US to collect tariffs on aluminum sheet goods from 18 countries

BUT NOT CANADA 

by Tyler Van Dyke, Breaking News Reporter
| October 09, 2020 

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced on Friday that the United States will collect tariffs on $1.96 billion worth of aluminum sheet goods from 18 different countries.

The tariffs would be "the largest and most far-reaching case that our department has brought in more than 20 years," Ross said on Fox Business's Mornings with Maria.

Among the countries included are Germany, Bahrain, and Oman. Germany faces the highest tariffs, anywhere from 52%-132%.

Today @Commercegov announced affirmative preliminary determinations in the antidumping duty investigations of imports of common alloy aluminum sheet from 18 countries: https://t.co/bibcJgtyAS pic.twitter.com/wVuK6qdMqd— Sec. Wilbur Ross (@SecretaryRoss) October 9, 2020

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Ross told anchor Maria Bartiromo that the tariffs were a result of "aluminum dumping" into the U.S. Even though China is not among the counties facing this new tranche of tariffs, "What's really been happening, actually, is Chinese excess capacity has been dumped into other markets. That, in turn, displaces production, which gets dumped here." China already faces a number of tariffs from the U.S., including on steel and aluminum.

Ross said that the tariffs are "in effect right now" but clarified that "these are preliminary determinations, but the tariffs will be starting to be collected right away. Final determinations will be in February 2021, assuming that the [International Trade Commission] rules that there really was damage."

Asked whether he was concerned that the tariffs would have a negative impact on prices for consumer goods, Ross said that "very often, the same countries that are subsidizing the exports subsidize some of the tariffs, and they do it either directly or by letter their currency depreciate. Both ways help to offset the tariff," which would prevent an increased burden on the consumer.

Ross also emphasized that even with these tariffs, there is an increased demand for goods that use sheet aluminum, such as RVs.

"I was out in Indiana two days ago, and they are one of the leading companies making recreational vehicles — RVs — said that they are months backlogged despite prices, despite CBD, despite everything else," he said.

Work from home becomes permanent option for some Microsoft employees

by Kareem Anderson
 Email Twitter: @MindHead1 6 hours ago inNews

Many scientists and pharmaceutical experts are estimating that life in the US may still be irregularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic well into 2021, and in light of a business landscape reacting to that reality, Microsoft has officially allowed work-from-home to be a permanent option for its employees.

According to internal guidance given to The Verge, Microsoft will be upending its traditional on-premise work environment for a more flexible “hybrid workplace.” Microsoft’s new flexible working plans include employee allowances to work-from-home freely for under 50 percent of the work-week and while some flexible work hours will be available without manager approval, managers will be given the power to approve of more permanent remote options. Part-time work schedules will also be available for employees barring any managerial disapprovals based on work-type.

In conjunction with the new work-from-home shift, Microsoft will also be adjusting benefit structures and perhaps pay as a result with the company covering home office expenses for permanent remote work but stipulating that those who choose to “move away from Microsoft’s offices will need to cover their own relocation costs.” The distinction between the two options is subtle but necessary to determine what equipment the company should and will reimburse.

While the work-from-home options appear to be available to all employees, Microsoft notes that not all employees will be able to take advantage of the new allowances, particularly those who require to access to data centers and in-person training as well as those who work in hardware labs such as the company’s Surface employees. Aside from these minimal stipulations, employees are otherwise free to relocate both nationally and internationally if their new work-from-home schedule and environment don’t interfere with their workload.

Today’s news appears to supersede Microsoft’s decision made in late July, to reopen its offices presumably for in-office work in January of 2021 at the earliest which will allow for people who choose to go back into the office then to do so, while simultaneously mandating a new permanent work-from-home availability.

Cerrejón mineworkers hold firm: show your support

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7 October, 2020Workers at the Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia are five weeks into a bitter strike against the imposition of a brutal new shift system. They need your support.


