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New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/29/savings-warning-as-certain-accounts-may-cost-you-thousands-keep-an-eye-out/

Savings warning as certain accounts may cost you thousands - ‘keep an eye out’

While some will be included in documents, Mr Lenehan said others might be hidden, such as admin or management fees, which may eat into a person’s returns.

He added: “You can’t make an informed savings decision if you don’t know what fees are being charged and you certainly don’t want to be left out of pocket with your investment. 

“Therefore, make sure you read all the T&C’s and small print in your documentation to identify any random or ad-hoc charges that may not be clearly displayed.”

Finally, those who are starting to save should consider cooling off and cancellation periods.

It is often the case someone wants to change their mind with regards to a savings product, but in some cases this could incur a hefty fine.

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/29/max-verstappen-and-red-bull-backed-to-pip-lewis-hamilton-to-f1-glory-the-real-deal/

Max Verstappen and Red Bull backed to pip Lewis Hamilton to F1 glory - ‘The real deal’

Former Red Bull driver David Coulthard has tipped Max Verstappen to win this year’s Drivers’ Championship title ahead of Lewis Hamilton, suggesting that reliability will be the only threat to the Dutchman’s prospects of beating his Mercedes rival over the course of the season. Verstappen currently sits one point behind Hamilton after the Stevenage-born racer managed to snatch second place and the fastest lap at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix earlier this month.

However, Verstappen claimed an outstanding victory, surging past Hamilton at the first heavy braking zone and retaining his lead to make an impressive statement to showcase Red Bull’s championship potential.

The RB16B appears to have come on leaps and bounds since last year, while Mercedes have struggled to adapt to the new regulations mandating changes to the floor area and rear end.

Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas have looked slower on paper than Verstappen and Sergio Perez since pre-season testing, with the Silver Arrows’ dominance of the last seven years facing the very real possibility of being derailed during the current campaign.

The German outfit has scooped every available piece of end-of-season silverware since 2014, with Hamilton rarely tested at the front of the grid with the exception of the 2016 season, when his team-mate Nico Rosberg edged a thrilling title fight that went down to the wire.

But Coulthard, who won 13 Grands Prix during his time in F1, has identified Verstappen as the favourite for this year’s crown.

JUST IN: Red Bull chief brands Hamilton ‘extremely fortunate’ in Imola recovery

The Scot told the Daily Mail that only bad luck can damage Red Bull’s hopes of winning a title with Verstappen, highlighting the team’s clear advantage over Mercedes with regards to car performance.

“They are the real deal in terms of outright pace,” said Coulthard. 

“Red Bull have consistently delivered a competitive car.

“There’s no question if you can deliver the lap time in qualifying and then you don’t have reliability issues in the race.

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“That’s where Mercedes have been so strong over the last several years, they have had qualifying pace and they have had unbelievable reliability.

“So the only thing that I think can stand in the way of Max and Red Bull Racing really taking this championship is the racing Gods maybe getting involved in a few things with reliability, because he is definitely experienced enough, he is definitely mature enough – which at 23 seems incredible – but he is ready. He is more than ready.”

Verstappen and Hamilton will get another opportunity to battle it out at this weekend’s Portuguese Grand Prix, with Red Bull able to leapfrog their rivals in the Constructors’ Championship table with a strong performance.

Last year’s race at Portimao was particularly tricky for the drivers, who were forced to deal with a brand new surface that lacked grip, but the track should be weathered in by now and it remains to be seen whether Red Bull can avoid a repeat of last season’s Mercedes one-two.

Silver Arrows team principal Toto Wolff recently admitted that he is expecting another tightly-fought Grand Prix after Verstappen’s win at Imola, and suggested that Hamilton and Bottas could also be in line to face stiff competition from the likes of McLaren and Ferrari at the top of the midfield.

“It’s an exciting, undulating track and produced some great racing in 2020,” Wolff told GP Fans earlier this week.

“We also saw in qualifying and the opening laps that getting the tyres working properly is not easy.

“It’s still quite a new circuit for everyone, which should make things interesting and mean we are learning all through the weekend.

“We’re expecting another close fight with Red Bull, and both McLaren and Ferrari could also be in the mix too. So, let’s see how things play out in Portugal.”

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/29/biden-seeks-shift-in-how-the-nation-serves-its-people/

Biden Seeks Shift in How the Nation Serves Its People

The president, who has struggled to respond to a surge of migrants at the southwestern border since taking office, highlighted his proposed overhaul of the immigration system, discussed his goals to stem climate change and urged legislation to expand voting rights.

