Global warming helps invasive species flourish - study models likely combined effects on ecosystems

SWANSEA UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

Increased global temperatures help invasive species establish themselves in ecosystems, new research led by a Swansea University bioscientist has shown.

The study, published by the Royal Society, gives an insight into the probable combined effects of species invasions, which are becoming more common, and global warming.

Climate warming and biological invasions result in the loss of species. They also alter the structure of ecosystems and the ways in which species interact.

While there is already extensive research on how climate change and invasions affect species and ecosystems, we know surprisingly little about their combined effect, acting together in synergy.

This is where the new study marks an important step forward. The work, funded by the EU Horizon programme, involved Dr Miguel Lurgi from the College of Science working with colleagues from the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRAE) and the Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France.

The team used mathematical simulations to investigate how temperature influences invasions in complex food webs comprised of 30 species. They paid particular attention to the combined - synergistic - effects.

The aim was to provide a theoretical model for how ecological communities are likely to respond to the joint effects of warming and invasions.

The model accounted for factors such as reproduction and death rates, average species body size, and interactions between species - such as predators attacking prey.

The team simulated what happens when an alien species is introduced into an ecosystem. They then ran the simulation forward in time using 40 different temperature values from 0 to 40 degrees Celsius.

This allowed them to model the combined effects on the ecosystem of temperature rises and of the new species being introduced.

They analysed the simulation results to assess the effects of temperature on food web properties before invasion, invasion success, and the effects of invasions on community structure and stability.

They found:

• Warmer temperatures modified community structure and dynamics that in turn facilitated invasions.
• Warmer temperatures mostly amplified the impacts of invasions on communities when compared with their colder counterparts.
• Temperature effects on invasions are mostly indirect and mediated by changes in community structure and stability.

Dr Miguel Lurgi of Swansea University, lead researcher, said:

"Warming and invasions are driving major changes to our ecosystems, and it's essential that we understand their combined effects.

Our study provides a first step in that direction, analysing the synergistic effects of temperature and invasions on communities.

Overall, we found that temperature and invasion act synergistically to increase the rate of species loss, creating smaller and more connected networks.

We have seen with COVID19 how mathematical modelling has been crucial in understanding the likely spread and impact of the virus.

Similarly, our work provides theoretical expectations for the likely response of ecological communities to the joint effects of warming and invasions".

###

The research was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Notes to Editors

Research available here:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2020.2622

#SPACERACE2.0

The end of U.S.-Russia collaboration in space



Miriam Kramer

Tue, March 16, 2021

Russia, the U.S.' long-standing partner in space, is turning to China for its lunar ambitions.

Why it matters: The U.S. and Russia have been uneasy partners in orbit for decades, but as the two grow farther apart in space, their rift could reshape the geopolitical landscape above Earth — and on it — for years to come.

"We're not going to see the same level of cooperation between the United States and Russia, compared to what we saw in the 1990s ... when Russia was broke, going through an economic catastrophe after the collapse of the Soviet bloc and was desperate," space policy expert Bleddyn Bowen told me.


Driving the news: Last week, China and Russia signed an agreement to work together to develop a lunar research station on or orbiting the Moon, allying Russia with a nation many see as in opposition to U.S. interests in space.

The memorandum of understanding comes after Russia declined to sign NASA's Artemis Accords governing international cooperation and uses of the Moon, and after a Russian official criticized NASA's plans to build a small space station in lunar orbit.

Russia was initially expected to provide an airlock for the small lunar space station, which is part of NASA's plans to land people on the Moon, but now "NASA will be pursuing other options for the provider of the airlock," NASA said in a statement.

The backstory: U.S.-Russia space relations began to sour in the early 2010s when Russia annexed Crimea.

The two countries' space programs kept them talking via the International Space Station, but since then, Russia's public posture toward the U.S. on space issues changed, experts say.

"We saw a marked change in how the Russians interacted in multilateral space forums," Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation told me. There was "a marked increase in the hostility of their language against pretty much anything the U.S. was proposing."

