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Thursday morning news briefing: The strike fightback

by www.telegraph.co.uk Leave a Comment

For the second time in a week, the rail network has again been brought to a standstill today by the biggest industrial action in decades.

As passengers face more travel chaos , the Government is fighting back against unions. It will today unveil plans to change the law to allow businesses to use skilled agency workers to cover striking staff .

Whitehall sources said the legislation, which is expected to be in place by the autumn, will allow supply teachers to keep schools open after the UK’s largest teaching union threatened to ballot for a strike.

The Education Secretary today warns that a teachers’ strike would be “unforgivable” in the wake of Covid. Read Nadhim Zahawi ‘s article for The Telegraph in which he argues that young people have already suffered “more disruption than any generation that’s gone before them”.

On the railways, commuters were warned to avoid using trains today and on Saturday amid walkouts by the RMT union. Only around one in five trains will run today.

Use our interactive tool to check if they are running from your station. And rail chiefs are braced for a fresh wave of strikes in just two weeks after talks to reach a deal with unions failed.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister faces fresh Tory criticism of his economic approach to inflation, which underpins rail worker pay negotiations.

The decision to increase the state pension and benefits by inflation but reject calls to grant public sector pay rises in line with prices was called “crazy” by one ex-minister.

Associate editor Camilla Tominey says that, in trying to please the masses, the PM leaves hard-working taxpayers with the crumbs .

Mr Johnson faces a further test of his leadership today in the Tiverton and Wakefield by-elections .

Johnson to tell Charles he is proud of migrant plan

Boris Johnson is prepared to declare he is “proud” of his Rwanda migrant policy during talks with the Prince of Wales in the East African country tomorrow, The Telegraph understands.

The pair will meet for the first time since it emerged that the Prince privately described the planned deportation of asylum seekers to the country as “appalling”.

Rwanda is hosting this year’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which both men are attending. The Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall yesterday toured the children’s room at the Kigali Genocide Memorial – calling for the world to learn from the atrocity .

Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Secretary General has been accused of suppressing a report that criticises her administration as a toxic row flared on the eve of the organisation’s most important summit in years.

Murdoch and Hall ‘calling time on their marriage’

Rupert Murdoch declared himself the “happiest man in the world” when he married Jerry Hall. Six years on, the media mogul and the former model are reportedly to split.

It would be the fourth divorce for Mr Murdoch, 91, after his wedding to 65-year-old Ms Hall, who was previously in a long-term relationship with Sir Mick Jagger, in London in March 2016.

Nick Allen reports on what we know about their break-up .

Daily dose of Matt

In today’s cartoon , Matt finds a joke in both the rail strikes and inflation. For a weekly behind-the-scenes look at his work, sign up for Matt’s newsletter .

Also in the news: Today’s other headlines

‘Butt out, Biden’ | Nikki Haley, the potential Republican presidential candidate, has warned that Brexit is none of Joe Biden’s business, and that he should not weigh in on the future of the Northern Ireland Protocol. In a speech in London, she lambasted Democrats in the US for trying to undermine Britain’s attempts to overhaul the protocol – after Mr Biden’s allies threatened to block a trade deal with the UK.

Around the world: Russia gains key territory

Russia has taken several villages in the last few days, raising fears its forces will soon be in a position to seize the strategically important cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. As senior foreign correspondent Roland Oliphant reports, the Russian advances have led to “hellish battles” . In a lighter take, Ed Cumming explores how Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky became the latest celebrity accessory .

Comment and analysis

Sport briefing: McIlroy attacks defector

Rory McIlroy has accused Brooks Koepka of being “duplicitous” for joining the Saudi rebel circuit after the PGA Tour announced a radical revamp to stop the exodus, with commissioner Jay Monahan calling the LIV Series “an irrational threat”. McIlroy said he was not impressed with the American after his previously vocal opposition to the breakaway league. In cricket, Michael Vaughan says Ben Stokes’ cricketing nous and aggressive tactics are key to England’s turnaround .

Editor’s choice

  1. Feeling the heat | Why Britain’s swimming pools are under threat this summer
  2. ‘Best friends forever’ | The cult as damaging for women as waiting for a fairy prince
  3. Alternative timepieces | No Rolex? Here are the luxury watches you CAN buy

Business briefing: ‘Recession is looming’

Britain is “definitely” tumbling into recession, the outgoing president of the CBI has warned as inflation surged to a 40-year high. Lord Bilimoria said families were “tightening their belts” as the Office for National Statistics reported inflation of 9.1 per cent in May, driven by a significant increase in food costs. Meanwhile, an influential Lords committee accused Brussels of holding the City of London to a higher standard than communist China in granting it access to financial markets.

Tonight’s dinner

Ceviche of salmon, dill and celery | A sharp, refreshing dish by Mitch Tonks that is perfect for a summer evening.

Travel: The other side of the Med

When it comes to holidays, no track is more beaten than the short hop south to the sun-soaked Med. But it is a lopsided migration – half of this storied sea remains largely ignored. Like its European counterpart, the African side offers golden sands, history-filled cities and exceptional food. SJ Armstrong has your guide to holidaying without the crowds .

And finally… for this morning’s downtime

Sapphire and Steel | Before The Lazarus Project or The Matrix, Joanna Lumley and David McCallum bent reality and terrified the nation – at a fraction of the cost. Forty years on, Ed Powers argues why the cheap as chips chills will forever haunt viewers .

If you want to receive twice-daily briefings like this by email, sign up to the Front Page newsletter here . For two-minute audio updates, try The Briefing – on podcasts, smart speakers and WhatsApp.

‘Where does this all end?!’ Piers Morgan savages union strike as UK faces ‘going bust’

by www.express.co.uk Leave a Comment

TalkTV: Piers Morgan calls strikes ‘opportunism’

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Mr Morgan discussed trade unions’ fresh demands for increases to pay with journalist Kevin O’Sullivan.

The British journalist then went on to discuss his conversation with the Royal Mail union boss who was now pushing for pay raises for his staff.

Mr Morgan claimed if workers around the country were to all receive pay rises, the UK’s economy would go bust.

Britain is currently experiencing 9.1 percent inflation in the economy, the highest peak in 40 years.

Mr O’Sullivan said: “Now I was once your boss. You’ve been my boss several times now, and we’re both on Talk TV now.

