Boris Johnson's Family Tree

Boris Johnson's Family Tree

BOJO’S ‘MUMMY’ 

Boris Johnson says he’s ‘very proud’ he’s descended from mummified Swiss woman who died from syphilis as he hails ‘sexual health pioneer’

DNA evidence - taken from the mummy's big toe - has revealed she is the great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother of the UK Foreign Secretary

BORIS Johnson has revealed that he is "very proud" to be descended from an ancient mummified Swiss woman who died of syphilis.

The corpse of the woman – who’d lain unidentified for years – was discovered in Basel, Switzerland.

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New DNA evidence reveals Boris Johnson is related to an ancient mummy who died of syphilisCredit: SRF

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Boris says he was 'very excited' and 'very proud'

And new DNA evidence - taken from the mummy's big toe - has revealed she is the great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother of the UK Foreign Secretary.

Mr Johnson wrote on Twitter: "Very excited to hear about my late great grand 'mummy' - a pioneer in sexual health care. Very proud."

Experts say the body found in Barfusser Church  appears to be that of a wealthy, well-fed woman dressed in good quality clothes, who died in 1787.

She was exhumed in 1975 when the church was renovated.

Her coffin was unmarked, and there was no gravestone to identify her, although she was buried right in front of the altar, a symbol of great importance in her community.

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The woman, found in a church in Switzerland, is the great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother of the UK Foreign Secretary, scientists sayCredit: AFP or licensors

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The mummified corpse of Anna Catharina Bischoff, which had lain unidentified for yearsCredit: SRF

But after extensive DNA testing scientists believe it is likely the woman is Anna Catharina Bischoff, born in 1719.

Her body was riddled with mercury, which was a standard treatment for syphilis between the 15th and 19th centuries.

The Bischoff family were wealthy and well-established in Basel.

DNA samples from the mummy were compared with living descendants of the family to reveal the conclusive result.

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What Anna Catharina might have looked likeCredit: SRF

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We look at Boris Johnson's family tree

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Boris is aware of the von Pfeffel connections - he once told the BBC programme Who Do You Think You Are that they were 'posh toffs'Credit: AFP or licensors

It's thought Anna Catharina had seven children, of which only two survived childhood.

Her daughter, also named Anna, married Christian Hubert Baron Pfeffel von Kriegelstein.

Five generations later, Marie Luise von Pfeffel married Stanley Fred Williams.

Their daughter, Yvonne, married Osman Wilfred Johnson Kemal.

Together, they had a son, named Stanley Johnson, who is the father of Boris.

It's believed Anna Catharina married a church minister and lived for most of her adult life in Strasbourg, the BBC reports.

She is likely to have contracted syphilis while caring for patients affected by the sexually transmitted disease.

After her husband's death, she returned to Basel and underwent treatment in a bid to cure her of her disease.

Sadly, it did not work and scientists think it's possible that she died of mercury poisoning.

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he body found in Barfusser Church was exhumed in 1975 when the church was renovatedCredit: SRF

Boris Johnson 'responding to treatment' in intensive care

Coronavirus: Boris Johnson 'responding to treatment' in intensive care 

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Image copyrightPA MEDIA

Boris Johnson is "responding to treatment" for coronavirus after he spent a second night in intensive care.

The prime minister is being kept in St Thomas' Hospital in London "for close monitoring" and remains clinically stable, Downing Street said.

Downing Street said he was not working but could contact those he needed to.

No 10 also suggested a review of the lockdown measures put in place on 23 March would not go ahead as planned - at the three-week point on Monday.

The PM is "comfortable, he's stable, he's in good spirits", health minister Edward Argar said earlier on Wednesday.

Asked on BBC Breakfast when the measures might be lifted, Mr Argar said the scientific evidence "isn't yet there to allow us to make us a decision".

"We have to be over that peak before we can think about making changes," he said, adding: "It's too early to say when we will reach that peak."

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is deputising for the PM, said on Tuesday he was "confident" the PM would recover from this illness, describing him as a "fighter".

Speaking at the Downing Street coronavirus briefing, he said Mr Johnson was receiving standard oxygen treatment and was breathing without any assistance, such as mechanical ventilation or non-invasive respiratory support.

The prime minister was admitted to St Thomas' on Sunday, on the advice of his doctor, after continuing to display symptoms of a cough and high temperature 10 days after testing positive for the virus.

Mr Raab said the prime minister was being monitored closely in critical care, as was usual clinical practice.

Source: BBC NEWS

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Faiz Ilyas, 24, describes how it felt to be given oxygen in hospital after contracting coronavirus.

Coronavirus: 'Please learn from Wuhan's mistakes'

The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus pandemic originated, is finally lifting its 11-week quarantine as infections and deaths have tailed off.

