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The death of Ronald Greene in Louisiana police custody, explained

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Last week, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-greene-death-louisiana-eca021d8a54ec73598dd72b269826f7a">obtained</a> police body camera footage of the arrest of Ronald Greene, a Black man who died in police custody in Louisiana after a car chase in 2019. The footage has revealed shocking brutality toward Greene, undermining the police’s account of what happened during the arrest, and indicates, experts say, a police cover-up of serious misconduct.
The incident, and the conflict between the official report and the video footage, also raise questions about the power and limitations of body cameras — a focal point of <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/body-cameras-are-seen-as-key-to-police-reform-but-do-they-increase-accountability">some criminal justice reform efforts</a> — when it comes to ensuring that law enforcement is held accountable for misconduct.
Greene, a 49-year-old barber, died in police custody outside Monroe, Louisiana, in May 2019, following a police chase that began after Greene did not pull over for an unspecified traffic violation.
According to the AP, police <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-greene-death-louisiana-eca021d8a54ec73598dd72b269826f7a">initially told</a> Greene’s family that he died on impact after crashing into a tree. Later, according to the same AP report, the state police “acknowledg[ed] only that Greene struggled with troopers and died on his way to the hospital.”
But the newly released footage, which lasts more than 46 minutes, reveals a prolonged struggle during which police repeatedly tased, punched, and choked Greene as they put him in handcuffs. The videos also show that he became unresponsive after a physical struggle which use-of-force experts <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-greene-death-louisiana-eca021d8a54ec73598dd72b269826f7a">say</a> violates protocols for safely handling someone in handcuffs.
Greene died in police custody before arriving at a hospital, but the precise cause and timing of his death are unclear. Based on his condition upon arriving at the hospital, an emergency room doctor who saw Greene <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-greene-death-louisiana-eca021d8a54ec73598dd72b269826f7a">was skeptical</a> of the troopers’ initial account that Greene had died during a car crash; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/us/ronald-greene-video-louisiana.html">an independent autopsy</a> later commissioned by Greene’s family found severe injuries to his skull.
In May 2020, Greene’s family sued the police for wrongful death, and federal authorities opened a civil rights investigation into Greene’s death last fall. But Louisiana State Police declined to release the footage publicly for two years, saying that releasing it would undermine the investigative process into the incident.
However, after the AP released the body camera footage it had obtained <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ronald-greene-death-louisiana-eca021d8a54ec73598dd72b269826f7a">last week</a>, the state police released what it said was all the related video, just days later.
With the release of the graphic footage, public scrutiny of the incident has reignited, and experts have weighed in on what appears to be misconduct at several levels of law enforcement.
Alec Karakatsanis, executive director of the Washington-based nonprofit Civil Rights Corps, told Vox that the effort to obstruct the reality of Greene’s treatment by police likely included “at least low-level police officers, high-level police officials, state politicians, government lawyers, and state and federal prosecutors.”
Karakatsanis also likened the incident to the high-profile allegations of a cover-up in the death of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/1/17/18184158/chicago-police-conspiracy-trial-verdict-mcdonald-van-dyke">Laquan McDonald</a>, who was shot to death by Chicago police in 2014. In that case, too, the official police report differed markedly from later footage, but while the officer who shot McDonald was <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/1/18/18188086/jason-van-dyke-sentencing-laquan-mcdonald-chicago-81-months">convicted</a> in his murder, fellow officers who were charged with covering up evidence were <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/1/17/18187043/laquan-mcdonald-chicago-conspiracy-trial-not-guilty-verdict">not convicted</a>.
The release of the footage in the Greene case has brought national public attention to another incident of police brutality in which official accounts differ from other evidence of the events. Coupled with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/04/23/poll-police-bias-floyd/">increased public support</a> for broad police reforms and a presidential administration <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/20/22394823/biden-congress-george-floyd-act">sympathetic</a> to the cause, it’s possible that more substantial steps may be taken to hold law enforcement accountable in this case.
At the same time, however, the manner in which the Greene footage was released — only after journalists forced the issue into the national spotlight, a full two years after the incident was obscured by false and inaccurate statements by the police — serves as a reminder that body cameras <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/21/15983842/police-body-cameras-failures">are far from a silver bullet</a> as an accountability tool.
<h2>Greene’s death is shrouded in mystery, but it’s clear he was brutalized</h2>
The now-public footage, from body and dashboard cameras, doesn’t provide a clear picture of everything that happened to Greene the night that he died. Nor does a newly released autopsy report, also <a href="https://apnews.com/article/george-floyd-arrests-77dd5a8ceaf2f293efb83c0177d61c4f">obtained by the AP and released Friday</a>, which stated that Greene’s head injuries and the manner in which he was detained contributed to his death; the report also found cocaine and alcohol in his system.
