NASA scientists complete 1st global survey of freshwater fluctuation

NASA/GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER

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IMAGE: LAKE MEAD, ALONG THE COLORADO RIVER. view more 

CREDIT: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

To investigate humans' impact on freshwater resources, scientists have now conducted the first global accounting of fluctuating water levels in Earth's lakes and reservoirs - including ones previously too small to measure from space.

The research, published March 3 in the journal Nature, relied on NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite 2 (ICESat-2), launched in September 2018.

ICESat-2 sends 10,000 laser light pulses every second down to Earth. When reflected back to the satellite, those pulses deliver high-precision surface height measurements every 28 inches (70 centimeters) along the satellite's orbit. With these trillions of data points, scientists can distinguish more features of Earth's surface, like small lakes and ponds, and track them over time.

Scientists used these height measurements to study 227,386 water bodies over 22 months and discovered that, from season to season, the water level in Earth's lakes and ponds fluctuates on average by about 8.6 inches (0.22 m). At the same time, the water level of human-managed reservoirs fluctuate on average by nearly quadruple that amount - about 34 inches (0.86 m).

While natural lakes and ponds outnumber human-managed reservoirs by more than 24 to 1 in their study, scientists calculated that reservoirs made up 57% of the total global variability of water storage.

"Understanding that variability and finding patterns in water management really shows how much we are altering the global hydrological cycle," said Sarah Cooley, a remote sensing hydrologist at Stanford University in California, who led the research. "The impact of humans on water storage is much higher than we were anticipating."

In natural lakes and ponds, water levels typically vary with the seasons, filling up during rainy periods and draining when it's hot and dry. In reservoirs, however, managers influence that variation - often storing more water during rainy seasons and diverting it when it's dry, which can exaggerate the natural seasonal variation, Cooley said.

Cooley and her colleagues found regional patterns as well - reservoirs vary the most in the Middle East, southern Africa, and the western United States, while the natural variation in lakes and ponds is more pronounced in tropical areas.

The results set the stage for future investigations into how the relationship between human activity and climate alters the availability of freshwater. As growing populations place more demands on freshwater, and climate change alters the way water moves through the hydrological cycle, studies like this can illuminate how water is being managed, Cooley said.

"This kind of dataset will be so valuable for seeing how human management of water is changing in the future, and what areas are experiencing the greatest change, or experiencing threats to their water storage," Cooley said. "This study provides us with a really valuable baseline of how humans are modulating the water cycle at the global scale."

The researchers' methods relied on a second satellite mission, as well - Landsat, the decades-long mission jointly overseen by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey. The team used Landsat-derived, two-dimensional maps of bodies of water and their sizes, providing them with a comprehensive database of the world's lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. Then, ICESat-2 added the third dimension - height of the water level, with an uncertainty of roughly 4 inches (10 cm). When those measurements are averaged over thousands of lakes and reservoirs, the uncertainty drops even more.

Although ICESat-2's mission focuses on the frozen water of Earth's cryosphere, creating data products of non-frozen water heights was also part of the original plan, according to Tom Neumann, ICESat-2 project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Now, with the satellite in orbit, scientists are detecting more smaller lakes and reservoirs than previously anticipated - in this study they detected ponds half the size of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

"We're now able to measure all of these lakes and reservoirs with the same 'ruler,' over and over again," Neumann said. "It's a great example of another science application that these height measurements enable. It's incredibly exciting to see what questions people are able to investigate with these datasets."

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For more information on ICESat-2, visit http://www.nasa.gov/icesat-2

New map reveals details British dinosaurs on small tropical islands

Ryan Morrison For Mailonline

© Provided by Daily Mail MailOnline logo

A new map showing the location of a series of small tropical islands 200 million years ago in the area that is now Bristol sheds new light on how British dinosaurs lived.

University of Bristol researchers examined hundreds of pieces of data including historic literature describing the region as being like the Florida Everglades.

The data was carefully compiled and digitised so it could be used to generate a 3D map of the once Caribbean-style environment that is now the west of England.

The islands were home to small dinosaurs, lizard-like animals and some of the first mammals to live on the land, according to lead author Jack Lovegrove.

