The Guardian view on looking for aliens: friends in the sky?

Editorial

Recent discoveries in space and Earth sciences have provided encouragement to searchers for distant civilizations
Sat 15 Feb 2020
 

The Very Large Array radio telescope complex in New Mexico. Photograph: VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Is there anybody out there? For centuries human beings have wondered, although the ways in which we have gone about this have varied, encompassing spiritual and metaphysical questions as well as scientific ones. As we have gained greater understanding of the universe, however, our searches have taken on more concrete form. Questions about extraterrestrials have become a subject for science rather than science fiction and philosophy.

Now a new collaboration between the Very Large Array observatory in New Mexico and the privately funded Seti Institute in California, could mean that our curiosity about aliens is closer than ever before to being satisfied. Data from the VLA’s 28 giant radio telescopes, configured so as to scan a vast expanse of sky, will be fed through a special supercomputer that will search for distant signals. Scientists who work at the Seti Institute said the announcement means their research, for a long time confined to the eccentric margins of respectable science, are now “almost mainstream”.

How likely it is that a signal will be found, and what this might mean, are hard questions to answer. Seti’s existing projects have not detected any transmissions from other planets so far. But recent discoveries in space and Earth sciences have provided some encouragement to those who are enthusiastic about the prospect, however remote, of detecting other civilisations.

He once it was thought that our solar system could be unique, since the discovery of the first exoplanet (a planet in another solar system) in the 1990s, thousands more have been located. Around one in five stars are now thought to have a planet in their orbit in a so-called “habitable zone” – that is, at a distance from the star where the temperature (neither too hot nor too cold) means that life is theoretical feasible.

At the same time, the date at which life on Earth is thought to have started has been pushed back. Whereas once it was thought that the deep oceans could have sat dead and empty for billions of years before a freak chemical reaction produced the primitive cells that were the first form of life, recent science suggests that this could have happened much more quickly after the planet formed 4.5bn years ago. If it happened here, why not elsewhere?


Are Earth’s 7.5 billion human inhabitants, along with the billions of other animals and plants we share our home with, on our own in the universe, our blue planet an oasis in a desert of rocks and gases? If there is another life form somewhere, could it be as intelligent as us? Or pose a risk to us, as the physicist Stephen Hawking once warned? As investigations of Mars continue, and a new set of observations from the James Webb Space Telescope are set to begin, our interest in the possibility of alien life appears undimmed – even as conditions in our own biosphere appear ever more unstable.

Astronomers to sweep entire sky for signs of extraterrestrial life

Project is collaboration between privately-funded firm and New Mexico observatory

Hannah Devlin Science correspondent

 @hannahdev

Sat 15 Feb 2020 00.01 GMTLast modified on Sat 15 Feb 2020 00.30 GMT

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The Very Large Array observatory in New Mexico will gather data to be analysed by the Seti Institute. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty

Astronomers will sweep the entire sky for signs of extraterrestrial life for the first time, using 28 giant radio telescopes in an unprecedented hunt for alien civilisations.

The project is a collaboration between the privately-funded Seti Institute and the Very Large Array observatory in New Mexico, one of the world’s most powerful radio observatories. Gaining real-time access to all the data gathered by VLA is considered a major coup for scientists hunting extraterrestrial lifeforms and an indication that the field has “gone mainstream”.Normal astronomy operations will continue at the VLA, which was featured in the 1997 film Contact, but under the new arrangement all data will be duplicated and fed through a dedicated supercomputer that will search for beeps, squawks or other signatures of distant technology.

“The VLA is being used for an all-sky survey and we kind of go along for the ride,” said Andrew Siemion, director of the Berkeley Seti centre. “It allows us to in parallel conduct a Seti survey.
“Determining whether we are alone in the universe as technologically capable life is among the most compelling questions in science, and [our] telescopes can play a major role in answering it,” said Tony Beasley, director of The National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which runs the VLA.The first phase of the project, installing new cables, has been funded by John Giannandrea, a senior Apple executive and trustee of the Seti Institute, and Carol Giannandrea.

The VLA project is one of a wave of upcoming Seti initiatives sketched out at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference in Seattle on Friday.
Jill Tarter, an emeritus researcher at the Seti Institute, gave updates on Panoseti, a proposed observatory in the prototype stage of development designed to continuously watch a large portion of the sky. If funding is secured, Panoseti will comprise two geodesic domes covered in half-metre lenses, giving it the appearance of a giant pair of insect eyes. The ability to simultaneously watch a vast expanse of sky would make it uniquely suited to spotting transient signals, such as the flash of a distant powerful laser. “To catch that kind of thing you really do want to be looking when the signal comes your way,” said Tarter ahead of her talk.
The veteran Seti scientist said the field had been boosted in the past decade by the discovery that about a fifth of stars host planets in the “habitable zone”.

“Now that there might be more habitable real estate out there than we ever imagined early on … it seems to make this next question about intelligent life more realistic,” she said. “It’s not as far on the fringes as it once was – it’s almost mainstream.”

Others are hunting for less intelligent varieties of alien life. Speaking at the same session at AAAS, Victoria Meadows, who leads Nasa’s Virtual Planetary Laboratory at the University of Washington, described observations planned with the James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch next year.

Three Earth-sized planets orbiting a cool, dim star called Trappist-1 in the constellation of Aquarius will be high up on the hit list. Computer models suggest the Trappist-1 system is among the most promising for finding planets with atmospheres and temperatures that would enable liquid water to exist on the surface.

