Lukashenko: Belarus autocrat surviving protests with Soviet tactics
Emboldened after surviving months of historic demonstrations against his rule, the authoritarian leader of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko is drawing on Soviet-style political theatre to cement his grip on power

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© Nikolay PETROV In power since 1994, Lukashenko has kept his landlocked homeland wedged between Russia and EU member Poland largely stuck in a Soviet time warp

Lukashenko, Europe's longest-serving leader who was previously the director of a collective farm in Soviet Belarus, is presiding over a people's assembly beginning Thursday to unveil political reforms he promised last year to calm the protests

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© Sergei GAPON President Lukashenko insists that Belarus is not ready for a woman leader

The gathering of nearly 3,000 delegates in the capital Minsk comes six months into a resolute crackdown on critics sparked by the 66-year-old Lukashenko's claim to a sixth term in elections last August.

© Sergei GAPON Alexander Lukashenko detained his main opposition rivals ahead of the election

The erratic leader was seen as clinging to power as he unleashed a brutal put-down of the wave of unprecedented and spontaneous protests, which were seen as the most significant challenge to his 27-year-rule.

His government has hand-picked the nearly 3,000 loyal delegates invited to the All-Belarusian People's Assembly, a hold-over from the Soviet era, which has no legislative power or opposition representation.

He has not given any indication what the reforms could be and instead made clear he intends to retain power, rebuffing calls from Western leaders and the opposition whose leaders have been exiled or jailed.

"I will not suddenly give up the presidency," Lukashenko said recently. "I have nothing other than Belarus. I cling to it and I hold on to it".

Lukashenko almost instinctively reverted last year to the use of brute force to crush the protests, in a response that left at least four dead, thousands detained and hundreds reporting torture in prison.

The tactics were similar to how he put down the last large demonstrations against his rule, in 2010, when his unrepentant use of force reinforced his reputation as the overseer of "the last dictatorship in Europe".

Lukashenko viewed one protest rally last year from a helicopter, describing the demonstrators as "rats," and later disembarked in a bullet-proof vest carrying a Kalashnikov.

- Folksy machismo -

His authoritarian streak stretches to his views on women, including political novice Svetlana Tikhanovskaya who ran in the August vote in place of her jailed husband and is widely believed to have been the vote's true winner.

 

© Sergei GAPON The recent crackdown appears only to have energised the opposition

He has said that Belarus could not possibly have a woman leader because she "would collapse, poor thing."

Amnesty International has accused Lukashenko's government of "misogyny" and targeting female activists with discriminatory tactics.

Lukashenko's latest election declaration said that he is still legally married but few can recall ever seeing the wife he wed in 1975.

He concluded a 2012 argument over rights with Germany's openly gay former foreign minister Guido Westerwelle by saying: "Better to be a dictator than gay."

This machismo is accompanied by folksiness that appealed to voters used to the stiff octogenarians that dominated Soviet political life around the time of the superpower's collapse in 1991.

Lukashenko likes being filmed driving tractors or picking watermelons and potatoes. He once gave US action actor Steven Seagal a carrot that he cleaned himself with a peeler and joined Putin at amateur ice hockey matches.

He refused to introduce a coronavirus lockdown and instead issued health tips like drinking vodka and taking steam baths.

He has appeared with his youngest son Nikolai at state functions and official foreign trips since the 16-year-old was a toddler, raising speculation he was grooming a successor.

Yet these peculiarities make Lukashenko an unpredictable ally for Russian President Vladimir Putin who has sought to return Minsk into the Kremlin's fold.

Lukashenko watched with worry as Moscow seized Crimea in 2014 and to distance himself from Moscow has dangled the promise of political and social changes long demanded by the West.

But since the protests erupted, he has warmed again to closer ties with Putin and the two leaders have discussed deeper integration.

bur-emg/jbr/ach

Lukashenko stages Belarusian "People's Assembly" as opposition cries foul

KYIV (Reuters) - Veteran President Alexander Lukashenko launched a Belarusian "People's Assembly" on Thursday, inviting 2,700 people to discuss political reform in what opponents dismissed as a sham exercise to help him to cling to power.

Lukashenko, a former Soviet collective farm manager, has ruled Belarus since 1994 but faced an unprecedented wave of street protests since a presidential election last August that the opposition says was blatantly rigged.

Mass arrests and a severe crackdown on protests prompted a new round of Western sanctions but Lukashenko has held on thanks to diplomatic and financial support from traditional ally Russia, which sees Belarus as a buffer state against NATO.

Lukashenko says the assembly could discuss draft constitutional reforms and politicians close to the authorities hinted at the possibility of an amnesty for political prisoners.

The two-day event is expected to trigger new protests, which have simmered for months but reduced in size since August.

"Lukashenko is gathering loyalists at the so-called All Belarusian People's Assembly to legitimise usurper in the eyes of the people," said Franak Viacorka, an advisor to exiled opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.

"Because Lukashenko understands that he lost people's support, and he is still clinging on to power by all possible means."

Most of the delegates attending the assembly are pro-government local deputies and officials who were elected at special closed sessions.

A journalist from the local Internet portal TUT.BY, who tried to attend one of these meetings, was detained and spent three days in a pre-trial detention centre.

"The fact that people were driven into courtyards with truncheons, where they continue to protest, does not mean the end of the political crisis," political analyst Artyom Shraibman said.

"Dissatisfaction with the authorities has not gone anywhere."

(Writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Michael Perry)

SASK Protesters rally to support farmers challenging controversial laws in India

© Laura Sciarpelletti/CBC Farmer protesters have faced violence from the Indian government. In response, there were 200 shoes lined up at the Legislative building on Wednesday to represent the people who have lost their lives in India during the unrest.

Regina's blistering cold weather did not deter dozens of people from chanting "No farmer, no food!", holding posters and voicing their outrage during a solidarity rally in front of the legislative building Wednesday.

They were supporting Indian farmers who have been protesting controversial agricultural laws in India since August.

The laws will change the rules around the sale, pricing and storage of crops from the country's agricultural regions. Farmers there say the changes will ravage the livelihoods of small farmers and eliminate some of the government supports that regulate prices and allow private companies to exploit the market.

Since the summer, tens of thousands have marched to New Delhi, India's capital, where they have clashed with police and set up protest camps.

Protesters have faced violence from the Indian government.

Gagandeep Singh, organizer of Wednesday's rally, says the Canadian protests largely began in Victoria, British Columbia. Protesters displayed 200 shoes in front of the B.C. Legislative Building. The shoes represent many of the people who have lost their lives in India during the unrest.

© Laura Sciarpelletti/CBC Protester Simranjot Singh stands in front of the Saskatchewan Legislative Building in Regina, where he is showing solidarity with farmers in India.

B.C. protesters then challenged residents of Alberta to do the same and mailed the shoes over. Saskatchewan was next to receive the shoes and do their part to support the farmers in India.

"Canada is known for its diversity. It's a multicultural society here. Canada is always standing for human rights ... Not only are those farm bills affecting the farmers negatively, also they're violating the human rights," said Singh.

The protest followed public health guidelines for COVID-19, and had volunteers circulating to ensure everyone in attendance was wearing a mask and physical distancing.

Trudeau voiced concern

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has voiced concern over the Indian government's response to the protesters.

Despite anger from an Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, who called Trudeau's comments "ill informed," the prime minister reiterated his support.

"Canada will always stand up for the right of peaceful protest anywhere around the world, and we're pleased to see moves toward de-escalation and dialogue," Trudeau said.

But Singh says he wants Trudeau to do more.

"We want the Canadian government to speak up ... to step up for the farmers. We want Mr. Justin Trudeau to speak up for the farmers. We want him to talk with the Indian government."

Singh says he thinks the Indian government will take notice of the solidarity protests in Canada.

"This thing is going to pressurize them too. That's why we're standing up here. We can't go back to India right right now in this COVID. So that's how we are giving our support to the farmers who are sitting on the outskirts [of New Delhi]. We just want to strengthen them and say we are with you and you guys are doing good and we love you for that."

© Danish Siddiqui/Reuters People attend a Maha Panchayat or grand village council meeting as part of a farmers' protest against farm laws at Kandela village in Jind district in the northern state of Haryana, India, on Feb. 3.

Moe agrees with Indian government

While the protesters in Regina want the Canadian government to speak out against the new laws, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe made it clear he supports the Indian government's position.

Moe says the Sask. government is often in contact with members of the government of India.

"As painful and challenging as the discussion is in India, I think Saskatchewan can provide an example of moving through the years away from sustenance agriculture to producing more and decreasing your risks of lack of food in your community and in your country, and ultimately moving toward a market-based agriculture system that provides opportunities for higher production and sustainability," said Moe. 

© Laura Sciarpelletti/CBC Regina's cold weather didn't deter dozens from chanting, holding posters and voicing their outrage at a solidarity rally at the Legislative building.

The premier pointed to the removal of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), a former mandatory producer marketing system for wheat and barley in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and parts of B.C. During the time of CWB, it was illegal for any farmer in areas under the organization's jurisdiction to sell their wheat and barley through any other channel than the CWB.

"It has created opportunities for us to increase our production. And now we are one of the highest producing agricultural regions in the world. We have a high quality product that we sell very competitively," Moe said.

Saskatchewan now has a trade office in India. Moe says his government has visited India and met with many farmers, and values the trading relationship between the country and the province.

Sask. uranium giant ups stake in laser technology to fuel small reactors

The world's largest publicly traded uranium company is betting big on a new laser enrichment technology that it says will help power Canada’s shift to a more eco-friendly future.

Saskatoon-based Cameco Corp. obtained a 49 per cent stake in Global Laser Enrichment LLC (GLE) in a joint acquisition with Australian technology company Silex Systems for General Electric Company subsidiary GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy's shares in the project.

GLE was founded in 2008 as a joint venture between General Energy, Hitachi and Cameco to develop Silex’s technology that separates isotopes using lasers to produce enriched uranium.

The federal government recently announced Canada’s Small Modular Reactor Action Plan as part of its commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) are designed to produce smaller amounts of electricity, between 50 and 300 megawatts, without the emissions usually associated with power generation.

“Nuclear power plays a massive role in the global clean energy equation,” Cameco President and CEO Tim Gitzel said.

“That role will only increase in a carbon constrained world, particularly with the momentum behind SMR and advanced reactor technologies, a focus on the electrification of transportation systems, and the many other innovations that countries and companies are counting on to help meet their emission reduction targets.”

Canada’s current reactor fleet consists mostly of Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) technology which doesn’t rely on enriched fuel.

The company plans to commercialize this new uranium enrichment process that it says could power SMRs in a more cost-effective way.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said last summer that nuclear power is a critical part of the solution to climate change and will help rural and remote communities as a new base for the electrical grid.