Members of IndustriALL affiliate Sintracarbón are in the fifth week of a strike at the Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia.
Union president Igor Diaz gives a strike update in a radio interview on Monday

When the Covid-19 restrictions began, collective bargaining negotiations were suspended. When they resumed this summer, Cerrejón unilaterally announced a radical change to the shift system, without consulting the union and in violation of Colombian law. The new shift roster, which workers call the 'death shift', will lead to the loss of 2,500 direct and indirect jobs, and require workers to work an additional 72 days a year for the same wage.

Sintracarbón members voted for strike action to resist this assault on their terms and conditions. The Colombian labour ministry offered facilitation to end the strike, but Cerrejón boycotted the process. The mine is jointly owned by three multinational mining companies, AngloAmerican, BHP and Glencore, who have refused to intervene. IndustriALL has written to the companies more than once to demand they take responsibility for the crisis.

IndustriALL has also written to Cerrejón’s customers - major energy companies in Europe and Turkey, including Vattenfall and Engie – asking them to conduct due diligence over Cerrejón’s violations of workers’ rights. In addition, IndustriALL is contacting institutional investors in the three mining multinationals, including pension funds, to make them aware of the situation.

Sintracarbón workers need your support. 

Please sign the LabourStart petition and tell the company to return to the negotiating table.

http://www.industriall-union.org/cerrejon-mineworkers-hold-firm-show-your-support

Once again, a company has taken advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to attack workers' rights. This time, it's coal miners in Colombia who have had to go on strike. Workers at the Cerrejón coal mine are in the middle of bitter dispute with three multinational mining companies, Anglo American, BHP and Glencore.   When the pandemic broke out back in February the union, in good faith, withdrew its list of demands and suspended collective bargaining negotiations. When negotiations resumed in July, the company refused to respond to the union proposals, and instead demanded concessions in rights and benefits. Then the company unilaterally announced a radical shift change roster, without consulting the union and in violation of Colombian law. The new shift roster, which workers call the 'death shift' will lead to the loss of 2,500 direct and indirect jobs, will require workers to work an additional 72 days a year for the same wage, will cause turmoil in workers' family lives and will lead to an increase in fatigue and thus an increase in accidents. The company has boycotted the government labour ministry’s facilitation to end the strike, now in its fourth week. The union in Colombia and IndustriALL global union have a launched an online campaign on LabourStart in support of the miners.  Please take a moment to show your support - click here.  And please don't forget our campaign in support of miners in Ukraine, who have taken their fight for justice underground - into the mines.  Learn more and show your support here.

Nitrogen fertilizers are jeopardizing climate goals, new study finds

BY AFS STAFF

OCTOBER 9, 2020

The expanding use of nitrogen fertilizers in agriculture is pushing nitrous oxide emissions to levels that jeopardize climate goals and the objectives of the Paris Agreement, according a new study published in Nature.

Nitrous oxide — a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide — remains in the atmosphere longer than a human lifetime. Its use has risen 20 percent from pre-industrial levels and accelerated in recent decades, with alarming implications for climate change, researchers found.

“The dominant driver of the increase in atmospheric nitrous oxide comes from agriculture, and the growing demand for food and feed for animals will further increase global nitrous oxide emissions,” explains study lead author Hanqin Tian, director of the International Center for Climate and Global Change Research at Auburn University in Alabama. “There is a conflict between the way we are feeding people and stabilizing the climate.”

The study, which aimed to produce the most comprehensive assessment to date of all sources and sinks of the potent greenhouse gas, was undertaken by an international consortium of 57 scientists from 14 countries and 48 research institutions, with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in a key role. It was led by Auburn University under the umbrella of the Global Carbon Project and the International Nitrogen Initiative.

The study also determined that the largest contributors to global nitrous oxide emissions come from East Asia, South Asia, Africa and South America. Emissions from synthetic fertilizers dominate releases in China, India and the United States, while emissions from the application of livestock manure as fertilizer dominate releases in Africa and South America, the study found. The highest growth rates in emissions are found in emerging economies, particularly Brazil, China and India, where crop production and livestock numbers have increased.

The most surprising result of the study was the discovery that current trends in nitrous oxide emissions are not compatible with pathways consistent to achieve the climate goals of the Paris Agreement.