As they emerge from their long lockdown, residents share the lessons they've learned from the outbreak, and offer encouraging words to the rest of the world.

Video by Meiqing Guan from BBC Chinese, and Grace Tsoi.https://www.bbc.com/news/video_and_audio/h

Three sisters in Katoomba Sydney

The Three Sisters are an unusual rock formation in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, on the north escarpment of the Jamison Valley. They are located close to the town of Katoomba and are one of the Blue Mountains' best known sites, towering above the Jamison Valley. Wikipedia
Click to view the pictures o 3 sisters      https://skills10.blogspot.com/2017/07/three-sisters-in-blue-mountain-sydney.html#more

Salma the Boxer: Fighting back in Molenbeek

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Across Europe, the far right is on the rise and it has some of the continent's most diverse communities in its crosshairs.

To the far right, these neighbourhoods are 'no-go zones' that challenge their notion of what it means to be European.

To those who live in them, they are Europe. These are their stories.

"Life is a fight," says Mohamed Ma'alem, the founder of the Brussels Boxing Academy (BBA) in Molenbeek. "For everyone, for anyone."

But in 14-year-old Salma Ben Abdesselam, he thinks he has a fighter who might just be up to the challenge.

"She is a force," he says of the schoolgirl whose parents were born in Morocco and who considers herself both Moroccan and Belgian. "She has huge inner strength."

Salma trains every day at the BBA, a club with 600 members located in an old school gym, where her father, Hamid Ben Abdesselam, is one of her coaches.

For the club's fighters and its trainers, boxing is much more than a pastime.

Salma and her friends during outdoor training at the Brussels Boxing Academy (BBA) in Molenbeek. [Screenshot/Al Jazeera]

"[It's] a form of education. It's a discipline. Boxing is what connects us," explains trainer Mohammed Idrissi.

The club offers young people "an anchor, a place where they can find an identity," says trainer Tom Flachet.

But they are acutely aware that they must represent not only themselves and their club but their district, which has long been portrayed as a "hotbed of radicalism".

Following the coordinated attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015, and bombings at Brussels airport and metro in 2016, police raided homes in Molenbeek, arresting several people suspected of being involved.

"Every time I turned on the TV, there was only that," says Salma.

It created a feeling of unease, compounding a sense that their community was viewed with negativity and suspicion because of its multiculturalism, her father explains.

And for the BBA, it touched very close to home.

Ahmed Dahmani was a BBA champion. He was arrested on suspicion he had links with the Paris attackers.

"We think of him as one of ours," says Tom. "He was a good boxer."

"After what happened in Paris, they looked for him and found him pretty quickly. They googled his name and found him here, at the club."

Salma, trainer Mohammed Idrissi and her father, trainer Hamid Ben Abdesselam, during Salma's big fight. [Screenshot/Al Jazeera]

The BBA was closed down, at the exact time its trainers felt the district's young people most needed it.

But up and running again, it has a lot to prove - as does Salma, who will be fighting at the Belgian Championships in Ghent. Will she be able to return as a champion and strike a blow for her club's vision of unity and mutual respect?

This is their story. This is Europe.

Source: Al Jazeera

The challenges India faces in stopping coronavirus

The western city of Mumbai has among the highest number of coronavirus patients in India.

With people in the city’s congested slums testing positive, it’s sparked fears that the infection could spread more rapidly.

As the number of cases continue to rise in the country, India’s healthcare system is already struggling and doctors are complaining of not being given proper equipment or training on how to treat patients.

With many public health experts warning of a huge spike in infections to come, will India be able to contain the spread of coronavirus?

The Master Barber of Berlin

A Palestinian barber puts his stamp on the German capital by transforming a rundown bus into a barbershop on wheel

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Across Europe, the far right is on the rise and it has some of the continent's most diverse communities in its crosshairs.

To the far right, these neighbourhoods are 'no-go zones' that challenge their notion of what it means to be European.

To those who live in them, they are Europe. These are their stories.

In the Neukolln district of Berlin, Hussein Seif raises the graffitied shutters of his barbershop and steps inside. A few moments later, the Palestinian barber re-emerges with his red, blue and white barber's pole. It takes pride of place beside the door.

Back inside, he lights a cigar and changes into a crisp white shirt, houndstooth braces, a bow-tie and black-and-white brogues.

This is Kucuk Istanbul, the old school barbershop Hussein has run since he left Jerusalem for Berlin in 1996.

With its antique cash register, exposed brick walls lined with sepia-tinted photographs and green chesterfield sofa, it is a small piece of 1920s London in a vibrant multicultural neighbourhood that is more familiar with traditional Turkish and Arab barbershops, where customers can get a cut or shave for less than 10 euros.