“Why don’t we join everyone else, let’s both go out and strike, like everyone else shall we?”

Mr Morgan told Talk TV: “Well that’s the point isn’t it, I had one of the… I had the Royal Mail union boss on last night.

“And I said to him, you know if all workers deserve a pay rise, where does this all end?

“Does every worker now in the country go out and want the same pay rise to cover inflation, 11 percent.

JUST IN: If Theresa May hadn’t capitulated to EU we wouldn’t be in this mess! ARLENE FOSTER

Piers Morgan

Piers Morgan (Image: Getty)

RMT union boss during rail strikes

Mick Lynch (Image: Getty Images)

Mr Morgan added: “In which case- the country basically goes bust, we don’t just go into recession we go into depression.

“And I think there’s got to be a sense of realism about this, there’s a lot of opportunism going on.

“And for all the strikes people are doing they’re massively inconveniencing a lot of other workers who just want to go to work, who have probably had nightmare two-three years of the pandemic.

“So it’s a complex one I’m all for unions getting a good deal for their workers, but when they start going on strike like this and it starts to spread like a virus having just got through a pandemic I think it’s very problematic.”

READ MORE: Sturgeon risks fury as SNP ‘almost certain’ to have changed laws to secure Queen consent

Loose Women: Denise Welch discusses doctors strike

Teachers and NHS staff have now all threatened to strike for higher wages.

RMT union boss Mick Lynch has been leading the way with rail strikes across the country, by demanding the Government increase pay for his workers by up to 7 percent, the union boss has also asked for no more job cuts to the rail sector.

British Airways are following in their footsteps with planned summer holiday strikes on their airline.

Many Government ministers are worried that giving into workers’ demands will cause more damage than good.

Inflation in the economy would make it worse for those who are already facing financial struggles in the UK.

Trending

Industrial strike action

Strike action UK (Image: Getty Images)

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab claimed increasing workers’ demands for high wages would worsen inflation for the whole country.

Mr Raab told BBC Breakfast: “No, one of the things that will drive up inflation and keep it higher for longer and it is forecast to come back down next year is that if we don’t have some wage restraint.

“Because I understand why unions feel they should fight their worker’s corner, the risk is, for example, we see RMT succeed in their claim for a 7 percent increase in rail worker’s pay, rather than the 3 percent offered by Network Rail, that will keep inflation or that will stimulate the pressures on inflation.

“Which will keep it higher for longer, and that will only hurt the lowest paid and the most vulnerable in our communities more.

“So we do need to do those two things, a support package for the most vulnerable, but make sure we don’t fuel a vicious cycle in inflation.”

READ NEXT

Ducey OKs $18B budget upping school, infrastructure spending

by www.sfgate.com Leave a Comment

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday signed into law his eighth and final state budget, an $18 billion spending plan that uses a record surplus to invest in education and infrastructure while lowering state debt and preparing for an economic downturn.

The massive spending plan marks a stark change in fortunes for a governor who took office in 2015 amid historic deficits that forced deep cuts to public services. It passed the House and Senate last week with overwhelming bipartisan support for the first time in years.

With a surplus topping $5 billion, Ducey and lawmakers approved an array of new spending and debt reduction.

That includes $544 million for border security, roughly half of it for a wall, and $1 billion for highway construction, including widening Interstate 10 north of Casa Grande. State employees will get a raise, many for the first time in a decade. Hundreds of millions are set aside for water infrastructure or conservation as the state faces prolonged drought.

The budget also makes a $1.1 billion deposit into the pension fund for public safety and corrections officers, paying off the state’s unfunded liability for future retirement benefits and saving millions down the road. And it puts another $425 million in the rainy day fund to help the state grapple with a potential recession, bringing the account’s balance to $1.4 billion.

It also eliminates the state equalization tax, a property tax for education, and backfills it with $330 million from the general fund.

“We’re making fiscally responsible decisions and targeted commitments that will leave a legacy long after this administration,” Ducey said in a statement.

The plan includes a handful of small, targeted tax cuts for farm machines and private planes but no large scale reductions, in keeping with Ducey’s pledge when he took office to cut taxes every year of his term. Republicans last year enacted a $1.7 billion income tax cut that is still phasing in.

GOP and Democratic leaders agreed to increase school spending by more than $1 billion, including automatic inflationary increases. Their agreement also boosts university funding.

Ducey used his line-item veto power for the first time to strike $3.6 million for hyperbaric oxygen therapy for veterans. He said the expenditure, requested by Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers, “has little support from the public and veteran community.”

Hyperbaric oxygen chambers are used to treat burn patients and for other wound treatment, carbon monoxide poisoning and some other medical conditions. It’s been touted as helpful for treating PTSD, but evidence is not clear that it is effective, according to a 2021 review done for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The chambers are large enough to hold from one to several people, and are pressurized with 100% oxygen, which raises the level in the blood.

The major growth in spending is a far cry from the situation when took office at a fiscal low point, with a $1 billion deficit and swelling debt.

As the economy and the state’s finances recovered, Ducey and the GOP-controlled Legislature repeatedly cut taxes, slowing the growth in state revenue. It all came to a head in 2018, when thousands of teachers walked out of their classrooms and marched on the Capitol demanding an end to tax cuts after a decade of disinvestment in schools.

Ducey and lawmakers ultimately agreed to increase school funding by enough to raise teacher pay by 20% over three years. But other school funding streams — including building renewal and a fund used to pay for tangible goods like textbooks and computers — for years fell far short of their trajectory before the Great Recession.

Hurricane Maria: Puerto Rico left entirely without power

by www.telegraph.co.uk Leave a Comment

Hurricane Maria regained major hurricane strength as it thrashed parts of the Dominican Republic with heavy rain and high winds.

Earlier, Maria had pummeled Puerto Rico, bringing “catastrophic” 155mph winds and knocking out power to the island’s entire population of 3.5 million.

The “monster” storm was the strongest to hit the US territory in nearly a century.

It made landfall in Puerto Rico at 11.15am BST in the southeast coastal town of Yabucoa and punished the island with life-threatening winds that have torn off roofs and sent doors flying from hinges.

Watch live: Track path of Hurricane Maria

Governor Ricardo Rossello said: “We have not experienced an event of this magnitude in our modern history.”