“The James Webb Telescope will be able to tell us whether they have atmospheres like the Earth or Venus,” said Meadows. “It gives us our first real chance to search for gases given off by life on another planet. We’re basically going to get to study Earth’s cousins.”

Siemion also announced the second tranche of results from the $100m (£76m) Breakthrough Listen Initiative: no alien transmissions have been detected so far.

How should we respond to alien contact? Scientists ask the public
Read more 

REMEMBER LIFE IS AMINO ACIDS, MICROBES, BACTERIA, VIRUSES, ETC. WHICH MAY BE GREEN OR GREY

The latest survey, the most comprehensive to date of radio emissions, included the first search of the “Earth transit zone”. The transit zone search targeted 20 stars in positions where the hypothetical inhabitants of these solar systems would be able to observe the Earth’s shadow flickering across the sun. This method of detection has allowed astronomers to identify thousands of exoplanets and determine whether their conditions are potentially habitable.

“This turns that around and says, ‘What if some other civilisation were watching our sun?’” said Siemion.

If there is, it is either watching quietly or watching from some of the other 200bn stars in the Milky Way.

As the latest technology advances bring scientists a step closer to answering the question of whether anyone or anything is out there, there are still issues to be ironed out over best practice in the event that an alien civilisation is detected.

Stephen Hawking warned against attempting any form of contact, suggesting the outcome for humans would not necessarily be good. Siemion disagrees. “Personally I think we absolutely should and I think without a doubt, we would,” he said. “Part of being human is wanting to reach out into the unknown and wanting to reach out and make connections.”


He is less decisive about what Earth’s message should be, however. “I don’t know … I spend absolutely zero time thinking about that,” he said. “I guess I would just say, ‘Hello’.”

Canada: protests go mainstream as support for Wet'suwet'en pipeline fight widens

Protesters have blocked railways and barricaded ports in wave of dissent – and the pressure on Justin Trudeau has increased

Amber Bracken at Unist'ot'en Camp and Leyland Cecco in Toronto
Fri 14 Feb 2020

 

People stand in ceremony as police arrive to enforce Coastal GasLink’s injunction at Unist’ot’en Healing Centre near Houston, British Columbia, on Monday.

Photograph: Amber Bracken

As armed Canadian police officers advanced through snow towards their camp, the group of Indigenous women was absorbed in a drumming ceremony to honour the spirits of missing and murdered Indigenous women across the country.

Rows of red dresses hung from a fishing line slung across the road, and from pine and spruce trees in the surrounding forest – each one a memorial to the thousands of Indigenous women killed or disappeared in recent years.

A pair of helicopters buzzed overhead, but on the ground, the women’s voices and drums drowned out the officers as they warned them to leave or face arrest.

“We remained in ceremony – even as the tactical officers surrounded us and began pick off individuals,” said one of the women, Dr Karla Tait.

Set amid dense evergreen forests near the bank of the Wedzin Kwah, or Morice River, the remote cabins at Unist’ot’en camp have become a place of healing for Indigenous youth, who take lessons on trapping and traditional medicines.

But the camp in north-western British Columbia is also the last line of defence in the Wet’suwet’en nation’s fight against a controversial natural gas pipeline.

The long-simmering conflict came to a head this week, as Canada’s national police force deployed helicopters, armed officers and dogs to enforce a court injunction and clear Indigenous activists who had been blocking work crews from the route of the C$6.6bn (US$5bn) Coastal GasLink project.

Twenty-eight people were arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, including three Wet’suwet’en matriarchs – Tait, Freda Huson and Brenda Michell.

“I felt overwhelmed with sadness, and pain over the fact that we were being removed from our territory,” said Tait, remembering the moment she was escorted past the fluttering red dresses towards a police vehicle. She made sure to touch each dress as she left.

But she and the other “land defenders” remain defiant. Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, who oversee 22,000 sq km of territory, have stubbornly opposed the project and remain locked in a battle with the courts, the pipeline company – and the government of Justin Trudeau.

And in recent days, their fight has been taken up by other groups across the country.

For more than a week, members of the Tyendinaga Mohawk have blocked freight and commuter rail traffic in Ontario, in support of the Wet’suwet’en. Elsewhere, protestors have blocked roads, barricaded access to shipping ports and occupied the offices of elected officials in a wave of dissent. 

 Freda Huson wears her blanket, a nighthawk, as she waits for police to enforce Coastal GasLink’s injunction at Unist’ot’en Healing Centre near Houston. Photograph: Amber Bracken

Late on Thursday, Canadian National Railway, the country’s largest freight operator, said it was shutting down its operations in the east of the country due to the continuing blockade, and warned of temporary layoffs. Soon after, Via Rail, which operates much of Canada’s passenger rail service, said its entire service would be suspended until further notice.

Climate action groups have also taken up the cause of the Wet’suwet’en, seeing their fight as part of a broader one against resource extraction projects in the country.

The demonstrations have piled pressure on Canada’s prime minister, who has vaunted his commitment to diversity and tackling the deep-rooted inequities facing Indigenous peoples.

“Trudeau has gone to the United Nations to shed tears about the history of Canada’s relationship with indigenous people,” said Tait. “And on the other hand, he’s essentially authorizing the use of force against our unarmed people for upholding our rights.”

This week, Trudeau has expressed his support for peaceful protest – but also criticised the rail blockades.

Amid pleas from business leaders for a swift end to the crisis, other politicians have been even more outspoken in their condemnation.

In Alberta – a province whose economy relies on oil and gas – the conservative premier, Jason Kenney, has warned that the current unrest is a “dress rehearsal” for future opposition to fossil-fuel based projects.

