#release the river as if the dam for industrial military is a prison

[sunflowerbloomss]

in all seriousness the last march of the ents & the whole ending of the two towers is like. truly in my top 5 cinema moments. it's about the love it's hope it's taking grief and not letting in drown you it's trust in other people like the last 15-30 minutes of the movie are what lord of the rings is all about return of the king is the conclusion of love and hope but the two towers is to have these even at the lowest, hardest point in the journey. this sequence is truly the best this franchise has to offer

[newstfionline]

Sunday, May 30, 2021

Travel numbers climb as Americans hit the road for holiday (AP) Americans hit the road in near-record numbers at the start of the Memorial Day weekend, as their eagerness to break free from coronavirus confinement overcame higher prices for flights, gasoline and hotels. More than 1.8 million people went through U.S. airports Thursday, and the daily number was widely expected to cross 2 million at least once over the long holiday weekend, which would be the highest mark since early March 2020. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned people to expect long lines at airports and appealed for travelers to be patient.

Colombia sends military to western province after four die during protests (Reuters) Colombia will begin “the maximum deployment” of military personnel in the western province of Valle del Cauca and its capital, Cali, President Ivan Duque said on Friday, after four people died in protests to mark a month of anti-government demonstrations. The four died in and around Cali on Friday as tens of thousands marched across the country in the latest in demonstrations that started on April 28 to oppose tax reform but have since expanded to include wide-ranging demands. The demonstrations have been plagued by violence. As of Thursday 17 civilians have died in connection with protests, the government said. Human rights groups say dozens more have been killed by security forces. Two police officers were also earlier reported killed. Human Rights Watch’s executive director for the Americas, Jose Miguel Vivanco, said on Twitter the advocacy group had verified videos published on social media showing armed men in civilian clothes firing weapons while police look on.

Brazil on drought alert, faces worst dry spell in 91 years (Reuters) Brazil’s government agencies warned of droughts this week as the country faces its worst dry spell in 91 years, increasing fears of energy rationing, hitting hydroelectric power generation and agriculture while raising the risk of Amazon fires. Late on Thursday, the Electricity Sector Monitoring Committee (CMSE), which is linked to Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry, recommended that the water regulator ANA recognize a state of “water scarcity,” after a prolonged drought hit Central and Southern parts of Brazil along the Paraná river basin. The lack of rain across much of Brazil has negative implications for grain cultivation, livestock and electricity generation, as Brazil relies heavily on hydro dams for its power.

In time for summer, Europe sees dramatic fall in virus cases (AP) Europe is returning to a semblance of normalcy that was unthinkable even a few weeks ago. Coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths are plummeting across the continent, after Europe led the world in new cases last fall and winter in waves that cost hundreds of thousands of lives, forced more rolling lockdowns and overwhelmed intensive care units. Now, vaccination rates are accelerating across Europe, and with them, the promise of summer vacations on Ibiza, Crete or Corsica. There are hopes for a rebirth of a tourism industry that in Spain and Italy alone accounts for 13% of gross domestic product but was wiped out by the pandemic. “We don’t speak of 2020. We speak of from today onward,” said Guglielmo Miani, president of Milan’s Montenapoleone luxury shopping district, where European and American tourists have started trickling back, wooed in part by in-person meetups with design teams and free breakfasts at iconic cafes. The hope is that Asian tourists will follow next year.

Belarusians increasingly cornered after EU cuts air links (AP) As fear of repression rises among Belarusians following the arrest of a dissident journalist whose plane was forcibly diverted to Minsk, those who want to leave the country are feeling increasingly cornered. Its land borders already were under tight restrictions, and now the European Union has banned flights from Belarus after a jetliner was diverted to Minsk earlier this week and authorities arrested a dissident journalist who was aboard. That leaves opposition-minded Belarusians with few options to get out from under the authoritarian rule of President Alexander Lukashenko. “Shutting the borders turns Belarus into a can of rotting preserves. We are being turned into hostages,” said Tatsiana Hatsura-Yavorska, who leads a rights group that helps those released from prison adapt to life and also organizes documentary film festivals.

Huge swathes of farm land swamped in eastern India after cyclone (Reuters) More than 96,000 hectares (237,221 acres) of agricultural land has been inundated in parts of an eastern Indian state hit by a powerful storm this week, officials said on Friday, a year after the coastal region was ravaged by a super cyclone. Cyclone Yaas swept in from the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday, triggering storm surges that broke through embankments in West Bengal state. Initial assessment by the West Bengal government showed that water had entered around 96,650 hectares of land that had standing crops, a state official said.

The true scope of India’s Covid-19 crisis (Quartz) Reporters at Sandesh, a newspaper in Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, conducted an informal census of hospitals and crematoriums and found daily pandemic death tolls that were 10 times higher than the officially reported figures.

Orphans, soldiers, students: N.Korea turns to ‘volunteers’ for coal mines, construction (Reuters) Orphans, conscripted soldiers, and students—some appearing to be children—are “volunteering” to work manual labour in North Korea, including in coal mines, farms, and large construction projects, the country’s state media have reported. Hundreds of graduates of orphan schools “volunteered to work in difficult fields”, according to reports by state news agency KCNA. The reports did not specify the orphans’ ages, but said they had graduated from middle schools, and photos published in state newspapers showed youths who appeared to be in their teens. Drastic measures taken by North Korea to contain COVID-19 have exacerbated human rights abuses and economic hardship for its citizens, including reports of starvation, the United Nations has said. According to the 2020 U.S. State Department report on human rights practices, in some cases children ages 16 and 17 were enrolled in military-style construction brigades for 10-year periods and subjected to long working hours and hazardous work.

Tokyo Olympics looking more and more like fan-free event (AP) The president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee hinted Friday that even local fans may be barred from venues when the games open in just under two months. Fans from abroad were ruled out months ago as being too risky during a pandemic. The prospect of empty venues at the postponed Olympics became more likely when the Japanese government decided Friday to extend a state of emergency until June 20 as COVID-19 cases continue to put the medical system under strain. The state of emergency was to have been lifted on Monday. The extension in Tokyo, Osaka and other prefectures raises even more questions if the Olympics can be held at all. Organizers and the IOC are insistent they will go ahead despite polls in Japan showing 60-80% want them called off.

An Israeli Death and the Tangled Conflict Left Behind (NYT) Four holes in the wooden door to his tiny apartment mark where shrapnel from a Hamas rocket penetrated the home of Gershon Franco, 56, and killed him. It was the early afternoon of May 15, a Saturday, the Sabbath in this bustling town just east of Tel Aviv. Mr. Franco’s death has drawn little attention. He was a poor Israeli, a loner, who had no close family. Almost two weeks after the attack here, a pile of wood, twisted aluminum, broken glass and rubble lies near the rocket’s point of impact on a street now surrounded by damaged three-story apartment buildings. Workers busy themselves repairing apartments, hanging blinds, installing new windows in store fronts. Most of the laborers are Palestinians. They have journeyed more than three hours from their homes in the occupied West Bank to fix damage caused by Palestinians in Gaza. They work for Israeli contractors. One of the men identified himself as Nahed Abdel al-Baqr from Zeita, a village near Nablus. What did he think of his situation, repairing what Hamas wrought, for an Israeli boss, against the backdrop of Israeli flags? “That’s life,” he said, with a slight smile. “Nothing changes.” It’s life in the Holy Land, where the absurd always lurks just beneath the tragic, where peace can always be imagined but never implemented, and Jewish and Arab existences are at once conflictual and intertwined.