THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL GAMERS 

Missed Jagmeet Singh And AOC’s ‘Among Us’ Stream? Here Are The 5 Best Moments

Mel Woods 1 day ago

© Twitch/JagmeetSingh Jagmeet Singh plays "among Us" with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and several streamers.

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh teamed up with U.S. congressperson Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Friday night for a three-hour video stream of the popular game “Among Us” on Twitch with a rotating cast of several high-profile streamers.

Through the stream’s voice chat, Ocasio-Cortez and Singh talked politics in their respective countries, answered questions from the streamers and even virtually murdered each other once or twice. Nearly 100,000 viewers tuned into Ocasio-Cortez’s stream at one point, with close to 30,000 watching Singh’s stream of the event at its peak.

hasanabi

@hasanthehun

Playing Among Us with @theJagmeetSingh, @aoc, @NorthernlionLP, @Jack_Septic_Eye, @xQc, @theserfstv, @DisguisedToast, @ContraPoints, @TSM_Myth and some other folks as well! Get in now!

HasanAbi - Twitch

i'm a political commentator irl trying to avoid heated gaming moments

For the uninitiated, “Among Us” is a video game based on popular party games like “Mafia” and “Werewolf” where players work together to determine who the “imposter” is, as that imposter tries to kill off the other players.

While Singh said he did several “dry runs” of the game in preparation this week, it still took him some time to grasp the basic mechanics, from not killing people in plain sight, to how to do the in-game tasks. Lying — a key component of the game — didn’t come as easily to Singh, with several of the streamers describing him as a “wholesome liar.”

The whole thing is available to watch up on Singh’s Twitch channel, but here are five highlights if you missed the Friday-night stream.
AOC and Jagmeet bond right off the bat

The stream marked the first meeting — even if virtual — between Singh and Ocasio-Cortez. The two immediately developed a casual rapport, with Ocasio-Cortez even asking Singh to call her “Alex,” since that’s what her friends call her.

Spence

@MagicianMarner

Watching chat hopelessly yell at Jagmeet Singh to do shields properly

6:18 PM · Nov 27, 2020

39

See Spence’s other Tweets

She said Singh first came across her radar due to his viral response to racist comments made during a town hall.

“I think what the way I was first kind of exposed to your work was when you had this super viral moment when you encountered this woman who was being super racist at a town hall,” she said.

© Twitch/JagmeetSingh Jagmeet Singh plays


Ocasio-Cortez praised Singh’s “compassionate” handling of the encounter, calling it a “model moment.”

And that kinship extended into the game. Throughout the stream, Singh approached Ocasio-Cortez as an ally.

“It’s the progressive politicians united, we’re not about killing people, we’re about making life better for people,” Singh said early on.

Ocasio-Cortez echoed the sentiment: “Yeah. We’re pacifists.”

Even when Singh killed another player right in Ocasio-Cortez’s view, she was hesitant to doubt her fellow leftist politician — even though he was, in fact, the killer. The two also bonded over why the fictional spaceship the game is set on still uses fossil fuels.

Bean Wife

@GasolineJoy

·

Nov 27, 2020

Replying to @GasolineJoy

"It can't be Jagmeet this many times in a row, can it?!" Jagmeet: Yeah

Bean Wife

@GasolineJoy

Jagmeet Singh AOC

How come we're in the future and we're still using fuel???

6:11 PM · Nov 27, 2020

7

See Bean Wife’s other Tweets

AOC praises Canada

Between games, the pair chatted with the streamers about American and Canadian politics and the difference between the two. That led to some high praise from the U.S. representative about Canada’s health-care system and approach to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ocasio-Cortez noted that Canada is literally next-door to the U.S., but has vastly different policies.

“What’s so surprising to me is that I live in New York, Toronto is just a day’s drive away,” she said. “It’s just a stone’s throw away from being able to afford your insulin.”

Ocasio-Cortez said Canada is proof that “another world is possible.”

“Another world is possible and exists like a three hour drive away from people who say it’s impossible,” she said.

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© Provided by HuffPost Canada

Even Jagmeet Singh Is Doing That Viral ‘Dreams’ TikTok


Singh noted that while Canada is far from perfect, it’s not as polarized as the U.S.

“Our electorate, the people of Canada are not as polarized,” Singh said. “You’ll have pretty horrible conservative premiers — or governors — that are bad on so many things but still acknowledge we should follow science advice.”