The report does not give a manner of death, which the AP’s Jim Mustian described as “a highly unusual move that did not make it clear whether Greene’s death could be deemed a homicide, an accident or undetermined.”
What is clear is that, at multiple junctures, Louisiana State Police did not accurately describe what happened — and they did deploy excessive force in handling Greene.
After police tried to pull Greene over for a traffic violation, he sped away from them at high speeds. Troopers told Greene’s family he died when he hit a tree, but the footage shows Greene conscious, speaking, and moving after his car stopped; it <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/22/us/ronald-greene-louisiana-video-saturday/index.html">is unclear</a> based on reports and footage exactly how his car came to a stop. The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/us/ronald-greene-video-louisiana.html">reports</a> that, according to Greene’s family’s lawyer, an accident reconstruction expert concluded that the marks on the car — mostly on the rear driver’s side — were inconsistent with a fatal collision.
Footage shows that troopers opened Greene’s car door and immediately tased him.
As at least two troopers try to pull Greene out of the car, Greene can be heard saying, “Okay, okay. I’m sorry. I’m scared. Officer, I’m scared, I’m your brother, I’m scared.”
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Body cam footage shows officers tased, kicked and dragged Ronald Greene, a Black man who died on his way to the hospital after a high speed police pursuit.
Authorities reportedly told his family he'd been killed in an auto accident immediately after hitting a tree. <a href="https://t.co/q4kP3Pxupv">pic.twitter.com/q4kP3Pxupv</a>
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) <a href="https://twitter.com/AC360/status/1395537735138562048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2021</a></blockquote>
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The troopers struggle to arrest Greene, and, as they do so, they repeatedly tase and punch him in the face and in the back, and appear to place him in a chokehold, the footage shows. Greene can be heard apologizing and crying out in distress throughout the situation.
At one point after Greene is handcuffed with his hands behind his back, he is dragged by his ankles and left in a prone position for more than nine minutes. “I hope this guy ain’t got fucking AIDS,” one of the troopers can be heard saying as he cleans blood off of himself.
<h2>Footage may reveal misconduct and even a cover-up, experts say</h2>
Use-of-force experts say that being handcuffed in the prone position makes it difficult for someone to breathe, and police officers are told to prevent someone from staying in the position too long for that reason.
“There’s nothing in any manual anywhere in the United States that allows for dragging an individual face down by their ankles,” Charles Ramsey, the former commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department, <a href="https://twitter.com/AC360/status/1395537735138562048">said</a> on CNN last week after observing the footage. “Clearly this is a case of excessive force, between the tasing, kicking, beating. Having him in a prone position for that length of time ... that is still a position that’s very difficult to breathe. Part of your training tells you, as soon as you get him cuffed, roll him over or sit him up, in order for them to be able to breathe.”
One trooper can be heard discussing the arrest in a telephone exchange inside his patrol vehicle.
“And I beat the ever-living fuck out of him, choked him and everything else trying to get him under control, and we finally got him in handcuffs when a third man got there, and the son of a bitch was still fighting, and we was still wrestling with him trying to hold him down because he was spitting blood everywhere — and then all of a sudden he just went limp,” <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/22/us/ronald-greene-louisiana-video-saturday/index.html">the trooper said</a>.
Not all of the troopers at the scene had their cameras on during the arrest, and Greene is not always visible in the available camera footage. The microphones are also not always on throughout the videos. And at one point, an officer actively turned his camera off. As a result, there are significant gaps in the details surrounding Greene’s death.
The video footage eventually shows Greene covered in blood and appearing unresponsive as he’s loaded into an ambulance. It’s not clear when Greene died, but it happened before arriving at the hospital.
As the AP reports, the troopers provided what appears to be some combination of incomplete and false information to medical professionals who handled Greene after the arrest:
<blockquote>
Union Parish Coroner Renee Smith told AP last year his death was ruled accidental and attributed to cardiac arrest. Smith, who was not in office when that determination was made, said her office’s file on Greene attributed his death to a car crash and made no mention of a struggle with State Police.
The AP last year also obtained a medical report showing an emergency room doctor noted Greene arrived dead at the hospital, bruised and bloodied with two stun-gun prongs in his back. That led the doctor to question troopers’ initial account that Greene had “died on impact” after crashing into a tree. “Does not add up,” the doctor wrote.
</blockquote>
Later the police <a href="https://apnews.com/article/lawsuits-us-news-ap-top-news-monroe-ar-state-wire-8149ba0410056b2f96b155b0d2e127d7">released</a> a single-page crash report which said that “Greene was taken into custody after resisting arrest and a struggle with Troopers,” It did not mention any use of force by troopers.
