Australian Cardinal George Pell knew of child abuse, report says

Australian Cardinal George Pell speaks to members of news media at the Vatican on June 29, 2017. File photo by Massimo Percossi/EPA

May 7 (UPI) -- Australian Cardinal George Pell was aware of credible allegations of child sexual abuse against priests under his authority as early as the 1970s but failed to take action, a government inquiry has found.

Pell, a former Vatican treasurer, was aware of child abuse being committed by clergy by 1973, contrary to his long-held assertions that he knew nothing about the accusations, according to the findings of a royal commission of inquiry.




An unredacted version of the inquiry's findings was not made public until Thursday in order to avoid prejudicing legal proceedings against Pell.

The Catholic prelate was convicted of child abuse in 2018, but was released from prison last month when Australia's supreme court threw out the conviction. The move triggered the release of more than 100 previously unseen pages of the royal commission's report.

Among its findings, the investigators found it "implausible" that Pell had not been told of child abuse allegations made against priest Gerald Ridsdale in the early 1970s.

Ridsdale later admitted to committing dozens of offenses against children over a 20-year span, many while serving as chaplain at a boys' school in the Australian city of Ballarat.

"We are satisfied that in 1973 Father Pell turned his mind to the prudence of Ridsdale taking boys on overnight camps," the commissioners said in the report.

RELATED Cardinal George Pell's sex abuse conviction overturned

"We are also satisfied that by 1973, Cardinal Pell was not only conscious of child sexual abuse by clergy, but he also considered measures of avoiding situations which might provoke gossip about it."

The inquiry also found that Pell was explicitly told of Ridsdale's "sexual transgressions" in 1982.

Pell said Thursday he was "surprised" by the commission's findings and asserted they are "not supported by evidence."

THE SMARTPHONE ECONOMY
Post-coronavirus crisis, should we go cashless?

What’s happening

When Amazon opened its first cashless Go stores in 2019, cities and states that banned cashless businesses forced the company to quickly pivot and start accepting cash. But amid the coronavirus pandemic, many Americans are rushing to use cashless payments, eager to avoid touching surfaces potentially contaminated with the virus. According to a YouGov poll, almost half of Americans say that they are turning to cashless payments when making in-person transactions during the crisis. And as businesses look at reopening, they are implementing cashless protocols, such as Starbucks’ pledge to shift to cashless payments so customers don’t have to worry about virus spread.


Why there’s debate

For cashless proponents, the pandemic is demonstrating why it’s time to go digital. Cash can spread germs as it moves through hands, they say. And cashless payments are faster: The millions of Americans still waiting for mailed coronavirus stimulus checks could have had the money deposited directly into their bank accounts.

Advocates also argue that swiping or hovering a card over a terminal is more convenient than counting out bills. Businesses would save money by saving the time that would otherwise be used to handle cash, they say. Plus, they say that thefts would decrease with the absence of money in cash registers and a better ability to track payments.

But opponents maintain that going cashless is discriminatory. Several states and cities, including New York City and New Jersey, have already banned cashless businesses. Going cashless excludes people without bank accounts — such as those who are young, low-income, homeless or undocumented. And a cashless world would be difficult for people who are less tech savvy, like the elderly, who often struggle to navigate digital systems.

Critics also worry about scenarios in which, instead of being robbed of $20 from your pocket, you are hacked and lose everything in your bank account. There are also privacy concerns, as it’s easier to monitor digital payments. Vulnerable people, such as domestic abuse victims, could no longer secretly save cash in hopes of escaping dangerous circumstances. Finally, critics say that there are logistical difficulties to a cashless society, given that there’s no universal global digital banking system.

What’s next

China is currently piloting the world’s first digital national currency, and other countries are considering following suit. Amid the pandemic, Democrats have floated plans to give Americans “digital dollars” for future stimulus relief and to provide banking for those without accounts, but no legislation has yet been passed.
Perspectives

Proponents

Cash is dirty and can carry germs

“Do I want to grab the thing that you were just holding in your hand? No.” — Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff to Politico
Digital wallets are more convenient

“For the U.S., digital wallets would have radically improved the government’s ability to help individuals and small businesses in this pandemic. Americans who signed up for direct deposit received stimulus payments much more quickly than those waiting for paper cheques” — Gary Cohn, Financial Times
Going cashless will help businesses recover in the pandemic

