China accuses Western firms over 'harmful' kids' goods
China has accused several Western clothing brands of selling goods that could be harmful to children.
A warning notice on the country's customs administration website listed 81 items imported by companies including Nike, H&M and Zara.
In March, China targeted foreign clothes retailers as an international backlash grows over claims of abuses in the cotton-growing Xinjiang region.
Earlier this year, several Western nations imposed sanctions on China.
The announcement from China's General Administration of Customs included items like children's clothing, shoes, toys, toothbrushes and baby bottles that were spotted during examinations from June 2020 to May 2021.
Nine batches of H&M girls' cotton dresses were said to contain "dyes or harmful substances [that] may be absorbed by the body through the skin, mouth, etc. and endanger health."
The same issue was raised for children's clothes imported by Zara, Nike boys' t-shirts and batches of Gap boys' cotton pyjamas.
H&M, Zara, Nike and Gap have not yet responded to requests for comment from the BBC.
The notice is the latest blow to Western clothing brands operating in China, which have been targeted amid an international backlash over claims of abuses in the cotton-growing Xinjiang region, home to the mostly Muslim Uighur minority group
Several big companies have expressed concern over allegations that Uighurs are being used as forced labour.
Some firms' online shops have been blocked and their stores have vanished from some digital maps.
China initially targeted H&M and Nike but that has widened to include Burberry, Adidas and Converse, among others.
While H&M's physical stores in China remain, it is no longer possible to hail a taxi to the shops using an app and consumers can't shop online. Instead China is championing local brands.
In March, several Western countries imposed sanctions on officials in China over rights abuses against the mostly Muslim Uighur minority group.
China has detained Uighurs at camps in the north-west region of Xinjiang, where allegations of torture, forced labour and sexual abuse have emerged.
The sanctions were introduced as a coordinated effort by the European Union, UK, US and Canada.
Beijing has denied the allegations of abuse, saying the camps are "re-education" facilities used to combat terrorism.
China has also hit back with retaliatory sanctions on Western lawmakers, scholars and institutions.
Source-BBC
Apple Music launches "All Music Is Black Music" campaign for Black Music Month
Megan Thee Stallion, Nas and Giveon will appear in a short film from Apple Music to celebrate June's annual Black Music Month celebration.
According to Billboard, the film is part of Apple's "All Music Is Black Music" campaign to celebrate the contributions of Black artists and musicians who have shaped the global influence of music.
Ebro Darden, global editorial head of hip-hop and R&B at Apple Music, hopes this campaign will support the narrative of Black artists and their influence on other genres of music.
"When talking about pop music, you can't look past Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross [and] Michael Jackson," Darden tells Billboard. "They influenced literally the world, how music gets made and how stage performance happens."
This month, Apple Music will release over 30 playlists that capture the influence of Black music in Japan, Scandinavia, and other regions of the world. Additionally, this year's theme includes new Apple TV content and mixes from artists and DJs, including Snoop Dogg, DJ Clue, and newcomers like Amorphous, who produced Fat Joe and Khaled's single, "Sunshine (The Light)."
Source- ABC
NFL agrees to drop race bias in concussion claims
The NFL has said it will stop settling concussion lawsuits using a race-based formula that assumes black players have a lower level of cognitive function.
America's top-flight football league also pledged to review previous brain injury claims that have been settled via the practice known as race-norming.
Two black players filed a civil rights lawsuit over the practice.
One black player involved in the litigation called the policy "classic system racism".
More than 2,000 former NFL players have lodged dementia claims, but fewer than 600 have received compensation.
Lawyers say more than half of NFL retirees are black.
Attorneys have requested details on how NFL brain injury payouts have been apportioned along racial lines, but are yet to receive any details.
Two former black players, Kevin Henry and Najeh Davenport, who were refused payouts under a $1bn (£0.7bn) NFL compensation scheme for brain injuries, launched a civil lawsuit over race-norming.
But the judge dismissed the lawsuit in March and ordered the NFL and the main lawyer for the compensation scheme to negotiate a settlement.
She also took the unusual step of calling for a full report on the racial bias allegations.
In its use of race-norming, the league compares a given player's cognitive test scores with the supposed norm for his demographic group. Under the methodology, black players are assumed to possess a lower level of cognitive function than the average white player.
But attorneys say the standard means that in order to qualify for compensation, the average black player must demonstrate a greater level of cognitive decline than a white counterpart.