“We are not going to be able to deal with things like climate change or very broad issues if we are not going to commit to integrating nuclear power into our systems. It has to be part of the solutions. We simply are unable to get the job done without it,” Moe said.

While nuclear power has backing from both federal and provincial governments as a way to shift away from carbon, uranium enrichment is a complex process that accounts for around 30 per cent of the cost of nuclear fuel.

GLE has an agreement with the United States Department of Energy to enrich depleted uranium tails, repurpose legacy waste into uranium, convert products to fuel nuclear reactors and help clean-up enrichment facilities no longer in operation.

Gitzel said in a statement that the new technology could provide a stable source of North American-based uranium enrichment in both Canada and the United States and fast-forward the progress of emerging SMR designs.

The agreement comes with promises to deliver low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel with better efficiency and flexibility than current enrichment technologies, and to produce the high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) needed as the primary fuel stock for SMRs.

In addition to lowering cost, Silex says the process could also increase supply of nuclear fuel to the new reactors more efficiently.

“This new ownership structure, together with the recently announced U.S. Government approval represents the start of an important new era for GLE and the Silex technology, at a time when nuclear power is coming back into focus as a key source of zero-emissions base load electricity in an emissions constrained world,” Silex CEO and Managing Director Michael Goldsworthy, said.

Moe had signed a memorandum of understanding with the premiers of Ontario and New Brunswick to work together on further developing the nuclear industry last December.

“Cameco is committed to responsibly and sustainably managing our business and increasing our contributions to global climate change solutions,” Gitzel said.

“Our investment in GLE aligns well with these objectives.”

Michael Bramadat-Willcock, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Northern Advo

Venetian beads discovered in Alaska predate Columbus by decades

© Provided by Daily Mail 

Tiny glass beads from Venice made their way to Alaska decades before Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World.

The beads, the color and size of blueberries, were uncovered in a house pit in Punyik Point, a seasonal Inuit camp near the Continental Divide in Alaska's Brooks Range.

Archaeologists determined the objects were created between 1440 and 1480 following a radiocarbon-dating of twine that held the jewelry.

Researchers from the University of Alaska suggest the beads were among trinkets that passed hands through various trade routes — starting in Europe, then along the Silk Road to China, through Siberia and finally to the Bering Strait.

According to the study, the new discovery resets the clock on when traded began between Europe and North America.

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© Provided by Daily Mail Venetian glass beads discovered in Alaska were brought to North America decades before Columbus' arrival in the New World in 1492, according to a new paper in the journal American Antiquity

Mike Kunz, an archaeologist with the university's Museum of the North in Fairbanks, discovered a total of 10 beads in three locations in the Brooks Range: Punyik Point, Kinyiksugvik and Lake Kaiyak House.

Kunz theorizes the baubles were just small piece of a number of trinkets that made their way various trade routes that began in Europe, then along the Silk Road to China, through Siberia and finally across the Bering Strait.

They were then presumably brought across the frigid Arctic Ocean to Alaska by kayak.

Punyik Point was a popular stopping point for traders, Kunz says, because of the many caribou in the area. 

© Provided by Daily Mail According to archaeologist Mike Kunz, the beads could have traveled from Italy along the Silk Road to China then to Siberia and across the Bering Strait to Alaska

'And, if for some reason the caribou didn't migrate through where you were, [it also] had excellent lake trout and large shrub-willow patches,' he added.

University of Wisconsin archaeologist William Irving found several turquoise beads at Punyik Point in the 1950s and 1960s.

But Irving had no way to know when they were deposited.

Flash forward to 2004, when Kunz and Bureau of Land Management archaeologist Robin Mills returned to the ancient campsite.

They found three more beads there, along with copper bangles, metal loops that could have been earrings and other metal pieces that could have been part of a necklace or bracelet.

Wrapped around one of the bangles was twine that had survived centuries of burial just a few inches below the surface.

Because twine is made of plant fibers — probably the inner bark of a shrub willow, the scientists surmised— it meant they finally had organic matter to conduct radiocarbon dating on using Accelerator mass spectrometry.

'We almost fell over backwards,' Kunz said in a release. 'It came back saying [the plant was alive at] some time during the 1400s. It was like, Wow!'

With that information, along with radiocarbon dating of charcoal found nearby, they surmised the glass beads at all three locales arrived at some point between 1440 

and 1480.

© Provided by Daily Mail The beads discovered at Punyik Point were found with metal bits that were likely part of a necklace or bracelet. Performing radiocarbon-dating on twine wrapped around copper bangles, researchers determined the objects were from between 1440 and 1480 AD

'The beads challenge the currently accepted chronology for the development of their production methodology, availability, and presence in the Americas,' the researchers wrote in a new paper in the journal American Antiquity.

'This is the first documented instance of the presence of indubitable European materials in prehistoric sites in the Western Hemisphere as the result of overland transport across the Eurasian continent.'

According to Kunz and Mills, the beads probably made landfall at Shashalik, an ancient trading post north of modern-day Kotzebue, and then were transported further inland.

The archaeologists theorize they were part of a necklace or other piece of jewelry.

The item's location, at the entrance to an underground house, suggests it was dropped or discarded rather than intentionally buried.

Venice has been known as a glassmaking mecca for over 1,500 years, with the island of Murano the center of production since at least since the 13th century.