The findings also helped scientists know more about how a small dinosaur known as Thecodontosaurus - or the Bristol dinosaur - lived 200 million years ago. 

© Provided by Daily Mail A new map showing the location of series of small tropical islands 200 million years ago in the area that is now Bristol sheds new light on how British dinosaurs lived

© Provided by Daily Mail The findings have provided greater insight into the type of surroundings inhabited by the Thecodontosaurus, a small dinosaur the size of a medium-sized dog with a long tail also known as the Bristol dinosaur.

THECODONTOSAURUSOR 'THE BRISTOL DINOSAUR'


The Bristol dinosaur, or Thecodontosaurus, was first discovered in 1834.

The name means 'ancient socket-toothed reptile'.

It lived in what was the Bristol archipelago 210 million years ago.

This is an area of small islands now covered by Bristol and Somerset.

It is a small sized dinosaur, about the size of a Labrador, about 2.5 metres long and with a long tail.

It had powerful back legs with smaller front legs and walked on all fours.

It could reach up with its front legs and use its claws to grab hold of the stems of prehistoric trees for food.

Small sharp teeth with tiny sharp bumps on one side were like knives that could tear through juicy leaves.

The study used data from geological measurements all round Bristol through the last 200 years - from quarries, road sections, cliffs, and boreholes.

They then pulled in other data from literature and historical records to generate the 3D topographic model of the area.

This shows the landscape of a region - that is now Bristol and Somerset - as it existed before a great sea, the Rhaetian Ocean, flooded most of the land at the end of the Triassic period, the team explained.

One of the pieces of literature uncovered by the Bristol team described the area as a 'landscape of limestone islands' with storms powerful enough to 'scatter pebbles, roll fragments of marl as well as breaking bones and teeth.'

'No one has ever gathered all this data before,' said Lovegrove.

'It was often thought that these small dinosaurs and lizard-like animals lived in a desert landscape, but this provides the first standardised evidence supporting the theory that they lived alongside each other on flooded tropical islands,' he said.

At the end of the Triassic period the UK was close to the Equator and enjoyed a warm Mediterranean climate, with very high sea levels compared to today.

The Atlantic Ocean began to open up between Europe and North America causing land level to fall, leaving Bristol Channel area seas 100 metres higher than today.

High areas, such as the Mendip Hills, a ridge across the Clifton Downs in Bristol, and the hills of South Wales poked through the water, forming an archipelago of 20 to 30 islands.

The islands were made from limestone which became fissured and cracked with rainfall, forming cave systems.

'The process was more complicated than simply drawing the ancient coastlines around the present-day 100-meter contour line because as sea levels rose, there was all kinds of small-scale faulting,' said Lovegrove.

'The coastlines dropped in many places as sea levels rose,' he added.

© Provided by Daily Mail The team created a 3D topographical map that allowed them to better understand how sea levels rose and fell over millions of year to create the British isles

THE BRISTOL ARCHIPELAGO


The Bristol archipelago was a series of small tropical islands in an area that is now modern Bristol and Somerset.

Each island was home to unique species of dinosaur, lizard and even very early mammals.

At the end of the Triassic period the UK was close to the Equator and enjoyed a warm Mediterranean climate, with very high sea levels compared to today.

The Atlantic Ocean began to open up between Europe and North America causing land level to fall, leaving Bristol Channel area seas 100 metres higher than today.

This created the archipelago that existed 200 million years ago.

The findings have provided greater insight into the type of surroundings inhabited by the Thecodontosaurus, which was the size of a medium-sized dog with a long tail.

Co-author Professor Michael Benton, Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology at the University of Bristol, said he was keen to resolve the ancient landscape.

'The Thecodontosaurus lived on several of these islands including the one that cut across the Clifton Downs, and we wanted to understand the world it occupied and why the dinosaurs on different islands show some differences,' he said.

'Perhaps they couldn't swim too well.'

'We also wanted to see whether these early island-dwellers showed any of the effects of island life,' said co-author Dr David Whiteside.

On islands today, middle-sized animals are often much smaller than their continent or large-island equivalence because there are fewer resources.