While Mr. Biden promoted his decision to pull all troops out of Afghanistan by Sept. 11 after nearly 20 years of war there, he said little new about how he would address challenges from increasingly antagonistic adversaries like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea other than repeating his intent to take a tough line when necessary while seeking cooperation where possible.

But as striking as anything else in the speech was Mr. Biden’s vision of a profound pivot in America’s eternal debate about the role of government in society. Four decades after President Ronald Reagan declared that government was the problem, not the solution, Mr. Biden aimed to turn that thesis on its head, seeking to empower the federal state as a catalyst to remake the country and revamp the balance between the richest and the rest.

The “American Families Plan,” as he called his latest, $1.8 trillion proposal, would follow the “American Rescue Plan,” a $1.9 trillion package of spending on pandemic relief and economic stimulus that he has already signed into law, and the “American Jobs Plan,” a $2.3 trillion program for infrastructure, home health care and other priorities that remains pending.

The families plan includes $1 trillion in new spending and $800 billion in tax credits. It would finance universal prekindergarten for all 3- and 4-year-olds, a federal paid family and medical leave program, efforts to make child care more affordable, free community college for all, aid for students at colleges that historically serve nonwhite communities and expanded subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.

The plan would also extend key tax breaks included as temporary measures in the coronavirus relief package that benefit lower- and middle-income workers and families, including the child tax credit, the earned-income tax credit, and the child and dependent care tax credit.

To pay for that, the president proposed increasing the marginal income tax rate for the top 1 percent of American income earners, to 39.6 percent from 37 percent. He would increase capital gains and dividend tax rates for those earning more than $1 million a year. And he would eliminate a provision in the tax code that reduces capital gains on some inherited assets, like vacation homes, that largely benefits the wealthy.

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/28/president-bidens-first-100-days-as-president-fact-checked/

President Biden's first 100 days as president fact-checked

By Reality Check team BBC News

image copyrightGetty Images

Joe Biden has been US president for 100 days, focusing on a series of issues facing the country – from immigration and the economy to Covid and the climate.

We have fact-checked some of the claims he has made during his first months in charge.

Joe Biden: An increase in border migration ‘happens every year… in the winter months’

The number fluctuates widely – but there is not always a significant increase during the winter months.

At a press conference in March, he said: “There is a significant increase in the number of people coming to the border in the winter months of January, February, March. It happens every year.”

The US Customs and Border Protection agency releases monthly figures on the number of “encounters” at the south-west land border.

In January and February 2021, 78,442 and 100,441 people were encountered – a significant increase on the figures for the same two months in the previous year, which were each just over 36,000.

Since President Biden made the claim, the count for March has been released – 172,331, the highest in recent years.

In 2020, encounters at the border fell slightly between January and March.

In 2018, they remained relatively steady.

image copyrightReuters

image captionMigrants crossing into the US are stopped by a border guard in Texas

Joe Biden: ‘When I took office… this country did not have a plan or enough vaccines’

President Biden has repeatedly criticised the previous administration’s vaccine rollout – but he is wrong to say the US “did not have a plan” under Donald Trump.

However, as we’ve reported previously, there were complaints about a lack of funding from the federal government, which led to logistical problems at the local level once vaccines had been delivered, and some states appealed for more supplies.

image copyrightReuters

image captionMr Biden received his first vaccine dose in December

When it comes to whether there were “enough” vaccines, the Trump administration secured:

200 million doses from Pfizer-BioNTech

200 million doses from Moderna

100 million doses from Johnson & Johnson

300 million doses from AstraZeneca

100 million doses from Novavax

100 million doses from GSK and Sanofi

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were approved in the US before Mr Biden took office, with the initial 400 million doses set to be delivered by July.

And while these doses alone are not enough to fully vaccinate the entire US population (both vaccines require two doses), the orders allowed the US to ramp up its vaccination programme faster than many other developed countries.

When Mr Trump left office, in January, the US had vaccinated more than 16 million people – the fourth highest per capita after Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the UK.

Joe Biden: ‘America represents less than 15% of the world’s emissions’

This is correct in terms of carbon emissions – the US produces just under 15% of the global total.

President Biden said this at the recent climate summit, where he encouraged the largest economies to work together to tackle global warming.

China produces by far the most carbon emissions overall, following its rapid economic growth over the past couple of decades.

The US is the next largest emitter, although its carbon emissions have been steadily declining in recent years.

When you look at emissions per person, the US produces considerably more CO2 than China and many other rich countries, and well over the global average.

It generates the most per head for a country of its population size.

