Saskatoon

'Without enforcement, there is no law': Sask. police, government urged to sanction COVID-19 protesters SO SHOULD ALBERTA

WHITE PEOPLE PROTEST NO RIOT COPS

Regina anti-mask protest planned as 12th care home resident dies and COVID-19 case numbers swell

Jason Warick · CBC News · Posted: Dec 11, 2020 

Hundreds attended this rally in Saskatoon last weekend to protest COVID-19 restrictions. A similar event is planned for Regina Saturday. Some are hoping police step up enforcement to stop these potential 'superspreader' events. (Mr. YXE/Twitter)


As the care home death toll mounts and the hospitals fill, hundreds of protesters are planning to descend on Regina to chant and protest without masks against COVID-19 restrictions Saturday afternoon.

Just like an event last weekend in Saskatoon, the Regina protest itinerary appears to violate current public health orders, including the 30-person gathering limit. Aside from the Regina attendees, caravans are being organized to depart from Saskatoon, Weyburn and other locations early Saturday morning.

And like the Saskatoon event, it's unclear whether the Regina Police Service or the provincial government plans to enforce the law through tickets, fines or arrests.

Some worry the unmasked protesters will be "superspreaders" of the virus, and the lack of strong police enforcement is emboldening them.

Criminal lawyer and University of Saskatchewan lecturer Brian Pfefferle says laws have no power if they aren't enforced. Pfefferle says he expects Regina police to be watching closely at the planned anti-mask rally planned for Regina this weekend. (Matthew Garand/CBC)

Lawyer and University of Saskatchewan lecturer Brian Pfefferle said people should not be allowed to openly defy the law without consequences, especially laws designed to protect the health of fellow citizens.

"If a law is in place, it should be enforced," Pfefferle said. "That is, at its core, the rule of law. If we have laws without enforcement, there is no law."

He said police can issue tickets, but they can also break up large gatherings. Pfefferle said Regina police may have to make some tough decisions, but they can't ignore illegal acts.

"If individuals are not charged with flouting the rules, the law has no effect," he said.

Regina cardiologist Dr. Andrea Lavoie is urging protesters to reconsider and stay home.

If they don't, Lavoie agreed with Pfefferle — the laws must be enforced to protect the vulnerable.

She said other rallies in Manitoba and elsewhere have caused large spikes in COVID-19 cases in those communities.

Anti-mask sentiment 'very similar to brainwashing,' prof says in wake of Sask. COVID-19 protest
Teens crash anti-mask mandate protest in Regina

Lavoie, who has worked long hours in Regina hospitals for months, said life has been frustrating for everyone. But endangering your family and community at a protest will make things worse, she said.

"I think we all have to band together in our aloneness and try to follow the rules as best we can so that we can prevent more people from dying or being harmed by COVID-19."

Regina cardiologist Dr. Andrea Lavoie is urging protesters to stay home from a planned event in Regina Saturday. She said a large gathering will endanger their family and the community. (Submitted by Dr. Andrea Lavoie)

Lavoie hopes news of a vaccine will give people hope and greater resilience to endure the current restrictions.

An RPS official said they've "reached out to organizers to ensure that they are aware of the public health orders," and police will be monitoring traffic safety.

"We will monitor the event and determine appropriate action, based upon all the circumstances the day of the rally."

Health Minister Paul Merriman was asked by reporters Thursday about the Regina rally and whether there needs to be enforcement of public health laws.

Merriman began by saying that "there's been a lot of rallies that have been held." Merriman then said "people have a right to express themselves," and said he hopes they'll follow the law.

A similar rally was held in Saskatoon last weekend. Saskatoon police escorted hundreds of unmasked protesters up the Broadway Bridge.

On a video live streamed to YouTube, one participant invites others to join, then pans the camera toward the police vehicles escorting the group.

"Cops are leading the march! Cops are leading the march! Anyone who's scared to get a ticket, you won't. Whooooo! Freedom!" she said.

Saskatoon Police Service Supt. Cameron McBride said in an email there is "no police response that will satisfy everyone's unique sense of justice." He said aggressive enforcement can do more harm than good.

"We cannot afford to antagonize an already emotionally charged group of people, who could turn to violence and property damage to make themselves heard," McBride said.

A police official said the investigation is ongoing, but no one has been arrested or charged yet.

Regina rally promoter Mark Friesen says the event to protest COVID-19 restrictions will go ahead no matter what police do or don't do. (markfriesen.ca) COVIDIOT

Rally promoter Mark Friesen said the Saskatoon event went well. He said Regina's will go on peacefully as planned, no matter what police do or don't do.

"If people want to exercise their rights afforded them under the Constitution, I encourage them to do so," he said.

Friesen repeated many of the claims circulating on social media about the virus, masks and vaccines. He said the public health orders violate his rights to assembly and the right to not wear a mask.

