ANDALUCÍA

The butane cylinder drops 3.2%, to €16.14, the first cut in six months: {Translation, summary}
– The maximum retail price of the butane cylinder will be €16.14 starting this Monday, which represents a drop of 3.2%, the first after three two-month periods (six months) of consecutive increases, according to Sources from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition have reported. Source, Spanish: https://andaluciainformacion.es/andalucia/1662902/la-bombona-de-butano-baja-un-32-hasta-los-1614-euros-el-primer-recorte-en-seis-meses/

**********

Andalusia registers a “rebound” in respiratory infections with covid “tripled” but without healthcare repercussions: {Translation, summary}
– The Andalusian Regional Minister of Health and Consumer Affairs, Catalina García, has confirmed the existence of an “upturn” in all respiratory infections, with covid “tripling”, although without repercussions on health care. “It is true that respiratory infections have increased. All of them, including covid, and we are today in Andalusia with an incidence per 100,000 inhabitants of 307; at national level, 477,” she said. Source, Spanish: https://www.europapress.es/esandalucia/jaen/noticia-salud-constata-repunte-infecciones-respiratorias-covid-triplicado-repercusion-asistencial-20240520131626.html

MALAGA PROVINCE

Status of the Malaga reservoirs on Monday, May 20, 2024:
Data updated as of: 20-05-2024, 08:00
La Concepción 74,71%
Casasola 28,45%
Limonero 20,32%
Guadalteba 24,16%
Guadalhorce 18,25%
Conde De Guadalhorce 35,27%
La Viñuela 19,10%
Source, Spanish: http://www.redhidrosurmedioambiente.es/saih/parte/diario/embalses 

TORRE DEL MAR

Owner of travel agency in Torre del Mar arrested for second time due to an increase in the number of complaints about alleged scams: {Translation}
– Following complaints in recent days and after being released on bail following the first arrest, the National Police in Vélez-Málaga have re-arrested the owner of the Ymanme travel agency in Torre del Mar on Monday 20 May. At least fifteen new victims of the alleged scams have been detected, with a total of another 20,000 euros, as Diario SUR has been able to confirm. These amounts are in addition to the 70 clients previously located and 127,000 euros in which the alleged fraud was initially estimated, according to the same newspaper.
– The agents have received these new complaints in the last few days, after several new cases were reported in the media, following the first case in Antequera, in mid-April, of a group of students who were left stranded without being able to travel to England, losing 26,975 euros. Subsequently, it was the parents and teachers of the IES María Zambrano de Torre del Mar who raised the alarm by reporting the swindling of another 3,632 euros for a study trip to Germany. The group of 18 people affected had booked a study and exchange trip to Germany for their children in 2nd, 3rd and 4th ESO, valued at 3,632 euros in total, at a rate of 227 euros per person.
– Since then, there have been a succession of complaints, such as that of a group of residents of Vélez-Málaga who have lost more than 64,000 euros for an unsuccessful trip to the Greek islands, including a plane and a cruise. It seems that there are others who have been scammed with cancelled trips to Bordeaux in France, Marrakech in Morocco and New York, among other international destinations.
– The first arrest of the 51-year-old woman took place on 8 May. According to SUR, the police then handed her over to the Juzgado de Primera Instancia Instrucción number 2 of Vélez-Málaga, who released her on bail with charges, while the investigation continued. Source & photo credit, Spanish: https://www.axarquiaplus.es/detenida-por-segunda-vez-la-propietaria-de-la-agencia-de-viajes-de-torre-del-mar-por-el-aumento-de-denuncias-ante-presuntas-estafas/ 

VÉLEZ-MÁLAGA

The Vélez-Málaga City Council launched the new bus line connecting Trapiche, Triana, the Tecnoalimentario Park and the Trops industrial estate: {Translation}
– This service began 15 May.
– The Mayor, Jesús Lupiáñez, has celebrated the launch of this new line, which will connect these parts of the municipality with Vélez-Málaga and Torre del Mar. “Today we are here today in this Parque Tecnoalimentario to announce something that is very much in demand, because every day the influx of people, users and workers, both to this Parque Tecnoalimentario and to the Trops industrial estate, makes it necessary to have public transport. I would like to thank Autocares Valleniza for their predisposition in this case so that we can meet a demand made by all the businessmen and users, especially so that we can have a stop both here and at the Trops industrial estate”, the mayor said. Source, Spanish: https://www.axarquiaplus.es/el-ayuntamiento-de-velez-malaga-pone-en-marcha-la-nueva-linea-de-autobus-que-conecta-trapiche-triana-el-parque-tecnoalimentario-y-el-poligono-de-trops/ 

UK

Daily Mail UK website blocking many VPN users: I have received several reports in the past 24hrs that the Daily Mail website is blocking some VPN users. Oh well. no great loss. -Ed.

