10 Movies To Watch If You Like Netflix’s The Midnight Sky – Screen Rant

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George Clooney's Netflix movie The Midnight Sky has inspired viewers to find other movies about space; check out these 10 recommendations.

After three year-hiatus from making movies, George Clooney returns to the big screen as the leading actor, producer, and director in Netflix's newest film, The Midnight Sky.

RELATED:The Midnight Sky: Every Project George Clooney Has Directed, Ranked By Rotten Tomatoes

Alongside George Clooney, the movie consists of an ensemble cast that includes Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, and Kyle Chandler. It is an emotional film that will leave viewers anticipating the missions by the scientist and astronauts. Also, it shows the beautiful visuals of space and the disheartening imagery of Earth. Of course, The Midnight Sky is not the first of its kind. Several other films capture the movie's essence, whether it be another space mission or another apocalyptic catastrophe.

Considering the mysteries behind a black monolith, two astronauts venture into space to find answers regarding its origin. While traveling with H.A.L. 9000, a supercomputer, a new conflict arises between humanity and machine that changes the course of their mission and brings about revelations regarding the space and time continuum.

Of course, 2001: A Space Odyssey sets the foundation of the space theme that we now see today. The film was gratified for its complex story and breathtaking visuals that have since inspired future sci-fi films.

Interstellar is one movie that most equates to the tone and premise of The Midnight Sky. As Earth becomes inhospitable, a pilot joinsa team of researchers to try and save humanity. His time and sacrifice mean leaving his children behind for several years, and matters worsen when there is deception regarding their plans.

Interstellar is like any Christopher Nolan movie. The story is convoluted, but it is still substantive in its approach. The stakes of it all make thefilm emotionally investing, from phenomenal performances by the cast, such as Matthew McConaughey,Anne Hathaway, and Jessica Chastain, and the beautiful score composed by Hans Zimmer.

As a group of astronauts escapes the conditions of Mars, one botanist gets left behind, leaving him stranded on the red planet. Now, he has to find a way to communicate with Earth and keep himself alive as long as possible, with his innovation and intelligence.

RELATED:10 Movies To Watch If You Loved The Martian

Though most space movies have a dramatic tone,The Martianis a unique movie, where it is more light-hearted. Based on Andy Weir's novel of the same title, the film is one of a kind that viewers compliment for its brilliance, thrill, and humor. Furthermore, Matt Damon gives a genuinely unforgettable performance.

George Clooney has a soft-side when it comes to space movies and their calamities. When space debris causes critical damage to the space shuttle, a medical engineer and a team commander are the only ones to survive the impact. Now, they have to figure out how to get back home to Earth, which means understanding the ways around space.

Gravity was one of the biggest movies in 2013. It is quite a harrowing and anxiety-inducing film that will leave viewers on the edge of their seats. Critics praised the film for its beautiful visual effects and direction, which earned the film Best Director for Alfonso Cuarn and Best Visual Effects at the86th Academy Awards.

With the sun slowly dying, the resultscould lead to the end of humanity. Therefore, a group of astronauts is on course to reignite the sun and give humanity another fighting chance. However, when the team detours and meets upon an older spaceship, they face the unexpected aftermaths that jeopardize their mission and risk everyone's life onboard.

Danny Boyle presents another thrilling piece of work with Sunshine. It is extraordinary with the complexities and psychological elements of space traveling, with incredible visual effects and impactful storytelling. The movie is also supported by an ensemble cast that includes Chris Evans, Cillian Murphy, and Rose Byrne.

Moonis no ordinary space movie as it takes a turn on the psychological and quintessential effects of space travel. An astronaut travels home from his research on the moon. However, he deals with hallucinations that could be from his trip. Now, he has to figure out what all the mysteries mean before he arrives home.

Moon may not be the most highly-budgeted sci-fi movie, but it is a must-watch for viewers to watch. Of course, Sam Rockwell is the star of the film. He gives a remarkable performance and is perhaps one ofRockwell'sbest roles to date.

Sometimes, mother nature can change unexpectedly. These cases could lead to unspeakable natural disasters from tornadoes around cities to a tsunami-like hurricane during the cold season. For one paleoclimatologist, he goes on a complicated journey through a superstorm to find his only son and bring him home before it's too late.

RELATED:10 Best Disaster Movies That Don't Have A Happy Ending, Ranked

The Day After Tomorrowis nota perfect movie,especially for a natural disaster flick. However, the visuals are horrifying yet mesmerizing that will leave viewers on the edge of their seats. The movie stars Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Emmy Rossum.

Ad Astra is not any usual sci-face movie in space. It is more than that as it focuses on the estranged bond between a father and son. After Roy McBride's father has been missing for three decades, Roy goes on a mission to find the truth about his father's expedition and stop the threat upon those at home.

Not everyone loves this movie because of the slow pace and development. However, it is quite ambitious in its approach by narrating a different spin on space-related movies. Also, it is visually stunning with brilliant cinematography and an amazing performance by Brad Pitt.

In this post-apocalyptic world where Earth undergoes a second Ice Age, civilization now lies on speed-trains to keep humanity alive. However, everyone is located in each cart by the class system, leaving the poorest to live in unbearable conditions. With the help of one man, they push their way to the engine and change the rules and lifestyle set by those in control.

Before becoming an Oscar-winning director, Bong Joon-ho was already crafting pieces of art. Snowpierceris surprisingly entertaining due to its unique and captivating story. Itconsists of a stellar cast of Chris Evans,Song Kang-ho, andTilda Swinton.

This biographical drama centers on Neil Armstrong's life story as he becomes one of the first astronauts to step foot on the moon. However, life as an astronaut is more than just space alone as he recounts the people that he loses close to him.

Directed by Damien Chazelle, First Manis a touching and beautiful movie about Neil Armstrong, played by Ryan Gosling. Critics and audience alike raved the film for its emotional storytelling, brilliant direction, and amazing performances by Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy. Also, the Moon landing sequence is quite a stunning scene that viewers surely cannot miss.

NEXT:The Midnight Sky: 10 Best Movies About Astronauts & Outer Space

Next Star Wars: 10 Of The Empires Deadliest Moffs, Ranked

Based in South Florida, Fariba Rezwan is a list writer for CBR and Screen Rant. Though working on her graduate degree at the University of Florida, her science education does not take away her love of movies and TV shows. She is a huge geek and considers her herself a huge fan of many fandoms including Star Wars, Marvel, GoT, Supernatural and many more.

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10 Movies To Watch If You Like Netflix's The Midnight Sky - Screen Rant

Opinion: Vaccine priority arguments have tinge of eugenics – easternnewmexiconews.com

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I have always thought that Planned Parenthood got a pass on its origins. While most people know that Margaret Sanger was an avid eugenicist, defenders of the organization she founded have tried to downplay her philosophy for decades.

Fast forward to the pandemic. Today, we are in the midst of a crisis that sees widespread fatalities and limited resources to address them. Now that at least two vaccines have been approved for widespread distribution, it is only natural that our attention turns toward whom will get it first, given the fact that not everyone who needs treatment can access it.

Here is where the principle that undergirds eugenics comes into play.

It has always been common to hear medical professionals say we need to make difficult ethical choices when seeking to do triage in emergencies. Doctors are often forced to decide which of two equally deserving patients will get life-saving attention, and which will be sacrificed for the greater good. This is nothing new. There is also nothing new in the suggestion that the younger you are, the more worthy you are of treatment. The thought is that the elderly have lived their lives, and it is only fair to provide those on the lower end of the chronological scale opportunities that their elders have already been given.

There is also the idea that those who are disabled should be sacrificed in the interest of the able-bodied, because quality of life is more important than life itself. Of course, just who should determine what that quality looks like is up for debate, as is the definition of quality.

As someone who has opposed abortion ever since she could understand what that was, and what it meant, I am no stranger to the arguments about quality of life. Many of those who believe that pregnant mothers who receive a diagnosis of Downs, or encephalitis, or spina bifida, or Tay Sachs, or any other debilitating condition for their unborn children should have the right to terminate their pregnancies as an anticipatory form of euthanasia. Others believe that euthanasia on the sick, and the elderly, is compassionate. They have either convinced themselves of their sincerity, or they are blinded by a desire to reject the core principle of eugenics. And that is what Planned Parenthood does, on a regular basis.

But as horrific as eugenics truly is, it can get even worse. We saw what that looks like this month, when a professor at the University of Pennsylvania opined that since most front line caregivers are people of color, and most elderly people in nursing homes and elsewhere are white, the caregivers should be given preference when distributing the vaccines.

Racism, meet Miss Sanger.

This layering of a race narrative over an already dangerous supposition that some lives are more important than others (youth greater than age, ability better than disability) has brought us to a place where those death panels envisioned by Sarah Palin dont seem so silly anymore. But now we do it with an anti-racism twist.

In an interview with the New York Times, ethics and health policy expert Harold Schmidt stated that, Older populations are whiter. Society is structured in a way that enables them to live longer. Instead of giving additional health benefits to those who already had more of them, we can start to level the playing field a bit.

There are so many things that are wrong with this comment, its hard to know where to start, but Ill try. First, the idea that front line workers are predominantly people of color has a tinge of racism to it. Next, the idea that the elderly are overwhelmingly white is misguided. Even if the statistics do bear out the fact that there are more white people over a certain age than people of other races, this does not factor in economics, health and other metrics that would have some bearing on the statistic. Finally, the idea that the race and age of a sick person should be used to either favor, or harm them, is repellent. I wonder if the good ethicist would have said the same thing if the races and ages were reversed.

Eugenics is a Pandoras Box that was opened by Sanger and her crew, and fully exploited by a gentleman in Germany a few decades later. Harold Schmidt and those who agree with him are in that same class. We need to nail that box shut, once and for all.

Christine Flowers is a columnist for the Delaware County Daily Times. Contact her at:

[emailprotected]

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Opinion: Vaccine priority arguments have tinge of eugenics - easternnewmexiconews.com

ERM in the Age of Pandemics and Cyber Crime: Part VII – The Need for Champions Dedicated to Promoting Trust – Lexology

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We live at a time when humanity is steadily moving away from riskier forms of self-sufficiency to safer and more productive forms of mutual interdependence. Consequently, the future of ERM will be concerned with building enterprise-wide approaches to pursuing opportunities and managing threats. This means business leaders and ERM practitioners must learn how to help their organizations build a culture of trust.

