KLM pilots reject Dutch government's wage freeze demand

© Reuters/Axel Schmidt A KLM Boeing 737 plane lands at Tegel airport in Berlin

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The pilots' union of KLM, the Dutch arm of Air France , on Saturday declined to accept a wage freeze through to 2025, potentially endangering efforts to secure the company's future amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It said it had already agreed to a freeze lasting until March 2022, and changing the agreement at short notice was not feasible.

Other unions representing ground and cabin crews have agreed to the prolonged wage freeze, which is set to last as long as the airline receives government support.

On Friday the government said it would withhold payments from the 3.4 billon euro bailout package KLM is due to receive unless the company adjusted its restructuring plan to include the freezes.

Air France-KLM on Friday reported 67% drop in third-quarter revenue to 2.52 billion euros, underlining the airline's dire financial condition as a new COVID-19 surge poses further threats to an industry already crippled by the epidemic and a collapse in long-haul travel.Air France-KLM has 12.4 billion euros in liquidity, thanks largely to a French and Dutch government-backed bailout, a cash cushion comparable to that of European peers Lufthansa and IAG .

(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; editing by John Stonestreet)

KLM 3.4bn bailout hits crisis as unions refuse paycut plan

The Dutch government on Saturday suspended plans to help beleaguered national carrier KLM with a multi-billion-euro bailout package after unions declined to sign a deal involving a five-year pay-cut plan.

© Koen van Weel The move puts the future of the Dutch arm of Air France-KLM into jeopardy, which said it would not remain afloat without a massive government injection to save KLM, the world's oldest airline hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic

The move puts the future of the Dutch arm of Air France-KLM into jeopardy, which said it would not remain afloat without a massive government injection to save KLM, the world's oldest airline hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.


"The planned state aid is not going through. It's disappointing but that's the case," Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra told reporters in The Hague.

"It's really important now that everybody take their responsibility and realise that KLM is in an existential crisis," the minister said after talks with KLM.

The Dutch cabinet's decision follows a day of intensive talks between KLM and its unions to try and reach agreement over the deal.

Hoekstra gave KLM and unions representing pilots, cabin and ground crew until 12:00 pm (1100 GMT) on Saturday to sign the agreement to unlock the 3.4 billion euro injection.

While talks are still ongoing with several unions, the Dutch pilots' union VNV have refused to sign what they termed a "last minute" change to conditions for the deal.

The bitter feud centres around a clause in the agreement which asks the troubled airline's staff to take salary cuts for the next five years.

KLM this week presented the Finance Ministry with the austerity plan, which demands a 15 percent cut in costs and will see 5,000 jobs being shed as a result of the global impact of the coronavirus pandemic on air travel.

It also included an agreement from unions to cut pilots' salaries until March 2022 and ground and cabin crew salaries until the start of 2023.

But Hoekstra on Friday turned down the plan, insisting on salary cuts to run concurrently with the government's five-year bailout package.

- 'Great uncertainty' -

"We have not signed," a VNV representative told AFP shortly after the deadline passed.

"We had an agreement in place with KLM on October 1 and now they (the government) are going back on it," said the representative, who declined to be named.

"A deal is a deal," he said.

Talks are also ongoing with umbrella union FNV which accused the government of "creating great uncertainty with changes at the 11th-hour".

"We do not understand why KLM and the cabinet require extra commitment at the last minute," FNV said in a statement to AFP.

But it added: "As FNV we will never endanger the future of KLM."

Some 3,000 pilots within the airline are said be the hardest hit by the austerity plan, with salary cuts of up to 20 percent, Dutch news reports said.

Other unions, however, have signed the deal including cabin crew union and the aerospace technicians' union, saying keeping KLM flying was the first priority.

"We're staring at the bottom of the barrel," Dutch Union of Aerospace Technicians (NVLT) chairman Robert Swankhuizen told the RTL Nieuws private broadcaster.

"Squabbling any longer jeopardises state aid," he said.

Air France-KLM posted a net loss of 1.7 billion euros ($1.9 billion) for the third quarter, compared with a 363 million euros profit year-on-year.

Two lesbian couples marry in mass wedding held by Taiwan's military

Taiwan is the only place in Asia to have legalized gay marriage, with more than 4,000 same-sex couples marrying since the legislation passed in May 2019.

Yi Wang, right, and Yumi Meng pose during a military mass weddings ceremony in Taoyuan city, northern Taiwan, on Oct. 30, 2020.Chiang Ying-ying / AP

Oct. 30, 2020
By The Associated Press

TAOYUAN, Taiwan — Two lesbian couples tied the knot in a mass wedding held by Taiwan’s military on Friday in a historic celebration with their peers.