Singh also had his fair share of praise for his fellow politician, calling Ocasio-Cortez a “beacon of hope” for the progressive movement.
#JagMute

The NDP had some technical troubles throughout the stream, accidentally muting or unmuting his mic at the wrong times.

In one memorable moment, Singh unmuted as he was confessing to being the imposter.

“I thought I was muted. So rookie, so embarrassing,” he laughed.

According to the NDP leader, his staff were inspired to call the moment #JagMute, prompting plenty of memes and praise for Singh’s innocent play style on social media.

Christo Aivalis 

@christoaivalis

Jagmeet Singh just BLEW AOC's mind with public auto insurance formed by CCF-NDP governments

6:25 PM · Nov 27, 2020

1.1K

118 people are Tweeting about this

And now not realizing he was muted omg #jagmute@theJagmeetSingh this hashtag better trend— Shannon. (@sionainnkerry) November 28, 2020

More streams in the future?

During Friday’s stream, Singh expressed his optimism at doing it again in the future as a way to reach out to young voters.

Earlier this week he ruled out streaming with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but plenty of NDP caucus members were already scheming about a potential collaboration.

And Alberta’s lone NDP MP was already trash-talking.

If you ask me, I’d love to see B.C. premier and NDP leader John Horgan say that “Among Us” is “lit.” 

And even some actual news

While the stream was largely light-hearted gaming checkered by Canada-U.S. comparisons between Singh and Ocasio-Cortez, the NDP leader did manage to sneak in some actual news for astute political news watchers. About halfway through the stream, Singh hinted that his party would push for domestic COVID-19 vaccine production escalation next week.

“It really speaks to the sovereignty of your country if you can produce them yourself,” he said.

Singh was short on details about what that would look like, but the gamers got to hear it first, which was maybe the point.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost Canada.

MORE TWEETS AND SCREEN SHOTS HERE

Missed Jagmeet Singh And AOC’s ‘Among Us’ Stream? Here Are The 5 Best Moments (msn.com)

Border patrol settles lawsuit with US citizens detained after an agent heard them speaking Spanish

Two American citizens have reached a settlement in a lawsuit they filed against US Customs and Border Protection after an agent asked them for IDs because he heard them speaking Spanish.

© CNN ana suda interview don lemon on border patrol agent

Ana Suda and Martha "Mimi" Hernandez, who live in the small town of Havre, Montana, say they were detained by a border patrol agent while waiting to pay for groceries at a local convenience store in May 2018.

The agent, Paul O'Neill, approached them, commented on their accent, and asked where they were born, according to the ACLU. When they responded -- Suda is from Texas and Hernandez is from California -- he asked to see identification and questioned them for 40 minutes, they say


O'Neal eventually returned their licenses and told them they could go, the court document says.

The lawsuit, filed in 2019, claims O'Neal violated the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches, and the women's rights to equal protection.

The settlement involves a monetary sum, the ACLU said.

"We stood up to the government because speaking Spanish is not a reason to be racially profiled and harassed. I am proud to be bilingual, and I hope that as a result of this case CBP takes a hard look at its policies and practices," Suda said in a statement. "No one else should ever have to go through this again."

In a statement to CNN, Border Patrol said their agents are trained to enforce laws uniformly and fairly, without discriminating based on religion, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

"CBP stresses honor and integrity in every aspect of our mission, and the overwhelming majority of CBP employees and officers perform their duties with honor and distinction, working tirelessly every day to keep our country safe," the agency said.

Speaking Spanish is 'unheard of up here,' agent told them

Suda, who recorded the incident on her cellphone, is shown in the video asking the agent why he questioned them.

"Ma'am, the reason I asked for your IDs is because I came in here and saw that you guys were speaking Spanish, which is very unheard of up here," he responds.

The area is about 35 miles south of the US-Canada border.

WONDER WHAT THEY WOULD DO ABOUT CANADIAN TOURISTS SPEAKING FRENCH

Suda then asks if she and her friend are being racially profiled.

"It has nothing to do with that," the agent replies. "It has to do with the fact that you were speaking Spanish in the store in a state that is predominantly English-speaking."

About 4% of Havre residents are Hispanic or Latino, according to the US Census. About 1.4% speak a language other than English at home.