Ramsey, the former police commissioner, said on CNN, “If the reports are accurate ... it’s a cover-up, the statements being made are not consistent with what the video is showing.”
<h2>Troopers have so far faced few repercussions for their actions toward Greene</h2>
There were at least six troopers at the scene of the arrest, and there are seven defendants in the Greene family’s wrongful death lawsuit. But Louisiana State Police have been reluctant to make critical details public and the repercussions so far for those involved have been limited.
According to Louisiana State Police, the trooper who dragged Greene by his ankles, Kory York, was given a 50-hour suspension and returned to active duty, pending the outcome of state and federal investigations.
The officer who can be heard describing how he had beaten and choked Greene, Chris Hollingsworth, was notified last September that he was going to be fired as a result of an internal investigation into his handling of Greene’s arrest. Hollingsworth died <a href="https://apnews.com/article/police-us-news-la-state-wire-louisiana-monroe-0ad3c5761a0e5ea7f3ec1a67d5d10ac2">in a car crash hours afterward</a>.
And a third trooper, Dakota DeMoss, was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/09/us/louisiana-troopers-charged-false-arrests-excessive-force.html">arrested in February</a> in an unrelated case on charges of using excessive force. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/us/ronald-greene-video-louisiana.html">According to the New York Times</a>, DeMoss remains on leave pending the outcome of disciplinary proceedings but has been “notified of the agency’s intention to terminate him.”
Meanwhile, the federal investigation of the incident and the Greene family lawsuit are ongoing. And <a href="https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/crime_police/article_af140472-1401-11eb-9006-bb0838fe4cef.html">local protests</a> throughout last year — which took place against the backdrop of Black Lives Matter protests following the high-profile police killing of George Floyd — attempted to maintain attention on what local activists and Greene’s family alleged was a cover-up of police brutality. Now, with the widespread release of video footage, national scrutiny has been sparked.
<h2>Body cameras can capture abuse, but don’t ensure anything will be done about it</h2>
The handling of Greene’s death is a reminder that, as some progressive criminal justice reformers have pointed out, the mere existence of body cameras is no guarantor of justice for people who have been wronged by the police.
Body cameras for police officers have <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/body-cameras-are-seen-as-key-to-police-reform-but-do-they-increase-accountability">received bipartisan support</a> at the state and federal level and are often seen as a common-sense reform measure to enhance accountability for law enforcement.
But the reality is that the documentation provided by body camera footage alone doesn’t necessarily improve behavior. As P.R. Lockhart <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/3/27/18282737/body-camera-police-effectiveness-study-george-mason">wrote for Vox</a> in 2019, “the research suggests that body cameras are only as successful as the departments they are implemented in.”
<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1745-9133.12412">According to a study</a> published in Criminology & Public Policy that year, in one of the largest reviews of academic research on body cameras to date, scholars at George Mason University found that, in many police departments, cameras have not had a consistent or significant effect on officer behavior or citizen opinion of the police.
And the existence of footage of police brutality or killings doesn’t alter the reality that law enforcement is <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/21/22394134/derek-chauvin-george-floyd-trial-guilty-verdict-police-prosecution-investigation">structurally designed</a> to protect police officers from prosecution for misconduct. For example, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/11/22378584/maryland-police-reform-repealed-police-bill-of-rights">police killing investigations often move exceptionally slowly</a>, which criminal justice reformers say gives officers more time to conspire and fabricate a story as they prepare to be asked about alleged misconduct. And the frequent absence of civilian investigators makes investigations likely to be stonewalled by the “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1985/06/16/weekinreview/the-unwritten-code-that-stops-police-from-speaking.html">blue wall of silence</a>” that encourages officers to avoid incriminating colleagues.
Even when alleged misconduct is examined in courts, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/7/21/15983842/police-body-cameras-failures">video footage is often incomplete and ambiguous enough to create doubt</a> in juries. Moreover, the legal standard for use of force is so permissive that even compelling evidence won’t necessarily result in police convictions.
As President Joe Biden approaches <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/congress-will-likely-miss-deadline-floyd-police-reform-bill-advocates-n1268101">proposing criminal justice reform legislation</a>, advocates for more sweeping changes to policing are likely to emphasize the need to move beyond quick fixes like body cameras and look into dismantling <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/4/11/22378584/maryland-police-reform-repealed-police-bill-of-rights">institutional arrangements</a> such as <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/6/3/21277104/end-qualified-immunity-police-definition-george-floyd">qualified immunity</a> that are intended to shield police officers from being punished for the misconduct those cameras reveal.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/5/23/22449890/ronald-greene-police-killed-video-body-cam-reform">https://www.vox.com/2021/5/23/22449890/ronald-greene-police-killed-video-body-cam-reform</a>

