WORLD NEWS FLASH
UNITED STATES
By Walter Elliott
NEW YORK CITY – “Sports Illustrated,” should it survive a post-Jan. 19 mass layoff notice and licensing negotiation, may likely look different from its 70-year-old standard.
The Arena Group Holdings here, which is responsible for operating the magazine and website, announced that most of its staff will be laid off that Friday morning. There are several long-term employees who were given a 90-day layoff notice – but they may well be gone as of April 20.
Arena Group executives gave out the pink slips while many employees were having a NewsGuild union Zoom meeting AGH’s board of directors had missed on a $3.75 million quarterly licensing payment to The Authentic Brands Group Jan. 5 – and Authentic revoked Arena’s SI license.
NewsGuild has asked Arena and Authentic to keep on some staff as a skeleton crew so it could publish and post on schedule; its annual swimsuit edition is to go public on or just after Feb. 1.
Authentic and Simplify Innovation are meanwhile negotiating over the latter’s wanting a majority ownership of the former. Simplify had been presided over by founder Manjoy Bhargava – who made his fortune with the 5-Hour Energy caffeine drink (which used to sponsor NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace) – before he resigned in November.
Sports Illustrated, should it survive this turmoil, will look and read differently from what its subscribers – 1.3 million in 2021 in print and 965,000 on the internet – of various sports are used to.
SI was known to provide weekly articles and some investigative reports from sports journalists and mainstream writers coupled with outstanding photography. The former Time-Life/Time-Warner magazine would carry articles by George Plympton and once had poet Robert Frost cover an early 1960s World Series game.
Although the “Big Four” sports – Baseball, Football, Basketball and Ice Hockey – were its wheelhouse, it gave space to auto racing, the Olympic Games, prizefighting, track and field, tennis, soccer, golf, skiing, horse racing, yachting and – during the 1972 Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky tournament – chess.
Many an amateur athlete had his or her week made if he or she was listed in SI’s “Faces in the Crowd’ page. Other athletes felt accomplished – or cursed – by making SI’s front cover.
SI’s first post-May 25, 1972 cover, for example, was of Mark Donohue in his McLaren-Offy en route to his winning the Indianapolis 500. The picture, of Donohue steering through one of Indianapolis’ turns, was simply headlined “Winged Victory.”
Thrice Formula One champion Sir Jackie Stewart was on SI’s cover twice – including his being awarded “SI Sportsperson of the Year” in 1973 over record-breaking football rusher O.J. Simpson.
NASCAR stock car stars Dale Earnhardt, Sr and Jr. were on the cover separate times. Dale, “The Intimidator” Sr. was on one of SI’s 13 tribute covers. (SCCA Trans-Am sports car winner Walter Payton was given a tribute cover more for his NFL football accomplishments.)
Sam Moses, who was SI’s auto racing reporter for 18 years, wrote a book entitled “Fast Guys, Rich Guys and Idiots.” in 1986. Automotive writer Brock Yates, in the early 1970s, wrote an articles on his illegal “Cannonball Baker Sea to Shining Sea” transcontinental race and on how the Wankel rotary engine’s smaller size would replace piston internal combustion engines in racing.
SI ran three annual special sections on the Indianapolis 500 1972-74.
Sports Illustrated’ heyday as the go-to read were years and several ownership changes ago. Its current state of affairs may be traced to when Meredith Corp. bought Time, Inc. in 2018. Meredith then sold SI to Authentic Brands – who then licensed the brand to the Arena Group.
Arena Group was into leveraging SI’s brand and name. It was allowed to start a Sports Illustrated gambling sports book and a pair of SI resorts in Orlando and Punta Cana.
Whatever happens to SI, it will not be rehiring the likes of “Drew Ortiz,” “Sona Tanaka” or four other Artificial Intelligence-generated “authors.”
At least two associated executives resigned when Futurism.com revealed, on Nov. 27, that they found the headshots used for “Ortiz,” “Tanaka” and the other four on a for-sale photo database. Futurism discovered that their “articles” were AI – and not human – generated.
Arena Group, in a letter, faulted a third party it had contracted is lifestyle-oriented articles for not using human editors to fact check. Arena said it severed its ties to the contractor. NewsGuild said it was “horrified” that a company would resort to using AI.