The intrigue: China's space program and industry is booming, with support from the government and a long-term vision of what the nation hopes to accomplish. Russia's star, on the other hand, is fading.

Russia is losing a significant source of revenue as SpaceX flies astronauts to the space station, ending NASA's reliance on the Russian-made Soyuz rocket.

This partnership with China will allow Russia to work with a nation on the rise when it comes to space, while China gets to take advantage of Russia's established technical acumen.

Just as important, if not more, the two powers together will wield geopolitical weight in forming international space policy.

As Europe, Canada, Japan and others are already partnering with the U.S. on its Moon plans, this partnership between Russia and China could potentially pull in support from other nations, if the two nations decide they also want partners.

What to watch: It's not clear how high a priority the Russia-China lunar research station will have as China works to build its own space station orbiting Earth in the coming years.

The division of labor for the two nations hasn't been laid out, and there isn't a clear funding source announced yet.

And experts say that the door isn't necessarily closed for the U.S. and Russia to partner with one another in space in the future.

VEGAN NEWS

Joseph Goebbels' mansion proposed as a vegan-friendly commune for artists and immigrants

Swikar Oli 

3/15/2021

© Provided by National Post The former country house of Joseph Goebbels, Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda during the National Socialist regime and one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates, is pictured on the left on January 05, 2008 at the Bogensee lake near Lanke, eastern Germany.


The former private villa of the Nazi’s chief propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, is getting a meaningful upgrade.

Plans underway would turn Goebbels’ 70-plus room lakeside estate in Bogensee, Germany — which includes a private movie theatre — into a vegan-friendly commune.

The transformation would serve as a rebuke to the legacy of Adolf Hitler and Goebbels, welcoming the types of residents the Nazis targeted, Arnim Beutel of Life & Creativity Bogensee Campus (LKC), the non-profit group behind the project, told the Daily Star :

“It should be a diverse community. I think they would hate it because of course, we do the opposite of what they would do,” Beutel said.
Brunhilde Pomsel, Joseph Goebbels’ secretary and one of the last surviving top Nazi staffers, dead at 106
Early Facebook backer says company uses methods of Nazi Germany's Goebbels to addict you

“We want to build a co-operative community and we want to bring life back there. We want to make it a hotspot for culture and education and health. We want to create an area for an alternative way to live and to work.”


Renovation of the building, abandoned for two decades and left in disrepair, would be gradual and require public and private financing, the LKC website states. Once complete, the estate would house 250 residents, with special accommodation granted to immigrants and the disabled.

The champions of the initiative intend for the repurposed building to discourage Neo-Nazi intrusions.

In 1936, Hitler gifted the Bogensee land to Goebbels, his loyal chief propagandist, who brought the then-nascent TV and radio media under Nazi influence. Goebbels poured money into building his forested hideaway, located 15 kilometres to the north of Berlin, where he reportedly had love affairs with mistresses, including a young Lida Baarova, the Czech-born leading lady.

His family came to live with him at the Bogensee property, up until they fled to Berlin during the fall of the Nazi regime in 1945. Soon after, facing certain Nazi defeat, Goebbels poisoned his six children and committed suicide with is wife Magda.

After the war’s end, the property became a training school for youths under the East German socialist party and was abandoned around the time Germany reunified in 1990.

The renovated space would incorporate living spaces, artist’s workshops, a health and wellness centre, a theatre, vegan restaurant and supermarket. A museum focusing on the mansion’s peculiar history is also proposed.

Residents will be able to work on campus, and visitors could live in the “hostel” and “hotel,” according to a translated statement on the LKC website.

Nature lovers can take quiet strolls along the lakeshore and surrounding woods.

“If you walk the old ways, the grass in the joints of the pavement muffles your footsteps,” LKC says. “The chirping of birds and the wind in the leaves underscore an almost contemplative silence

Kamala Harris visits vegan taco shop in Las Vegas
Tue, March 16, 2021, 

Vice President Kamala Harris made an unscheduled stop at a vegan taco stand in Las Vegas, Nevada on Monday. Harris and other Biden Administration officials are on the road promoting the new $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. (March 16)

Video Transcript

- In a hurry.

