Vast Fragments of an Alien World Could Be Buried Deep Within Earth Itself

PETER DOCKRILL
24 MARCH 2021


They are among the largest and strangest of all structures on Earth: huge, mysterious blobs of dense rock lurking deep within the lowermost parts of our planet's mantle.

There are two of these gigantic masses – called the large low-shear-velocity provinces (LLSVPs) – with one buried under Africa, the other below the Pacific Ocean.


These anomalies are so massive, they in turn breed their own disturbances, such as the large phenomenon currently evolving within and weakening Earth's magnetic field, known as the South Atlantic Anomaly.

As for how and why the LLSVPs came to exist like this within the mantle, scientists have lots of ideas, but little in the way of hard proof.

What is known, however, is that these giant blobs have been around for a very long time, with many thinking they could have been a part of Earth since before the giant impact that birthed the Moon – ancient traces of the collision between Earth and the hypothetical planet Theia.

Artist's impression of a planetary collision. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

According to that widely held argument, the Mars-sized Theia struck the very early Earth around 4.5 billion years ago, with a huge chunk of Theia and/or possibly Earth fragmenting off, and becoming the Moon we know today in orbit around Earth.

As for what happened to the rest of Theia, it's uncertain. Was it destroyed, or did it simply ricochet off into the eternity of space? We don't know.

Some researchers have suggested the cores of these two primordial planets may have fused into one, and that chemical exchanges wrought by this epic merger are what enabled life itself to thrive on the world that resulted.

Now, scientists have returned to these monumental questions with a new proposal, and it's an idea that reconciles the mysterious LLSVP blobs too, weaving them into the Earth/Theia hybrid hypothesis.

According to new modeling by researchers from Arizona State University (ASU), the LLSVPs may represent ancient fragments of Theia's iron-rich and highly dense mantle, which sank deep into Earth's own mantle when the two developing worlds came together, and has been buried there for billions of years.

"The Giant Impact hypothesis is one of the most examined models for the formation of Moon, but direct evidence indicating the existence of the impactor Theia remains elusive," the researchers, led by first author Qian Yuan, a PhD candidate studying mantle dynamics at ASU, explain in a summary of their findings presented last week at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.

"We demonstrate that Theia's mantle may be several percent intrinsically denser than Earth's mantle, which enables the Theia mantle materials to sink to the Earth's lowermost mantle and accumulate into thermochemical piles that may cause the seismically-observed LLSVPs."

While speculation has existed for years that the LLSVPs may be an alien souvenir implanted by Theia, the new research appears to be the most comprehensive formulation yet. The findings are currently under review, ahead of future publication in Geophysical Research Letters.

Beyond the mantle modeling, the results are also consistent with previous research suggesting that certain chemical signatures tied to the LLSVPs are at least as primitive as the Theia impact.


"Therefore, the primitive materials may [originate] from the LLSVPs, which is well explained if the LLSVPs preserve Theia mantle materials that are older than the Giant Impact," Yuan and his co-authors write.

We'll have to see how the rest of the scientific community respond to the team's findings, but for now at least, we've got another lead on just what these mysterious anomalies might be – and it's literally the most far-out explanation yet.

"This crazy idea is at least possible," Yuan told Science.

The findings were presented at the 52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, conducted as a virtual event last week.

Retail giant discloses data breach two months too late SPECIAL
By Tim Sandle

12 hours ago in Technology

British clothing giant FatFace has experienced a data breach after a hacker accessed its systems. It is likely that customer and employee information was taken by a malicious actor. The incident has been reported two months late.

The form of customer and employee information stollen extends to names, addresses, national insurance details, banking references, and the last four digits of credit cards and store cards, according to TechCrunch. The company initially discovered the breach on January 17, 2021. However, they only elected to notify customers and employees two months later. Their reason? The company claimed they were investigating the matter. This may have been the case, but under the U.K. data protection laws, a company must disclose a data breach within 72 hours of becoming aware of an incident
Additionally, FatFace requested the email it sent out be kept private and confidential. This did not last for long and the breach was made public after a former employee reported it.

In addition, FatFace has additionally paid a $2 million (about £1.5 million) ransom to the Conti ransomware gang, following a successful ransomware attack earlier this year.
Looking at the issue for Digital Journal is Anurag Kahol, CTO and Cofounder of Bitglass.
Kahol begins by looking at the reporting delay, noting: "It’s concerning that it took the company over two months to disclose this data breach. The personally identifiable information and financial details stolen in this incident put those affected at greater risk of financial fraud and identity theft. Organizations that suffer from a breach should take responsibility and disclose its full impact as soon as practicable."