“This is not about Indigenous people. It’s not about carbon emissions. It’s about a hard-left ideology that is, frankly, opposed to the entire modern industrial economy,” said Kenney. “It’s about time that our police services demonstrated that this is a country that respects the rule of law.”

And after protesters barricaded the entrance to British Columbia’s legislative assembly, the province’s premier, John Horgan, called the demonstrations a “shift from traditional protest – to something quite different”. 

A man walks dogs across train tracks as members of the Tyendinaga Mohawk territory block the route servicing Via Rail, as part of a protest against British Columbia’s Coastal GasLink pipeline, in Tyendinaga, Ontario, on Thursday. Photograph: Chris Helgren/Reuters

Molly Wickham, a spokesperson for the Wet’suwet’en who also has the hereditary name Sleydo’, agreed. “Indigenous people see what’s happening to us and see what’s happening to our territory and our pristine waters – and to our people on the ground, having semiautomatic weapons aimed at us,” she said. “People are responding to that in appropriate ways.”

More than just a row over a pipeline, the Wet’suwet’en protests also reflect Canada’s often fraught relationship with First Nations.

“Ever since colonization, the aim has been to dispossess our people from our lands. To impoverish us. To assimilate us. To eliminate us,” said Tait. “We know that our self-determination, our sovereignty, our very identity, is based on us having control over our lands.”

In November, British Columbia became the first province in Canada to pass legislation promising to uphold the United Nations declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples. But such promises seem empty in the wake of recent police actions, said Wickham.

“There were tactical teams walking around with semi-automatic weapons in my territory. Industry was allowed to come and go freely. White settlers were allowed to come and go freely,” she said. “But if you were a Wet’suwet’en person, you are not permitted on your own territory.”

MOHAWK PROTESTERS ONTARIO

Q&AWho are the Wet’suwet’en?
The Wet’suwet’en nation have lived on their territories in what is now British Columbia for thousands of years. They have never signed treaties or sold their land to Canada.

With a population of about 5,000, the Wet’suwet’en are composed of five clans (Gilseyhu, Likhts’amisyu, Laksilyu, Tsayu and Gidimt’en), which are further divided into 13 house groups, each with its own distinct territories.

The Unist’ot’en, the People of the Headwaters, belong to the Gilseyhu clan.

Hereditary chiefs are responsible for the health and sustainability of their house group territories, and Wet’suwet’en law prohibits trespass on the territory of other the house groups.

Wet’suwet’en people have retained their legal traditions and continue to govern themselves through the Bahtlats (feast hall), where decisions are ratified and clan business is conducted.

Controversy around the Coastal GasLink project has been compounded by questions over who has the right to speak for the Wet’suwet’en.

Coastal GasLink has signed benefit agreements with the 20 elected First Nations councils along the route, including five of the six elected band councils in the Wet’suwet’en nation. But Wet’suwet’en chiefs say the authority of these groups only applies to reservations – not traditional territory where the pipeline is proposed.

Unlike in much of Canada – where relationships between First Nations and the state are governed by treaties – few aboriginal nations in British Columbia ever signed deals with colonial authorities Unlike in much of Canada – where relationships between First Nations and the state are governed by treaties – few aboriginal nations in British Columbia ever signed deals with colonial authorities, meaning the federal government still operates in a vacuum of authority on their lands.

In 1997, the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan nations won a landmark case in which the supreme court ruled that their aboriginal title had not been extinguished when Canada became a country. But the case did not establish the boundaries of that title and the court suggested subsequent cases would be needed to settle the issue.

“Aboriginal title claims of the Wet’suwet’en people have yet to be resolved either by negotiation or litigation,” wrote the justice Marguerite Church in her decision to grant Coastal GasLink the injunction. “While Wet’suwet’en customary laws clearly exist on their own independent footing, they are not recognized as being an effectual part of Canadian law.”

Legal experts believe the Wet’suwet’en would probably have a strong case to establish title to the land in the courts, enabling them to better fight the project. But such cases can take decades to adjudicate and cost millions of dollars, a prospect Tait called “insufficient” given the pipeline’s imminent construction.

For those on the front lines of the fight, the nationwide support is a vindication that the long-simmering frustrations over land claims and a fraught Indigenous relationship with the state are facing a long-overdue reckoning.

“This is far from over,” said Wickham. “We’ve had day after day of invasion and we’re still here. We’re still not giving up.”

School climate strikers join Valentine's Day protests across world

In UK, students march on first anniversary of nationwide protests by young people

Greta Thunberg hails school climate strikes


Jonathan Watts and Jessica Murray Fri 14 Feb 2020 

 

Students take part in Friday’s climate strike in London. There were similar protests in other UK cities as well as across the world. Photograph: Simon Dawson/Reuters

Striking students have joined Valentine’s Day rallies across the world as the protest movement attempts to ratchet up pressure on governments and companies before crunch UN climate talks in Glasgow later this year.

In London, the young demonstrators held banners proclaiming “Roses are red, violets are blue, our Earth is burning and soon we will too” and “Climate change is worse than homework” as they marched through Parliament Square on Friday to mark the first anniversary of nationwide climate strikes in the UK.

Students in Durham, Glasgow, Brighton and dozens of other cities also braved often wet and cold condition to march through the streets chanting, “What do we want? Climate justice. When do we want it? Now.”

Greta Thunberg, who initiated the movement as a solitary striker in Stockholm in August 2018, said climate strikes were planned in 2,000 cities across the world on Friday, and that bigger actions were planned for the coming months.