KAMALA HARRIS: OK.

- But, again, thank you so much.

KAMALA HARRIS: I have my black bean burritos, or I think enchiladas, right?

- I think they--

KAMALA HARRIS: Because that's what I wanted.

- --already ordered for you.

KAMALA HARRIS: That's what I ordered.

- So we'll--

KAMALA HARRIS: Did you-- are you hungry?

AARON FORD: [INAUDIBLE]

- Oh, yeah, we can add stuff in if you want more.

- Hello, Madame Vice President.

KAMALA HARRIS: Hi. How are you? What's your name?

- I'm Jermaine.

KAMALA HARRIS: Jermaine, Kamala Harris.

- It's an honor to meet you. It's an honor.

AARON FORD: How you doing, Jermaine?

KAMALA HARRIS: Aaron Ford, your--

AARON FORD: I'm Aaron Ford. I'm your attorney general.

KAMALA HARRIS: --attorney general.

- Honor to meet you.

AARON FORD: Good to see you.

- OK, so your food's already ready.

KAMALA HARRIS: OK.

- Like, they called ahead and held it for you.

KAMALA HARRIS: So the-- what, we have the enchiladas, right?

- You have like six tacos. No, no, no, you have six tacos.

AARON FORD: Big tacos, OK.

KAMALA HARRIS: Oh, we got tacos instead. Great, OK, great. So I'll share.

AARON FORD: You'll share?

KAMALA HARRIS: [CHUCKLES]

- So I have your food sitting right over here.

KAMALA HARRIS: OK. Oh, wow. Oh, yeah, you're not going to be hungry after this.

AARON FORD: I'm going to [INAUDIBLE].

KAMALA HARRIS: Hello.

- Hi.

KAMALA HARRIS: How are you?

- [INAUDIBLE]

KAMALA HARRIS: Aw.

- It's been a pleasure having you here.

KAMALA HARRIS: What's your name?

- Gigi.

KAMALA HARRIS: Gigi, Kamala Harris. It's all-- we're all in it together, right? We've had some difficult, difficult times. It's been a year. It's been a year.

- Right, it's been a year.

KAMALA HARRIS: But look at what's happening, right? I mean, I just left the vaccination site at UNLV. People are getting vaccinated when it's their turn.

- I already got my vaccine. So--

KAMALA HARRIS: Good.

AARON FORD: Very good.

KAMALA HARRIS: Good. Good. You did.

- Yes.

KAMALA HARRIS: And tell everybody you know, right?

- Yeah.

KAMALA HARRIS: Tell the aunties, and the uncles, and the friends--

- Yes.

KAMALA HARRIS: --and the neighbors, and the grandparents. Everyone should get the vaccine when it's their turn, right?

- Yes.

KAMALA HARRIS: That's how we love thy neighbor, right?

- Yes.

KAMALA HARRIS: That's how we'll get back

EXPLAINER: How Uber UK case could foreshadow gig work revamp


FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2019, file photo is an Uber office in Secaucus, New Jersey, USA. Uber is giving its U.K. drivers the minimum wage, pensions and holiday pay, following a recent court ruling that said they should be classified as workers and entitled to such benefits, the company announced Tuesday, March 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

KELVIN CHAN
Wed, March 17, 2021

LONDON (AP) — Ride hailing giant Uber says it's giving U.K. drivers benefits like minimum wage and pensions, after losing a yearslong court battle to prevent them from being classified as “workers." It's an early sign of what companies like Uber face as authorities get to grips with regulating the app-based gig economy.

Starting right away, Uber's more than 70,000 U.K. drivers will get the minimum wage, equivalent to about $12 an hour for people aged 25 and up, plus pension payments and holiday pay. The company made the changes after the U.K. Supreme Court rejected its appeal against an employment tribunal ruling that drivers should be considered workers, not independent contractors as Uber insisted. That doesn't mean they're considered full-time staff employees, but under U.K. employment law, they fall into a middle category of “workers” who have more casual work terms but are also entitled to benefits and protections.