“I think the business case spoke for itself before COVID-19. I think it’s a necessity after COVID. And who knows how long we’re going to be operating with a latent amount of fear in our [customers’] minds about touching and extra contact?” — Steve Cannon to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It’s time to modernize our financial system
“The U.S. financial system was once considered unrivaled, but COVID-19 has exposed a network of outdated and inefficient technologies. Among the many lessons from this crisis, one will be that the U.S. must invest in its financial infrastructure to promote economic growth at home and its strategic influence abroad.” — Aditi Kumar, Los Angeles Times

Critics

A cashless society is an exclusionary society“Forcing customers to use only credit or debit is a discriminatory business model that disadvantages low-income people, people of color, undocumented immigrants and seniors. Communities of color in New York City are more than twice as likely to be unbanked and are far less likely to host a branch of a bank than the national average.” — Stuart Appelbaum, labor union president, to the Guardian
Without cash, it’s easier to get into financial trouble

“It can hurt people with low incomes when businesses go cashless, it can hurt workers who rely on cash tips and — even if you’re not in either of these groups — it can hurt you because it’s easy to get into financial trouble with credit cards.” — Sally French, New York Times

Cash provides privacy

“Cash safeguards our personal information, so each of us can decide whether or not to share the details of our spending habits. Digital payment technology makes it too easy to surrender our privacy.” — Doug Pertz, USA Today

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › The_Cat_Who_Walks_Through_Walls

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, published in 1985. Like many of his later novels, it features Lazarus Long and Jubal Harshaw as supporting characters.

Everyone should be able to participate in our economy

"Going cashless had positive results, but it also had the unintended consequence of excluding those who prefer to pay or can only pay with cash. Everyone in the community needs to have access to real food.” — Statement from SweetGreen restaurant chain, which reversed its cashless policy, Washington Post

Digital systems can fail

“Digital systems may be ‘convenient,’ but they often come with central points of failure. Cash, on the other hand, does not crash. It does not rely on external data centres, and is not subject to remote control or remote monitoring.” — Brett Scott, the Guardian

IN AFRICA MOBILE PHONES ARE THE FINANCIAL SERVICE INDUSTRY
Digitizing financial services key to Africa's post-pandemic growth, experts say
By Jack Kelly, Medill News Service


A woman selling tuber waits for customers at a market in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos, on Monday. Experts say African countries would benefit from digitized financial services during the pandemic. Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/EPA-EFE

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights Africa's need to digitize, especially in the financial services sector, to protect the continent's primarily cash-based societies from the spread of the disease, leaders from public and private African institutions said Thursday.

Speaking at an event hosted by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, these leaders said a robust and inclusive African financial services sector also will help prepare the world's second-most populous continent to leapfrog into the post-pandemic era.

"It's clear that the coronavirus pandemic is changing the way we work, changing the way we do business [and] changing the way we live," said Tim Kelly, the World Bank's lead information and communications technology policy specialist.

Kelly, who is based in Kenya, said that while the COVID-19 pandemic has yet to fully take root in Africa, the continent's myriad informal marketplaces would make it impossible to implement public safety practices like social distancing and physical isolation in many African cities.

I think a digital response to the coronavirus epidemic is so important for Africa," Kelly said. "It's an area where Africa can learn from the rest of the world, and an area where Africa has ... the chance to leapfrog through its digital transformation."

Musa Jimoh, director of the payment system management department at the Central Bank of Nigeria, agreed that transforming digital financial services is imperative to keep Africans safe in pandemics.

Markets across the continent currently work on primarily cash-based systems, and many Africans do not have formal bank accounts. Accordingly, most Africans rely on cash-based, in-person transactions to conduct their shopping.

"When you think about what's happened recently, we've seen that digitization has become a major compelling imperative for all Nigerians," Jimoh said. "With social distancing, a lot of Nigerians do not want to touch physical devices. ... Everybody wants to do transactions without having physical interaction with bank branches and other financial touchpoints."

Maximizing electronic transactions through mobile money and other digital technologies would allow for safer shopping during the pandemic, Kelly and Jimoh said.

Improving and digitizing financial services in Africa would also benefit the region's economy overall, according to Kennedy Mubita, who leads Standard Chartered Bank's African ventures division.

Mubita said the supply chains of many African manufacturers and companies are tied to Europe, when, in reality, they could be tied to other African nations.

"Digitization enables us to create new marketplaces and give new access to markets for people who are within the continent and [would] be able to find a product within the locality," Mubita said. "And in so doing increase the volume of sales and optimize the fixed cost that they put in their ventures."

