Cashless society: Millions of Brits would struggle According to a recent study, more than 10 million Britons would find it difficult to live in a cashless world, which is preferred by the wealthy. A study by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) commissioned by ATM network Link also cautions that forcing people to use digital currency could result in a loss of financial control and spiraling indebtedness. According to report author Mark Hall, "For millions of people, their relationship with cash is important to the way they manage their monthly budget." He continued, "Our data reveals the percentage of the population totally relying on cash is stable, despite internet banking and shopping growing more popular." The study, which was reported on by Sky News, suggested that a totally cashless society might result in "greater isolation and diminished human connection." The survey found that those that are excited about a digital currency are the most financially secure. 85% of respondents who supported a cashless society rated their own financial security as being high or medium. According to the Express, many of the millions of people who would suffer in a society without cash are elderly and weak. Five million people might be left behind if nothing is done to ease the shift to digital, according to John Howells, chief executive of the UK's Link cashpoint network. Without action, this infrastructure would begin to crumble, and ATMs and branches are already disappearing at an alarming rate, according to him. "Death by a thousand cuts is happening to our cash infrastructure." According to Howells, "We have five to ten years to solve digital payments before currency becomes inoperable, and we need to start planning how to get the new system operating for everyone." Howells said that since Covid, cash use has decreased by 40% and is "still declining." Howells forewarned that funding might run out in two years. A cashless society, according to some, will result in a surveillance state. After a Starbucks location in the UK displayed a notice announcing it would go cashless last month, there were numerous demands for a boycott of the company. Coffee aficionados questioned whether cashless transactions would be available at every shop, but Starbucks stated that this was not the case and that the change only applied to specific businesses and their licensees. The Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) of Canada have started teaching children as early as ten how to manage money in a "cashless society." Thanks for watching. Please consider subscribing to the channel ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDMyW2mpHJA

Red tape, slow jab rollout delay Pattaya reopening Empty chairs are seen on a beach, which is usually full of tourists, amid fears of coronavirus disease in Pattaya on March 27, 2020. Pattaya City seems unlikely to reopen to tourism on Sept 1 as planned with local businesses blaming the delay on red tape and a sluggish Covid-19 vaccine rollout. Bun-anan Phatthanasin, president of Pattaya Business and Tourism Association (PBTA), on Saturday admitted the reopening is likely to be postponed. A special committee will have to consider the reopening plan submitted by the PBTA, a process required before the plan can be sent to the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration's (CCSA) sub-committee for approval, he said. The committee will comprise various sides including Chon Buri's provincial administration organisation and provincial tourism authorities, he said. Pattaya City, one of the 10 most popular tourist spots which the government aims to reopen first, is in Chon Buri, one of the areas worst hit by the current outbreak, he said. An associated plan to get at least 70% of the people in Pattaya vaccinated against Covid-19 before the Sept 1 reopening also appears unlikely to be accomplished either, he said. The PBTA continues working on its part of the reopening plan, including preparing sealed tourism routes for visitors. Sontaya Khunpluem, mayor of Pattaya City, said the city has ramped up active case finding to get people infected with the virus care and treatment. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Vc8DGq8gU

Cuba publishes draft family code that opens door to gay marriage On Wednesday, Cuba published a long-awaited draft of a new family law that, if approved, would allow homosexual marriage, a move that LGBT rights groups greeted warily because they were unsure whether it would be implemented. Rather than the present definition of marriage as the "union of a man and woman," the new legislation defines marriage as the "voluntary union of two persons" without defining gender. However, the draft still needs to go through a grassroots debate, after which it will be changed to incorporate citizen feedback before heading to a referendum. Activists are concerned that the committee in charge of it would back down in the face of opposition from religious groups and individuals who embrace traditional machismo culture. They argue that the government should not have required a vote on what they consider to be basic human rights. The government claims that it prefers to build rather than impose change acceptance. Following a campaign by evangelical churches, the government chose to withdraw an amendment to Cuba's new constitution that would have allowed same-sex marriages. Maykel Gonzalez Vivero, director of Tremenda Nota, a digital journal that focuses on women, the LGBT community, and the Black community, remarked, "The blueprint for the family code is all one could have wished for". It took a long time, and there was no openness in the nearly 15-year-long process. However, it is present. Despite the general survival of machismo, Cuba, which subjected gays to correctional labor camps in the early years after its 1959 socialist revolution, made significant progress in LGBT rights in the 2000s and 2010s. Cuba established the right to free sex reassignment surgery, outlawed job discrimination based on sexual orientation, and began staging yearly anti-homophobia marches — the island nation's version of gay pride. However, many members of the LGBT community have expressed dissatisfaction with the glacial pace of progress in recent years, despite the fact that a few of other Latin American countries have approved homosexual marriage. #LGBT #Cuba #marriage ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mqiXAIPdAE

US considering sanctions against India A top State Department official has told Congress that Washington is considering punishing India over its acquisition of Russian arms. The US is also pressuring India to distance itself from Moscow in the current Ukraine war. According to Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Donald Lu, President Joe Biden is "looking very closely" at whether to apply or relax penalties on countries that buy Russian military weapons. India recently purchased S-400 air defense systems from Russia, contravening a 2017 US statute known as the Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which was enacted in response to claims of Russian election tampering. Lu told legislators that the administration will adhere to and completely implement the CAATSA law, and that we will consult with Congress as we move forward with any of them. "Unfortunately, I am unable to predict the President's or the Secretary of State's decisions on the waiver or sanctions issue, or whether Russia's invasion of Ukraine will influence that decision,", he added. Turkey, a NATO member, was sanctioned under CAATSA and removed from the F-35 fighter program in December 2020 for purchasing S-400s from Russia. According to Lu, the US has been in a "pitched battle" with Indian authorities for several months, with Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressuring New Delhi "to take a clearer position, a posture opposed to Russia's activity." According to Lu, India has already canceled orders from Russia for MiG-29 fighters, helicopters, and anti-tank weapons, but the US would like it to do more. Given India's past relationship with Russia and its weapons sales, Washington is "trying to establish whether the defense technology that we are providing to India today can be effectively safeguarded." After an Indian student was killed in Kharkov, reportedly by a Russian bombing, New Delhi's abstention at the UN General Assembly vote to condemn Russia on Wednesday and its offer of humanitarian aid to Ukraine are "promising steps," Lu said, adding that "action has begun to turn public opinion in India against a country that they perceived as a partner." In recent years, both Washington and Moscow have courted India, with Russia negotiating a series of manufacturing contracts with New Delhi, including weaponry and Covid-19 vaccines, and the US renaming its regional command "Indo-Pacific" and declaring New Delhi a "key defense partner" in 2016. India is also a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a group comprised of the United States, Japan, and Australia that aims to oppose China. On Thursday, Biden held a video conversation with the group "to address the war in Ukraine and its consequences for the Indo-Pacific," ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjs0Zf7N5po