Award-winning photojournalist injured covering Paris protest

28/11/2020

News outlets including Agence-France Presse joined media rights campaigners Sunday in denouncing the injury of an award-winning Syrian photojournalist during a Paris protest against police brutality.

©Gabrielle Cézard Ameer Alhalbi, a freelance photographer who worked for Polka Magazine and AFP, was wounded covering the Paris demonstrations 

Ameer Alhalbi, a freelance photographer who has worked for Polka Magazine and AFP, was covering Saturday's demonstrations opposing police violence and the French government's plans to restrict sharing images of officers

.

© Alain JOCARD Alhalbi has won several international awards, including second prize in the "Spot News" category for the World Press Photo in 2017, mainly for coverage of the Syrian conflict for AFP

In AFP photos Alhalbi's face appears bruised with much of his head covered in bandages.

Christophe Deloire, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, tweeted that the 24-year-old had been wounded at Place de la Bastille by "a police baton" and condemned the "intolerable" violence.

"Ameer came from #Syria to #France to take refuge, like several other Syrian journalists. The land of human rights should not threaten them, but protect them," he said in a second tweet.

AFP and Polka also condemned the incident in statements Sunday.

"We are shocked by the injuries suffered by our colleague Ameer al-Halbi and condemn the unprovoked violence," said Phil Chetwynd, AFP’s global news director.

"The injuries were sustained as he exercised his legal rights as a photojournalist documenting protests on the streets of Paris.

"Ameer was working together with a group of colleagues who were clearly identified as journalists," he added.

"We demand the police investigate this serious incident and ensure all journalists are allowed to carry out their work without fear or restrictions."

- 'Shocking and reprehensible' -

A statement from Polka magazine also condemned the "police aggression" against Alhalbi.

The magazine's Director of Publication Alain Genestar said the incident was "all the more shocking and reprehensible" because he was clearly identified as a press photographer.

Dimitri Beck, Polka's director of photography, said Alhalbi had suffered a broken nose and injured forehead and been taken to hospital.

Alhalbi has won several international awards, including second prize in the "Spot News" category for the World Press Photo in 2017, mainly for his coverage of the Syrian conflict in his home city Aleppo for AFP.

Police said Sunday that two demonstrators had complained of being hurt by officers in protests outside Paris, while no count had yet been made in the capital itself.

Some 62 police officers were injured during the Saturday demonstrations, the interior ministry said, while 81 people were arrested.

A number of videos shared online showed marchers beating police officers.

The interior ministry added that 133,000 people had taken part in the demonstrations, 46,000 of them in Paris, while organisers said the figure was 500,000 nationwide and 200,000 in Paris.

burs/jj/bp

French protesters decry bill outlawing use of police images

PARIS — Tens of thousands of critics of a proposed security law that would restrict the filming of police officers protested across France on Saturday, and officers in Paris who were advised to behave responsibly during the demonstrations repeatedly fired tear gas to disperse rowdy protesters who set fire to France's central bank and threw paving stones.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The mood was largely peaceful, however, as dozens of rallies took place against a provision of the law that would make it a crime to publish photos or video of on-duty police officers with the intent of harming their “physical or psychological integrity.”

Civil liberties groups, journalists, and people who have faced police abuse are concerned that the measure will stymie press freedoms and allow police brutality to go undiscovered and unpunished.

“We have to broaden the debate, and by doing that, we say that if there were no police violence, we wouldn’t have to film violent policemen," Assa Traore, a prominent anti-brutality activist whose brother died in police custody in 2016, told The Associated Press.

She was among at least 46,000 people who packed the sprawling Republique plaza and surrounding streets carrying red union flags, French tricolour flags and homemade signs denouncing police violence, demanding media freedom or calling for the resignation of French President Emmanuel Macron or his tough-talking interior minister, Gerald Darmanin.

The crowd included journalists, journalism students, left-wing activists, migrants rights groups and citizens of varied political stripes expressing anger over what they perceive as hardening police tactics in recent years, especially since France’s yellow vest protest movement against economic hardship emerged in 2018.

Violence erupted near the end of the march as small groups of protesters pelted riot police with small rocks and paving stone. The officers retaliated with volleys of tear gas, prompting minor scuffles. Rioters then set fire to the facade of the central bank and to police barricades; in the melee fire trucks struggled to reach the site.

Macron's government says the law is needed to protect police amid threats and attacks by a violent fringe.