MASS SHOOTING UPDATE
Information recent as of 1-23-2024 at 12 p.m.
2024 Mass Shooting Stats: (Source: Mass Shooting Tracker – https://www.massshootingtracker.site/data/?year=2024)
- Total Mass Shootings: 29
- Total Dead: 58
- Total Wounded: 90
- Shootings Per Day: 1.26
- Days Reached in Year 2024 as of Jan. 23: 23
FRANCE
FRANCE URGED TO PROTECT CHILDREN
France must take urgent action to protect children from incest and all forms of sexual abuse while also addressing mistreatment suffered by mothers trying to keep them safe, independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council said on Jan. 19.
The experts had previously written to the authorities after receiving information about three cases regarding allegations of sexual abuse of several children by their fathers and violations against the mothers who sought to protect them.
In addition, the experts found that, according to the allegations, the children were victims of sexual abuse or at high risk of sexual abuse at the hands of their fathers or alleged perpetrators against whom there was credible and disturbing evidence of incestuous sexual abuse.
Despite the allegations, and in the absence of adequate investigations, the children were placed in the custody of their fathers.
“We are particularly concerned about the way in which the family court has allowed the alleged perpetrator to accuse the mother of parental alienation in order to undermine the allegations of sexual abuse of the children and divert attention from the alleged abuse to which they are subjecting their partners and children,” the experts said.
They urged the French authorities to respect the “precautionary principle” and the “due diligence principle” in child protection, particularly during legal proceedings, to allow for a preventive approach in cases of uncertainty and complexity.
The views of the child also must be sought and respected, and their best interests must be the main consideration before custody decisions are made in favor of one parent.
The experts also highlighted the need to build the capacity of law enforcement and justice officials to effectively monitor and address human rights abuses affecting these children and their mothers.
“Urgent steps must be taken to alleviate the distressing situation in which children and their mothers are being negatively affected by the lack of adequate consideration for their needs,” they added.
The experts said they have been following the workings of France’s Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Abuse of Children (CIVIISE), whose findings confirm the concerns expressed to the Government.
They urged the authorities to establish an effective child-friendly complaint handling system and an investigation mechanism to process victims’ complaints.
“These efforts, including in divorce and custody cases, are essential and should go hand in hand with effective coordination between law enforcement agencies and other service providers, keeping the best interests of the child at the center of all proceedings or decisions affecting or concerning children,” they said.
Recalling that France is a party to UN treaties on children’s rights and eliminating discrimination against women, they urged the country to “implement its obligations under these international human rights instruments.”
WORLD
OVER 25,000 CIVILIANS DEAD
“Intense” Israeli bombardment in Gaza continued on Jan. 22 along with rocket fire into Israel by Palestinian armed groups as UN humanitarians reported that more than 25,000 have died in the enclave since war began on October 7.
Citing Gaza’s health authorities, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) also noted that some 62,681 Palestinians have been injured by Israeli strikes launched in retaliation for Hamas-led massacres in Israel that left some 1,200 dead and around 250 people taken hostage.
Two Israeli soldiers have also been killed in Gaza since Jan. 19, OCHA said, bringing the total to 193 since the start of the ground operation and 1,203 soldiers injured, according to the Israeli military.
The same period saw 343 Palestinians killed and another 573 people injured, the UN aid coordination office said.
The development came as Israeli and Palestinian foreign ministers prepared to meet their European Union counterparts on Monday in separate private talks in Brussels, after UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the ongoing Gaza bloodshed as “heartbreaking and utterly unacceptable.”
Addressing a summit of the Group of 77 countries and China (G77) in the Ugandan capital Kampala, Mr. Guterres described the Middle East as “a tinderbox,” before issuing an appeal to “do all we can to prevent conflict from igniting across the region.”
“Israel’s military operations have spread mass destruction and killed civilians on a scale unprecedented during my time as Secretary-General,” Mr. Guterres said, having earlier reiterated his support for a two-State solution for Israelis and Palestinians.
“The denial of the right to statehood for the Palestinian people would indefinitely prolong a conflict that has become a major threat to global peace and security, exacerbate polarization and embolden extremists everywhere,” he said.