Joe Biden: ‘It’s sick – deciding that you’re going to end voting at five o’clock [in Georgia], when working people are just getting off work’

It is not true that voting now has to finish at 17:00, as stated on several occasions by President Biden.

The law allows counties to set voting hours anywhere between 07:00 and 19:00 for early voting or on election day, as was the case previously.

image copyrightGetty Images

It stipulates the hours required as a minimum on election day, saying: “Voting shall be conducted beginning at 09:00 and ending at 17:00”.

That’s pretty much unchanged because “during normal business hours” was the minimum requirement under the old law, widely interpreted as 9am-5pm.

For early voting, the new law is similarly more explicit, with minimum voting hours up until 5pm set as the default position but with the flexibility of ending at 7pm.

Critics have called the new language more restrictive.

Joe Biden: ‘As you know, the fastest-growing population in the US is Hispanic’

This is not right. Hispanic Americans actually represent the second fastest growing demographic over the past two decades, after Asian Americans.

President Biden made this claim when addressing the Mexican president in March.

The Hispanic American population grew by 70% during the same period, to more than 60 million.

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/28/celts-smart-suspended-for-threatening-language/

Celts' Smart suspended for 'threatening language'

BOSTON — Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart was suspended by the league for one game Wednesday because of “threatening language” he directed at a referee a night earlier.

The suspension forced him to miss Wednesday night’s 120-111 home win over Charlotte.

Celtics coach Brad Stevens said he found out about Smart’s suspension a couple of hours before tip-off.

“I’m not even completely aware of what happened,” Stevens said during his pregame media availability. “I did hear there were words after the game.”

The NBA did not provide many specifics in a news release beyond saying the incidents with Smart occurred “during and after the Celtics’ 119-115 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.”

“I saw Marcus this morning. We talked about it,” Stevens said.

Boston was already short-handed at point guard, with Kemba Walker out with a left oblique strain.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/28/netflix-to-open-new-nordics-hub-in-sweden-as-european-growth-continues-apace/

Netflix To Open New Nordics Hub In Sweden As European Growth Continues Apace

Netflix has revealed plans to open a new office in Stockholm that will function as a hub for the region.

The office will open in the second half of this year, as detailed in a new blog by Lina Brouneus, the streamer’s Director of Acquisitions & Co-Productions, EMEA.

Netflix now has European offices in Amsterdam, Madrid, Berlin, London, Paris and Brussels, while Rome (and Istanbul) is opening later this year. The streamer recently revealed a new Bogota, Colombia, office to boot.

Brouneus said: “Now is the time for us to get even closer to our members, the creators, filmmakers, partners and cultural communities throughout the Nordics – which is why I’m excited to announce that in the second half of this year we’re opening a Nordic office in Stockholm that will function as a hub for the region. To further support the region and to reflect the diversity of talent we work with, we will also have a small team of Netflix employees based in a satellite office in Copenhagen.”

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An interesting nugget revealed in today’s blog, which indicates the ever-growing appetite for global content among Netflix subs, is that “almost two thirds of our members globally have chosen to watch a Nordic original film or series”.

Brouneus continued: “Netflix has always felt at home in the Nordics. It was one of the first places outside of the US where we started making local original shows, and over the past nine years we’ve been lucky enough to work with some of the most brilliant creative talent in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland.

“By the end of this year nearly seventy original titles coming from the Nordics will be available on Netflix – films and series that have been enjoyed by the four million-plus members across the region as well as our members right around the world. In fact, almost two thirds of our members globally have chosen to watch a Nordic original film or series – made in the Nordics, watched by the world.”

Netflix content to emanate from the region includes Swedish series such as Quicksand, Love & Anarchy and Snabba Cash; Norwegian series Ragnarok and Home for Christmas; three seasons of The Rain and the recently-announced series The Chestnut Man in Denmark, and later this year Katla, the sci-fi thriller series from Iceland.

Last year the studio released Cadaver, the first Netflix film from the region, and upcoming films include Dancing Queens, Vinterviken, Against the Ice, Troll and Black Crab.

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/28/bidens-promises-paint-an-optimistic-picture-but-they-come-at-an-eye-watering-cost/

Biden's promises paint an optimistic picture - but they come at an eye-watering cost

On the very spot from which Joe Biden addressed the American people, insurrectionists had tried to hijack his ascent to the presidency. That was less than four months ago.

However typically upbeat Biden’s tone in his first ever star-turn before a joint session of Congress, the rancour and bitterness remain a big part of the story of the country he leads.

But Biden stood on the dais, where an angry mob had marauded, and did what he has done for decades: painted the American people an optimistic picture, pitching them a future of brighter days where ordinary folks get to win too.