“Current emissions are tracking global temperature increases above 3°C — twice the temperature target of the Paris Agreement,” said study co-author Robert Jackson, a Stanford University professor and chair of the Global Carbon Project.

However, opportunities to reduce nitrous oxide emissions do exist, according to study co-author Wilfried Winiwarter, a senior research scholar in IIASA’s Air Quality and Greenhouse Gases program and former director of the International Nitrogen Initiative’s European center.

“Europe is the only region in the world that has successfully reduced nitrous oxide emissions over the past two decades,” Winiwarter says. “Industrial and agricultural policies to reduce greenhouse gases and air pollution and to optimize fertilizer use efficiencies have proven to be effective. Still, further efforts will be required, in Europe as well as globally.”

“This study shows that we now have a comprehensive understanding of the nitrous oxide budget, including climate impacts,” adds study co-lead Rona Thompson, a senior scientist from the Norwegian Institute for Air Research. “We are able to assess and quantify measures to reduce nitrous oxide emissions, and many of these measures will also improve water and air quality, benefiting both human health and ecosystems.”

Study co-leader Josep “Pep” Canadell, chief scientist in the Climate Science Center at the Australia-based Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization and executive director of the Global Carbon Project, agrees that the research is significant and urgent.

“This new analysis calls for a full-scale rethink in the ways we use and abuse nitrogen fertilizers globally and urges us to adopt more sustainable practices in the way we produce food, including the reduction of food waste,” he notes. “These findings underscore the urgency and opportunities to mitigate nitrous oxide emissions worldwide to avoid the worst of climate impacts.”

Image: Shutterstock/Singkham

CANADA
NDP Leader Singh calls for Second World War-style excess profits tax to pay for pandemic spending

BILL CURRY
OTTAWA OCTOBER 8, 2020

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh responds to a reporters question during a news conference on Parliament Hill Thursday in Ottawa.
ADRIAN WYLD/THE CANADIAN PRESS

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is calling for an excess profits tax to help pay for emergency pandemic spending, drawing inspiration from temporary tax measures imposed by Canada and the U.S. during the First and Second World Wars to address profiteering concerns.

At a news conference on Parliament Hill, Mr. Singh repeated his calls for a wealth tax and tougher enforcement of offshore tax evasion while also adding the new proposal to his party’s wish list of tax measures.

Mr. Singh said that while many businesses are suffering during the pandemic, he pointed to companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and large grocery chains as examples of firms that are enjoying “massive” profits because of shifting consumer trends. He said corporate profits that are above prepandemic averages should be subject to at least double the current corporate tax rate.

“It should not be everyday people that pay the price for the cost of this pandemic or the cost of the recovery," he said. “Those at the very top who have enjoyed massive profits should certainly pay their fair share.”

Mr. Singh later asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Question Period on Thursday whether he would support the idea. Mr. Trudeau did not directly address the question, but said the government has already raised taxes on the top 1 per cent of income earners.


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Katherine Cuplinskas, press secretary to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, also did not directly address the NDP proposal, but said in an e-mail that the government pledged in last month’s Throne Speech to “identify additional ways to tax extreme wealth inequality," including by limiting the stock option deduction for wealthy individuals at large, established corporations and "addressing corporate tax avoidance by digital giants.”

The NDP is in a position of influence on Parliament Hill as the only opposition party to vote with the minority Liberal government on a confidence vote this week. The Liberals secured the NDP’s support in exchange for adopting NDP policy proposals in areas such as sick leave and increasing income support benefits. In addition to the new call for a tax on excess profits, Mr. Singh also repeated his party’s earlier requests for a 1-per-cent wealth tax on family wealth over $20-million and increased taxes on “web giants” such as Amazon, Google and Facebook.

Some economists in Canada and the United States have recently called for an excess profit tax to cover the cost of high levels of emergency government spending during the pandemic. Both countries imposed temporary excess profit taxes during the First and Second World Wars.