Columbus' ships landed in the Bahamas in October 1492, before venturing on to Cuba and Haiti, where he started the first European settlement in the Americas since the Norse some 500 years earlier.

After briefly returning to Spain, Columbus made three more voyages to the New World between 1493 and 1502, exploring the Lesser Antilles, Trinidad, Puerto Rico and the northern coast of South America.

The bead variety, commonly known as 'Early Blue' and 'Ichtucknee Plain,' has been found throughout the Caribbean, the east coasts of Central and North America, and the eastern Great Lakes region, but only after Columbus' arrival, generally between 1550 and 1750.

Ancient shell horn can still play a tune after 18,000 years


WASHINGTON (AP) — A large conch shell overlooked in a museum for decades is now thought to be the oldest known seashell instrument — and it still works, producing a deep, plaintive bleat, like a foghorn from the distant past.

© Carole Fritz This combination of photos provided by researcher Carole Fritz in February 2021 shows two sides of a 12-inch (31 cm) conch shell discovered in a French cave with prehistoric wall paintings in 1931. Using modern microscopy techniques to examine how the shell was modified and hiring a French horn player to test it out, they found the shell could produce C, C sharp and D notes. By carbon dating other related artifacts in the cave, researchers estimate the age to be around 18,000 years, making it the world's oldest seashell instrument known. (Carole Fritz via AP)

The shell was found during the 1931 excavation of a cave with prehistoric wall paintings in the French Pyrenees and assumed to be a ceremonial drinking cup. Archaeologists from the University of Toulouse recently took a fresh look and determined it had been modified thousands of years ago to serve as a wind instrument. They invited a French horn player to play it.

“Hearing it for the first time, for me it was a big emotion — and a big stress,” said archaeologist Carole Fritz.

She feared that playing the 12-inch (31-centimeter) shell might damage it, but it didn't. The horn produced clear C, C sharp and D notes.

The researchers estimate it to be around 18,000 years old. Their findings were published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

Conch shells have been used widely in musical and ceremonial traditions, including in ancient Greece, Japan, India and Peru. The shell instrument found in the Marsoulas cave is now the oldest known example. Previously, a conch shell instrument found in Syria had been dated to about 6,000 years old, said another Toulouse archaeologist, Gilles Tosello.

The latest discovery was made after a recent inventory at the Natural History Museum of Toulouse. The researchers noticed some unusual holes in the shell. Crucially, the tip of the shell was broken off, creating a hole large enough to blow through. Microscopic inspection revealed the opening was the result of deliberate craftsmanship, not accidental wear, according to Tosello.

By inserting a tiny medical camera, they found that another hole had been carefully drilled in the shell's inner chamber. They also detected traces of red pigment on the mouth of the conch, matching a decorative pattern found on the wall of Marsoulas cave.

“This is classic, really solid archaeology,” said Margaret Conkey, an archaeologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the research. “This discovery reminds us that their lives were much richer and more complex than just stone tools and big game.”

Marsoulas cave is not located near an ocean, so the prehistoric people must have either moved around widely or used trading networks to obtain the shell, Conkey and the researchers said.

“What makes conch shells so interesting is that the spiral cavity formed by nature is perfectly adept at resonating musically,” said Rasoul Morteza, a composer in Montreal who has studied conch shell acoustics, and was not involved in the paper.

Using a 3D replica, the archaeologists plan to continue studying the horn's range of notes. Tosello said he hopes to hear the ancient instrument played inside the cave where it was found.

“It’s amazing when there’s an object forgotten somewhere, and suddenly it comes again into the light,” he said.

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Follow Christina Larson on twitter: @larsonchristina

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Rehabilitation of Russia's coronavirus vaccine a soft-power win for Vladimir Putin

© Saeed Kaari/IKAC/The Associated Press Russian-made Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines are unloaded at the Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport on Feb. 4. The Russian vaccine received a stamp of approval from the Lancet medical journal last week

At first dismissed and ridiculed by Western countries, Russia's Sputnik V vaccine has not only been rehabilitated; it's emerging as a powerful tool of influence abroad for President Vladimir Putin.

"I think they possibly couldn't be feeling more smug and delighted about the way things are going," said Judy Twigg, a professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., and an expert on the politics of global health.

"The Kremlin is having a whole lot of problems in other areas right now but this is one unvarnished, unmitigated win they can point to right now."

The vaccine, named after the first satellite sent into space almost 70 years ago, was meant to evoke historic images of Russian glory. Instead, initial claims of Sputnik V's effectiveness were met with deep skepticism after Russia authorized its widespread use before completing all phases of its clinical trials.

However, a key turning point came last week with the validation of Sputnik V's Phase 3 trials by the Lancet medical journal.

© CBC News

It confirmed the vaccine is safe and effective. While the journal noted Sputnik V's development faced criticism for "an absence of transparency" and "corner cutting," it said the vaccine maker, Moscow's Gamaleya National Centre of Epidemiology and Microbiology, had, in fact, demonstrated solid scientific principles.

At about $10 US each for the two-shot dose, the vaccine is roughly half the price of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and it can be stored at –2 C whereas the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require much-colder temperatures.
Global market

Since the Lancet article, more good news announcements about the vaccine have followed, with Russian TV showing pallets of boxes filled with vaccine vials being fork-lifted into the bellies of Aeroflot aircraft, ready for delivery to countries across South America, the Middle East and Central Asia.