That some phenomenon was found in the fossil records of the Bristol archipelago

'Also, we found evidence that the small islands were occupied by small numbers of species, whereas larger islands, such as the Mendip Island, could support many more,' explained Whiteside.

The study, carried out with the British Geological Survey, demonstrates the level of detail that can be drawn from geological information using modern analytical tools.

The new map even shows how the Mendip Island was flooded step-by-step, with sea level rising a few meters every million years, until it became nearly completely flooded 100 million years later, in the Cretaceous.

Co-author Dr Andy Newell, of the British Geological Survey, said models of the Earth's crust help scientists understand much about the modern British isles.

For example it can point in the direction of water and some mineral resources.

'In the UK we have this rich resource of historical data from mining and other development, and we now have the computational tools to make complex, but accurate, models,' said Newell.

How This Ancient, Defleshed Human Skull Ended Up in Such a Strange Spot

George Dvorsky 

Archaeologists may have finally figured out how a 5,300-year-old skull ended up on the ledge of a deep vertical cave shaft in northern Italy.

© Image: Belcastro et al, 2021, PLOS ONE The skull as it was found inside the cave shaft.

The skull, with no jaw, was discovered in 2015 during exploratory work at a natural gypsum cave in northern Italy. It was found near the top of a vertical shaft, approximately 40 feet (12 meters) below a complex of meandering caves and 85 feet (26 meters) below ground level.

That a skull should be found in such a strange and isolated spot came as a complete surprise, to say the least. No other human remains were found in the immediate vicinity, nor any archaeological evidence. The location of the upturned skull—a natural cavity within the shaft—can only be accessed with special climbing equipment, and not a spot that ancient peoples could have easily reached.

© Image: Belcastro et al, 2021, PLOS ONE The location of the skull, as it was found inside an Italian cave.

In 2017, archaeologists returned to the cave, known as Marcel Loubens, to document and retrieve the skull. New research published today in PLOS One provides a detailed analysis of the fossil, along with a possible explanation for how it ended up in such an unlikely spot. The paper was led by archaeologist Maria Giovanna Belcastro of the University of Bologna in Italy.


As the authors speculate, the skull was likely transported to the shelf by a series of natural geological processes, including the opening of sinkholes, mudslides, and rushing water. The 5,300-year-old fossil, it would seem, traveled through this cave system on its own accord.

For the study, the researchers were “focused on investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of this individual, since the cranium shows signs of some lesions that appear to be the results of [post-death] manipulation probably carried out to remove soft tissues.”

Indeed, the skull, known as the Marcel Loubens cranium, or MLC for short, has some scratches and cut marks on it that are consistent with the removal of flesh, which was likely done as part of a death ritual, according to the authors. Sounds bizarre, but the defleshing of deceased individuals was a relatively common prehistoric practice (even among Neanderthals), both in this part of the world and elsewhere.

Ancient Bolivians Used Basic Chemistry To Strip Flesh From Human Bones

As anthropologist Alessia Zielo from the University of Padua explained in a 2018 paper, there were some very good reasons for the practice:

In the cultures of the past, the head was meant as the seat of the soul, which contained the life force, and which possessed extraordinary qualities. It was also the profound symbol of a power closely linked to the concepts of life, death and fertility. Also, after death, the manipulation of the skulls showed that the physical remains of the deceased continued to play an important role in the community life to which [they] belonged.

That the skull was found in a cave, however, is not a surprise. The use of these Italian caves as “natural cavities,” in the words of the researchers, was common during the first half of the 3rd millennium BCE, as evidenced by prior archaeological discoveries. Deceased individuals were brought inside these caves and laid to rest, which is likely the situation here. Indeed, radiocarbon dating of the cranium dated it to between 3630 and 3380 BCE, placing it within this timeframe, known as Italy’s Eneolithic period, also known as the Copper Age.

For context, Ötzi the Iceman—that famous natural mummy found embedded in ice—lived at some point between 3400 and 3100 BCE. Ötzi died in the Ötztal Alps on the border between Austria and Italy, and approximately 215 miles (345 km) north of Marcel Loubens cave.