Ken Jenkins, a retired black player supporting the litigation, told the Hill: "This is classic systemic racism. Just because I'm black, I wasn't born with fewer brain cells."
The NFL has defended the practice in the past, saying its standards "relied on widely accepted and long-established cognitive tests and scoring methodologies".
The NFL has said its adoption of the racial norming standard was not mandatory and doctors participating in the compensation programme had the freedom to choose whether or not to apply it.
Several clinicians, however, have disagreed, saying the programme manual did not indicate any such flexibility.
The NFL has also previously appealed against some injury claims from black players whose cognitive scores were not adjusted for race.
In a statement released on Wednesday, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said work was continuing to "help identify alternative testing techniques."
"Everyone agrees race-based norms should be replaced, but no off-the-shelf alternative exists and that's why these experts are working to solve this decades-old issue," he said.
Race-norming was first established in the 1990s in recognition of how socioeconomic factors affect a person's health and was soon used to make dementia payouts.
Source-BBC
Apple wants staff back in offices by September
Apple wants its employees to return to offices by September, a company-wide memo sent to staff on Wednesday said.
Workers must return to their desks for at least three days a week, chief executive Tim Cook wrote. Some staff members will be given the option to work the remaining two days remotely.
Teams that require "in-person" work will return for four or five days.
Apple also told staff they will be able to apply for the chance to work remotely for two weeks a year.
However, managers will need to approve remote work requests.
Mr Cook said that despite a smooth transition to remote working, it was not an adequate replacement for in-person collaboration.
"For all that we've been able to achieve while many of us have been separated, the truth is that there has been something essential missing from this past year: each other," he said in the document, seen by The Verge.
"Video conference calling has narrowed the distance between us, to be sure, but there are things it simply cannot replicate."
He added: "I know I'm not alone in missing the hum of activity, the energy, creativity and collaboration of our in-person meetings and the sense of community we've all built."
Apple has gone from strength-to-strength during the pandemic with its overall revenues jumping 50% year-on-year largely because of a surge in iPhone sales.
The company has also been more conservative regarding its working from home policy than other tech giants.
Facebook announced last year that its employees could work from home full-time as long, as they get approval from their manager.
Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey also made headlines when he announced a similar policy in May 2020.
But Google recently announced a similar bid to get more people back into offices for three days a week.
Sources-BBC
Cuban government approves limited SMEs
The government of communist Cuba has given the green light for small and medium enterprises to start operating on the island, a measure long-awaited by the private sector that is ever-more present in the local economy.
The measure was adopted in principle by Cuba's council of ministers, its highest executive body, but has to be written into law and will be limited to certain economic sectors, according to the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, Granma.
It follows Cuba's move earlier this year to authorise private enterprise in a bid to boost its economy and create jobs, though that was limited to individual entrepreneurs, not businesses.
Some 600,000 people on the island of 11.2 million people work in the private sector -- some 13 per cent of the workforce. Most work in hotels, restaurants, transportation and tourist accommodation.
Millions of people work for the government, but the exact number is not known.
Cuba began timidly opening up to private capital in the 1990s before fuller authorisation in 2010, followed by a boom after the historic warming of ties with Cold War rival the United States under then-president Barack Obama.
The country is battling its worst economic crisis in 30 years, fuelled by toughened sanctions under the administration of Donald Trump and the fallout from the coronavirus crisis, which has hit its crucial tourism sector hard.
With this decision, we approve the way to organise economic actors, far beyond the simple recognition of some of them," Granma on Wednesday quoted President Miguel Diaz-Canel as saying.
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero added the "expansion of activities" of the private sector "does not lead to a process of privatisation because there are limits not to be exceeded."
Some activities will remain off-limits for SMEs, such as "computer programmer, accountant, translator and interpreter, veterinarian, designers and certain types of consulting firms", he added.
John Kavulich, president of the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, said the latest move "expands the engagement landscape for the Biden Administration... to authorising individuals and companies in the United States to deliver direct investment and direct loans to the re-emerging private sectors located throughout the Republic of Cuba."
The Cuban government, he added in a press statement, "has delivered a significant decision which can rekindle the interest in the Republic of Cuba by United States companies.
The reforms represent a major ideological shift in a country where the government and its affiliate companies have monopolised most of the economy since 1961.
Source-AFP
Biden to announce details of global distribution of 80 million COVID shots
US President Joe Biden will announce within days the details of a plan to export 80 million coronavirus vaccine doses to other countries "without any political strings attached," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.
