3, January 2018
Dangerously cold winter grips US, 12 dead 0
Dangerously cold temperatures have been blamed for at least a dozen deaths in the central and eastern United States.
The bitter cold prompted officials to shut down schools and local attractions in several regions on Tuesday out of safety concerns.
Warming centers were opened in the Deep South with authorities demanding that neighbors, especially those who are elderly, sick or who live alone be checked.
“It’s important that people look out for anyone in need of shelter,” St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson warned.
Temperatures in St. Louis have dipped 30 degrees below normal.
Freeze warnings were also issued for areas from South Texas to Canada and from Montana to Maine.
In Atlanta, Grady Memorial Hospital emergency room doctors were forced to raise a patient’s body temperature almost once a day or every other day using warm fluids, blankets or other measures.
“We have a group of patients who are coming in off the street who are looking to escape the cold — we have dozens and dozens of those every day,” Emergency Care Center assistant medical director Dr. Brooks Moore told the Associated Press.
“You thought you were cold last year. You thought you were cold last month. But you weren’t cold. Now you’re cold,” said Jeanne Rivera, of Crystal Lake, Illinois, who was in Chicago on Tuesday to visit an art exhibit. “It hurts. It hurts the face.”
Slippery roads have resulted in numerous car accidents with a crash, which involved more than a dozen vehicles, forcing the closure of the Schuylkill Expressway in Pennsylvania.
In Indiana, the current freezing weather is unusual because of how long it has lasted, according to experts.
“It has just been relentlessly cold since Christmas,” said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the private Weather Underground.
Source: Presstv
8, January 2018
BBC’s Carrie Gracie resigns over ‘secretive and illegal’ pay culture 0
One of the BBC’s most senior journalists has resigned from her post, accusing the British broadcaster of having a “secretive and illegal” pay structure.
“With great regret, I have left my post as China Editor to speak out publicly on a crisis of trust at the BBC,” Carrie Gracie wrote in an open letter.
Gracie, who has been the BBC’s China editor since 2013, claimed the corporation is not “living up to its stated values of trust, honesty and accountability.”
The journalist accused the BBC of “breaking equality law” in its dealings with employees, and adopting a “bunker mentality” which is failing to close the significant pay gap.
“The BBC belongs to you, the license fee payer. I believe you have a right to know that it is breaking equality law and resisting pressure for a fair and transparent pay structure.”
Gracie, who has worked for the BBC for more than three decades, said the broadcaster faced an “exodus of female talent” because of a culture that discriminates against women.
The BBC ordered a review into its pay structure after it was revealed that only a third of its experienced journalists earning more than £150,000 were women, while the top seven earners were all men.
More than 40 of the broadcaster’s most high-profile female staff, including presenters Clare Balding and Victoria Derbyshire, signed a letter calling for immediate change.
Gracie announced she was leaving her position in Beijing after learning that she earned less than male international editors, despite stressing when she accepted the post that she must be “paid equally” with her male peers.
“I told my bosses the only acceptable resolution would be for all the international editors to be paid the same amount. The right amount would be for them to decide, and I made clear I wasn’t seeking a pay rise, just equal pay. Instead the BBC offered me a big pay rise which remained far short of equality,” she said.
The journalist said she rejected the pay rise and faced a “dismayingly incompetent and undermining grievance process which still has no outcome” before deciding “enough is enough.”