Allison Christians, the H. Heward Stikeman Chair in Tax Law at Montreal’s McGill University, who has researched excess profit taxes, said such a temporary tax would make “great sense” in the current environment. However, she cautioned that the continuing uncertainty regarding how countries tax multinational corporations complicates the issue. She said such a tax could be more easily applied to Canadian companies.

“It’s not a punishment of their success. Rather, it’s an acknowledgement that the brokenness of the market has created a windfall for them,” she said in an interview. “And if the government takes some of that, especially now to pay for things that we now really are struggling to pay for, for example, health care, then that’s good over all for the economy.”

Prof. Christians said her review of Canada’s excess profit tax during the Second World War left her with the impression that it raised some revenue, but not a lot, and that it didn’t harm the economy.

Scott Hodge, president of the Washington-based nonpartisan Tax Foundation, wrote in July that modern advocates of excess profit taxes tend to have an “idealized” view of how they worked in wartime. He noted that the foundation’s research at the time found that such taxes were difficult to administer “and certainly impacted economic growth.”

The NDP made its call on the same day that the Parliamentary Budget Officer released a report indicating that increased spending on business tax enforcement by the Canada Revenue Agency is generating billions in new tax revenue and a nearly sixfold return.

Thursday’s PBO report examined the effect of $1.9-billion in additional funding that has been provided to the CRA over an eight-year period starting in 2015-16. The government has said the funding is aimed at the underground economy and preventing tax evasion and aggressive tax planning, and that it expects it will generate $13-billion in increased revenue.

The PBO doesn’t confirm that figure, but says it appears the government is generating about $5.70 for every new dollar spent on business tax compliance. It projects that ratio will decline over time, which suggests the government may fall short of the $13-billion target. It also notes that Ottawa will likely only collect about 81 per cent of the identified revenue because of appeals and other challenges in collecting taxes owed.

Mr. Singh said the PBO’s findings support his call for increased tax enforcement as a way of addressing concerns over the federal deficit, which the PBO said last month could reach $328.5-billion this fiscal year.

Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said tax proposals from the NDP need to be taken seriously given the party’s current position of influence in Parliament. He said “excess profits” is hardly a concern for most small businesses this year.

He cautioned though that the government should be careful in imposing any new tax-enforcement measures on businesses during a period in which many are struggling to keep the doors open while managing the new paperwork burden created by various support programs.

“To enable the CRA to go after tax cheats, they have to create a whole bunch of paperwork for thousands who aren’t," he said. “And right now, this would be a real poor use of time for small-business owners to be facing giant audits."

Kyrgyzstan’s President declares state of emergency, orders troops to deploy amid unrest



OLGA DZYUBENKO
BISHKEK
REUTERS
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 9, 2020



People rally to demand the impeachment of Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov, at Bishkek's Ala-Too Square, on Oct. 7, 2020.
VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO/AFP/GETTY IMAGS

Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov declared a state of emergency in the capital Bishkek on Friday and ordered the military to end days of unrest, as supporters of rival political groups fought on the streets.

A Reuters journalist in the capital heard gunshots and saw demonstrators from rival groups throwing rocks and bottles at each other and scuffling. One opposition politician was reported to have been wounded.

Jeenbekov’s office said in a statement the state of emergency, including a curfew and tight security restrictions, would be in effect from 8 p.m. on Friday until 8 a.m. on Oct. 21.

His order did not say how many troops would be deployed but they were instructed to “take the situation under control” and use military vehicles, set up checkpoints, and prevent armed clashes.

Earlier the president had said he was ready to resign once a new cabinet was appointed.

Kyrgyzstan's President Sooronbai Jeenbekov said on Friday he was ready to resign once a new cabinet was appointed to end the power vacuum in the Central Asian nation gripped by unrest since opposition supporters seized government buildings on Tuesday.REUTERS

The country has seen a power vacuum, with opposition groups quarrelling among themselves since seizing government buildings and forcing the cancellation of results from Sunday’s parliamentary election which they denounced as fraudulent.

