Efforts can fail

The statement issued by Sri Lanka’s newly appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was nothing short of an intimation, nay confirmation, of the apocalyptic economic crisis that the island nation confronts. The numbers thrown by Mr Wickremesinghe are self-explanatory of the mess that he will need to clean up to put Sri Lanka back on track. Government revenues cover only 40 per cent of the expenditure being incurred. The fiscal deficit is around 13 per cent of GDP. The foreign exchange reserves are virtually non-existent. According to Wickremesinghe, “It is a challenge for the treasury to find USD 1 million.” Petrol stocks are down to just one day. Sri Lanka is looking at power cuts of around 15 hours a day because a quarter of the electricity is produced from oil which the government has no money to buy. There are huge shortages of medicines. Shortages of virtually every other commodity, including food, are inescapable. With the government being “compelled to print money” to pay … [Read more...] about India Must Lead Quad Effort to Pull Out Sri Lanka from Clutches of China’s Debt Trap Diplomacy

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 17 OVID, Colo. (AP) — Shortly after daybreak on the high plains of northeastern Colorado, Don Schneider tinkers with seed-dispensing gear on a mammoth corn planter. The day’s task: Carefully sowing hundreds of acres of seed between long rows of last year’s desiccated stalks to ensure the irrigation water he's collected over the winter will last until harvest time. A two-hour’s drive eastward, Steve Hanson, a fifth-generation Nebraska cattle breeder who also produces corn and other crops, is preparing to seed, having stored winter water to help ensure his products make it to market. Like Schneider and countless others in this semi-arid region, he wants his children and grandchildren to be able to work the rich soil homesteaded by their ancestors in the 1800s. Schneider and Hanson find themselves on … [Read more...] about Colorado, Nebraska jostle over water rights amid drought

The U.S. has now reached the once unthinkable toll of 1 million deaths from COVID-19 . How could this happen in the wealthiest country in the world? In a word, because of poverty—and the policy choices that perpetuate it. Our task now is to make different choices. Americans across the country have suffered during this pandemic. But new research by the Poor People's Campaign strongly suggests the poor and low-income have suffered the most. Even controlling for vaccination rates, they found that COVID-19 death rates in poorer U.S. counties were nearly double those in wealthier counties. During the deadliest phases of the pandemic, it rose to five times as many. White Americans still make up the largest share of America's poor and those who've died from COVID-19. But Black, Hispanic and Indigenous Americans are significantly overrepresented in America's poorest counties, and COVID-19 casualty rates run significantly higher for many communities of color. Poor Americans are … [Read more...] about One million COVID-19 deaths is a searing indictment of inequality in America | Opinion

House Republican members launched a new campaign arm on Tuesday — the Hispanic Leadership Trust (HLT). The new organization will “[support] Hispanic and Latino Members and Candidates to Congress who believe in the American Dream – namely freedom, opportunity, and the aspiration for exceptionalism,” according to a press release. (RELATED: ‘Life Hasn’t Improved’: Hispanic GOP Candidate Says Democrats Have Made Things Worse For Latino Voters) “Why now? Why build this out? One, I mean, the country’s falling apart,” Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales, who will lead the organization with Florida Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, said at a press conference about the HLT. “Democrat policies have failed time and time again. Hispanic communities have had enough.” “We’re talking life-long Democrats that feel abandoned by this administration,” Gonzales said. “That’s not enough for them to come over to the Republican Party. We have to show up. We have to deliver and we have to offer … [Read more...] about ‘Hispanic Communities Have Had Enough’: House GOP Launches New Campaign Arm

A tan-loving mum has been left with a golf ball-sized hole and 'Frankenstein' stitching on her face after what she thought was a tiny bump turned out to be cancer. Misty Ovens was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer, last month but was left in shock when she saw the results of the surgery to remove it. The mum-of-three said she used sunbeds an average of once a week for 10 years during her youth but became far more vigilant at protecting her skin following a life-changing breast cancer diagnosis in 2011. Misty, 44, is now keen to raise awareness of the importance of wearing and reapplying sunscreen. Misty was left with a hole by her right eye ( Image: Kennedy News and Media) She was shocked to see her own face ( Image: Kennedy News and Media) Misty, of Richland, Washington, US, said: "I felt like I was stitched up like Frankenstein. The hole was the circumference of a golf ball but wasn't as deep as one. "I was really shocked … [Read more...] about Ex-sunbed addict left with golf-ball sized hole in face as tiny bump leads to cancer