IS IT GOOD FOR DRIVERS?

Yes and no. San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc. says a driver's minimum wage will be calculated based on the time they accept a trip through the app. The drivers union behind the legal case said it's a step in the right direction but not good enough because drivers should be paid for time spent waiting for rides after logging on to the app, as the court ruled, otherwise they'll be shortchanged by up to 50%.

“If you go to work for Starbucks and no customers come into the shop, should you still be paid? Of course you should," said James Farrar, one of two former Uber drivers who filed the initial claim. “Uber simply has to do this, this is not difficult to understand."

But it may not be so simple. The company has argued that drivers could be logged in to the app while they're sitting at home, and not actually driving.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Will these changes mean passengers pay more and hurt the company’s profitability? Uber revealed little in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing announcement, saying only that it’s not making any changes to previously announced quarterly or full year earnings forecasts.

Experts said the company may end up making other adjustments to afford these new policies and shore up its chances of turning a profit, but they could end up limiting flexibility for drivers - one of the big selling points of working for Uber.

One big possibility is restricting the number of drivers on the platform, said Matthew Taylor, who carried out an independent review of working practices for the U.K. government in 2017.

To properly comply with the court ruling, Uber “probably are going to have to move to a system where they say to drivers you can only log on at certain times," Taylor told the BBC.

THE GIG ECONOMY'S FUTURE

The Uber case is part of broader efforts to rein in the gig economy that are gaining traction, at least in Europe. Spain last week unveiled legislation classifying food delivery riders as employees of the digital platforms they work for, not self-employed.

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has been a dvocating for reforms to what he called outdated labor laws that force gig workers to choose between flexibility and social protections. His proposals could find a receptive audience in Brussels, where the European Union's executive Commission is looking at how to improve conditions for platform workers.

Meanwhile, Uber's U.K. case could act as catalyst for wider change, by inspiring further legal challenges and influencing courts elsewhere that are wrestling with the issues. It all means that other gig economy companies, which are often accused of exploiting workers, will face growing pressure to make improvements for them.

___

For all of AP’s tech coverage, visit https://apnews.com/apf-technology

Uber worker benefits 'will make a difference'

Tom Espiner - Business reporter, BBC News
Wed, March 17, 2021, 

Uber driver

After a long court case fought by Uber drivers to get recognition as workers, the company has offered holiday pay, a guaranteed minimum wage, and pensions benefits to its drivers.

But what do Uber drivers think of the outcome of the case?

Reactions range from welcoming it as a good thing to anger and disappointment that Uber has not gone further.

'I think it's great'

Abul Kalam, an Open University student who wants a career in education, uses Uber work in London to bring in some money.

He says the concessions from the firm are "valuing the tremendous work that Uber drivers have done over the last difficult year".

He says Ubers have transported key workers to and from their jobs and "any holiday pay will be a welcome gesture".

"The pensions are an added bonus," he says.

However, he views Uber drivers as providing a freelance service, and says they shouldn't be paid while they are waiting for fares.

"Everyone should be entitled to the same benefits. It's greatly welcome, but why should we be treated differently?" he says.

Abul added that he can't see why Uber is guaranteeing a minimum wage.

"I can't ever be on a job for an hour and not be getting £8," he says.
'It will make a difference'

Zafar Iqbal stopped working for Uber in October last year after a dispute over pay.

The Birmingham-based taxi driver could not make Uber work financially, especially with the family commitments that he has.

"The fare was always too little," he says, and the commission was "not cheap".

"Taxi costs are rising day after day and they [Uber] keep the fares low," he says. "If you go outside the city you're unlikely to get a fare back."

He says the Uber concessions on holiday pay and pensions "will make a difference, and it will help".

He adds that taxis are "really struggling at the moment - there is not much work available".
'Uber has flooded the market'

Abduzak Hadi, who is based in London, was one of the claimants in the court case against Uber.

He says that Uber has not gone far enough in its concessions, and that the Supreme Court ruling directed Uber to pay drivers from when they logged onto the app, not from when they accepted a job.