"In a few short days, in fact possibly as early as tomorrow, the president is going to announce in more detail the plan that he put together to push out 80 million vaccines around the world," Blinken said at the US embassy in San Jose on his last day of a Latin American visit.
"We're going to do that in coordination with Covax... based on science and needs... without any political strings attached," the top US diplomat said, referring to the global vaccine-sharing program.
Biden recently announced a plan to release 20 million more doses over six weeks, bringing the total earmarked for shipping out by the end of June to 80 million.
The boost followed pressure on the Biden administration from other governments to use the United States' large vaccine surplus to help struggling countries, now that significant progress has been made in rolling out vaccinations at home.
The initiative also seeks to address concerns that Moscow and Beijing have been taking advantage of the worldwide crisis to spread influence through distribution of their own inoculations in a so-called "vaccine diplomacy" contest.
Biden has said the move would seek to reclaim "American leadership" in the global fight against the pandemic.
Source-AFP
The Heat is On.
GENERAL SITUATION: BUILDING HIGH PRESSURE WILL CONTINUE TO GRADUALLY USHER IN DRIER CONDITIONS ALONG WITH MODERATE TO FRESH WINDS AROUND THE COUNTRY
THROUGH TONIGHT.
SPECIAL WARNINGS: BOATERS AND RESIDENTS SHOULD CONTINUE TO REMAIN VIGILANT FOR POSSIBLE WATERSPOUT OR TORNADIC ACTIVITY. BEACHGOERS SHOULD CONTINUE TO
EXERCISE CAUTION ALONG EAST COAST BEACHES DUE TO THE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS.
THERE REMAINS A RISK OF FLOODING DURING PROLONGED RAINFALL IN LOW-LYING AND FLOOD-PRONE AREAS.
AREA: ALL AREAS
WEATHER: VARIABLY CLOUDY AND A BIT BREEZY WITH WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THE CHANCE OF FEW ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH TONIGHT.
ADVISORY: A SMALL CRAFT CAUTION REMAINS IN EFFECT IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST BAHAMAS.
WINDS: EAST TO SOUTHEAST AT 15 KNOTS IN THE NORTHWEST BAHAMAS. EASTERLY AT 15 TO 20 KNOTS IN THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST BAHAMAS.
SEAS: 3 TO 5 FEET IN THE NORTHWEST BAHAMAS, AND 4 TO 6 FEET IN CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST BAHAMAS.
THURSDAY’S HIGH TEMPERATURE: 86°F / 30°C
OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURE: 73°F / 23°C
SUNRISE: 6:20 AM
SUNSET: 7:55 PM
MOONSET: 2:19 PM
MOONRISE: 2:53 AM FRI.
LOW TIDE: 9:45 AM
HIGH TIDE: 4:00 PM
LOW TIDE: 10:11 PM
HIGH TIDE: 4:11 AM FRI.
EXTENDED FORECAST (FOR THE NEXT TWO DAYS): HIGH PRESSURE RIDGING WILL CONTINUE BUILDING NORTH OF THE BAHAMAS MAINTAINING MODERATE TO FRESH, EAST
TO SOUTHEASTERLY WINDS AROUND THE ISLANDS.
2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season
Today, June 01 marks the official start of the 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season, but already we have seen the development of the first Sub Tropical Storm Ana in the Atlantic on May 22nd 2021.
Following a record-breaking 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season, this year is expected to be an above active season according to predictions. There were 30 named storms in the Atlantic Basin in 2020. Although we were not severely impacted, two of these storms made their track very close to our shores.
Experts are predicting another busy 2021 Hurricane Season for this year, and according to predictions from the Colorado State University (CSU), a maximum of 17 named storms could develop in the Atlantic, 8 of which will develop into hurricanes with 4 developing into major hurricanes.
We are mindful that the predictions are for the entire Atlantic Basin and not for any specific Caribbean island. We are also aware that hurricane prediction is not an exact science as we experienced in 2008 and 2017. What we have to consider, is that it only takes one storm to impact the Turks and Caicos Islands to bring damage and disruption to the normal daily routine.
The government has taken several measures to improve preparedness and response for the hurricane season. Training has been organized for the private and public sector and exercises are planned to improve readiness.
Despite the measures taken, the country will only be prepared when the public is also prepared. Therefore, if you have not started your preparations this is the time to take the necessary measures to safeguard life and property by following these safety tips:
Precautionary Measures:
Before construction, check the area for signs or a history of flooding and find out how many feet above ground level you need to build your house. If you live in a flood-prone area purchases flood insurance.
