The West Ham United player has been fined for his actions and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has launched an investigation into the matter.
Ottawa police tells protesting Canadian truckers they will be fined or arrested and their trucks seized
Police in the Canadian capital of Ottawa have threatened the “Freedom Convoy” protesters on Wednesday with fines, arrests and seizure of their trucks if they do not stop their “mischief.” The truckers demand an end to vaccine mandates and other Covid-19 restrictions in Canada.
To “obstruct, interrupt or interfere with the lawful use, enjoyment, or operation of property,” is a criminal offense known as “mischief to property,” the Ottawa police announced on Wednesday afternoon.
The police said that the “unlawful act of blocking streets in the downtown core” amounts to just such a crime.
Anyone blocking the streets or assisting others in doing so, directly or indirectly, may be guilty of that offense and may be arrested without a warrant, the police said. Those arrested may be denied bail, and their property – including trucks – may be seized and forfeited.
“You must immediately cease further unlawful activity or you may face charges,” the police said.
Message to Demonstrators from the Ottawa Police Service.
It is a criminal offence to obstruct, interrupt or interfere with the lawful use, enjoyment, or operation of property. The offence is known as mischief to property. https://t.co/6QC2glXC0K#ottnews Le français suivra
Ottawa is also threatening to levy hefty fines on idling, open fire, and noise complaints – all designed to force the truckers to leave – according to the Canadian state broadcaster CBC.
Police are saying that charges and convictions related to the “mischief” protest may “lead to denial” of crossing the US border. One of the reasons the truckers cited for protesting is that the Covid-19 vaccine mandate is currently preventing many of them from doing just that, however.
Hundreds of truckers and their supporters launched the “Freedom Convoy” on January 22, driving across Canada to arrive in Ottawa on January 29. They have camped outside the Canadian parliament ever since, honking their horns and demanding the end to the vaccine, mask, and other mandates and restrictions related to the pandemic.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has refused to meet with the protesters, calling the truckers a “fringe minority with unacceptable views” and accusing them of violence, racism, bigotry and even Nazi sympathies. Canadian authorities have also denounced the protest as an “insurrection” and a “threat to our democracy.”
With the standoff between truckers, their supporters and the Canadian authorities going into its second week, Ottawa police moved to confiscate thousands of liters of fuel from the truckers. Protest sympathizers responded by forming crowds to deliver diesel to the truckers. On Monday, an Ottawa judge issued an injunction prohibiting the honking of car and truck horns – and the truckers mostly complied, though they remained in place.
Another group of protesters has since blocked the Ambassador Bridge on the US-Canadian border, which handles a quarter of all trade between the two countries. The bridge between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario has not yet been reopened to traffic. An earlier blockade of a major US-Canada border crossing in Alberta has continued as well, despite repeated police threats.
While protests continue to grip Ottawa, three Canadian provinces announced on Tuesday that they would gradually lift their pandemic mandates and restrictions.
MADRID, Feb 09 (IPS) – Pulses and meat are both needed as part of your diet, however… While the total emissions of greenhouse gases from global livestock amount to 7.1 Gigatonnes of Co2-equivalent per year, representing 14.5% of all anthropogenic emissions, pulses have root nodules that absorb inert nitrogen from soil air and convert it into biologically useful ammonia, a process referred to as biological nitrogen fixation.
Jacobellis, a five-time Olympian, won her first gold medal during the women’s snowboard cross event on Wednesday. She is also the oldest American woman to win a Winter Olympics gold medal.
ACT-Accelerator initiative requires $16 billion to end the pandemic
The World Health Organization (WHO) has appealed to the leaders of the world’s richest countries, asking them to pay their fair share of the funding needed for the agency’s program to end the global Covid-19 pandemic as soon as possible.
The body announced on Wednesday that it needed more than $16 billion to bridge the funding gap for its ACT-Accelerator program, and said it could end the pandemic as a global emergency in 2022.
The Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) is the WHO-led initiative that unites leading agencies in a bid to provide middle- and low-income countries with tests, vaccines, protective equipment, and other medical supplies needed to curb the pandemic worldwide.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said the spread of the Omicron variant made it even more urgent to distribute medical supplies equitably around the globe.
“If higher-income countries pay their fair share of the ACT-Accelerator costs, the partnership can support low- and middle-income countries to overcome low Covid-19 vaccination levels, weak testing, and medicine shortages. Science gave us the tools to fight Covid-19; if they are shared globally in solidarity, we can end Covid-19 as a global health emergency this year,” he stated.
The ACT-Accelerator representatives have contacted all high-income countries and upper-middle-income members of the G20. Their “fair share” contributions are calculated individually for each state, taking the private sector and philanthropic institutions into account as well. The organization noted that the six 2020-2021 ACT-A budget countries – Canada, Germany, Kuwait, Norway, Saudi Arabia and Sweden – have all met or exceeded their commitments.
According to the WHO statement, only about 22 million tests, or 0.4% of the total number, were taken in low-income countries; and only 10% of people in these countries have received at least one vaccine dose.
“This massive inequity not only costs lives, it also hurts economies and risks the emergence of new, more dangerous variants that could rob current tools of their effectiveness and set even highly vaccinated populations back many months,” reported the organization.