US President Donald Trump described Hurricane Maria as a “monster”, adding: “Our hearts are with you.”

The second maximum-strength storm to sweep through the Atlantic this month had already killed at least nine people.

In the Puerto Rican capital San Juan windows blew out and there was widespread flooding.

Officials warned the power company’s already crumbling infrastructure had been decimated and the government would have to rebuild dozens of communities.

Carlos Mercader, spokesman for Puerto Rico’s governor, said: “This is total devastation. Puerto Rico, in terms of the infrastructure, will not be the same. This is something of historic proportions.”

After crossing Puerto Rico, Maria was due to pass just north of the north-east coast of the Dominican Republic on Wednesday night and Thursday.

Maria hit just days after the region was hit by Hurricane Irma, which ranked as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record and left a trail of destruction on several Caribbean islands. Stay with us for the latest updates.

Maria regains major hurricane strength

M aria has regained major hurricane strength near the eastern Dominican Republic, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

T he category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale was about 55 miles (90 km) north of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, with maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (185 km/h), the NHC said.

On the forecast track, the core of Maria will continue to move away from Puerto Rico during the next several hours, and then pass offshore of the northeastern coast of the Dominican Republic early on Thursday, the Miami-based weather forecaster said.

British Virgin Islands escape the worst of Hurricane Maria

T he British Virgin Islands have been “spared the worst” from Hurricane Maria, the governor has said, as the storm continues her path of destruction towards another UK overseas territory, PA reports.

Gus Jaspert, governor of the British Virgin Islands, which was wrecked by Hurricane Irma two weeks ago, said initial assessments suggested fresh damage is relatively low.

“We had high winds, we had a bit of flooding, and we had bit of a storm surge that knocked out some of the roads – but that thankfully we have been spared the worst”, he said.

“We are very mindful that others and colleagues in the region felt its full force and our thoughts are very much with them at the moment.”

Mr Jaspert said one of his first priorities on Thursday is to head to the other British Virgin Islands on a helicopter from RFA Mounts Bay to fully assess the damage there.

“We prepared for the worst, it hasn’t been the worst which is good. We are back on to our recovery focus, which is our key thing,” he said.

He revealed that there were no deaths, but that someone who was seriously injured during the latest hurricane is due to be medevaced off Virgin Gorda on Thursday.

‘Postpone Caribbean trips’

T he US Virgin Islands Department of Tourism says people who want to visit the Caribbean territory should postpone their trip while authorities assess the effects of Hurricane Maria on St. Croix and recover from the damage to St. Thomas and St. John from Hurricane Irma.

The department says Hurricane Maria brought heavy rainfall and flooding to St. Croix when it passed to the south of the island and communications throughout the islands are limited.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties from the storm on St. Croix.

Guadeloupe: Natural disaster to be declared after Maria

F rance is to declare a natural disaster for Guadeloupe after the island was hit by Hurricane Maria, a move that is a vital step for victims to secure compensation, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said late on Wednesday.

Two people died and two were missing in the French territory after Maria ripped through the Caribbean on the heels of Hurricane Irma.

“Almost all the banana plantations on the island have been affected,” Philippe said after an interministerial meeting. “Production has totally stopped.”

Under French law, companies or individuals have 10 days in which to file a compensation claim with their insurers for loss in an event that has been officially declared a natural disaster. The declaration will be published on Saturday, Philippe said.

Restoring power in Puerto Rico could take days

B rock Long, head of FEMA, the US government’s emergency agency, said it could take days for the power to come back on in Puerto Rico, and in the US Virgin Islands.

He said: “Because of the nature of the geography of the islands it’s a logistical challenge so it will be a frustrating event to get the power back on.”

San Juan mayor speaks of pain and devastation

C armen Yulin Cruz, the Mayor of San Juan, broke down in tears as she spoke at a shelter.

She said: “Many parts of San Juan are completely flooded. Our life as we know it has changed. There is a lot of pain and a lot of devastation.”

Water becomes river in Puerto Rico

F lood waters rushed down a street in Guyama, Puerto Rico

WATCH: Floodwaters rush through streets of Guyama, Puerto Rico as Hurricane Maria strikes the island (via Cruz Rodriguez Keila) pic.twitter.com/apJvSRibDV

— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 20, 2017

Maria in infrared

. @NASANPP satellite captured this infrared image of Hurricane #Maria this morning near the U.S. Virgin Islands: https://t.co/jvSNFImaDZ pic.twitter.com/gLdn45ITiB

— NASA (@NASA) September 20, 2017

Curfew imposed in Puerto Rico

G overnor Ricardo Rossello has announced a nightly curfew from 6pm to 6 am that will take effect tonight and end on Saturday morning.

Flooding in Puerto Rico

M ore images are emerging of the flooding in Puerto Rico:

Starting To receive images from Puerto Rico. My sister just sent me this. It’s from Utuado my hometown. #HurricaneMaria pic.twitter.com/STnSEI9yBm

— Antonio Paris (@AntonioParis) September 20, 2017

People without power in Puerto Rico

V ideo emerging of people sheltering after the 100 per cent power outage across Puerto Rico

#PuertoRico officials say it appears as though 100% of the island is without power. The grid is totally offline. #HurricaneMaria pic.twitter.com/j77L8UZLPW

— Gadi Schwartz (@GadiNBC) September 20, 2017

Puerto Rico Governor says Maria is ‘catastrophic’

P uerto Rico’s Governor Ricardo Rossello says a “new Puerto Rico” will need to be built:

At least 9 dead after “extremely violent” Hurricane Maria makes landfall in Puerto Rico https://t.co/HZPPLfB0rj pic.twitter.com/mh5dbZGNPd

— TIME (@TIME) September 20, 2017

How Maria strengthened

T his animation shows how Maria strengthened as Jose weakened

Animation from Sept. 17-20 satellite imagery shows Hurricane #Jose weakening & #Maria strengthened to a Category 5: https://t.co/DtAy9wvRlG pic.twitter.com/2Qg6P0bQ4f

— NASA (@NASA) September 20, 2017

A view of Maria from space

H ere’s a close-up view of Maria from a Nasa satellite

NOAA/NASA’s GOES 16 weather satellite gets a close-up view of the eye of #HurricaneMaria pic.twitter.com/afF2Qf9hUV

— Francella Perez (@FrancellaKUSI) September 20, 2017

Whole island of Puerto Rico now without power

A bner Gomez, director of Puerto Rico’s emergency management agency, said 100 per cent of the island, some 3.4 million people, was now without power.