Russia's government reports that up to 30 countries have either already purchased the vaccine or have expressed an interest in doing so.

 

© Maryam Kamyab/Reuters People wait to receive doses of Sputnik V on the basket ball court at the River Plate stadium, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, last week.

Even the once-unlikely notion of selling the vaccine to countries in Europe suddenly seems to be within reach.

On Tuesday, the regulatory body for the 27 members of the European Union announced Russia had made a formal submission for approval of Sputnik V and that the review process could begin shortly.

Hungary, which ran its own trials of Sputnik V, is so far the only EU country to announce plans to use it.

Other member states, however, say they continue to have reservations about the political motivations behind Russia's vaccine hype.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte tweeted that she saw no good news in Russia's vaccine breakthrough.

"They say, Sputnik V is good but Putin doesn't care to use it as a cure for the Russian people — he offers it to the world as another hybrid weapon to divide and rule."

Neither Canada nor the United States has expressed an interest in taking a closer look at the Russian vaccine, and it doesn't appear likely they will.

© Vahid Salemi/The Associated Press Sara Goudarzi, a nurse from the Imam Khomeini Hospital, flashes a victory sign as she receives a Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in a staged event in Tehran Tuesday. Iran is one of about 30 countries that Russia says are using or have expressed interest in its vaccine.

Diplomatic dilemma

Twigg says for Russia's adversaries, the choice of whether to use Sputnik or not presents an ethical dilemma.

"You don't want to give Vladimir Putin, in these circumstances, a political win," she said. "On the other hand, you need vaccines for your people. In fact, you needed [them] yesterday."

That conundrum was on display last Friday during a visit to Moscow by the European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell.

With the Kremlin facing widespread criticism for its imprisonment of Putin-foe Alexey Navalny and the subsequent mass arrests of thousands of protestors who came out in support of the opposition leader, Borrell's words of criticism for Putin were overshadowed by his comments praising Sputnik and his hope it would be made widely available to the world.

Borrell's visit was widely slammed as a diplomatic blunder that allowed Putin to shift the focus away from Russia's authoritarian crackdown on dissent and dodge the issue of Navlany's fate.

© Pavel Golovkin/The Associated Press 

A Russian medical worker, right, administers a shot of Sputnik V in Moscow.

The question of whether or not to use Sputnik V is especially acute for Russia's closest neighbour, Ukraine, which is one of the poorest nations in Europe and has yet to launch a mass vaccination campaign.

Nonetheless, Ukraine, which has had close to 1.3 million cases of coronavirus and more than 25,000 deaths, has passed a law banning Sputnik V because the idea of using a Russian-made vaccine is so politically toxic domestically.

The only regions of Ukraine that will use the Russian vaccine are those controlled by pro-Russia separatist forces around the eastern city of Donetsk, where a shipment of 100,000 doses of Sputnik V arrived recently.

"I'd like to remind everybody who might have forgotten this, there has been a war [with Russia] for almost seven years already," Ukraine's health minister, Maxym Stephanov, told CBC News in an interview, referencing the ongoing conflict with Russia in Eastern Ukraine.

"The Russian Federation didn't bring death … to the territories of those countries [considering using Sputnik V]."

© CBC News Ukraine's health minister, Maxym Stephanov, shown at a forum in Kiev on Monday, said it would be unpalatable for Ukraine to use Sputnik V given the toll that the years-long conflict with Russia in Eastern Ukraine has had on the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced this week that his country would start receiving the first deliveries of a potential eight million doses through the World Health Organization's COVAX program later this month, as well as vaccines purchased from the United Kingdom and China.

© CBC News Ambulances parked at a Kiev hospital. Ukraine has recorded over 1.2 million coronavirus cases with 23,000 deaths but its leaders said they won't be using Russia's vaccine.

Russia-friendly media outlets have launched a barrage of coverage, including dozens of newspaper and TV reports, targeting Ukrainian audiences, much of it aimed at denigrating Western-made coronavirus vaccines and attempting to leverage Ukraine's lack of vaccines as a means of turning the population against Zelensky's pro-Western government.

In response, Ukraine's president revoked the licenses of three pro-Russia TV channels in the country, claiming the move was necessary in "the name of national security."

"I think if Sputnik V was the world's only vaccine, I still wouldn't buy it," IT worker Leonid Koloda told a CBC crew in Kiev, reflecting a skepticism common outside the separatist regions of the country.
Few options for some countries

Elsewhere, however, geopolitics are either less of a factor or simply outweighed by the lack of vaccine alternatives.

Russia shipped 10,000 doses of Sputnik V to the Palestinian Territories this week, allowing a mass-vaccination campaign to begin for the 4.5 million residents of the West Bank and Gaza.

Doctors and staff at Istishari Arab Hospital in Ramallah were among the first to get jabbed.

© CBC News Staff at the Istishari Arab Hospital in Ramallah get their first look at Sputnik V. Palestinian officials said they are happy to have the vaccine so they can begin mass vaccinations in Gaza and the West Bank.

"I'm very happy we have it," anesthesiologist Samir Nasrallah told CBC News as he rolled up his sleeve.

"Russian [vaccine] factories are good, and when they do something, it will work."

Senior Palestinian health officials told CBC they are deeply appreciative.

"We don't care about political issues. We have to protect our population against this pandemic and this virus," said Dr. Ali Abed Rabbo, director of preventative health for the Palestinian Authority.
Hesitancy at home

One of the ironies of Sputnik V's new-found international success is that people outside of Russia may be more convinced of its efficacy than those at home.