In many countries, the protests have expanded to include local environmental concerns, new strategies and stronger emphasis on global climate justice.

In India on Friday, strikers turned their focus on government plans to deforest swathes of the Aravallis mountain range, which is a conservation area that provides freshwater and oxygen for Delhi and other cities. Some carried banners in English reading: “I love Aravallis”, “Our green lungs” and “Protectors are turning destroyers”.



Teenage activist takes School Strikes 4 Climate Action to Davos

In Sydney, climate strikers demonstrated with banners that depicted the devastating bushfires and blamed the government of Scott Morrison for the “climate chaos” that has hit Australia. In the Philippines, climate strikers organised an educational storytelling campaign to raise public awareness.

In Scotland, Holly Gillibrand, who was one of the first strikers in the UK when she started a vigil outside Lochaber high school in Fort William in the Highlands, said the growth of the movement had been incredible.

“When I began striking over a year ago, Greta Thunberg and Fridays for Future [campaign] were not well known at all and I was one of very few strikers in the UK, but since then, everything has changed. The movement has gone from one person to 7.5 million.

“Even if we still aren’t getting the radical action we need from governments, politicians are feeling the pressure to act and we just need to keep pushing, keep shouting, keep rebelling until they do.” Holly continued her strike on Friday, with a hot chocolate to help get her through the wet weather.

Among those striking for the first time on Friday was a group in Rwanda, where protesters tweeted Timages of themselves holding signs that said: “Rwanda stand for climate.”

Friday’s action was not intended as a mega-strike like those in September, when more than 6 million people took part, but it showed how the campaign has evolved.

Maryam Grassly, 17, who was among the hundreds of strikers in central London, said: “The most enthusiastic and passionate people have stayed on, and more people have got involved and been inspired by it, but at the same time we’ve lost the people who didn’t really care.”

But in her mind there was no question about the relevance of the protest. “When the election happened and Boris [Johnson] got voted in I just kind of gave up on the world, I thought that’s it,” she said. “We’ve got the climate emergency and net zero by 2050 but nothing is happening as fast as it should be.” Similarly she was “excited but worried” about the UK hosting Cop26 later this year, saying the previous conference of the parties in Madrid did not go well.

But the protesters were still hopeful about the difference they have made over the past few months.

Maude Brown, 17, said: “I’ve been very concerned about the issue for almost a decade, I was taught about it in year 4, and no one really cared then so I’m happy that everyone is concerned about it now. I think as more politicians from our generation come in we can make a lot of change in the future.”


Most of the strikers were teenagers, but there were some younger children too. Claire Bullivant, from Essex, has been bringing her children Imogen, 12, Max, 9 and Theodore, 5, to the strikes for a few months.

“I just think it’s so important to get them involved and to support them because they’re so aware of what’s happening in the world, and they see it in the news, and we don’t want to sit back and do nothing,” Bullivant said.

While her daughter’s school has been supportive of her decision to take time off for the strikes, her sons’ school has been less so, but Bullivant said the time off was “totally justified”.

“It’s educational, it’s empowering to be part of a community and show that they’re trying to make a difference to the world, I just don’t think you can underestimate experiences like this,” she said.

Asked why she was so keen to get involved, Imogen said: “If we don’t save the Earth there’s not going to be anywhere else for us to live.”

A year ago, the size of the protests in the UK took police by surprise, as thousands defied their teachers to skip school and join the still nascent movement. The students are now backed by longer established environmental organisations, including Global Justice Now, Greenpeace and the Green party. Among those at Friday’s march in London was a trade union climate bloc.

Friends of the Earth are backing the school climate strikers, who it credits for shifting public opinion. There is still a long way to go, but with technology developments and strong policies, the group said there was cause for hope. “Huge change is possible. In 2019, the UK went coal-free for 19 days. That’s the longest break since the 1880s, and something that would have been unthinkable a few decades ago,” it said.

Play Video


2:55 'I want you to panic': 16-year-old issues climate warning at Davos – video




Play Video 1:20 Thousands of UK students strike over climate change – video

Canada driver captures rare sighting of mother lynx and her kittens

The wild cats which are larger than bobcats spend much of their life
hidden in thick forest and are rarely seen in groups

Leyland Cecco in Toronto  Fri 14 Feb 2020

Rare sighting of lynx family crossing road in Manitoba – video

It is one of Canada’s stealthiest predators, so spotting a single lynx is rare enough for travelers in the country’s hinterland.

But a driver in the western province of Manitoba recently managed to capture on video an entire family of the wild cats as they crossed the road.

Shaun Kirchmann was travelling along Highway 6 from Grand Rapids to Winnipeg, when a silhouette close to the treeline caught his eye.

The Manitoba Hydro employee pulled over to the side of the road, hopeful the shape he had spotted would move closer into view. Moose and deer are common sights along much of the country’s highway systems, and wolves and coyotes can occasionally be seen too.

But Kirchmann was shocked as a mother lynx and her five kittens emerged from the trees, cautiously padding through the snow towards the highway.

“It was one, two, three … I just kept seeing heads poke out of the bushes and I was just stunned. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s a family of lynx.’ But I’d never heard of this many lynx being together,” Kirchmann told CBC News.

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The wild cats, known for their distinctive black-tipped ears, spend much of their life hidden in thick forest, and are rarely seen in groups, making Kirchmann’s sighting all the more special.

Manitoba Hydro shared Kirchmann’s video on Facebook, racking up more than 5,600 views.

“Caution: cat crossing. Our employee Shaun Kirchmann filmed this lynx litter on the highway to Grand Rapids after he saw a bunch of little heads peeking from the trees,” said the company.