He said: “When we can get outside we will find our island destroyed. The information we received is not encouraging. It’s a system that has destroyed everything it has had in its wake.”

Domenica devastated

M ore aerial footage showing the devastation in Domenica

WATCH: Aerial footage shows Hurricane Maria’s “total destruction” of Dominica https://t.co/Wxb8LARZ7s pic.twitter.com/b5NKPNYdYj

— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 20, 2017

‘We shot chickens with a slingshot’

C ouple tell of surviving Irma only to now face wrath of Irma

This couple survived Hurricane Irma, but their nightmare isn’t over yet. They now face Maria’s wrath. https://t.co/ZCjtvIYSHS pic.twitter.com/HzAgvANXe9

— CNN (@CNN) September 20, 2017

Astronaut affected by two hurricanes… while in orbit

T he International Space Station’s Joe Acaba, the first astronaut of Puerto Rican heritage, has been affected by two hurricanes – even in orbit.

In an interview from the space station, Mr Acaba offered words of comfort to Puerto Ricans enduring the wrath of Hurricane Maria. His parents were born in Hatillo, Puerto Rico, and he has lots of family there.

J ust a few weeks ago, Acaba’s home in Houston was flooded by Hurricane Harvey. Acaba was in Russia then, getting ready for his launch. Friends and colleagues came to his rescue, yanking out walls and drying out his house.

Acaba – a former school teacher – arrived at the space station a week ago, along with fellow Nasa astronaut Mark Vande Hei and a Russian cosmonaut.

Buildings tremble as storm batters Puerto Rican capital

A s Hurricane Maria bears down on San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, buildings trembled and sent torn off pieces of metal barricades clattering along streets.

Broken windows, mangled awnings and gutters dangled haphazardly from buildings or were ripped off entirely.

El Retiro, Caguas, Puerto Rico. Foto enviada por un vecino. #HuracanMaria #MaríaPR pic.twitter.com/3ICzBV0eYT

— Susana Sherin (@SusanaSherin) September 20, 2017

Todo inundado, Los Colobos Carolina pic.twitter.com/xxHaIqw39X

— frances guzman (@franeguz) September 20, 2017

So esta es la que hay en Ciudad Jardin de carolina pic.twitter.com/cMNY1DDT6H

— french toast (@frances_mh) September 20, 2017

Doors fly off hinges as Hurricane Maria hits

I slanders calling local radio stations in Puerto Rico have reported that doors were flying off hinges and a water tank flew away in the island’s southern region.

Meanwhile, widespread flooding was reported in the capital of San Juan, with water running down one apartment’s interior staircase.

Richard Branson: ‘All safe on Necker after night of a thousand buckets’

S ir Richard Branson’s private Necker island was devastated by Hurricane Irma earlier this month.

But the businessman’s retreat in the British Virgin Islands appears to have taken less of a hit from Maria.

Sir Richard wrote on Twitter that “all are safe on Necker” after the “night of a thousand buckets”:

Word from the bunker is all are safe on Necker. Lots of howling rain (2+ feet) but all ok. The night of a thousand buckets #HurricaneMaria

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) September 20, 2017

Yet to hear latest on the rest of #BVI , thoughts with our friends in Puerto Rico & all in #HurricaneMaria ’s path

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) September 20, 2017

Hurricane Maria closes in on capital of San Juan

M aria is now about 15 miles west-southwest of San Juan, with maximum winds of 145mph, the National Hurricane Centre said.

Flash flood warnings as river levels reach dangerous highs

W ith heavy rain causing river levels to reach dangerous highs in Puerto Rico, a warning has been issued for flash floods. It covers the east of the island and is in force until about 4.30pm BST.

RT @NWSFlashFlood : Flash Flood Warning including Carolina PR, Caguas PR, Trujillo Alto PR until 11:30 AM AST pic.twitter.com/fP5dZ33rmv

— NWS San Juan (@NWSSanJuan) September 20, 2017

First pictures from storm-hit Puerto Rico

Storm chaser: ‘Wind sounds like woman screaming at top of her lungs!’

M ike Theiss, an American storm-chaser – is following the path of Hurricane Maria from Fajarado, Puerto Rico.

He has posted a series of dramatic updates and on Twitter, including footage of what the storm looks like on the ground:

The hotel is moving all guests to safe room now in #Fajardo , PR. The wind sounds like a woman screaming at the top of her lungs ! #Maria

— Mike Theiss (@MikeTheiss) September 20, 2017

Extreme wind hitting us now ! #HurricaneMaria pic.twitter.com/8VbtKMvBQ2

— Mike Theiss (@MikeTheiss) September 20, 2017

Walls being blown apart during extreme wind inside lobby of hotel #HurricaneMaria pic.twitter.com/bL9PUOEzJN

— Mike Theiss (@MikeTheiss) September 20, 2017

Daybreak ! Extreme winds pounding our hotel in #Fajarado #HurricaneMaria pic.twitter.com/rwqufucvva

— Mike Theiss (@MikeTheiss) September 20, 2017

We are getting absolutely hammered right now !!! Insanity in #Fajardo #HurricaneMaria

— Mike Theiss (@MikeTheiss) September 20, 2017

Eyewall tearing up the hotel in #Fajardo #HurricaneMaria pic.twitter.com/UGVKfQi1Cl

— Mike Theiss (@MikeTheiss) September 20, 2017

‘We’ve not experienced an event of this magnitude in modern history’

H urricane Maria is expected to punish the island of Puerto Rico with life-threatening winds for 12 to 24 hours, forecasters said.

“This is going to be an extremely violent phenomenon,” Governor Ricardo Rossello said. “We have not experienced an event of this magnitude in our modern history.”

Roofs fly and windows break as Maria hits Puerto Rico

Z inc roofs were already flying and windows were breaking as Maria approached Puerto Rico before dawn, with nearly 900,000 people without power and one tree falling on an ambulance.

Those who sought shelter at a coliseum in San Juan were moved to the building’s second and third floors, according to local radio.

