Daily Archives: June 25, 2020

Dixie Chicks Drop ‘Dixie’ from Name with Release of New Protest Song

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Country music trio The Dixie Chicks are now just The Chicks, joining other artists and companies who have recently altered their brands to discard names that connote racism or slavery.  The Chicks’ release of a new protest song Thursday came with new social media handles, a new website address and a new cover for an upcoming album. “We want to meet this moment,” members Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines and Emily Strayer said in a joint statement on their website, the only comment on the name change thus far. The Grammy-winning group …

NYC Judge Rejects Trump Family Effort to Halt Tell-All Book

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A New York City judge on Thursday dismissed a claim by Donald Trump’s brother that sought to halt the publication of a tell-all book by the president’s niece, saying the court lacked jurisdiction in the case.  Surrogates Court Judge Peter Kelly said the claims were not appropriate for his court, where disputes over estate matters are settled.  The motion filed earlier this week sought an injunction to prevent Mary Trump and the book’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, from releasing it, as scheduled, in July. Mary Trump is the daughter of Fred …

US, Europe, Japan Space Agencies Announce COVID-19 ‘Dashboard’

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The U.S. space agency NASA and its European and Japanese counterparts (ESA, JAXA) announced Thursday the launching of the COVID-19 Earth Observation Dashboard, a web-based collection of satellite data from all three agencies documenting how the coronavirus pandemic has changed the planet.Representatives from all three agencies announced the launch at a Thursday teleconference with managers and administrators participating from Italy, Japan and Washington.The idea, they say, is to provide a view from space of how changing patterns of human activity caused by the pandemic were having a visible impact on …

‘Antebellum’ Brings Racial Justice Call to Reopened Theaters

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Back in March, filmmakers Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz gathered their artist friends and a few journalists at Manhattan’s members-only social club, Soho House, for a screening of their first feature-length project, “Antebellum.”They wanted a constructively critical reaction ahead of the planned spring release of the film — a psychological thriller about a Black woman who finds herself trapped in a pre-abolition past that isn’t at all the past. Bush, who is Black, and Renz, who is white, hoped the project would contribute to a national reckoning over the legacy …

Eiffel Tower Reopens — As Long as You Can Take the Stairs

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The Eiffel Tower, one of France’s most iconic landmarks, reopened for the first time on Thursday after it was forced to close its doors for months due to the coronavirus pandemic.France was hit badly by the virus, recording 29,731 deaths and 161,348 confirmed cases as President Macron faced heavy criticism regarding his government’s management of the outbreak. Reinstating access to the famed site is yet another sign of Europe’s slow recovery as the continent struggles to balance restarting the economy with public safety concerns.Many countries have expressed cautious optimism about the …

Congo Announces End to Its Second Deadliest Ebola Outbreak

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Eastern Congo marked an official end Thursday to the second deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, which killed 2,280 people over nearly two years, as armed rebels and community mistrust undermined the promise of new vaccines.Thursday’s milestone was overshadowed, though, by the enormous health challenges still facing Congo: the world’s largest measles epidemic, the rising threat of COVID-19 and another new Ebola outbreak in the north.”We are extremely proud to have been able to be victorious over an epidemic that lasted such a long time,” said Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, who coordinated …

Toughest Workout During COVID? Staying Motivated

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Hannah Gjerde starts her day at her hot-mat yoga class on the front lawn of her parent’s home, right before settling onto the couch for the rest of the day. “Being home makes it hard because my dad will be in the kitchen working, or it’s too crowded in my room to do it,” says Gjerde.   Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many gyms have been deemed non-essential businesses and are not allowed to open. Closing fitness centers has created a sedentary lifestyle for many people.  So more people are moving their fitness routines online.  Gjerde, a Californian, also uses …

Sahara Dust Cloud Looms Over Cuba, Caribbean and Florida

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A massive cloud of Saharan dust darkened much of Cuba on Wednesday and began to affect air quality in Florida, sparking warnings to people with respiratory illnesses to stay home.The dust cloud swept across the Atlantic from Africa over the past week, covering the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico since Sunday and hitting south Florida in the United States on Wednesday, authorities there said.Conditions over the Cuban capital, Havana, are expected to worsen on Thursday, specialists on the Communist-run island reported.Francisco Duran, head of Epidemiology at the Ministry of Health, …

Bayer to Pay $11 Billion in Roundup Cancer Lawsuits

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Germany-based Bayer will pay nearly $11 billion to settle thousands of current and future lawsuits over claims its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, the company announced Wednesday. Bayer CEO Werner Baumann called it “the right action at the right time.” Along with the cancer lawsuits, Bayer will also pay a billion-dollar settlement over separate lawsuits involving a second weedkiller suspected of killing farmers’ healthy crops, and toxic chemicals dumped in various water supplies in the United States.FILE – A ship passes the main chemical plant of German Bayer AG in Leverkusen, Germany, August …