Month: April 2020

L’Assurance maladie et les syndicats de médecins débutent jeudi une négociation sur la télémédecine, que le gouvernement a décidé d’ajouter à la liste des actes remboursés par la Sécu au niveau national, après des années d’expérimentations locales.

Le gouvernement mise principalement sur le développement de la téléconsultation, érigée en pilier de son plan de lutte contre les déserts médicaux.

Leur première consultation ne se fera pas à distance : pour discuter télémédecine, les cinq syndicats représentatifs des médecins libéraux (CSMF, FMF, SML, MG France, Le Bloc) ont rendez-vous jeudi à 17H00 au siège parisien de la Caisse nationale d’assurance maladie des travailleurs salariés (Cnamts).Son directeur, Nicolas Revel, connaît sa feuille de route depuis fin novembre: la ministre de la Santé, Agnès Buzyn, lui a demandé “d’inscrire la télémédecine dans le droit commun“, comme le prévoit le premier budget de la Sécurité sociale du quinquennat.La négociation doit donc fixer les modalités pratiques et les tarifs de la téléconsultation (un examen médical par visioconférence) et de la télé-expertise (une demande d’avis entre praticiens). Les discussions ne porteront en revanche pas sur la télésurveillance, utilisée pour le suivi des malades chroniques.Le gouvernement mise principalement sur le développement de la téléconsultation, érigée en pilier de son plan de lutte contre les déserts médicaux. Ses prédictions budgétaires tablent sur 500.000 actes en 2019, un million en 2020, puis 1,3 million en 2021.L’ambition peut paraître modeste, mais le pari est loin d’être gagné: moins de 260.000 actes de télémédecine – de toutes sortes – ont été réalisés en 2015, selon la Cour des comptes.Plus embarrassant, l’institution estimait en septembre que, depuis la première téléconsultation entre les hôpitaux de Toulouse et de Rodez en 1989, les “multiples expérimentations engagées sans ordre ni méthode” n’ont “débouché que sur des résultats très modestes“.Pour faire mieux, le gouvernement a choisi de s’appuyer sur les médecins libéraux, dont les syndicats ont déjà commencé à faire monter les enchères.Le président du SML, Philippe Vermesch, réclame ainsi “une rémunération réellement incitative pour les actes“, ainsi qu'”un forfait pour financer les équipements” technologiques et une formation “offerte” pour apprendre à s’en servir.”Un avis ponctuel et court doit être valorisé au minimum sur le tarif de la consultation de base“, soit 25 euros, voire davantage “pour un examen approfondi sur la base d’un dossier complet“, estime son homologue de la CSMF, Jean-Paul Ortiz, qui demande également “des aides à l’équipement et à la formation“.Du côté des médecins généralistes, MG France revendique la prise en compte du “téléconseil“, c’est-à-dire des “coups de fil” passés “au quotidien ” à leurs patients, selon le président du syndicat Jacques Battistoni, qui veut aussi être “rémunéré au même niveau” que les spécialistes pour la télé-expertise.La réunion de jeudi sera l’occasion pour chacun de “formuler ses convictions et ses principes“, prévoit M. Revel, qui entend pour sa part “poser quelques éléments de repères” et avancer “de premiers éléments sur des pistes de rémunération”.”Une téléconsultation a vocation à être rémunérée comme une consultation classique“, affirme le directeur de l’Assurance maladie à l’AFP, qui considère par ailleurs que la télémédecine “doit s’inscrire dans un parcours coordonné” et il sera pour cette raison “attentif à ce que la place du médecin traitant soit respectée“.Des positions conformes aux recommandations de Mme Buzyn, qui avait toutefois ouvert la porte à des “incitations spécifiques” pour certains médecins et à des actes en situation d’urgence.Les participants ne partiront pas d’une feuille blanche, puisque le développement de la télémédecine dans les maisons de retraite (Ehpad) a fait l’objet d’un avenant à la convention médicale début 2017.Pour cette nouvelle négociation, “je me donne trois mois“, indique M. Revel, qui envisage une entrée en vigueur “entre l’été et la fin de l’année“.Click Here: cheap all stars rugby jersey

Les adolescentes dont les mères ont subi une ou plusieurs interruptions de grossesse, auraient davantage recours à l’avortement quand elles tombent enceintes, indique une vaste étude canadienne publiée ce lundi 29 janvier.