T he storm is moving across Puerto Rico at 10mph, with a gust of 113mph in the capital of San Juan, according to the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami.

Puerto Rico had long been spared from a direct hit by hurricanes that tend to veer north or south of the island. The last category four hurricane landfall in Puerto Rico happened in 1932 and the strongest storm to ever hit the island was San Felipe in 1928 with winds of 160mph.

Video reportedly shows spot where Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico

T his footage, believed to have been taken from a webcam and posted on Twitter, is said to show the moment Hurricane Maria arrived in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico.

ACTUALIZACIÓN #HuracanMaria pic.twitter.com/LjIjn2iFPQ

— Temporada Ciclónica (@TemporadaCiclon) September 20, 2017

Aerial footage shows scale of devastation on Dominica

F ootage taken from a helicopter over the devastated French territory of Dominica shows the scale of the damage for the first time. The footage posted on Facebook by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency appears to corroborate reports the island has been “devastated”.

Maria makes landfall in Puerto Rico

T he eye of Hurricane Maria has made landfall in Puerto Rico, pummeling the island as a category four storm with winds of 155mph, the US National Hurricane Centre said.

The centre of the storm came ashore near Yabucoa in south eastern Puerto Rico at around 11.15am BST.

Seven people confirmed dead on Dominica – bringing Maria death toll to eight

S even people have been confirmed as having been killed on Dominica after it was “devastated” by Hurricane Maria.

It brings the death toll following the storm so far to eight.

Hartley Henry, principal adviser to Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, gave the update to a relief fund, adding that there are fears of more deaths on the tiny island:

Maria about to make landfall in Puerto Rico

A ccording to the US National Hurricane Center, the eye Maria is about to make landfall in Puerto Rico, which is slightly earlier than previously expected. It is currently about 35 miles south east of San Juan, with maximum sustained winds of 155mph.

#Hurricane -force winds occurring in Puerto Rico- #Maria ‘s eye should make landfall in the next couple of hours. https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb pic.twitter.com/5HkvRNZUaL

— NHC Atlantic Ops (@NHC_Atlantic) September 20, 2017

Winds strengthen on Puerto Rico as islanders seek refuge

A s Hurricane Maria approaches Puerto Rico, winds are picking up and islanders are hoping the storm does not cause the predicted damage as they take refuge in shelters.

The islands that still have hurricane warnings

A s Maria’s intensity falls slightly to a category four hurricane, these are the islands that are still under hurricane warnings:

  • US Virgin Islands
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Puerto Rico, Culebra and Vieques
  • Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to Puerto Plata
  • Turks and Caicos Islands
  • South eastern Bahamas

Meanwhile, here’s the latest image of Maria’s path through the Caribbean reaching us from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Maria’s maximum sustained winds are close to 155mph and the storm should keep that intensity until it makes landfall.

T he hurricane is centered about 50 miles southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and is moving northwest at about 10 mph.

Trees swirl in wind and rain falls ‘sideways’ on US Virgin Islands

P eople living on St Croix, in the US Virgin Islands, have described the “very violent and intense” winds from Hurricane Maria.

Speaking as she sought shelter from the category five storm, 31-year-old Coral Megahy said: “Very violent and intense right now as we have just begun to experience hurricane force winds.

“We can hear debris banging on the aluminum windows as well right now.”

On St John Island, locals reported seeing trees swirling in the wind, with rain coming “sideways” as Maria continued on its path of destruction after battering the island of Dominica and other territories in the eastern Caribbean.

J udi Buckley, former senator for St Croix Island, traveled to St John from her South Carolina home to help with the Irma relief effort – only to get caught up in Maria.

“We have become the Irma relief hub and our brothers and sisters across the pond can’t afford for us to be crippled,” she said, referring to those on St Croix.

‘Ninety per cent of buildings’ destroyed on Dominica

T he tiny island of Dominica suffered “devastating” damage, its Prime Minister said yesterday .

Although few pictures have reached us from the French territory, unconfirmed reports now suggest that 90 per cent of buildings have been destroyed.

According to the West Indies and Caribbean News, landslides have blocked roads and there are reports of widespread damage.

It reports that St Lucia, Martinique and Trinidad and Tobago are preparing to send relief teams to Dominica.

160mph Maria is now 20 miles from Puerto Rico

T he US National Hurricane Center says latest predictions are that Maria is about 20 miles south east of Vieques, Puerto Rico, with maximum sustained winds of 160mph.

Pictures begin to emerge from storm-hit islands where power was cut

V ery few pictures have so far reached us from the islands hit by Hurricane Maria due to widespread power outages.

About 40 percent of the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe – 80,000 homes – were without power and flooding was reported in several communities.

Maria killed one person in Guadeloupe when a tree fell on them and two people on board a boat were reported missing off La Desirade island, just east of Guadeloupe.

Minister: ‘This has been a fortnight of just relentless catastrophe’

F oreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This has been a fortnight of just relentless catastrophe.”

Sir Alan said the British Virgin Islands are not expected to be hit as hard as previously, although he said: “I’m afraid anything on top of what happened before is quite bad enough and just adds to the misery.”

He described suggestions that the UK could have reacted quicker to Hurricane Irma as an “utterly unfounded accusation”.

Remember Jose? Latest satellite image shows tropical storm and Hurricane Maria

I t seems like a long time ago, but it’s less than since we first heard about Hurricane Jose , a major storm that followed hot on the heels of Hurricane Irma.

It weakened into a tropical storm, but is still in the Atlantic Ocean – as this Nasa satellite image shows (Hurricane Maria is pictured centre and Jose top).

Where is Hurricane Maria now?

H urricane Irma is about 85 miles southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, with maximum sustained winds of 165mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

“Slow weakening is expected after the hurricane emerges over the Atlantic north of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic,” the Miami-based weather forecaster said.

Donald Trump: ‘Our hearts are with you’

A s Hurricane Maria bears down on the US territory of Puerto Rico, Donald Trump has tweeted about the “monster” storm:

Puerto Rico being hit hard by new monster Hurricane. Be careful, our hearts are with you- will be there to help!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 20, 2017

Dramatic view of Hurricane Maria from space

H ere’s some dramatic footage of Hurricane Maria as it churns through the Caribbean from an angle you might not have seen yet – from the International Space Station.