He said the rallies are safe because he's hugged people at them and never gotten sick.

Lavoie said that is not evidence. She urged protesters to educate themselves or find someone to help them understand.

Other jurisdictions have used enforcement as a staple of their COVID-19 plan. In the Australian state of Victoria, which includes the city of Melbourne, 25,000 fines of more than $1,000 each were issued. That region has now been COVID-free for 41 days and is opening its economy and lifting restrictions.

In Saskatchewan, a 12th person died this week at a single Regina care home operation. Daily case averages, hospitalizations and deaths across the province have reached record levels.

According to the latest figures, fewer than 100 Saskatchewan people or organizations have been sanctioned for COVID-19 violations since March.

Protest against mandatory masks in Saskatoon's Midtown mall shut down by police

Saskatoon police hands out first fine for Sask. Public Healt

How a team of 5 managed a 'historic' boost to Canada's domestic violence shelters

Using the power of a pre-existing network, the federal money flowed to shelters in crisis mode


Shaina Luck · CBC News · Posted: Dec 08, 2020 
Kaitlin Geiger-Bardswich was among a team of five people at the organization Women's Shelters Canada, which was tasked with distributing $20.5 million in federal COVID-19 aid to domestic violence shelters in the spring. (Brian Morris/CBC)


This story is part of The Big Spend, a CBC News investigation examining the unprecedented $240 billion the federal government handed out during the first eight months of the pandemic.

In the early weeks of COVID-19's arrival in Canada, Kaitlin Geiger-Bardswich and her colleagues worked overtime trying to support front-line workers in a very different sort of pandemic.

They were dispersing support to shelters working against what some have called the "shadow pandemic" — domestic violence affecting women isolating in their homes with an abusive partner.

"As only five people, we were a small but mighty team," said Geiger-Bardswich, "and we could do it if we put in a bit of the extra effort."

Geiger-Bardswich is the communications lead for Women's Shelters Canada, the national network of shelters and transition houses for women and children fleeing violence in their homes.

A week after the pandemic took hold in Canada, WSC received a call from the federal Department for Women and Gender Equality. The federal government wanted WSC to distribute $20.5 million in aid money to roughly 500 domestic violence shelters across the country.

WSC is not normally a funding agency so the request was new territory for its staff. But the organization had the most complete list of contacts for shelters and the best relationship with shelter organizations across the country.

"They came to us knowing that we would probably most easily get that money out as quickly as possible," said Geiger-Bardswich.

"It was the largest amount of money we'd ever received in our bank account."
A network of contacts

Working from home, WSC staff were able to connect with shelters and make sure each organization understood what it needed to do to be accountable for the money. The application process was short and didn't attach a lot of strings to how the shelters could spend the money.

A survivor named Michelle (last name kept private) is pictured at a transition house in Langley, B.C., on Friday, February 28, 2020. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC)

"We wanted to do it because we knew the funding was so important for shelters. It was really important to get it out quickly," said Geiger-Bardswich.

The reason for that, she said, was because WSC knew the shelters were in full crisis mode. They needed the money as early as April.

Shelters in Quebec and those that fell under the mandate of Indigenous Services Canada also received funds, but through a different process.

Quebec's provincial government opted to manage the distribution to its shelters rather than use the WSC process, and signed an agreement with the federal government on April 21, with funds set to flow later that month or in early May.

On average, the Quebec shelters received their money about a month later than the ones in the WSC distribution, said Geiger-Bardswich.
Immediate needs

A survey of 266 WSC member shelters released in late November indicated almost 60 per cent of shelters reported calls went down in the first three months of the pandemic, but increased as lockdown restrictions started to lift.

The shelters don't believe the decrease in calls happened because of less violence in the home, but rather the opposite: women were unable to call for help or leave because an abuser was present more often. Women also reported being afraid to leave their homes due to COVID-19 concerns.

Kristal LeBlanc is the CEO of the Beauséjour Family Crisis Resource Centre, which provides emergency housing for domestic violence victims and services for survivors of sexual assault. (CBC)

At the Beauséjour Family Crisis Resource Centre in Shediac, N.B., CEO Kristal LeBlanc said it's already hard to reach victims of domestic violence under normal circumstances, let alone during a pandemic.

"Imagine if they're not able to leave the house and the perpetrator is there, they're making a phone call to us and hiding in their closet. So it becomes really difficult," she said.

Sometimes during the lockdown, staff were unable to reach victims for pre-arranged virtual appointments and were left wondering what was happening.

"We had to understand that if we had an appointment at two o'clock and that victim didn't call, something changed in that home where it was no longer safe for her to call," LeBlanc said.

"That can be really scary for us, too, because if she was at a high risk of homicide, we had concerns that, you know, was she murdered?"