Taiwan is the only place in Asia to have legalized same-sex marriage, with more than 4,000 such couples marrying since the legislation passed in May 2019. The mass wedding with 188 couples was the first time same-sex couples have been wed and celebrated at a military ceremony.

Both couples viewed their ceremonies with a sense of responsibility towards representing the LGBTQ community.

“We are hoping that more LGBT people in the military can bravely stand up, because our military is very open-minded. In matters of love, everyone will be treated equally,” said Chen Ying-hsuan, 27, an army lieutenant who married Li Li-chen, 26

Chen Ying-Hsuan and her wife Li Chen-Chen, during a military mass wedding in Taoyuan, Taiwan, on Oct. 30, 2020.Ann Wang / Reuters

Chen wore a rainbow wristband and said she has always been open about her sexual orientation while serving.

The ceremony at an army base in the northern city of Taoyuan was brief. The couples took part in a parade and then exchanged rings in front of an audience of family members and their senior officers.

Yumi Meng, 37, and her wife, army Maj. Wang Yi, 36, wiped back tears as they exchanged rings. Meng wore sneakers under her wedding dress, while Wang wore her officer’s uniform. They each carried a pride flag throughout the ceremony.

Meng’s parents had not come to the celebration, but in support both of Wang’s parents as well as her teacher came out to support the couple.

“I really feel that this is a huge breakthrough for the military because before gay people really had to go through a lot,” said Amy Chao, mother to Wang. “Perhaps for heterosexual couples, it’s just a paper, but it’s very important for gay couples, if you’re sick or have to have a major surgery, if you don’t have this, then you are nothing, you can’t make a decision.”

Since same-sex marriage became legal in Taiwan, 4,021 such couples have married, with 69 percent of them lesbian couples, according to the most recent government data.

The military seemed an unlikely institution to be the site of a same-sex marriage, but in recent years has opened up, said Victoria Hsu, the Co-founder of Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights. “We hope this is a good sign to show that the armed forces’ attitude towards the LGBT community is becoming more supportive than before in Taiwan.”

That attitude was on full display Friday as it welcomed dozens of reporters to the wedding.

“Our attitude is that everyone should be treated equally, and we congratulate each and every couple, and this shows that our military’s position is open-minded, progressive and with the times,” Lt. Gen. Yang An told reporters at the wedding.

Taiwan hosts biggest in-person LGBTQ Pride event of post-Covid 2020

TAIPEI, Taiwan — An estimated 130,000 people attended Taiwan LGBT Pride on Saturday, making it the world’s biggest in-person celebration of gay rights since the pandemic began.  

© Provided by NBC News

The high turnout reinforced Taiwan’s image as a beacon of gay rights in Asia and one of the world’s safest places in the coronavirus era.

“I feel that Taiwan has really set an example, to be able to have a normal life and also to continue with this Pride event even though the world is not able to come this year,” said Eve Teo, 34, who lives in Taipei

.

© Chiang Ying-ying Image: Pride parade in Taipei (Chiang Ying-ying / AP)

In a year in which many global gay pride events have been canceled or moved online, Taiwan’s parade kicked off from outside Taipei City Hall, as scheduled, on the last Saturday in October.

Organizers said they expected it to be the biggest Pride event to take place this year since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic in March.

The event was a colorful testament to Taiwan’s successful control of the coronavirus. The island of 24 million people has seen just 554 confirmed Covid-19 cases, including seven deaths, and no lockdowns. Taiwan’s last locally transmitted infection was recorded in April

.

 

Louise Watt Image: Pride parade in Taipei (Louise Watt / for NBC News)

                                                ©Louise Watt Image: Pride parade in Taipei (Louise Watt / for NBC News)
Organizers asked participants to wear masks, although many didn’t. Wearing a mask was Chen Yen-shuo, 25, who held up a sign offering “free hugs.” The software engineer from Taichung said the pandemic wasn’t stopping people from “Taiwan just legalized same-sex marriage last year, and there still hasn’t been a second country in Asia to do so, so I think this parade is really important for Asia,” Liu said. “We first reached the milestone, and we can help others to march forward and take the next step, and make more people in Asia care about this aspect of human rights.”Democratic Taiwan is a trailblazer for gay rights in Asia. In May last year, it became the first — and still only — place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. Since then, more than 4,000 same-sex couples have tied the knot in Taiwan.

On Friday, two gay couples were, for the first time, among dozens taking part in the Taiwan army’s annual mass wedding ceremony. The army posted on Facebook wedding photos of the couples, and those of the two female soldiers and their civilian partners by far received the most likes from the public.

“You defend our country, we defend your freedom,” read one comment.