The Levada Centre, an independent polling and research organization, reported earlier this month that only 38 per cent of Russians are ready to get vaccinated, with many saying they either fear side-effects or don't trust the Russian vaccine maker or just won't take any vaccine.

© Corinne Seminoff/CBC Maria Anikina, left, and a friend eat ice cream after receiving their second dose of the Sputnik V vaccine at a pop-up vaccination site at Moscow's GUM luxury shopping mall. 

Not all Russians are as eager to get the vaccine.

In an effort to overcome the vaccine hesitancy, pop-up vaccination clinics have been established at many sites around the capital, Moscow, and getting a jab is easy, free and usually involves just a short wait.

One of the most popular is at the GUM luxury shopping mall on Red Square, where Maria Anikina and a friend got their second dose on Tuesday.

She told CBC her friends who live in Vancouver are jealous, and they can't believe it's so easy to get vaccinated in Russia.

"They would also like to get the vaccine, but as I understand, it's not time yet for them in Canada."

Experts say India glacier disasters "can't be avoided" without change

New Delhi — Nearly four days after the partial collapse of a glacier and the subsequent flash flooding of a valley in northern India, rescue workers were still struggling to reach 34 people believed to be trapped in a tunnel in the state of Uttarakhand on Wednesday. Rescue workers armed with heavy construction equipment, drones and even sniffer dogs were struggling to penetrate the one-and-a-half-mile long tunnel that filled with ice-cold water, mud, rocks and debris when the disaster struck on Sunday. 

Dozens dead and many missing after glacier collapse in India

Apart from the 34 people who rescuers still hope to find alive inside the tunnel, there were more than 150 others also listed as missing on Wednesday, most of them likely swept away from two hydroelectric power plants. At least 32 people from the two facilities have been found dead.

As the rescue mission races ahead, scientists have started to get a slightly clearer picture of what might have triggered part of the glacier to break off and crash into the river.

© Provided by CBS News General view of the place where members of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) conduct a rescue operation, after a part of a glacier broke away, in Tapovan in the northern state of Uttarakhand, India, February 10, 2021. 

Credit: ANUSHREE FADNAVIS/REUTERS

A team of experts from Wadia Institute of Himalayan Ecology is on ground in Uttarakhand to collect evidence that could help answer the question of what exactly caused the disaster: Was it the effects of climate change, or an avalanche caused by seismic activity, or a mix of several factors?

The team is expected to give a report over weekend, but some experts believe, based on satellite data and other evidence, that it was actually a hanging chunk of the glacier that broke off and caused a "rock and ice avalanche."

"Satellite data does show that there was a crack in the glacier," Dr Farooq Azam, a professor of glaciology and hydrology, told CBS News. "It's very much clear now that the hanging glacier falling off from 5,600 meters into the river caused the rock and ice avalanche."

He insisted that it was too soon to blame the event on climate change, arguing that more data would be needed to draw that conclusion.

© Provided by CBS News Members of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) carry the body of a victim after recovering it from debris during a rescue operation outside a tunnel after part of a glacier broke away, in Tapovan in the northern state of Uttarakhand, India, February 9, 2021. 

Credit: STRINGER/REUTERS

"We have no evidence there was a glacial lake… The lakes are normally formed because of climate change and global warming, and after some time they burst. So Sunday's event may or may not be linked with climate change," Azam told CBS News.

"We still have a lot of uncertainty in terms of what exactly could have caused Sunday's disaster," renowned expert on the Himalayas, Dr. Anjal Prakash, a lead researcher with the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told CBS News.

Without study, disasters "can't be avoided"

That uncertainty is due partly to a lack of sufficient data on the glacier — one of thousands across the Himalayan mountains that aren't being monitored. There are more than 50,000 glaciers across the Himalaya's Hindu Kush range, from Afghanistan and Pakistan into India, Nepal and Myanmar. Government agencies monitor only 24 of them. Scientists warn this could prove disastrous again in the future, and they say it must change.

© Provided by CBS News Satellites show glacier loss in Himalayas 

"This is a climate change hotspot region," said Prakash. "We must know what is happening in these areas… The government agencies either don't have the resources or lack focus."

The Himalayan glaciers are a lifeline for 240 million people across South Asia, providing drinking water, irrigation, hydropower and biodiversity. About 86 million of those people live in India.

The Indian state of Uttarakhand alone has some 1,500 glaciers, but only 15 are monitored.

"We need more focus on research in these areas, otherwise we will not be able to strike a balance between environment and economic development," said Azam, referring to the need for more hydroelectric power projects, roads and other infrastructure in the region.

India, which still relies on coal for 70% of its electricity production, is using only 40% of its hydroelectric power potential. While abandoning fossil fuels to take advantage of more of that potential may seem an environmentally friendly option, it comes with its own risks.

"Himalayas are a new mountain range and therefore very fragile. They are still settling in terms of rock formation and other things. The fragility of the environment is very high. If you disturb rocks, by tunnelling or deforestation needed for large-scale projects, then you're disturbing the ecology," Prakash told CBS News, stressing that infrastructure development must happen in an "environmentally benign way." © Provided by CBS News Houses on a mountain slope in Leh district, Jammu and Kashmir, India, November 12, 2019. A growing body of evidence shows global warming is disturbing water cycles on the roof of the world in unpredictable ways. Snow cover is shrinking, glaciers are melting, the monsoon season changing and permafrost is at risk, all with drastic consequences for a region whose ice fields hold the largest freshwater reserves outside the poles. / Credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg/Getty

"If the hydroelectric projects are set up without enough study of the ecology and monitoring of the glaciers around them, disasters like Sunday's can't be avoided," Azam told CBS News.