Utilize proper available waste disposal methods.
Maintain and clear all drainage systems of debris and overgrown vegetation. This will facilitate an easier flow of floodwater. Keep gutters and downpipes clear of debris and garbage as well.
Construct flood barriers and purchase sandbags were necessary to prevent floodwater from entering buildings and homes.
Secure all important documents such as birth certificates, passports, deeds and insurance and store them in a waterproof bag or sealed container.
Restock your emergency kit and pantry with non-perishable food supplies and water to last your family for a minimum of 72 hours or more.
Prepare a Family Evacuation Plan and confirm that all family members know what immediate actions to take to ensure their safety.
Ensure that your insurance policy for home, business and vehicle are up to date.
Listen and follow the official information given by local authorities and start your preparations early to avoid panic if a hurricane threatens.
To date, we have been blessed and we give thanks for our blessings, but we must also be ready to respond if nature strikes. For more information please go to the DDME’s website at www.gov.tc/ddme or contact the DDME for informational brochures.
Brazil races the clock, to pull off Copa America
Unexpectedly picked to host the Copa America two weeks from kick-off, Brazil sought Tuesday to reassure doubters the tournament would happen, fending off the threats of a COVID-19 surge, political divisions and a court battle.
It didn't take long for cracks to emerge in organizers' last-minute plan to switch the South American football championships from coronavirus-battered Argentina to Brazil — itself one of the countries hit hardest by the pandemic.
Hours after the South American football confederation, CONMEBOL, made the announcement Monday, thanking Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for "opening his country's doors," a top administration official said the decision wasn't a done deal.
"There's nothing final. I want to make that clear," said Bolsonaro's chief of staff, Luiz Eduardo Ramos.
The far-right president himself appeared to contradict that Tuesday, however.
"The matter is closed," he said.
"As far as my ministers and I are concerned... it's a done deal. We're holding" the tournament.
It is unclear exactly what conditions the matches will be held under, and whether fans will be allowed to attend.
CONMEBOL would reportedly like to allow some fans, at least for the final. Brazilian officials, including Vice President Hamilton Mourao, have said they are against.
The political uncertainty spilled over well beyond Bolsonaro's administration.
CONMEBOL has yet to announce the host cities for the June 13-July 10 championships -- though it had promised to do so within "hours."
At least five of Brazil's 27 states have said they will not host matches because of the pandemic.
Opposition politicians meanwhile petitioned the Supreme Court to block the tournament, saying it would not be safe.
They included the Workers' Party (PT) of leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who currently leads Bolsonaro in the polls for Brazil's October 2022 presidential elections.
The decision has been swept up in politics in a Brazil deeply polarized by Bolsonaro.
It came two days after the president faced the first mass protests of the pandemic, as thousands of Brazilians outraged over his COVID-19 denialism took to the streets in cities across the country.
He also faces a Senate investigation into his government's controversial handling of the pandemic, including fighting lockdowns and refusing offers of vaccines.
The rapporteur of that commission, Senator Renan Calheiros, called on none other than football superstar Neymar to intervene.
"Neymar, I want to have a word with you: don't agree to this Copa America in Brazil," he told the Paris Saint-Germain striker.
"It's not the championship we need to be playing. We need to be in the championship of vaccines."
Source-AFP
Dangerous heat wave hits the West as Atlantic gears up for hurricane season
A dangerous heat wave is invading the West, bringing triple digit temperatures on Memorial Day, while on the East Coast, the Atlantic hurricane season is set to begin.
On Monday afternoon, temperatures neared 106 degrees in Sacramento, 102 degrees in Palm Springs and 100 degrees in Las Vegas.
The heat will expand to much of the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday and Wednesday with highs reaching the upper 90s near Portland, Oregon.
By Wednesday, Las Vegas and Phoenix are forecast to be a scorching 105 degrees.
As for the Northeast, the Atlantic hurricane season officially begins on Tuesday, June 1, but there are no tropical concerns in the Atlantic Basin at this time.
Forecasters predict a 60 percent chance of an above-normal 2021 hurricane season; experts said this year's storms likely won't surpass 2020's historic level of activity, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
This year there will likely be 13 to 20 named storms with winds of 39 mph or greater, 6 to 10 of which could become hurricanes with winds of at least 74 mph. Three to five of those hurricanes could become Category 3, 4 or 5 storms with winds of 111 mph or higher.
The Atlantic hurricane season ends on November 30.
Source-ABC