Mubita added that before the arrival of digital financial services, many Africans and companies could not access credit from formal financial institutions. Now, digital platforms allow these individuals to have financial histories and help them access the financial services they need to run and grow businesses.

Viola Llewellyn, co-founder and president of Ovamba Solutions, a company that provides short-term capital to businesses via mobile phone payments, echoed the sentiment that financial inclusion will be key to Africa's post-pandemic development. However, she also highlighted the need for a uniform response to digitization from regulators and lawmakers.

Llewellyn said some regulators don't accept PDFs and digital signatures as official documents, slowing down business. She also said some laws need to be rewritten to eliminate roadblocks to digital commerce.

"We have an issue with the way the legal frameworks operate within a contractual basis," Llewellyn said. "It would be very difficult to continue to digitize trade when entire regions don't accept" some documents in digital forms.

She called the pandemic an "important opportunity" to push innovation in Africa and empower the continent to emerge stronger in the post-coronavirus world.

Tribes prepare hemp, CBD strategies after USDA approval



The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved an industrial hemp plan for the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, which has incorporated new hemp and CBD companies. Photo courtesy of Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa

DENVER, April 24 (UPI) -- Newly approved federal plans for tribal industrial hemp production are giving U.S. sovereign nations a competitive advantage in growing the plant and selling CBD, the tribes say.

As U.S. farmers rush to plant industrial hemp after 80 years of prohibition, tribal sovereign governments find they have an advantage because they can cut through red tape and become the first entrepreneurs in state markets to offer their own CBD and hemp products.

"The tribe is very excited about hemp," said Joseph VanGorp, hemp operations director for the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa. "It's been a long time coming."

The 2018 Farm Bill allowed tribes to apply directly for approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for hemp programs. USDA has approved 20 tribal nations' plans, with 18 more under review or in drafting stages.

RELATED Hemp farmers, CBD producers included in coronavirus emergency aid program

As sovereign nations, tribes can craft their own hemp plans, and tribal hemp companies do not have to be licensed by the agriculture departments of states in which they are situated.

Tribal-owned hemp operations can potentially bring new revenue into the tribal coffers to pay for member social services.

In Tama, Iowa, the 7,000-acre sovereign Sac & Fox Tribe, or Meskwaki Nation, can use its sovereign jurisdiction to regulate the CBD that the tribe will produce, hemp director VanGorp said.

Iowa has some of the most restrictive laws for CBD, which can only be sold with a doctor's prescription, according to the state attorney general. The tribe will sell its own CBD at its truck stop in Tama and through wholesalers. It already sells tobacco and vaping products.

"CBD is difficult to obtain in Iowa," VanGorp said. "It will be a lot easier for people to just come to Tama and choose what they want to buy."

VanGorp, who formerly worked in Colorado as a chemist in CBD extraction, said the tribe also plans to open an extraction facility -- the first in the state.
After hemp was allowed again in the 2018 Farm Bill, the Iowa Department of Agriculture approved a hemp plan for 2020 and some farmers are obtaining licenses. But no processing facilities have been approved in the state.

Iowa had a rich history of industrial hemp production before the plant was federally prohibited. "There were about 11 processing plants for hemp in the state in the 1940s," VanGorp said.

In New York's Cayuga Nation, the new hemp program this year will get a jump on other New York farmers, said Clint Halftown, the tribe's federal representative.

New York does not yet appear on the USDA's list of state-approved plans, although Gov. Andrew Cuomo approved hemp regulations in December 2019. As a result, hemp-growing still must be coordinated through a university pilot program.

Approved hemp programs for Cayuga Nation, and the affiliated Seneca Nation, will have more flexibility to grow hemp and market their own CBD products, tribal leader Halftown said.

The tribe, which grows vegetables and soybeans and raises cattle near Seneca Falls, N.Y., plans to plant hemp this spring.

"Our nation-owned and operated hemp program and our own line of CBD will stimulate another avenue revenue source for the community," Halftown said.

The USDA last week also approved a hemp plan for the Montana-based Blackfeet Nation. The tribe belongs to the Blackfoot Confederacy, a family of tribes on both sides of the U.S.-Canadian border. (ALBERTA BORDERS MONTANA)
Canadian farmers have been growing hemp for seed and fiber for more than 20 years, and some Canadian sovereign nations began to grow cannabis last year. Canada legalized recreational marijuana in 2018.

upi.com/7000166

U.S. hemp-based construction advances with fire-safety tests, new book

European buildings have used hemp-and-lime construction for decades, like in this multi-story Italian apartment building. Photo courtesy of Jonsara Ruth

DENVER, May 7 (UPI) -- Natural materials builders seeking to grow a market for industrial hemp in the United States are moving forward after successful testing for building safety codes and recognition by a national architecture and design program at a U.S. university.