vox The death of Ronald Greene in Louisiana police custody, explained

Last week, the Associated Press obtained police body camera footage of the arrest of Ronald Greene, a Black man who died in police custody...

13 Killed As Mountain Cable Car Crashes In Italy

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Cable car that crashed to the ground in the resort town of Stresa in Italy.
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Rome:
Thirteen people died and two children were seriously injured Sunday when a cable car slammed into the side of a mountain in northern Italy, emergency services said.
The toll could rise further from the accident in Stresa, a resort town on the shores of Lake Maggiore in Italy's Piedmont region, the Alpine rescue service said on Twitter.
A spokesman said two children aged nine and five had been seriously injured and taken by helicopter to a paediatric hospital in Turin.
A statement by Prime Minister Mario Draghi expressed his "profound grief" and offered his condolences to the victim's families.
The 20-minute cable car ride, popular with tourists, links Stresa with the 1,500-metre (4,900-foot) summit of the Mottarone mountain, and offers spectacular views of the Alps.
The ministry of infrastructure said in a statement that the accident occurred around 12:30 pm (1030 GMT) as the cabin, with 11 people aboard, was about 100 metres (yards) from the summit.
The ministry said the accident appeared to have been caused by a ruptured cable near the top of the route.
Regional president Alberto Cirio said he was "devastated" at what he termed "an enormous tragedy which takes our breath away."
Giovanni Toti, president of the neighbouring region of Liguria, noted that the tragedy had occurred just as Italy was emerging from months of Covid-related restrictions. Sunday, he said, was supposed to have been "a day of re-opening rich in hope."
European Council President Charles Michel offered a tweet in Italian expressing his "most sincere condolences to the families and friends who have lost a loved one in this tragic accident."
Fire service images showed debris from the white and red cabin in a steep wooded area where access appeared difficult.
The cable car was closed between 2014 and 2016 for maintenance work.
Europe has seen a number of similar cable car accidents over the past 50 years.
Nine German skiers were killed on September 5, 2005, when an 800 kilo (1,760 lb) concrete block fell from a helicopter transporting it near the popular Austrian Tyrol resort of Soelden onto a cable carrying their cabin.
In February 1998, a low-flying US military jet severed a cable at Cavalese, a ski resort in Italy's Dolomites, killing 20 people.
Cavalese was also the scene of a 1976 disaster when a steel supporting cable broke, killing 42 people.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/12-killed-as-mountain-cable-car-crashes-in-italy-2447945">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/12-killed-as-mountain-cable-car-crashes-in-italy-2447945</a>

news world 13 Killed As Mountain Cable Car Crashes In Italy

Cable car that crashed to the ground in the resort town of Stresa in Italy. Rome: Thirteen people died and two children were seriously ...