“America is on the move again, turning peril into possibility, crisis into opportunity, setback into strength,” he said.

What he neglected to mention was that, if he gets his way, it comes with an eye-watering price tag.

The American Families Plan he announced will cost $1.8 trillion. The American Jobs Plan he talked up will cost $2 trillion. Add that to the $1.9 trillion of the COVID relief bill.

Never have the trillions been waved around so cavalierly in Washington DC. Biden said the richest in America will be paying through higher taxes.

It is a manifesto for big government.

Biden and his supporters see the spending as essential to reshape the American economy and the role of government in rebuilding after four years of Donald Trump and a year of COVID. He called this moment an “inflection point”.

Whether you think it is ambitious or reckless probably depends on where you sit on the political spectrum.

Whether it stands any chance becoming a reality, even with Democrats in control of both chambers of Congress, is far from clear in these polarised times.

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Biden: America is on the move again

Just as with Biden’s focus on police reform in the wake of the verdict in the George Floyd murder trial – demanding progress by the anniversary of his death next month – there will only be so much patience with words rather than action.

Biden isn’t on the campaign trail now – America’s problems are his to solve.

On climate change, foreign relations, guns, equality and immigration, we already knew the shape of Biden’s vision.

The delay in staging the address did give Biden scope to claim credit for the success of the COVID-19 vaccination roll-out across the country.

But how the pandemic has changed everything was evident in the room. Where a heady crowd of 1,600 usually jostle for space in the chamber, a more subdued 200, vaccinated and security screened, made for a sparse audience.

In fact, the real history of the night took place behind Biden. For the first time two women, Vice President Kamala Harris and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, occupied the seats of power at the president’s shoulder.

Biden has seen more of these addresses than most, for thirty years on the floor as a senator and for eight at the right hand of Barack Obama.

Where the country once saw Speaker Pelosi rip up Trump’s speech and a congressman yell “you lie” at Obama, Biden’s turn came, almost 100 days into his term, at a time when the sense of change and uncertainty in the country is palpable.

He made no mention of Trump.

“We have stared into an abyss of insurrection and autocracy, of pandemic and pain, and ‘we the people’ did not flinch,” he said.

But all the promises in the world will be meaningless unless they are kept.

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/28/french-soldiers-who-warned-of-civil-war-to-face-sanctions-dw-29-04-2021/

French soldiers who warned of 'civil war' to face sanctions | DW | 29.04.2021

A group of 18 serving soldiers who endorsed a warning about the risk of “civil war” in France will face sanctions before a military council, the chief of staff of France’s armed forces said on Wednesday. The group, which included four officers, signed an open letter in a right-wing magazine which was also endorsed by at least 20 retired generals.

The letter had hinted that the military could take action if France failed to act against residents of immigrant suburban areas. “France is in peril,” opined the letter, which added that Islamism and “the hordes from the suburbs” could create hate between communities.

“Those who run our country must imperatively find the needed courage to eradicate these dangers,” said the signatories. They urged the state to firmly apply the laws of the land to set things right, and warned “the growing chaos” could end in a civil war.

“Each one will go before a senior military council,” General Francois Lecointre told Le Parisian, a local newspaper. Lecointre said that they could be “delisted” or “put into immediate retirement”.

Meanwhile, France’s prime minister, Jean Castex, said that the rare intervention in politics by military figures was violating France’s republican principles and the “honor and duty” of the army. Lecointre emphasized on the “obligation of neutrality” among the members of the military.

Marine Le Pen backs the letter

The open letter was signed by thousands of people, including the soldiers. Some of the signatories are believed to have ties to far-right, anti-immigration movements. Retired general, Antoine Martinez, who founded a right-wing group, “Volontaires pour la France” that aims to defend traditional French values, was also among the signatories.

A preface by the magazine said that about 100 ranking officers and over 1,000 military personnel signed the letter. 

Populist leader Le Pen endorsed the letter

Lecointre denied any influence of right-wing forces in the army. Florence Parly, France’s minister of the armed forces, said that the open letter’s endorsement by Marine Le Pen, a French opposition politician, reflected a “serious misunderstanding of the military” and that it was concerning coming from someone who wanted to herself become the head of the armed forces.

Meanwhile, Le Pen told France-info radio network, that the signatories were owed “respect” even if one did not agree with them.

am/dj (AFP, AP)

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/28/thanks-to-lefty-leaders-new-york-celebrates-all-the-worst-vices/

Thanks to lefty leaders, New York celebrates all the worst vices

John Lindsay, the clueless rich-boy-turned-mayor of this little burg in the crumbling late ’60s, famously, if unintentionally, coined the phrase “Fun City” back in the “Midnight Cowboy” era (1966-1973), over which he presided so oafishly, it’s as if Bill de Blasio took his sad mayoralty as a playbook. 