Last year, organizers estimated 200,000 people marched to celebrate Taiwan’s legalization of same-sex marriage. This year, fewer people could travel from elsewhere in Asia to attend the event because Taiwan’s borders are closed to tourists. Anyone who does enter must self-isolate for 14 days.

Liu Chun-chieh, 34, who works in e-commerce and was dressed as a Greek warrior, said the event was important for the region at large.

Even though gay men and women have the right to marry in Taiwan, activists say discriminatory attitudes still need to change as well as the law. In one example, a Taiwanese person can only marry a foreigner of the same sex if same-sex marriage is also legal in the foreigner’s home country. In addition to Taiwan, only 28 countries around the world allow same-sex marriage.

As the government’s measures to stop the spread of Covid-19 have included barring the entry of many foreigners, this has meant some same-sex couples have been forced apart this year.

Among those unable to marry in Taiwan are Olivia Wu and her partner Eve Teo, who is from Singapore, where a law banning consensual sex between men is still on the books.

© Ann Wang Image: Pride parade in Taipei (Ann Wang / Reuters)

“Singapore hasn’t legalized same-sex marriage, so us deciding to live here in Taiwan, that has really affected us,” said Wu, a Taiwanese American from Los Angeles. The couple were marching with Wu’s parents.

“As a community, we’re still very proud and obviously happy that Taiwan is the only country that recognizes this, but we just feel like there’s that part where we’re not complete yet,” Wu, 35, said.

Activists are also fighting for equal adoption and assisted-reproduction rights. At the moment, Taiwan’s law only allows for married same-sex couples to adopt children who are biologically related to one of the partners. Reese Li, secretary general of Taiwan LGBT Family Rights Advocacy, said there were at least 300 LGBTQ families in Taiwan who had adopted children or had assisted reproduction abroad.

© Louise Watt Image: Pride parade in Taipei (Louise Watt / for NBC News)

Chi Chia-wei, an activist who had been campaigning for marriage equality in Taiwan since the 1980s, said this year’s parade was less about protest, and more about education regarding LGBTQ issues and equality.

“In schools, they don’t teach children that after same-sex marriage is passed, there will be a lot of LGBT families,” he said. “They don’t let children understand this, and so there needs to be more effort to strengthen this.” 

Hugs, sequins and rainbows as Taiwan enjoys victory over coronavirus

At the entrance to Taipei’s Pride march on Saturday, Pearl Jain and Lance Xie held up a sign offering free hugs. Similar placards were waved above the pulsating crowd of 100,000 sweaty and bedazzled party goers crushedalong the parade route.

Xie had recently returned from Melbourne, where 5 million people have just emerged from one of the toughest lockdowns in the world and everyone is trying not to touch each other. It was good to be home.

Jain said: “It’s nice to have the chance to hug people here because everywhere else is in lockdown and that’s just so sad.”

People in Taiwan are still taking precautions – mandatory masks on public transport, digital registration for some events, isolation for people with symptoms – but Jain said life in Taipei had barely changed in 2020. “We’re doing really great, our government and people here are just trying to protect ourselves,” she said.

Saturday was Taiwan’s 202nd consecutive day without a single locally transmitted case, and for the tens of thousands out celebrating the LGBTQ+ community, Covid feels like a distant memory.

Taiwan, a self-governing democracy of 24 million dangerously close to mainland China, where the virus began, has essentially eliminated community transmission of Covid-19 after recording just 550 mostly imported cases and seven deaths.

Amid a global downturn, Taiwan’s GDP is predicted to grow by more than 1.5% this year. In the third quarter it grew by 3.3% – the fastest since 2018. The only other government claiming growth is China, which considers Taiwan to be a breakaway province that it must take back – by force or otherwise.

Even though people are quite divided on political issues, when we face a common threat people want to work together Professor Yawen Cheng

“In Taiwan, even though people are quite divided on political issues, when we face a common threat, people want to come together and work together,” Yawen Cheng, professor of health policy at the National Taiwan University, told the Observer.

After the 2004 Sars epidemic killed 73 of its people, Taiwan strengthened and centralised its disease control framework and pandemic preparations, and started annual drills. Taiwan also learned from that epidemic that it couldn’t rely on bodies like the World Health Organization (WHO) for timely information, because China had ensured the country’s exclusion from global briefings and emergency meetings.

“We couldn’t get direct information from international organisations,” said Cheng. “Taiwan has always been careful about what happens in mainland China, so the Central Epidemic Command Centre (CECC) of Taiwan tried to get information from informal channels.”

When Taiwan’s authorities received a social media message in late December warning of a strange pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, they acted almost immediately, screening flights from the Chinese city before enacting entry bans, which were eventually extended to all foreigners by March. Strict border controls are still in place, and around 340,000 people have gone through the mandated quarantine for new arrivals, monitored by the CECC and police, and tracked by mobile phones.