[I]n science, credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not the man to whom the idea first occurs. - Sir Francis Dalton, First Galton Lecture, Eugenics Review (April 1914).

Previous sections cited the work of Matt Ridley (How Innovation Work, and Why It Flourishes in Freedom (2020)) and the importance of developing a culture of innovation. Ridley teaches us that innovation is often a hard slog that requires years of guess-work, experimentation, and learning. People need opportunity and room to make unexpected discoveries and they need a supportive environment and stamina to gradually develop their ideas into useful products and services.

Consequently, an important role for leaders and the nascent field of enterprise risk management (ERM) is to put truth into the world in way that defines and promotes the pursuit of the common good. Psychologists and behavioral scientists refer to this as helping organizations develop cognitive immunity which at bottom means our ability to sort out facts from fiction. If we lack the ability to think rationally and problem solve based on a shared perspective of reality, its difficult to innovate and create solutions to our biggest challenges. In other words, the absence of a shared reality makes it difficult to act in a manner that increases the probability and magnitude of good things happening (i.e., pursue positive risk). Consequently, cognitive immunity based on truth is an important pillar of ERM.

Cognitive immunity, however, is not enough. Problem-solving based on a shared understanding of reality and truth also requires trust or what we call social immunity. In the United States, one of the earliest expressions of the need for social immunity appears in Federalist 55, one of the essays written by James Madison urging his country to adopt the Constitution and a democratic republic over an autocratic form of government. Madison acknowledged that the degree of depravity in mankind did not guarantee that a structural system of incentives and constraints (think ERM) would work. Recognizing that no system is perfect, Madison argued that the well being of any organization, including governments, ultimately depends on whether there is a sufficient number of admirable men and women who can be trusted to do what is right for the betterment of humanity.

Social immunity - or trust in the knowledge and expertise in other people - has been the key ingredient in stopping pandemics. As the world tackles the CoVID-19 pandemic, there are lessons to be learned from the 40th anniversary of smallpox eradication, first celebrated on May 8, 1980 at the 33rd World Health Assembly and considered the biggest achievement to date in international public health.

An infectious disease of unknown origin, smallpox plagued humanity for at least 3,000 years, killing more than 300 million people in the 20th century alone. Caused by the variola virus, the disease was contagious, spreading from one person to another over many centuries as different civilizations grew and interacted with each other through exploration, trade expansion, and colonization. Symptoms included fever, headache, backache as well as a severe pustular rash or small pocks, hence the name smallpox. Three out of every ten people who got it died. Survivors were often disfigured by scarring and some were blinded if the blisters had formed close to their eyes.

Humanity spent centuries looking for ways to combat smallpox before the scientific basis for vaccination began in 1796 with an English doctor named Edward Jenner (1749-1823) (Good historical accounts of smallpox are available at the website maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/index.html) and in Dr. Stefan Riedels article entitled Edward Jenner and the History of Smallpox and Vaccination, Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings, 21-25 (January 2005). By the 1500s, China and India had developed a pre-vaccination form of treatment known as inoculation, a word derived from the Latin inoculare meaning to graft. Smallpox inoculation, also known as variolation, was carried out through injecting the skin with a small amount of smallpox fluid obtained from blisters on people suffering from a mild case of the disease.

In 1716, Lady Mary Montague, wife of the British ambassador to Turkey, learned of inoculation from Turkish women, after surviving a bout with smallpox two years earlier. Blessed with great curiosity and intelligence (e.g., she had previously taught herself Greek, Latin, and French), Lady Montagu inoculated her own children and then started a campaign in England and across the Europe, enlisting a number of high profile personalities including the royal families of England, France, Austria, and Russia. Similar efforts to garner public support took place in the colonies as evidenced by the decision of John and Abigail Adams to inoculate their children in 1776, and George Washingtons decision in 1777 to inoculate all of his troops.

Naturally, these campaigns generated considerable controversy and skepticism. Fierce public debate was often fueled by religious leaders who argued that inoculation violated divine law, by either inflicting harm on innocent people or by attempting to counter Gods will. Others feared that inoculation was untested, seemingly based on folklore, and would hasten the spread of smallpox.To some degree, this fear was rational, especially because other contemporary treatments such as bleeding and purging were still common practice during the early 18th century.

In the end, the leadership of people like Lady Montague mattered. Although inoculations still presented significant risk, the practice lowered the fatality rate tenfold, from 20% to 30% to 2% to 3%. Further, it set the stage for learning the mechanics of generating social trust needed to stop the spread of misinformation regarding the potential risks, contents, and mechanism of vaccination that would be brought to life at the very end of the 18th century. Then, as now, confidence in science and the belief that scientists know what they are doing better than your family members or friends is critical. Likewise, responsible leadership, especially from the top, who can help generate a positive ratio of good information to disinformation is needed to generate social trust and lessen the avoidance of tribalization (such as we saw with mask wearing and COVID-19).

The next section further explores these issues as we continue with the story of fighting smallpox through the much safer vaccination method developed and promoted by Edward Jenner.

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ERM in the Age of Pandemics and Cyber Crime: Part VII - The Need for Champions Dedicated to Promoting Trust - Lexology

Tucker Carlson goes on hateful diatribe against a CDC worker because they’re non-binary – LGBTQ Nation

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Photo: Fox News/via YouTube

Fox News host Tucker Carlson devoted a segment of his daily program last night to attacking an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for posting a transgender flag to their Twitter bio.

[They] tells you that [their] preferred pronouns are they and them, Carlson said, even though he used he pronouns throughout the entire segment, saying that being non-binary is proof that Walker is not a disinterested scientist but a leftwing activist.

Related: Tucker Carlson says trans children are grotesque & a nationwide epidemic

Just last week, Carlson was using his cable news platform to explain why hes nervous about the COVID-19 vaccine. Its marketing campaign feels false, because it is. Its too slick, Carlson said at the time, echoing anti-vaccine rhetoric that experts fear could hinder the roll-out of the coronavirus vaccine.

But this week, Carlson has been complaining that white people will be denied the vaccine, accusing the CDC of eugenics because they want to some essential workers to have priority in getting the vaccine. Essential workers have been at higher risk of getting the virus and also tend to be less white than the population as a whole, while the elderly tend to be more white, Carlson pointed out.

On his show yesterday, he all but accused a non-binary worker at the CDC of attempting to murder white elderly people by denying them the vaccine with no proof at all that the worker was involved in any decisions the CDC made about the vaccine.

[Their] name is Joe Walker, Carlson said, posting a picture of Walker. [They] describe [themselves] as non-binary. [They] are barely in [their] 20s.

[They] proudly displays a transgender flag in [their] Twitter account, Carlson said, as if viewers should be horrified.

Adding that Walker appears to be American, Carlson said that they support the defund the police movement.

So there you go, Carlson concludes. Man of science or political activist? Well let you answer the question. Walker, according to their Twitter bio, is not a man, and Carlson should know this because he just described the bio.

Carlson did not explain what Walker had to do with the COVID-19 vaccines roll-out.

Carlson falsely claimed on his show that the CDC recommended non-healthcare essential workers should get the vaccine first, when in fact the CDC recommended that health care workers and long-term care facility residents get the vaccine before anyone else.

The CDC has also said that people over the age of 65 and at high risk for severe COVID-19 illness due to underlying medical conditions are being considered for early COVID-19 vaccination if supplies continue to be limited, with one of the stated goals being to decrease death and serious disease as much as possible.

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Tucker Carlson goes on hateful diatribe against a CDC worker because they're non-binary - LGBTQ Nation

Why I rolled up my sleeve for the vaccine and why you should too – AAMC

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Editor's note: The opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the AAMC or its members.

What would you do, Doc?

Its a question Ive heard many times over the years Ive practiced medicine. Its often asked in the midst of a difficult decision my patient or their family member faces one where there may be new or so much information that its difficult to process. They rely on me, an expert, to say what I would do if I faced the same choice.

Last week I faced one of those choices: I pulled up my sleeve to receive a vaccination against COVID-19. And I hope all of my fellow health care workers will make the same decision.

My decision made me think about Ann, a COVID-19 patient who recently asked me, What would you do? Ann, in her 70s, was admitted to our intensive care unit at UVA Health with respiratory failure. We were discussing whether to connect her to a ventilator. I held her hand as her family tearfully participated over video chat.

Ann had run a neighborhood restaurant for several years and was loved by everyone who met her. Upon learning of her illness, hundreds of members of the community had sent prayers and well wishes. For a woman routinely enveloped in so much love, in her moment of need, I yearned for her family to be present for such a consequential decision. But the coronavirus has fractured these moments, and we health care workers on the front lines have borne witness to the toll it has taken on our patients and their families.

After I received the vaccination, I felt the weight that I have carried around begin to lift ever so slightly. How amazing that an almost invisible substance in a tiny vial can ease a burden and carry the hope we so desperately need.

I received my vaccination because I am sick and tired of the coronavirus destroying the fabric of our society. In less than a year, COVID-19 has becomeone of the leading causes of death in the United States. Hospitals across the nation are strained. Children are not exchanging hugs before the holiday break. There has been so much suffering. No one has been spared.

What went into my arm can end this.

How amazing that an almost invisible substance in a tiny vial can ease a burden and carry the hope we so desperately need.

Aside from feeling the sheer urgency to end this tragedy, I also believe the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are safe and effective. The massive investment from the federal government allowed the development of mRNA technology, which has been around for well over a decade, to accelerate. That allowed clinical trials to be stood up rapidly, combining phases in some circumstances. Clinical endpoints to evaluate efficacy were met quickly because the pandemic has, unfortunately, been worsening. Manufacturing lag time was cut significantly because manufacturing began in concert with the clinical trials.

The medical field mobilized like never before but maintained the integrity of the science. Independent experts advising the clinical trials, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention all approved moving forward with these vaccines as they would for any others under normal circumstances.

Despite this remarkable achievement, there remains public hesitancy and skepticism. While a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that 71% of Americans indicate that they would likely receive the COVID-19 vaccination, skepticism is greater in some higher-risk communities such as among Black Americans, who have borne a disproportionate share of deaths from COVID-19.

Many of these concerns are rooted in a simple information gap. For example, in the same survey, 50% of Black Americans who said they probably or definitely wont get vaccinated are worried they may get COVID-19 from the vaccine. (The first two approved vaccines cannot transmit the disease, as they do not contain any live virus.) There are also rampant conspiracy theories gaining traction, such as that the vaccine contains a microchip or has a tracking capability linked to 5G cellular technology.