The skull, with several teeth still attached, was found in remarkably good shape, allowing for a detailed analysis. Belcastro and her colleagues used microscopes and a CT scanner to study the fossil, in addition to analyzing a detailed 3D replica.

© Image: Belcastro et al, 2021, PLOS ONE Multiple view of the cranium.

Detailed measurements of the skull were cross-referenced with a forensics database, suggesting it belonged to a female who died between the ages of 24 and 35. The lesions likely happened after death, as no signs of healing were detected. Some ochre was also detected, which might have something to do with the funerary ritual.

Other evidence suggests this woman wasn’t particularly healthy. She suffered from chronic anaemia, like an iron or vitamin B deficiency. She likely endured prolonged metabolic stress as a child, and she seems to have had an endocrine disorder, as a dental analysis revealed. Indeed, the shift to neolithic lifestyles wasn’t all fun and games; new diets (based on agriculture), new living conditions, and denser living arrangements resulted in diminished health and increased exposure to unhygienic conditions, pathogens, and parasites, according to the paper.

The lesions on the skull don’t appear to have been caused by animal behaviors, such as biting, gnawing, or scratching. What’s more, the detection of “irregularly thick calcite crusts” on the MLC fossil suggests the skull began to move shortly after the woman was laid to rest, and by natural processes.

By conducting a geological review of the cave system, and by studying the skull, the scientists have devised a plausible explanation for the skull’s strange location.

Here’s the explanation: Shortly after the woman was laid to rest, her skull came loose and rolled away. Water and mud began to rush through the cave, transporting the cranium further down through the slope of a sinkhole and into a deeper cave. Ongoing sinkhole activity sculpted the cave into its current form, landing the skull onto its strange resting spot.

Marcel Loubens cave, it should be pointed out, is situated within a depression in the region known locally as “Dolina dell’Inferno,” which literally translates to “Hell’s Sinkhole.” That sinkhole activity and ongoing geological processes transported the skull to such an odd spot seems wholly reasonable.

We’ll likely never know the exact story of how this cranium ended up inside that deep cave shaft, but this study offers some remarkable findings based on a single skull found completely outside an archaeological context. Archaeologists, as this paper shows, are very adept at working with very little. In a way, it’s kind of what they do.

High-Tech Scans of Early Human Ancestor Provides Rare Look At Critical Juncture in Mankind’s Evolutionary Past

Four demonstrators arrested after blocking access to Vancouver port for 24 hours

VANCOUVER — Indigenous youth calling themselves Braided Warriors temporarily blocked and forced the shutdown of a major Vancouver intersection to protest a 90-day jail sentence handed to an anti-pipeline protester

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

The protest ended Wednesday night, roughly 24 hours after it started.

About 20 people set up a blockade at Hastings Street and Clark Drive late Tuesday, a key entrance to the Port of Vancouver, with the number of demonstrators peaking at 75 before police intervened.

Social media posts by the Braided Warriors say members intended to shut down the port to show solidarity with an elder sentenced for his role in protests against the Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion project.

Vancouver police Sgt. Steve Addison says four people were arrested after repeated requests to clear the roadway.

Traffic in and out of the port was temporarily blocked due to the protest.

"(Vancouver police) strongly supports peoples’ fundamental freedom to peacefully gather, demonstrate, and express their views, and this group was given a full day to do that," Addison said in a statement.

"When it became clear some protesters had no intention of leaving, officers were forced to arrest them to reopen the intersection for all road users."

The Braided Warriors said in a social media post that the elder they had been supporting was released on bail.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2021.

The Canadian Press

State passes bill banning transgender student-athletes from female sports teams

SEXIST, HOMOPHOBIC, AND WHAT ABOUT TRANSBOYS

Mississippi legislators have passed a bill that would ban transgender athletes from competing on female sports teams in schools and universities -- one of over two dozen similar measures proposed by state lawmakers nationwide this year.

By the Numbers: More Americans identify as LGBT than ever before

The state House voted 81-28 Wednesday to pass the so-called Mississippi Fairness Act. It passed the state Senate last month, 34-9. The bill now heads to Gov. Tate Reeves for approval.