**********

Scandal in British healthcare: the infection of 30,000 people with HIV and hepatitis C “was not an accident”: {Translation, summary}
– A report on one of the worst public health scandals in the UK’s history was released on Monday. More than 30,000 people were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood products during the 1970s and 1980s, a disaster that the enquiry’s investigator, Brian Langstaff, has made clear was “no accident”.
– The report on infected blood highlights the “numerous failures at systemic, collective and individual levels” that led to this tragedy. The victims were betrayed “not once, but repeatedly” by doctors, bodies such as the NHS and others responsible for their safety, as well as by the government. In Langstaff’s words, “patient safety was not prioritised in decision-making”, despite the fact that the risk of transmission of viral infections in blood and blood products was well known.
– The document details several critical points, including the lack of action to stop the importation of blood products from abroad, particularly from the US, where at the time prisoners and drug addicts were paid to donate blood. In addition, blood donations continued to be obtained from high-risk populations also within British borders, such as prisoners, until 1986. Blood was not heat-treated to eliminate HIV until late 1985, even though the risks had been known since 1982. There was also a shortage of adequate testing to reduce the risk of hepatitis since the 1970s.
– Langstaff noted that “patients were exposed to unacceptable risks of infection”, a situation that was not due to lack of knowledge. “The risks of viral infections from blood and blood products were known long before most patients were treated – in the case of hepatitis, since the end of World War II,” Langstaff said. Despite this, “government decisions were slow and protracted,” and the belief that “the doctor knows best” was so strong that no guidelines were issued to restrict the unsafe use of blood and blood products.
– The report also reveals that patients were not informed of the risks of their treatment, thus being denied informed choice; were tested without their knowledge or consent; and were not informed of the results, which kept them out of treatment for years. In addition, some patients, including children, were used in medical trials without their knowledge or informed consent, which Langstaff described as “treason”.
– The report concludes that the damage caused was compounded by the response of the government, the NHS and the medical profession, who, in an attempt to save their reputations and avoid compensation costs, refused to admit responsibility, showing little interest in finding the truth or listening to those infected. The victims and their families, in addition to dealing with the consequences of the original infection, have had to fight for decades for the truth. Successive governments have since claimed that patients received the best treatment available at the time and that blood tests were introduced as soon as possible, which was not true. Source, Spanish: https://www.abc.es/sociedad/informe-revela-infeccion-30000-personas-vih-hepatitis-20240520135948-nt.html

UK to spend $12.7 billion on compensation in infected-blood scandal:
– Britain will spend more than 10 billion pounds ($12.70 billion) compensating thousands of people who were treated with blood contaminated with HIV or hepatitis C in the 1970s and 1980s, the Sunday Times reported.
The infected blood scandal is widely seen as one of the worst treatment disasters in the history of the state-funded National Health Service.
– An estimated 30,000 people were given contaminated blood, with about 3,000 of those believed to have died. Many more lives have been affected by disease and some of those infected have never been traced. Victims and their families are still calling for justice, compensation and answers over how it was allowed to happen despite warnings over the risks.
– The blood and blood products, some of which were imported from the United States, were administered to people needing transfusions or as treatment for hemophilia.
– Ahead of the publication of an independent inquiry report on Monday, the Sunday Times said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would make an official apology. The government would then announce a compensation package financed by borrowing as early as Tuesday.
“I think this is the worst scandal of my lifetime,” finance minister Jeremy Hunt told the paper.
– {So the public once again foots the bill for the actions of incompetent fools, who murdered 3,000 innocent Brits in this instance, and no one is held accountable? In fact, the politicians and courts managed to delay pursuing this for 40 years before properly investigating, virtually guarantying that any responsible parties to this heinous crime are either too old or too dead to prosecute. -Ed.} (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-congress-receives-report-bidens-handling-classified-documents-source-2024-02-08/).  Full article: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-spend-127-bln-compensation-infected-blood-scandal-2024-05-19/