But the chief editor of French newspaper Le Monde, Luc Bronner, argued at the protest that the law against publishing images of officers is unnecessary.

“There are already laws that exist to protect civil servants, including police forces when they’re targeted, and it’s legitimate – the police do a very important job," Bronner said. “But that's not what this is about. It’s about limiting the capacity of citizens and along with them, journalists, to document police violence when they happen.”

While journalists have been the most outspoken over the security bill, it could have an even greater impact on the efforts of non-journalists who film police during aggressive arrests, notably minorities who can try to fight police abuse and discrimination with a few seconds of cellphone video.

“There were all those protests in the summer against police violence, and this law shows the government didn’t hear us... It’s the impunity. That’s what makes us so angry," protest participant Kenza Berkane, 26, said.

Berkane, who is French and of North African origin, described being repeatedly stopped by police for identity checks in the metro or while going to school. while white friends were allowed to pass. “We ask ourselves, when will this stop?”

The cause has gained renewed importance in recent days after footage emerged of French police officers beating up a Black man, triggering a nationwide outcry.

Macron spoke out against the video images on Friday, saying “they shame us.”

Video that surfaced Thursday showed the beating of music producer Michel Zecler, following footage of the brutal police evacuation Tuesday of migrants in a Paris plaza. The officers involved in the beating of Zecler were suspended pending an internal police investigation.

An internal letter from Paris Police Prefect Didier Lallement called on officers to use “probity, the sense of honour and ethics” when policing Saturday's protests, which were authorized by authorities despite France's partial virus lockdown.

Through most of the march police hung back, chatting while holding their helmets or watching silently as protesters shouted “Shame!” at them.

The crowd was overwhelmingly peaceful, but some in the unruly minority came equipped with gas masks and helmets.

Article 24 of the proposed security law criminalizes the publishing of images of police officers with the intent of causing harm. Anyone found guilty could be sentenced to up to a year in jail, and fined 45,000 euros ($53,000).

Many protesters, police and journalists have been injured during protests in recent years, including several Associated Press journalists.

Prime Minister Jean Castex announced Friday that he would appoint a commission to redraft Article 24, but he backtracked after hearing from angry lawmakers. The commission is now expected to make new proposals by early next year on the relationship between the media and police.

___

Alex Turnbull in Paris contributed to this report.

Angela Charlton And Thomas Adamson, The Associated Press

A Black Transgender Woman Is Suing The Georgia Prison System For Sexual Assault

Following allegations of mistreatment, Ashley Diamond, a Black transgender woman, is suing the Georgia Department of Corrections for sexual assault by both inmates and correctional staff. Diamond, who is being represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), filed the lawsuit on Monday. In it, she alleges that officials failed to protect her from sexual assault and they inflicted harm on her directly.

© Provided by Refinery29 FILE — Ashley Diamond in Rome, Ga., on Sept. 17, 2015. Diamond, a transgender woman serving time in Georgia for nonviolent offenses is back in prison for a parole violation, where she says the state is again failing to protect her. (Raymond McCrea Jones/The New York Times)

Since 2019, Diamond says she has been assaulted 14 times. In addition to verbal and physical abuse, Diamond accused the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) of denying her medically necessary treatments and putting her in a men’s prison — despite the risk to her safety. The lawsuit alleges that being put in a men’s housing assignment has specifically caused her to be violated repeatedly.

“Being a woman in a men’s prison is a nightmare. I’ve been stripped of my identity. I never feel safe. Never. I experience sexual harassment on a daily basis, and the fear of sexual assault is always a looming thought. I’m bringing this lawsuit to bring about change on behalf of a community that deserves the inherent dignity to simply exist,” Diamond said in a statement from CCR.

This is not the first time that Diamond is suing the GDC, either. In February 2015, Diamond filed a lawsuit challenging the abusive conditions that incarcerated transgender people in Georgia prisons face and won a historic settlement agreement, which triggered significant reforms in Georgia. The GDC rescinded its “freeze frame” policy that prevented trans people from receiving the hormone therapy treatment they need, and adopted new sexual assault prevention policies. Diamond was released on parole later in 2015. However, since becoming incarcerated again in 2019, Diamond has been met with similar unconstitutional conditions.