Kahol goes on to look at the security weaknesses: "While maintaining compliance with privacy regulations should always be a top priority, this incident also highlights the inadequacy of reactive approaches to cybersecurity. To prevent unauthorized access, organizations need to adopt flexible security platforms that provide a wealth of capabilities which proactively detect and respond to threats as they arise. For example, implementing capabilities such as step-up multi-factor authentication, data loss prevention, and user and entity behavior analytics can give organizations much needed control over access to their data. In today's frenetic world, real-time protections are absolutely necessary.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/tech-and-science/technology/retail-giant-discloses-data-breach-two-months-too-late/article/587716#ixzz6qgC6B4TV

Pandemic delays gender parity by a generation: WEF
BY NINA LARSON (AFP) 3/30/2021


A range of studies have shown that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on women, who have lost jobs at a higher rate than men, and had to take on much more of the extra childcare burden when schools closed.The pandemic has rolled back years of progress towards equality between men and women, according to a report released Wednesday showing the crisis had added decades to the trajectory towards closing the gender gap.

The effects will be felt in the long-term, according to the World Economic Forum, which in its annual Global Gender Gap Report found that the goalposts for gender parity appeared to be moving further away.

The organisation, which usually gathers the global elite in the plush Swiss ski resort of Davos each year, had found in its previous report, published in December 2019 right before the pandemic hit, that gender parity across a range of areas would be reached within 99.5 years.

But this year's report shows the world is not on track to close the gender gap for another 135.6 years.

"Another generation of women will have to wait for gender parity," the WEF said in a statement.

The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracks disparities between the sexes in 156 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.

- Workplace equality in 267 years -

On the plus side, women appear to be gradually closing the gender gap in areas such as health and education.

But inequality in the workplace -- which has long appeared to be the stickiest area to fix -- is still not expected to be erased for another 267.6 years.

And the pandemic has not helped.

The WEF pointed to a study by the UN's International Labour Organization showing that women were more likely to lose their jobs in the crisis, in part because they are disproportionately represented in sectors directly disrupted by lockdowns.

Other surveys have shown that women were carrying a greater share of the burden of increased housework and childcare during lockdowns, contributing to higher stress and lower productivity levels.

Women were also being hired back at a slower rate than men as workplaces opened up again, according to LinkedIn data referenced in the report.

"The pandemic has fundamentally impacted gender equality in both the workplace and the home, rolling back years of progress," WEF managing director Saadia Zahidi said in the statement.

"If we want a dynamic future economy, it is vital for women to be represented in the jobs of tomorrow," she said, stressing that "this is the moment to embed gender parity by design into the recovery."

- Political gender gap growing -

It was in the political sphere that the march towards gender parity did the biggest about-face, with several large-population countries seeing the political gender gap widen, the WEF study found.

Women still hold just over a quarter of parliamentary seats worldwide, and only 22.6 percent of ministerial positions.

On its current trajectory, the political gender gap is not expected to close completely for another 145.5 years, the report found.

That marks a 50-percent hike from the estimated 95 years in the 2020 report, WEF pointed out.

Progress across the categories varies greatly in different countries and regions.

The report pointed out that while Western European countries could close their overall gender gap in 52.1 years, countries in the Middle East and North Africa will take nearly 142.4 years to do so.

Overall, the Nordic countries once again dominated the top of the table: the gap between men and women was narrowest in Iceland, for the 12th year running, followed by Finland and Norway.

New Zealand took fourth place, ahead of Sweden.








Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/pandemic-delays-gender-parity-by-a-generation-wef/article/587721#ixzz6qg8KUIHK

Australasian genetic influence spread wider in South America than previously thought

by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A team of researchers from Universidade de São Paulo, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul and Universitat Pompeu Fabra, has found evidence of a genetic Australasian influence in more parts of South America than just the Amazon. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their study of a genomic dataset from multiple South American populations across the continent.

Back in 2015, a team of researchers found what they described as an Australasian influence in native people living in the Amazon. They had found what they described as a Ypikuéra population signal—a genetic marker associated with early people living in Australasian—the region that is now South Asia, Australia and Melanesia. Since that time, researchers have developed theories to explain how such a signal could have been introduced into people living in South America, especially considering it has not been found in early people living in North America. Currently, most in the field believe that both North America and South America were populated by people migrating overland from Asia to Alaska and then traveling south. In this new effort, the researchers have found that the Y signal also appears in native people in South America in areas outside of the Amazon.

The work involved collecting blood samples from native people all across the mid-section of the South American continent and then conducting a genetic analysis of each. In all, they studied samples from 383 people which included 438,443 markers.

The researchers found the Y marker in native people living on the Brazilian plateau in the center of the country and also in those living in the western part of the county—and they also found the signal in the Chotuna people of Peru. The findings suggest migrations of people with the Y signal were far more widespread in South America than were thought. Their findings also suggest that two waves of such migrations occurred. This has led to scrutiny of previous theories regarding how such individuals arrived in South America and why the signal has not been found in early North American people. Some have suggested it is because those in North America were wiped out by European colonists. Others have suggested that it is more likely that closer study of North American native people will eventually find some with the Y signal. And finally, the hardest theory to swallow is the possibility that early people from Australasia somehow made their way directly to the shores of South America.