IRELAND

Ireland: Tensions over refugee crisis and Dublin tent cities:
– In the Irish capital, Dublin, tent cities set up by migrants lacking temporary protected status have been repeatedly cleared. The situation has been aggravated by Ireland’s housing crisis and anti-migrant laws in the UK.
– The center of Dublin glitters with architectural showpieces, the offices of global corporations. But increasingly, tents have been set up at the base of the glass facades. Some of these belong to people excluded from housing, a scarcity across Ireland and simply not affordable for many people in the booming capital.
– The second group of people sleeping in tents are migrants, another hot topic in Ireland. More and more migrants are arriving on this island in northwestern Europe, and its capacity to accommodate them is at its limits — not least because of the housing crisis. The situation has been aggravated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, 100,000 Ukrainian refugees have registered in Ireland. An EU-wide agreement means they do not have to apply for asylum first.
– Ireland’s government has openly admitted that it is unable to provide all asylum-seekers with accommodation while their applications are processed.
– Earlier this year, a veritable tent city sprang up around the International Protection Office in Dublin, which is responsible for processing asylum applications. Young men were sleeping here; they had to wash and cook on the street, and rely on bike hire docking bays to charge their phones with USB cables. On May 1, the Irish authorities cleared the camp and divided 285 male asylum-seekers between two emergency shelters. Since then, new tent encampments have repeatedly appeared near the office, and have repeatedly been cleared.
– For months, some demonstrators in historically openhearted Ireland have chanted slogans such as “Ireland is full.” At the end of 2023, there was rioting in Dublin. In several parts of the country, there have even been arson attacks on buildings that were due to be converted into refugee shelters. According to a recent poll carried out for The Irish Times, 63% of the population now wants a stricter immigration policy.
– Those Irish who complain about the situation are labelled as extremeists by the media and government. Full article: https://www.dw.com/en/ireland-tensions-over-refugee-crisis-and-dublin-tent-cities/a-69122611 

MIDDLE EAST

Iran’s Vice President Mohammad Mokhber named president after helicopter crash kills Iranian President Raisi:
– Iran’s supreme leader appointed the country’s first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber {pic}, as acting president on Monday after President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash in the East Azerbaijan province. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the announcement in a condolence message he shared for Raisi’s death in the crash Sunday.
Full article: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240520-%F0%9F%94%B4-iran-state-media-confirms-death-of-president-raisi-in-helicopter-crash 

BONEHEAD AWARD

Boneheads on both sides of this one…

Woke Scalp- England Courtrooms Look to Ban Wigs for Being ‘Culturally Insensitive’ to People With African Hair:
– English courts are in talks to abandon compulsory wigs for barristers amid claims that they are “culturally insensitive”.
– The Telegraph understands that the judiciary is poised to update its court dress code following complaints by some barristers that the traditional headpieces discriminate against those with Afro-Caribbean hair. Judges are currently reviewing proposals made by the Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, with changes expected to be made this autumn at the earliest. No decisions have been made.
– It follows widespread criticism from several black barristers who have called for compulsory wigs to be scrapped. The potential changes come after Michael Etienne, a barrister who is black and has an afro hairstyle, sparked a public debate in 2022 after being ordered to wear a wig in court or face disciplinary action. He branded the policy as hair discrimination, a form of racism.
– A Bar Council spokesman said: “Following questions from barristers about wigs and hair discrimination, the Bar Council set up a working group to consider court dress in the context of all protected characteristics. “The findings of the working group are currently being discussed with the judiciary as part of our regular dialogue on equality and diversity matters.”
– Barristers are not required to wear wigs, traditionally made of horsehair, in all courtrooms. Since 2007, they have not been required in family, civil or Supreme Court cases.
– However, Leslie Thomas KC said he hopes the judiciary will scrap barrister wigs once and for all. He previously described wigs as a “ridiculous costume” that represents a “culturally insensitive climate” at the Bar. Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Thomas KC said: “The wigs certainly should go. There isn’t any place in a modern society for barristers to be wearing 17th-century fashion.” He also called for the judiciary to abandon “archaic” court dress, such as wing collars, bands and collarettes. Mr Thomas KC suggested barristers should be allowed to wear a black gown with smart business wear underneath. Full article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/05/18/courts-ditch-compulsory-wigs-criticism-black-barristers/ 