Station cameras captured dramatic views of Hurricane Maria as it churned through Caribbean Sept. 19 as a category 5 storm. pic.twitter.com/cM76v6A0mi

— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) September 19, 2017

Puerto Ricans warned: ‘Evacuate… otherwise, you’re going to die’

T housands of Puerto Ricans have been told to “evacuate or die” as Hurricane Maria bears down on the island, reports David Millward .

Having devastated the island of Dominica, Maria was cutting a deadly path west with Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands most at risk.

The core of Maria is expected to reach the southeastern coast of Puerto Rico at 1pm on Wednesday BST and is likely to remain a category 5 storm until landfall, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

“You have to evacuate. Otherwise, you’re going to die,” Hector Pesquera, Puerto Rico’s public safety commissioner said. “I don’t know how to make this any clearer.”

H is stark warning came as frantic preparations were being made across much of the Caribbean ahead of the arrival of the “potentially catastrophic” category five hurricane.

With winds of 160mph, Maria is threatening to inflict mudslides, flash floods, and life-threatening storm surges throughout the region. It claimed its first victim in the French territory of Guadeloupe, where two other people were reported missing.

T he storm is following a similar path to that of Hurricane Irma, which ripped across the Caribbean earlier this month, claiming at least 84 lives and reducing the island of Barbuda to rubble.

Maria is the fourth major hurricane – defined as Category 3 or higher – to hit the region this year, making the season the worst in many years.

“Preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion,” the National Hurricane Centre said.

With Maria tracking north-west, hurricane warnings have been issued for the US and British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, St Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat. A tropical storm warning was in force for Martinique, Antigua and Barbuda, Saba, St Eustatius, St Maarten, St Lucia and Anguilla.

I t was Dominica, a mountainous island nation of 72,000, which was the first to take a battering.

“We have lost all what money can buy”, Roosevelt Skerrit, the prime minister wrote on Facebook. “The winds are merciless! We shall survive by the grace of God,” he added.

“So far the winds have swept away the roofs of almost every person I have spoken to or otherwise made contact with. The roof to my own official residence was among the first to go.”

Further west, residents of the British and US Virgin Islands were battening down the hatches ahead of Maria’s arrival. A curfew was in force on the British Virgin Islands, which has a population of just under 31,000.

“Our islands are extremely vulnerable right now,” said Orlando Smith, the prime minister. “While Hurricane Maria may not be as strong as Hurricane Irma, our present reality is also very different. Effects such as potential flooding and high winds that can turn debris into dangerous projectiles can have a greater and more treacherous impact for us.”

M aria is expected to pass within 10 miles of St Croix, the largest of the US Virgin Islands, which has a year-round population of 55,000.

A curfew was in force, with Kenneth Mapp, the governor, warning that most of the islanders will be without power for weeks – and in some cases months.

Residents in vulnerable areas of Puerto Rico, just over 70 miles west of St Croix, were urged to seek shelter by the governor, Ricardo Rossello.

Shelves were stripped bare as many of the 3.7million inhabitants braced for the worst hurricane to hit Puerto Rico since 1932.

I n response, the territory’s government, where a state of emergency was declared by Donald Trump, has imposed rationing of basic necessities including water and batteries.

The extent of the damage suffered so far to French territories in the Caribbean remains unclear.

Early reports from Martinique suggest that damage was minimal. Nevertheless, 25,000 people have been left without electricity and two towns without drinking water. A partial communications blackout with Guadaloupe has made it impossible for the authorities to assess the full damage.

Aid continues to be sent to the region. The UK said 1,300 troops were staying put with a 42-strong military resilience team being deployed to the British Virgin Islands.

France is sending 110 more soldiers to bolster 3,000 troops who are already in place, while the Dutch navy tweeted that soldiers were being sent to Saba and St Eustatius to prevent looting.

Putin’s bombs aren’t weakening Ukraine’s resolve to fight

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(CNN) In 2011, three American researchers revealed an eye-opening finding derived from data on the US bombing campaign during the Vietnam War.

Their discovery: the more bombs that were dropped on South Vietnamese hamlets in 1969, the likelier the Viet Cong insurgents were to end up controlling the territory afterward. As Cornell University professor Thomas Pepinsky noted then , “Killing civilians is unjust, but our research shows that it is also bad strategy.”
Two years later, historian Richard Overy concluded that the targeting of European cities in World War II was also a military failure — “strategic bombing proved in the end to be inadequate in its own terms for carrying out its principal assignments and was morally compromised by deliberate escalation against civilian populations.”

But as Russia’s war in Ukraine entered its third week Thursday, President Vladimir Putin didn’t seem interested in the fine points of military strategy. Missiles rained down relentlessly on Ukrainian cities.

Hospitals, schools and apartment buildings were wrecked, as the civilian death toll mounted. Yet there’s no sign the carnage is weakening Ukraine’s resolve to fight — a survey this month found that two-thirds of Ukrainians remaining in the country were willing to play a role in mounting armed resistance.
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A bomb destroyed the maternity and children’s wards of a hospital in the southern city of Mariupol, killing three people and injuring more than a dozen, as Michael Bociurkiw noted, in a CNN Opinion piece from Lviv. “Grainy images and video showed an Armageddon-like scene: vehicles on fire, the outside grounds singed and a crater large enough to accommodate two men head to toe. A dazed, bloodstained, pregnant woman was being led out by rescue workers…”
“These are my people being injured and killed. I watch as large swaths of the land of my ancestors, introduced to me in childhood through Ukrainian folk songs and poems as a bucolic land of freedom fighters and brave dissidents, is being transformed into killing fields. No wonder my dreams keep me in a captive state of despair.”

