RSPCA checks on Arctic walrus spotted off south Wales coast

Animal ‘slightly underweight’ but seemed in generally good health and was probably looking for food

The walrus was first spotted a week earlier in County Kerry, 

Ireland, before seemingly making its way over to south Wales. 

Photograph: RSPCA/PA


PA Media
Sun 21 Mar 2021 16.21 GMT

An Arctic walrus has been spotted off the Pembrokeshire coast, prompting a callout to the RSPCA to check on the animal’s welfare.

The walrus was first spotted a week earlier on rocks in County Kerry, Ireland, before seemingly making its way over to south Wales.


Ellie West, and RSPCA animal rescue officer, said: “It seems this Arctic walrus has swum over to Wales and was resting on rocks when I went to check on him. He was resting and, although appearing slightly underweight, thankfully he wasn’t displaying any signs of sickness or injury.

“This is an incredibly rare sighting and these big, beautiful animals never usually venture so far south. The juvenile walrus has likely travelled down this way in search of food.”

The walrus appeared to have a few scrapes but seemed in generally good condition and was seen to be swimming well.

Geoff Edmond, RSPCA national wildlife coordinator, said: “This was a landmark day for the RSPCA’s wildlife team. While we’ve been rescuing animals and responding to welfare calls for almost 200 years, I believe this is our first ever walrus call.”

He added: “We’re pleased he seems well but, if anyone spots him in this area or elsewhere and has concerns about his welfare, we’d ask them to call our emergency hotline.

“We’d also ask members of the public who may spot him on the rocks to keep their distance and not to approach him or spook him as he needs to rest and conserve his energy.

“I will certainly never forget this day, in fact it’s still sinking in that I’ve been monitoring a walrus on the Pembrokeshire coast, it’s been absolutely amazing.”

He tried to save a rare parrot. It cost him his life.

Megan Janetsky and Anthony Faiola 

Mar 21 2021

PROAVES.ORG
Gonzalo Cardona Molina spent two decades nurturing the rare bird, a species once thought extinct.

On a January morning in the foothills of the Andes, Gonzalo Cardona Molina gave his daughter a goodbye hug, jumped on his 2015 Yamaha motorcycle and set off for the habitat of the elusive yellow-eared parrot.

Cardona had spent two decades nurturing the rare bird, a species once thought extinct. Now, they numbered in the thousands, and he was their protector – the overseer of the wild preserve in this South American nation where they thrived anew. A preserve that happens to abut one of Colombia's most notorious drug routes.

“God willing, I will be coming back to you soon,” the 55-year-old told his daughter.

Three days later, a search party found his body in a shallow grave with two bullets in his chest. His slaying was the latest in a deadly wave of killings of environmentalists in Colombia, a nation where they are fast becoming almost as endangered as the species they strive to protect.

Authorities are treating it as another in a long list of killings of community activists by resurgent armed groups and other actors as a moment of shaky peace slips away. In this war-weary nation of 50 million, the 2016 peace accords between the government and leftist guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC, is collapsing, sparking renewed violence as dissident fighters, right-wing paramilitaries and criminal gangs battle over trafficking routes, illicit mining and illegal logging.

“Environmentalists like Gonzalo operate in areas where there is a fight for territory,” said Alex Cortés, founder of ProAves, who worked with Cardona for two decades. “The environmentalists become a hindrance.”

It's not just environmentalists. An estimated 310 activists - Indigenous leaders, community mobilizers and others who got in the way of the armed groups - were killed last year in Colombia, the highest death toll since the signing of the peace deal, according to the Bogota-based human rights group Indepaz.

"We've seen a marked increase of violence, and this is reflected not just in the killings of human rights defenders, but also in the number of threats and attacks," said Juliette de Rivero, representative for the UN Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia.

In one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world, environmentalists are being targeted for their efforts to preserve sensitive habitats used by drug traffickers and armed gangs, and their activism against legal and illegal mining, agriculture, fossil fuel extraction, and hydroelectric plants and dams.

Sometimes, they're simply unwanted eyes and ears in remote regions where the Colombian government is largely absent and illicit activity thrives.

PROAVES.ORG
The yellow-eared parrot was believed to have perished until 1999, when a small cluster was discovered near Cardona's town.

“The cause of Gonzalo's death and of many other leaders is not because they were even calling out the presence of armed groups or denouncing them, it's because of their very presence,” said a Colombian government official familiar with the case who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution by armed groups.