HEALTH

Why the spike in sepsis cases? Several cases in prominent people this past month. Now it’s President of Extremadura, María Guardiola, admitted to the ICU after suffering sepsis following surgery: {Translation, summary}
– The head of the Extremaduran government began to feel feverish and unwell on the afternoon of Tuesday, 14 May. She went to Cáceres Hospital on Wednesday, where, following tests, it was decided to operate.
– Later, while recovering from the surgery, the president suffered sepsis, for which she had to be treated in the Intensive Care Unit. María Guardiola must remain in the ICU until the team of professionals decide to transfer her to the ward for her full recovery, which is expected to take place today. Source, Spanish: https://www.europapress.es/extremadura/noticia-continua-uci-evolucion-favorable-maria-guardiola-sufrir-sepsis-despues-cirugia-20240520091557.html 

SPORTS

Boxing News- Why Oleksandr Usyk set to be stripped of boxing world title immediately after beating Tyson Fury:
– The 37-year-old Ukrainian triumphed over Tyson Fury in a thrilling showdown for all the heavyweight division’s gold in Saudi Arabia, clinching victory via split decision with judges scoring the captivating match 115-112, 113-114, 114-113.
– While Usyk {pic} can bask in his current glory, he’s soon to be stripped of the IBF title as Filip Hrgovic, the long-standing mandatory challenger, won’t wait for a contracted rematch with Fury to occur. If all goes according to plan, Usyk and Fury are scheduled to face off again in October, with the British fighter seeking retribution. However, the IBF title will be relinquished before then and subsequently up for grabs when Hrgovic takes on Daniel Dubois in June. Image: Richard Pelham. Full article: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/boxing/oleksandr-usyk-set-stripped-boxing-29203491 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)

Google’s Latest Scam- They want to monitor your phone conversations; Google’s AI-Powered Scam Call Detector Sparks Privacy Concerns: {Translation, summary}
– Google’s latest anti-scam venture is an artificial intelligence-powered financial scam phone call detector that scans phone calls in real-time; while certainly advantageous in some regard, privacy advocates are already worried about the tested feature. According to Google Vice President of Engineering Dave Burke, Google is testing a technology that utilizes artificial intelligence to identify patterns linked to scams and notify Android phone users when fraudulent calls are suspected to be underway.
– The consequences of Google’s notion are “terrifying,” according to Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, especially for vulnerable individuals like political dissidents or those seeking abortions.
– Those who opposed the scam-detection concept included former Google employee Meredith Whittaker, who claimed it is “incredibly dangerous.” Whittaker is the president of the nonprofit organization that promotes the privacy-focused messaging software Signal, the Signal Foundation. Full article: https://www.techtimes.com/articles/304744/20240517/googles-ai-powered-scam-call-detector-sparks-privacy-concerns.htm
–{Not satisfied with scanning all your Gmails, WhatsApp messages, collecting all your keystrokes and all your online activity, now Google wants to scan every word you say on your smartphone. It will collect your words, and also the speed you say them, the tone you use, and how loud you speak- all add to your biometric/emotional profile. They need this data to feed the insatiable data appetite of the growing AI monster. In order to continue growing and learning, ever more fresh data is required. Here they are appealing to your fear of scammers to convince you to install their latest data-collecting snooping device. -Ed.}

************

Google Adding AI Functions To Their Search Receives Criticisms, Threatens News Outlets, Publishers & Content Creators:
– Google’s AI ventures, during its recent promotion event “Google I/O 2024”, continues to be criticized by different groups. In addition to privacy advocates, news publishers recently voiced their concerns about Google’s new AI-powered search results, favoring AI summaries over website links that allow written content to be monetized.
– When users search on Google, this new feature will prioritize providing them with AI summaries above website links. Google announced on Tuesday that it will incorporate Gemini, a powerful artificial intelligence model, into its popular search engine. Artificial intelligence summaries are designed to show up only when Google’s algorithms decide that doing so will be the fastest and most efficient way to capture a user’s attention.
– Danielle Coffey, CEO of the News/Media Alliance, allegedly forewarned CNN that the new feature would hurt their company and provide even less incentive for users to click, decreasing the opportunity for news publishers to monetize their content. Full article, midpage: https://www.techtimes.com/articles/304744/20240517/googles-ai-powered-scam-call-detector-sparks-privacy-concerns.htm