"Uber has flooded the market with drivers because it costs them nothing," he said. "I started work at 7 o'clock this morning, and I've only taken £20."

He said the holiday pay entitlement was 12.07% after expenses, which are significant.

"In reality, it will not make any difference," he says. "I'm still out here putting in long hours."

He said the pandemic had made it hard for drivers to make ends meet.

"I've been getting loans, and any savings we had are long gone. I'm in debt at the moment and rent is outstanding," he said. "I've never been like that."

Hopes and fears raised in rural West Virginia by push for $15 minimum wage

FILE PHOTO: Senator Joe Manchin speaks after

 winning his 2018 midterm election in Charlestown, 

West Virginia

Jason Lange and Makini Brice

Wed, March 17, 2021

(Reuters) - At the Custard Stand restaurant in Webster Springs, West Virginia, Angie Cowger worries Democrats' goal of raising the hourly minimum wage to $15 would be the death knell for her business.

Roughly half her employees make about $9 an hour. Cowger can't imagine raising prices on hot dogs and ice cream by enough to cover $15, so she would expect to lay off workers, perhaps having customers place orders on a screen rather than with a cashier.

"I don't know our customer base would support that," Cowger said of her rural town of about 700 people. "We're in a town that has only one red light in the whole county."

While an effort to raise the national minimum wage from its current $7.25 level without Republican votes was blocked in the Senate this month, congressional Democrats have signaled they plan to try again.

The stakes are perhaps nowhere better illustrated than in West Virginia. Its 16% poverty rate is among the nation's highest and its low wages - half its workers earn less than $16.31 an hour - mean it could see some of the biggest risks and rewards of such a move.

West Virginia is also home to Senator Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat who opposes the $15 target and is emerging as a key force in the narrowly divided chamber.

Manchin, whose support would be crucial to the success of any legislation on the issue, says he would back an $11 minimum wage, still a more than 50% increase from where it has stood since 2009.

Five Senate Republicans - including West Virginia's other senator, Shelley Moore Capito - have proposed an increase to $10, suggesting compromise of some kind is possible.

In Republican-dominated states, where wages are generally lower than in Democratic-leaning states that are home to America's biggest cities, the biggest concern is retaining jobs, not raising wages.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in February that raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2025 as proposed by Democratic President Joe Biden would reduce the number of jobs nationwide by 1.4 million, and possibly by as much as 2.7 million, as businesses struggle with higher costs.

That hit would come after the pandemic sent the jobless rate well above 15% in West Virginia, higher than the national average. The state's current 6.5% unemployment rate is just above the national level.

SPLIT ON JOBS

Some experts said job losses could be sharper in rural areas because it will be harder for businesses in small-town America to raise prices enough to offset dramatic increases in pay.

"It's not surprising that the elected officials in low-wage states are more reticent to support higher minimum wages," said Michael Strain, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute.

Nine of the 10 states with the lowest median hourly wage - a group that includes West Virginia - picked Republican Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Biden took nine of the ten states with the highest typical hourly wage. (For a graphic on hourly wages across U.S. states, click here: https://tmsnrt.rs/3bP1qcT)

Some experts say there is no evidence linking a higher minimum wage to job cuts, however.

"We do not detect any negative employment effects in our sample, and so I would not expect any in WV," said Michael Reich, an economist at the University of California at Berkeley.

Labor activists are putting pressure on Manchin and Capito to go big on a minimum wage hike in West Virginia, where Trump beat Biden by nearly 40 percentage points and where well-paying coal jobs - long the state's trademark industry - have been on the decline for decades.

They point out that the CBO study also projected that bringing the minimum wage to $15 by 2025 would boost the incomes of 17 million people nationally and pull 900,000 people out of poverty.

Last month, the activists hired vans to circle Capito and Manchin's offices in Charleston, the state capital, with mobile billboards demanding $15 an hour. The Poor People's Campaign also organized a rally outside of Manchin's office promoting the rise.