Canadian lynx, which are larger than bobcats, have a large range throughout the country. Their diet consists mainly of snowshoe hare, which has white fur in the winter and brown during the spring and summer.

Population numbers remain healthy for the lynx in Canada, but it is considered a threatened species much of the United States, the result of excessive trapping and timber harvest.

Australian immigration and asylum

'Finally, a life': Canada comes to the rescue when a refugee family loses hope in Australia

Dima, Hani and their son escaped the hopelessness of detention through sponsorship that led to permanent residency, in Toronto

Helen Davidson @heldavidson Fri 7 Feb 2020

 

Palestinian refugees Dima (right) and Hani, formerly detained on Nauru, 

with toddler Mohammed flying to Canada from Australia.

Dima first appeared in the headlines three years ago. Back then, she was a 37-year-old anonymous refugee on Nauru with a potentially life-threatening pregnancy, being refused a critically needed transfer to Australia. When the Australian government finally agreed, Nauru’s ministry refused to let her go.

Eventually, at 38 weeks pregnant, suffering suspected pre-eclampsia and with her baby in breech, Dima was flown to Cairns. Her husband, Hani, was left behind.

It took almost two years before she and her family were reunited – across the country in Adelaide, in the limbo of community detention.

Speaking to Guardian Australia in Canadian mid-winter, in a new home near her child’s daycare, that all seems very far away.

'I can't believe I'm free': the Canadian citizens ending the torment for Australia’s offshore refugees Read more

“In Australia you’re free but you don’t have choices,” she says.

“Work, study, where I live – these choices are essential for a human being.”

The family are now permanent residents in Canada, welcomed under a Canadian government sponsorship system which is increasingly becoming the final life raft for the refugees left in the limbo of Australia’s infamous offshore processing system.

Under the internationally condemned regime, anyone attempting to seek asylum in Australia by boat after mid-2013 was sent to Nauru or Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. The two centres detained thousands in conditions that included abuse, neglect, illness, riots and death. Hundreds have been brought to Australia for medical care but their future remains the same: empty of any promise except that they’ll never settle in Australia.

So they had to find other ways out.

‘We are really here’

Dima was born in Kuwait and, as a stateless Palestinian refugee, never given citizenship. She and Hani – also a stateless Palestinian refugee – met in Iraq and fled together.

The couple left their Baghdad home and travelled a well-worn path to Australia. They landed in Nauru, still together, until the Australian government said Dima had to give birth alone.

Years later, in Adelaide, the family left their Australian home for the last time, before dawn. Dima, Hani and their toddler Mohammed flew to Sydney for a connecting flight to Vancouver, where the paperwork took so long they missed their flight to Toronto. Eventually they got there.

“We were really tired, but we were excited – like, wow, fuck we are really here!” Dima laughs.

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“Our sponsors were in the airport and said, ‘Finally!’ Because it was a really long process.


“We were excited that finally we were getting our freedom, and normal limitations, with no one controlling our lives. We can be what we want to be. Mohammed can be what he wants to be. He can be free, he can have a life.”

It was autumn in Toronto when the family arrived but it was gearing up to be a harsh winter. Ravi de Costa, an Australian living in Canada and one of the family’s sponsors, recalls Mohammed coming to visit wearing snow pants and five separate layers.

t The family joined 62 others in lodging a complaint against the Australian government with the UN for arbitrary and indefinite separation. 

Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

‘Aussie mum’

Ravi met the family through his mother, Caroline de Costa. Dima calls Caroline their “Aussie mum”.

An obstetrician, Caroline was by Dima’s side soon after she was transferred to Cairns from Nauru.

In late 2017, Caroline and Ravi heard of a young man, Amir, who had been detained in offshore processing and who had made it to Canada via the Canadian government sponsorship system.

They started the paperwork to sponsor the family a few months later, while Hani was still in Nauru.

Dima hadn’t seen him since she was medically evacuated to Cairns, having been told he would follow.

She gave birth via C section. Caroline was there.

Nauru overrules Australia over decision to transfer sick pregnant refugee
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Ten days later the new mother was moved with her baby to a former convent outside Cairns, until she found accomodation and built a life for a year – protected from being returned to Nauru by the lobbying of lawyers and local advocates. Then, one day in February, the government gave her 72 hours’ notice that she and her baby were being sent to Adelaide.

For 10 months more Dima looked after Mohammed without Hani, whose mental and physical health was deteriorating in Nauru.

The family joined 62 others in lodging a complaint against the Australian government with the United Nations for arbitrary and indefinite separation.

In December Hani was transferred but made to stay in detention until enough pressure was brought on the authorities to let him live with his wife and child.

“It was overwhelming, I was crying, I was really happy for us to be together again as a family, and for Mohammed and Hani to be together as a father and son,” says Dima.

“Because Mohammed is so young, it was sort of effortless. I’m not saying that is for every family, but we were speaking every day so Mohammed knew it was his father. But it was so different because he was living with us now.”
‘Not as easy as it seems’

Their Toronto apartment is in a friendly and multicultural community near services, transport, halal food and Mohammed’s preschool. They are still looking for friends, Dima says, but first they need jobs.

“Moving to a new country is not as easy as it seems. Although we have our freedom, we have to look for jobs, to engage and emerge in the community, and then we can find work.”

Dima wants to study and Hani, a mechanic, wants to get his Canadian qualifications and has started an apprenticeship.

They have time – the Canadian program requires sponsors provide a certain amount of money for each refugee to support them for the first year, while they find their feet.

