The Daily Populous

Tuesday June 22nd, 2021 day edition

image for UN irks Australia by recommending that Great Barrier Reef be listed 'in danger'

Reef fish swim above recovering coral colonies on the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Cairns, Australia October 25, 2019.

Defending Australia's efforts to protect the reef, Environment Minister Sussan Ley said Canberra would challenge the recommendation, saying some hidden agenda had influenced its findings.

Clearly there were politics behind it," Leys said, adding that Australia had conveyed its concerns to UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay.

China chairs the UNESCO committee, but when queried in parliament, Ley declined to say if she was pointing the finger at Beijing.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a government official told Reuters that China had been responsible for the committee's stance.

This recommendation is reached by world renowned scientists," said Richard Leck, Head of Oceans for the World Wide Fund for Nature, Australia.

Although a member of the panel, Australia is barred by convention from voting if it is unable to reach a consensus. »

Connecticut is 1st state to make all prison phone calls free

Authored by whdh.com

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) — Connecticut became the first state this week to make all prison phone calls free, addressing one of the biggest emotional and financial burdens faced by incarcerated men and women and their families as they try to stay in touch.

The state has a prison contract with phone vendor Securus Technologies, which charges up to $5 for a 15-minute call.

Connecticut joins several jurisdictions nationwide that have taken steps to make prison and jail phone calls free, including New York City, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. »

People who support a ban on pornography tend to hold more sexist views about women, study finds

Authored by psypost.org

We found that people who support pornography being legal and regulated reported less sexist attitudes than those who believed pornography should be outright illegal,” MacDonald told PsyPost.

These relationships held even after accounting for other factors, such as sex, age, race, region, education, political orientation, and religiosity.

“Generally, consuming pornography or supporting legal pornography was either non-predictive of sexism, or predicted lower sexism,” Speed told PsyPost. »

California to Pay off all Past Due Rent Accrued During COVID, Giving Renters Clean Slate

Authored by newsweek.com

California is paying off residents' past due rent that was accrued during the COVID-19 pandemic, giving renters a clean slate, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced recently.

Newsom says California will pay off all past-due rent accumulated in the nation's most populated state because of the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, promising to make landlords whole.

An extension of the eviction ban seems likely to give California more time to spend all the money to cover unpaid rent. »