Pam Garrison, a 62-year-old retiree who has held minimum-wage jobs for her entire working life, mostly as a cashier, said low wages were part of what held the economy back.

"If you give us the money, we'll get this economy going," she said from Fayette County, a coal mining area. "We spend our money. We will fix our falling-down houses up."

(Reporting by Jason Lange and Makini Brice in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Sonya Hepinstall)

THAT'S BIPARTISANSHIP
80% of Americans think the federal minimum wage is too low, new poll finds


Ayelet Sheffey,Juliana Kaplan
Tue, March 16, 2021

A group of BLM demonstrators protest the Federal Reserve Bank about $15 minimum wage in NYC to solidarity nationwide in Lower Manhattan on July 20, 2020. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images


An Amazon/Ipsos poll found 80% of Americans believe the current federal minimum wage isn't sufficient.


It's only the latest poll to show popular support for a minimum wage increase.


The poll echoed prior research, finding women and workers of color are more likely to earn under $15.

A federal minimum wage increase didn't make it into the American Rescue Plan President Joe Biden signed into law last week, but the majority of Americans still believe a $7.25 minimum wage is too low.

A new Amazon/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday found that 80% of Americans believe the current federal minimum wage is not sufficient, with two in three who have an opinion on the topic supporting an increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Amazon has previously advocated for a minimum wage increase to $15 an hour, and the poll found that two in three Americans want large companies to play a role in pushing for a minimum wage increase.

"America has hope that 2021 will be a year of recovery," the poll said. "Increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour will help supercharge that recovery and help those who need it most. Boosting the income of those at the bottom end of the pay scale means that, instead of just trying to survive, they have the opportunity to participate in the economic recovery."


Here are the other main findings of the poll:


Eight in ten Americans don't know the actual amount of the current federal minimum wage;


People who earn less than $15 an hour are more likely to be women, people of color, people living in rural areas, and people with less formal educations;


70% of Americans say a wage increase would have a positive impact on employees, with 55% saying it will positively impact the country;


And those who make less than $15 an hour are significantly less likely to be satisfied with aspects of life - jobs, income, and ability to pay bills - than those making $15 an hour or more.

The push for a federal minimum wage increase has remained controversial among lawmakers. Although Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and other progressive lawmakers, failed to pass a wage increase in the stimulus, he is continuing to fight for future legislation that will raise the wage to help working Americans.

"There is nowhere - I repeat, NOWHERE - in the United States where a full-time worker being paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25 can make ends meet. That is a disgrace," Sanders said on Twitter on March 4. "It is far past time that we raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and give millions of workers a raise."


Meanwhile, moderate and conservative lawmakers, like Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, have pushed against an increase to $15 an hour, citing the potential impact on the labor market.

"I would amend it to $11," Manchin told reporters. "We can do $11 in two years and be in a better position than they're going to be with $15 in five years."
A $15 minimum wage has already had broad popular support - and could impact millions of workers

An Insider poll from February showed that more than 60% of respondents would definitely or probably support a $15 minimum wage. That echoed Insider's 2019 polling, where 63% of respondents supported or strongly supported an increase to $15 per hour.

A minimum-wage hike would impact 32 million workers, according to an analysis from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Around one in three Black workers and about one in four Latino workers would benefit from the raise; almost 60% of workers who would benefit are women, with women of color seeing a particular boost. Those are all groups who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic's economic devastation.

Raising the minimum wage could also ease the strain on social safety net programs. A study from the University of California at Berkeley found that low wages cost taxpayers more than $100 billion a year.

One main concern that has emerged in the minimum wage debate is the potential impact on employment, with the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projecting that an increase could lead to the loss of 1.4 million workers while lifting 900,000 people out of poverty.

However, not all economists are so sure about those employment projections. According to recent report from Morgan Stanley, "the wealth of research points to no definitive conclusion on the impact higher wages have on employment."

While the impact to employment may not a cause for alarm, Morgan Stanley highlighted other important aspects to consider.

"The social benefits to lifting real wages of lower-income earners and millions out of poverty are substantial."