Ravi and his four co-sponsors (his partner Dilya, Dilya’s sister and two friends) were approved after a full year’s wait, and with fundraising by Caroline, provided C$24,000 ($26,800) for the family.

“The private sponsors have to think about where the family are going to arrive, what services they would need, what kind of supports exist,” he says.

“Once you start looking, in this country and this city in particular, there are so many things. We found free furniture, clothes, healthcare, speech therapy for Mohammed. There are all kinds of things here. So the settlement plan is really about coming up with those kind of things that human beings need – what kind of housing will be realistic, kinds of work, school.”
‘It’s people action’

The sponsorship program was originally designed to bring in Syrian refugees from the civil conflict, but bringing in people from Australia’s ill-designed and internationally condemned system proved more challenging.


“Dima and Hani were in the Australian system with a whole set of pretty challenging legal situations and uncertainties we had to figure out, as well as the sponsorship process,” Ravi says.

“[I got advice from a colleague in law school who] said there’s no way of knowing things like average timelines with Australian detention, [whereas] there were timelines and parameters for people coming from camps in Turkey.

“We don’t know what happened inside the Canadian immigration department and so on, but in the end it happened very effectively.”

Asked how he feels as an Australian expat in Canada, comparing the two countries’ treatment of the family, Ravi says it’s frustrating that the political cultures are so different.

“I don’t want to convey the idea that Canadians are free from racism or anything like that, it’s not, but it’s not a public culture or a political culture where people can be – or there’s a need to be – very aggressive towards marginalised people like refugees,” he says.

“Canada’s situation hasn’t produced a carceral state, an archipelago of camps and offshoring.”

Dima just wants people to help those still in the system, like people helped her even though they didn’t know her.

“If you want to help you can do it. Don’t wait for the government to change its mind because they won’t,” she says.

“It’s people action, not the government, because the government doesn’t listen to people.”

Australia's offshore detention is unlawful, says international criminal court prosecutor

Treatment of refugees and asylum seekers ‘cruel, inhuman or degrading’, but does not warrant prosecution, ICC office says

Ben Doherty @bendohertycorro Sat 15 Feb 2020

The office of the ICC prosecutor has described Australia’s camps on Nauru and Manus Island as an ‘environment rife with sporadic acts of physical and sexual violence committed by staff at the facilities’. Photograph: Saba Vasefi
Australia’s offshore detention regime is a “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment” and unlawful under international law, the international criminal court’s prosecutor has said.

But the office of the prosecutor has stopped short of deciding to prosecute the Australian government, saying that while the imprisonment of refugees and asylum seekers formed the basis of a crime against humanity, the violations did not rise to the level to warrant further investigation.

In a letter to the independent MP for Clark, Andrew Wilkie, the office of the ICC prosecutor said conditions in the Australian-run camps on Nauru and PNG’s Manus Island were dangerous and harsh, and an “environment rife with sporadic acts of physical and sexual violence committed by staff at the facilities”.


'Finally, a life': Canada comes to the rescue when a refugee family loses hope in Australia Read more

“These conditions of detention appear to have constituted cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment (“CIDT”), and the gravity of the alleged conduct thus appears to have been such that it was in violation of fundamental rules of international law.

“In terms of the conditions of detention and treatment, although the situation varied over time, the office considers that some of the conduct at the processing centres on Nauru and on Manus Island appears to constitute the underlying act of imprisonment or other severe deprivations of physical liberty under article 7(1)(e) of the statute [crimes against humanity].”


But the office of the prosecutor said the matters did not fall within the jurisdiction of the court and did not demonstrate the “contextual elements” to warrant further investigation for prosecution.

“Cases must be grave enough to justify action by the court … it does not appear that the conditions of detention or treatment were of a severity to be appropriately qualified as the crime against humanity of torture.”

The international criminal court was established in 2002 to try individuals charged with “the gravest crimes of concern to the international community, such as genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity”.

The Rome statute that created the court has been ratified by 123 countries, including Australia, but several major countries – including China, India, Russia, and the US – have refused to join.

African countries have argued the court has been disproportionately and unfairly focused on crimes committed in Africa. The court has also been criticised for securing too few convictions.

Wilkie first wrote to the ICC in 2014, alleging the government of then prime minister Tony Abbott was breaching international law by engaging in imprisonment, deportation and the forcible transfer of a population.

Abbott’s immigration minister – now the prime minister – Scott Morrison derided Wilkie’s request as an “attention-seeking” stunt, saying, “Australia is a sovereign country that implements our policies consistent with our domestic laws and our international obligations.”

But Wilkie has remained in regular correspondence with the court since 2014, providing it with evidence of abuses including: deaths in detention through murder and medical neglect; the indefinite detention of children; forced family separation; and the details of the Nauru Files, published by the Guardian detailing the detention system’s own reports of rape, sexual abuse, self-harm, and child abuse in offshore detention.

About 230 refugees and asylum seekers remain on Nauru, and about 180 in Papua New Guinea. Several dozen are undertaking the process for resettlement in America.

“The ICC’s response is a remarkable condemnation of the cruelty of the Australian government’s asylum seeker policies,” Wilkie said. “We’ve long known that the government’s response to asylum seekers has been barbaric, inhumane and expensive, but now there can be no doubt.”

“Although the ICC advised me that a number of matters I referred were beyond the court’s jurisdiction, recent developments in the government’s asylum seeker policies have opened up new avenues for further investigation and I am currently seeking legal advice as to the next step forward.”