A growing number of states have proposed legislation that would restrict transgender student-athletes from participating in school sports. As of Feb. 26, the ACLU has tracked 25 states considering such bills this year, compared to 18 last year. This week, Wisconsin also introduced a similar bill.

Idaho became the first state to pass a law banning transgender women from competing in women's sports last year. A federal district court suspended the law and it has yet to be enacted.

 

Young women play basketball in this stock photo.

Mississippi's act is the first of its ilk to successfully pass through both chambers this year. Some have failed in committee, including in South Dakota on Wednesday and in Utah last month.

A similar bill also died in committee in Mississippi last year. Republican state Sen. Angela Hill, who sponsored that bill and the one that passed the House Wednesday, told ABC News she was inspired to introduce the legislation after learning about two girls' championship-winning transgender high school runners in Connecticut, where state policy allows high school athletes to compete as the gender with which they identify. Mississippi does not have a policy regarding transgender high school athletes

© Rory Doyle/AFP via Getty Images, FILE

"If we do not move to protect female sports from biological males who have an unfair physiological advantage, we will eventually no longer have female sports," she said.

Hill could not point to any instance of transgender girls competing on girls' sports teams in her state's high schools, but said she has heard concerns from coaches about Mississippi's lack of guidelines.

"This issue is imminent in Mississippi," she said. "We have to make a statement that women matter, female sports matter."MORE: Texas, Mississippi to end mask mandates, allow businesses to reopen at full capacity

Following the House passage, Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said Mississippi was "on the wrong side of history."

"There is simply no justification for banning transgender girls and women from participating in athletics other than discrimination," David said in a statement. "Like all girls, transgender girls just want to play and be part of a team with their friends. History will not look kindly on this moment in Mississippi.

"

© Rogelio V. Solis/AP Sens. Albert Butler, left, and Angela Hill, right, following a meeting of the Senate Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency Committee at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., March 2, 2021.

LGBTQ advocates warn that such bills send a damaging message to transgender youth.

"These dangerous bills are designed to make the lives of transgender kids more difficult while they try to navigate their adolescence," David said.

The Mississippi bill would require any public school and university that is a member of the Mississippi High School Activities Association and NCAA, among other associations, to designate their athletic teams as male, female or co-ed and restrict athletes assigned male at birth from joining female teams. It would not prevent cis women from participating on a male team.MORE: 'I'm still here': Transgender troops begin new era of open military service

Hill expects the bill to come across Reeves' desk in the coming week or so. The Republican governor has been critical of policies allowing transgender athletes to play women's sports.

He said he was "disappointed" by President Joe Biden's executive order combatting discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, which stated, "Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports."

After Trump Made Transphobic Comments, Candace Owens Praised Him For Being “Feminist”

ASIA EWART

LAST UPDATED MARCH 1, 2021



PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK.



PHOTO: ELIJAH NOUVELAGE/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES.

Following former president Donald Trump's CPAC speech, in which he continued to falsely claim the election was stolen, allege voter fraud, and tease a 2024 presidential run, conservative commentator Candace Owens entered the chat. Specifically, Owens praised Trump as a "feminist" on Twitter after he touted some wildly transphobic views about trans women being included in women's sports.

On Sunday, Trump gave a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he criticized Biden's decision to allow trans kids to participate in sports according to their gender identity. Trump claimed, falsely, that transgender women in sports were breaking records, and referred to them as "biological males." In response, Owens essentially called him a feminist hero (sure, Jan). “If you guys are wondering what actual feminism is, it’s Donald Trump having the courage to stand up on stage and call out the insanity of biological men dominating women’s sports,” Owens wrote. “He never kowtows to the Left. #CPAC2021 #CPAC.”

Owens was immediately the subject of serious backlash on Twitter, with users calling her a TERF well into Monday, when her name started trending. "I'd say your fear of trans people is much greater than your intellect, but we all know it's easy to find a bigger number than zero," one user wrote. "At almost every level of government over the past few weeks we have heard about the 'threat' of trans kids in sports. Let's talk about this because there is no threat and yet, we are about to see a massive expansion of privacy intrusions into and surveillance of kids' bodies," Chase Strangio, a lawyer for the ACLU, wrote.