Two leading opposition figures reached an agreement to join forces on Friday, and won the backing of Jeenbekov’s predecessor as president, Almazbek Atambayev. But their followers and followers of other groups held rival rallies, which politicians said posed a danger of violence.

Russia has described the situation in Kyrgyzstan, which borders China and hosts a Russian military base, as “a mess and chaos.”

The crisis tests the Kremlin’s power to shape politics in its former Soviet sphere of influence, at a time when fighting has erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Belarus is also engulfed in protests.

The opposition is divided between 11 parties which represent clan interests in a country that has already seen two presidents toppled by popular revolts since 2005.

Rival candidates for the premiership Omurbek Babanov and Tilek Toktogaziyev joined forces on Friday, with Toktogaziyev agreeing to serve as Babanov’s deputy. They were backed by four parties, local news website 24.kz reported.

They were joined at a rally in Bishkek by the former president Atambayev. A few thousand followers chanted “I am not afraid” and “Kyrgyzstan” to the rhythmic beating of large drums.

Followers of another candidate, Sadyr Zhaparov, also numbering a few thousand, held a demonstration nearby. Some of Zhaparov’s supporters later rushed into the square, leading to scuffles between the rival groups until the Babanov and Toktogaziyev supporters withdrew.

A video posted by several Kyrgyz media showed an apparently unconscious Toktogaziyev being taken away from the square, with people around him screaming he was wounded and taking off his coat to revel a bulletproof vest.

Separately, an aide to Atambayev said a shot had been fired at his car which did not wound anyone.

Jeenbekov’s allies swept Sunday’s parliamentary vote in the official results that have now been discarded. They have kept a low profile as the opposition parties have taken to the streets. Western observers said the election was marred by credible allegations of vote-buying.

So far, veteran officials who supported the revolt have been in control of the security forces. On Friday, self-appointed provisional heads of the interior ministry and the state security service left their respective buildings and handed over the leadership to their deputies. The two state bodies said the move was meant to ensure security forces remained apolitical.

VIDEO https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-kyrgyzstans-president-declares-state-of-emergency-orders-troops-to/

Spain: Portraits of King Felipe VI burned as thousands protest his Barcelona visit

By Euronews with AP • last updated: 09/10/2020 

Activists of Catalonia's pro-independence grassroots group, ANC, burn a portrait of Spain's King Felipe VI during a demonstration in Barcelona on Friday, October 9, 2020. - Copyright Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

Several thousand Catalan separatists REPUBLICANS protested the visit of Spanish King Felipe VI and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to Barcelona amid continued tensions between the restive region and national authorities.

Several thousand Catalan separatists protested the visit of Spanish King Felipe VI and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to Barcelona amid continued tensions between the restive region and national authorities.

Crowds gathered as activists of the pro-independence grassroots group Catalan National Assembly (ANC) set fire to a portrait of the Spanish monarch during a demonstration in the centre of the city.

Police set up roadblocks and heavily patrolled the streets around the train station where the king and prime minister attended the Barcelona New Economy Week innovation awards on Friday.

Representatives of the Catalan government and the city's mayor Ada Colau did not attend.

The visit by Spain’s heads of state and government comes less than two weeks after Catalonia’s regional chief, Quim Torra, was removed from office by Spain’s Supreme Court.

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The court ruled him unfit to hold office for having violated election laws when he refused to remove a banner from public buildings supporting imprisoned Catalan separatists during an official election campaign.

As well as a €30,000 fine, the panel of judges on the court upheld a one-and-a-half-year ban on Torra holding public office imposed by a Barcelona court in December 2019.

Some small groups of protesters gathered to burn photos of the king on Thursday night, chanting "Catalonia has no king."

But there were no reported major clashes with police like the ones that occurred when Sánchez held a Cabinet meeting in Barcelona in December 2018.

Effigies of the king were burned in a show of defiance on Catalonia's National Day - known as La Diada - on September 11, just weeks before the Supreme Court's ruling on Torra's case.

Over 50,000 protesters turned out for the annual celebrations which usually attracts large numbers but were muted by the region's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Catalonia’s separatist movement, which is supported by roughly half the 7.5 million residents in the region, wants to create a republic in the wealthy northeast corner of Spain.