One of the hardest barriers to break is a distrust of the federal government to look out for the safety and security of Black Americans. Sadly, this is an earned distrust. The federally sponsored Tuskegee Study on Black men with syphilis, which ended only in the 1970s, is one example; there are many others that have cut deep into our psyche and left multigenerational scars. The University of Virginia, the institution where I work, was historically a proponent of race eugenics, advocating in the early 20th century for sterilizing Black Americans against their consent to prevent a so-called inferior race from propagating.

As health care providers, we must address these issues head on with accurate information and appropriate attention to our patients concerns.

Our nation needs this pandemic to end. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I encourage everyone in health care to get vaccinated.

This takes me back to Ann. As with everyone else who had met her, my entire unit fell in love with Ann and her spirit. We cheered her on as she went for several days before requiring a ventilator. By the time we withdrew care, the hand I earnestly held had turned cold from vasopressors, the warmth and spirit I felt before having transferred to my memory.

Ann deserved better than what this virus took from her. Her family deserved to say goodbye to her in a proper way.

Our nation needs this pandemic to end. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I encourage everyone in health care to get vaccinated. Speak with your health care provider if you have concerns about the vaccines effect on your health or that of your family. Its on us to lead by example.

So, what will you do?

Taison Bell, MD, is director of the medical intensive care unit at UVA Health in Charlottesville, Virginia. Follow him on Twitter at @TaisonBell.

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Why I rolled up my sleeve for the vaccine and why you should too - AAMC

Year things went wrong: However, there are some positive signs as 2020 approaches its end – The Times of India Blog

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The year 2020 was a year when everything that could go wrong went wrong in various public policy areas public health, the economy, national security, Hindu-Muslim relations, agricultural reforms. Yet, at the end of 12 melancholy months, there were some positive signs.

The government paints a positive picture of the Covid crisis whereas its handling of the pandemic was disastrous, especially its callousness towards migrant workers. Any numbers this government publishes are suspect after its reconfiguring the national accounts and employment figures. Johns Hopkins University data shows that Indias coronavirus mortality rate was the second highest in Asia excluding the Mideast at 11 per 1,00,000 infections. By contrast, Bangladesh and Pakistan scored 4.5 deaths per 1,00,000.

The economy was in trouble even before the pandemic. It has steadily worsened. Indias GDP in 2020 will decrease by nearly 10%. Except for the Maldives, India did worse than any other South Asian country in terms of GDP growth. Bangladesh and Bhutan managed to register growth rates of 2% and 1.5%, respectively. Pakistan contracted by 1.5%, war-torn Afghanistan by 5.5%, Sri Lanka by 6.7% but Indian growth declined by a whopping 9.6%. The sting in the tail: Bangladeshs per capita income was projected to surpass Indias.

In May, we woke up to Chinese troop incursions in Ladakh. This followed border crises with China in almost every year the Modi government has been in power: 2014 (Chumar), 2015 (Burtse), 2017 (Doklam), and 2020 (Galwan, Pangong, Depsang etc.). Experts have concluded that in 2020 intelligence failed to pick up Chinese military activity and the army reacted too slowly. A series of gaffes followed. The army at first thought the incursions were minor and routine. The prime minister claimed publicly there were no incursions. The foreign and defence ministries thought there were serious incursions. And the blundering Chief of Defence Staff insisted we could fight on two fronts, when our supplies are barely enough to cover two weeks of fighting any single adversary.

The UP governments love jihad legislation, which gives the state the right to determine if Hindu women and Muslim men can marry, is taking India from soft fascism to outright fascism. Other Indian states are lining up to emulate UP. This is an India that looks more like apartheid South Africa, pre-civil rights America, and eugenics minded Nazi Germany. Why the courts have not acted to strike down what is almost certainly unconstitutional is baffling actually, given the recent record of the courts, not so baffling.

The agricultural reforms are just the last in a series of governance howlers. Economists and other experts are divided but feel there is policy sense in the legislation. However, a key problem remains unaddressed. How can most farmers find buyers in a freer market, transport their produce to distant mandis, and deal with the vagaries of pricing given the backwardness of the sector and the differences between states? MSP is simply not enough to deal with farmers concerns.

Despite the governments chaotic responses and policies, there are bits of reassuring news. Covid vaccines are being rolled out. Many migrants have made their way back to original points of employment and are being better cared for by employers. Economists are saying that green shoots are visible in the economy. The World Bank projects GDP growth at 8% next year. The Ladakh situation seems to have stabilised even if India has not got its territories back. Some targets of love jihad have fought back publicly. And the government has engaged the farmers somewhat better since the protests.

A lot was lost this year, including lives and freedoms, but all was not lost. There is little hope of the Modi government improving much, but you cannot but be hopeful given the fundamental decency and optimism of most ordinary Indians.

Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Year things went wrong: However, there are some positive signs as 2020 approaches its end - The Times of India Blog

The CDC’s Affirmative Action Eugenics for the Coronavirus Vaccine – The Jewish Press – JewishPress.com

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Before the coronavirus pandemic, the CDC was too busy fighting racism to do its job. As the vaccine rolls out, the CDC decided to build the vaccine waiting list around affirmative action

Who gets to live or die? Much like in Nazi Germany, it helps to be a member of the right race.

The CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has announced that the priorities for distributing vaccines are to prevent death, preserve society, and help those facing disparities, and then maybe, increase the chance for everyone to enjoy health and well-being.

Vaccine distribution is to be guided by four principles, one of which is to fight health inequities and another is to promote justice. Its not the CDCs job to fight for social justice, but to fight viruses. Having failed miserably at its one job, which it chose not to do, its instead pursuing racial equity eugenics by tackling health inequities for racial and ethnic minority groups.

The CDC and NIH had turned to the National Academies to produce A Framework for Equitable Allocation of Vaccine for the Novel Coronavirus which falsely claimed that COVID-19 illnesses and deaths are strongly associated with race due to systemic racism and that a vaccine allocation framework had to reduce these health inequities with affirmative action.

The report noted that the committee anticipates that the criteria will, in practice, tend to give higher priority to lower-income individuals and Black, Hispanic or Latin, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.

A government agency had paid for and was making use of a report which would decide who was to live or die based on race and income. And no one was willing to say a word about it.

Tennessees Department of Health had already announced that it would be using the National Academies report and intended to dedicate 10% of the vaccines to SVI vulnerable areas.

The eugenics strategy of public health had been baked in long before the pandemic with the CDCs Social Vulnerability Index. SVI was supposed to help rush aid during a natural disaster to those who might need it the most, but SVI added race as a vulnerability to create affirmative action disaster relief. During a hurricane, your odds of getting help increased if you were in a minority area. And it decreased if you ranked higher on the SVI because you had more income.

This was bad enough. But now vaccine distribution will be driven by the SVIs numbers.

At least 26 states are going to be using SVI for the vaccine rollout. Not all of them are planning to use it to decide who gets the vaccine based on their race. Some intend to use it, as originally intended, to spread awareness, but other states are going all in on racial equity eugenics.

Ohios vaccination plan indicates that state health authorities will focus on equity and will use federal guidance to ensure equity in distribution and address racial and ethnic disparities.

In Tennessee, priority will be given to areas in the CDCs Social Vulnerability Index.

Minnesotas vaccine distribution guidelines put promoting justice in second place and warned that vaccine doses will be allowed based on the needs of health care personnel, nursing home residents, and SVI areas. The Minnesota guidelines define other attributes to be considered in prioritization as including, people from certain racial and ethnic minority groups who aredisproportionately affected by COVID-19: treating minority status as a medical vulnerability.

Thats how health equity medicalizes minority status and turns it into a medical disability.

States that dont use the SVI may actually be using even more outrageously racist guidelines. Californias Community Vaccine Advisory Committee began with proposals to have groups that were the victims of historical injustices be first in line for the vaccine. The committee consists of medical groups, as well as radical leftist groups like the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, several unions, and assorted minority activist groups. CVAC put equity second on its priority list.

Vaccine equity eugenics hit the public eye when a New York Times article quoted Harald Schmidt, a German academic who had worked for Germanys Ministry of Health and the European Parliament, and acts as an adviser to UNESCO and the World Banks Population and Reproductive Health Unit, suggesting that minorities should go ahead of older people.

Older populations are whiter, Dr. Schmidt was quoted as saying. Society is structured in a way that enables them to live longer. Instead of giving additional health benefits to those who already had more of them, we can start to level the playing field a bit..

Dr. Schmidt has an MA in Philosophy from the University of Munster, the academic home of one of the most notorious Nazi eugenicists who worked under Mengele, and also boasts a PhD in Health Policy from the London School of Economics.

Like Jill Biden, hes not a doctor, but that didnt stop the Journal of the American Medical Association from publishing a paper co-authored by Schmidt titled, Is It Lawful and Ethical to Prioritize Racial Minorities for COVID-19 Vaccines? which gamed potential affirmative action eugenic court cases by focusing on factors like geography, socioeconomic status, and housing density that would favor racial minorities de facto, but not explicitly include race.

While Schmidt has gotten the bulk of the attention, the paper was also authored by Michelle A. Williams, the dean of Harvards T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Larry Gostin who heads the ONeill Institute for National and Global Health Law. Schmidt, as well as his co-authors, took part in the Vaccine Allocation and Social Justice event, along with Philadelphias Deputy Health Commissioner, a strategic adviser to the Davos-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Initiatives, along with top state health officers from Tennessee, California, and Illinois.

And Nancy McClung: a former nurse who serves on the CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Ethical Principles for Allocating Initial Supplies of COVID-19 Vaccine.

The research materials included a paper co-authored by Ezekiel Emanuel, an Obamacare architect and a prominent proponent of triage, who had already co-authored another paper, which had warned that while directly prioritizing race would likely be ruled unconstitutional, the better approach would be considering vulnerabilities that, while possible for people of all races, are commonly produced by racism.

Finally, Emanuel noted that, disparities could be further reduced by avoiding prioritization strategies, such as age-based preference, that risk widening racial and socioeconomic disparities.