Woo Sang-hyeok competes during the men's high jump event during the Diamond League athletics Doha meeting at the Khalifa International stadium in Doha on May 13. [AFP/YONHAP] High jumper Woo Sang-hyeok became the first Korean ever to win a World Athletics Diamond League event on Friday, beating Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Mutaz Essa Barshim by three centimeters at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar. Woo, the current world indoor champion, overcame the odds in very windy conditions to take first place with a height of 2.33 meters. With only four athletes managing to cleat 2.20 meters due to the unfavorable weather conditions — it was so windy in Doha that the men's pole vault had to be rescheduled — Woo's effort saw him far outpace the pack and take the world lead spot for the current season. After clearing 2.20 meters in one jump, Woo struggled at 2.24 meters, needing all three attempts to clear the bar. After that early stumble, Woo cleared 2.27 meters in two … [Read more...] about High jumper Woo Sang-hyeok wins Diamond League title

Foster City has been dealing with a big, messy problem for years now. Namely, the hundreds of Canadian geese which have descended on the small California town and desecrated its local parks and waterways with feces. CBS Bay Area says that the city is considering euthanizing some of the stubborn geese as a last resort — and Bay Area animal rights activists have a lot to say about it. “Our message is simple, yet powerful," said In Defense of Animals’ website . " ‘Let the geese live !’ They don’t deserve to painfully suffocate to death in horror and confusion.” According to the group’s press release, the city's 2021-2022 budget allocated $20,000 and $45,000 in their 2022-2023 budget for a “geese mitigation plan.” In Defense of Animals alleges that the city will put the migratory birds in mobile gas chambers, a "cruel” process they claim will freeze and burn their lungs for 45 minutes before finally killing them. But Foster City spokesman Austin Walsh did not confirm how … [Read more...] about “Let the geese live!”: Hundreds of fowl descend on, desecrate Bay Area city

The massacre in El Paso, Texas, has, for the moment, reminded Americans of the danger posed by far-right terrorists. Former national-security officials have demanded that the U.S. government “make addressing this form of terrorism as high a priority as countering international terrorism has become since 9/11.” Retired Marine General John Allen and the former senior U.S. diplomat Brett McGurk have argued that far-right extremism poses “an equal threat” as jihadist groups such as ISIS. This is incorrect. White nationalism is a far greater threat to American democracy than jihadism, and always has been. But there are actually two challenges posed by white nationalism: One is the threat posed to American communities by attacks like the one in El Paso, which law enforcement can and should prevent. The other is the threat the ideology the attackers support poses to American democracy, which can be defeated only through politics, and only by the American people themselves. “There’s an … [Read more...] about Only the Right Can Defeat White Nationalism

This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Every Monday, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here. Question of the Week Caitlin Flanagan’s masterful “ Chasing Joan Didion ” has me thinking about travel. What have you learned while away from home? Paint a picture of where you went and share your insights. Conversations of Note Top of the mind: the mass shooting Saturday in Buffalo, New York, in which a white-supremacist terrorist killed 10 people. My colleague Graeme Wood, an expert on murderous extremists , read the killer’s apparent manifesto and grappled with whether it ought to be shared or suppressed. The Los Angeles Times editorial board argued that “Americans have ignored the insidious creep of white supremacy into the public discourse to the point that it has become normalized.” … [Read more...] about Tucker Carlson Deserves Blame—But Not for Buffalo

The story so far: After reportedly remaining “COVID-free” since the start of the global pandemic, North Korea last week confirmed its first case. On May 12, the North Korean administration said the highly transmissible Omicron variant was detected in the country as thousands reported ill due to a fast-spreading fever. In an immediate response to what North Korea termed was the “state’s most serious emergency”, its leader Kim Jong Un imposed a nationwide lockdown. Also Read North Korea reports six deaths after admitting COVID-19 outbreak Five days since its first public admission, the country has reported around 15 lakh suspected COVID-19 cases, while at least 56 people have died. Saying that the outbreak has pushed North Korea into “great turmoil”, Mr. Kim Jong Un has called for an all-out battle to overcome the virus. On May 16, Mr. Kim ordered the immediate deployment of the military to stabilise the supply of COVID-19 medicines in the capital, Pyongyang. A … [Read more...] about Explained | Why North Korea’s COVID-19 outbreak is cause for worry