The region's political system is in paralysis in the wake of Torra's ban. Snap elections have been tentatively pencilled in for February 14, 2021, if regional lawmakers can't elect a candidate to replace the ousted president.

The competing pro-independence parties in Catalonia’s ruling coalition are refusing to put forward a joint candidate to replace Torra as a way to protest their leader’s removal, while parties opposing secession lack a majority to elect a successor.

UPDATED

#SQUATTERSRIGHTS

Berlin police clear anarchist-occupied house Liebig 34

FORMER EAST GERMANY

Police in Berlin met with resistance while trying to clear left-wing activists from an occupied house and cultural center following a court order. People living in the building have called the eviction illegal.



Police have launched an operation to clear the Liebig 34 house in Berlin, which had been occupied by a group of left-wing radicals.

Hundreds of protesters gathered early Friday morning in the Friedrichshain neighborhood as police began enforcing the eviction order. Fights broke out between black-clad demonstrators and the police in front of the building, as recorded and tweeted by a reporter from the daily Die Welt.

Police drove a van up to the building's entrance and several officers tried to break through the barricaded door.

Around 1,500 officers from eight different German states took part in the evictions, including specialist units. The police were acting on behalf of a court order to return the property to its owners.

Read more: Extinction Rebellion blocks German parliament

'A long history' of clashes between police, activists

DW reporter Emmanuelle Chaze was on the scene as protesters and police gathered outside the building. She tweeted a video showing the hundreds of people who had come to "defend a building occupied by anarcho-queer-feminists that police has planned to evacuate this morning," adding that "antifas & police have a long history of stand offs in this Berlin suburb."

The mostly young people defending the occupied corner house shouted slogans in support of the occupants and against the police — "houses for those who live in them," "all of Berlin hates the police."

Read more: Climate activists occupy coal mine, power plants

According to police accounts, glass projectiles and fireworks were thrown at officers within the closed-off zone. Throughout the night protesters allegedly burned tires, garbage dumpsters and set fire to the Tiergarten metro station building.

The occupants of Liebig34 claimed that their lawyer was prohibited by police from entering the house or talking with the bailiff, as such the "eviction is still illegal."
Feminist refuge, symbol of resistance

Liebig 34 describes itself as an "anarcha-queer-feminist" housing project and one of the last remaining symbols of the leftist scene in the German capital. The leftist bar Syndikat was cleared in August despite large protests in the city.

Police were on hand early ahead of the scheduled eviction

The Liebig 34 building, which is covered in flags and leftist graffiti, has offered a place of refuge for women, trans and intersex people since 1999. An autonomously run bar and cultural center allowed the occupants to raise funds to cover rent.

Read more: Berlin gentrification debate flares over Norwegian billionaire's investment

The owner of the property, Gijora Padovicz, refused to renew the group's 10-year rental contract in 2018 and began a court process to evict the inhabitants. Padovicz owns several hundred homes in Berlin and has been accused of allowing his properties to deteriorate in order to renovate them and increase rents, according to the Agence France-Presse news agency.

William Noah Glucroft, a DW reporter, tweeted pictures showing how East Berlin has changed over the past few years. He said that gentrification is "(partly) what Liebig34 is about."

ab/sms (AFP, dpa)
Date 09.10.2020
Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3jf3W



Police clear out famous Berlin squat Liebig 34

By Euronews with AP, AFP • last updated: 09/10/2020 - 

During the eviction, police officers use a turntable ladder to enter through a window of "Liebig 34". - Copyright Christophe Gateau/dpa via AP


Police in riot gear have cleared out the notorious Liebig 34 squat in Berlin.

They entered the building after residents refused to open the door for a court employee to deliver their eviction notice.

Inhabitants say they have grown angry with soaring rents in the German capital.

Police spokesman Thilo Cablitz said 1,500 officers were called to assist in the eviction. Authorities said they only encountered passive resistance from residents as they carried people individually down a firetruck ladder.