Cette étude indique également que plus le nombre d'avortements chez la mère était grand, plus le nombre d'avortements chez sa fille adolescente l'est aussi. ©HOMONSTOCK / Istock.com

Des IVG plus fréquentes pendant l’adolescenceY a-t-il une tendance intergénérationnelle à l’avortement entre les mères et les filles ?Ces travaux menés par une équipe de chercheurs de Toronto au Canada concluent que la probabilité est en effet plus forte d’avoir recours à une

interruption volontaire de grossesse pendant l’adolescence si les mères des jeunes femmes avaient elles-mêmes fait ce choix dans leur parcours.Plus de 2 fois plus d’IVG si la mère avait subi un avortementDans le cadre de l’étude, 73 518 filles étaient dans ce cas parmi les 431 623 participantes. Ces dernières avaient plus de 50 % de risque de connaître un avortement que les autres, rapporte l’étude : 10,1 % contre 4,2 % pour les jeunes femmes dont les mères n’avaient pas subi d’avortement.L’étude montre également un lien proportionnel entre le nombre d’interruptions volontaires de grossesse : plus le nombre d’avortements chez la mère était grand, plus le nombre d’avortements chez sa fille adolescente était grand.Une anomalie génétique comme cause d’IVG, peu probableComme la majorité de ces avortements (94,5 %) ont eu lieu avant 15 semaines de gestation, il est peu probable qu’ils soient dus à une anomalie génétique ou congénitale chez le fœtus, souligne l’étude qui avance plutôt des raisons sociales.L’IVG plutôt due à des difficultés socialesDes études précédentes ont en effet montré une probabilité plus élevée d’avortement chez les adolescentes faisant face à de plus grands défis sociaux parmi lesquels de mauvais résultats scolaires, la séparation des parents (biologiques), un manque d’éducation et des difficultés financières.L’étude ne donne cependant pas d’information sur les pères, le statut matrimonial et les niveaux d’éducation de la mère et de la fille, ou encore sur les comportements familiaux. Le nombre d’IVG plus important chez les moins de 19 ansDans les pays développés, environ 6,7 millions d’avortements sont pratiqués chaque année, une proportion importante étant pratiquée chez les adolescents de 19 ans ou moins.En France, le nombre d’interruptions volontaires de grossesse (IVG) était de 12,3 pour 1.000 femmes de 15-19 ans en 2015.Click Here: Fjallraven Kanken Art Spring Landscape Backpacks

Le mouvement "Body-posi" (ou acceptation de son corps) vise à encourager l’estime de soi et pourrait constituer la principale tendance beauté de la décennie. La partie du corps qui reçoit cette fois toute l’attention des réseaux sociaux est… le nez.

Radhika Sanghani sur Instagram<br />
©Instagram / @radhikasanghani

Les grands nez font l’objet d’une campagne virale sur les réseaux sociaux depuis que la journaliste britannique Radhika Sanghani a lancé le mouvement #sideprofileselfie dans un article pour 

Grazia.Expliquant qu’elle avait “toute sa vie évité les photos la montrant de profil”, Sanghani propose un hashtag encourageant les femmes à publier des selfies montrant leur nez de profil. Grec, crochu, bossu ou délicat, ils apparaissent dans toute leur splendeur. Un vrai pied de nez au diktat de la chirurgie esthétique et de la retouche numérique.Ce hashtag a atteint les 8 millions de publications dans le monde, selon un nouveau billet 

Instagram de Sanghani. Des centaines d’utilisateurs de Twitter et d’Instagram ont ainsi choisi de rendre hommage à leur profil et à transmettre un message simple : un grand nez est un beau nez.Le #sideprofileselfie est le tout dernier d’une longue liste de hashtags ‘body-posi’ à devenir viraux sur les réseaux sociaux. Ces prolifiques campagnes ont pour objectif de normaliser et d’apprécier la beauté du corps dans son intégralité, du ventre aux cuisses sans oublier les vergetures et les taches de rousseur.(AFP/Relaxnews)

Plus d’une mort sur six aux États-Unis peut être reliée à l’exposition au plomb, métal lourd très présent dans l’environnement, avance une étude parue lundi dans The Lancet Public Health.