“Two weeks into the war, scenes of carnage like that of the Mariupol hospital have become part of the daily horror for Ukrainians that can’t be switched off. ”

No easy victory

For all the damage the Russians have been able to inflict, though, the war isn’t providing the quick and easy victory Putin might have expected.
“The bottom line is the Ukrainian military forces have acquitted themselves exceptionally well thus far in the war,” observed retired US Army Major General Mike Repass , who provided education and advisory support to the Ukrainian military on a US government contract and who shared his views with CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen . “Russia will have a very difficult time subduing them because they are willing to fight until it becomes seemingly ‘futile,’ or they no longer have the resources to do so.
“The Ukrainians have been overmatched by Russian technology and outmanned and outgunned — by Russian tanks, artillery, precision long-range strike missiles, armored personnel carriers — but the terrain favors the defenders, especially in the North and East of Ukraine , although less so in the South. I think time and mass are on the Russian side, and they’re going to be able to either create conditions for peace suitable to Putin’s liking, or they will outright destroy the cities of Ukraine and the Ukrainian military with it, which to me still leaves a resistance scenario for the Ukrainians,” Repass concluded.
“The truth is sinking in that, by attacking Ukraine, Mr Putin has committed a catastrophic error, ” wrote the editors of The Economist . “He has wrecked the reputation of Russia’s supposedly formidable armed forces, which have proved tactically inept against a smaller, worse-armed but motivated opponent. Russia has lost mountains of equipment and endured thousands of casualties, almost as many in two weeks as America has suffered in Iraq since it invaded in 2003.”

Zelensky’s moment

There was an extraordinary moment last week in the House of Commons, on the site where Britain’s wartime prime minister Winston Churchill declared in 1940, “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
This time, the defiance came from Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s embattled president, speaking on a video link to Britain’s Parliament. Frida Ghitis wrote that the screen showed “the familiar image — the boyish-faced president with the stubble of war, wearing his olive green T-shirt. His stirring message was also, above all, an appeal to conscience and bravery, a blend of inspiration and exhortation, lofty ideals and, notably, concrete requests.”
Zelensky ” has achieved far more than anyone had reason to expect. He is not just rallying Ukrainians. He has also rallied the international community at all levels, speaking to world leaders, legislators, community groups and everyday citizens, day after day. Zelensky has articulated the meaning of this war in terms that make it relevant to all the world’s democracies. He has turned the cause into one that world leaders feel compelled to support, that private businesses fear to ignore, in which individuals across the globe yearn to help.”
NATO countries have rushed to provide arms to Ukraine, but won’t intervene directly in the war against a nuclear-armed foe. Should the US be doing more? Critics of President Joe Biden have called for a no-fly zone and the delivery of Polish fighter planes to Ukraine. “It’s completely understandable that elected leaders, like so many Americans, are desperate for Biden to stop a madman’s invasion of a sovereign country and relieve the suffering of the Ukrainian people,” wrote Kirsten Powers . ” We would not be human if we did not feel these things. ”
“But it’s easy to forget that military action often makes things worse, not better. What could be worse than what is happening now? A world war with vastly more casualties. And in case anyone has forgotten, Russian leader Vladimir Putin has indicated his willingness to use nuclear weapons.”

The refugee tide

More than 2 million refugees have escaped the fighting in Ukraine, crossing borders into nations that are welcoming them with open arms.
“In Poland I see the beauty of what can happen when refugees are welcomed,” wrote Arwa Damon. “When kindness and compassion is what greets those on the run for their lives. When hundreds of volunteers wait for bus after bus with signs offering free rides and warm places to stay.”
“Today it feels like the world has woken up and finally realized how ruthless and murderous the Russian government is. As if for years Syrians were not dying under the same Russian bombs. As if countless Syrian voices were not begging the world to help them. At the time, they asked me, ‘Why doesn’t the world care about us?’ But I could never answer the question without crushing them even more. How do you tell someone their life is not part of a geopolitical calculus, that in the grand scheme of the puppet masters, their life is not worth all that much?
“We are painfully seeing that refugees are selectively welcomed, and war criminals are selectively punished. It’s not just the western media that is biased; it’s the western world …The ugly truth is our humanity is skin deep. And it breaks my heart.”
When war broke out, Catarina Buchatskiy could no longer sit in her Stanford University dorm room, decorated with “photos of my childhood in Kyiv, while the city and its surrounding areas were being bombarded by Russian artillery.” Soon after the invasion, she flew to Krakow, Poland, to assist incoming refugees and offer other humanitarian assistance.
” This is a war challenging the very existence of Ukraine and Ukrainians as an independent, sovereign people . It’s also a continuation of a centuries-long Russian war on every single one of us.”

Memories of Prague, 1968

Daniel Kumermann was 17 when Soviet tanks rolled into Prague in August 1968 to crush reforms that were threatening to turn Czechoslovakia into a democratic country. “Despite the overwhelming mass of steel around us, we kept refusing to accept its reality,” he recalled. “We still believed that we could somehow protect and preserve the process of the democratization of our country known as the Prague Spring.” It was not to be. Only the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 would free the Czechs, and now, Kumermann, observed, they fear what’s next.
“That is the really bleak message for us here in the Czech Republic and for our neighboring countries, which also used to be under Soviet rule. We can be sure that if Putin succeeds in his current adventure he is not going to stop there — and his gaze will be locked on us . The Ukrainians fighting back against the Russian onslaught do so not only for their own freedom, but for our freedom as well. And for that they deserve our unmitigated gratitude.”
Russia’s most powerful backer in recent months has been China, which has echoed some of Putin’s talking points and avoided direct criticism of the Ukraine invasion. China experts have debated whether President Xi Jinping was blindsided by the scope of Putin’s war. But the more urgent question is what, if anything, China will do to try to stop it.
Ian Johnson , who worked as a journalist in China for 20 years, isn’t optimistic. “China, far from being able to act decisively on the world stage, suffers from a chronic leadership void that leaves it paralyzed to act in the face of global crises,” wrote Johnson.
In theory, it would make sense for China to actively seek to restore peace. “China grew rich in the international order that Putin seeks to destroy. Ultimately it needs to compete with the world’s leading countries, and to do that it needs an open world system with a free flow of capital and ideas. Slumming it with dysfunctional states like Russia only drags China down. This could still happen, and China might set aside its domestic priorities to help end the crisis. But doing so would require a seismic shift.”