Now the era of fear, filth and fiscal fallacy is back, but Fun City is a tired nickname. The proper sobriquet for NYC is now Sin City. As in: the Seven Deadlies. De Blasio and Andrew Cuomo have decided to go along with every-born-in-the-’90s bolshie and forge a collection of policies out of the idea that “New York was better before it got so sanitized.” 

Yeah, safety sucks, New York is much cooler when walking after dark means gripping your keys tightly in your hand in case you have to fend off an attacker, amirite, ladies? Consider the sins New York is now welcoming: 

GLUTTONY 

Alcohol consumption is way up, so is gorging on chocolate, and 60 percent of us gained an average of 29 pounds. But let’s talk about municipal gluttony, too. With makeshift homeless encampments all over the sidewalks, men sleeping on the train, trash spilling out of receptacles and streets being cleaned half as often as in 2019, our tax dollars sure aren’t being spent on keeping things safe and orderly, are they? City spending goes to city bureaucrats, and they are gorging themselves now that de Blasio has announced a staggering $99 billion budget for a population of 8.4 million. That’s more than Florida, which has 21 million people! If you live in the five boroughs, your state and municipal governments are spending more than $300 billion a year so that bureaucrats can stuff themselves. By contrast, if you live in the city of Los Angeles, your city spends $10.5 billion (LA is half the size of NYC) and your state a paltry $165 billion. California has twice as many people as New York state. Goodbye, belt-tightening. New York has thrown away its belt. 

Bill de Blasio knows no limits when it comes to spending.

Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock

LUST 

Porn use boomed when people were forced to stay home with nothing but their computers for company, but the old-fashioned retail sex trade just got a big boost, too, when Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. said he will no longer prosecute prostitutes. More women than ever will be exploited by pimps and traffickers who, of course, keep all of the money they earn. And your kids get to learn what all of this looks like while they’re going to Starbucks as hooking comes out of the shadows and right out into the open. 

ENVY 

With a stepped-up new tax on rich people, and an extension of the “temporary” millionaire’s tax enacted after the 2008 financial crisis that now looks permanent, sticking it to our betters is official. Problem: rich people can live elsewhere, and take the tax revenue they provide with them. Moreover, bitter people who were stuck in their apartments throughout the crisis are seething with contempt for their returning neighbors — the New Yorkers who are wealthy enough to afford houses out of town and wisely made use of them during the pandemic to increase social distancing and stop the spread. The Brooklyn guy who wrote a New York Times op-ed entitled, “They Escaped During the Pandemic. Now They Must Pay,” speaks for a million young fussbudgets who are pissed off by the idea that some people have spent the last year being insufficiently miserable. 

SLOTH 

Some 80,000 New York City workers still haven’t gone back to their offices. I’m sure they’ve been working super-hard at home, though. More than 60 percent of public-school students haven’t returned to the classroom. Why bother? Many of them discover that if they do show up, all they get is “Zoom in a Room” because many teachers are staying home to teach from their sofas. Meanwhile, restaurant workers who get fat unemployment packages of $805 a week are actively choosing unemployment despite the labor shortage. Maybe legalizing pot will reinvigorate people’s desire to work? Good plan. 

GREED 

After Cuomo legalized online sports betting in New York, you won’t even need to find your way to the nearest casino to start throwing away your money on get-rich quick bets. Those $805 unemployment checks we’re all paying for? They’re just a few Giants and Jets losses away from being pocketed by Big Gaming. On the big-bucks side of the income spectrum, a combination of lockdown boredom and the stock-market bubble is making people gamble real bucks on crappy joke stocks called “stonks” and even put their cash into joke currency (“Dogecoin”). The S&P 500 is up more than 300 percent in the last 10 years; the air is thick with ­moneyfrenzy. 

WRATH 

New Yorkers have always taken pride in not suffering fools gladly, but 2020 must have been the angriest year on record. If every police killing within a 2,000-mile radius could potentially lead to days of rioting in New York, though, we seem to have reached a whole new basal level of anger. As for daily, nonpolitical rage, that’s off the charts: after a nauseating 97 percent increase in shootings last year, crime is still going up. Last week in the city, there were 50 people shot in 46 separate incidents over seven days, up from 12 shootings in the same week last year. 

Police at the seen of a shooting in the Bronx. Shootings continue to rise in the Big Apple.