The government also banned mask exports while it stockpiled and then rationed them out to residents as local production increased tenfold. The health system was scaled up and new technologies developed to monitor, track and trace potential cases, and to support people with grocery deliveries and counselling.

Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s digital minister, said the most important technologies in the Covid response were masks and soap, but technology played an “assistive role”. This included the development of a mask availability map using pharmacy supply and sales data, and “digital fencing” – using phone tracking to allow people to quarantine at home. When a signal leaves the property or drops out, a call is made to the police.

© Provided by The Guardian Marchers at Taipei Pride. Photograph: Sam Yeh/Getty Images

The measures “piggyback” on existing technology – such as mobile phone mast triangulation and SMS warning systems for earthquakes – to alert people to infection risks nearby, said Tang, a former civic hacker and well-known advocate of open democracy. They don’t collect any data they weren’t collecting pre-pandemic, Tang added.

Other countries have balked at proposals far less intrusive than those that Taiwanese people accept. Cheng said there had been a lot of discussion about whether the state had gone too far but acknowledged that it had been responsive to concerns.

In a policy study published in October, Cheng and her co-author suggested the Taiwanese government’s landslide election win in January gave it the political capital to maximise its response, and perhaps even to overreact. “I think social trust is the key to the success of Taiwan’s virus control,” she said. “It’s an interactive process. The government has done a lot to make the information more public and open, and so in turn the public trust the government’s actions.”

Taiwanese society was not unchanged by the pandemic. While Taiwan’s tech exports rose in a world full of people stuck at home with their devices, the local economy suffered. The Taiwanese government has passed financial measures worth billions of pounds.

Tang said habits formed in the early months, like contactless payments and online food deliveries, boosted e-commerce but hurt sectors that rely on face-to-face interaction. In response, the government launched a programme selling NT$3,000 (£80) shopping vouchers for $1,000.

“That rebuilt the habits of spending outside of one’s home, and rebuilt the economy based on face-to-face transactions, like night markets,” Tang said.

Now, Taipei’s shops and markets are heaving. People browse, busk and greet each other with handshakes and hugs. It feels normal.

Tang said the government’s willingness to listen to expertise outside its inner circle was key. It helped that the vice president at the time of the outbreak was Chen Chien-jen, an epidemiologist, but there was also “a larger culture that says we trust the wisdom at the edges and the frontline”.

Back at the parade, the afternoon sun bounced off the blue sequins of Diva Wei’s ballgown as she and Daniel Lin waited to start marching, something they were conscious was open to few others around the world.

“I feel this is the marvellous outcome of our government’s policy and the collaboration from society,” said Lin. “It’s so great.”

‘Corona-freed’ Taiwan celebrates gay pride

Taiwan has staged its gay pride rally, 200 days free of local coronavirus infections. Some 130,000 celebrated the island nation’s vanguard role on same-sex in Asia, but this year’s turnout was smaller.


Rainbow-masked revelers paraded through Taiwan's capital, Taipei, Saturday, celebrating equality gains since it allowed same-sex marriages last year, despite objections from religious conservatives.

President Tsai Ing-wen, re-elected to a second term last January, urged the country via social media Saturday to embrace "love, tolerance and a better Taiwan.”

The mingling went ahead after 200 days in a row without a single recorded local infection, thanks to Taiwan's early 2020 response that saw arrivals from rival China and other origins tested and quarantined, limiting Taiwan's toll to 7 deaths. 

Asian Gay Games host next year

Drag queen Qu Po-sung wore a red banquet dress at Saturday's parade and vowed to attend "all of my friends' weddings as the rally wound through Taipei, which next year is due to host Asia's Gay Games.

Read more: Taiwan parliament approves gay marriage bill

Since Taiwan legalized same-sex marriages in May 2019, more than 4,000 couples have registered nuptials, including two women military officers married Friday. 

One restriction is that a foreign partner must come from a country with gay law. And, on same-sex parenting, Taiwanese remains divided.

Rights vanguard role

Taiwan, though, is seen as the vanguard of a burgeoning movement in Asia for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transvestite) rights.

Read more: Taiwan military marries LGBT+ couples for first time

"Taiwan is Asia's first,” said Chien Chi-chieh, secretary general of the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnerships Rights.

"That makes us proud,” added Chen Wei-chun, a bank employee. "Taiwan has done a fantastic job at both equality and pandemic control.”

ipj/rc (Reuters, AFP)

Puerto Rico statehood is on the ballot again
By Ray Sanchez and Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN

© Ricardo Arduengo/AP For the third time this decade, Puerto Ricans will vote on statehood.