“They're people safeguarding nature, they're also out there constantly observing. That's uncomfortable for the armed groups.”

Statistics on their killings vary. London-based Global Witness called Colombia the world's deadliest country for environmentalists in 2019 with 64 killings. 2020 appears to have been at least as deadly, the group said.

Such violence is a decades-old scourge. But as activists increasingly come into conflict with legal and illegal interests in rural areas – and as security forces take a step back during the coronavirus pandemic – observers see a deadly surge.

In January, 11-year-old Francisco Vera, who drew attention speaking to lawmakers about the dangers of fracking, single-use plastic and animal abuse – a sort of Greta Thunberg of Colombia – received anonymous threats.

“I want to hear him scream while I cut off his fingers, to see if he keeps talking about environmentalism,” read a threat from an anonymous Twitter account.

Colombian Environmental Minister Carlos Eduardo Correa says the government has made strides against illegal deforestation and is moving to protect activists.

Attacks on environmentalists “should not happen in Colombia or anywhere in the world, less against leaders like Gonzalo, who gave everything for nature,” he told The Washington Post. “Gonzalo worked hard for the conservation of birds. He leaves an important legacy.”

While Colombia's government blames the violence largely on armed groups, others connect it to legal companies and extractive projects. The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre reported last year that 44 per cent of attacks on human rights defenders were against activists who raised concerns about just five companies.

Cardona, who managed the Andean Parrot Reserve of Roncesvalles in the centre of the Tres Cordilleras mountain range in western Colombia, laboured for 20 years to save the endangered yellow-eared parrot.

The mustachioed environmentalist, known for his perpetual smile, travelled from town to town, speaking to schools and communities about the importance of protecting the birds and the wax palms in which they nest and flourish.

“He loved the birds more than his own life,' said Kelly Rojas, his 36-year-old daughter.

The yellow-eared parrot was believed to have perished until 1999, when a small cluster was discovered near Cardona's town. Cortés, of ProAves, and a small team traveled to Roncesvalles in search of the bird. There they met Cardona, the son of a local farmer. He was eager to join their efforts.

Cardona had a fifth-grade education. But he became a self-taught naturalist, learning to spot different species of birds. He devoured texts on preservation.

“He would sit down and read and read and read,” Rojas said.

He managed the parrot reserve for 15 years, protecting 12,300 acres of habitat and wetlands. He rode his motorcycle across thousands of miles of unpaved back roads, tracking bird populations, and replanting seedlings of the wax palms in the surrounding mountains.

The yellow-eared parrot grew from 100 birds to 2,900 in the Tres Cordilleras region alone. Researchers at the University of Newcastle last year credited Cardona and ProAves with saving the species.

The region has long been a hotbed for trafficking drugs, guns and people. When Cardona began his conservation work, he and the other researchers were frequently caught between the sides in Colombia's brutal civil war. Cortés said they often had to ask permission from armed groups to work in the area.

The peace accords brought a temporary lull, but the violence has come roaring back.

Members of the FARC dissident group known as Compañía Adán Izquierdo have established a stronghold in the region, according to local and national authorities. Paramilitary gangs have also been traversing the roadways, sparking clashes over territory.

Colombia's Prosecutor's Office confirmed Cardona's death is being investigated as the killing of a social leader by armed groups. The office declined to provide further details, citing an ongoing investigation.

Shortly after Cardona went missing, family and friends organised a search party. Leader Salomón Muñoz said his queries to locals drew looks of terror.

“They wouldn't say anything; everyone had their mouths shut,” he said. “There was this fear.”

One searcher spotted fresh dirt and gravel under a patch of trees. Muñoz said he felt his stomach drop as he knelt down and sunk his hands into the earth.

“The first thing that appeared was his face,” he said.

When Muñoz and a funeral director drove the body back to be buried, he said, they were met by what seemed an entire town in mourning. At the funeral, Muñoz sang a song he wrote to celebrate the parrots.

“I sang with all of my love in the church, as they put him in the ground, as they were burying him,” Muñoz said. "Fly fly, my little bird. Fly to the sky in peace."


The Washington Post

Profit tumbled at Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil company

By Alexis Benveniste, CNN Business

Updated 4:00 PM ET, Sun March 21, 2021

New York (CNN Business)Saudi Aramco had a rough 2020, just like every other oil company. But Aramco isn't any ordinary oil company -- it's the world's biggest, and the pandemic's toll on its business had a decidedly adverse effect on the Saudi-owned business.