Approximately half of the shelters surveyed reported more severe attacks upon those women who did make it to the shelters. Some shelters reported increases in stabbing, strangulation and broken bones.

Shelters also reported abusers were using "coercive control" more often during the pandemic; manipulating a victim by controlling their movements, isolating them or limiting their access to money.

Spending the money

Women's Shelters Canada handed out the money in two stages, with every shelter receiving a base amount of $32,000. Some shelters that offered long-term housing qualified for an additional $2,000 per long-term unit.

Money left over from the first round was divided among shelters who said the initial allotment wasn't sufficient to meet their needs. In total, about 575 shelters received between $32,000 and $90,000 each, depending on their services.

Shiva Nourpanah is the co-ordinator of the Transition House Association of Nova Scotia, a group of 11 shelters for women and children leaving domestic violence. (Shaina Luck/CBC)

"It was historic, where they had this money and needed to disperse it to all the shelters across Canada. It was a unique process," said Shiva Nourpanah, the co-ordinator of the Transition House Association of Nova Scotia.

"We were able to do it very smoothly and efficiently, and the money did flow."

Many shelters used the money to bolster their staffing, or to find emergency housing for families who couldn't be accommodated in the regular shelters because of physical distancing.

Of those who responded to WSC's survey, 64 per cent established an isolation unit off-site at a hotel or motel. More than 80 per cent of the shelters surveyed bought new technology like tablets, phones and laptops to connect with victims.

There is more money to come before Christmas, after the federal government announced a further $50 million for organizations that work against gender-based violence. Women's Shelters Canada is responsible for dispersing $15.7 million of that, and shelters will have until the end of September 2021 to spend the money.
Provincial funding for some

Some provinces were quick to offer funding as well, said Nourpanah.

"It's a time of crisis and darkness, but I think people showed up for us," she said of the first wave of the pandemic in the spring. "So that was really good. Both levels of government and also individual people, and business community members."

But as grateful as shelters are for the emergency boost in funding in the spring and the next round of federal funding to come, they have concerns about surviving without ongoing, sustainable funding.

No shelters can hold traditional fundraising events this year. Almost 40 per cent of the shelters that answered WSC's survey reported they'd fundraised "significantly less" due to the pandemic.

A 16-bed crisis shelter in Melfort, Sask., which opened to clients in 2016. (CBC News)

"Women who have been working in this sector for 30, 40 years, they talk about not having seen this kind of attention, for which we're very grateful," said Nourpanah. "But this sector should not have been so underfunded to start with."

LeBlanc said she feels it should be a continuing federal and provincial government response, not a one-time boost.

"There hasn't really been that conversation around sustainability," she said.

"At the end of the day, if charities have to start to close their doors and shut down — much like some of the private businesses — the government's going to be in a lot of trouble," she said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shaina Luck is a reporter with CBC Nova Scotia. She has worked with national network programs, the CBC's Atlantic Investigative Unit, and the University of King's College school of journalism.

With files from Karissa Donkin

NOVA SCOTIA

 Justice system is harming domestic violence victims and needs to change, says report author

Nancy Ross researched issue for two years, found hardline approach by police and prosecutors needs overhaul


Elizabeth Chiu · CBC News · Dec 12, 2020 

Nancy Ross is an assistant professor at Dalhousie University's School of Social Work. 

(Nancy Ross)

The case of a Dartmouth, N.S., woman who was jailed and put in a restraint chair by police after she didn't show up to testify against the man accused of abusing her shows changes are needed to the justice system, according to a researcher examining the response to intimate partner violence.

Nancy Ross, an assistant professor of social work at Dalhousie University, has just wrapped up two years of research into prosecution service policies on domestic violence across the country, and is now calling for an overhaul.

The need for a reform of the criminal justice system was dramatically illustrated in the case of Serrece Winter, who was arrested in November 2019 on a warrant sought by a prosecutor, and then treated like a criminal in "an abuse of power" by police, said Ross.

"It's often the people that are most vulnerable that are calling police, and yet they seem to be punished or feel punished after calling," said Ross.
Only 3 in 10 report domestic violence to police

Ross found that most provinces have adopted a pro-arrest, pro-charge, pro-prosecution policy, a hardline approach aimed at winning convictions to keep victims safe from their abusers.

The policies emerged during the 1990s, after feminists pushed politicians to elevate the widespread problem of intimate partner violence as a serious crime, she said.

Pro-arrest means that police must arrest and then lay a charge once they determine who is the "dominant aggressor" and if it is determined that harm has occurred, said Ross.

Pro-prosecution means cases are brought "to a conclusion," according to Sarah Lane, a Nova Scotia Crown attorney.

Nova Scotia's domestic violence prosecution policy was introduced in 1996, and last revised in 2003.