Michelle Rodriguez Olivero's social media feed hasn't been buzzing about Tuesday's nonbinding vote to make Puerto Rico the 51st star on the American flag. Nor has there been much dinner table talk about it among her many pro-commonwealth relatives in the northern coastal town of Dorado.

After all, the island's been here before. And nothing has changed, since the referendums are nonbinding.

"We've had five votes with no political consequence," said Rodriguez, 31, a poet who works for a nonprofit and supports independence for Puerto Rico. "It has not led to more funding for the island. We still cannot vote for the President. People have no respect for this process."

For the third time this decade, Puerto Ricans will vote on statehood, which is ultimately in the hands of the US Congress. This time, however, voters on the island will simply be asked, "Should Puerto Rico be admitted immediately into the Union as a State?" Yes/No.

But the island's history is far from simple.

As a US territory, Puerto Ricans are natural-born US citizens and can vote in presidential primary elections, but not in the general election, unless they live on the mainland. They don't have a vote in Congress.

"You know how I see the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States?" said Luis Martinez-Fernandez, a history professor at the University of Central Florida. "It's a couple and they've been dating for over a century. But they're not married and neither side is convinced strongly enough they want that marriage. Because if at least one side wanted it, and the other not, well that side could try to seduce the other side. But in the case of Puerto Rico, there is no consensus."

The island has voted in favor of statehood twice before

It's a love-hate relationship dating to the Spanish-American War of 1898, when the US invaded and acquired the small Caribbean island. It's been a US territory since 1952.

The issue of statehood has always been a point of contention. Of the five nonbinding referendums since 1967, the 2012 vote was the first in favor of statehood. Political analysts at the time said the outcome likely reflected an overwhelming desire for a status change in general, whether it be statehood, independence or some other solution. No action was taken in Washington.

In 2017, Puerto Ricans voted overwhelmingly for statehood in yet another nonbinding referendum. But only 23% of eligible citizens voted after opposition parties urged a boycott of an election they said was "rigged" in the way the ballot was worded. Again, no action was taken.

On Tuesday, residents will again consider statehood the same day pro-statehood gubernatorial candidate Pedro Pierluisi faces Carlos Delgado Altieri, candidate of the pro-commonwealth Popular Democratic Party, in a tight race.

But analysts said Pierluisi's governing New Progressive Party -- beset by corruption scandals and criticized for bungling the aftermath of Hurricane Maria after plunging the island into economic collapse -- organized the statehood vote to animate its base at a crucial moment.

"The catastrophe left behind by Hurricanes Irma and Maria unmasked the reality of the unequal treatment of the American living in Puerto Rico," resident commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón, a Republican and the island's sole, nonvoting member of Congress, said when she launched the new statehood effort in 2018.

The statehood ballot measure, González-Colón promised, would finally put the island "on the path towards the political equality we deserve."

Support for statehood among Democrats

That road to the great state of Puerto Rico is pitted and complicated.

The referendum would need Congress' approval to establish Puerto Rico as the newest state — and that all depends on how the November elections shake out.

Congressional Democrats have led the push for Puerto Rico and Washington, DC, to be admitted as states, but Republican leadership opposes the idea, arguing it could give Democrats four seats in the US Senate and allow them to push what the GOP calls a socialist agenda.

So while a statehood measure might fare better in the Democratic-controlled US House, legislation for Puerto Rico statehood is unlikely to advance in the Republican-led US Senate, and President Donald Trump has said he would be an "absolute no" on statehood for the island.

Puerto Rico has a likelier chance of becoming a state if Democrats win control of the Senate in November, keep the US House and Democratic nominee Joe Biden wins the White House — giving Democrats complete control of the federal government.

"I happen to believe statehood would be the most effective means of ensuring that residents of Puerto Rico are treated equally, with equal representation at the federal level, but the people of Puerto Rico must decide, and the United States federal government must respect and act on that decision," Biden said in September while campaigning in Kissimmee, Florida.

The Senate's top Democrat, Chuck Schumer of New York, who could be the next majority leader if Democrats win the Senate, has voiced support for Puerto Rican statehood and suggested his party would consider the island's status if it takes back the upper chamber.

Bills address pathway for Puerto Rico

Still, even if Democrats retake the Senate, it won't be an easy ride to statehood.

A Democratic majority in the chamber is likely to be slim, which could mean that Senate Republicans opposed to statehood would be able to block any measure with a filibuster. Some Democrats, however, are already suggesting the filibuster be eliminated if Republicans stonewall their every move.

And while Democrats in the House passed a bill in June to admit DC as a state, they seem split on Puerto Rico.