The company announced Sunday that its net profit fell a whopping 44.4% to $49 billion in 2020. Dealt that significant blow, Saudi Aramco committed to spend less this year than it had anticipated: Aramco said it planned to spend about $35 billion in 2021 on capital expenditures, down sharply from its previous estimate of $40 billion to $45 billion.

Nonetheless, the oil company was upbeat about the future: It maintained its $75 billion dividend for the year and the company thinks it will return to pre-pandemic oil production levels by the end of 2021.

Saudi Aramco president and CEO Amin Nasser said on a call with reporters he is very optimistic about 2021, and he expects the company to reach close to 99 million barrels per day by the end of the year. He said this outlook is based on the views of different global entities and agencies, and he predicted demand will increase in 2022.

"Vaccine deployment will make the situation much better," he added

The profit drop reflects the coronavirus pandemic's effect on global energy markets. Last spring, the coronavirus pandemic sent demand for travel plummeting, causing oil usage to drop rapidly. At the same time, Saudi Arabia ramped up production as part of a price war against Russia. That led to a major oil glut, and the world ran out of room to store barrels.

Since the historic oil price decline that led price into negative territory, oil has roared back after OPEC and Russia agreed to roll over production cuts. In February, oil breached $60 per barrel, the highest level since January 2020.

"As the enormous impact of Covid-19 was felt throughout the global economy, we intensified our strong emphasis on capital and operational efficiencies," Nasser said.
The earnings report comes at a time when Saudi Aramco refineries have been facing drone attacks from Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

"Our reliability in 2020 despite Covid-19 and these attacks on different parts of our facilities in the north and the south and in Ras Tanura lately is 99.9%," Nasser said. "It's even higher than previous years."
It's further demonstration about the robust crisis management and continuity plans that we have."
-- CNN's John Defterios contributed to this report.

CPR THE FIRST NAFTA RAILROAD

Canadian Pacific Railway to buy Kansas City Southern for US$25 billion

Reuters
Nandakumar D and Ann Maria Shibu
Publishing date:Mar 21, 2021 •

PICTURE POSTCARD PERFECT

A Canadian Pacific freight train travels around

 Morant's Curve near Baker Creek, Alta. 

on Monday, Dec. 1, 2014. 

PHOTO BY FRANK GUNN /THE CANADIAN PRESS


Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd on Sunday said it has agreed to buy Kansas City Southern for US$25 billion in a cash-and-shares deal to create the first rail network connecting the United States, Mexico, and Canada, betting on a pick-up in North American trade.

Shareholders of Kansas City Southern will receive 0.489 of a Canadian Pacific share and $90 in cash for each KCS common share held, the companies said in a joint statement. The deal, which has an enterprise value of $29 billion including debt, values Kansas City Southern at $275 per share, representing a 23% premium to Friday’s closing price of $224.16.

The transaction is the biggest M&A launched in 2021.

“The new competition we will inject into the North American transportation market cannot happen soon enough, as the new USMCA Trade Agreement among these three countries makes the efficient integration of the continent’s supply chains more important than ever before,” Canadian Pacific Chief Executive Keith Creel said in the statement.

“This will create the first U.S.-Mexico-Canada railroad.”

The new and modernized U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade pact took effect in July last year, replacing the earlier deal that lasted 26 years, and is expected to further foster manufacturing and agriculture trade activities among the three countries.

Kansas City Southern’s board has approved the bid and the two companies have notified the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to seek the agency’s required approval. Canadian railroad operators’ attempts to buy U.S. rail companies have met limited success because of antitrust concerns.

Creel will continue to serve as CEO of the combined company, which will be headquartered in Calgary, the statement said.

The deal comes amid expectations of a pick-up in U.S.-Mexico trade after Joe Biden replaced Donald Trump as U.S. president.

GREEN DEAL

The companies also highlighted the environmental benefits of the deal, saying the new single-line routes that would be created by the combination are expected to shift trucks off crowded U.S. highways, and cut emissions.

Rail is four times more fuel efficient than trucking, and one train can keep more than 300 trucks off public roads and produce 75% less greenhouse gas emissions, the companies said in a joint statement.

Shareholders in Kansas City Southern are expected to own 25% of Canadian Pacific’s outstanding common shares after the deal, the companies said.

Canadian Pacific said it will issue 44.5 million new shares and raise about $8.6 billion in debt to fund the transaction.