Hemp advocates have identified lime-hemp building material, called "hempcrete," as an opportunity to build a market for hemp grown for fiber. Challenges have been a lack of supply, building code regulations and a lack of education among architects and designers, builders say.

Hemp advocates are encouraged by building safety tests that are moving forward faster than expected, said Dion Markgraaff, vice president of the recently formed U.S. Hemp Building Association, based in Denver.

Already this spring, hempcrete passed fire safety tests under the jurisdiction of ASTM International, formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials. Hempcrete was deemed inflammable in smoke development and flame-spreading tests.

RELATED Tribes prepare hemp, CBD strategies after USDA approval

The building association plans to apply soon for certification from the International Code Council, where engineers would to determine the technical standards and mix ratios to include hempcrete as a permissible building material in the United States.

"They're excited to help us get this done," Markgraaff said. "We thought it would take years, but it's moving very quickly."

Hemp construction products have the potential to generate jobs and economic growth on a local level, he said.

RELATED Products made from hemp-based plastics enter consumer market

"Farmers can grow hemp locally. Lime is everywhere, water's everywhere. This building material can boost the local economy and have a smaller [carbon] footprint," Markgraaff said.

Chipped hemp bark, lime binder and water are mixed together to make hempcrete. The material dries to a strong, stone-like substance that is fireproof, mold-proof and insect-proof, researchers at New York's Parsons School of Design's Healthy Materials Lab said.

Hempcrete has been used in building construction for 30 years in Europe, replacing siding, insulation and drywall, but fewer than 50 hempcrete structures have been built in the United States.

RELATED Hemp farmers, CBD producers included in coronavirus emergency aid program

A forthcoming 200-page book, "Hemp + Lime: Examining the Feasibility of Building with Hemp and Lime," edited by architect Alison Mears and Jonsara Ruth, an associate professor of design, presents an overview of a five-year research project on hemp-lime construction as a natural material for affordable housing.

For the book, researchers studied international uses of hempcrete and toured multi-story apartment buildings made of hempcrete in Italy and other European countries.

"Hemp is a unique plant because the silica inside its stalk allows it to attach to and bind with lime really well," Ruth said.

The hemp plant's cellulose can absorb large amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide while growing. When made into hempcrete, 9- to 12-inch-thick walls also are breathable and temperature controlling, unlike air-tight traditional building materials that trap off-gases from petroleum-based products, paints and solvents, Ruth said.

Builders and researchers envision hemp building materials in the construction supply chain, available off the shelf for builders.

They have had some successes.

Hempcrete made into pre-formed blocks is lighter in weight than traditional masonry material like brick or stone.

"These union masonry workers don't have to break their backs working with hempcrete blocks," Ruth said.

Another example is "HempWool" insulation batts, imported from Canada, which use industrial hemp fiber instead of fiberglass and can be installed with bare hands.

"With every other insulation material, you have to wear hazmat suits with a full respirator and gloves." said Tommy Gibbons, co-founder of Sun Valley, Idaho,-based Hempitecture.

"Hemp is the material that the green building industry has been waiting for," said Vermont-based architect Bob Escher, president of the hemp-building association.

"There are so many materials we'll be able to make out of hemp in the next 50 years," Escher said. "It will really change the whole construction industry in my mind."

House probe: Trump admin failed to adequately screen travelers for COVID-19

Officers with U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations screen international passengers arriving at Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Va., on March 13. Photo by Glenn Fawcett/U.S. Customs and Border Protection/UPI | License Photo

May 8 (UPI) -- The Trump administration failed to conduct effective screening of passengers from South Korea and Italy for the coronavirus when those countries were experiencing rapid expansion in COVID-19 cases, House investigators said.

In early March when South Korea and Italy were combating ballooning COVID-19 infections, Vice President Mike Pence announced "we are now screening 100 percent" of travelers from those countries for the coronavirus before entering the United States.

However, a report released Thursday by the committee on oversight and reform states this was not the case as the White House relied upon Italian and South Korean screeners to check passengers, of which almost none were barred from flying to the United States.