In Russia

In Moscow, the shuttering of McDonald’s and other Western companies signaled a decisive shift, according to Andrei Kolesnikov . In recent years, Russia “has become a mall society. People spend their weekends in these consumer hubs; heading there for walks, visiting restaurants, watching films, and of course, shopping.”
“In these boom times, the general consensus among the middle classes of the big cities has been, ‘Yes, we have an authoritarian leader, but why do we need democracy?’ Russians, it appeared, were doing just fine … we’ve learned what kinds of wines we like to drink, we’re picky about cars and holiday resorts abroad. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, foreign businesses, brands, technology, parts and partners have increased employment, expanded competencies. We are still on our own — politically and militarily — but in lifestyle, we are no different from Westerners…”
“The terrible feeling that haunts those people in my circle — who now wander around Istanbul like Russian emigrants in the 1920s or who, like me, still remain in Moscow, full of its traffic jams and queues at banks — is that our freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom to assemble peacefully, have been taken away from us. ”
Brittney Griner, the star WNBA player, has been detained in Russia, where she competes for professional leagues. Russian officials said they found cannabis oil in her luggage and charged with her a drug offense that carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. Peniel E. Joseph wrote that Griner “suddenly finds her life ensnared in a geopolitical chess game controlled by Russian officials at an increasingly perilous and uncertain moment. While Griner’s fame and privilege could shield her somewhat, her identity as a Black gay woman athlete facing the Russian legal system is a precarious one, and as the war intensifies and diplomatic options wane, Americans must not look away. ”
For more:

Covid mind-shift

Two years since the widespread Covid lockdowns began, the virus is in retreat in the US. Whether another variant like Omicron or Delta could spark a new surge is unknown. In the meantime, the urge to return to some kind of pre-Covid sense of “normal” is strong. In an essay, Dr. Sanjay Gupta argued that the health threat hasn’t disappeared despite the drop in new infections. ” Although the numbers are falling, they are still painfully high ,” he wrote, and the lingering effects of “long Covid” are deeply concerning.
Congress last week failed to pass a $15.6 billion pandemic aid package, as Julian Zelizer noted. “As much as our nation’s elected officials are to blame for this lapse, we have been all too eager to move on from the Covid-19 pandemic without tackling underlying public health needs that will allow us to live with this as endemic. We are a nation with a short-attention span, with a media eco-system that has the tendency to quickly shift from one crisis to the next.”

A blow against progress

Dr. Megan Ranney recalled visiting “a cemetery in an old mining town in Utah. My husband and I were struck by the rows of little tombstones. Each tombstone’s death date was within a few weeks of each other in the early 1900s. They were all children who had died of diphtheria. As a parent and a physician, it was an all-too-concrete reminder of the toll that infectious diseases used to take on US families and children.”
Vaccines for children have virtually eliminated diptheria, along with polio and other deadly diseases, she noted. So Ranney reacted with surprise to the “new guidelines put out by the Florida surgeon general on Tuesday, that ‘healthy children from ages 5 to 17 may not benefit from receiving the currently available COVID-19 vaccine.'”
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“The Covid-19 vaccine currently under emergency use authorization in the US for kids 5 and up — a two-dose Pfizer/BioNTech series — is effective at preventing the worst outcomes: severe illness, hospitalization and death. Study after study shows that the kids who get hospitalized for Covid-19 are, by and large, those who are unvaccinated … let’s not undermine these effective protections available to our children. We should celebrate, not denigrate, vaccines. Let’s let common sense, compassion and respect for the data prevail ,” Ranney wrote.
Also in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis moved ahead with a series of bills inspired by topics that dominate conservative media. One of the bills, Jill Filipovic noted, “penalizes any educator who so much as mentions sexual orientation or gender identity to K-3 students.”
“It’s a dystopian law, and a major incursion on free speech and expression — rights that many conservatives have claimed to defend, but instead use their political power to undermine . It’s also a direct attack on kids: Whatever your views on LGBTQ rights and gender identity, barring teachers from even recognizing that gay people exist forces them to lie to their students and breaks down trust between students and educators.”

The book bans

In 2020, Brad Meltzer , who gained fame as a thriller writer, found his non-fiction children’s books on Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. listed among more than 200 titles a Pennsylvania school board tried to exclude from classroom discussions of diversity. Authors, activists and students fought back, Meltzer wrote, leading the Central York School Board to eventually drop its “freeze” on the books. But book banning efforts remain in high gear in many parts of the country.
It’s far from the first time this has happened. “From censoring anti-slavery books in the Civil War, racy books in the 80s, rap music in the 90s, or the books about gender identity, sexual orientation and racial injustice that are being targeted today,” Meltzer observed, “the ‘concerned citizens’ fighting to make sure their way of life is undisturbed ‘by uncomfortable ideas’ will eventually be revealed as the villains of the story. If you’re cheering as books are pulled from the library, you’re on the wrong side of history. ”

January 6 turning point

In the first trial of a January 6 Capitol rioter, Guy Reffit was found guilty Tuesday of all five counts related to the attack. Nicole Hemmer saw it as a turning point, a potential departure from a long history of the justice system largely condoning far-right violence.
The “verdict — which joins a series of plea deals, bench trials and seditious conspiracy charges — shows a system with the capacity and flexibility to prosecute far-right extremism in ways it seldom has in modern US history. And while that system still has weaknesses, its ability to respond to extremism will be a critical counterweight to an emboldened far-right. ”

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‘Sprakkar’

Sanna Marin is Finland's prime minister.

Sanna Marin is Finland’s prime minister.

Finland, an early pioneer of full political rights for women, had reason to boast on International Women’s Day this past Tuesday. Its 36-year-old female prime minister Sanna Marin leads a coalition of five political parties, all headed by women, wrote Naomi Moriyama and William Doyle, who moved there for a time from New York City.
“We found a fiercely egalitarian and modest society that is much the opposite of what we were used to in the US. Schoolchildren learn through play and joyful discovery, enjoy multiple outdoor daily recess periods and have highly respected teachers and fairly-funded public schools. Parental leave is generous, public hospitals are first-rate, and the full participation of women in political leadership and many professions is accepted as routine,” they wrote.

“The more we speak with Finnish people, the more we are struck by how often they emphasize the idea of partnership between women and men, rather than a competition of “women versus men.” We often hear of the collective Finnish desire to care for each and every member of society .”
In ancient Icelandic, there’s a word for outstanding or extraordinary women, wrote Eliza Reid , Iceland’s first lady and an immigrant from Canada. “Yet the word is not exclusive to people who understand that language. There are ‘sprakkar’ all around us… I encourage you to recognize them, to elevate them, to amplify their voices, and to remember the influence we can all have in creating a more equitable world for everyone.”