Les chercheurs ont calculé que chez les personnes ayant une forte concentration de plomb dans le sang, le risque de mourir précocement augmentait.

“Nos conclusions suggèrent que, sur les 2,3 millions de morts chaque année aux États-Unis, environ 400.000 peuvent être attribuées à l’exposition au plomb, une estimation dix fois plus élevée que l’actuelle“, écrivent les auteurs.
Le chiffre, “étonnamment élevé“, est “comparable au nombre de morts dues aujourd’hui à l’exposition à la fumée du tabac“, ajoutent-ils.
Cette estimation est issue du suivi de plus de 14.000 personnes pendant près d’une vingtaine d’années en moyenne, entre 1990 et 2011.
Les chercheurs ont calculé que chez les personnes ayant une forte concentration de plomb dans le sang (au moins 6,7 mg par décilitre), le risque de mourir précocement augmentait de 37%. Celui de maladie coronarienne doublait.
“Des niveaux faibles d’exposition au plomb sont un facteur de risque important, mais largement ignoré, de mort par maladie cardiovasculaire“, souligne l’un des auteurs, Bruce Lanphear de l’université canadienne Simon Fraser.
L’étude remet en question “l’idée qu’il y a des ‘niveaux sûrs’ de toxiques spécifiques, comme le plomb“, dit-il, cité dans un communiqué de la revue.
Le plomb est un métal abondant naturellement, qui trouve de multiples usages dans l’industrie. Il est connu comme toxique depuis très longtemps, provoquant le saturnisme et favorisant d’autres affections.
L’exposition vient traditionnellement des carburants, des peintures, de la plomberie, voire de l’alimentation, ainsi que des rejets de l’industrie (fonderies, unités de recyclage). Ces dernières décennies, la législation a réduit les émissions polluantes, aux États-Unis et ailleurs.
D’après un épidémiologiste cité par The Lancet Public Health, Philip Landrigan, l’étude “suggère qu’il est temps d’arrêter de négliger le rôle de la pollution dans la mortalité par maladie non contagieuse“.
“Cette étude montre une forte association entre la plombémie dans le sang et le risque future d’attaque cardiaque et de mort“, commente un professeur de cardiologie de l’université de Sheffield (Grande-Bretagne), cité par Science Media Centre. Même si “elle ne peut pas prouver que le plomb est directement la cause de la maladie“.Click Here: geelong cats guernsey 2019

L’actrice incarnera l’héroïne de “The Side Effect”, thriller spatial signé Ti West.

On ne voit pas assez Liv Tyler. C’est aussi ce que semble s’être dit Ti West, lequel s’est attaqué au problème et vient d’enrôler la belle dans son projet de thriller, The Side Effect. L’actrice y interprètera une certaine Catherine Rigby, jeune femme qui passe plusieurs mois seule dans l’espace en tant que sujet d’une expérience menée par une compagnie pharmaceutique, et qui se retrouve inexplicablement enceinte.

Pour expliquer son choix, Ti West a déclaré, selon ce qu’en rapporte Deadline : “Dès que je me suis assis avec Liv, il est devenu évident que c’était elle”. Nous, pareil. On la voit pas assez, Liv.

A.G.

Du 20 au 29 janvier, Angers met à l’honneur le cinéma européen dans le cadre de son festival. Au programme de cette 24ème édition, compétition, tables rondes et rétrospectives.

Depuis le 20 janvier dernier, se tient la 24ème édition du Festival Premiers Plans d’Angers. Depuis 1988, ce rendez-vous met à l’honneur le cinema européen. Au programme cette année, une compétition officielle, des lectures de scénarii, diverses tables rondes ou encore des rétrospectives .