But after three decades, many victims aren't turning to the justice system for help. Statistics Canada found in a 2014 survey that seven in 10 victims did not report the crime to police.

"That was a disturbing figure to me, it really motivated my interest in exploring why," said Ross.

With a $150,000 grant from the federal Justice Department, she did a deep dive into whether prosecution and police responses were a barrier to victims seeking help.

Ross's research has culminated in a report that's due to be published next week.
Survivors, offenders, police and prosecutors participated

She interviewed and held workshops with more than 100 people in Nova Scotia, including domestic violence survivors, offenders, police officers, Crown attorneys, shelter workers and staff with the Department of Justice.

Serrece Winter said she shared her story of suffering violence with the hope it helps other victims leave abusive relationships. (Robert Short/CBC)

The workshops were held coincidentally after Winter went public last month with her story. The case was discussed as an example of the social inequities faced by marginalized and vulnerable people in the community.

"It demonstrated a lack of education, a lack of awareness of mental health issues, a lack of understanding of trauma and how it impacts individuals, and a lack of nonviolent conflict resolution skills," Ross said.

She also reviewed articles, news stories and government reports from across the country.

"Only one percent of the literature really supports those policies in the way they're currently developed," she said.

Adversarial court system can be traumatic

Domestic violence is similar to sexual assaults in that women are more likely to be victims, and the victim is often the only witness to a crime.

The adversarial court system compels their testimony, and can be a harmful experience.

"Oftentimes the domestic violence victim has to prove that they have been harmed, so therefore showing, demonstrating proof of the violence can be very challenging and traumatic for them," she said.

Also, under a system aimed at securing a guilty verdict, an offender is less likely to accept responsibility and more likely to minimize the harm they've caused, she said.

Winter testified in this Dartmouth, N.S., courtroom on Dec. 7. (Robert Short/CBC)

The crime-and-punishment approach doesn't take into account that while a victim wants the abuse to end, there may be a desire to stay with a partner, keep the family together, or maintain parental contact with children.

Earlier this week, Winter did testify in court against her ex, thanks to a peace bond that kept him away from her, and physical and emotional support provided in the courthouse.

Ross cited that as an ideal response within the current, limited system.

She is recommending a shift from the "one-size-fits-all" punitive system to a model that's responsive to the needs of victims who've been traumatized, and who may prioritize family while also wanting the abuse to stop.

The call for reform has been echoed by women's groups, and Winter's treatment has been a flashpoint.

Ross is hopeful her findings will spur government, police, prosecutors and community groups to come together to design a new way forward.

She's received additional federal funding to examine ways for the system to be trauma-informed and family-focused.

Based on the police officers who participated in her workshop, during a climate in which they're facing intense scrutiny and calls for police to be defunded, Ross thinks they're open to change.

"What I heard from the police indicates that often they feel quite overwhelmed and caught in a system that often dictates their response," she said.

While protecting victims remains the goal, Ross said the need for physical safety must be balanced with the "need to encourage people to reach out for help and to assure people that help exists."


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elizabeth Chiu  is a reporter in Nova Scotia and hosts Atlantic Tonight on Saturdays at 7 p.m., 7:30 p.m. in Newfoundland. If you have a story idea for her, contact her at elizabeth.chiu@cbc.ca

Nova Scotia
N.S. poultry plant closure a blow to operators, community, and maybe Christmas turkey supply

Eden Valley Poultry is helping local producers find out-of-province processors

Taryn Grant · CBC News · Posted: Dec 12, 2020 

Six cases of COVID-19 have been identified at Eden Valley Poultry in Berwick, N.S. 

(Google Street View)


The closure of a poultry plant in Berwick, N.S., where an outbreak of COVID-19 was detected this week is a blow to operators, employees, the town and could even be felt by Nova Scotians looking to buy a Christmas turkey — but all those involved say it was the right thing to do.

Berwick Mayor Don Clarke said the shutdown has had an immediately noticeable impact on the town, causing business and traffic to go quiet.

Eden Valley Poultry is Berwick's biggest employer and the biggest customer for the town's self-owned electric utility, according to Clarke. It also draws its employees, about 450, from around the Annapolis Valley.

Clarke said the economic impact of the two-week closure isn't measurable yet from the town's perspective, but he expects that in the long-term, it will have been worth it.

"Having COVID in a plant that size with that many people in confined spaces and so on, is a serious situation," said Clarke.

"What they're doing is the necessary thing to do."

COVID-19 outbreak declared at Annapolis Valley poultry plant

Public Health ordered the closure of the poultry facility earlier this week after finding two cases of the virus among employees. Widespread testing has since revealed four more, with some results still pending and plans to re-test all employees next week.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang announced Friday the plant would have to stay closed for at least two weeks in an effort to disrupt the cycle of transmission.