"This investigation reveals another opportunity the administration missed to limit the impact of the coronavirus," said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, chairman of the subcommittee on economic and consumer policy.

According to the report, the subcommittee was briefed by staff from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Homeland Security's Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office and the Department of State, which issued the screening directive for all passengers from those two countries on March 3.

The probe found that between March 3 and March 14 when President Donald Trump's sweeping travel restrictions went into effect for European nations, a total of only 13 passengers on two U.S.-bound flights from Italy were barred from boarding due to the screening process.

Similarly for South Korea, only 56 passengers were denied flying to the United States during this period.

Those who did enter the United States from Italy and South Korea, however, did not receive health screenings at U.S. airports despite the CDC issuing in late February its highest level travel advisory for those countries.

"Not until March 14, 2020, were travelers returning from Italy subjected to enhanced health screening, and travelers from South Korea never received enhanced health screening when arriving in the U.S.," the report said. "Prior to March 14, passengers did not even receive travel health advisory handouts with information about coronavirus and about how to self-isolate for 14 days."

The report accuses the Trump administration of having the ability to conduct the screenings it said it was performing but chose not to, stating such screenings had been performed since Jan. 17 for passengers arriving from Wuhan, China, where the virus emerged late last year, before being expanded to all passengers from the Asian nation in early February. The only passengers currently being subjected to enhanced screenings for the coronavirus are those returning from China, Iran, Britain, Ireland and the Schengen Europe region, it added

After Trump issued the sweeping travel restrictions on March 14, the administration did not "robustly screen" for coronavirus symptoms, the probe found.

According to government data, of the 250,000 passengers entering the United States from travel-restricted countries between Jan.17 and March 29, fewer than 1,500 passengers, or 0.6 percent, were referred to the CDC for public health screenings.

Krishnamoorthi launched the probe mid-March after the committee received letters from five U.S. citizens who had recently returned from either Italy or South Korea and raised concerns about the screening process after they were allowed to enter the country without being checked.

"Due to denials and delays, the administration lost critical time it could have used to prepare and build up capacity to mitigate -- a capacity we are no struggling to build while the virus wreaks havoc in our hospitals and homes," Krishnamoorthi said.

Introducing wolves leads to fewer wildland coyotes, researchers find


Populations of coyotes are reduced in areas of the United States where wolves have rebounded, researchers are finding. File Photo by Aspen Photo/Shutterstock

DENVER, May 8 (UPI) -- As the population of gray wolves expands across the northern United States, researchers are finding a surprising side-effect: Their presence appears to lead to a reduction in the coyote population.

Wildlife researchers at the University of Washington are using radio transmitter collars and game cameras to determine how the new presence of top-of-the-food-chain predators is influencing scavengers, or "kleptoparasites," particularly coyotes.

"Wolves really seem to have it in for coyotes," said Laura Prugh, associate professor of wildlife and forest sciences at the university.

In a "fatal attraction" scenario, coyotes that sneak up to the carcass of a wolf-killed elk or moose are attacked by their canid cousin in brutal ways, Prugh said.

RELATED Researchers share footage of coyote, badger playing together

"We've seen cases where wolves decapitated coyotes and buried their heads, kinda mob-style. It really is dog-eat-dog," she said.

Coyotes have expanded their territory nationwide into both human and wildland areas since the early 20th century, showing up in New York City's Central Park and on the streets of Los Angeles and Chicago.

In urban areas, they sometimes attack small pets and occasionally bite humans. They are hated by federal and state game officials, but trapping, poisoning and blowing them up with cyanide bombs does little to diminish their population.

RELATED Coyote runs through traffic in busy Chicago shopping area

Adaptable species

"Coyotes are one of the most adaptable species on the planet," Prugh said. "They can coexist and persist with wolves and people."

Listed as endangered in 1974, gray wolves have rebounded in the northern Midwest states of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The species also has recovered in Montana, Idaho and the northern Pacific Northwest.

RELATED Study: Small predators get ambushed at kill sites of larger predators

As movements grow to reintroduce wolves in western states like Colorado, coyote populations in wildland areas might drop, Prugh said. But she doubts wolves would follow coyotes into urban areas.

"Wolves don't do well with people," Prugh said. "Coyotes will always have a refuge in cities and places where there are lots of people."

Unlike wolves, coyotes hunt in pairs, or with a small pack of family members.

"They are extremely pair-bonded," said Prugh, who has witnessed coyotes snuggling in the wild. "But if their mate is killed, they'll find another mate within a month."