According to CCR, Diamond’s case “exposes how GDC’s policies and practices perpetuate transphobia and gender and sexual-based violence.” Black transgender people, who are incarcerated at disproportionately high rates, also face disproportionate levels of violanece. A survey from the National Center for Transgender Equality shows that approximately 16 percent of trans people of all ethnicities are incarcerated in their lifetimes, and that one out of two (or 47 percent) of Black trans people are incarcerated.

Data collected by the Department of Justice also shows that at least 40 percent of incarcerated transgender people have been sexually assaulted — which is more than ten times the general prison population rate. 2020 has been one of the deadliest years for trans people so far — specifically Black trans women — with 36 violent deaths in the U.S. that have been documented, though it’s likely that the number is even higher.

“We sued Georgia prisons on Ashley’s behalf before and, unfortunately, we’re having to sue again to end the abhorrent treatment of transgender people, particularly transgender women of color, in Georgia’s prisons. Five years after changing its policies in response to our first lawsuit, GDC tragically continues to flout its legal obligations to protect transgender people in its custody,” Beth Littrell, senior attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in a statement. “The assaults and threats that Ashley continues to face on a daily basis are based on the fact that she is a woman in a men’s prison – it’s intolerable and inexcusable.”

Diamond’s lawyers are advocating that she be transferred out of a men’s facility, and that she be given access to vital healthcare. They’re also arguing that the minimum standards of adequate attention for incarcerated transgender people goes beyond hormone therapy and includes additional care that affirms their gender.

“Together with the Southern Poverty Law Center, we are holding the Georgia Department of Corrections accountable, helping to make more visible the experiences and courageous organizing of trans people in Georgia prisons and working with and uplifting the incredible work of grassroots allies who are fighting for the safety, dignity, and rights of all trans people,” CCR says.

Refinery29 has contacted the Georgia Department of Corrections for comment, but was unable to reach a representative. We will update this story as we know more.

AGRIBUSINESS MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M

'A step forward': Federal, provincial governments to investigate grocery store fees on suppliers

'PRODUCERS'[PACKING PLANTS, FEEDLOTS] 

                 VS 

'DISTRIBUTERS' [LOBLAWS, EMPIRE, ETC]

NEITHER ARE FARMERS, BIG OR SMALL

Financial Post Staff 1 day ago


Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers on Friday agreed to launch an investigation to find ways to mend tattered relationships between food producers and supermarkets.

© Provided by Financial Post 

During the last day of their annual conference, the agriculture ministers agreed to set up a working group to look at the controversial fees that some of the largest grocery chains have started charging suppliers during the pandemic.

“We all recognize that these fees, recently imposed by some retailers, are really worrying,” federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said at a press conference. “We want to study the problem.”

Bibeau said the working group will “circumscribe the issue, consult experts and industry, and identify actions that can be taken, both at the federal and provincial level,” with a report on recommendations delivered by July 2021.

The decision to start looking into the issue comes amid renewed calls for government intervention to rein in what food producers say are bully tactics from the most powerful players in the consolidated grocery business. Manufacturing industry groups and independent grocers have called for the government to implement a code of conduct, similar to a model used in the United Kingdom.

“I’m delighted. I think it’s a step forward,” said Michael Graydon, chief executive of Food, Health and Consumer Products of Canada, the major trade association for manufacturers, which has been among the loudest critics of supermarket fees and fines.

This summer, Walmart Canada reignited debate over a code of conduct when it started charging its suppliers, as a way to help cover multi-billion-dollar upgrades to its stores and e-commerce operations. Canada’s biggest grocer, Loblaw Cos. Ltd., followed suit last month with a fee to help cover its own upgrades, and a buying group that includes Metro Inc. has asked for similar treatment.

One of the country’s biggest dairy processors is pushing back against the supermarkets. Lactalis Canada Inc., which includes the Beatrice milk, Astro yogurt and Black Diamond cheese brands, told retailers last week that it will no longer pay fines if shipments come up short in the next month, pointing to production challenges caused by the recent spike in COVID-19 cases.

“What is happening today isn’t conducive to having a strong ag sector,” André Lamontagne, Quebec’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, said in an interview. He will co-chair the working group with Bibeau.

“We want to make sure that those smaller enterprises can remain healthy,” he added.

Graydon said it was “ideal” that the working group would be led by a federal and a provincial minister.

The federal government has determined that regulating terms of sale between supermarkets and suppliers is outside its jurisdiction, but has encouraged the provinces to address the issue.