That two-week order runs until Christmas day, but Eden Valley president Werner Barnard said they'll wait until the following Monday, Dec. 28, to reopen.
'Devastating' impact for the business

"I think any business that shuts its doors for two weeks has a devastating financial impact, that's a given," said Barnard.

But, he added, the nature of Eden Valley's business means the impact extends to every other business in the supply chain.

Over the course of the planned closure, Barnard said the plant would have processed more than 800,000 chicken and turkey. Eden Valley works with about 60 producers in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and has customers across the country and internationally.



Werner Bernard says Eden Valley Poultry typically processes about 400,000 turkey and chicken weekly from producers in Nova Scotia and P.E.I. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

Barnard said even though the plant isn't operating, there's still lots of work happening with producers, customers and other processors to mitigate the effects of Eden Valley's closure.

As the only federally regulated poultry processor in Nova Scotia, Barnard said birds that would have gone through Eden Valley will likely now be shipped out of province for processing, possibly limiting the local supply.

He called that "a blow to the community," in light of the upcoming Christmas demand for turkeys, and a concern for food security.
Employee paycheques in limbo

While employees await the second round of testing, Public Health has instructed them to self-isolate.

Among those waiting for test results is Lee Gee, who has worked at the plant for 40 years, including more than 30 years under a previous owner.

While he waits, Gee said he's being kept busy with phone calls from other Eden Valley labourers. Gee is the president of Unifor Local 2261, which represents about 360 Eden Valley employees.

"Everybody is concerned about their health … and this close to Christmas, with everything going on, with their pay," Gee said in an interview.

Eden Valley Poutry works with about 60 producers from around Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. (Mike Heenan/CBC)

Barnard said he could not guarantee paycheques would be going out as usual during the closure, but "employee welfare and financial security" were on his mind.

"Obviously this time of year it's devastating for employees not to be able to work and earn money … we're busy investigating all options but yes, the intent is to do right by the employees."

Otherwise, Gee said he was satisfied with Eden Valley's response to the outbreak, and he felt the necessary preventive steps had been taken, like scanning employees' body temperatures as they enter each day, installing Plexiglas barriers and enforcing masking and physical distancing.

Public Health says there's no evidence of community spread in Western Nova Scotia, but there was another case of COVID-19 detected in Berwick earlier this week, in addition to the cases at the poultry plant.

A case connected to the Berwick and District School meant that school closed for deep cleaning and contact tracing for several days.

Public Health has since increased testing opportunities in the area, sending one of the province's mobile testing vans and setting up walk-in testing sites.

The walk-in testing will be available at two sites in the area, beginning Sunday:
The Berwick Fire Hall (300 Commercial St., Berwick) on Sunday, Dec. 13 and Monday, Dec. 14 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The site will be closed between 4:30-5:30 p.m.
The Mobile Unit at the Middleton Fire Hall (131 Commercial St., Middleton) on Monday, Dec. 14 from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Tuesday, Dec. 15 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Taryn Grant is a Halifax-based reporter and web writer for CBC Nova Scotia. You can email her with tips and feedback at taryn.grant@cbc.ca

US adopts map of Morocco that includes DISPUTED Western Sahara 

A UN RECOGNIZED AUTONOMOUS ZONE

OF THE POLISARIO PEOPLE

People walk in a market street in Western Sahara's main city 

of Laayoune in November 2018 

FADEL SENNA AFP/File

Issued on: 12/12/2020 -

Rabat (AFP)

The United States adopted Saturday a "new official" map of Morocco that includes the disputed territory of Western Sahara, the ambassador to Rabat said.

"This map is a tangible representation of President Trump's bold proclamation two days ago -- recognising Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara," Ambassador David Fischer said according to a statement seen by AFP.

He then signed the "new official US government map of the kingdom of Morocco" at a ceremony at the US embassy in the capital Rabat.

The map will be presented to Morocco's King Mohammed VI, he added.

Western Sahara is a disputed and divided former Spanish colony, mostly under Morocco's control, where tensions with the pro-independence Polisario Front have simmered since the 1970s.

Morocco on Thursday became the fourth Arab state this year, after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan, to announce it had agreed to normalise relations with Israel.

US President Donald Trump in turn fulfilled a decades-old goal of Morocco by backing its contested sovereignty in Western Sahara.

The Polisario condemned "in the strongest terms the fact that outgoing American President Donald Trump attributes to Morocco something which does not belong" to the country, namely sovereignty over Western Sahara.

The movement dismissed the announcement and vowed to fight on until Moroccan forces withdraw from all of Western Sahara.

The prime minister of Algeria -- Morocco's neighbour and regional rival, and the key foreign backer of the Polisario Front -- on Saturday criticised "foreign manoeuvres" that he said aimed to "destabilise Algeria".

"There is now a desire by the Zionist entity to come closer to our borders," Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad said, in reference to Israel.