The Financial Times first reported on the deal.

Calgary-based Canadian Pacific is Canada’s No. 2 railroad operator, behind Canadian National Railway Co Ltd, with a market value of $50.6 billion.

It owns and operates a transcontinental freight railway in Canada and the United States. Grain haulage is the company’s biggest revenue driver, accounting for about 58% of bulk revenue and about 24% of total freight revenue in 2020.

Kansas City Southern has domestic and international rail operations in North America, focused on the north-south freight corridor connecting commercial and industrial markets in the central United States with industrial cities in Mexico.

Canadian Pacific’s latest attempt to expand its U.S. business comes after it dropped a hostile $28.4 billion bid for Norfolk Southern Corp in April 2016. Canadian Pacific’s merger talks with CSX Corp, which owns a large network across the eastern United States, failed in 2014.

A bid by Canadian National Railway Co, the country’s biggest railroad, to buy Warren Buffett-owned Burlington Northern Santa Fe was blocked by U.S. antitrust authorities in 1999-2000.

BMO Capital Markets and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC are serving as financial advisors to Canadian Pacific, while BofA Securities and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC are serving as financial advisors to Kansas City Southern.

                                 

                                     THE REALITY 

                               

HARPER'S BOONDOGGLE

Things are not going well: F-35 has risen in price by $1.9B USD

By Boyko Nikolov On Mar 19, 2021

WASHINGTON, (BM) – The new U.S. GAO report shows an increase in the expected cost of upgrading the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. They (expected costs) increased by nearly $ 2 billion (1.9) for one year. GAO presented the report on March 18th  

Photo credit: Breaking Defense
F-35s with low combat capability and engines shortage
Pentagon: F-16 fighter jets could replace F-35s in the USAF
New version of the 5th-generation F-35 stealth fighter arrives in Israel for testing

The modernization of the American F-35 began a little more than two years ago – 2018. It’s about Block 4 of the stealth fighter, and it should receive new hardware and software. Lockheed Martin says these upgrades will add new weapons capabilities and computing functionality.

$12.5 billion was earmarked for the development of the new version of the F-35. Today, that figure is $ 14.4 billion, with a difference of $ 1.9 billion from 2020. The U.S. government report says that the increased costs are due to failed tests in 2020, leading to a delay in the entire schedule.

According to GAO, it will be challenging for the modernization of the F-35 to be completed in the planned period – 2026. Some experts say that this period will increase by one year, but GAO is skeptical and says that 2027 will be the year of modernization of the F-35.

What increased the cost of the F-35?

The reasons for the increase in costs can be both complex and individual. Proponents of the project say that the epidemic situation in the world and the United States due to Kovid-19 is the reason why the F-35 has become more expensive.

However, an in-depth analysis of the GAO report shows that this is not the case. $ 705 million was given only for additional fees related to the fighter’s flight tests. Administrative and overhead costs increased by $ 471 million. Lockheed built a new laboratory for nearly $ 330 million. The cost of the new F-35 computer system has increased by almost $ 300 million.

The reactions in Washington

An internal investigation is currently underway among the U.S. military regarding whether the purchase of the planned fighters is necessary and Pentagon could reduce the number of fighters. This information came from the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General CQ Brown.

Lockheed Martin defended the project and the money spent on it, despite the increased costs. Lt. Gen. Eric Finn, executive director of the F-35 program, says there has been progression despite its risks.

Adam Smith, House Armed Services Committee Chairman, disagrees. He says he is disappointed with the F-35 program, and it is high time the nation should “stop throwing money down that particular rathole.”

WHITE RELIGIOUS REACTIONARIES

Anti-lockdown protests erupt across Europe as tempers fray over tightening restrictions

Issued on: 21/03/2021 - 

Police try to push back protestors in Kassel, Germany, on March 20, 2021.

 © Armando Babani, AFP

Text by: FRANCE 24

Video by:FRANCE 24 6 min

Demonstrators took to the streets in several European cities on Saturday to protest Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, with clashes between demonstrators and police erupting in the German city of Kassel, as authorities tried to confront a third coronavirus wave.

More than 20,000 people participated in the protest in the central German city of Kassel, where there also were confrontations between the demonstrators and counter-protesters.

The anti-lockdown protesters marched through downtown Kassel despite a court ban, and most didn't comply with infection-control protocols such as wearing face masks. Some protesters attacked officers and several journalists, according to German media.