Read the original article on Business Insider

CORPORATIONS ARE PERSON'S TOO

Coca-Cola and Home Depot oppose voting restrictions in their home state Georgia


Akshita Jain
Mon, March 15, 2021, 

THE INDEPENDENT


Demonstrators protest inside Capitol building to oppose 

HB 531 on 8 March, 2021 in Atlanta(Getty Images)

Coca-Cola and Home Depot, two major corporations based in Georgia, have come out to oppose a new Republican proposal to enact restrictions on voting access in the key swing state.

Republican lawmakers advanced a bill last week in the state Senate that would repeal no-excuse absentee voting, and in the House that would limit the hours for early voting and restrict ballot drop boxes.

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce issued a statement on Friday, saying that the right to vote is one of the most sacred rights of a US citizen. “By upholding the American ideal of free and fair elections, we demonstrate our commitment to protect the votes and rights of all Georgians and the growth of free enterprise. In 2020, Georgia voting laws were in line with 33 other states for absentee, early, and day-of voting,” it added.

Representatives from Coca-Cola and Home Depot told The Washington Post that the companies are aligned with the Chamber’s statement. Coca-Cola separately told CNN that voting is “a foundational right” in the US and that the company will “continue to work to advance voting rights and access.”

The voting restriction bills come after a violent mob stormed the US Capitol on 6 January following former president Donald Trump’s false claims of voter fraud. Republicans claim changes to voting are required for “election integrity.”

Civil rights groups claim Black voters — who make up 30 per cent of the state’s electorate — would be disproportionately affected by the proposed changes. Black voters and voters of colour were crucial in helping president Joe Biden win the November election and two Democratic senators in a January run-off in Georgia.

The organisations say the legislation will possibly curb turnout from Democratic Black voters.

Read more:


Tape of Trump and Georgia officials ‘was found in trash of investigator’s laptop’


Two arrested for attacking Capitol officer with bear spray hours before his death


Biden mulls first tax hike since 1993 to pay for economic stimulus

The bills HB 531 and SB 241 are part of nationwide efforts by Republicans to restrict voting.

Stacey Abrams, a Democratic power broker in Georgia, also termed the new bills “racist.”

Voting rights groups have been putting pressure on large Georgia corporations, like Coca-Cola, to speak out against the proposed voting restrictions. They put up billboards and took out full-page ads to urge companies to “stand up for Georgia.”

Opioid overdoses in the US are surging, and it's hitting the people most vulnerable to the pandemic


Sarah Al-Arshani
Mon, March 15, 2021

This illustration image shows tablets of opioid painkiller Oxycodon delivered on medical prescription taken on September 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images


Opioid overdoses have surged throughout the pandemic, reaching a record last year.


The rise significantly impacted communities already vulnerable to the pandemic.


Latino and Black communities across the US are recording higher rises in overdose deaths.


Opioid overdoses are surging, and those being hit the most are communities already vulnerable to the pandemic.

Overdose fatalities hit a record high of more than 81,000 deaths during the 12-month period ending May 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

However, as the pandemic goes on, Black and Latino communities across the US are feeling the brunt of it.

NBC News reported that Latinos who have been already disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 are having a higher overdose rate in many states.

Orlando Colón, 55, who directs Casa Esperanza's residential recovery program for men, a Boston-based behavioral health facility, told NBC News that he's seeing double the usual demand during the pandemic.

"Unfortunately, we are now full. When one of the 50 beds we have is emptied, we call the next one on the list," he told the outlet, adding that those who can't get into treatment usually end up in shelters or homeless, where they most likely continue using drugs.

In Maryland, the Opioid Operational Command Center reported that from January to September 2020, opioid deaths increased by 27.3% for Latinos compared to a rise of 16% among non-Hispanic whites.

NPR reported growing research also shows that Black communities are dealing with higher overdose rates.

A peer-reviewed study in the Journal of the American Medical Association published in January found after analyzing drug overdose data in Philadelphia, overdose deaths rose by more than 50% for Black residents while remaining relatively flat for whites.