Greens senator Nick McKim said the prosecutor had found “people were illegally imprisoned on Manus Island and Nauru, denied proper medical care and treated in a cruel, inhuman and degrading way”.

“The New Zealand offer still stands and Mr Morrison should pick up the phone to Ms Ardern, and finally provide the freedom and safety so desperately needed by so many people,” McKim said.


Leaked photos of Papua New Guinea prison reveal 'torture' of 18 asylum seekers cut off from world Read more

Human rights lawyer Greg Barns, who worked with Wilkie in presenting evidence to the court, said the ICC had made it clear Australia’s offshore detention regime was a breach of the Rome statute.

“It is extraordinary and shameful that a nation which purports to believe in the rule of law should be found to be in breach of the international law which outlaws cruelty and inhumanity.”

The Guardian put a series of questions regarding the ICC’s findings to the Department of Home Affairs. A response has not yet been receive

The villas were uncovered below modern buildings in an area known as Stabiae, approximately four kilometres southwest of Pompeii after archaeologists spotted a secret tunnel leading there from the ancient Roman settlement. Now, TV cameras have been allowed inside the series of illegally dug tunnels for the first time ever during Dan Snow’s new documentary “Pompeii’s Final Hours: New Evidence” set to air Saturday on Channel 5. The famed historian burrowed into the series of shafts, leading to a huge, completely unexcavated villa.

Speaking to Express.co.uk exclusively, he said: “It’s a bit controversial, I went into a tunnel used by robbers to burrow into the volcanic debris beneath Pompeii.

“We were the first TV crew to be allowed in there.

“I’m not that claustrophobic, but I tell you what – I was down there.

“It was no bigger than the circumference of my body and while we were down there I found some human remains, it was pretty intense.

“So you are always making unbelievable discoveries and you can use modern technology to find things.”

Mr Snow continued, adding that the wider area hit by Mount Vesuvius will unveil many more secrets over time.

He continued: “Pompeii was a city, and all the villas around it were like the Hamptons, or Sandbanks.

“Imagine Sandbanks was destroyed by a volcano, the richest part of the Roman Empire just completely covered.

“They’ve only been into about five or six of those villas, there’s another thousand down there.

“They’ve only been into about five or six of those villas, there’s another thousand down there.

“The robbers have basically done the archaeologist’s job for them, so now they just have to follow them and expand the tunnels.

“There’s so much more to discover, we are at the start of the process.”

Almost 2,000 years ago, Mount Vesuvius erupted in one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions in history.

It sent a huge cloud of superheated tephra and gas to a height of 21 miles, before ejected molten rock, pulverised pumice and hot ash at 1.5 million tonnes per second, obliterating Roman settlements and burying thousands under the burning rubble. 

It covered the city of Pompeii and the surrounding areas in a blanket of thick material, leaving the opportunity for so much more to be discovered.

Taal volcano update: 77 earthquakes hit Philippines volcano overnight - Will Taal erupt?

TAAL VOLCANO could be brewing towards another eruption, authorities have warned after 77 earthquakes rocked the Philippines volcano in a single day

Between Sunday and Monday, at least 77 earthquakes rocked Taal volcano, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS).

At 8am local time today (midnight GMT), the agency said Taal was showing signs of magma moving under the volcano.

The Taal Volcano Network reported an additional 11 harmonic earthquakes – a type of rhythmic tremor often preceding volcanic eruptions.

The harmonic earthquakes each lasted between one and four minutes.

PHIVOLCS said: “These earthquakes signify magmatic activity beneath the Taal edifice that could lead to eruptive activity at the Main Crater.”

Local residents have been told to avoid a 4.3-mile-wide danger zone around the active volcano.

Taal volcano has also been showing signs of activity around its crater.

Officials reported plumes of steam drifting from the volcano up to heights between 65.6ft and 164ft (20m and 50m).

The volcano has also been spewing dangerous amounts of toxic sulphur dioxide (SO2), which can cause breathing problems if inhaled.

PHIVOLCS said emissions on Saturday, February 8, peaked at 182 tons (166 tonnes) per day.

The ash, as you know, is a very good material for bricks

Hermilindo Mandanas, Batangas Governor

Taal volcano is one of the 24 active volcanoes in the Philippines.

Located in the Batangas province on Luzon Island, the fiery mountain roared into life in January this year after a 43-year-long sleep.

Taal volcano erupted on January 12 when it belched a thick column of smoke and ash into the skies, triggered by a steam-driven blast in the crater.

Taal volcano update: The volcano erupted on January 12 and January 13 this year (Image: GETTY)

A second eruption went off on January 13 when molten rock entered the volcano.

More than 480,000 people in Batangas were affected by the eruptions and widespread evacuation orders forced people to flee for their safety.

The volcano sits in the middle of Taal lake – a volcanic caldera that has filled with water – and is surrounded by villages, town and cities.

However, in a bid to make the best of the eruption, Batangas Governor Hermilindo Mandanas suggested using the fallout from Taal to manufacture bricks and crop fertiliser.

On Sunday he said: “The ash, as you know, is a very good material for bricks and for hollow bricks.”

He added: “Ash is very good fertiliser. That’s why the lands around Taal Lake are very fertile.”

But there is still a risk Taal could erupt again and PHIVOLCS has warned of sudden blasts, followed by intense ashfall, earthquakes and fissures in the ground.

PHIVOLCS said: “Communities beside active river channels particularly where ash from the main eruption phase has been thickly deposited should increase vigilance when there is heavy and prolonged rainfall since the ash can be washed away and form lahars along the channels.