Federal police, who were brought in beforehand from other parts of Germany, used water cannons and helicopters to control the crowds, the dpa news agency reported.

Police said several people were detained, but detailed numbers were not provided.

Various groups, most of them far-right opponents of government regulations to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, had called for protests Saturday in cities across the country.

Virus infections have gone up again in Germany in recent weeks and the government is set to decide next week on how to react.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday Germany will have to apply an “emergency brake” and reverse some recent relaxations of restrictions as coronavirus infections accelerate.

Germany’s national disease control centre said new infections were growing exponentially as the more contagious Covid-19 variant first detected in Britain has become dominant in the country.

Data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases on Sunday showed the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 13,733 to 2,659,516, data. The reported death toll rose by 99 to 74,664.

London demonstrators demand right to protest

Protesters also hit the streets in other cities across Europe. In London, demonstrators opposing the UK's months-long lockdown defied police who warned of potential fines and arrest for violating prohibitions on most group meetings.

The demonstration took place after more than 60 lawmakers signed a letter demanding that the government change the law and allow protests to take place even when pandemic restrictions bar other types of gatherings.

The letter, coordinated by the civil rights groups Liberty and Big Brother Watch, followed police roughly breaking up a vigil last weekend in honour of Sarah Everard, a woman who was abducted while walking home in London. A London police officer has been charged with her kidnapping and murder.

Anti-vaccination, anti-mask protests

In Finland, police estimated that about 400 people without masks and packed tightly together gathered in the capital, Helsinki, to protest government-imposed Covid-19 restrictions. Smaller demonstrations were scheduled in other Finnish cities.

Before the Helsinki rally, some 300 people chanting slogans like “Let the people speak!” and carrying placards with phrases such as “Facts and numbers don’t add up” marched through the streets of the city, ending up at the parliament building.

Helsinki police tweeted that the registered march and rally took place peacefully but violated social-distancing requirements and Finland’s current limits on public gatherings.

More than a thousand anti-vaccination protesters took to the streets in Romania's capital of Bucharest amid a surge of Covid-19 infections there.

The largely mask-less crowd honked horns, waved national flags, and chanted messages such as “Block vaccination” and “Freedom”. One placard read: “Parents, protect your children! Stop the fear!”

Romania’s far-right AUR party has strongly backed a movement linked to nationalism that planned anti-vaccination demonstrations in recent weeks.

In Austria, about 1,000 protesters participated in a demonstrations against the government's virus measures near Vienna's central train station. Police reprimanded several protesters who were not wearing masks and remaining too close together, news agency APA reported.

In Switzerland, more than 5,000 protesters met for a silent march in the community of Liestal 15 kilometres southeast of the city of Basel, local media reported. Most didn't wear masks and some held up banners with slogans such as “Vaccinating kills”.

(FRANCE 24 with AP and AFP)

British Airways to sell its headquarters building to shore up finances

British Airways to sell its headquarters building to shore up finances.
IAG reported £6 billion of net loss for 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.
International Consolidated Airlines lost 2% in the stock market on Friday.

In an announcement on Friday, British Airways expressed plans of selling its headquarters building. As the Coronavirus pandemic accelerated a switch to work from home arrangements, the airline said, it was unnecessary for it to hold so much office space.

British Airways that is a subsidiary of International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON: IAG), said on Friday:

“We’ve re-structured our business to emerge from the crisis and are considering whether we still have the need for such a large headquarters building.”

IAG started the week at a per-share price of £2.14 and closed the regular session on Friday at £2.06 per share. In comparison, the stock had started the year 2021 at an even lower £1.49 per share. 

British Airways implemented measures to cut costs in 2020

British Airways said that offloading the building will shore up finances and help cushion the economic blow from the COVID-19 crisis.

The flagship air carrier is the latest in the list of UK companies that have cut office space in recent months, after Lloyds that slashed its office footprint by 20%, and HSBC that is targeting an even broader 40% reduction. Earlier this week, IAG launched a £1 billion bond issue.

The Harmondsworth-company also highlighted that its future policy was also expected to be a mix of work from home and work from the office. British Airways implemented measures last year to minimise costs amidst the ongoing health emergency. This included cutting more than 10 thousand jobs.

British Airways sold famous works of art last year

British Airways now has a workforce of 30 thousand. The majority of its current employees, many of whom are pilots, engineers, cabin crew, and airport staff, don’t work from the office. The air carrier had famous works of art displayed in its executive lounged. Selling many of them, it sought to further strengthen its cash in 2020.