Fast reproduction

Coyotes can reproduce fast enough to compensate for up to 50 percent of their population being killed, Prugh said.

Coyotes usurped the ecological niche of top-level predators as wolves were killed off across the United States in the 1940s, said Roland Kays, a research associate professor at the Raleigh-based North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

"The wolves weren't there to keep them in their place," said Kays, who is not affiliated with the Washington research.

As mid-sized predators, coyotes don't go after elk, moose and even bison, as wolves can. "They sometimes kill a deer on their own, but they're not very good at it," Kays said.

Coyotes eat rodents, rabbits and even berries and insects, and in urban areas, outdoor pet food and garbage.

With the reintroduction of gray wolves in the northern United States, coyotes are getting an extra food source from wolf-kills in their role as scavengers, the Washington research shows.

Evolutionary trap

"We often think, 'Oh the coyotes like to scavenge, it must be good for them,'" Kays said. "But this research turns an old idea on its head. It turns out that scavenging is an evolutionary trap, with more coyotes ending up dying from it as a result than benefiting from it."

Yellowstone National Park's coyote population dropped by 50 percent for the first five years after gray wolves became established, said Bob Crabtree, chief scientist at the Yellowstone Ecological Research Center.

A pack of wolves kill an elk, and eat as much as they can until they become "meat drunk," and leave the scene. That's when coyotes and other species try to scavenge the carcass, until the wolves come back, killing about 80 percent of the coyotes who got caught on the scene.

"You need to compete to eat -- and not get eaten -- in order to survive and reproduce," Crabtree said.

Coyotes, though less populous now in Yellowstone, got smarter as they became accustomed to wolves, he said.

"The coyote is an incredible survivor," Crabtree said. Coyotes are a native species that date back to the prehistoric Ice Age era, he said.

"In the La Brea Tar Pits, of the six most common species of prehistoric animal found, five are extinct, and coyotes are still here," Crabtree said.

For centuries, coyotes seemed to prefer open plains to forested areas, but research with game cameras shows the species has now expanded to U.S. forests, finding new sources of food, North Carolina's Kays' research shows.

For example, invasive coyotes have eaten their way through the population of Olympic marmots, large wood chucks that live in the high mountain forests of Washington's Olympic National Park, studies show.

"We'll see what happens if wolves make it to that area," Kays said. "Maybe the marmots will have a chance if the wolves kill the coyotes and things will be more in balance."

Virus crisis leaves thousands of cruise ship crew stuck at sea

AFP / -This photo provided by Brazilian DJ Caio Saldanha shows his cabin on the Celebrity Infinity cruise ship. He says he feels like a prisoner on the ship where he works, with no news about when he can go home

The cruise industry has taken a beating during the coronavirus crisis -- on-board outbreaks, refusal of port access and now no clear idea of when ships can sail once again.

While the passengers have headed home, the journey drags on for tens of thousands of crew members who are stranded at sea aboard their vessels, with no end in sight.

Many are no longer being paid because their contracts ended; some have no internet access; tensions are flaring; and some have even filed suit against their employers.

"We are prisoners. I need help. We need help," said Caio Saldanha, a Brazilian DJ who works on the Celebrity Infinity, which is in limbo somewhere between Florida and the Bahamas.

"We need to fight to go home," the 31-year-old musician told AFP.

Saldanha shares a cabin with his 29-year-old girlfriend Jessica Furlan, who hosted on-board activities for passengers.

On March 13, US authorities issued a no-sail order as the virus crisis ramped up. Ships with passengers offloaded them -- some more easily than others.

But most crew members were required to remain on board. And now they're stuck.

There are more than 100 ships carrying over 70,000 crew in or near US territorial waters or ports, the US Coast Guard says.

"We are desperate to get home," said Furlan, who noted that they spent three weeks confined to their cabin, and then stopped getting paid on April 24.

- No free internet for some crew -

AFP / -Caio Saldanha (L) and Jessica Furlan, both from Brazil, are currently on board the Celebrity Infinity, with no news about when they can leave

Those who keep the ships running -- sailors, cleaners and cooks, for example -- are still getting paid, but anyone whose job was to entertain passengers is out of luck.

Other employees had completed their contracts, so they are not getting paid, either.

The cruise lines provide room and board, but crew must pay for anything else -- even toothpaste and soap. Some have to pay for WiFi.