The paper co-authored by the man who wrote Why I Hope to Die at 75 was saying the same thing Schmidt had said, but coded in the ambiguous language of public policy. The elderly should not get access to the vaccine earlier because they are on average more likely to be white and wealthy and saving their lives first would widen racial and socioeconomic disparities.

A decade after Obamacare opponents were ridiculed for warning about death panels,national and local governments are following triage measures that decide who lives or dies by race.

The CDC evolved and deployed this policy while Republicans were at the helm, and did nothing.

Its not too late to stop it.

President Trump can clean house at the CDC and take as many of the decisions about vaccine policy out of its hands as possible. Republican governors and legislatures should stop letting the same experts who have botched the pandemic every step of the way use SVI for the vaccine.

Whatever happens this time around, using tools like SVI creates a horrifying legal and medical precedent in which medical treatment gets allocated based on minority status. As socialized medicine digs deeper into medical decision making, this will become the norm.

Beyond the pandemic, waiting for a kidney transplant, hip replacement surgery, or a scarce medication will be determined by medicalizing privilege and treating minority status as an illness in greater need of care and whiteness as a sign of health privilege that requires less care.

Affirmative action is merging with death panels to transform equity into triage. If we dont stop it, it will kill us. Reverting to the worst abuses of segregation will kill our souls and then our bodies.

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The CDC's Affirmative Action Eugenics for the Coronavirus Vaccine - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

SpaceX’s very big year: A 2020 filled with astronaut launches, Starship tests and more – Space.com

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SpaceX had a pretty good year.

Elon Musk's company launched 26 missions in 2020, breaking its previous calendar-year record of 21, which was set in 2018. This year's launches included SpaceX's 100th successful space mission overall, as well as the 100th of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.

But the raw numbers tell only a tiny portion of the story. For example, two of SpaceX's launches this year sent astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard SpaceX Crew Dragon capsules the first orbital crewed missions to lift off from the United States since NASA grounded its space shuttle fleet in 2011.

Related: The 10 biggest spaceflight stories of 2020

The first of those groundbreaking Crew Dragon flights, a test mission called Demo-2, launched on May 30 and carried NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the orbiting lab for a two-month stay.

"Today,a new era in human spaceflight begins as we once again launched American astronauts on American rockets from American soil on their way to the International Space Station,our national lab orbiting Earth," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement just after Demo-2's launch.

"The launch of this commercial space system designed for humans is a phenomenal demonstration of American excellence and is an important step on our path to expand human exploration to the moon and Mars," Bridenstine added.

Demo-2's success paved the way for Crew-1, the first operational astronaut mission SpaceX has flown under a $2.6 billion contract the company signed with NASA's Commercial Crew Program in 2014. Crew-1, which lifted off on Nov. 15, took NASA's Victor Glover, Mike Hopkins and Shannon Walker and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi to the station for a six-month stint.

SpaceX also flew two other missions to the ISS this year uncrewed resupply flights using the robotic cargo version of Dragon, which launched in March and December, respectively.

But more than half of the 2020 missions 14 of them, to be precise launched in support of SpaceX's Starlink satellite-internet project. Each of those 14 lofted about 60 Starlink spacecraft to low Earth orbit, growing the constellation to epic (and, in many astronomers' eyes, worrying) proportions.

SpaceX has now launched more than 950 Starlink satellites to date, and about 900 of them remain in orbit, constituting by far the largest constellation ever assembled. For perspective: Just 3,300 operational satellites currently zoom around Earth, and humanity has launched 10,500 spacecraft to orbit since the dawn of the space age in 1957, according to the European Space Agency.

Starlink will get much bigger still, if all goes according to plan. SpaceX has secured permission from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to launch 12,000 Starlink satellites, and the company has filed paperwork for up to 30,000 more.

But 900 satellites is enough to provide at least some internet coverage, and SpaceX began a public beta test of Starlink service in October of this year. And in December, the FCC granted SpaceX nearly $900 million in subsidies to bring broadband to rural areas across the U.S.

Related: SpaceX's Starlink satellite megaconstellation launches in photos

All 26 of the 2020 launches employed the two-stage Falcon 9, which features a reusable first stage. On 23 of those missions, SpaceX managed to land the first stage safely back on Earth so it can fly again in the future.

There were just two missed touchdown attempts in February and March, when a returning Falcon 9 booster failed to stick its landing at sea on one of SpaceX's two robotic "drone ships." (Nineteen of this year's successful touchdowns occurred on such ships, and only four occurred on terra firma.)

One 2020 mission, a January test of Crew Dragon's in-flight abort system, did not feature a landing attempt. Crew Dragon fired its escape thrusters early in the uncrewed flight and jetted clear of its rocket ride, as it would in the event of a real launch emergency. The Falcon 9's first stage was destroyed shortly thereafter by aerodynamic forces, as SpaceX had expected.

And this landing success rate wasn't SpaceX's only notable reusability milestone of 2020. Two of this year's flights a Starlink launch on Nov. 24 and the Dec. 13 liftoff of a Sirius XM broadcasting satellite used Falcon 9 first stages that already had six missions under their belts.

Coming into 2020, SpaceX had never flown a single Falcon 9 booster seven separate times. And the company just did it twice in less than weeks.

Musk has repeatedly said that he founded SpaceX back in 2002 primarily with one aim in mind helping humanity colonize Mars.

The company took significant steps in 2020 toward accomplishing this ambitious goal. The biggest and most dramatic step occurred on Dec. 9, when SpaceX launched a shiny silver vehicle called SN8 on a 7.8-mile-high (12.5 kilometers) test flight from the company's South Texas facility, near the Gulf Coast village of Boca Chica.

SN8 ("Serial No. 8") is the latest prototype of Starship, the spacecraft that SpaceX is developing to take people to and from Mars, the moon and other distant destinations. Like the envisioned final Starship, SN8 is made of stainless steel, stands about 165 feet (50 meters) tall and is powered by SpaceX's next-generation Raptor engine.

The operational Starship will have six Raptors, Musk has said. SN8 had only three, but they were powerful enough to take the vehicle far higher than any Starship prototype had ever gone before. The previous altitude record was 500 feet (150 m), achieved in the summer of 2019 and this past August and September by three single-engine craft Starhopper, SN5 and SN6, respectively.

And SN8 did more than just fly high; it performed a "belly flop" and other complex aerial maneuvers similar to the ones the operational Starship will execute when coming back to Earth from space missions. The prototype also landed where SpaceX wanted it to, though SN8 came in too fast and exploded. (SN8's flight technically takes SpaceX's 2020 launch tally to 27, but I kept it off the "official" list because it was a test involving a prototype vehicle.)

SN8's fiery demise did not dampen the enthusiasm of Musk, who viewed the first high-altitude Starship flight as a resounding success.

"Mars, here we come!" he tweeted shortly after the test.

Starship will launch from Earth atop a giant rocket called Super Heavy, which will sport about 30 Raptors. Like Falcon 9 first stages, Super Heavy will land shortly after liftoff and be used again, Musk has said. (Starship will be powerful enough to launch itself off the moon and Mars, both of which have much weaker gravity than Earth does.)

No Super Heavy prototype has gotten off the ground to date. But the next Starship vehicle, SN9, should soon take a leap: it moved to the pad last week.

SpaceX wants Starship to be up and running soon. Musk recently said he's confident that the vehicle will be flying people to Mars by 2026, and such missions could launch as early as 2024 "if we're lucky."

That timeframe would mesh well with NASA's current crewed moon plans, which the agency is pursuing through its Artemis program. Artemis aims to land two astronauts near the lunar south pole in 2024 and to establish a sustainable human presence on and around the moon by 2028.

Starship could end up helping to make all of this happen. In April, NASA selected Starship as a candidate to take its astronauts to the lunar surface, along with human landers being developed by Dynetics and a coalition led by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. And in October, NASA awarded SpaceX a $53 million contract to demonstrate in-space refueling using Starship, another bright spot in the company's memorable 2020.

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

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Fireballs, spaceships and iguanas? 7 strange things that fell from the sky – Livescience.com

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Space rocks crash to Earth carrying compounds that were formed billions of years ago. Spaceships perform fancy flips in the air but explode when they touch back down too quickly. And sometimes, iguanas fall from trees and land belly-up, frozen on the ground.

Here's a list of seven intriguing objects and a few reptiles that made headlines for falling from the sky.

Researchers captured an incredible video when a bright, green meteor zipped over the southern coast of Tasmania, Australia though a bit unfortunately, the video is in black-and-white. A research vessel called Investigator, which is operated by Australias national science agency, CSIRO, filmed the fireball as it burst through Earth's atmosphere, crossed the sky and then disintegrated above the Tasman Sea. People who witnessed the meteor first-hand said that it appeared green to the naked eye.

A rainbow-color space rock broke up over Costa Rica in 2019 and scattered debris between the villages of La Palmera and Aguas Zarcas. Now, ongoing studies hint that the fireball may contain the chemical building blocks of life. The soft meteor originally broke off of a larger asteroid, which formed out of dust from an ancient nebula. That very nebula would later birth our solar system. The rainbow meteor contains complex carbon compounds, which may include amino acids, which can come together to form proteins and molecules like DNA.

SpaceX's Starship program launched a prototype called SN8 during a high-altitude test flight, and all went according to plan other than the landing. The prototype took off from SpaceX's facility Boca Chica, Texas and zoomed about 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers) into the sky, performing complex aerial maneuvers on the way. The vehicle then descended onto a designated landing mark on the ground, but it came in too fast and burst into flames. The explosion occurred just 6 minutes and 42 seconds after liftoff.

A meteorite crumbled up in the sky over Hamburg, Michigan, and the pieces fell down onto a frozen lake below. That was in January 2018; this year, after thoroughly analysing the space rock, scientists announced that the meteorite contained thousands of organic compounds that formed billions of years ago. The compounds date back to the early days of our solar system, meaning meteorites that crashed onto young Earth may have carried similar molecules. Back then, organic compounds from meteors could have been incorporated into primitive microbes, the team said, so studying the Michigan meteor can give us a glimpse into early life on the planet.

The prehistoric village of Abu Hureyra in northern Syria housed the first known farmers on Earth, but then some mysterious, fiery incident destroyed the town, leaving mostly remnants of thatched huts coated in carbon. Among the wreckage, excavators also found glass spheres formed from melting soil, melted iron- and sulfur-rich samples and nanodiamonds. Scientists recently examined these glassy materials more closely and found that they could only have formed at temperatures over 3,630 F (2,000 C). The team concluded that fragments from a passing comet likely exploded over the village, releasing an intense heatwave that scorched the village and the soil beneath it.