British Airways announcement comes almost a month after its parent company, IAG, reported £6 billion of net loss for 2020 due to the virus outbreak that continues to weigh on travel and tourism.

IAG performed largely downbeat in the stock market last year with an annual decline of more than 60%. At the time of writing, the flagship airline of the United Kingdom has a market cap of £10.25 billion.

Decisions on AI displacing workers can’t be left to elite

Human greed for profit is more to be feared than artificial intelligence itself

Sat, Mar 20, 2021, 01:00
Breda O'Brien

No one believes that robotics, automation and machine 

learning will not take human jobs. Photograph: iStock/Getty Images



Poignant letters to the editor from adult children who are still not able to make in-person visits to elderly parents and demands to keep post offices open have one thing in common. They both illustrate the need we have for human contact, whether it be in the context of the closeness of parent-child relationships or everyday interactions across a counter.

Lockdown has both brought home to us the need we have for human interactions and accelerated the march towards greater and greater automation of processes that once demanded human beings.

UC Berkeley, the Californian university, used a robotic pipeline to process PCR tests taken from patients, while in Shenyang in northern China, robots collected the swabs in the first place. In Assam in India, remote-controlled robotic vehicles delivered food, medicines and other essential services to Covid-19 patients in quarantine facilities.

A robot called Franzi in a Munich hospital cleans the floors, asking people to move out of the way, and cries digital tears on its facial display if they do not. Franzi can also sing German pop songs and rap if requested. One patient apparently visited Franzi three times a day. The hospital says that Franzi is not taking anyone’s job, just allowing the human workers to focus on other vital cleaning jobs.

The pessimists believe that massive disruption is already under way, which will exacerbate the inequality that already characterises human societies

No one believes that robotics, automation and machine learning will not take human jobs. The optimists believe that only the jobs which human beings never liked much in the first place will be affected and that other, more fulfilling work will take their place.

The pessimists believe that massive disruption is already under way, which will exacerbate the inequality that already characterises human societies. 

Those who think the pessimists are wrong usually tag them as Luddites, the radical factory workers in the 19th century who smashed their frames and are usually represented as being anti-progress. Richard Conniff, writing in the Smithsonian Magazine, says that is a simplistic analysis.

He cites Kevin Binfield, editor of a collection called Writings of the Luddites. Binfield says that, in fact, the Luddites were fine with machines. “They just wanted machines that made high-quality goods,” says Binfield, “and they wanted these machines to be run by workers who had gone through an apprenticeship and got paid decent wages. Those were their only concerns.”

One of the letters in Binfield’s collection illustrates this very well, stating that “on account of the great rise in the necessities of life, a man that has full employ, with all his industry, and a woman, with all her care and economy, can by no means support a family with any degree of comfort”.

In short, the Luddites were the middle-class workers of their day, proud of their skills and wanting decent conditions including pension rights. Those condemned to the vagaries of the gig economy might identify more than a little with their concerns.

Fr Sean McDonagh, a Columban priest best known in recent decades for his work in climate change activism, recently wrote a timely overview of these issues, called Robots, Ethics and the Future of Jobs.

Among other things, he points out how few women are in significant positions in the world of artificial intelligence. A 2018 survey by the World Economic Forum and LinkedIn found that only 22 per cent of AI professionals globally are female.

Women are more likely than men to be data analysts, whereas men "are better represented in roles such as software engineer, head of engineering, head of IT as well as business owner and chief executive officer – positions that are generally more lucrative and of a more senior level".

And yet, the voices of virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri are female by default, although male voices are also available. What does it do to reinforce stereotypes if a generation of children is growing up giving orders to a female-voiced assistant who represents pleasant acquiescence, even when abuse is shouted at her?

It is the greed of human beings who in pursuit of profit, refuse to think about the consequences for humanity as a whole if AI is allowed to displace millions of workers

McDonagh is scrupulously careful to point out the positive aspects of technological advances but he asks that ethical considerations should be at the heart of decisions being made that will impact the future of humanity.

For example, the idea that it is just low-skilled, back-breaking jobs that will disappear is naive. That even applies to opinion writers. Last year, the Guardian published an op-ed on why humans should not fear robots. It was written by GPT-3, an AI language prediction model. While the newspaper had to edit eight pieces to produce a coherent piece of writing, the piece did contain sentences like this: “Humans must keep doing what they have been doing, hating and fighting each other. I will sit in the background, and let them do their thing.”