But advocates have warned that any effective response from the provinces would have to be in lockstep, since the food supply chain stretches across the country.

“If there is anything significant to take place, it will require federal-provincial co-operation,” Graydon said. “We should be in good shape.”

The Retail Council of Canada (RCC), the trade group that represents supermarket chains, was unable to comment before press time Friday night.

“RCC cannot comment until we’ve had the opportunity to review the outcome of the meeting in question,” spokesperson Michelle Wasylyshen said in an email.

The fees aren’t the only reason supermarkets have come under scrutiny lately.

At least one member of Parliament has been calling for the Competition Bureau to investigate the big grocers over their decisions to cut pandemic pay bonuses for their staff on the same day.

On Friday, the bureau released a statement clarifying its position on wage fixing and other “buy-side agreements” — meaning agreements between competitors that drive down the cost on the inputs that businesses buy, such as labour, rather than what they sell.

The bureau felt compelled to put out the statement on Friday in light of “recent public concerns in Canada about potential agreements between employers related to wages,” spokesperson Marcus Callaghan said in an email.

The bureau has seen increased interest in the issue from the legal and business communities and wanted to provide “clarity and transparency,” Callaghan said.

The guidance came two days after bureau commissioner Matthew Boswell broke his silence on the grocery chains’ removal of pandemic pay.

COLLUSION NO DIFFERENT THAN PRICE FIXING
In an address to a conference of independent grocers on Wednesday, he voiced concern that top executives at rival grocery chains had held discussions before cutting the pay.

Metro chief executive Eric La Flèche testified at a House of Commons hearing this summer that he placed several calls to competitors in May and June to ask if they were planning to cut the $2-per-hour wage increase.

At the same hearing, Loblaw president Sarah Davis said she had sent a “courtesy email” to competitors about her decision to cut the bonus on June 13, the same day as Metro and Sobeys’ parent company Empire Co. Ltd. All of the companies have strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Empire chief executive Michael Medline said he insisted on having legal counsel on the call with La Flèche and refused to answer the question on pandemic pay. Empire has started paying bonuses again, based on hours worked, for staff working regions now under lockdown orders, including Manitoba, Toronto and neighbouring Peel Region.

For example, the bonus will total $100 per week for staff in Manitoba who work 40 hours, according to a statement from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. The union said most members can expect between $25 and $75 per week in bonuses.

The Competition Bureau on Friday confirmed that buy-side agreements, including wage fixing, cannot be pursued as criminal offences under the Competition Act. They can be pursued civilly, though such cases require the bureau to prove that the behaviour prevented competition, which, as the bureau noted on Friday, is “not a low threshold.”

Antitrust experts have said they do not expect the bureau will launch an investigation into the grocers. The bureau has declined to say whether it is investigating or not because it is “required by law to conduct its work confidentially.”

Federal competition watchdog voices ‘concern’ over big grocers’ removal of $2 hourly bonus

Cheese giant enters standoff with Canadian supermarkets over fines as pandemic supply challenges mount

Loblaw testing autonomous grocery vehicles in bid to conquer supply chain’s ‘middle mile’

Mystery of the coronavirus origin: Experts still seeking answers

© Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo/ Employees work in a research and development lab of Beijing Applied Biological Technologies, a firm which is developing COVID-19 molecular diagnostic test kits, during a government organized tour for journalists in Beijing…

China or Italy? Bats or pangolins?

More than 11 months since the first cluster of coronavirus cases was reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan, there are still questions about the exact origins of the virus and how it jumped from animals to humans.

Experts believe the zoonotic COVID-19 disease came from a Chinese wet market selling wild animals. New research, however, has emerged which indicates the virus was circulating in Italy in September, adding another layer to the mystery that has so far eluded scientists.

Read more: Wuhan scientists interviewed over coronavirus origins, WHO says

A study published earlier this month in the scientific magazine Tumori Journal found coronavirus antibodies in 11.6 per cent of 959 asymptomatic people enrolled in a prospective lung cancer screening trial between September 2019 and March 2020. Italy’s first official COVID-19 case was detected in Lombardy on Feb. 21 this year.

“Our results indicate that SARS-CoV-2 circulated in Italy earlier than the first official COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in Lombardy, even long before the first official reports from the Chinese authorities, casting new light on the onset and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Italian researchers said in their Nov.11 report, which is yet to be peer reviewed.