"They are becoming homeless," Moritz Heusinger, the lawyer for the Liebig34 collective, told AFP news agency.

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"It goes against human rights to throw people out onto the street in the middle of a pandemic when they cannot pay their rent."


Some of the tenants pumped their fists in the air as they were led out from an upper level by police, while others forced police to carry them out.

An armoured car was also stationed in front of the graffiti-covered building, as police kept onlookers at a wide distance.

The so-called "Liebig 34" squat is located in Berlin's Friedrichshain neighbourhood.Paul Zinken/dpa via AP

A number of supporters of the residents threw firecrackers and bottles at the police, but Cablitz reported that other protests had been peaceful.

The famous squat is named after its address, Liebigstrasse 34, in Berlin's eastern Friedrichshain neighbourhood, and was a symbol for the left-wing scene, housing around forty women, trans and intersex people since 1999.

The building has been partially occupied for 30 years and has been subject to numerous court battles before the residents were finally ordered out of the apartments.

German police had prepared themselves for clashes, which broke out during stormy eviction attempts in the 1990s.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, blocks of abandoned houses in the east of the capital were taken over by students, artists, and activists, with occupations later legalised.

Face masks far more protective against COVID-19 than face shields, CDC experts

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By Sally Robertson, B.Sc. Oct 8 2020

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have conducted a study showing that face masks and neck gaiters appear to be much more effective than face shields at reducing the expulsion of respiratory aerosols that could potentially transmit severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Study: Efficacy of face masks, neck gaiters and face shields for reducing the expulsion of simulated cough-generated aerosols. Image Credit: DimaBerlin / Shutterstock

SARS-CoV-2 is the agent responsible for the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that continues to pose an ongoing threat to global public health and the economy.

Using a cough aerosol simulator to expel small aerosol particles into different face coverings, the team found that the N95 respirator, procedure mask, cloth mask, and neck gaiters effectively reduced the emission of the aerosols, while the face shield was not.


“Our results suggest that face masks and neck gaiters are preferable to face shields as source control devices for cough aerosols,” writes William Lindsley and colleagues.

A pre-print version of the paper is available in the server medRxiv*, while the article undergoes peer review.

Cough aerosol simulator system for source control measurements. The system consists of an aerosol generation system, a bellows and linear motor to produce the simulated cough, a pliable skin head form on which the face mask, neck gaiter or face shield is placed, a 105 liter collection chamber into which the aerosol is coughed, and an Andersen impactor to separate the aerosol particles by size and collect them.
Community transmission can occur through infected aerosol droplets

SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted from person to person via large respiratory aerosols (diameter greater than around 10µm) that are produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, breathes, talks, or sings.

However, smaller aerosols are also emitted during these activities, suggesting that short-range airborne virus transmission might also be possible.

To protect against this potential route of community transmission, various public health bodies, including the CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO) have recommended that the general public wear face masks or other face coverings as source control devices.


“Source control devices are intended to protect other people from infectious aerosols emitted by the wearer, as compared with personal protective equipment such as N95 respirators which are primarily intended to protect the wearer,” explains the team.

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However, people often dislike wearing face masks, and compliance levels can be low and inconsistent, say the researchers.

People may repeatedly remove and replace the mask and keep adjusting it, which can contaminate the hands. This potentially leads to the transmission of the virus, particularly in cases where the masks are re-used.
Face shields were proposed as an alternative

In an opinion article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers suggested that face shields may be more effective at reducing community transmission because they are more comfortable and, therefore, more likely to be widely adopted by the public.

However, few studies have examined face shields as source control devices, and quantitative data on efficacy is lacking.
What did the current study involve?

Now, Lindsley and colleagues have used a cough aerosol simulator to eject a cloud that simulates small respiratory aerosols (0 to 7µm in diameter) into different types of face coverings and assessed the quantity of particles that were able to travel through and around each device.

The researchers tested the collection efficiencies (the fraction of the aerosols blocked by the device) of an N95 respirator, a medical procedure mask, a commercial 3-ply cloth face mask, a polyester neck gaiter, and a commercial disposable face shield.