Hussein in his element, giving a customer a shave in his barbershop. [Al Jazeera]

Home to people from more than 160 countries, Neukolln has become the centre of the German capital's Arab community. Cafes, nail bars, second-hand clothes shops and bars occupy the ground floors of its red-roofed townhouses.

But with its luxury treatments, fine cigars and prices to match, Hussein's barbershop seems to reflect a change taking root in Neukolln - gentrification.

His willingness to embrace this is a reflection of more than just his entrepreneurial spirit - it goes to the heart of his belief in integration.

"In the shop," he reflects, "I don't feel like an Arab… I see myself in my surroundings, in my shop, as a Berliner."

Now Hussein wants to take his distinctive style on the road, creating a barbershop on wheels in an old American school bus.

Ensuring that the bus is not only roadworthy but also meets his exacting standards will be one of the biggest challenges Hussein has faced. Will he be able to pull it off and how will the neighbourhood he loves react to his new venture?

As Germany tackles a national debate about immigration and integration, Hussein is determined to find success by being true to himself.

This is his story. This is Europe.

Source: Al Jazeera

Coronavirus: US-China battle behind the scenes

It is clearly not a good time for the world and it is not a good time for relations between the US and China. President Donald Trump has repeatedly chosen to call the coronavirus the "Chinese virus". His hawkish Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calls it the "Wuhan virus", something that causes huge offence in Beijing.

The president and secretary of state have both denounced China for its failings in the initial handling of the outbreak. But Chinese spokesmen have utterly rejected any idea that they were less than transparent about what was going on. Meanwhile, social media in China has spread stories that the pandemic has been caused by a US military germ warfare programme; rumours that gained considerable traction. Scientists have demonstrated that the virus structure is entirely natural in origin.

But this is not just a war of words, something more fundamental is going on.

Earlier this month, when the US announced that it was closing its borders to travellers from many EU countries, including Italy, the Chinese government announced that it was sending medical teams and supplies to Italy, the country at the leading edge of the coronavirus pandemic. It has sent help to Iran and Serbia too.

It was a moment of huge symbolism. And it was an indication of the information battle that is being waged behind the scenes, with China eager to emerge from this crisis with renewed status as a global player. Indeed, it is a battle which the US - at the moment - is losing hands down. And the belated despatch of a small mobile US Air Force medical facility to Italy is hardly going to alter the equation.

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionChina has sent medics and equipment to help other stricken countries

This is a moment when the administrative and political systems of all countries are being stress-tested like never before. Leadership will be at a premium. Existing political leaders will ultimately be judged by how they seized the moment; the clarity of their discourse; and the efficiency with which they marshalled their countries' resources to respond to the pandemic.

The pandemic has hit at a time when US-China relations were already at a low ebb. A partial trade deal has barely plastered over the commercial tensions between the two countries. Both China and the US are re-arming, openly preparing for a potential future conflict in the Asia-Pacific. China has already emerged, at least in regional terms, as a military super-power in its own right. And China now is eager for the wider status that it believes its international position requires

The pandemic then threatens to pitch US-China relations into an even more difficult period. This could have an important bearing upon both the course of this crisis and the world that emerges from it. When the virus is defeated, China's economic resurgence is going to play a critical role in helping to rebuild the shattered global economy.

But for now, Chinese assistance is essential in combating the coronavirus. Medical data and experiences need to continue to be shared. China is also a huge manufacturer of medical equipment and disposable items like masks and protective suits, essential to handling infected patients and items that are required in astronomical numbers.

China is in many ways the medical manufacturing workshop of the world, capable of expanding production in ways few other countries can. China is seizing an opportunity but, according to many of President Trump's critics, it is he who has dropped the ball.

Media captionHow does America see its relationship with China?

The Trump administration initially failed to accept the seriousness of this crisis, seeing it as another opportunity to assert "America First" and the supposed superiority of its system. But what is at stake now is global leadership.

As two Asia experts, Kurt M Campbell - who served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs in the Obama administration - and Rush Doshi, note in a recent article for Foreign Affairs: "The status of the United States as a global leader over the past seven decades has been built not just on wealth and power but also, and just as important, on the legitimacy that flows from the United States' domestic governance, provision of global public goods, and ability and willingness to muster and coordinate a global response to crises."

The coronavirus pandemic, they say, "is testing all three elements of US leadership. So far, Washington is failing the test. As Washington falters, Beijing is moving quickly and adeptly to take advantage of the opening created by US mistakes, filling the vacuum to present itself as the global leader in pandemic response."

Source:   BBC.Com

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