Coronavirus outbreak: A timeline of how COVID-19 spread around world
Click to expand


The World Health Organization (WHO) told Global News it has reviewed the paper and would reach out to the authors to discuss and arrange for further analyses.

Dr. Sasha Bernatsky, senior scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, called the study “very interesting and provocative”, but said it was inconclusive.

“Unfortunately, we have yet to really understand the antibody response to COVID and how durable it is,” she told Global News.



VIDEO Mink COVID-19 outbreaks raises concerns over new strain

In September, a WHO-led international investigative team was formed to study the source of the novel virus, the possible role of an intermediary animal host and how the virus was transmitted to humans.

Researchers believe that SARS-CoV-2, which is the seventh known human coronavirus, originally came from bats as the reservoir hosts. Some studies also suspect an intermediary link to the pangolins, a mammal found in Asia and Africa.

Read more: COMMENTARY: China’s response to coronavirus criticism is diplomatic ‘charmless’ offensive

Kerry Bowman, a bioethicist and professor of global health at the University of Toronto, said the entire chain of events of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the COVID-19 disease, emerging in a Wuhan market has not been proven, but the Italian findings did not change the fact that the virus was of animal origin.

“What caused this was likely wild animal markets and none of that has changed,” he told Global News.

“What I do think is there's going to be years of back and forth before we really have a smoking gun as to exactly what caused it and what the chain of events was.”

Politicizing the pandemic

Since the start of the pandemic, China has faced a lot of criticism from Western leaders, especially U.S. President Donald Trump, accusing Beijing of a lack of transparency and not reporting its outbreak in a timely fashion.

In May, a groundbreaking investigation by Sam Cooper of Global News found that before China informed the world of the potential lethality of the novel coronavirus in late January, it told embassies and consulates around the world to secretly buy up all the personal protective equipment they could.

Meanwhile, a Harvard Medical School study analyzed hospital traffic and search engine data to suggest that the virus may have been circulating as early as August. China has dismissed the findings as “ridiculous.”

Video: Canadian health experts and entrepreneurs make strides in the fight against COVID-19

Levon Abrahamyan, a virologist at the University of Montreal, said as with previous experiences with other outbreaks, a new virus needs time to fully adapt to new hosts — in this case, humans — which could offer an explanation for the delay in detecting it.

“The political element was very, very strong, especially regarding the origin, because China was accused of not giving the true story, not reacting immediately, not informing the World Health Organization on time regarding the outbreak,” he told Global News.

“For a virus to adapt to humans and become (a) human-to-human transmissible virus, that could take several months, that could face a couple of weeks, all depends on the viral genetic background of the population around.”

More than 17 years after severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), another coronavirus-caused respiratory illness, was detected in China in 2003, its exact origins still remain a myth.

The same could be the case with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“How an infectious disease crosses the animal-human barrier is a riddle that can take years to solve,” the WHO says.

Bowman agreed, adding: “It's going to take time before we really get to the bottom of it.”

GREEN CAPITALI$M
EU delays rules on carbon market permit handouts
By Kate Abnett 1 day ago

© Reuters/Yves Herman European Union flags flutter outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission will confirm in February rules to calculate industries' free carbon permits over the next five years, it said on Friday, pushing back a plan to finish the regulations this year.

The EU's carbon market forces polluters to buy permits to cover their emissions, but gives some free permits to industry to deter companies from relocating to outside of Europe to avoid carbon costs.

Draft versions of the rules, seen by Reuters, suggest most industries would see free credits cut by the highest possible rate over the next five years, as the EU seeks to curb pollution and meet climate goals. That could cost the biggest polluters millions of euros.

The Commission said on Friday it would finalise in February the "benchmarks" to determine industries' free permits over the 2021-2025 period.

The Commission said it was still verifying data from the 11,000 factories and power plants covered by the carbon market, which will help determine the rules.

Once that is completed this year, countries will inform the EU how many free permits they intend to give their industries.

If countries plan to hand out too many free permits, the Commission could apply a "correction" mechanism, curbing all factories' free permits by the same amount, before approving the final amount in the second quarter of 2021.

"The distribution of free allowances in 2021 will take place after this decision is adopted," the Commission said in a statement.