The monstrous space rock that wiped out the dinosaurs slammed into Earth at such a steep angle that the dinos never really stood a chance. Scientists modeled the path of the asteroid and found that it struck at an angle of about 60 degrees above the horizon. Compared with shallower impact angles, this trajectory caused the asteroid to spew about three times as much sulfur and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to the model. The gas released by the impact triggered global climate change and killed 75% of all life on Earth, including all non-avian dinosaurs.

"Cool temperatures with a chance of falling reptiles" this is essentially the warning the National Weather Service sends out when the temperature falls below 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4.4 degrees Celsius) in southern Florida. That's because, when the weather gets cool, the iguanas that usually hang out in the treetops become too old to hold onto branches. As their metabolisms slow down, the lizards go stiff, fall to the ground and appear dead; but once the weather warms up, they snap back into action.

Originally published on Live Science.

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Why airlines are so eager to get the Boeing 737 Max back in the air despite customer concerns – Business Insider India

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It's been less than six weeks since the Boeing 737 Max was ungrounded by the Federal Aviation Administration and the plane is already flying passengers around Brazil and Mexico, with plans to start in the US in just seven days.

American Airlines will fly the aircraft first, following by United Airlines in February and then Alaska Airlines and Southwest Airlines in March. Brazil's Gol Linhas Areas began flying passengers on the aircraft on December 9, just three weeks after the FAA's ungrounding, and Aeromexico soon followed suit on December 21.

Airlines, however, have been waiting for the moment for nearly two years and are eager to put the grounding behind them.

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A key selling point of the Max is its fuel-efficiency as a hedge against rising fuel costs, which can be a killer for airlines. The past few years have seen a reprieve from high jet fuel prices but countless factors such as geopolitical showdowns, as we saw between Russia and Saudi Arabia in the early days of the pandemic, can drive oil prices way down or way up, at a moment's notice.

It's good for the environment and for the bottom line.

Airlines are also showing that they can't pass up a good deal, even if for a troubled aircraft. Boeing still has a product to sell and every Max sold goes further to restore confidence in the jet so good prices can be had, Aboulafia said.

Boeing not only has to sell new builds but also aircraft that were built and never delivered to a customer, known as "white-tails," since the combination of the grounding and the pandemic led to increased cancellations. Alaska Airlines not only announced a 23-aircraft order on Tuesday, growing its firm order total to 68 jets to be delivered by 2024, but also opted for nine white-tails.

Southwest Airlines was also reportedly in talks to acquire white-tails and will take on 35 Max aircraft in 2021. Despite having the largest Max fleet in the US prior to the grounding, Southwest will be one of the last airlines in the US to fly the Max, waiting until at least March before putting passengers on the aircraft.

As Aboulafia noted, the Boeing 737 Max isn't the first aircraft to be grounded after high-profile incidents, not even the first in the 2010s as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner was briefly shortly after its debut.

And despite the following grounding by the FAA, the DC-10 was still flown by passenger airlines for decades and still flies packages today for FedEx Express. A military variant also still flies for the US Air Force as an aerial refueler known as the KC-10 Extender.

Read more: The 16 most outrageous things Boeing employees said about the company, 737 Max program, and each other in released internal emails

All US airlines flying the Max are touting the aircraft's safety while simultaneously vowing to give customers flexibility when booked on the Max to move to another flight free-of-charge if they so desire. But travelers will have to know they're flying on a Boeing 737 Max first.

A more recent example comes from the early days of the airline industry's pandemic recovery with the onboard social distancing debate.

American Airlines and United Airlines were criticized for filling their planes to capacity so early on but just a few months later, airlines that did block seats are now reverting back to full flights. Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways, for example, announced their new plane-filling policies before the first COVID-19 vaccine cleared emergency authorization.

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Why airlines are so eager to get the Boeing 737 Max back in the air despite customer concerns - Business Insider India

Federalism in violence: Part II – The World

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This analysis was featured in Critical State, a weekly newsletter from The World and Inkstick Media.Subscribe here.

Last week, Critical State looked at how the distance between national governments and the people who actually implement their repressive policies both enables and limits the violence states can do to their own people. In the Philippines, the deadliness of President Rodrigo Dutertes ultra-violent drug war varies based on the political networks of the various mayors charged with carrying it out. This week, well look at a case where the distance has served an opposite function, making it very difficult for the national government to get its violence-implementers to stop repressing people.

Related: Federalism in violence: Part I

In Mexico, police torture civilians accused of crimes at an astonishing rate.

In Mexico, police torture civilians accused of crimes at an astonishing rate. In a survey of prisoners in Mexico, nearly 60% reported being beaten by police before being put in custody of a public prosecutor, and nearly 40% reported being beaten while in public prosecutor custody. Over 35% report being victims of simulated drowning before being turned over to public prosecutors and 25% were subjected to waterboarding or similar techniques by public prosecutors. Electric shocks, being crushed with heavy objects, and burns are also frequently inflicted on people unfortunate enough to come in contact with the Mexican criminal justice system.

Related:InMexico, the unendingdrugwar takes its toll

Mexico instituted a sweeping criminal justice reform law in 2008 that, among other things, aimed to end torture as a major component of Mexican policing and prosecution.

All this is true, despite the fact that Mexico instituted a sweeping criminal justice reform law in 2008 that, among other things, aimed to end torture as a major component of Mexican policing and prosecution. The national government, in other words, told its on-the-ground violence-implementers to chill. Twelve years on, that hasnt really happened. In a new article in the American Political Science Review, Beatriz Magaloni and Luis Rodriguez investigate why torture is so embedded at the implementation level of Mexican justice.

Related:Cartel gunmen terrorizeMexicancity to free El Chapo's son

Tortures outsized role in Mexico stems from the countrys colonial past.

Tortures outsized role in Mexico stems from the countrys colonial past. Mexico inherited an inquisitional justice system from Spain, in which confessions are a crucial part of securing convictions. Since inquisitional systems (as the name suggests) are agnostic about whether those confessions are coerced or not, torture to produce coerced confessions became an institutionalized aspect of how the justice system functioned. The 2008 reforms ended inquisitional justice by changing evidentiary standards to make coerced confessions functionally inadmissible. Magaloni and Rodriguez used data from the survey of Mexican prisoners to test the laws effectiveness. After the reforms, they found, there was a drop in torture, but the reforms were only responsible for between 4 and 8 percentage points of the drop hardly at the levels that might have been expected given the content of the new laws.

Reforms did move the needle on torture, but police and prosecutors had to institute the reforms on themselves.

Part of the reason for the laws limited effect came from the durability of the inquisitional institutions even in the face of democratic intervention. Police forces and prosecutors had a way of doing things, and the states actual ability to change those practices on the fly was extremely limited. Over time, as judicial oversight threw out more and more coerced confessions, the reforms did move the needle on torture, but police and prosecutors had to institute the reforms on themselves.

In Mexico, local police and military forces sometimes engage in joint operations against drug cartels, blurring the line between law enforcement and punitive raids.

Another issue Magaloni and Rodriguez identified was the increasingly militarized nature of Mexican policing, driven in part by Mexicos approach to its drug war. In Mexico, local police and military forces sometimes engage in joint operations against drug cartels, blurring the line between law enforcement and punitive raids. These joint operations, the researchers found, increased police torture in the area by between 5 to 10%, even controlling for areas where high levels of drug cartel violence might make the war on drugs more war-like than usual.

A national government working at cross purposes to itself will have a particularly hard time curbing its footsoldiers violent tendencies.

Mexican justice had a hard enough time implementing reforms from the national level, but the militarization of the drug war created a set of mixed signals that, in some communities, wiped away the positive effects of the reform entirely. A national government working at cross purposes withitself will have a particularly hard time curbing its footsoldiers violent tendencies.

Critical State is your weekly fix of foreign policy without all the stuff you don't need. It'stop news and accessible analysis for those who want an inside take without all the insider bs.Subscribe here.

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Federalism in violence: Part II - The World

Federalism is an attractive idea for unionists – but past its political sell-by date – Nation.Cymru

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The flags of Wales, Scotland, England and the UK. Picture by Joowwww.

Ioan Phillips and Jac Brown

It is highly ironic that the UK has established federal political systems around the world, yet remains reluctant to embrace this form of governance for itself.

With Brexit and Covid-19 underscoring the sclerotic nature of the British state, one of the most centralised in Western Europe, the federal ideal has been resurrected most recently by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who today promised a wave of decentralisation.

There is, however, the real danger that to channel the nineteenth-century historian, Edward Freeman advocates of a federal UK end up championing the concept without giving any meaningful though to what it actually means in practice.

Yet we should not be too hasty to condemn. The vacuity of some federalists does not mean a federal UK is necessarily an outright bad idea.

The Constitution Reform Group (CRG) proposes a new act of union that would see the four nations of the UK given beefed-up powers as part of a federal set-up in which only a core handful of responsibilities over defence, foreign affairs, immigration, and currency, would remain at a UK level. Structurally at least, this would be a significant reshaping of the way politics in the UK is conducted, stripping power away from the centre.

Federalism also gives unionists and nationalists a chance to test their arguments. Unionists can argue that reform pacifies the nationalist yearning for independence, while bringing further autonomy. Nationalist governments could utilise new powers to diverge more from Westminster, preparing the ground for eventual independence.

Practicality

The fact remains, though: federalism is an unviable pipedream.

The most immediate obstacle is that those most in favour of a federal solution Labour and the Liberal Democrats are in the political wilderness, and will likely be for the foreseeable future.

To obtain a majority of one, Labour needs to gain an unprecedented 120 seats a task made more difficult by the partys ongoing struggles in Scotland.

Furthermore, the rise of independence in Welsh and Scottish political consciousness means that the constitutional debates there have shifted beyond areas federalism would be able to address.

Foreign policy is a case in point. Federalism would not have prevented Brexit. Nor would it have any mechanism for preventing some of the more ill-judged military interventions of the past two decades.

In addition, the successful realisation of federalism requires mutual respect between the different administrations of the UK.

Would a Conservative government in England work with its Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish counterparts in that spirit? The evidence suggests otherwise. It has regularly ridden roughshod over the views of the devolved governments on Brexit, while attempting to deliver COVID policy by diktat.