A 2019 report by the U.N.'s IPCC warned that glaciers would continue to retreat over the coming years, causing more landslides and floods as they do. Another study published the same year cited satellite data gathered over 40 years to warn that the average rate of ice loss in the Himalayan glaciers had doubled in the most recent decade.

Both scientists who spoke to CBS News insisted on the need for increased monitoring of the Himalayan glaciers, which they say, regardless of the precise origins of Sunday's disaster, are indisputably vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

India disaster highlights pressure on Asia's great rivers

A glacial burst that triggered a deadly flash flood in the Indian Himalayas at the weekend was a disaster waiting to happen, and one likely to be repeated in a region transformed by climate change and unchecked infrastructure development, experts warn.

© Sajjad HUSSAIN A rescue worker during an operation near a tunnel blocked with mud and debris after the Uttarakhand disaster, which killed dozens and left more than 170 others missing

© STR The Three Gorges Dam, a gigantic hydro-power project on the Yangtze river, in China

Asia is home to some of the world's biggest waterways, from the Ganges and the Indus in India to the Yangtze and Mekong originating in China, that snake for thousands of kilometres.

They support the livelihoods of vast numbers of farmers and fishermen, and supply drinking water to billions of people, but have come under unprecedented pressure in recent years.

Higher temperatures are causing glaciers that feed the rivers to shrink, threatening water supplies and also increasing the chances of landslides and floods, while critics blame dam building and pollution for damaging fragile ecosystems

.

© Lillian SUWANRUMPHA In 2019, the once-mighty Mekong River was reduced to a thin, grubby neck of water in places

"Rivers are really at risk from development projects, dumping of solid waste and liquid waste, sand mining and stone mining," Himanshu Thakkar, from the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, told AFP.

"Climate change is a longer-term process that has already set in. The impacts are already happening.

"So in every respect, rivers are under greater threat."

The disaster in India was apparently triggered by a glacial burst, that unleashed a wall of water which barrelled down a valley in Uttarakhand state, destroying bridges and roads and hitting two hydroelectric power plants.

Dozens have been killed and more than 170 others are missing after the accident on the Dhauliganga river, which feeds into the Ganges.

- Shrinking glaciers -

It is not yet clear what damaged the glacier and triggered the accident, but there are suspicions that construction of hydro-power projects -- in an area that is highly seismically active -- may have contributed.

"This area is prone to vulnerability, it is not appropriate for this kind of bumper-to-bumper hydro-power development," Himanshu said.

Video: Trapped men rescued in India river torrent disaster (AFP)

"Proper planning, impact assessment, proper geological assessment -- this has not happened here."

Patricia Adams, executive director from Canada-based environmental NGO Probe International, said dam building in such an area was simply too dangerous, as it makes hillsides unstable and causes landslides.

Some have also pointed to rising temperatures as a contributing factor.

A major study in 2019 suggested Himalayan glaciers had melted twice as fast since the turn of the century as in the 25 preceding years.

"The impacts of climate change in the Himalayas are real," said Benjamin P. Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

As well as greater danger of accidents, glacier loss in the Himalayas deprives local communities of water to drink and for agriculture, he said.

There have been other flooding disasters in the region in recent years. In 2013, some 6,000 people died when flash floods and landslides swept away entire villages in Uttarakhand as rivers swollen by monsoon rains overflowed.

- Record deluges -

In neighbouring China, flooding has also worsened on major rivers.

Last year the Yangtze, Asia's longest waterway, suffered record deluges that killed hundreds of people and submerged thousands of homes, with environmentalists saying it indicated climate change impacts were growing.

China has also built a vast dam network, although authorities insist this infrastructure helps mitigate flooding rather than adding to the problem.

Like in India, this has proved controversial, with some blaming the structures for contributing to earthquakes and landslips.

Beijing's dam building has faced criticism outside the country particularly on the Mekong River, which begins on the Tibetan Plateau in China and winds through Southeast Asia.

Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam all battled severe drought in 2019, as the tide of the river fell to record lows.

While some pointed to climate change, there were also calls for China to be more transparent about its dam operations -- Beijing has constructed 11 dams on its section of the river.

In downstream countries, dozens of hydro-power dams have been built or are planned -- many funded by Chinese-backed companies -- sparking concerns about environmental damage.

Some see sinister motives in Beijing's Mekong dam building.

The Chinese Communist Party "now control some of the mightiest rivers in the world on which millions and millions of people in downstream neighbouring countries depend for their food, their agriculture, and shipping, and their security", said Adams from Probe International.

mba-sr/leg

Methane Is Blowing More Holes in the Arctic

The Siberian tundra is still out here exploding. A new study from the Woodwell Climate Research Center has identified three new craters in the region’s increasingly volatile permafrost, and the climate crisis is to blame.

© Photo: Vasily Bogoyavlensky (Getty Images) A photo taken

 on August 25, 2014 shows a crater on the Yamal Peninsula, northern Siberia.

