forests.

 

Source: As chocolate prices skyrocket from decades of deforestation, adopting agroforestry is key (commentary)

Warnings over lethal and contagious strain of mpox as children in DRC die | Global health | The Guardian

A dangerous strain of mpox that is killing children and causing miscarriages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most transmissible yet and could spread internationally, scientists have warned.

The virus appears to be spreading from person to person via both sexual and non-sexual contact, in places ranging from brothels to schools.

Hundreds of people with the disease, formerly known as monkeypox, have attended hospital in the mining town of Kamituga, South Kivu province, in what is likely to be the “tip of the iceberg” of a larger outbreak, doctors say.

Source: Warnings over lethal and contagious strain of mpox as children in DRC die | Global health | The Guardian

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