G.N.Miller/NYPost

PRIDE 

OK, so 20,215,750 of us aren’t feeling that customary New York arrogance so much, so the remaining one will have to make it up. And he’s doing it! In a disaster year that wound up leaving Cuomo the highest-paid governor in the history of the United States, the guy who once named a bridge after his dad and boasted, “I am the love gov” to his brother on CNN just before 10 women accused him of sexual harassment, Cuomo wrote a book praising his own pandemic management. Sure, it was fine to order taxpayer-funded employees to put it together for him so he could rake in $65 per book and accept an Emmy award for his awesome transparency while he was covering up thousands of senior-citizen deaths he helped cause by forcing nursing homes to take patients carrying a lethal virus. Meanwhile, he chased so many people away that New York lost a congressional seat and an electoral vote, both of which it would have retained if ­Cuomo could have persuaded just 89 more people to stay. You could say Cuomo has chutzpah, but if you did he’d probably just mock you for being one of “these people and their f–king treehouses.”

Gov. Cuomo’s arrogance has somehow grown during a pandemic and multiple scandals.

James Messerschmidt

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/28/theyre-good-doctors-international-medical-graduates-unable-to-help-on-canadas-front-lines-due-to-licensing-setbacks/

'They're good doctors': International medical graduates unable to help on Canada's front lines due to licensing setbacks

TORONTO — As hospitals and ICUs across the country continue to fill up with COVID-19 patients, many international medical graduates (IMGs) are unemployed or working in other fields as the licensing process to practice in Canada can take years.

Dr. Alireza Mohamadjani is a foreign-trained doctor with more than 10 years experience working as a family physician and in emergency medicine in Iran.

Despite his experience and being eager to help on Canada’s front lines of the pandemic, Mohamadjani told CTV National News he cannot assist overwhelmed hospitals because he is not licensed.

“The system is at the edge, but we cannot help,” Mohamadjani said.

Mohamadjani is among many internationally-trained doctors desperate to help Canadian hospitals, but instead, have been left feeling ignored.

“It is very frustrating that you don’t have this permit to practice here because of so many things not related to your knowledge or qualifications,” Mohamadjani said.

Hundreds of doctors arrive in Canada annually, but it can take years for them to be fully licensed to practice here.

While Canada has been working to accelerate careers of foreign-trained doctors to meet growing COVID-19 patient numbers since the start of the pandemic, experts say it is not enough.

Ontario is offering short-term licenses, but the change has resulted in only 20 licenses being approved, according to medical colleges.

British Columbia also has a temporary licensing program for IMGs, however, it’s unclear how many foreign doctors have been employed since it was implemented.

Because they can’t get licensed, many IMGs in Canada are underemployed, and rather than working as doctors, they end up as taxi drivers, office managers or store clerks.

Dr. Honieh Barzegari is an internationally-trained general practitioner. Instead of helping fight COVID-19, she is currently employed at a digital health tech company.

“There are lots of international medical graduates suffering from not being able to serve the community,” Barzegari said in an interview with CTV National News.

With hospitals in need and current staff feeling overwhelmed, Barzegari said it would be an advantage to have more IMGs assisting on Canada’s front lines.

“If we could help this, it would be a win-win situation that everyone would benefit from,” Barzegari said.

For IMGs to practice in Canada, they must pass several tests costing thousands of dollars, as well as complete a residency.

However, Vahid Nilforushan an advocate for foreign doctors, told CTV National News that IMGs are “prohibited from competing for about 90 per cent” of those entry-level medical jobs.

Nilforushan said he had 13 years of experience in anesthesia and critical care at a top level in Iran before immigrating to Canada. He has worked in supervised settings in Vancouver for three years, but still can’t get to work as a doctor.

“The medical establishment asks us to go through different exams and assessment and barriers. We pass the exams and prove our competence to show our knowledge and skills, meet or exceed the Canadian standards, but unfortunately we are still denied access to practising opportunities,” Nilforushan explained.

According to data from the Canadian Residency Matching System, only 418 of 1,435 IMGs received residency placements last year. That left over 1,000 unmatched.

Dr. John Blatherwick, the former chief medical health officer of Vancouver Coastal Health, told CTV National News that even Canadian medical graduates have a hard time securing a residency.

He says provinces need to look at providing more funding for additional residencies to combat this.

“We have a large cadre of human beings who are fully trained doctors, fully capable of becoming contributing members of our community as doctors, but they need to have a residency to show the licensing bodies that they can do the job,” Blatherwick said.

With health-care workers exhausted by the pandemic, Blatherwick says foreign doctor certification must be further fast-tracked.