“Civil aviation authorities must advise pilots to avoid flying close to the volcano as airborne ash and ballistic fragments from sudden explosions and wind-remobilised ash may pose hazards to aircraft.”

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Ghana is the second largest cocoa producer in the world. Still, many Ghanaians have yet to taste chocolate: The precious commodity is largely for export. The cocoa farmers in this resource-rich country also usually see little of the profit. Crossing the Lake Volta in central with ferries and water taxis can be a dangerous business. Many farmers from remote villages cross the world's largest artificial lake several times a week to sell their produce at local markets. The journey can be tricky, especially during storms or if they are transporting livestock. The belief that death is the gateway to eternal life is deeply rooted in the West African country, and funerals are an important social event there. Coffins symbolize the deceased’s profession - for example, shaped like fish, sewing machines, bibles, bush taxis or cocoa beans - and funerals are rarely a gloomy affair and often more like a carnival. The splendor of the funeral and the number of mourners attending reflect the standing of the deceased’s family in the community.

Mount Merapi, one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, erupted Thursday, spewing a column of ash 2,000 meters into the air, while threatening the roughly 24 million people who live in the vicinity with cold lava flooding.


Videograpic on volcanoes. Indonesia's Mount Merapi, one of the world's most active volcanoes, erupted Thursday as fiery red molten lava streamed down from the crater and it belched clouds of grey ash 2,000 metres (6,500 feet) into the sky.VIDEOGRAPHICS

The eruption began at 5:16 local time (10:16 GMT) on the Indonesian island of Java. The volcano's alert status was raised to one level above normal, indicating no immediate danger to surrounding areas, though a 3km radius exclusion zone has been established around the volcano as a precaution. Eyewitness video from the scene shows stunned locals in awe of the eruption.

Gunung merapi pagi ini 05.18 wib view Tempel...#merapi#gunung#Jogja#update@Jogja24Jampic.twitter.com/fOthXCnddD

— Arifin Malau (@malaudotcom) February 12, 2020

It's ok 😊😊#merapi@merapi_newspic.twitter.com/MXdEGld80c

— Mba Pes (@mbapesofficial) February 12, 2020

Merapi pagi ini semoga tetap mandali @merapi_newspic.twitter.com/zpqPv7HzKd

— Calon Dukuh (@dilisaputra_) February 12, 2020

“The eruption lasted 150 seconds, spewing smoke and a 2,000-meter-high ash column,” National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesperson Agus Wibowo said in a statement on Thursday.

Authorities advised commercial planes to take care and avoid the immediate airspace around the volcano as ash rained down on a 10-square kilometer area.

13 feb,2020 pukul 05.16 wib pic.twitter.com/au4HOr4cRK

— pendaki lokal🇲🇨🏁 (@JokoSus46520969) February 12, 2020

Mount Merapi has been erupting for centuries with the last major one on May 11, 2019 forcing large scale evacuations. The deadly 2010 eruption claimed the lives of 340 people, almost half of the roughly 800 volcano-related fatalities in Indonesia in the past decade, while some 60,000 people were displaced. 

According to the country's Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Center (BPPTKG), Merapi's volcanic activity increased between mid-December 2019 and mid-January 2020.

Indonesia volcano: Mount Merapi erupts sending 6,500ft ash cloud into the air

INDONESIA'S most active volcano Mount Merapi has erupted sending a giant plume of ash 6,500 feet into the air.
Disaster management authorities have issued a warning to tourists and locals to stay outside a two-mile radius zone around the peak of the lava-spewing volcano. Hanik Humaida, the head of the Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Centre, said: “There has been an increase in Merapi’s volcanic activity from mid-December 2019 to mid-January this year, both under and on the ground. Similar eruptions can still happen in the future as an indicator that the magma chamber is still supplying magma.”
Dangers surrounding the volcano eruption involve the collapse of a lava dome, which would cause terrifying slides of pyroclastic rocks and other volcanic materials, lava floods and heavy downpours, resulting in toxic chemicals being emitted into the air and breathed in.

Social media users shared images of the stunning sight on Twitter.

One shared a picture of the giant smoke cloud piercing the morning sunrise.

It had the caption: “Mount Merapi this morning and now is improving. #merapimeletus.”

Another shared a video of bubbling lava coming out of the volcano with the caption: “Mount Merapi in Jogjakarta, Indonesia erupted again this morning #merapivolcano #Merapi #eruption #volcano.”
Another, referring to the locals at the foot of the volcano, said: “The majestic Merapi strikes again. Hope they’re okay. #merapi.”

A fourth posted another picture of the rising ash cloud and said simply: “Beautiful but scary.”

The commenter added a sad emoji after the post.

The eruption happened at 5.15am local time.

Marapi is an active volcano located on the border between Central Java and Yogyakarta in Indonesia.
It is the most active volcano in the region and has erupted regularly since 1548.

A major eruption in 2010 saw the death of 350 people and the evacuation of nearly 400,000.

The volcano had a large eruption in 2010, with its most recent being in May 2018.

The year was one of the worst for the region which was also struck with more than 11,550 volcanic earthquakes that left many people dead or homeless.

Earlier in 2019, a river of lava flowed for around 4,593 feet down the volcano’s slopes, which authorities dubbed an “effusive eruption phase”.
Indonesia is home to several volcanos including the infamous Krakatoa.

There are in total 120 active volcanos in Indonesia, which also sees some of the worst earthquakes in the world on a regular basis making it one of the more volatile areas to live.

Earthquakes are put down to Indonesia location on the so-called Ring of Fire, a direct result of plate tectonics where movements trigger shock tremors.