"We do not have free internet -- from one point of view, I do understand, but from the human point of view, I cannot," said Verica Brcic, who manages the spa on the Maasdam, operated by Carnival subsidiary Holland America.

Brcic was transferred on March 29 to the Koningsdam, which is meandering along the US West Coast with 1,100 personnel from eight different ships.

ANP/AFP/File / Robin van LonkhuijsenHolland America Line's MS Koningsdam -- seen here in Rotterdam in May 2016, on the eve of its dedication ceremony -- is now off the US West Coast, with 1,100 crew from eight different ships

"Humans need to stay in contact" with family and get news from home, said the 55-year-old, who is from Serbia.

Brcic has no idea when she might get home. She hasn't been on dry land since early March.

A 52-year-old musician who works for Princess Cruises (also a Carnival subsidiary) says he too has to pay for WiFi. He also says there is not enough food to go around.

"I feel like I'm in forced confinement," said the musician, who asked not to be named, or for AFP to even say which ship he works on, for fear that his employer would retaliate.

- 'Roller-coaster of emotions' -

The major cruise lines stand accused of failing to do enough to get their staff home, ostensibly to save money on pricey charter flights -- a claim the companies deny.

Royal Caribbean says the issue stems from the fine print of their agreement with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

That agreement says cruise companies are liable -- in both criminal and civil court -- if the crew fails to follow the rules of disembarkation to the letter.

"We are happy to do all the things they requested, but the criminal penalties gave us (and our lawyers) pause," Royal Caribbean CEO Michael Bayley said in a May 3 letter to crew seen by AFP.

Bayley then wrote that Royal Caribbean would sign anyway, because "the importance of getting you home is so great."

Lauren Carrick, a British dancer on the Infinity who shares a cabin with her boyfriend, wants to know why the process is taking so long for Royal Caribbean, which owns Celebrity Cruises.

AFP / -Lauren Carrick (L), a 29-year-old British dancer, and her fiancé Joe Harrison -- seen here in San Juan, Puerto Rico -- are aboard the Celebrity Infinity, and also want to get home

"It's just a roller-coaster of emotions," the 29-year-old Carrick told AFP.

"It's really tiring and exhausting. At nighttime, I can't sleep. My mind is constantly going to like, 'When am I going to get home?'"

But not everyone is in a huge rush. Some crew members feel safer at sea and fear that all the publicity is going to hurt the companies that pay their bills.

"It is complex and very frustrating for those of us that love our jobs," said a 42-year-old South African food and beverage manager for Carnival.

He said keeping the crew on board was costing more than the charter flights would, and that it was simply "very difficult to repatriate certain people to certain destinations."

"That fault cannot lie with the cruise lines -- it lies with bodies like the CDC," he said on condition of anonymity.

- It's complicated -

Bayley says that of its 25,000 employees on board ships, more than 1,000 of them say they want to stay.

For those who want to get home, he says, it's complicated.

"Our crew come to us from more than 60 countries. Each country has rules and regulations for who can travel home, and how, and when," Bayley wrote in his letter.

Some countries are not even accepting their own nationals, he said.

AFP/File / Mark RALSTONCarnival says it's making "strong progress" towards getting its crew members home -- its Panorama cruise ship is seen docked in Long Beach, California on March 7, 2020

Carnival is making "strong progress" in getting its employees home "via air charters and our own ships," spokesman Roger Frizzell told AFP.

The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) told AFP that so far, there have been a total of 2,789 confirmed cases of COVID-19 onboard 33 cruise ships, among passengers and crew.

Last month, employees of Celebrity Cruises filed a class action lawsuit accusing the company of negligence. This week, the family of an Indonesian crew member filed a wrongful death suit against Royal Caribbean.

Banksy tribute to UK health service displayed in hospital

AFP / Stuart MARTINA University Hospital Southampton staff member looks at an artwork by street artist Banksy called "Game Changer", showing a boy playing with a nurse superhero toy with figures of Batman and Spiderman discarded in a basket

A new artwork by Banksy in honour of Britain's health service has gone on display in a hospital, paying tribute to medics battling the coronavirus pandemic in the second hardest-hit country.

The street artist also posted an image of the work on Instagram, which shows a boy in dungarees playing with a figurine of a nurse in a superhero cape.

The sole splash of colour in the artwork -- entitled 'Game Changer' -- is the red cross on the nurse's uniform, while discarded Superman and Batman figures lie in a basket next to the boy.