© 2020 AFP

LIBERATION THEOLOGY
Black Jesus born in burnt Amazon at Brazil church manger

A woman takes a selfie with a nativity scene calling for the end of racism and protection of the Amazon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on December 08, 2020 

MAURO PIMENTEL AFP

Issued on: 13/12/2020

Rio de Janeiro (AFP)

Instead of a manger in Bethlehem, Jesus will arrive this Christmas in a badly burned clearing in the Amazon rainforest, a black baby born to a black virgin with indigenous cherubs looking on.

The symbolically charged nativity scene is already turning heads in Rio de Janeiro's Gloria square, where the nearby Church of the Sacred Heart has a history of using its annual Christmas display to address contemporary issues.

There was a lot to choose from in 2020, but the church picked two topics that have become particularly pertinent in Brazil since far-right President Jair Bolsonaro took office last year: racism and rampant deforestation in the Amazon.

"This nativity scene is meant to show that people who torch mother nature, people who attack their brothers and sisters because their skin is a different color, don't have God in their hearts," said church spokesman Mauricio Rodrigues dos Santos, 63.

The church has been making mangers with a message for the past decade, taking advantage of its prime location near Gloria square, a busy metro stop in front of the Rio archdiocese headquarters.

Two years ago, the church depicted a bare-breasted Mary nursing her baby, after a series of incidents in which authorities stopped mothers from breast-feeding in public.

The year before, vandals trashed the church's nativity scene, which depicted the fight against corruption.

Last year, priest Wanderson Guedes, who is also the artist behind the installations, decided against doing a nativity scene on Amazon deforestation after receiving threats.

However, the church -- which constructs the scenes itself using volunteer labor and members' donations -- decided to press ahead this year, and add an anti-racism message, as well.

They are salient subjects in Bolsonaro's Brazil.

The far-right leader has presided over a surge of destruction and fires in the world's biggest rainforest.

He has also been charged with hate speech for making derogatory comments about black Brazilians.

Despite the tense political climate, Dos Santos said the church community was not fearful for this year's nativity scene.

"If (vandals) break something, so be it. We have a whole year to rebuild," he told AFP.

"They can't break the idea. They can't break the spirit. That will remain."

© 2020 AFP

Ukraine seeks World Heritage status for Chernobyl zone

RADIOACTIVE WOLVES AND GIANT GLOWING WORMS

Authorities say giving the zone special status would be a big boost at a site which currently boasts this lone souvenir stall          GENYA SAVILOV AFP

Issued on: 13/12/2020 - 02:18

Chernobyl (Ukraine) (AFP)

A soft snow fell as a clutch of visitors equipped with a Geiger counter wandered through the ghostly Ukrainian town of Pripyat, frozen in time since the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986.

More than three decades after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster forced thousands to evacuate, there is an influx of visitors to the area that has spurred officials to seek official status from UNESCO.

"The Chernobyl zone is already a world famous landmark," guide Maksym Polivko told AFP during a tour on a recent frosty day.

"But today this area has no official status," the 38-year-old said of the exclusion zone where flourishing wildlife is taking over deserted Soviet-era tower blocks, shops and official buildings.

That could be set to change under the government initiative to have the area included on the UNESCO heritage list alongside landmarks like India's Taj Mahal or Stonehenge in England.

Officials hope recognition from the UN's culture agency will boost the site as a tourist attraction and in turn bolster efforts to preserve ageing buildings nearby.

The explosion in the fourth reactor at the nuclear power plant in April 1986 left swathes of Ukraine and neighbouring Belarus badly contaminated and led to the creation of the exclusion zone roughly the size of Luxembourg.

Ukrainian authorities say it may not be safe for humans to live in the exclusion zone for another 24,000 years. Meanwhile, it has become a haven for wildlife with elk and deer roaming nearby forests.

Dozens of villages and towns populated by hundreds of thousands of people were abandoned after the disaster, yet more than 100 elderly people live in the area despite the radiation threat.

In Pripyat, a ghost town kilometres away from the Chernobyl plant, rooms in eerie residential blocks are piled up with belongings of former residents.

- 'The time has come' -

Polivko said he hoped the upgraded status would encourage officials to act more "responsibly" to preserve the crumbling Soviet-era infrastructure surrounding the plant.

"All these objects here require some repair," he said.

It was a sentiment echoed by Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko, who described the recent influx of tourists from home and abroad as evidence of Chernobyl's importance "not only to Ukrainians, but of all mankind."

A record number of 124,000 tourists visited last year, including 100,000 foreigners following the release of the hugely popular Chernobyl television series in 2019.

Tkachenko said obtaining UNESCO status could promote the exclusion zone as "a place of memory" that would warn against a repeat nuclear disaster.

