https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9876735/Anti-vax-assault-BBC-Police-battle-defend-broadcasters-London-HQ.html
Fauci says 'hopefully' making young kids wear masks won't have 'lasting negative impact'
Delta variant is filling up pediatric hospitals and seems more threatening, Fauci said
White House Chief Health Adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday that "hopefully" making young kids wear face masks won’t have any "lasting negative impact" on them.
During an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Dr. Fauci said it’s important to keep an "open mind" about masking after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that unvaccinated children ages 2 and older wear masks and that students wear masks in all K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status, in light of the rapid spread of the COVID-19 delta variant.
"It's not comfortable, obviously, for children to wear masks, particularly the younger children," he said. "But you know, what we’re starting to see, Hugh, and I think it's going to unfold even more as the weeks go by, that this virus not only is so extraordinarily transmissible, but we're starting to see pediatric hospitals get more and more younger people and kids not only numerically, but what seems to be more severe disease.
"Now we're tracking that, the CDC is tracking that really very carefully, so it’s going to be a balance that we would feel very badly if we all of a sudden said OK, kids, don't wear masks, then you find out retrospectively that this virus in a very, very strange and unusual way is really hitting kids really hard," he continued. "But hopefully, this will be a temporary thing, temporary enough that it doesn't have any lasting negative impact on them."
Hewitt pushed back, citing an editorial Sunday by The Wall Street Journal, titled, "The Case Against Masks for Children," which argues that long-term masking can cause physical and developmental issues in children and that there’s little evidence to back up a mandate.
"Facial expression are integral to human connection, particularly for younger children who are only learning how to signal fear, confusion and happiness," Hewitt said. "Covering a child's face mutes these nonverbal form of communications, can result in robotic and emotionless interaction. So, Dr., what did you base it on? Why?"
Dr. Fauci responded by claiming the data cited in the editorial "dates back to the alpha variant, not necessarily all the most recent data on delta."
"Delta is different," he said. "We’d better go back and make sure those data are really solid the same way you’re asking me, and I will. I’ll go back to the CDC and make sure that the data that they’re talking about is really solid. So let’s do both. Let’s just check both those things out and make sure we’re really talking about apples and apples and not apples and oranges, and make sure we’re talking about transmissibility of delta as we’re seeing what it’s doing right now.
"So I’ll just keep an open mind," he added.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fauci-young-kids-wear-masks-lasting-negative-impact
North Korea vows to boost pre-emptive strike capability in response to 'self-destructive' US-South Korea war games
North Korea has pledged to improve its ability to launch “pre-emptive” strikes as joint war games kick off between Seoul and Washington, insisting the yearly drills only threaten stability and propel tensions in the region.
Kim Yo-jong, sister to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and a top official in the ruling Workers Party, condemned the military drills on Tuesday, saying they demonstrate a “hostile policy” by the US and South Korea and effectively simulate an invasion of the north. She added that Pyongyang would expand its defensive capabilities in response.
“[The drills are] an unwelcome, self-destructive action that will come at a price that threatens the safety of our people and endangers the situation on the Korean peninsula,” she said in comments carried by state media, noting that Washington and Seoul had ignored “repeated warnings” about the war games and would now face a “more serious security threat.”
We will further strengthen our absolute deterrence to cope with the ever-increasing US military threat, that is, our national defense and strong preemptive strike capability that can quickly respond to any military action against us.
While the war games will start in earnest on August 16 and run for more than a week, the two sides are reportedly set to hold a preliminary drill on “crisis management training” on Tuesday. The exercises are slated to be scaled-back this year due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and will largely involve computer simulations, but Pyongyang argued they pose a threat “regardless of the size” or the “form they take.”
The north has repeatedly condemned the annual drills over the years, calling the latest round “hostile war exercises” earlier this month, even as Seoul insisted they would not be “used as a chance to heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula under any circumstances.”
The exercises mark a setback in inter-Korean relations, after the two sides agreed last month to revive a cross-border communications channel shuttered more than a year ago, hailed by Pyongyang as a “big step” toward restoring trust on the peninsula.
In a departure from that more amicable rhetoric, Kim blasted the decades-long US military presence in the south as the “root cause” of tensions on Monday, saying that as long as some 30,000 American troops remain stationed there, hostilities will “never be eliminated.”
If peace is to be established on the Korean peninsula, the invasion force and war equipment deployed by the United States in South Korea must be dismantled first.
https://www.rt.com/news/531594-north-korea-joint-drills/
French cafés sit EMPTY as police RAID outdoor diners, after Macron extends vaccine pass to restaurants
Police in France have begun enforcing the vaccination pass mandate to enter cafés and restaurants, leading to many of their tables being empty during the usually busy lunchtime, as the French lunched on public benches instead.
On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron’s government extended the controversial ‘pass sanitaire’ requirement to dining venues, even outdoor ones, disregarding the weekend of mass protests that drew at least 250,000 people onto the streets across France.
A video doing the rounds on social media, shot by a Reuters photographer, showed French police checking diners’ papers. Those without the pass face a €135 *($158) fine, which increases to €9,000 ($10,560) for a repeat offense.
By lunchtime, many sidewalk cafés were sitting completely empty as their regular customers chose instead to sit on public benches outside – according to a multitude of photos and comments posted on social media, anyway.
https://www.rt.com/news/531568-france-healthpass-cafes-restaurants/
https://www.rt.com/news/531568-france-healthpass-cafes-restaurants/
UK govt defends buying expensive paintings as ‘promotion of culture’ after dismayed Labour MPs blast £90,000 price tag
The UK government has defended buying pricey artwork by insisting it does so to promote British culture, after Labour MPs accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of being “selfish” amid upcoming cuts to benefits.
“The Government Art Collection helps to promote the creativity of British art and culture by showcasing its works in the UK and across the globe,” a government spokesperson said in a statement to the UK media.
The spokesperson said all purchases were approved by an independent expert panel, while “the majority of funding for acquisitions comes from philanthropic sources – not taxpayers’ money”.
The statement came after the Daily Mirror cited official documents stating that nearly £90,000 ($125,000) was spent via the Government Art Collection for two pieces of artwork for Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s residence at 10 Downing Street. The core functioning of the collection is funded by the government, with specific projects jointly supported by private donations and partnership, according to its website.
A total of £70,200 ($97,500) was spent on an untitled abstract painting by Belfast-born artist Cathy Wilkes. Another £18,755 ($26,100) was paid for a set of four black-and-white vegetation photographs by Derry-born photographer Willie Doherty called ‘Ashen, Restless’.
The photographs were acquired in March from Dublin’s Kerlin Gallery. The painting was purchased the same month from the Glasgow-based Modern Institute.
The purchase of expensive artwork was revealed as the government is set to slash the temporary pandemic-related increase in the Universal Credit benefit by £20 a week from October 6 – a cut that will affect low-income workers.
“Johnson finds more lavish treats for himself, just as he cuts Universal Credit, freezes frontline police pay, and cuts help to disadvantaged schoolchildren”, Labour Party MP Neil Coyle tweeted, adding that the PM was “totally out of touch”.
https://www.rt.com/uk/531539-expensive-artwork-government-culture-promotion/