“They’re good doctors,” Blatherwick said. “We’re wasting a huge asset that is in our community already.”

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New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/28/free-e-cigarettes-for-smokers-in-ae-trial/

Free e-cigarettes for smokers in A&E trial

Prof Caitlin Notley, who is helping lead the study, at the University of East Anglia, said recruiting people in emergency departments could help introduce the idea of attempting to quit while using e-cigarettes to a group of people who had never considered it.

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/28/man-caught-smuggling-35-songbirds-into-j-f-k-airport-authorities-say/

Man Caught Smuggling 35 Songbirds Into J.F.K. Airport, Authorities Say

The amenities were anything but first class for these star crooners: 35 songbirds were discovered hidden inside hair curlers in a man’s clothing when he arrived this week at Kennedy International Airport in New York, the authorities said.

The man, Kevin Andre McKenzie of Guyana, is now facing a federal smuggling charge, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which said that he admitted that he had been offered $3,000 to bring the birds into the country from South America.

The birds were identified as finches by customs agents, who the authorities said had selected Mr. McKenzie, 36, for screening when he arrived on Monday aboard a JetBlue flight from Georgetown, Guyana.

Known for their singing ability, finches have become a valuable commodity in places like Brooklyn and Queens, where the caged birds are pitted in competition against one another, often in parks. The ones that can sing fastest or longest typically win, reaping not only bragging rights for their owners but also gambling money — not to mention scrutiny from law enforcement officers that has led to a string of previous arrests. There is also a premium on vocal ability.

“In such contests, often conducted in public areas like parks, two finches sing and a judge selects the bird determined to have the best voice,” Kathryn McCabe, a special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in the criminal complaint against Mr. McKenzie.

Photos taken by customs agents showed the hair curlers lining the inside of a suit jacket worn by Mr. McKenzie and wrapped around his legs beneath his pants, according to the complaint.

“Although certain species of finch are available in the United States, species from Guyana are believed to sing better and are therefore more valuable,” Ms. McCabe said.

Mr. McKenzie was released on a $25,000 bond after making an initial appearance on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.

James Darrow, a federal public defender for Mr. McKenzie, declined to comment on Wednesday.

Under federal law, a permit from the Fish and Wildlife Service is required to bring any wildlife into the country. Birds that are imported for commercial purposes must be quarantined for 30 days to prevent the spread of diseases like the bird flu and Newcastle disease, a contagious avian virus than can infect humans and domestic poultry, officials said.

Chestnut-bellied seed finches trapped in Guyana are highly sought crooners, with males sometimes selling for as much as $10,000, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service, which conducted a multiyear investigation, nicknamed Operation G-Bird, that focused on the illegal smuggling of the prized competitors.

Mr. McKenzie’s arrest was the third time that customs agents had intercepted smuggled finches at J.F.K. Airport in the past month.

Last month, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers said that they found 29 finches that had been smuggled in hair curlers by a traveler at J.F.K., whom they fined $300 and sent back to Guyana. Last week, another man was caught smuggling 40 finches at the airport. He was also fined and returned to Guyana.

In 2019, a Connecticut man was charged with smuggling 34 finches that had been nestled inside plastic hair curlers and placed in carry-on luggage at J.F.K. One year earlier, two men were arrested at J.F.K. and charged with smuggling 26 of the birds between them in hair curlers rolled into their socks.

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/28/bidens-address-to-congress-live-fact-check-and-updates/

Biden's address to Congress: Live fact check and updates

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/28/brain-scanner-trial-to-measure-older-driver-capabilities-australian-seniors-news/

Brain scanner trial to measure older driver capabilities - Australian Seniors News

A wearable brain scanner is being used for the first time to investigate the brain activity in elderly people whilst driving a car.

Research led by the UK’s University of Nottingham will explore how cognitive processing whilst driving is affected by ageing.

This project will use brain imaging technology developed at the University of Nottingham known as OPM-MEG. The system is lightweight, wearable, and can be held close to the scalp using a helmet-style design, allowing for significantly better sensitivity and spatial resolution than current imaging technologies.

This device will be used to provide highly accurate, real-time brain imaging for a group of volunteers, who will be asked to navigate a realistic driving simulator through an urban setting with multiple hazards. This will allow researchers to analyse the ‘detect and response’ reactions from the resulting data.

Recent evidence has shown that although elderly people exhibit a decline in driving ability, they also demonstrate increased mental effort to mitigate losses in performance.

This project will, for the first time, shed light on the neural underpinnings of visual search in driving and study how cognitive training impacts brain responses as well as performance.