La Compétition

Durant ces quelques jours, une sélection de premiers et seconds films seront présentés à la profession, au public et à la presse. Côté longs métrages, on retrouve le Oslo, 31 août de Joachim Trier, déjà dévoilé à Cannes lors de la Quinzaine des réalisateurs, ainsi que Portrait au crépuscule d’Anguelina Nikonova, Flèche d’Or du Festival de cinéma européen des Arcs en 2011. Egalement présenté en compétition officielle, une sélection de courts-métrages européens et une autre de courts-métrages français.

Rétrospectives, hommages et autres rendez-vous cinéphiles

Le Festival Premiers Plans d’Angers, c’est aussi des tables rondes et des rencontres avec des professionnels, qui sont autant d’occasions pour parler cinéma. Lors de cette 24ème édition, un hommage sera rendu à Jean-Luc Godard et c’est pas moins de trente films du réalisateur qui seront rediffusés. Macha Méril, Anna Karina, Michel Piccoli ou encore le journaliste Jean-Michel Frodon viendront présenter ses films. Egalement à l’honneur, Jacques Gamblin, Alan Clarke ou encore Jorge Semprún, à qui le Festival rendra aussi hommage.

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The coronavirus wasn’t made in a lab — but some say it’s still a man-made catastrophe caused by the booming international trade in wild animals.

Scientists suspect the new virus originated in bats and possibly jumped to humans via a pangolin host at a live animal market in Wuhan, China. The scaly anteater is one of the world’s most illegally trafficked animals, and is eaten and used in traditional medicine in China, which has banned the trade of wild animals in response to the crisis.

Now members of the European Parliament and environmental groups are demanding a stronger clampdown on the legal and illegal trade of exotic animals in the EU, where they say the situation is more similar to China than some might imagine.

“It might as well have happened within the European Union. The fact that it has not happened is almost a miracle,” said Raquel García, head of public policy at the NGO Animal Advocacy and Protection (AAP).

The push also comes as the Commission is currently evaluating its action plan for enforcing measures against the illegal wildlife trade, and a draft of its upcoming biodiversity strategy — seen by POLITICO — pledges to revise the plan by 2021.

Europe may not be a hot spot for the illegal pangolin trade, but business is booming for other beasts. The EU is a major thoroughfare for illegal wildlife products from Africa such as animal skins, ivory and sea horses being trafficked to Asia. Many kinds of reptiles, monkeys and even bats — which may carry diseases that are dangerous to humans — can be traded perfectly legally in the EU, where the legitimate trade of wildlife is estimated to be worth €100 billion per year.

However, putting a value on this can be “problematic because it is difficult to separate out legal and illegal trades in particular species, because they are often deeply inter-twined,” according to a 2016 report produced for the European Parliament’s trade committee.

“There’s still a lot of species being traded perfectly legally, and there’s no control on that. Sometimes the way they are traded, and the way they are caught is very similar to what is happening in Asia in these markets,” said Ilaria Di Silvestre, program leader on wildlife for the NGO Eurogroup for Animals.

Critics say the EU’s wildlife trade rule book is a mere copy and paste of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), an agreement of 183 countries under the umbrella of the U.N. that bans the trade of roughly 6,000 animals.

But the raison d’être of CITES is to protect species that may become extinct if they are traded — it does not take into account the threat of animals or wildlife products spreading diseases to humans.

The coronavirus is the latest so-called zoonotic disease in a growing list that includes MERS, ebola and strains of avian influenza. Seventy-five percent of all emerging infectious diseases come from wildlife.

“Never before have so many opportunities existed for pathogens to pass from wild and domestic animals to people,” Inger Andersen, the U.N.’s environment chief, recently told the Guardian.

MEPs are clamoring for more to be done. “The trade and trafficking of wildlife is putting our health and our biodiversity in danger, the European Union needs to act,” said Agnès Evren, a French lawmaker from the center-right European People’s Party.

Evren also hopes Brussels would flip the structure of EU wildlife legislation on its head in its major European Green Deal plan for the environment, by establishing a more restrictive so-called positive list of tradeable species. This means that instead of proscribing certain animals that cannot be traded as under the current system, the EU would only list species that can be traded, to narrow the scope.

The NGOs AAP and Eurogroup for Animals are also pushing for this “positive list” approach.