Trump’s speech and Owens’ subsequent comments are responses to the recently passed Biden administration executive order titled “Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation.” On January 20, Biden’s first day in office, he signed the order declaring that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity were unconstitutional. The order notably states that “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.”

The order — though praised among many for being an inclusive step forward — has become an easy excuse for conservatives to spew hate. And, this isn’t the first time Owens has been openly transphobic and tried to mask it as standing up for women's rights. In February, she tweeted that transgender rights policies in the U.S. were “trampling over” the rights of women. In the past, she's also stood her ground on the false claim that only women can give birth, spoken out against trans soldiers serving in the U.S. Army, and called the work of trans activists the work of Satan and “confusing” to children. Most notably, Owens rebuked Harry Styles' Vogue cover, where he was photographed wearing a dress, saying, "bring back our manly men."

In reality, there’s no evidence of transgender children harming the upbringing of cisgender children, including in school sports. With nearly 2% of kids identifying as trans as of 2019, the conversation surrounding gender identity and children is becoming a more common one, thanks to the help of organizations like the Human Rights Campaign and PFLAG.

But given that ignorance is rampant in the Republican party, it's no surprise Trump would latch onto this Biden order — and even less of a surprise that a noted TERF like Candace Owens would praise him for it.

GM extends production cuts due to chip shortage, Stellantis warns of lingering pain

By Ben Klayman and Nick Carey 

© Reuters/CHRIS HELGREN FILE PHOTO: Chevrolet Equinox SUVs are parked awaiting shipment near the General Motors Co (GM) CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll

DETROIT/LONDON (Reuters) - The global semiconductor chip shortage led General Motors Co on Wednesday to extend production cuts at three North American plants and add a fourth to the list of factories hit, and Stellantis to warn the pain could linger far into the year.

The extended cuts do not change GM's forecast last month that the shortage could shave up to $2 billion from this year's earnings. GM Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson subsequently said chip supplies should return to normal rates by the second half of the year and he was confident the profit hit would not worsen.

However, Stellantis on Wednesday did not give an estimate for the financial hit it expects this year from the shortage and said the issue could last into the second half of 2021.

The chip shortage, which has hit automakers globally, stems from a confluence of factors as carmakers, which shut plants for two months during the COVID-19 pandemic last year, compete against the sprawling consumer electronics industry for chip supplies.

Consumers have stocked up on laptops, gaming consoles and other electronic products during the pandemic, leading to tight chip supplies. They also bought more cars than industry officials expected last spring, further straining supplies.

GM did not disclose the impact on volumes or say which supplier or parts were affected by the chip shortage, but the U.S. automaker said it intends to recover as much of the lost output as possible.

"GM continues to leverage every available semiconductor to build and ship our most popular and in-demand products, including full-size trucks and SUVs," GM spokesman David Barnas said. "We contemplated this downtime when we discussed our outlook for 2021."

GM said it would extend downtime at plants in Fairfax, Kansas, and Ingersoll, Ontario, to at least mid-April, and in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, through the end of March. In addition, it will idle its Gravatai plant in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in April and May.

The Detroit automaker had previously extended production cuts at three North American plants into mid-March and said vehicles at two other plants would only be partially built. Following Wednesday's cuts, forecasting firm AutoForecast Solutions estimated GM could lose more than 216,000 units globally due to the shortage.

While reporting quarterly results on Wednesday, Stellantis said the chip shortage could weigh on 2021 earnings and Chief Financial Officer Richard Palmer told analysts on a conference call the financial impact was a "big unknown."

Stellantis Chief Executive Carlos Tavares said the automaker was working hard to find alternative chip supplies, but he was "not so sure" the issue would be resolved by the second half of 2021.

Ford Motor Co said last month the lack of chips could cut company production by up to 20% in the first quarter and hurt profits by as much as $2.5 billion. It had previously cut production of its top-selling F-150 pickup truck.

Some automakers, including Toyota Motor Corp and Hyundai Motor Co, avoided deeper cuts by stockpiling chips ahead of the shortage.

Industry officials and politicians have pushed U.S. President Joe Biden's administration to take a more active role in dealing with the chip shortage.