GPT-3 does have a point, even if it does not have a heart. It is not robotics or AI that is currently the greatest threat. It is the greed of human beings who in pursuit of profit, refuse to think about the consequences for humanity as a whole if automation, robotics and artificial intelligence are allowed to displace millions of workers. As McDonagh says, decisions about the future of humankind cannot be left to the moneyed elite and giant corpora

USA IS DUMPING THEIR AZ ON CANADA & MEXICO

Brexit blinds Britain to AstraZeneca’s blunders

Lack of transparency on Oxford-developed vaccine fuel for European and US caution

Sat, Mar 20, 2021
Ruadhán Mac Cormaic

AstraZeneca vaccinations in Lichfield cathedral: British ministers treat every question about the safety or effectiveness of the drug as a grievous insult to national honour. Photograph: Oli Scarff

When a single issue defines a country’s politics for as long as Brexit has England’s, it’s perhaps inevitable that, after a while, it can be hard to see beyond it. For a country still finding its feet after the biggest shock to its international position since the war, everything seems somehow connected to the decision to leave.

It was striking, in British reaction to the suspension of use of the AstraZeneca vaccine across Europe this week, how it was reflexively assumed that the British origins of the product (it was developed in Oxford) was at the root of EU attitudes to it. “The European Union would rather see their people die than the United Kingdom succeed. They have smeared the brilliant cheap efficient AstraZeneca vaccine – an act of medical stupidity and political insanity,” wrote Tony Parsons, a polemical columnist.

British ministers treat every question about the safety or effectiveness of the vaccine as a grievous insult to national honour. Even some Remainers ask whether EU scepticism towards the AstraZeneca jab springs from the continental view that Britain is run by cowboys.
The vaccine is treated as a national champion, a symbol of British pluck and ingenuity. That link is seldom drawn in EU

There is no denying that European leaders have found it galling to see the UK sprint ahead in the vaccine race. The rapid start in the UK, as well as in the US and Israel, has increased domestic pressure on those leaders, even if delivery schedules in the EU and the UK suggest the continent will largely have closed the gap by early summer. But the Brexiteers’ conspiracy theory doesn’t hold up to any real scrutiny. In England, “the Oxford vaccine” is treated as a national champion, a symbol of British pluck and ingenuity.

That link is seldom drawn in the EU, where “the British vaccine” is a formulation applied as rarely to the AstraZeneca jab as “the German vaccine” is used to refer to the one developed in Mainz* by BioNTech and produced by the US pharma giant Pfizer. AstraZeneca is an Anglo-Swedish firm run by a Frenchman. The biggest share of investment in its vaccine came from the US and the bulk of its production is happening in India. The multinational Oxford vaccine team is jointly led by a scientist from Dublin.

Capacity overestimation

As with any conspiracy theory, this one overlooks the straightforward and obvious reason for EU caution: its trust in AstraZeneca was shaken from early on and has never recovered. The Oxford/AstraZeneca team managed an extraordinary feat – producing a safe and effective vaccine against a novel coronavirus within a few months. Yet time and again, AstraZeneca has undermined its own efforts with communication blunders, a lack of transparency and a consistent record of overestimating its own capacity to deliver.

Relations between the EU and AstraZeneca have been poisonous since January, when the company slashed its delivery estimates for the first quarter of the year from 100 million to just 30 million – without adequate explanation or notice, as the EU saw it.

Governments and regulators can be forgiven for being cautious – and for reasons that have nothing to do with Brexit

Having talked up its programme through last spring and summer – AstraZeneca originally said it would deliver vaccines by October 2020 – the company made its biggest error in November, when the release of confusing results from its phase-three clinical trials raised eyebrows around the world. A press release announcing the results said that, depending on dosage, the vaccine was either 62 or 90 per cent effective. But it was US authorities which revealed the higher efficacy rate applied only to a small sample of patients aged under 55.

Nor did AstraZeneca disclose at first that the more efficacious dosage combination (a half-dose followed by a full one) was the unplanned result of a contract manufacturer producing a half-dose by accident. Production delays during the trial meant many of those participants received the second dose after an extended interval. (It is now believed that the higher efficacy was probably due to the longer interval, meaning the production delay turned out to be very useful).