A European Commission official said shifting the system would require renegotiating CITES. The official added: “It is also not obvious that a positive list would necessarily be shorter; in fact it might well be longer as it would presumably also have to include species that are traded internationally but not endangered in the wild (and hence not covered by CITES).”

The biodiversity strategy “should lead to the adoption of a European legislation on this matter and reinforce our rules and means of actions,” Evren said.

But new laws may have an adverse effect because commercial fishing and timber trading often fall under the umbrella of legal wildlife trade, warned Professor Rosaleen Duffy, a wildlife trade expert at the U.K.’s University of Sheffield.

“There’s lots of sustainable and relatively risk-free legal wildlife trade that if you ban that would destroy the livelihoods of some of the world’s poorest people or would also punch holes in major corporations that are trading in timber,” Duffy said.

“I think that these calls for a blanket ban on all wildlife trade because of the risk of zoonotic disease are unrealistic and also not a fair thing.”

There should also be more attention focused on the role that intensive agriculture plays in spreading diseases from animals to humans, Duffy said.

Other MEPs argue the broader lesson to learn from the coronavirus crisis is that humanity’s plundering of the natural world comes at a cost.

That’s the nub of a letter, obtained by POLITICO, that Belgian Socialist lawmaker Maria Arena is sending to the Commission, and also a big takeaway for the Slovak ecologist-turned-MEP Michal Wiezik, from the European People’s Party.

“I would say that the COVID-19 crisis is the outcome of our ignorance, how we were treating animals … eating wild animals, and keeping them in a condition that really asked for the outbreak,” Wiezik said.

America Hernandez contributed reporting.

This article has been updated with reaction from the European Commission.

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OTTAWA — Parliament has approved a massive $73-billion wage subsidy program aimed at helping businesses and workers survive the economic ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A bill to implement what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the most significant economic program since the Second World War was passed Saturday by the House of Commons “on division” after some six hours of speeches and debate.

On division means there was some opposition among the handful of MPs in the chamber but there was no recorded vote. It was not immediately clear who objected.

But sources in other parties, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about confidential, behind-the-scenes negotiations, suggested the Conservatives insisted on the final vote being on division as part of an agreement to let the bill sail through the Commons in a matter of hours.

In the Senate later, it was Conservative Senate leader Don Plett who called for the bill to be passed by that chamber “on division” as well, after which it received royal assent late Saturday.

Plett accused the government of being “asleep at the wheel” and “doing too little, too late” throughout the crisis and asserted that, “by consistently fumbling its management of the health crisis, this government has led the country straight into an economic crisis.”

Plett also took a sharp jab at Trudeau, who went into self-isolation at his home, Rideau Cottage, after his wife fell ill with COVID-19.

Watch: Canada emergency response benefit still unclear for students, gig workers. Story continues below video.

“Essential workers get up every day and leave the safety of their home to serve their country. Perhaps the prime minister should have done the same and gone into the office to pick up the phone and properly consult with Canadians, instead of choosing to stay at his cottage long after his 14-day isolation had ended,” Plett told a handful of senators in the upper house.

Despite the Conservatives’ apparent lingering misgivings about the content of the bill, they agreed to allow it to pass quickly and dropped their previous attempt to tie the bill to the longer-term question of how Parliament should function in the midst of the crisis.

At a morning news conference just hours before the Commons met for a rare emergency sitting on the Easter long weekend, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said his party agreed to continue discussions later on the future of Parliament.

The bill authorizes the federal government to pay companies 75 per cent of the first $58,700 earned by each employee, up to $847 per week for up to 12 weeks. The subsidy is retroactive to March 15 and will be available to companies that lost 15 per cent of their revenue in March or 30 per cent in April or May.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the money will begin to flow within two to five weeks, with the government working to get it started in the shortest possible time.

Scheer said Conservatives won some improvements to the bill over the past week of negotiations and argued that demonstrates how important it is to have the Commons sitting regularly so that the government can be held to account.

“This shows that during times of crisis, Parliament needs to play its role,” he said.

Scheer reiterated his party’s contention that the Commons should sit _ with reduced numbers — four days a week.