Rep. Darren Soto of Florida, a Democrat, and González-Colón have introduced a bipartisan bill establishing a process to admit Puerto Rico as a state.

The bill garnered support from a handful of House Republicans, including Rep. Don Young of Alaska, a longtime advocate of Puerto Rico statehood, and other GOP lawmakers from Florida and New York.

Soto said in an interview that the "votes are there" and most House Democrats support statehood, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Democratic Reps. Nydia Velazquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposed a bill in August calling for a status convention where delegates, elected by Puerto Ricans, develop an option for the island's status with the intent that it be voted on. The bill by the New York congresswomen -- which has no Republican co-sponsors -- hints at the Democratic divide on the statehood issue.

"If the people of Puerto Rico vote yes, that bill's unnecessary," Soto told CNN. "We don't need a constitutional convention to slow down the will of the people should they vote that way. If the people vote no, that may be another option, certainly. But it starts with the election."

He added, "If the people vote yes, they'll be hard pressed to find a lot of support among House Democrats to ignore an election and stand in the way of a majority-Hispanic island becoming the next state of the United States."

'We would be like New Jersey, my dear'

But many Puerto Ricans as well as political observers on the island and the mainland are wary of the statehood effort.

Pedro Cabán, a professor of Latin American, Caribbean and US Latino studies at the University at Albany-SUNY, dismissed the referendum as political "pageantry."

About 3.1 million people live on the island, and more than 5.6 million Puerto Ricans live on the mainland, according to 2017 data from the Pew Research Center.

"I get the sense that when Puerto Ricans leave the island, they're even more nationalistic than when they're on the island," Cabán said. "If they're more nationalistic, that means it's harder for me to believe they really are into statehood."

Some Puerto Ricans fear the cultural implications of statehood, particularly losing a sense of national identity and Spanish as the official language.

"We love to participate in the Miss Universe pageant and the World Baseball Classic," said Cynthia García Coll, a psychologist who teaches at the University of Puerto Rico. "That unites us like nothing else. All that would be gone under statehood. We would be like New Jersey, my dear."

Many island residents doubt the United States -- long indifferent to their plight -- would accept a 51st state that is Spanish-speaking and poorer than the poorest US state, Mississippi.

"The United States opposition to Puerto Rican statehood has been based upon a racist concept, actually beginning with the idea of giving statehood to Spanish-speaking, brown skin Catholic foreigners," Cabán said. "The fundamental opposition is based upon this notion of Puerto Ricans being other than."

Martinez-Fernandez doubts the latest statehood push will succeed even if all the political stars align in its favor.

"The atmosphere in Washington is not propitious for that at all," he said. "You know, in this country we can't come to an agreement about whether to wear masks or not. Imagine inviting a new state that is going to push the balance of power further into the Democratic side. There's no chance that the Republicans will stand for that."

Statehood is unlikely even if Democrats take the White House and Senate, he said.

"It would be way down in the stack of papers on Biden's desk," Martinez-Fernandez said. "He has to reconstruct this country."

'Love always triumphs over status politics'

Rodriguez, the poet in Dorado, said most of her relatives -- concerned about preserving their national identity -- are pro commonwealth, or the status quo on the island. She said she supports independence because it would allow the island to finally break the chains of US colonial control. They all plan to vote no on statehood.

Other Puerto Ricans are throwing their support behind the burgeoning Citizens' Victory Movement, which is promoting a progressive, anti-colonial ideology -- a move that could help the governing, pro-statehood party.

"Many times the conversation is not about which candidates are the most qualified but about, if we let go of the United States, we will die of hunger," Rodriguez said.

Cabán recalled a married couple that was leading recovery efforts in a town in the countryside after Hurricane Maria devastated the island and left thousands dead in September 2017.

"I remember him saying, 'I'm pro independence, dammit!' " Cabán said. "And I asked, 'What about your wife?' And he says, 'She's pro statehood.' Is that a problem? 'No,' he says, 'Statehood will never come.' And she says, 'And independence will never come.' Love always triumphs over status politics."

COVID 19 IN ALBERTA GRAPHS

The best the worst of Halloween candy, all the way back to the 1930s

Author of the article:Monica Zurowski • Calgary Herald Publishing date:Oct 31, 2020 •  

Postmedia archives photo. Calgary Herald

One of the best parts of collecting Halloween candy — aside from eating it — is the assessment, sorting and analysis of the merits of the Oct. 31 haul. Kids can spend hours deciding which candy should be eaten and what in order; which treats should be traded to siblings; and which unwanted candy can be tossed to parents.