The other elephant in the room is that an English parliament would make a Westminster government fairly redundant, with the preferences of England still dominating this streamlined body.

Supporters of federalism retort that federal regions would guard against Englands preponderance although such an approach could well see power taken from councils, rather than central government.

Ultimately, the proliferation of pro-independence sentiment is not motivated by a desire for control over arcane pension policy rule. It is instead a question of identity.

Looking at UK politics today, it is hard to escape the feeling that we are on a very different path one where the main constitutional juncture is unionism against independence.

For unionists, federalism might be a comforting if abstract panacea, but it is an idea past its political sell-by date.

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Federalism is an attractive idea for unionists - but past its political sell-by date - Nation.Cymru

Scottish independence, the status quo or federalism: Why Labour’s third way deserves a fair hearing Scotsman comment – The Scotsman

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NewsOpinionColumnistsThe astonishing decline of support for Labour, once the dominant force in Scottish politics, has been once of the stories of devolution.

Sunday, 20th December 2020, 7:00 am

In the 2003 Holyrood election, under Jack McConnell, the party won 50 seats to the SNPs 27, while in the 2010 UK election 41 Scottish seats elected a Labour MP, compared to just six for the SNP.

Fast-forward to December 2019, and the SNP secured 48 Westminster seats to Labours one, a result that may have partly reflected confused messaging over whether the then leader Jeremy Corbyn would or would not agree to a second independence referendum.

So, for some, it might be tempting to write off Scottish Labour as we look ahead to next Mays elections. And indeed, both the SNP and Conservatives have sought to bill this as a straight-forward choice between two parties and two options: independence or the Union.

However, Keir Starmer is a considerably more formidable figure than Corbyn and it is clear he has identified Scotland as a place where the party must radically transform its fortunes to have a chance of success at the next UK election.

With that in mind, he, Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard and others in the party are attempting to add a third option to the mix with radical proposals for a modernisation of the British constitution that would see greater decentralisation and devolution to not just Scotland, but the whole of the UK.

In January this year, Starmer, who is due to give a speech on the issue this week, said: We need a new constitutional settlement: a large-scale devolution of power and resources. This will involve building a new long-term political and constitutional consensus. I believe that could best be built on the principle of federalism.

Right now, it seems clear that Labour has its work cut out to get this third option onto the ballot sheet in the event of a second referendum, let alone convince people of its merits. But, it could be that as the debate heats up that those on both sides of the debate start to see the merits.

For unionists, a home rule or devo max option might just keep the United Kingdom united. For nationalists, it could be a halfway house towards their ultimate aim of independence. Devolution may have contributed to the rise in support for independence so more of the same could boost support.

With polls showing record levels of support for independence, that might not seem like an attractive option, but if the numbers narrow as during what will be a hotly contested election campaign, it could become more appealing.

And for those not completely wedded to the status quo or the idea of a new nation, it is an option to consider, it does at least deserve a hearing as part of what we hope will be a reasoned and civil debate about Scotlands future.

For anyone in any doubt, the 2014 referendum showed this is an issue that people care most passionately about and that is absolutely fine, but we all must learn to control our emotions and respect those with whom we disagree and the outcome of the democratic process.

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Scottish independence, the status quo or federalism: Why Labour's third way deserves a fair hearing Scotsman comment - The Scotsman

SAD: Will work with TMC to strengthen federalism – The Tribune India

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 23

Calling for a united nationwide initiative for a federal structure in the country, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today extended solidarity with West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee for the TMC kisan rally.

SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said here today that Punjab and West Bengal had always led the nations fight for political autonomy to the states for making India a strong federal country. We must continue with this tradition and invite more like-minded parties to take a stand for the genuine federal structure in the country, in keeping with the sentiments of our Constitution makers. We have allowed the powers of the states to be eroded in one way or another, due to which things have come to such an extent that the Centre has also legislated on a state subject agriculture. This has resulted in the ongoing mass kisan movement in the country.

Badal also applauded Banerjee for sending a five-member team of TMC MPs to hold talks with the protesting farmers and interact with the farmers leaders directly today. You have strengthened the farmers agitation by announcing a series of protests from the next week to demand revocation of the three agricultural laws. This will go a long way in making the farmers movement a national movement, he added.

The SAD president also informed the TMC leader that the party had formed a three-member sub-committee, comprising senior leaders Balwinder Singh Bhundur, Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra and Sikander Singh Maluka to coordinate with like-minded parties on the issue.

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SAD: Will work with TMC to strengthen federalism - The Tribune India

Amit Shah rebuts Bengal govts attack on federalism charge – Times of India

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BOLPUR: Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday took the state government head-on, saying the Centres requisition of three IPS officers was well within the federal structure, daring the state to cite which rules had been broken. His comment drew a sharp response from chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who called the transfers a blatant misuse of emergency provisions of the law, aimed at demoralising officers serving in Bengal. The state government would not allow this brazen att-empt by the Centre to control the state machinery by proxy, she added. She tweeted her thanks to the several opposition leaders who had supported her anti-federalism charge over the last two days. The state had conveyed its inability to relieve the trio Rajeev Mishra IGP, South Bengal; Praveen Tripathi, DIG, Presidency Range; and Bholanath Pandey, Diamond Harbour SP on the ground that the directive went against the bas-ic tenets of federal structure. The three IPS officers were in charge of BJP president J P Naddas security on December 10, when stones were thrown at his convoy en route to a rally in Diamond Harbour. The Centre has requisitioned the three officers within the framework of the federal structure, Shah said on Sunday. If the state feels the Centres letter to the IPS officers contravenes the federal structure, it can cite the rules under which it does, he challenged. On Sunday, CM Banerjee took to Twitter to reiterate her stand on the issue. Centre is brazenly interfering with the State governments functioning by transferring police officers. My gratitude to Bhupesh Baghel, Arvind Kejriwal, Amarinder Singh, Ashok Gehlot and M.K. Stalin for showing solidarity to people of Bengal and reaffirming their commitment to federalism. Thank you! she wrote. Four chief ministers Punjabs Amarinder Singh, Delhis Arvind Kejriwal, Chhattisgarhs Bhupesh Baghel and Rajasthans Ashok Gehlot had backed Banerjees stance on the IPS transfer issue on Saturday. On Sunday, DMK president M K Stalin and former union minister Yashwant Sinha also lent their weight behind Banerjee on the issue. NCP leader Sharad Pawar even spoke to her over a larger opposition alliance against the Centres repeated interference in state issues. The Centre has turned down the Bengals governments objection to relieve the three IPS officers. The state government has indicated that it would move Supreme Court if the Centre tried to force its hand. According to the provisions in rule 6(1) of IPS (Cadre) Rules, 1954, if theres a disagreement between the state and Centre, the state is requested to relieve the officer immediately to take up the central posting. On Thursday, the Centre informed the state government and the three IPS officers that the latter were being posted in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and the Bureau of Police Research and Development for a period of three to five years. Shah also referred to the J P Nadda incident to argue that the ruling Trinamool was trying to suppress the voice of the opposition in Bengal. Parties have the right to reach out to people in a democracy. The ruling party has the responsibility to ensure that they can do so. But the Trinamool isnt allowing that. Power has gone to their head. We are not going to backtrack, he said.

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Amit Shah rebuts Bengal govts attack on federalism charge - Times of India

Kevin McKenna: New BBC political editor wasted no time taking seat on the fence – The National

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BBC Scotlands newly appointed political editor, Glenn Campbell, wasted little time in signalling his gratitude for his lofty new position. In a tweet on Monday, he provided the future coordinates for the corporations tongue in respect of the UK Labour leaders fundament. This will get lost in the turmoil of today but Keir Starmers speech on redesigning UK could come to be seen as a hugely significant moment in our constitutional debate, which is why the staunchest Unionists/nationalists will seek to trash it.

Campbell is a classic BBC apparatchik whose main qualifications for the job (as with all his predecessors) are longevity,obsequiousness to senior politicians, and the ability to walk and read an autocue at the same time. Hell not be expected to break any new stories; no fresh or original political perspective will be demanded of him. Like those who went before him, hell have been given a standard issue pen-knife for the purposes of extracting skelves from all the fences upon which hell be expected to sit.

Campbells tweet afforded Starmers speech on re-hashed federalism (part 67 in a series) a respect it failed to merit. Worse than this, it channelled the kind of supercilious contempt that Scotlands political classes reserve for those who exhibit any kind of passion about politics.

READ MORE:'Blatant propaganda': BBC slammed for pro-Tory 'bias' in climate change story

If you are pro-Scottish independence and feel, after many years of incoherent ideas about federalism, that it fails to meet your aspirations for Scotland, you now know where you stand with BBC Scotlands political department: you are to be considered staunch and your opinions thus deemed to be worthless.

Starmer, of course, is a dream come true for the BBCs political journalists on either side of the Border. He is of Tony Blairs vanilla left, which is to say that his radicalism stretches no further than being sufficiently left of the Conservatives to justify the role of opposition leader. And thence to retain it until such times as the electorate simply tires of the Tories and makes him prime minister instead.

He wont exhibit any of Jeremy Corbyns alarming tendencies actually to promulgate core Labour values around collectivism, trade union rights and seeking a fair share in the nations wealth for those who produce it: the actual workers. The BBC, chiefly through the grotesque and unprofessional bias of its UK political editor, sought to portray Corbyn as an extremist while failing to show him any measure of the respect, bordering on sycophancy, she accords Conservative administrations. This permits her unfettered access to those fabled Downing Street sources. Her predecessor, Nick Robinson, deployed a similar degree of unprofessional partiality in his coverage of the 2014 referendum.

Thus, Starmer is a sufficiently safe Labour leader who will give no cause for alarm to the BBC or those print barons who control the right-wing press and whose duty it is to assemble firing squads when anyone gets dangerously close to threatening the UK legislature with something approaching socialism.

He is also a gift to those within the Labour Party who seek an easy life and the opportunity to solicit greasy handshakes on their progress through Parliament for the purposes of ensuring a tidy wee lordship or a few non-execs. Over the last two decades, these have been the ultimate career goals of most of Scotlands Labour grandees.

Federalism neatly encapsulates Labours race to the middle without making a nuisance of itself to vested interests. It sounds interesting and a little thrilling, implying as it does a radical challenge to the existing constitutional arrangements. Of course, its not really. Proper federalism brings parity of esteem economically and culturally and rests on the willingness of an enlightened government to reinforce it with the instruments and finances for regional authorities to flourish.