Last week, Biden said he would seek $37 billion in funding to supercharge chip manufacturing in the United States. An executive order also launched a review of supply chains for such critical products as semiconductor chips, electric vehicle batteries and rare earth minerals.

Complicating matters was a severe winter storm in Texas last month that killed at least 21 people and led to the shutdown of several chip plants. Semiconductor industry officials said customers would face knock-on effects in several months.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit and Nick Carey in London, editing by Jonathan Oatis and Chizu Nomiyama)

Facebook removes Thai military-linked information influencing accounts

By Patpicha Tanakasempipat REUTERS

© Reuters/Dado Ruvic FILE PHOTO: 

The Twitter and Facebook logo along with binary cyber codes are seen in this illustration

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Facebook Inc has taken down 185 accounts and groups engaged in an information-influencing operation in Thailand run by the military, the company said on Wednesday, the first time it has removed Thai accounts with ties to the government.

The Thailand-based network removed in the latest sweep of "coordinated inauthentic behaviour" on the platform included 77 accounts, 72 pages and 18 groups on Facebook and 18 accounts on Instagram, Facebook said.

The company said the accounts were linked to the Thai military and targeted audiences in the southern provinces of Thailand, where conflict has flared on and off for decades as insurgent groups continue a guerrilla war to demand independence.

Thailand's army spokesman declined to comment when contacted by Reuters, citing a matter of policy not to make comments outside of official news conferences.

Some 7,000 people have been killed during the past 15 years as a result of the insurgency in the Malay-speaking, largely Muslim southern region of predominantly Buddhist Thailand.

"This is the first time that we've attributed one of our takedowns to links to the Thai military," Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of Cybersecurity Policy, told Reuters in a briefing.

"We found clear links between this operation and the Thai military's Internal Security Operations Command. We can see that all of these accounts and groups are tied together as part of this operation."

The network, mainly active in 2020, used both fake accounts and authentic ones to manage groups and pages, including overt military pages and those that did not disclose their affiliations with the military, Gleicher said.

POSED AS INDIVIDUALS

Some of the fake accounts posed as individuals from Thailand's southern provinces, Gleicher said, adding that the network had spent about $350 on Facebook and Instagram advertisements.

Some 700,000 accounts followed one or more of the pages and about 100,000 accounts joined at least one of the groups, he added.

Gleicher said Facebook took action on the network based on deceptive behaviour and not the content posted, which included support for the military and the monarchy, and allegations of violence and criticism of insurgent groups in southern Thailand.

The move was Facebook's second takedown of information-influencing operations in Thailand, after one in 2019 involving 12 accounts and 10 pages that used "fictitious personas".

In October, Twitter Inc also took down 926 accounts it said were linked to the Thai army that promoted pro-army and pro-government content. The army denied it was behind the accounts.

Twitter in November also suspended a Thai pro-royalist account linked to the palace that a Reuters analysis found was connected to thousands of others that spread content in favour of Thailand's monarchy.

Facebook on Wednesday said it has taken down four other networks from Iran, Russia and Morocco engaged in such coordinated inauthentic behaviour.

The company said it has removed more than 100 networks engaged in inauthentic behaviour globally in recent years.

(Reporting by Patpicha Tanakasempipat in Bangkok; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Matthew Lewis)

More signals of a Roaring '20s rebound for Canadian economy when pandemic ends

Don Pittis CBC

© Thomas Peter/Reuters Time to party like it’s 1920? Revellers in Potsdam, Germany, outside Berlin, celebrate in 2009 in the fashion of the Roaring Twenties. New data out this week suggests that, just like following the 1918 flu pandemic, the Canadian economy is…

Gloomy headlines about the collapse of the Canadian economy, which faced its worst retreat since records began, may have obscured some startling new evidence for a strong rebound.

As we reported on Tuesday, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic put Canada's economy into a tailspin, making 2020 the worst year on record, with gross domestic product declining by 5.4 per cent.

But other data out this week, including some buried amidst those latest bleak GDP numbers, tells a different story. It shows that high levels of savings and government income support have bolstered the economic well-being of households — notably among the youngest groups and those with lower incomes.