So, what are the best Halloween candies to get? According to candystore.com and its annual ranking of Halloween candies, the No. 1 treat in the United States — in terms of volume of purchases — is Skittles. That’s followed by Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Starburst, M&Ms, Hot Tamales, candy corn, Snickers, Sour Patch Kids, Hershey Kisses and Jolly Ranchers. However, in Canada, those boxes of Nestle mini chocolate bars rank high. People know they can’t go wrong with Kit Kats, Coffee Crisp, Aero bars and Smarties. A survey in one Canadian city last year (Ottawa) showed Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups were chosen as a favourite Halloween treat by 23 per cent of poll respondents, followed by Coffee Crisp at 18 per cent and Kit Kat at 16 per cent.

While most people enjoy a good chocolate bar, many of the faves from days past are now long gone, perhaps even extinct. Mainstays of the 1960s and 1970s like Kraft Caramels and Rockets are rarely seen. Little boxes of Chiclets, Dubble Bubble gum and Mojos don’t make appearances. Also largely gone — thankfully — are those handfuls of hard-to-bite, hard-to-define candies wrapped in orange-and-black Halloween-themed wrappers.

And, let’s not forget about the ubiquitous sucker. They were plentiful and popular for decades. The following Calgary Herald ads for Halloween candy over the decades provide a quick look back at what Calgarians were handing out on Oct. 31 in years past.

1930: This ad from the fall of 1930 showed the specials at the City Hall Market, including candy. Toasted marshmallows were on sale for 19 cents a pound, sugar peanuts were 25 cents a pound, mixed chocolates cost 30 cents a pound and jelly beans went for 25 cents a pound.





An Oct. 24 ad from the same year, 1930, showed the Hudson’s Bay Company advertising Halloween candy at a similar price: Black and orange jelly beans for 25 cents a pound, Halloween Kisses or creamy fudge for 29 cents a pound, and for 39 cents a pound you could “satin candies,” with assorted cream fillings in coral pink, nile green, canary and white.



1940: This Oct. 23, 1940 ad for a store called Naglers, located at 606-608 2nd St. East, showed jelly beans were still a popular treat and selling for 10 cents less a pound than they had a decade earlier — now 15 cents. Halloween kisses were still on offer, too, but Halloween suckers were newly making an appearance — a box of 100 sold for 43 cents.



Eaton’s, on Oct. 24, 1940, was also advertising a variety of Halloween goods: paper costumes for 29 cents, masks for 5 to 15 cents and party hats for 25 cents. Its featured Halloween candy was the caramel sucker — you could get 50 for 38 cents. The treat was expected to be so popular that the store limited sucker purchases to 100 per customer.



1950: Jenkins’ Groceteria Ltd. advertised a number of Halloween treats in its Oct. 26, 1950 ad. A 10-ounce bag of roasted peanuts sold for 25 cents and a bag of Halloween suckers was going for 25 cents, while a box of apples sold for $1.79.



1960: Halloween suckers continued to be the treat to beat; they’re featured in several ads of October 1960 editions of the Calgary Herald, including this Zeller’s ad on Oct. 26. A box of 72 suckers was on sale for 47 cents.

Alberta government blocking federal COVID Alert app, Trudeau says
Author of the article:Jason Herring
Publishing date:Oct 31, 2020 •

The COVID Alert app is seen on an iPhone in Ottawa on July 31, 2020.

 PHOTO BY THE CANADIAN PRESS/JUSTIN TANG


The Jason Kenney government is blocking the federal COVID Alert app from being used in Alberta, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged in an Edmonton radio interview Friday.

“(The app) will be a lot more useful when the province decides to give people the ability to plug in the codes,” Trudeau said in an interview with 630 CHED.

“That’s all that’s missing, and we really hope that people will take on every tool we possibly can to fight COVID-19.”

The comments come three months after the federal government launched the COVID Alert app.

Though some provinces took longer than others to sign on, the app now works in all provinces except for Alberta and British Columbia.

Alberta released its own app called ABTraceTogether in the spring but it faced concerns over functionality and privacy.

The province has said the delay in signing on to the federal app stems from ensuring the 247,000 accounts created on the provincial app can be “transitioned” to the federal one.

The premier’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment Friday.

Reports of heckling by UCP MLAs referring to COVID Alert as “Trudeau’s app” in legislature Tuesday led Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi to call for the province to allow the app to work and avoid the “politicization of public health.”

Trudeau still asked Albertans to download the app, saying it has some utility because it can notify people of exposures if they come in contact with someone from another province using the app.

“I encourage Albertans to download the COVID-19 app because it starts working right away and if it comes online in the next couple of weeks, you’ll have that much more protection,” he said.