Highlighting the scale of need among Gazans after more than three months of “intense” bombardment, OCHA said that only 15 bakeries were now operational in Gaza – “six in Rafah and nine in Deir al Balah” – and none is open north of Wadi Gaza.
Almost all of these functioning bakeries have continued to receive support from the UN World Food Program (WFP) which has provided flour, salt, yeast and sugar.
“Through this initiative, about 250,000 people were able to purchase bread at a subsidized price,” OCHA noted in its latest update on the emergency on Jan. 21.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, meanwhile, reported on Jan. 22 that telecommunications shutdowns had entered a seventh day.
“Disruption of telecommunication services prevents people accessing lifesaving information, calling first responders and continues to impede humanitarian response,” the UN agency said in a tweet on X, formerly Twitter.
In its latest update, UNRWA reported that 1.7 million people are now confirmed displaced within Gaza. At least 335 of these internally displaced people have been killed while sheltering in the agency’s premises and 1,161 have been injured, in addition to the 151 UNWRA staff killed and 141 installations damaged since October 7.
UNITED KINGDOM
BRITS WARNED OF MEASLES OUTBREAK
Further outbreaks of measles will spread to other towns and cities unless urgent action is taken to increase Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccination uptake in areas at greatest risk, the UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) Chief Executive is warning during a visit to Birmingham, amid a rapid rise in cases in parts of the region since last October.
Professor Dame Jenny Harries is in Birmingham January 19 to see first-hand the extensive clinical, health protection, epidemiological and community engagement work on-going to contain the spread of the disease and encourage communities to urgently take up the offer of an MMR vaccine.
As of January 18, there have been 216 confirmed cases and 103 probable cases in the West Midlands since October 1, 2023. Around 80% of cases have been seen in Birmingham, with about 10% in Coventry, the majority being in children aged under 10 years.
Following a UKHSA risk assessment published last July, which warned of the potential for such outbreaks, Dame Jenny has expressed concern that unless urgent action is taken we are likely to see the measles virus spreading rapidly in other areas with low MMR vaccine uptake.
While in Birmingham, Dame Jenny will be visiting the Birmingham Heartlands Hospital and meeting with health professionals coordinating the response, including local UKHSA epidemiologists and consultants, NHS leaders and local councils across the West Midlands.
Learning what has worked and not worked in the West Midlands will be key to help other areas prepare. There have been some recent successful interventions focused to support local communities, such as a pop-up vaccination clinic at a school in Coventry, street level community engagement to promote vaccination and training and awareness raising of frontline professionals in schools and healthcare settings. But Dame Jenny is calling on all local areas to make a sustained commitment to turn around the falling MMR uptake rates in communities across the country.
The UKHSA has declared a national incident. This is an internal mechanism within the Agency signaling the growing public health risk and to enable the Agency to focus on limiting further spread of the outbreak including additional work to help protect other areas at greatest risk.
Professor Dame Jenny Harries, Chief Executive of UKHSA, said: “Colleagues across the West Midlands have worked tirelessly to try to control the outbreak, but with vaccine uptake in some communities so low, there is now a very real risk of seeing the virus spread in other towns and cities.
“Children who get measles can be very poorly and some will suffer life changing complications. The best way for parents to protect their children from measles is the MMR vaccine. Two doses of the MMR vaccine give lifelong protection and it’s never too late to catch up.
“Immediate action is needed to boost MMR uptake across communities where vaccine uptake is low. We know from the pandemic that the communities themselves, and those providing services within them, will have the knowledge to best support local families to understand the risks of measles, to learn more about the vaccines that can protect them and to enable innovative vaccine delivery approaches. We need a long-term concerted effort to protect individuals and to prevent large measles outbreaks.”
In December, Dame Jenny welcomed the new NHS England Vaccination Strategy, with its renewed focus on innovative delivery approaches, recognizing that the link between uptake rates and vaccine confidence and accessibility is critical. Responding to the Strategy she highlighted that UKHSA has committed to supporting national vaccination programs, including MMR, as one of the Agency’s top priorities. Working alongside the NHS, UKHSA continues to evaluate uptake coverage and effectiveness of immunization programs in order to inform NHS routine vaccination programs in the future.