Bangladesh Journalist, Critical Of Response To Pandemic, Released On Bail

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Rozina Islam was granted bail after being ordered to surrender her passport and pay a bail bond.
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Dhaka:
A leading Bangladesh reporter critical of the government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic was released on bail on Sunday and vowed to "continue my journalism", after her detention sparked days of nationwide protests.
<a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/woman-journalist-rozina-islam-arrested-jailed-in-dhaka-amid-widespread-protests-2444534" target="_self">Rozina Islam, 42,</a> an investigative journalist for the country's largest Bengali daily Prothom Alo, was arrested by police Monday under the Official Secrets Act.
She was later charged with stealing health ministry documents.
Islam was granted bail after being ordered to surrender her passport and pay a bail bond of 5,000 taka ($60) by the chief metropolitan magistrate of the capital Dhaka, her lawyer told reporters.
The passport submission was to prevent her from leaving the country, he said.
Islam was greeted by her family and fellow journalists when she was released from a women's jail on the outskirts of Dhaka.
"I will continue my journalism. I thank everyone including the journalists who stood by me," she told reporters before heading to a hospital for a medical check-up.
Her brother Mohammad Selim told AFP Islam had been unwell before she was taken into custody. He did not disclose why she was ill.
Journalist unions and advocacy groups said Islam was detained for her stories, which included allegations that urgently needed medical equipment was left at Dhaka airport for months, and that bribes had been offered to recruit doctors.
Before her formal detention, Islam had spent five hours at the health ministry, according to a ministry complaint seen by AFP.
Her detention triggered nationwide protests by thousands of journalists as well as political and civil rights activists.
Rights groups say a crackdown on the media has grown during the coronavirus crisis.
The general secretary of Bangladesh's National Press Club welcomed the court's decision but called for the case against Islam to be dropped.
"She has been asked to submit her passport, which is a curb on her freedom of movement," Elias Khan told AFP.
"We have demanded that all the cases against her are withdrawn immediately... Bangladesh journalists still operate in a climate of fear."
Bangladesh has reported nearly 800,000 coronavirus infections and more than 12,300 deaths so far, but experts say the actual numbers are likely to be much higher.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/bangladesh-journalist-critical-of-response-to-covid-19-pandemic-released-on-bail-2447941">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/bangladesh-journalist-critical-of-response-to-covid-19-pandemic-released-on-bail-2447941</a>

news world Bangladesh Journalist, Critical Of Response To Pandemic, Released On Bail

Rozina Islam was granted bail after being ordered to surrender her passport and pay a bail bond. Dhaka: A leading Bangladesh reporter c...

Bangladesh Lifts Ban On Travel To Israel

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<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Bangladesh Lifts Ban On Travel To Israel" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2020-03/7p3ui1c_aeroplane-generic-afp_625x300_27_March_20.jpg" title="Bangladesh Lifts Ban On Travel To Israel" /></div>
Israel has welcomed Bangladesh's decision to remove the travel ban (Representational)
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Dhaka/Jerusalem:
Bangladesh has announced to lift a decades-long travel ban to Israel, a move welcomed by the Jewish state which called upon Dhaka to establish diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv for the benefit of the people of the two countries.
Bangladeshi passports earlier had a clause written on them that said "This Passport is valid for all countries of the world except Israel", but the government on Saturday decided to remove "except Israel" from the document making it valid for the entire world.
Israel has welcomed Bangladesh's decision to remove the travel ban.
"Great news! #Bangladesh has removed the travel ban to Israel. This is a welcome step & I call on the Bangladeshi government to move forward and establish diplomatic ties with #Israel so both our peoples could benefit & prosper," Deputy Director General at Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gilad Cohen tweeted.
Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal says they are bringing the changes to ensure that the passports meet the "international standards".
In the Israel-Palestine conflict of eight decades, Bangladesh has all along stridently supported the Palestinians'' cause. It has never recognised the existence of Israel, and so the two countries do not have diplomatic relations.
Mr Kamal said that the move "does not mean that there has been a change in Bangladesh's position" regarding Israel.
Israel has normalised its ties with the Muslim-majority UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan between September and December of 2020.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/bangladesh-lifts-ban-on-travel-to-israel-2447905">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/bangladesh-lifts-ban-on-travel-to-israel-2447905</a>

news world Bangladesh Lifts Ban On Travel To Israel

Israel has welcomed Bangladesh's decision to remove the travel ban (Representational) Dhaka/Jerusalem: Bangladesh has announced to ...