Researchers have been seeing giant holes form in western Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula for years. The first, discovered by workers back in 2014, measured 262 feet (80 meters) in diameter. Since then, scientists have found another six craters on Yamal and the nearby Gydan peninsula, most recently discovering a crater as deep as half a football field last year. While researchers have suspected explosive methane gas has welled up into the tundra as it thaws and caused the explosions, it’s been an area of active research.

“These craters represent an Earth system process that was previously unknown to scientists,” Sue Natali, Arctic program director at Woodwell Climate Research Center and co-author on the study, said in an emailed statement.

To learn more about how these holes form, the researchers used satellite data from Siberia’s Yamal and Gydan peninsulas—a combined area of 126,255 square miles (327,000 square kilometers)—to create an artificial intelligence-based model of the region with Google Earth Engine’s cloud computing platform. The model located all seven of the previously-discovered craters, and also indicated that three more of them have formed.

The researchers found that the craters begin forming deep underground, in pockets of thawed earth known as taliks. These taliks frequently form beneath Arctic lakes when the water within them warms. Methane can build in these pockets. As pressure grows, it can lead to explosive results.

In addition to uncovering the three new holes, the model showed previously unseen stark changes across the two peninsulas. It found that between 1984 and 2017, about 5% of the examined area has seen observable ecosystem changes, including “shifts in vegetation, elevation, and water extent.” Entire lakes have disappeared, draining out completely as the permafrost—frozen ground made of soil, rocks, and water—that forms their outer edges and bottoms melted away amid rising temperatures. Huge swaths of the region have also become greener because higher air and soil temperatures have increased plant growth. Due to permafrost thaw and ice melt, parts of the region are also sinking.

All of these changes spell trouble for Arctic ecosystems and the rest of the world. As lakes drain, fish and other wildlife are being left without a home and Indigenous communities have seen their water supplies dry up. Arctic greening is also an issue, since taller and heartier foliage can trap more snow beneath them. That in turn can lead to more rapid thawing of permafrost because the snow acts like a blanket that can actually keep the ground relatively warmer than the frigid air above it.

Permafrost thaw itself is dangerous. It’s left coasts more vulnerable to dangerous erosion, and it threatens to unleash the planet-warming methane currently stored safely beneath the ground into the atmosphere. The craters are the most dramatic example of that, but they’re hardly the only way methane and carbon dioxide escape from the tundra. Scientists have found that the Arctic is emitting more carbon from formerly frozen soils than it takes up, creating a dangerous situation for the climate.

As the planet continues to warm, the researchers expect these changes will occur more quickly. That includes the methane explosions, since they’re more likely to occur when the ground’s pressure rises or ice on the ground thaws and breaks suddenly. Many of these changes won’t be reversible, either. So for the sake of the Arctic and the rest of the planet, we better get global warming under control.

CLEAN GREEN SAFE NUCLEAR POWER
Audit raises concerns about wildfire risks at US nuclear lab


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — One of the nation’s premier nuclear laboratories isn’t taking the necessary precautions to guard against wildfires, according to an audit by the U.S. Energy Department’s inspector general.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The report comes as wildfire risks intensify across the drought-stricken U.S. West. Climatologists and environmentalists have been warning about worsening conditions across the region, particularly in New Mexico, which is home to Los Alamos National Laboratory and where summer rains failed to materialize last year and winter precipitation has been spotty at best.

The birthplace of the atomic bomb, Los Alamos has experienced hundreds of millions of dollars in losses and damage from major wildfires over the last two decades. That includes a blaze in 2000 that forced the lab to close for about two weeks, ruined scientific projects, destroyed a portion of the town and threatened tens of thousands of barrels of radioactive waste stored on lab property.

Watchdog groups say the federal government needs to take note of the latest findings and conduct a comprehensive review before the lab ramps up production of key plutonium parts used in the nation’s nuclear arsenal.

“The threat and risks of wildfire to the lab and northern New Mexico will continue to increase because of climate warming, drought and expanded nuclear weapons production,” said Jay Coghlan, director of the group Nuclear Watch New Mexico.

The audit released this month found that cutting back vegetation along power lines and other measures to reduce the risk of catastrophic fires were not always done, increasing the potential for another devastating fire like the Cerro Grande Fire in 2000.

Federal auditors said not all fire roads were maintained to ensure safe passage for firefighters and equipment responding to blazes on lab property.

The audit also cited federal policy that requires a comprehensive, risk-based approach to wildfire management — something the inspector general's office said had not been developed by the contractor that manages the lab for the U.S. government. It also pointed to a lack of oversight by Energy Department field staff.

“Without documenting planning and preparedness activities, there was no assurance that all prevention and mitigation options were considered and that the site was fully prepared for wildland fire events," the audit says.

The report included photos that depicted overgrown areas. In Los Alamos Canyon, for example, specialists indicated there were about 400 to 500 trees per acre. Auditors said the ideal number should be 40 to 50 trees per acre.

Lab spokesman Peter Alden Hyde said that since the audit was conducted in late 2018 and early 2019, the lab has adopted “an aggressive approach” to wildfire management on its 39-square-mile (101-square-kilometre) campus. That has included thinning vegetation along access routes, improving fire roads and recently removing thousands of trees downed by wind storms.

“We continue to review our wildfire and forest health plans and have already implemented most of the recommendations the Department of Energy offered to improve our efforts to protect the public, the environment and the laboratory,” he said.

It was not immediately clear how many acres were thinned during the last year or whether the lab had any major projects planned for 2021.

Susan Montoya Bryan, The Associated Press