Neck gaiters are worn either as a single layer of fabric or as a folded, two-layer fabric. For the experiments carried out in this study, the researchers tested both configurations.
Face masks and gaiters were much more effective than the face shield

On average, the N95 respirator stopped 99% of the total cough aerosol being expelled into the environment, while the procedure mask blocked 59%, and the cloth face mask blocked 51%.

The neck gaiter blocked 47% of the cough aerosol when it was worn as a single layer and 60% when it was worn as a double layer.

The face shield, on the other hand, only stopped 2% of the cough aerosol being expelled into the atmosphere.

There were no significant differences in the collection efficiencies of the procedure mask, cloth mask, and neck gaiter, but all of these devices were significantly more effective than the face shield.


“Our results suggest that face coverings are more effective than face shields as source control devices to reduce the expulsion of respiratory aerosols into the environment as a public health measure to reduce the community transmission of SARS-CoV-2,” concludes the team.

*Important Notice

medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
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Health inequities can be measured in children as young as 5 years old, shows study

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Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Oct 9 2020

In a nationwide study, UCLA researchers have found that health inequities can be measured in children as young as 5 years old. The research, published in Health Affairs, contributes to a growing body of literature finding that children of color who are also poor face greater health inequities than their white counterparts.

Researchers trained kindergarten teachers in 98 school districts across the United States to administer the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a measure of children's physical, social, emotional and language development.

The assessment was administered to more than 185,000 kindergarteners from 2010 to 2017. After analyzing and correlating the results according to where the children lived, the investigators found that 30 percent of children in the lowest-income neighborhoods were vulnerable in one or more domains of health development, compared to 17 percent of children in higher-income settings.

The researchers also found that income-related differences in developmental vulnerability varied substantially among children from different ethnic and racial groups. Black children, for example, were at highest risk, followed by Latina/o children. Asian children were at lowest risk.

The differences in developmental vulnerability between Black children and white children were most pronounced at the higher socioeconomic levels and tended to narrow for Black and white children from lower-income neighborhoods.

Such early disparities can have a profound influence on children's long-term development, leading to higher rates of chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, drug use, mental health disorders and dementia as adults.


Our findings underscore the pronounced racialized disparities for young children. Many other studies have highlighted patterns of income and racial inequality in health and educational outcomes. What this study shows is that these patterns of inequality are clearly evident and measurable before kids start school."

Neal Halfon, MD, Study Lead Author and Director of the Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities, UCLA

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Halfon also is a professor of pediatrics, public health and public policy in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the Fielding School of Public Health and the Luskin School of Public Affairs.

The report also underscores the value of understanding child-developmental inequities at the most micro levels.

"Because the EDI is reported at and linked to Census-tract-level indices of neighborhood risk, this measurement tool helps cities and local grassroots efforts develop targeted supports and services to address racialized disparities," adds co-author Lisa Stanley, project director for Transforming Early Childhood Community Systems at the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities.

The EDI tool was developed by Dr. Dan Offord and Dr. Magdalena Janus at the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, and has been internationally validated, and used widely in Canada, Australia and other nations.

The EDI was first piloted in 2009 by UCLA in Santa Ana, in partnership with First Five Orange County. Over the past 10 years, UCLA had enabled city and school district leaders in over 85 communities, spanning 18 states, to assess the health, development and well-being of more than 350,000 kindergartners across the U.S.

UCLA researchers make this data accessible to local communities to help them develop their own initiatives to address the root causes of inequalities.

"These findings not only highlight the equity challenges we face but also reveal the truly inequitable design of all the systems responsible for ensuring that children thrive," says co-author Efren Aguilar, geographic information systems lead at the Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities at UCLA.

"Only by addressing the historical exploitation and exclusion of marginalized communities, can we begin to repair the pains and exploitative practices of the past and redesign our community systems so that all children thrive."
Source:

University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
Journal reference:

Halfon, N., et al. (2020) Measuring Equity From The Start: Disparities In The Health Development Of US Kindergartners. Health Affairs. doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00920.