"Thanks for all you're doing. I hope this brightens the place up a bit, even if it's only black and white," the enigmatic artist said in a note for hospital workers.

Hung on a corridor wall at a hospital in Southampton in southern England, the one-square-metre (10-square-foot) tableau will be put on public display when lockdown measures are lifted, a spokeswoman for Banksy said.

It will later be auctioned to raise money for charities connected to the country's National Health Service (NHS). Other pieces by the secretive artist have previously fetched millions of dollars.

Britain's official COVID-19 death toll this week overtook Italy's, with more than 32,000 fatalities -- second only in severity to the United States.

Rare Saudi resistance hits futuristic megacity project

AFP/File / FRANCK FIFE 

The tribal revolt exposes a rare domestic clash with a government that has a reputation for crushing dissent

A rare revolt by a Saudi tribe has spelt fresh trouble for a planned Red Sea megacity, a linchpin of the crown prince's economic vision already beset by low oil prices.

The $500 billion NEOM project, set to be built from scratch along the kingdom's picturesque western coast, is billed as a futuristic cityscape evocative of a sci-fi blockbuster -- with everything from flying taxis to robot-maids.

Economic analysts have long questioned its viability in the era of cheap oil.

But Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's dream project hit a new roadblock last month when a member of the local Huwaitat tribe was gunned down after he refused to give up his land for the project.

Be the shootout, Abdulraheem al-Huwaiti posted a series of scathing videos in which he likened the forcefored displacement of his sprawling tribe, based in the northwestern Tabuk province for generations, to "state terrorism".

He presciently claimed his opposition would get him killed.

Saudi Arabia's state security agency said the "wanted" man died in an exchange of fire with state forces after he resisted arrest, adding that a cache of weapons had been recovered from his house.

Many other members of the Bedouin tribe, who commonly own guns, were detained for spreading anti-displacement slogans and refusing to sign relocation documents, multiple activists said.

It exposes a rare domestic clash with the government that has a reputation for crushing dissent, while it grapples with the twin economic blow of historic low crude prices and a coronavirus-led shutdown.

NEOM has said 20,000 people would need to be relocated to clear room for construction as it presses ahead with its target to complete its first sites by 2023.

- 'Deep cuts' -

The government is preparing emergency plans to slash spending as crude prices drop, with Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan warning of "painful" measures and an "extremely long" list of affected budget items.

He did not specify whether NEOM will be among them. Even before the crisis, the project -- first announced in 2017 -- has struggled to attract investment.

"I will be surprised if cuts are not made -- deep cuts in capital expenditure for NEOM," a Saudi source associated with the project told AFP. "Given the sums required, it cannot but be delayed in many aspects."

The source added that the government is offering "generous compensation in cash" to those displaced by the project in addition to "new properties" within the kingdom.

In a bid to placate the community, NEOM has also launched "social responsibility programmes" including university scholarships and vocational training programmes, the source said.

Several Huwaitat tribesmen have rejected what they call "vague" compensation offers, activists told AFP, even as state-run media have published a pledge of loyalty by the tribe to Saudi rulers.

The campaigners say NEOM is designed to be a liberal expat enclave in a conservative nation that is unlikely to benefit local residents.

- 'Crown jewel' -

"What happened in NEOM was the tragic death of a resident of a village that is being relocated," Ali Shihabi, a member of the NEOM advisory board, said on Twitter.

"Similar to the concept of 'eminent domain' used in Western law, the government is taking ownership of private land to use for the project... This happens all the time, all over the world when roads, train tracks or dams are built."

But forced evictions could backfire as economic pressures grow, observers warn.

"The combination of record-low oil prices and mounting demographic pressures poses significant challenges to Prince Mohammed's (MBS) future plans in Saudi Arabia," said the Soufan Center, a think tank.

"The high-tech city in NEOM is the crown jewel of MBS' future vision for Saudi Arabia, but it remains unclear how a prince's pet project will help the kingdom deal with its youth bulge.

"The government will have less cash to dispense as patronage to assuage Saudi citizens. The erosion of the social contract between the rulers and the ruled will lead to serious problems, especially in a tribal society."

But as part of his grand ambition to pivot the economy away from oil, Prince Mohammed looks set to press ahead with NEOM, billed as a regional Silicon Valley whose marketing slogan is a "bold and audacious dream".

"The economic fundamentals have turned further against this fantastical project, but I don't expect MBS to give it up," said Kristin Diwan of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

"It's the touchstone for everything he wants to achieve."