Nothing in the present Tory administrations direction of travel suggests theyd grant anything like this. Meanwhile, the presence of London, a city state behemoth whose population alone swallows up that of the second-largest constituent country of the UK, renders the concept obsolete. In the hands of a Labour Party absolutely committed to employees rights in the workplace and trade union activism, then who knows perhaps it might be made to work after a fashion.

But Starmer, and those other fake Labour politicians, have already shown us what they were all about in this respect. Even as Jeremy Corbyn in 2017 was securing more votes than Tony Blair did in his last two elections, they were seeking to undermine him. Against all odds and the combined forces of the UK establishment, the BBC and most of the press, Corbyn destroyed Theresa Mays seemingly impregnable majority and came within a whisker of defeating her. If Starmer and Stephen Kinnock and the rest of their treacherous gang had shown loyalty to their leader instead of actively campaigning against him, theres every chance that under a Corbyn premiership the UK would already have departed Europe with a statesmanlike deal with the EU.

READ MORE:Covid variant border chaos has exposed Brexiteer's 'sovereignty' as fantasy

Nor did it take long for Gordon Brown to be wheeled out again to reinforce Starmers message. Brown, the former iron chancellor, is now reduced to the role of an old performing circus clown whose old-fashioned act sparks feelings of nostalgia among the grandparents. That the centrists of London Labour still believe him to be a touchstone for pro-Union sentiment in Scotland betrays the fundamental ignorance of the party about Scottish politics and the dynamics which have produced 17 successive opinion polls indicating clear majority support for independence. The reliance on Brown is just part of this long flight of ignorance. The other is that Labour simply needs to get its act together in Scotland to reclaim its hinterlands and thus skewer the SNP. That ship, though, sailed a long time ago. It fails to acknowledge that the SNP first defeated Labour in Scotland 13 years ago, when Blair was still in power.

The political dynamic of the UK has changed so radically in the space of six years that ideas around federalism are now about as radical and profound as a department stores 10% discount. In terms of a serious challenge to the embedded corruption at the heart of the UK gangster state, Scottish independence is the only game in town, as it has been since 2014.

Starmers federalism intervention came after he had failed to urge Boris Johnson to seek an extension on trade negotiations with the EU. Of greater concern to Labour voters across the UK is their leader continuing in his role effectively as Boris Johnsons minister without portfolio.

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Kevin McKenna: New BBC political editor wasted no time taking seat on the fence - The National

Relation between Federalism and Indian Party System – Rising Kashmir

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The outcome of elections of 1967 gave a staggering blow to Congressdominance and generally considered as an important turning point in Indiaspolitics by putting an end to the era of one Party dominance. In this electionalthough Congress retained a bare majority in the Parliament-284 in a house of520 but it was unseated in eight out of sixteen state Assemblies including thepopulous heartland States of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The Party lost itsdominance in other six States- West Bengal, Orissa, Madras, Kerala, Rajasthanand Punjab. Latent social forces were coming to the fore in the states. It wassignificant that new tendencies were appearing not at the national but at theregional level. This shift of centre of gravity of public life from the centreto the periphery marked a qualitative change in politics. Integrative politicsof the kind that was needed for nation building in the past at the all-Indialevel is now needed in the states. In other words, they required politicalleadership of a high order in terms of vision and skills.

Beginning ofchallenges for federalism

In this newenvironment the issue of federalism came to be affected more by the ideologicalposition, political strategy and support base of the new governments. It wasfound that many of the coalitions, in the face of urge for power of theirpartners, joined hands only in opposition to Mrs. Gandhis government, but weresharply divided on the vital issue of Centre- State relations. In regards twoschools of thought were identified; one stands for a thorough re-examinationand introduction of amendments of far-reaching importance in the Constitutionso that Centre-State relations could be rearranged to suit the needs of thechanged political context and its unitary bias could be shed. The other school,however, does not consider all this necessary, and was content with a generalreappraisal of the Constitution which may admit of a broad review ofCentre-State relations within the existing Constitutional framework. Adescriptive hypothesis which perhaps best summed up the then situation was thatcooperative federalism in India having lost support base in the Congress systemwas in search of a new anchorage amidst pressures of democracy, nationaldevelopment, regional growth and State autonomy.

But above all the emergence of coalition politics had brought forward anew power equation in which smaller states have found important position in thefederal governance. Without going into the theoretical position of greaternationalism, lesser nationalism, little nationalism, and the like one candraw the conclusion that in the newly created political arrangement, smallerstates with greater political capability in the field of power manipulation canplay a very decisive role in the federal process. The experiences that theIndian state has gained over the years show that all types of regional or localissues create situations for the emergence of new types of demands-sometimesdemand for autonomy and sometimes the creation of the state. Among the pointsof growing tension in India federalism is the feeling in some communities thattheir cultural message for the world at large is not being promoted. Someothers have grievances in economic matters. In the changed situation the Centremust learn to play an effective mediatory role even as it continues tosafeguard the countrys integrity and independence. But since regionalmovements struggling for greater expression also wish to uphold the nationalidentity, the country is now in a position to move forward constructively inre-ordering CentreState relations. It can also play a more creative role infurthering the emergence of new global institutions and values.

Relation amongparties

From thefunctional point of view it may be noted that there have been sharp changes inthe relationship between the Congress Party and other non-Congress regionalpolitical parties. It is true that in most of the cases, before the emergenceof coalition politics and because of the dominant position of the Congress Party,the local or the regional parties did not enjoy any influential authority inthe total political process. But there have been significant changes since 1967and a climate of bargaining politics had taken its roots and in this processlocal or regional parties have been able to come forward with their agenda ofaction. It was for the first time that the hegemonic position of the Congresswitnessed opposition from regional or local political parties. It may not be anexaggeration to say that the seeds of regionalization of Indian politics hadbeen sown during the 4th General Elections. Looking from the pointof view of socio-economic configuration, it may be seen that a new social andeconomic class, mostly in the middle order, emerged and began to exercise theirinfluence in the policy making process. No longer the issue of relativeautonomy of states found favor with the national political parties and in itsplace the politics of bargaining came to the surface in which states began toassert themselves in the federal governing process.

Federalism andviews of parties

The newenvironment encouraged political parties of the time to speak in favour andagainst of the nature of Indian Constitution. Among the parties the erstwhileJana Sangh and present Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has stood for a centralisedfederalism. By its theory of Hindu revivalism it favoured a strong nationalgovernment. It was of the view that only a powerful national government was thesolution for checking the fissiparous tendencies threatening nationalintegration and encouraging foreign invasion. Therefore, the BJP propagated theidea that in the interest of nation and preserving national unity it stood forsome kind of a decentralised unitary system in place of federal set up. TheLeft Parties wanted a system of governance which would ensure substantialautonomy to the states. The Socialists, despite their awareness of the need forsubstantial regional autonomy, were in favour of a strong national governmentboth for the maintenance of national unity and the accomplishment of concrete,time- bound socialist programme. Of all the regional political parties, DMK andAIADMK, the Akali Dal and later on AGP in Assam demanded more devolution ofauthority for the regions. The changes brought about since 1967 had created asituation where there have been radical changes in the party positions all overthe country. With the emergence of the Non-Congress government in severalstates and reduction in the Congress strength in Parliament after the 1967General Elections the position of the states vis-a-vis the Union wasstrengthened. In 1968, the Communist Party of India stood for changes in thefederal constitution of the country so as to divest the union government of itsoverriding powers to interfere in the affairs of the states and in order towiden the autonomy of states especially in the matter of finance and stateeconomy. In line the CPI (M) favored widest autonomy for the various statescomprising the Indian federation.

(Author is Professor and Head, Department ofPolitical Science, B.N.Mandal University, Bihar)

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New president says Switzerland ‘always puts the health of its population first’ – swissinfo.ch

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Guy Parmelin will assume the rotating Swiss presidency for the first time on January 1. He will have the difficult tasks of guiding Switzerland through the Covid-19 pandemic and defending the institutional agreement with the European Union against the wishes of his right-wing party.

Journalist and deputy head of the swissinfo.cheditorial group for German, French and Italian. Earlier, worked for Teletext and Switzerlands French-language national broadcaster.

More about the author| French Department

The 61-year-old economics minister spoke to SWI swissinfo.ch during a ten-day quarantine, which he was forced to enter after returning from London on December 14.

swissinfo.ch: In recent months economic interests have played a major role in Switzerlands policy against Covid-19. The magazine Foreign Policy, for example, ran the headline Switzerland is choosing austerity over life. Did Switzerland choose austerity over life?

Guy Parmelin: No, Im opposed to this view, which presents Switzerland as a selfish country in its handling of the coronavirus crisis. We have always put the health of the population first. That said, balancing health measures and their economic effects is obviously necessary. So far, weve managed to do that pretty well.

We regularly review our system. In recent weeks the cantons have begun to coordinate better and to apply stricter measures than the national standards allow. This demonstrates the responsibility they have taken in managing this crisis.

Guy Parmelin was born on November 9, 1959. He comes from the village of Bursins, on the shores of Lake Geneva in French-speaking western Switzerland.

Trained as a farmer and winegrower, he focused on politics early on. After being president of the Swiss Peoples Party for canton Vaud, he joined the House of Representatives in 2003.

In 2015 he was elected to Switzerlands seven-member government. He was given the defence and sports portfolio. In 2019 he took over at the economics ministry.

swissinfo.ch: But in Austria and Germany, two neighbouring countries with comparable health systems, relative mortality rates are much lower. How do you explain this?

G.P.: Each country is dealing with the crisis in its own way. Germany, which is a federalist country comparable to ours, was less affected at the beginning of the crisis this spring. Austria acted very firmly at the beginning, then opted for liberal measures in the summer before tightening them again.

Switzerland is constantly carrying out its own analysis of the situation. One can always criticise the governments decisions and feel that it should have acted differently. But we are taking responsibility for our choices, which were made in coordination with the cantons. We have clear rules and criteria thats how things work here.

swissinfo.ch: This autumn a lot of noise was made about the measures of varying sizes decided by the cantons, which caused a fair bit of irritation. Will federalism emerge unscathed from this crisis?