Researchers across other states are seeing similar patterns, NPR reported.

"COVID really just acted as salt in the wounds of health and social inequities, perpetuated by structural racism both in Philadelphia and across the country," Utsha Khatri, a researcher on the Philadelphia study. told NPR.

Mega-iceberg A74: German ship squeezes through narrow ice channel

Jonathan Amos - BBC Science Correspondent
Tue, March 16, 2021

A weekend satellite image with a zoom-in on the Polarstern

The German Research Vessel Polarstern has made a remarkable circumnavigation of Antarctica's latest mega-iceberg.

The ship sailed a complete circuit of the 1,290-sq-km (500 sq miles) frozen block, known as A74, at the weekend.

To do so, RV Polarstern had to navigate the very narrow channel that separates A74 from the Brunt Ice Shelf - the frozen floating platform from which the berg broke two weeks ago.


The EU's Sentinel-2 satellite managed to image the ship in the process.


Close-up view of crack that made mega-iceberg


Big iceberg breaks from Antarctica near UK base

RV Polarstern at the eastern edge of A74 at the weekend

It was an opportunity too good to miss for the research icebreaker, which is operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) in Bremerhaven.

The vessel was already working nearby on a pre-planned expedition, so it was easy enough to divert and conduct some serendipitous science.

To put A74 in context, it covers an area approaching that of Greater London in the UK. A similarly sized chunk of ice has not broken away from this particular sector of Antarctica since 1971.

It means the uncovered seafloor and the water column above it are now being exposed to the influence of sunlight, wind and temperature fluctuations in a way they haven't been for 50 years.

Polarstern sailed behind A74 through a channel in the ice that in places was less than 500m wide, in a bid to sample conditions before changes inevitably set in.

There are locations where the gap is still less than 500m

"I would want photos and video of the seafloor to see what was living there," commented Dr Huw Griffiths from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

"The iceberg isn't that wide so the distance under the ice shelf isn't that huge (about 30km from daylight maximum) but how much food gets there will depend on the currents.

"The geologists and glaciologists would want sediment cores to look at the history of the area. The oceanographers are bound to want current readings and water samples," he told BBC News.

Dr Griffiths recently published research detailing the extraordinary ability of seafloor organisms to flourish under ice cover some 250km from the open ocean.
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Ordinarily, it might have fallen to BAS scientists to conduct the sampling undertaken by AWI at the weekend, given that the British have a base just 23km from the fracture zone that created A74. But this research station, known as Halley, is currently closed.

In part, that's because of Covid; very little Antarctic science is being practised at present. But it's also because BAS has been waiting to see how the Brunt Ice Shelf would behave when bergs started to calve from the platform. A74 is one of two major breakaways that had been forecast. The second, if it happens, would be closer still to Halley.

The image at the top of this page was acquired by the Sentinel-2 satellite on Sunday and shows (inset) the position of the RV Polarstern at the time of the overflight. The picture was prepared by Dr Bert Wouters from Utrecht University and the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

The ship is now back in the main part of the Weddell Sea.

AWI said it would release details of the Polarstern's observations as the week progressed. Keep an eye on the institute's German and English twitter accounts, and also on its website.

Satellite tracking by Big Ocean Data records Polarstern's circumnavigation
Where is this in Antarctica?

A74 broke away from the Brunt Ice Shelf, which is the floating protrusion of glaciers that have flowed off the land into the Weddell Sea. On a map, the Weddell Sea is that sector of Antarctica directly to the south of the Atlantic Ocean. The Brunt is on the eastern side of the sea. Like all ice shelves, it will periodically calve icebergs.
Just how big is the new berg?

Satellite measurement puts it at around 1,290 sq km. Greater London is roughly 1,500 sq km; the Welsh county of Monmouthshire is about 1,300 sq km. That's big by any measure, although not as large as the monster A68 berg which calved in July 2017 from the Larsen C Ice Shelf on the western side of the Weddell Sea. That was originally some 5,800 sq km but has since shattered into many small pieces.

Map of Antarctic region