"The area may and should be open to visitors, but it should be more than just an adventure destination for explorers," Tkachenko told AFP.

The government is set to propose specific objects in the zone as a heritage site before March but a final decision could come as late as 2023.

After the explosion in 1986, the three other reactors at Chernobyl continued to generate electricity until the station finally closed in 2000. Ukraine will mark the 20th anniversary of the closure on December 15.

Tkachenko said the effort to secure UNESCO status was a new priority after work on a giant protective dome over the fourth reactor was completed in 2016.

With the site now safe for one hundred years, he said he hoped world heritage status would boost visitor numbers to one million a year.

"Before, everyone was busy with the cover," Tkachenko said of the timing of the heritage initiative.

"The time has come to do this."

© 2020 AFP

Ailing newspapers abandon newsrooms as pandemic deepens woes

The New York Daily News has joined other newspapers in abandoning their newsrooms and headquarters amid a deepening crisis for the industry during the pandemic 

SPENCER PLATT GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File

Issued on: 13/12/2020 - 

New York (AFP)

The buzzing newsroom has long been the lifeblood of American newspapers. But in recent months the buzz has become virtual as the pandemic deepens the industry crisis and forces journalists to work remotely.

In recent months, established dailies such as the New York Daily News, Miami Herald and Baltimore Sun have joined other news outlets abandoning their headquarters, amid pandemic workplace restrictions that had already left them empty.

Tribune Publishing, owner of the Baltimore daily and others, has acknowledged it is re-evaluating its real estate needs as it struggles with a difficult environment, with lower print circulation, falling advertising revenues and increased costs for health and safety.

But many journalists say the loss of the newsroom has changed the nature of their work and worry that newspapers may not re-establish newsrooms even after the pandemic.

"A newsroom is a lot more collaborative than a lot of other workspaces are," said Emily Brindley, a reporter at the Tribune-owned Hartford (Connecticut) Courant, which shut its newsroom this month.

"I definitely think that it's going to have an effect on the product," added Brindley, an organizer of the Courant Guild, which represents journalists. "I do feel that there will be some intangible effects."

One of Brindley's colleagues in Hartford, Daniela Altimari, said she believes the pandemic "proved that we could all work from home and still put out a newspaper," making it unlikely the newsroom will reopen. She fears for the quality of the work.

"Newsrooms are factories for ideas in a way. There's a lot of chance encounters," Altimari said. "You get ideas by talking to colleagues. Those chance encounters can really lead to better work."

Victor Pickard, a professor who follows the sector for the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication, said the pandemic "is certainly accelerating and exacerbating the journalism crisis, but this crisis predated the pandemic by years."

He said large newspaper chains such as McClatchy and Tribune "are seizing this opportunity to cut costs, as they often do in order to maximize profits," while adding that at the moment "they're not very profitable these days."

The move out of the newsroom follows a long crisis for the sector that has seen consolidation by major chains, the closing of many smaller papers, and hedge funds buying newspapers only to slash costs and squeeze out as much profit as possible.

- End of the myth -

For decades, the newsroom has been a mythical place whose atmosphere was captured in films from "His Girl Friday" to "All the President's Men" to "Spotlight."

"There's a sort of alchemy that happens when you have a lot of reporters in a room together," said Marijke Rowland of the California-based Modesto Bee.

"There's nothing quite as interesting, vibrant and at times weird as working in a newsroom," she said. "That's an incalculable loss, for local journalism particularly."

Some major newspapers such as the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal have maintained or even boosted their journalistic staffs even as they adapt to remote journalism.

"No one doubts that (the major dailies) will reopen when it's safe to do so," said Dan Kennedy, a Northeastern University journalism professor.

But smaller local and regional newspapers are in more difficult straits and may struggle to get their newsrooms back, he noted.

"I just hope that any newspaper owner who is committed to doing a good job understands the importance of having a newsroom," Kennedy said.

But with an industry in turmoil and facing challenges from a shift to digital news consumption, some fear the newsroom will become a relic of the past.

"These trends are so structural that they have very few options," Pickard said.

"The advertising revenue model is irreparably damaged and will never come back for newspapers. For those that are not able to sustain themselves through subscriptions, which includes nearly all newspapers other than the national big three, there's not much they can do.

"It's very difficult to remain profitable, so they're going to continue to cut costs."

© 2020 AFP

'Profits over people': Virus overruns Malaysian glove factories

A large coronavirus outbreak at factories run by Top Glove, the world's largest rubber glove manufacturer, has brought workers' living conditions under scrutiny Mohd RASFAN AFP

Issued on: 13/12/2020 - 

Kuala Lumpur (AFP)

Bangladeshi migrant worker Sheikh Kibria recalls with horror the filthy, overcrowded dormitory where he was housed by the world's biggest rubber glove manufacturer when a coronavirus outbreak erupted and infected thousands.