Trudeau has argued that in-person sittings present a health risk for Commons clerks, administrators, security and cleaners who’d have to come to work at a time when all Canadians are being urged to stay home to curb the spread of the deadly virus. He’s also argued that small sittings — like Saturday’s sitting of just 32 MPs who are primarily within driving distance of the capital — would shut out MPs from all corners of the country.

Trudeau’s Liberals have been promoting the idea of virtual sittings of Parliament. Commons Speaker Anthony Rota has instructed Commons administration to consult with experts about the logistics and technology required for virtual sittings, with the goal of having them up and running within four weeks.

But Scheer said: “We can’t wait that long.”

He suggested that in-person sittings should be held until virtual sittings can be implemented.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he’s open to discussing either virtual sittings or “limited” in-person sittings. But Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet said he would never agree to regular, in-person sittings.

For the past couple of weeks, the Commons finance and health committees have been meeting weekly via teleconference. As part of the deal struck with opposition parties to speedily pass the wage subsidy bill, government House leader Pablo Rodriguez said more committees — industry, government operations, human resources and procedure and House affairs — will also begin virtual meetings.

The latter committee will be specifically tasked with exploring the best ways for the Commons to function in the weeks ahead. It is to report back by May 15.

Senators separately agreed to have two Senate committees begin meeting to examine government measures to respond to the COVID-19 crisis and to set up a special committee once the pandemic is over to review lessons learned.

To satisfy the NDP and Bloc Quebecois, the government promised in the motion to speed the bill through the Commons that it would implement measures “without delay” to fill some of the gaps left by emergency aid programs.

It promised specifically to ensure financial support for Canadians who don’t currently qualify for assistance — including seasonal workers, students, owner-operators, those who’ve exhausted employment insurance benefits and those earning modest incomes from part-time work, royalties and honoraria.

It also promised to ensure essential workers who are earning low wages will receive additional support.

At the behest of the NDP, the motion was amended to add a promise that the government will not “unjustly penalize” anyone who in good faith applies for and receives emergency benefits but is subsequently found to be ineligible.

The government also promised in the motion to provide partially non-repayable loans for small and medium-sized businesses to help them cover fixed costs, such as rent.

For the most part, the sitting was notable for its lack of partisanship, with New Democrat, Green and Bloc MPs thanking the government for being open to their suggestions for improvements and ministers thanking opposition MPs for their collaboration

Conservatives, however, characterized the bill as a “fix,” required after the government botched its first emergency aid legislation two weeks ago — $107 billion worth of tax deferrals and direct financial aid, including just a 10 per cent wage subsidy.

Trudeau, who has addressed the nation daily at briefings outside his home for 26 days, spoke instead Saturday in the Commons, where he delivered a Churchillian speech invoking the heroic battles fought by Canadian troops in the First and Second World Wars.

“This is not a war. That doesn’t make this fight any less destructive, any less dangerous but there is no front line marked with barbed wire, no soldiers to be deployed across the ocean, no enemy combatants to defeat,” he said.

“Instead, the front line is everywhere. In our homes, in our hospitals and care centres, in our grocery stores and pharmacies, at our truck stops and gas stations. And the people who work in these places are our modern day heroes.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 11, 2020.

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This weekend, musicals, horror flicks and sci-fi adventures are lighting up the big screen. First up is Elton John’s biopic, “Rocketman,” starring Taron Egerton as the famous talented musician.

Also making its debut is the horror flick “Ma,” in which Octavia Spencer plays a loner who has other hidden agenda when she invites unsuspecting teens to her home.

Meanwhile, the sequel “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” is making a splash of its own, starring Vera Farmiga and Kyle Chandler as married scientists trapped in a world of battling monsters.

Here’s what to see and skip this weekend:

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Movies Out This Weekend

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“Rocketman” — Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jaime Bell; directed by Dexter Fletcher

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The fantasy musical chronicles the life of Elton John (Taron Egerton) — whose real name is Reginald Dwight — from the time he was a young, shy piano prodigy in 1960s London through his meteoric rise and addiction-fueled lows.

Playing fast and loose with the facts, “Rocketman” opens with Elton John attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, in which he declares his addiction to sex, drugs, shopping and excessive overeating. The movie then highlights his pain and sufferings with the star’s hit songs, beginning with a young Elton singing “The Bitch Is Back,” a depiction of his turbulent relationship with his dismissive mother (Bryce Dallas Howard) and his distant father (Steven Mackintosh).