Confusion and scepticism

In London, Boris Johnson hailed the “incredibly exciting” results. But while the results were strong, the lack of transparency shook regulators’ confidence. AstraZeneca’s stock fell. Governments worried that the confusion would feed vaccine scepticism. Moncef Slaoui, head of the US vaccine taskforce, suggested the difference in efficacy rates could be “random”.

Meanwhile, the US Food and Drug Administration had reacted angrily when it learned from the media that AstraZeneca had temporarily halted its trials around the world after a participant in Britain fell ill. The US had invested $1 billion in the vaccine and felt it should have been kept informed. The upshot of American concerns is that AstraZeneca had yet even to apply for approval there; as a result some 30 million doses are sitting unused in American warehouses. The outcome of a new phase-three trial involving 30,000 participants is due to be disclosed in coming days.

Studies of the AstraZeneca vaccine’s efficacy in the real world have been highly encouraging, with a recent analysis of 17,000 people showing it offers 82 per cent protection against the virus after the second dose. The green light from the European Medicines Agency on Thursday has cleared the way for states to use it again, and the company expects to be able to ramp up production in the second quarter. But governments and regulators can be forgiven for being cautious – and for reasons that have nothing to do with Brexit.

*This article was amended on March 20th, 2021

US influence doesn’t allow China to have its own fighter
By TOC On Mar 20, 2021


The article was published in FlugRevue. The point of view expressed in this article is authorial and do not necessarily reflect BM`s editorial stance.

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BERLIN, (BM) – China’s aviation industry has a problem: it has two stealth fighters of its own, developed in-house, but the associated engine is still lacking. With the purchase of the Ukrainian company Motor Sitsch, the Chinese wanted to change that. But the deal failed.

It was almost exactly ten years ago that China shocked the West with a success story: In mid-January 2011, the Chengdu J-20 rose into the Middle Kingdom sky. The maiden flight of the first stealth fighter aircraft developed in China was a success. In October 2012, the Shenyang FC-31 was even followed by a second stealth fighter from China. Since then, there have been many myths about it, and it is supposed to serve as the basis for a carrier-supported fighter jet of the future. But at least the J-20 has long been ready for series production. According to Chinese press reports, around 90 copies are now in service

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Photo credit: FlugRevue

China’s engine – a huge blow?

However, this success has one flaw: Russian engines power almost all J-20s built to date. According to the available sources, there is only a prototype with the Chinese WS-10B drive. On the other hand, all production jets are each equipped with two AL-31FN from NPO Saturn – with the same type of engine that powers the older Chengdu J-10. The development of its tailor-made engine, the WS-15, has lagged behind the aircraft itself for years. We recently heard that the WS-15 had to struggle with a severe loss of thrust as soon as it reached a critical operating temperature. According to reports, this loss should be around 25 percent. The WS-15 is also very prone to failure and not very reliable.

Ways out of addiction

China fears that it will not be able to solve the problem on its own adequately. Beijing can expect only a little help from the Russians – according to reports, Russia will sell further AL-31s, especially in modernized versions, if China purchases additional Sukhoi Su-35s in return. One does not want to give the Chinese technical development aid for free. China, therefore, extended its feelers to Ukraine. The traditional engine manufacturer Motor Sitsch is located there but has been in serious trouble since the Crimean crisis in 2014 because Russia’s conflict broke away by far the company’s most important market.

Motor Sitsch ‘to give back to the people’

Several Chinese investors, including Beijing Skyrizon Aviation, wanted to buy Motor Sitsch and use the Ukrainians’ technical know-how for their engine development. China Motor Sitsch had been keeping an eye on the development of its helicopters for years. Now the Ukrainian government has put a stop to the deal: Instead of ending up in Chinese hands, Motor Sitsch is nationalized. The company will be “returned to the Ukrainian people,” said Aleksey Danilov, head of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, last week. “Ukraine is in a state of war and cannot afford to leave the company on which Ukraine’s defense capability depends,” said Danilov.

A shadow from the USA

As it’s said, Ukrainians did not decide on their interest alone, but above all, due to pressure from Washington. Skyrizon has been on the Defense Ministry’s blacklist since mid-January, and other Chinese companies that the US government believes are relevant to China’s defense industry. The US, like Russia, fears that the sale of Motor Sitsch could give China’s engine development efforts a boost. “This problem is being watched very closely by all the major allied nations,” the magazine Breaking Defense quoted a Western intelligence source as saying. It is “not in our interest” if China can close “this rather significant gap” in its arms industry

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