Must Vaccinate Those At Risk With Third Dose, Says Moderna Chief: Report

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Moderna is now testing three different COVID-19 vaccine booster strategies, its chief said. (File)
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Moscow:
Vaccination with a booster shot among as many people as possible is a good way to protect those most at risk against ever-emerging new coronavirus variants, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said on Sunday.
"We believe that our vaccine will be effective for a comparable period, except that the arrival of variants increases the threat level. This is why we must anticipate and vaccinate all people at risk with a third dose by the end of the summer, in particular the residents of nursing homes who received their first dose at the beginning of the year," Bancel told French newspaper Journal Du Dimanche.
The CEO of the US drugmaker further suggested that in order to protect the "fragile unvaccinated people," all adults and adolescents must also receive a booster jab.
Bancel warned that three or even two months of delay in vaccinations could lead to an increase in the number of hospitalizations and deaths, which could, in turn, lead to a fourth COVID-19 wave in France.
Moderna is now testing three different booster strategies, he said. The first is against the original Wuhan strain, the second is against the South Africa strain and the third is a combination of both. The effectiveness of these three boosters is later on measured on the four variants deemed to be the most dangerous by the World Health Organization.
The company is planning to launch a study on people near early June and aims to get approval from regulatory agencies by September.
Starting May 28, the Moderna vaccine will be joining AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson in French pharmacies and general practitioners offices. Around 300,000 doses of the vaccine will be available in pharmacies weekly. The arrival of Moderna in French pharmacies is expected to make the vaccine more accessible to isolated elderly people or overlooked workers and will help with a speedier vaccination progress in the country as the vaccine itself can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one month.
So far, about 90 million people have been inoculated with Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine globally. Around 14 per cent of France's total population has been fully vaccinated and 31.5 million people have received at least one dose.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/must-vaccinate-those-at-risk-with-third-covid-19-vaccine-dose-says-moderna-chief-report-2447866">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/must-vaccinate-those-at-risk-with-third-covid-19-vaccine-dose-says-moderna-chief-report-2447866</a>

news world Must Vaccinate Those At Risk With Third Dose, Says Moderna Chief: Report

Moderna is now testing three different COVID-19 vaccine booster strategies, its chief said. (File) Moscow: Vaccination with a booster s...

Greta Thunberg Wants Changes In Farming And Food Consumption

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Greta Thunberg launched an appeal for a change in food production and consumption.
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Stockholm, Sweden:
Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg launched an appeal on Saturday for a change in food production and consumption in the face of repeated crises threatening the world.
"The climate crisis, ecological crisis and health crisis they are all interlinked," Thunberg said in a video posted on social media for international biodiversity day.
"Millions have died from Covid 19, Zika, Ebola, West Nile fever, SARS, MERS, HIV-AIDS," as viruses jump from animals to humans, she added.
"The way we farm and treat nature cutting down forests and destroying habitats, we are creating the perfect conditions for diseases to spill over from one animal to another -- and to us," the 18-year-old said.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) it is likely that an animal transmitted the coronavirus to man.
Zoonoses -- diseases that have jumped from animals to humans -- comprise a large percentage of all newly identified infectious diseases, as well as many existing ones.
"If we keep making food the way we do we will also destroy the habitats of most wild plants and animals driving countless species to extinction," Thunberg added.
"They are our life supporting system if we lose them we will be lost too."
She also returned to her focus on climate change, renewing her call for major reductions in emissions immediately.
"When we think about the villains of the climate crisis of course we picture fossil fuel companies but agriculture and land use together are about one quarter of our emissions this is huge," she said.
"It doesn't have to be like this. If we change towards a plant-based diet we could save up to eight billion tons of CO2 every single year."
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
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news world Greta Thunberg Wants Changes In Farming And Food Consumption

Greta Thunberg launched an appeal for a change in food production and consumption. Stockholm, Sweden: Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg...