IMPORTANT | | | | | Macron the Matchmaker | Last-Ditch French Attempt to Get Biden and Putin Talking President Joe Biden has agreed “in principle” to continue talks with Russia’s leader President Vladimir Putin. This after President Emmanuel Macron spent 105 minutes on the phone with Putin on Sunday. White House press secretary Jen Psaki issued a statement saying Biden would meet Putin only after the countries’ foreign ministers had met. And she didn’t seem convinced Putin’s mind had been changed: “We are also ready to impose swift and severe consequences should Russia instead choose war,” she wrote. “Russia appears to be continuing preparations for a full-scale assault on Ukraine very soon.” (Source: NYT) |
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| | | Chocolate, cuckoo clocks and … lies | Leak Reveals Swiss Banking’s Sordid Secrets A leak of the account details of 30,000 Credit Suisse clients has exposed the hidden wealth of drug lords, war criminals and politicians. The leak, which unmasked accounts worth $109 billion, showed how one of the world’s largest private banks repeatedly opened or maintained accounts for dodgy clients, including a Filipino human trafficker, a billionaire who ordered his girlfriend’s murder and the Vatican. “The pretext of protecting financial privacy is merely a fig leaf covering the shameful role of Swiss banks as collaborators of tax evaders,” said the anonymous whistleblower who leaked the data. Credit Suisse rejected the allegations. (Source: The Guardian) |
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| | | Mali Meltdown | Killings Escalate Days After France Announces Withdrawal “Unidentified armed men” on motorbikes attacked Malian troops in the northeast of the country Friday ending a bloody week that also claimed the lives of 40 civilians. The attack, in which eight soldiers and 57 insurgents were killed, came a day after France announced a sudden withdrawal of French troops from the West African nation due to a breakdown in relations with Mali’s ruling junta. Mali is at the heart of a Sahel-wide conflict between governments and rebel groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group that has killed thousands and displaced around two million people. (Source: Al Jazeera ) |
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| | | Polio Panic | Malawi Records Africa’s First Wild Polio Case in Years A three-year-old girl who faces a lifetime of paralysis became the first person in Africa to contract wild polio in five years. Because polio paralyzes one in 200 infected people, the extent of the outbreak remains unclear. Testing has linked the case to Pakistan, one of only two countries — with Afghanistan — where the wild virus lingers. The imported case does not affect Africa’s wild poliovirus-free status, the World Health Organization said. But it is still cause for major concern … as is the presence of a vaccine-derived version of the virus in some African countries with low rates of immunization. (Source: BBC) |
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| | | Briefly | Here are some things you should know about today: Below freezing. Finland’s Remi Lindholm had to apply a heat pack to his penis after finishing 28th in the men’s cross country skiing at the Winter Olympics. Not only the race was shortened (from 30 miles to 18 miles) due to extreme cold. (Source: The Guardian) We have COVID-19. Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s triple-vaccinated 95-year-old monarch, has contracted the coronavirus. Despite mild, cold-like symptoms, she plans to continue light duties this week. (Source: Sky News) Canada crackdown. Ottawa police have forcefully cleared the Canadian capital of protestors. Nearly 200 people were arrested and two incidents of alleged police violence were being investigated. (Source: CNN) |
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| INTRIGUING | | | ‘The Temple of Vaccinia’ | The Garden Shed that Started It All Dr. Jenner’s House has long been the third most popular attraction in the Cotswolds village of Berkeley. Now it’s set to become a global magnet. In 1796, Jenner administered the world’s first vaccine — to his gardener’s 8-year-old son — in a shed he called “The Temple of Vaccinia.” Before then, doctors had injected live viruses into young patients in the hope they’d survive. But after a conversation with a milkmaid, Jenner realized that injecting mild cowpox might cause an immune response that protected patients against deadly smallpox. City experts initially poo-pooed his findings and anti-vax protests broke out in London. (Source: BBC) |
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| | | Is, Has Been, Was | Woman Dies at 93, Taking Yamana Language With Her Cristina Calderon, the last living speaker of Chile’s Yamana language, has died at 93. Calderon hadn’t been able to hold a conversation in Yamana since her sister’s death in 2003. But she used her time to compile a dictionary with translations into Spanish, giving hope that the language of the Yaghan people might one day be revived. While a few dozen Yaghans remain in the town of Villa Ukika, in Chile’s deep south, most stopped learning the language generations ago. “With her an important part of the cultural memory of our people is gone,” tweeted Lidia Gonzalez, Calderon’s politician daughter. (Source: Reuters) |
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| | | Dear Dairy | Experts Worry About Online Breast Milk Sales Don’t cry over banned milk. EBay has removed breast milk listings from its platform after U.K. experts warned that the practice could spread bacteria, drugs and viruses. Mothers in the U.K. have access to free milk banks, but bodybuilders, cancer patients and other adults convinced of its health benefits will now have to get creative. Dr. Sarah Steele, a public health researcher at the University of Cambridge, said that milk sold online was not screened and sending milk in the mail was a recipe for bacteria. “You don’t send your mate milk via Royal Mail when they run out.” (Source: The Guardian) |
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| | | | | Hippos-Posthumous | Locals Don’t Want to Say Goodbye to Escobar’s Pets Folks in Colombia’s Puerto Triunfo have developed a soft spot for the hippos that were illegally imported by drug lord Pablo Escobar in the 1980s. But the government has other ideas. The animals now number 130, and at present rates they could top 400 by 2030. Once Colombia’s parliament has declared hippos an invasive species, the conversation will turn to whether they should be culled or sterilized. “They make laws from a distance. We live with the hippopotamuses here and we have never thought of killing them,” said local conservationist Isabel Romero Jerez. “The hippopotamuses aren’t African now; they are Colombians.” (Source: ABC News) |
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| | | Good Riddance, Beijing | Winter Olympics Makes for “Joyless Spectacle” The flame was snuffed yesterday on the most contentious Olympics in memory. From the outset, China insisted the Games should be about sports not politics, but controversy stalked sports too. As if the concerns over tennis star Peng Shuai’s well-being, China’s treatment of Uyghurs, the strict Covid protocols imposed on athletes and Xi Jinping’s bromance with Vladimir Putin weren’t enough, the snowboarding program was beset by judging irregularities and the Kamila Valieva doping scandal cast a cloud that went far beyond figure skating. Only the Norwegians — who comfortably topped the medals table — had much to smile about. (Sources: NYT, Al Jazeera) |
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| ABOUT OZY OZY is a diverse, global and forward-looking media and entertainment company focused on “the New and the Next.” OZY creates space for fresh perspectives, and offers new takes on everything from news and culture to technology, business, learning and entertainment. www.ozy.com / #CarlosWatson / #OZY Curiosity. Enthusiasm. Action. That’s OZY! |
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