G.P.: Im convinced that its not a question of a failure of federalism, even if its necessary to have a look certain aspects of it. Federalism must work not only in good weather but also in a storm. There have sometimes been delays and poor coordination between the various levels of the state. Lessons must be learnt. But its not true that methods used in centralised countries have been better than ours. We are all committed to federalism and national cohesion; were not going to throw them away at the first crisis that comes along.

swissinfo.ch: Confidence in the government is at an all-time low, according to polls. How do you intend to win back the hearts of the Swiss?

G.P.: What is really difficult in this crisis is to enable people and businesses to plan for the future. This leads to growing dissatisfaction with our decisions which I completely understand. I also sense a certain fatigue among the population. The arrival of the vaccines should help relax the atmosphere and gradually return things to normal. But lets be clear: the damage has been done; it will be long-term. Our role will be to minimise it and ensure that Switzerland is ready when the recovery comes.

swissinfo.ch: The crisis has already cost the government more than CHF30 billion ($33.7 billion). But at just under 30% of GDP Switzerlands debt ratio is still very low by international standards. Isnt it time for the state to play a greater role and develop an investment plan to revive the economy?

G.P.: Economists are almost unanimous: a stimulus package would not make sense at the moment. The financial stimuli and the billions of francs that have been freed up allow the economic machine to continue to function and to withstand temporary difficulties.

At the same time, we are investing heavily in the future. Parliament decided in its last session to grant a credit of CHF28 billion for research and education over the next four years. Measures were also decided to support the export industry and SMEs [small and medium-sized businesses] that want to invest in research and development projects.

The government has set up a special innovation promotion programme worth CHF130 million for the next two years. This means that up to 2024 a total of CHF260 million will be made available to encourage companies to invest in innovation by relieving them of part of their costs. Tourism, sport and the cultural sector will also benefit from other specific types of support.

swissinfo.ch: Is the Swiss economy resilient enough to recover quickly from the crisis or is it likely to suffer serious damage?

G.P.: The damage has been done. Itvaries greatly from one economic sector to another. Within a single industry, the situation is very uneven. For example, hotels in cities are suffering much more than those in the mountains.

However, the latest statistics show that the bankruptcy rate in 2020 was lower than in previous years. This proves that the state has intervened in a targeted and effective manner, even if it may be keeping economic structures alive artificially.

The way out of the crisis will depend on the rate at which we can vaccinate the population and regain control of the epidemic. I believe that the best recovery plan is one that allows people to work.

swissinfo.ch: You place a lot of hope in vaccinating the population. However, compared internationally, the Swiss are particularly sceptical about the Covid vaccine. Are you going to get vaccinated in public to set an example?

G.P.: Of course Im going to get vaccinated, and Im prepared to do it in the middle of a football stadium if necessary (laughs). Vaccination is a civic act towards people at risk and it is the best way to quickly return to a certain normality.

That said, the fears and questions of part of the population are perfectly legitimate. The Swiss authorities will demonstrate maximum transparency over the coming months, both on the composition and effectiveness of this vaccine and on its possible side effects.

swissinfo.ch: As president, you will also be expected to report on the institutional framework agreement with the EU if this is successful. Are you ready to put your signature at the bottom of this document in Brussels?

G.P.: Before signing this agreement, the negotiations and discussions currently underway must be completed. The government will take note of this and then decide on the way forward. If there is the outcome you mention, the Swiss president should in principle initial the document.

swissinfo.ch: You will then be completely at odds with your party, the Swiss Peoples Party, which steadfastly rejects this agreement.

G.P.: Every cabinet minister represents the views of a political party. But then discussions take place, decisions are taken and they are supported by the entire government. This is called collegiality. In this particular case, it will be no different. When you are elected to the government, you know the rules of the game. If you dont want to stick to them, you shouldnt run for election.

Translated from French by Thomas Stephens

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New president says Switzerland 'always puts the health of its population first' - swissinfo.ch

Explore the History of Chess From Ancient India to the Cold War Rivalries – My Modern Met

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Chess sets across the internet have been selling out for maybe the first time ever. Why? Because Netflix's The Queen's Gambit has captured the popular imagination and reignited an interest in the ancient board game. Like other pursuits, chess can go in and out of fashion. It is steadily more popular in some countriesincluding Russia and India. Its popularity in other regions such as the United States waxes and wanes with the times.

The Queen's Gambitwith an edgy-yet-charming female chess prodigyis fictional and based on the 1983 book by Walter Tevis. However, with the mod '60s fashion and Cold War rivalries, many Americans suddenly find chess both fascinating and approachable. Read on to explore a brief history of this fascinating, ancient board game.

Some of the earliest pieces known to have been produced in Europerather than importedare the Lewis Chessmen. In 1831, a farmer on the Scottish Isle of Lewis discovered a medieval horde of 78 chess pieces, in addition to others for backgammon. Experts believe the exquisite figural pieces were crafted in Norway, which controlled the northern Scottish islands at the time.

Knights Templar paying a game of chess in a manuscript from 1283. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons [Public domain])

The rules were also evolving: around 1500, the role of the queen and bishops changed and made them more powerful. Known as alla rabiosa in Italian (with the madwoman, or queen), this new style of chess changed the strategies necessary to win. This is typically regarded as the birth of modern chess.

If you watch The Queen's Gambit, you will notice that Beth confronts both sexism and surprisethe perils of being a female chess player. The first chess grandmaster title awarded to a woman was in 1978, to Georgian player and Woman's World Chess Champion Nona Gaprindashvili. In 1998, Judit Polgrwho became a grandmaster at 15was the first woman to take the lead in a US Open, tying for the win. The record for the youngest female grandmaster to date is held by Hou Yifan, who gained the title at 14. The Chinese prodigy is only 26, and she is the top-ranked female player globally. She is only the third woman to be ranked in the top 100 players globally, reflecting a world that is hostile to women in chess.

An essay for Slate by Wei Ji Maa professor of neuroscience at NYU who is also a chess masterexplains the difficulties women face in entering and remaining in competitive chess. To this day, many male players (and even a few female players) will claim biological differences. The current head of the Commission for Womens Chess suggested women are more naturally suited to music and arranging flowers. Professor Ji Ma sets the record straightno evidence indicates biology is the answer to women's absence in the absolute top echelon of chess. Instead, gender bias from an early age, lower prize money, and sexist comments by male players all have been documented. For all the young girls out there who may dream of beating the best players in the world like Beth in The Queen's Gambit, keep playing. In a more equal world, we can hope to see a female World Chess Champion in the open competition.

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5 assassinations that changed the course of history | Free Malaysia Today – Free Malaysia Today

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An extremist who objected to Gandhis tolerance for all religions shot him on Jan 30, 1948. (History Guider pic)

National leaders, whose decisions affect the everyday lives of citizens, are important. However, these decisions may upset certain people, enough to push them to express their displeasure through violent means.

That being said, the death of a political leader is a shocking event for a country, but it is even more so when the death was a brutal one.

Assassinations have taken place throughout recorded history, and some have had long-lasting impacts on the years that would follow.

Here are five assassinations that shocked people and countries alike.

1. Julius Caesar, 44 BC

At the time of his death, Julius Caesar was probably the most powerful man in Rome, a successful military leader and a beloved populist. His surging popularity led to fears among conservative Roman politicians that Caesar wished to crown himself king and end the Roman republic.

Hence, a plot was hatched among his political enemies to kill him when he visited the Senate, during which he was stabbed 23 times.

He is famously believed to have said, You too, my son? when he saw his godson, Marcus Junius Brutus, among his killers.

In any case, the successful plot backfired as his death would ultimately pave the way for his adopted son, Octavian, to transform the republic into the Roman Empire.

2. Abraham Lincoln, 1865

With the American Civil War finally concluded, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president, had hoped to rebuild the divided country.

But, many people were still outraged at the Confederate loss. One of them was an actor named John Wilkes Booth.

A member of a pro-slavery white supremacist group, Booth sought to avenge the south by killing Lincoln and members of his Cabinet. He carried out the deed when Lincoln was watching a performance at Fords Theatre in Washington, DC.

Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head and fled the scene, shouting that the south was avenged. Booth would eventually be killed in a shootout with his pursuers.

But Lincolns death would have dire consequences for the recently liberated slaves. Lincolns successor was ultimately sympathetic to the southern states and began imposing racist legislation that would last into the mid-20th century.

3. Franz Ferdinand, 1914

Who knew that a single bullet could cause the death of millions in a global war? Well, the death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, at the hands of a Serbian assassin ultimately set World War I in motion.

At the time, Austria was still a major European power, with the Habsburg family ruling since the 13th century.

While Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were visiting Sarajevo, Bosnia, they were targeted by multiple assassination attempts, all of which failed.

But when they were on their way to the hospital to visit victims of a failed bombing attempt, they happened to pass one last assassin who shot them both.

The mortally wounded archduke begged his wife to stay alive for their children in his final moments, but unfortunately, she had died on the spot.

4. Mahatma Gandhi, 1948

Probably the most famous son of India, his violent death was in contradiction to the life of peace that he led. Mahatma Gandhi was the face of the Indian independence movement, and he gained international recognition for his belief in a non-violent struggle against the British Empire.

When British India was divided into India and Pakistan, violent sectarian riots broke out much to Gandhis horror. While Gandhi was opposed to partition, he saw the need for peace and compromise, even managing to calm an angry mob in Calcutta on one occasion.

However, not everyone agreed with his message, with certain Hindu hardliners accusing Gandhi of betraying his people.

One of these hardliners was Nathuram Godse, who shot Gandhi when he was on his way to a peace mission on Jan 30, 1948.

Gandhis death was greatly mourned in India and remains the sad end of a man who had advocated for peace throughout his life.

5. Benazir Bhutto, 2007

The first and only woman prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto was also the first woman leader in the modern Muslim world, which made her an inspiring figure for women.

The eldest child of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, she founded the Pakistan Peoples Party and served as prime minister from 1988 to 1990.

The Harvard and Oxford scholar largely advocated liberalism and secularism, and was an ardent supporter of womens rights.

After going into self-exile following political troubles, she hoped to make her political comeback in 2007 to participate in the following years elections, promising to reduce the militarys involvement in national politics and to counter religious extremism and violence in Pakistan.

Unfortunately, her ambitions would never be realised. On Dec 27, 2007, her life came to an end when she was fatally wounded in an attack later claimed by al-Qaeda.

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