Russian police detain Pussy Riot activists for hanging pride flags around Moscow
The activist group erected the rainbow flags on President Vladimir Putin's birthday to draw attention to his administration’s treatment of LGBTQ people.

A rainbow flag erected on the Culture Ministry building in Moscow on Oct. 7, 2020. LGBTQ flags were also placed on the Presidential Administration of Russia , Federal Security Service (FSB), district police and Supreme Court buildings on Russian President Vladimir Putin's 68th birthday. Pussy Riot Facebook via AP


Oct. 9, 2020, 
By Dan Avery

At least five members of the punk rock activist group Pussy Riot were detained by Russian police on Thursday, one day after the collective hung rainbow Pride flags on key government buildings in Moscow.

In a Facebook post shared Wednesday, the group said it held the action on Oct. 7, President Vladimir Putin’s birthday, to draw attention to his administration’s poor treatment of Russia’s LGBTQ community.

“It’s important to say thank you on your birthday,” it sarcastically wrote to the 68-year-old leader. “Thank you for your words and deeds.”

The post listed seven demands for the government, including legalization of same-sex relationships, the repeal of Russia’s “gay propaganda” ban and an investigation into the reported kidnappings and killings of gay and bisexual men in Chechnya.

It demanded an end to harassment of same-sex families and organizations advocating for the LGBTQ community and a law banning discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation.

The group also called for Oct. 7, Putin’s birthday, to be declared LGBTQ Visibility Day.

Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina told The Independent that the group was able to evade security by dressing as maintenance workers and claiming to be in charge of birthday decorations.

“It was wildly comic, but the message is serious,” she said. “You can’t win by banning love. If you are the person who is smashing the hands of lovers as they walk hand in hand, you’ve already lost.”

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Pussy Riot members arrested after their recent protest action - raising rainbow pride flags to mark Putin’s 68th birthday.
The flags appeared at the beginning of working day at the headquarters of FSB (ex KGB), Putin’s presidential administration, Supreme Court, Ministry of Culture and Police.
Pussy Riot said the rainbow flags were birthday presents for the president. They were gifted as symbols of the “lack of love and freedom” in Russia.
This is a video Maria Alyokhina’s arrest - right in the entrance to TV Rain, just before her scheduled TV interview

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1 in 5 Russians want gays 'eliminated,' survey finds

The group shared photos of members erecting the flags, which they said were symbols of the “lack of love and freedom” in Russia.

“The state should not interfere in the life of the LGBTQ community. But if it does, then the community can intervene in the life of the state,” the group wrote on Facebook.

It called it a “symmetrical response,” referencing a term Putin used in response to the United States military testing a cruise missile in 2019.

The flags were hung in five locations on Wednesday — Putin’s executive offices, the Ministry of Culture, the Supreme Court building, the Basmanny district police station and the headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s main security agency and the successor to the KGB.

Pussy Riot called the buildings among “the most important symbols of Russian statehood.”

The following day police detained members on charges of violating statutes about public demonstrations, according to MediaZona, a news site founded by Alyokhina and fellow Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova.

Alyokhina was arrested outside the studios of independent television channel Dozhd, also known as TV Rain, just before she was scheduled for an interview. Nina Nikulshina was arrested in Taganka and taken to Meshchansky police station, as were Vasily Andrianov and Elizaveta Diederich. Another Pussy Riot activist, Alexander Sofeyev, was taken in after investigators staked out his apartment for more than a day, according to Russian-language site Avtozak Live reports. They managed to get inside after Sofeyev’s landlord opened the door for them.

MediaZona also reported that Radio Liberty journalist Artem Radygin was detained during the flag-hanging at the FSB building.

Pussy Riot, an activist collective and performance art group, was founded in 2011 to promote feminism and LGBTQ rights under the Putin regime.

A year later, the group staged a guerrilla performance inside Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. Days later, Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova were arrested and convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.” They each spent nearly two years in a high-security prison.Russia’s LGBTQ community has been a frequent target for Putin, who earlier this year mocked the U.S. embassy in Moscow for flying the rainbow flag during Pride month, suggesting it “revealed something about the people that work there.”


Russian voters back referendum banning same-sex marriage

In 2013, the country banned the distribution of "propaganda" that promoted "nontraditional sexual relationships” to minors, which has been used to outlaw Pride demonstrations and pro-LGBTQ publications and organizations. In the run-up to the 2014 Sochi Games, Putin insisted the law “does not harm anyone” and that there is no institutional discrimination against gays in Russia.

In July, Russian voters supported a constitutional amendment defining marriage as exclusively a union between one man and one woman, a measure strongly supported by Putin.

Wednesday’s protest came just days after Russian State media reported authorities were going to start arresting gay men who used surrogates for “baby trafficking,” according to The Independent.