At the same time, one fresh measure of consumer confidence shows Canadians more willing to go out and spend than at any time since 2018.

It all adds a little more evidence to the widely touted theory that, just like following the 1918 flu pandemic, the Canadian economy is heading for something like the Roaring Twenties — a period of economic, social and artistic innovation as people break out of cabin-fever mode.
Relentless joie de vivre

"What typically happens is people get less religious. They will relentlessly seek out social interactions in nightclubs and restaurants and sporting events and political rallies," Yale University medical sociologist and physician Dr. Nicholas Christakis said on the CBC Radio program White Coat Black Art earlier this year.

"There'll be some sexual licentiousness. People will start spending their money after having saved it. There'll be joie de vivre and a kind of risk-taking, a kind of efflorescence of the arts, I think," Christakis told host Dr. Brian Goldman.

Like many others, Christakis in January foresaw the impact of the coronavirus lingering late into 2021, as the World Health Organization suggested herd immunity remained far away. But despite fears of more insidious variants, with a new flood of vaccines and signs of a sharp decline in cases south of the border, others have expressed greater optimism.

"By the time we get to the summer, we're going to be in a different place," Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia's provincial health officer, said last week. "In the coming months, we're going to be able to do all those things that we have been missing for the last year."

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem has also weighed in on the side of a rebound beginning this year. Tuesday's GDP figures showed the economy already starting to recover in the last three months of 2020, but that was before the most recent lockdown.


Video: Pandemic blamed for Canada's biggest GDP drop (Global News)


Despite beginning the year "in a deeper hole," Macklem has forecast a strong revival in 2021 that would continue into next year, bolstered by the COVID-19 vaccine and low interest rates.
Not just for the rich

One criticism of the Roaring Twenties idea was that poorer households whose jobs have been most affected by the pandemic would be left out. But a report from Statistics Canada released on Monday dispelled some of those fears, demonstrating that the gap between the richest and poorest actually declined in the first nine months of last year.

"Although the everyday experiences of particular households may have differed, on average, the gap in household disposable income between the lowest- and highest-income earners declined," the Statistics Canada report said

.

© Library of Congress/Handout via Reuters In March 1929, the well-heeled strut their stuff at President Herbert Hoover’s inaugural ball, at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. Before the year was over, the Roaring Twenties would come to an end and the Great Depression would begin.

In fact, the data showed that "disposable income for the lowest-income households increased 36.8 per cent, more than for any other households." Canada's youngest households saw their net worth rise by 10 per cent. That may be a good sign for the economy once restrictions are reduced because unlike the rich or old, poorer and younger households are in a phase of life that requires them to spend more and save less, recirculating their money into the economy.

Besides government income-support programs, another reason for the increase in well-being is that families across Canada who already owned real estate have seen their wealth increase, even if the amount they owe has stayed the same.

Some studies have shown that "the wealth effect" — in other words, the feeling of being richer — can encourage people to spend more, but if people just sit on their savings, worried about the future, it won't help the consumer-driven economy.

That's why other sets of data out this week showing an increased willingness to spend adds a little more impetus to the Roaring Twenties argument.

Consumer-confidence measures use different methodologies to derive their results. The Conference Board of Canada — while seeing a rise in its index for February — still sees a ways to go before reaching pre-pandemic levels.

But a weekly index issued by Bloomberg and Nanos Research seems to show that consumers are ready to go shopping as confidence hits levels not seen since 2018.

© Shannon Stapleton/Reuters If young people feel well-off once the pandemic ends, they'll want to get out and kick up their heels, spreading money out into the wider community. Data from Statistics Canada shows that during the first nine months of 2020, the youngest households saw their net worth rise by 10 per cent.

"Anticipation of a vaccination rollout, even if not perfect, may be having a halo effect on the mood of consumers," company boss Nik Nanos said in a release of his latest data on Monday. "Consumer confidence, as measured by the Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index, continues on a positive trajectory and has hit a three-year high."

Even if Canadians remain more restrained than in the 1920s post-pandemic revival, a new urge to go out and spend will spread the wealth, helping the economy to get back in gear.

Follow Don Pittis CBC on Twitter: @don_pittis