By his early 20s, Elton has risen to worldwide fame but, in spite of it all, he feels unloved. His romance with his talent manager, John Reid (Richard Madden), fizzles, and his close relationship with his best friend and music collaborator, Bernie Taupin (Jaime Bell), also hangs in the balance.

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As his emotional and musical journey unfolds over the years, so do Elton’s highs and lows, all leading up to his sobriety in the early ’80s with his celebratory hit song, “I’m Still Standing.”

See it. Egerton is phenomenal, and Fletcher’s direction is outstanding.

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Watch the trailer:

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“Ma” — Octavia Spencer, Juliette Lewis, Diana Silvers; directed by Tate Taylor

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This thriller stars Octavia Spencer as Sue Ann, a lonely woman who spends her days as an assistant to a grumpy veterinarian in suburban Ohio, and her nights just keeping to herself.

Then one day she befriends some neighborhood teens, including the new kid on the block, Maggie (Diana Silvers). She allows them to use her basement to have a party, under two conditions: First, they need to call her “Ma,” and second, they cannot go upstairs.

Thrilled, the kids accept her kindness and generosity. But they’ll soon discover that Ma has other plans for them.

See it. Spencer’s excellent performance buoys a somewhat lazy script.

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Watch the trailer:

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“Godzilla: King of the Monsters” — Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga; directed by Michael Dougherty

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Picking up five years after the catastrophic events of the 2014 reboot film, this sequel centers around Mark and Madison Russell (Kyle Chandler and Vera Farmiga), husband and wife scientists who are co-inventors of a bio-sonar device used to track whales. When their young daughter, Maddie (Millie Bobby Brown), accidentally re-calibrates the tool as a monster-summoning gadget, it attracts the attention of eco-terrorist Jonah Alan (Charles Dance).

Meanwhile, the gigantic monsters have broken free of their enclosures in China, and the fate of the world is at stake as monster titans, Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidora battle for supremacy. Can Godzilla and the Russell family save the world from doom?

Skip it. The screenplay squanders a talented cast on blurry and cloudy CGIs.

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Watch the trailer:

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Other Entertainment News:

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — The former Broward County Sheriff’s deputy who is accused of waiting outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as a lone gunman shot student after student, was arrested Tuesday on 11 charges stemming from the Valentine’s Day 2018 mass shooting, according to Broward County State Attorney Mike Satz.

Former Deputy Scot Peterson was booked into the Broward County Jail and his bond was set at $102,000, the State Attorney’s Office said. See also Broward’s Top Prosecutor Won’t Seek Re-Election In 2020

The affidavit filed in support of the warrant for Peterson’s arrest states that the gunman fired his Smith and Wesson M&P-15 rifle 140 times during the massacre, including “approximately 75 times between the time Deputy Peterson arrived at the southeast end of the 1200 building, moved to his position of cover, and the time when he … stopped shooting.”

The shootings took place between 2:21 p.m. when the gunman entered the building and 2:28 p.m. when the gunman left, the document said.

The affidavit placed Peterson on the radio with a fellow deputy at 2:24:24. At that time, Peterson allegedly said, “We don’t have any description yet, we just hear shots, appears to be shots fired,” which appears to establish Peterson knew there was a gunman in the school for several minutes before the rampage ended.

Parkland parent Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was among those killed by the gunman, had this to say to Peterson on social media: “You could have saved some of the 17. You could have saved my daughter. You did not and then you lied about it and you deserve the misery coming your way.”

Lori Alhadeff, who now sits on the Broward School Board following the death of her daughter, Alyssa, told reporters that she wants to see Peterson put in jail.

“He needs to go to jail and he needs to serve a lifetime in prison for not going in that day and taking down the threat,” she said.

Hunter Pollack lost his sister, Meadow, in the tragedy. He posted Peterson’s mugshot on social media and asked people to share it.

“He allowed 17 people to be murdered on his watch. He lied afterwards and had no remorse for his inaction,” Pollack said on Twitter.

