Friday, April 8, 2022

Wake-Up Call: Ukraine Pleads For More Weapons

NY Post 4/8/22

WARNS OF MORE SCENES LIKE THOSE IN BUCHA: As Ukraine readies for an expected new push in eastern Donbas region by regrouped Russian forces, it's calling for more weapons to be sent and warned of more scenes like those in Bucha in other places in Ukraine from which Russia has withdrawn its forces. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said yesterday that despite Russia's pullback from the areas around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv, Ukraine is still vulnerable, and he pleaded for weapons from NATO and other nations to battle the expected Russian offensive. NATO countries have agreed to increase the number of weapons being provided, motivated in part by the reports of atrocities against civilians carried out by Russian forces.


The mayor of Bucha shared more of the horrors in the city while it was occupied by Russian forces, saying investigators had found at least three sites of mass shootings of civilians. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested in his nightly video address that similar scenes to those in Bucha, saying of the northern city of Borodianka "there it is much more horrible." He also said the world should be prepared for what might be found in the southern port city of Mariupol, which has been besieged for weeks, saying Ukrainian authorities expected to find what he called "The same cruelty. The came terrible crimes" there.

 
Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers in Congress voted yesterday to suspend normal trade relations with Russia and ban importation of its oil, and the administration announced sanctions on Russia's largest military shipbuilding company and its largest diamond mining company. The European Union approved an embargo on coal imports from Russia, and the U.N. General Assembly voted to suspend Russia from the organizations leading human rights body, the U.N. Human Rights Council. The move was made by the General Assembly over the war crimes allegations that Russian forces.


➤JACKSON CONFIRMED BY SENATE, WILL BE FIRST BLACK WOMAN ON SUPREME COURT: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed for the U.S. Supreme Court by the Senate yesterday, making her the first Black woman who will sit on the nation's highest court. There were cheers and applause in the Senate chamber as the 51-year-old Jackson was confirmed in a 53-47 vote, with three Republicans joining all 50 Democrats. Jackson watched the vote at the White House with President Biden, with the two hugging after she was confirmed. Jackson will be sworn in after Justice Stephen Breyer retires this summer. In addition to being the first Black woman on the high court, Jackson will be the third Black member overall and the sixth woman, and the court will have four women on it for the first time.

➤PALESTINIAN OPENS FIRE IN ISRAELI BAR, KILLING TWO, WOUNDING 10: A Palestinian man opened fire in a crowded bar in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday night, killing two people and wounding 10, in the fourth deadly attack in Israel by Palestinians in three weeks. Israeli security forces tracked the shooter down in a massive manhunt and found him early Friday morning hiding in an Arab neighborhood in southern Tel Aviv, and he was killed in a shootout with them. He was identified as 28-year-old Raad Hazem, from Jenin in the occupied West Bank. President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Palestinian Authority, condemned the attack.


➤APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS BIDEN'S FEDERAL EMPLOYEE VACCINE MANDATE: A federal appeals court yesterday upheld President Biden's mandate that all federal employees be vaccinated against Covid-19. The 2-1 ruling by a panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision, and ordered dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the mandate. The ruling said that the federal judge who'd struck down the mandate didn’t have jurisdiction in the case, and those challenging the requirement could have pursued administrative remedies under Civil Service law. Biden issued an executive order for the mandate last September.


➤STUDY..BAD REVIEWS CAN BE GOOD FOR BUSINESS:  Getting bad reviews online is generally considered to not be good for a business, but a new study finds this is not always the case. University of British Columbia researchers found that negative comments have little effect in cases where brand relationships are strong and consumers personally identify with a brand’s products. In some cases, the scientists found negative reviews can actually have positive effects for brands. They found that social proximity (demographic or geographic location) of a negative reviewer plays a role in how consumers respond to a negative review. In the case of three different products, researchers found participants who read a negative review by a socially distant reviewer actually showed higher interest in purchasing the product. Study leader Dr. Lisa Cavanaugh explains, “When consumers personally identify with a brand, they see facets of themselves in that brand. When a reviewer leaves a disparaging comment about an identity-relevant brand, consumers feel compelled to protect that brand, and by extension themselves, by scrutinizing the source of the negative review.”