Volunteers of different ages will drive through a simulated environment and face some of the issues that are critical in real driving, such as the sudden appearance of a pedestrian.

Director at the UK Quantum Technology Hub Sensors and Timing, Dr Simon Bennett said: “We are delighted to be able to support this project, which again demonstrates the versatility of the brain imaging technology developed by our researchers. We look forward to seeing the take-up of this technology in neuroscience, healthcare research and clinical practice.”

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/28/nets-clinch-eyes-on-bigger-things-nash-says/

Nets clinch; 'Eyes on bigger things,' Nash says

The Brooklyn Nets clinched a playoff berth Tuesday night after defeating the Toronto Raptors 116-103 in Tampa, Florida. They are the first Eastern Conference team to confirm a spot in the NBA’s postseason.

Now, the Nets can slip no lower than sixth in the Eastern Conference standings.

“It’s great,” first-year Nets coach Steve Nash said of securing a place in the playoffs. “I think we have our eyes on bigger things, but it’s a nice first step to clinch a berth. For this group, facing all we’ve faced, to be in this position with 10 games left is very positive.”

2 Related

Nets guard Joe Harris said James Harden, who remains sidelined with a hamstring strain, mentioned clinching a postseason berth to several Nets players Tuesday. Brooklyn big man Jeff Green said that after all the injuries the team has been through — including playing large stretches without Harden, Kevin Durant, Tyler Johnson and others — having a guaranteed playoff spot is rewarding but not the team’s final goal.

“It is something that we can hang our hats on,” Green said. “That’s something we can be proud of, but we also have to realize that that’s not the goal. … We have to take on the next step, and that’s focusing on what we need to accomplish in the playoffs to get to our ultimate goal.”

The Nets (42-20) occupy the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Philadelphia 76ers trail the Nets by 1½ games.

“We have to be excited with some of the things that we’ve done, but we can’t be content and we have to continue to work,” Green said.

The Nets have 10 games remaining in the regular season and are playing just four of them at home in Barclays Center. Brooklyn has yet to put together a significant run with a fully healthy roster.

Harden — who is shooting and doing strength work — still has “a ways to go,” according to Nash, before he will return. Nash added that the team might not get many — if any — games with a full-strength roster before the postseason. The Nets are also without Nicolas Claxton, who has missed five games while in the league’s COVID-19 safety protocols.

The Nets’ Big Three of Durant, Harden and Kyrie Irving have played just seven games together.

“I think everyone’s in a positive mood,” Nash said of the group. “And just want to keep building, keep getting better, keep improving before the playoffs start, which is in a limited amount of time.”

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/28/india-covid-19-deadly-second-wave-spreads-from-cities-to-small-towns/

India Covid-19: Deadly second wave spreads from cities to small towns

India’s deadly Covid-19 second wave has devastated big cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow and Pune. Hospitals and crematoriums have run out of space, and funerals are taking place in car parks. But the pandemic has now firmly gripped many smaller cities, towns and villages where the devastation is largely under-reported.

New Post has been published on https://freenews.today/2021/04/28/source-bengals-declining-prices-5th-year-option/

Source: Bengals declining Price's 5th-year option

The Cincinnati Bengals will not pick up the fifth-year option on center Billy Price‘s rookie deal, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Wednesday.

Price now is slated to become a free agent after this season. If the Bengals had picked up his option, Price was set to earn an estimated 2022 base salary of $10.4 million that would have been fully guaranteed, according to OverTheCap.com.

Under terms of the 2020 collective bargaining agreement, the 2022 salaries for players selected in the first round of the 2018 draft become fully guaranteed at the time the options are exercised. In the past, the salary on the fifth-year options was guaranteed for injury only and didn’t become fully guaranteed until the first day of the new league year.

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Price is the first player drafted in the 2018 first round to have his fifth-year option declined. The deadline for NFL teams to make the decisions on fifth-year options is Monday.

The Bengals selected Price with the 21st pick in the 2018 draft.

Price started 10 games at center in his rookie season but has started just nine games on the offensive line the past two seasons combined. Price played in 16 games last season, with his lone start coming in a Week 8 victory over the Tennessee Titans, one of the Bengals’ four wins in 2020.

Under former offensive line coach Jim Turner, Price’s role was undefined at times. At various points throughout last season, Price took reps at center, left guard and right guard before eventually settling back in at center by the end of the year. Turner was not retained after the 2020 season.

Cincinnati hired former assistant Frank Pollack to replace Turner. The Bengals were tied for 29th in the NFL last season in pass block win rate, an ESPN metric powered by NFL Next Gen Stats.