The affidavit said police recovered five empty AR-15 magazines inside the building, including three on the first floor and two on the third floor.

Peterson abruptly retired following the incident when he was informed that he was being suspended without pay for his actions related to the horrific Valentine’s Day shooting in which 17 students and faculty members were killed. Another 17 people were wounded but survived.

Under the terms of his bond, Peterson was to be required to wear a GPS monitor, surrender his passport and abide by a ban on possessing any firearms while the case is pending, the State Attorney’s Office said.

If convicted of the 11 charges, Peterson could face a maximum sentence of more than 96 years in state prison.

In January, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission unanimously approved a 446-page report on the school shooting that concluded Peterson was “derelict in his duty” by not confronting the school shooter.

Video shows Peterson drawing his gun and taking cover outside the building. The report also was critical of other deputies who failed to enter the building during the shooting, but praised officers from the Coral Springs Police Department who quickly ran inside.

The arrest of Peterson follows a 14-month investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The 56-year-old Peterson was facing seven counts of child neglect, three counts of culpable negligence and one count of perjury.

“The investigation examined the actions of law enforcement during and following the Parkland school mass shooting,” the Broward County State Attorney’s Office said.

Peterson has insisted that he was no coward since the shooting. In a June 2018 interview with NBC News, Peterson said he would not hesitate to enter Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School if he could relive the Valentine’s Day massacre that forever changed the Parkland community.

Peterson spoke to the “Today” show’s Savannah Guthrie in his first television interview after the tragedy.

“Would you acknowledge now that you know in this really important moment, you missed it,” Guthrie pressed Peterson.

“I have to. I live with that,” responded Peterson in the two-part interview.

Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony also announced Tuesday that he was terminating Peterson and another deputy who were found to have neglected their duties. The other deputy was identified as Sgt. Brian Miller.

“The deputy and sergeant were found to have neglected their duties at MSD High School,” explained a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office. “They have been
terminated and will no longer be privileged to serve as law enforcement deputies for the Broward Sheriff’s Office.”

Tony said Peterson was taken into custody following an administrative discipline hearing at BSO headquarters on Tuesday afternoon.

“We cannot fulfill our commitment to always protect the security and safety of our Broward County community without doing a thorough assessment of what went wrong that day,” Sheriff Tony said. “I am committed to addressing deficiencies and improving the Broward Sheriff’s Office.”

Now that Peterson has been officially terminated, the spokeswoman told Patch that the former deputy will no longer be entitled to a sick leave payout.

“If a future employer inquires why Peterson left BSO, we can say he was terminated,” the spokeswoman explained.

In an earlier statement through Fort Lauderdale Attorney Joseph A. DiRuzzo, III, Peterson maintained that his actions were “appropriate under the circumstances.”

“Let there be no mistake, Mr. Peterson wishes that he could have prevented the untimely passing of the 17 victims on that day, and his heart goes out to the families of the victims in their time of need. However, the allegations that Mr. Peterson was a coward and that his performance, under the circumstances, failed to meet the standards of police officers are patently untrue,” according to a statement released by DiRuzzo.

President Trump called out Peterson by name in the aftermath of the shooting, referring to him as a “coward” or someone who “didn’t react properly under pressure.”

“He didn’t go into the school because he didn’t want to go into the school,” the president said of Peterson. “He was tested and it wasn’t a good result.”

During the investigation, Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents interviewed 184 witnesses, reviewed countless hours of video surveillance, and wrote 212 investigative reports, totaling more than 800 hours of investigation to determine the actions of law enforcement.

Investigators examined training records indicating that Peterson attended a four-hour block of active shooter training in April 2016, less than two years before the Parkland massacre.

“During the training, deputies were instructed on what a single deputy response should entail by being advised that ‘If you are on scene or in the area and hear gunshots, you should access what you have and prepare to respond,'” the affidavit explained. “‘Remember every time you hear a gunshot in an active shooter incident, you have to believe that is another victim being killed.'”

The investigation included the cooperation and assistance of the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, Coral Springs Police Department and other agencies that responded to the school shooting, the State Attorney’s Office said.

Assistant State Attorney Tim Donnelly is prosecuting the case for the Broward State Attorney’s Office.