➤SUGAR SUBSTITUTES MAY INTERFERE WITH LIVER’S ABILITY TO DETOXIFY, RESEARCHERS SAY:  Fake sugar might not be the greatest for your body. Two sugar substitutes, also known as non-nutritive sweeteners, might disrupt the function of a protein that plays an important role in detoxifying the liver and metabolizing certain drugs, a new study suggests. Medical College of Wisconsin researchers say the two non-nutritive sweeteners, acesulfame potassium and sucralose, were analyzed, and both were found to inhibit the activity of a protein in the body known as PGP, which pumps many foreign substances out of cells. Researchers say that in a case where an individual takes blood pressure medications, antidepressants and antibiotics, which are medications that rely on PGP as a primary detoxification transporter, this could be problematic. Researcher Laura Danner added, “With an estimated 40% of Americans regularly consuming non-nutritive sweeteners, it’s important to understand how they affect the body.” Study leader Dr. Stephanie Van Stichelen says, “We observed that sweeteners impacted PGP activity in liver cells at concentrations expected through consumption of common foods and beverages, far below the recommended FDA maximum limits.” Researchers also recommended that findings be further confirmed through preclinical and clinical students, since their study is preliminary.


➤SMOKERS WITH HEART DISEASE COULD GAIN FIVE HEALTHY YEARS BY QUITTING:  Giving up smoking can really add years to your life. Amsterdam University researchers found that for people with heart disease, giving up smoking seems to be as effective as taking three medications for preventing heart attacks and strokes. In these individuals, quitting smoking was also associated with a gain of 4.81 heart-event-free years. Study author Dr. Tinka Can Trier adds, “This indicates that smoking cessation is a very important step towards adding healthy years to one’s lifetime. It is important to remember that the analysis did not even account for the other advantages of giving up the habit—for example on respiratory illnesses, cancer and longevity.”


🏌IM LEADING, WOODS FOUR SHOTS BACK AFTER MASTERS' FIRST ROUND: Tiger Woods finished the first round at the Masters Tournament Thursday with a 1-under 71, four shots behind leader Sungjae Im of South Korea, as he made his return to regular PGA competition for the first time since the February 2021 car crash that severely injured his right leg. When asked if he considered it a victory just to have been able to play in the tournament at Augusta National, Woods said yes, stating, "If you would have seen how my leg looked to where it’s at now . . . to get from there to here, it was no easy task." In second place is Cameron Smith of Australia, just one shot behind Im.

 
⚾CUBS AND BREWERS KICK OFF MLB SEASON: The Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers kicked off the MLB season on Opening Day Thursday, their game becoming the first of the new season after the New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox matchup was rained out. The Brewers' Andrew McCutchen got the first hit of the season with a double in the second inning at Chicago's Wrigley Field, and the Cubs' Nico Hoerner had the first home run of the season, a two-run drive in the fifth inning, with the Cubs going on to win 5-4. There were seven games in all yesterday.

🏈TWO MORE BLACK COACHES JOIN FLORES' LAWSUIT AGAINST NFL: Two more Black coaches, Steve Wilks and Ray Horton, joined Brian Flores yesterday in his lawsuit against the NFL that alleges racist hiring practices for coach and general manager positions. The suit says Wilks was discriminated against by the Arizona Cardinals in 2018 when he was hired as a "bridge coach," but wasn't given a meaningful chance to succeed, and that Horton was subjected to discriminatory treatment when he was given a sham interview for the Tennessee Titans head coach position in January 2016. Additionally, Flores added the Houston Texans in the suit to the teams he alleges discriminated against him, saying the team engaged in, quote, "blatant retaliation" after he initially filed his lawsuit several weeks ago by removing him from consideration for its head coaching job. The Cardinals, Titans and Texans denied the allegations.

🏒MATTHEWS BREAKS MAPLE LEAFS' FRANCHISE SEASON GOAL RECORD: Toronto's Auston Matthews broke the Maple Leafs' franchise season goal record with his 55th and 56th in the team's 4-3 win over the Dallas Stars last night. Matthews had been tied at 54 goals with Rick Vaive’s 40-year-old Maple Leafs season record. The 24-year-old from Arizona also broke the record for most goals in a season by a U.S.-born player, which had been 55.



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