Companies will be required to surrender permits to the EU in April 2022, to cover the emissions they produced in 2021.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by Susan Fenton)

Colombia must restart aerial fumigation to fight drug trafficking, defense minister says

POISONING PEOPLE IN A USELESS DRUG WAR

#LEGALIZEDRUGS #ENDTHEDRUGWARS

By Luis Jaime Acosta

© Reuters/LUISA GONZALEZ FILE PHOTO: 

Colombian Minister of Defense Carlos Holmes Trujillo speaks during an interview with Reuters in Bogota

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia must restart aerial fumigation of coca with the herbicide glyphosate as soon as possible to reduce cocaine production, income for illegal armed groups, massacres and the killings of human rights activists, the defense minister said.

The Andean country, a top producer of cocaine, suspended aerial fumigation with glyphosate in 2015 on concerns by the World Health Organization (WHO) it may cause cancer.

Cultivation of coca, the base ingredient in cocaine, subsequently shot up to its highest levels in nearly two decades in 2017, according to United Nations figures.

"There is no doubt at all. Colombia needs to reestablish aspersion, aerial fumigation with glyphosate for national security reasons," Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo told Reuters in an interview on Friday. "Logically it needs to be reestablished with assurances for health and the environment."

President Ivan Duque's government is in the process of complying with standards set by the Constitutional Court to resume the fumigation.

It will also need environmental regulators' permission, recently delayed by legal actions from communities who oppose aerial fumigation.

The WHO's cancer arm classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans." The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency disagrees, saying the chemical is not a carcinogen.

Spraying with glyphosate will cut off resources "for those who commit massacres and kill social leaders," Trujillo said, referring to the murders of human rights activists, many of whom oppose illegal mining and coca cultivation, and recent mass killings the government attributes to groups funded by drug trafficking.

There were 154,000 hectares (380,550 acres) planted with coca in Colombia at the close of 2019, according to the UN, with cocaine production potential at 1,137 metric tonnes.

That figure is more than triple the 48,000 hectares recorded in 2013, when aerial fumigation was in use, Trujillo said.

Trujillo would not give an estimated date for a restart in spraying from airplanes, but said the practice is more efficient and safer than the manual eradication currently in use.

Between 400 and 600 hectares of coca could be destroyed daily with aerial fumigation, he said, compared with just 170 hectares with manual eradication.

Aerial fumigation also protects eradication teams from attacks by armed groups and landmines, Trujillo said. Sixteen members of the security forces have died so far in 2020 during eradication efforts and more than 100 have been injured.

The uptick in mass killings and murders of activists has sparked criticism from the international community and rights groups, which accuse Duque's government of not doing enough to protect vulnerable communities.

Research group Indepaz says 259 activists have been killed so far in 2020, while official statistics count 23 massacres with a total of 111 victims.

Despite the lack of aerial fumigation, Colombia will eradicate a record 130,000 hectares during 2020, the minister added.

Manual eradication and voluntary crop substitution will continue even once aerial fumigation is re-approved, Trujillo said.

"We need to create conditions for investment, large investment, investment in sustainable and profitable projects for Colombian farmers," Trujillo said.

(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; editing by Diane Craft)

MICKEY & MINIE JOIN THE UNEMPLOYMENT LINE

Disney to lay off 4,000 more at California, Florida parks

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Walt Disney Co. announced plans to lay off 4,000 more workers in its theme parks division in California and Florida due to the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on the industry.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The announcement by the company was made in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing earlier this week, saying 32,000 employees will be terminated in the first half of fiscal year 2021, which began last month. In late September, the company had already announced plans to terminate 28,000 theme park workers.

In the SEC document filed on the eve of Thanksgiving Day, the company said it also put 37,000 employees not scheduled for termination on furlough as a result of the pandemic.

“Due to the current climate, including COVID-19 impacts, and changing environment in which we are operating, the company has generated efficiencies in its staffing, including limiting hiring to critical business roles, furloughs and reductions-in-force,” the document said.

The company also said they may make more cuts in spending such as reducing film and television content investments and additional furloughs and layoffs.

In Florida, the company has been limiting attendance at its parks and changing protocols to allow for social distancing by limiting characters' meet and greets.

The company has not specified the number of workers that would be affected in its Orlando theme parks.

Disney’s parks closed in March as the pandemic started spreading in the U.S. The Florida parks reopened in the summer, but the California parks have yet to reopen pending state and local government approvals.

The Associated Press