Malaysia's Top Glove saw profits soar, and its stock price jump as much as 400 percent this year as countries worldwide rushed to buy protective gear as the pandemic intensified.

But in interviews with AFP, the South Asian migrants working flat out to make the gloves -- who typically earn around $300 a month -- described appalling living conditions, in cramped dormitories where up to 25 people sleep in bunk beds in a single room.

Some claim the company did not do enough to protect them despite repeated warnings.

The scandal has added to growing pressure on the firm, already under scrutiny after the United States banned the import of some of its gloves over allegations of forced labour earlier this year.

The infections also prompted factory closures and look set to have an impact on global supply.

Top Glove, which commands about a quarter of the world's market, has warned of delays to deliveries and rising prices.

- 'Didn't keep workers safe' -

More than 5,000 workers -- almost a quarter of the firm's workforce -- have tested positive after the outbreak at an industrial area housing factories and dormitories outside the capital Kuala Lumpur.

"The accommodation is so overcrowded," said the Bangladeshi worker Kibria.

"The room itself is a bare minimum. It is quite impossible to maintain cleanliness when so many people live in a single room. It is like an army barracks -- only less maintained."

When the situation escalated last month, Top Glove began shifting infected workers to hospital and their close contacts to quarantine centres, reducing the numbers in dormitories.

Kibria, 24, was suspected of having Covid-19 so was first put in hospital, although he later tested negative and was moved to a hotel.

But critics say the actions were too little too late.

"The company had discussed decreasing people in the rooms before infections began but it never happened," a Nepali production line worker, Karan Shrestha, told AFP.

"The rooms stayed crowded -- and in the end coronavirus cases started to increase."

"The company didn't keep the workers safe. They are greedy and were more concerned about their income and profits," he added.

AFP used pseudonyms to protect the workers' identities, as they were fearful about speaking out.

- 'Really scared' -

As cases spiralled, the government ordered 28 Top Glove factories to close, out of the 41 it operates in Malaysia.

Authorities are planning legal action against the company over poor worker accommodation, which could result in heavy fines.

The firm, which has 21,000 staff and can produce 90 billion gloves a year, insists it is making improvements.

It has spent 20 million ringgit ($5 million) purchasing new worker accommodations in the past two months, and plans to build "mega-hostels" kitted out with modern facilities that can house up to 7,300 people.

"We are mindful there is much more to be done to uplift the standard of our employee welfare and promise to rectify shortcomings immediately," said managing director Lee Kim Meow.

His comments came this week as the company announced a 20-fold jump in quarterly net profit to 2.4 billion ringgit ($590 million).

For those campaigning for low-paid migrants, the controversy highlights how companies continue to put profits before people.

"The company, its investors and its buyers have prioritised the delivery of more gloves, more quickly and at higher profitability over the welfare of its mainly migrant worker labour force," said Andy Hall, a migrant labour specialist who focuses on Asia.

Malaysia, a relatively affluent Southeast Asian country of 32 million, has long attracted migrants from poorer parts of the region to work in industries ranging from manufacturing to agriculture.

Top Glove says the vast majority of workers who tested positive have already been released from hospital, and some factories are now reopening.

But some workers remain terrified at the prospect of returning to the production line, despite the company trying to enforce social distancing and providing protective gear.

"If we work in the factory, I would be really scared," said Salman from Bangladesh, speaking from his hostel.

"Even with extra safety, it is really tough to prevent an outbreak."

burs-sr/reb/qan

© 2020 AFP

France: Nearly 150 arrested at Paris protest over security bill

The proposed legislation is aimed at combating "radical Islamism," which has sparked outrage in a number of cities across France. The interior minister has described some of the protesters as "thugs."


Protests against a proposed legislation in France turned violent on Saturday

Nearly 150 people were arrested in Paris on Saturday after protests against proposed security laws turned violent.

Riot officers and police vehicles escorted the march through rainy Paris but tempers flared and some protesters were left with bloody faces following clashes between law enforcers and those demonstrating.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted police had made 142 arrests after "several hundred thugs had come to commit violence."


The proposed bill could make it more difficult for witnesses to film police officers

Filming police under the spotlight

Saturday marked the third weekend in a row marchers have taken to the streets across France to air their frustration at a proposed security law aimed at combating "radical Islamism."

The law's most contested measure could make it more difficult for citizens to film police officers. It aims to outlaw the publication of images with intent to cause harm to police.

Critics say the proposal is inefficient, will stigmatize Muslims, erode media freedom and make it more difficult to expose police brutality.

Slogans emblazoned on placards carried by protesters in Paris said "I will never stop filming" and "Camera equals mutilation?"

There were also protests in other French cities, such as Lyon, in the southeast, where authorities reported five arrests among people they said attacked police and sought to loot shops.