Explore further

Disproportionate extinction of South American mammals when Americas collided evident today

More information: Marcos Araújo Castro e Silva et al. Deep genetic affinity between coastal Pacific and Amazonian natives evidenced by Australasian ancestry, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2025739118

Sharp increase in destruction of virgin forest in 2020

BY KELLY MACNAMARA (AFP)

An area of pristine rainforest the size of the Netherlands was burned or hacked down last year, as the destruction of the planet's tropical forests accelerated despite a global economic slowdown, according to research Wednesday.

The worst losses were in Brazil, three times higher than the next highest country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a report from Global Forest Watch based on satellite data.

Across the tropics, the study registered the destruction in 2020 of 4.2 million hectares (10.4 million acres) of primary forest -- 12 percent higher than the year before.

Ecosystems straddling the equator shelter abundant biodiversity and store vast amounts of carbon.

In total, the tropics lost 12.2 million hectares of tree cover -- including forests and plantations -- last year, driven largely by agriculture.

But researchers said extreme heat and drought also stoked huge fires that consumed swathes of forest across Australia, Siberia and deep into the Amazon.

These losses are a "climate emergency. They're a biodiversity crisis, a humanitarian disaster, and a loss of economic opportunity", said Frances Seymour of the World Resources Institute, which is behind the report.

The study found some evidence that Covid-19 restrictions may have had an effect around the world -- with an increase in illegal harvesting because forests were left less protected, or the return of large numbers of people to rural areas.

2020 primary forest loss
John SAEKI, AFP

But researchers said there was little sign that the pandemic had changed the trajectory of forest destruction and warned that the worst could be still to come if countries slash protections in an attempt to ramp up economic growth.

But Seymour said the most "ominous signal" from the 2020 data is the instances of forests themselves falling victim to climate change.

"I mean, wetlands are burning," she said in a press briefing.

"Nature has been whispering this risk to us for a long time. But now she is shouting."

Plants -- especially in the tropics -- and soil comprise an enormous carbon sink, sucking up roughly a third of all the carbon pollution humans produce annually.

Yet tropical forests continue to disappear rapidly, threatening irreparable losses to Earth's crucial biodiversity.

Researchers said the destruction of tropical primary forests in 2020 released 2.64 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2020, equal to the annual emissions of India or 570 million cars, more than double the number on the road in the United States.

"The longer we wait to stop deforestation, and get other sectors on to net zero trajectories, the more likely it is that our natural carbon sinks will go up in smoke," Seymour said.

- 'Heartbreaking' -

Brazil, where far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has cut funding for environmental programs and pushed to open protected Amazon lands to agribusiness and mining, lost 1.7 million hectares of primary forest in 2020, an increase of 25 percent from 2019, the report said.

Bolivia saw the third highest level of forest destruction in 2020
Aizar RALDES, AFP/File

"Brazil, having achieved a huge reduction in deforestation in the Amazon, is now seeing an unravelling of that success, and it's heartbreaking," said Seymour.

Much of the loss was in the Amazon, including new areas that were deliberately cleared.

But dry conditions also meant fires lit on previously deforested land spread to once humid forests, burning out of control.

Fires also devastated the Pantanal wetlands, a paradise of biodiversity that extend from Brazil into Bolivia -- the country with the third highest level of forest loss in 2020.

Almost a third of the Pantanal was scorched, including indigenous lands and jaguar habitats, and researchers said it could be decades before the region recovers.

- Appetite for destruction -

One bright area was in Indonesia, which reduced its rate of forest loss by 17 percent from 2019 and dropped out of the global top three for the first time in the 20 years of Global Forest Watch monitoring.

Forest destruction has slowed for four years in a row in Indonesia and researchers said government policies -- helped last year by wetter weather -- appeared to be having "a long-term effect on reducing primary forest loss".

Forests cover more than 30 percent of Earth's land surface, and tropical forests are home to between 50 and 90 percent of all terrestrial species.

Recent research has shown that, beyond a certain threshold, deforestation in the Amazon basin could tip the region into a new climate regime, turning tropical forests into savannah.

In January, two top Brazilian indigenous leaders asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Bolsonaro for "crimes against humanity", accusing him of unprecedented environmental damage, killings and persecution.

On Monday, a study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution estimated that rising demand in wealthy countries for commodities ranging from coffee to soybeans was accelerating deforestation in the tropics.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/sharp-increase-in-destruction-of-virgin-forest-in-2020/article/587741#ixzz6qg50MfTx

Moroccan illustrator using comics for #MeToo campaign
BY SOPHIE PONS (AFP) 



Young Moroccan cartoonist Zainab Fasiki draws on a whiteboard in a Casablanca studio where she is holding a workshop that mixes art with a homegrown illustrated #MeToo campaign.

"We are here to change this rape culture, which says the victim deserves what they get while the criminal is innocent," says Fasiki, 26, her eyes flashing with indignation.

A dozen students and professionals have joined forces with Fasiki, a pioneer in comics and illustration in Morocco, in response to a web series titled #TaAnaMeToo that depicts women's real-life ordeals.

As part of the series -- "Ta ana" means "Me Too" in Moroccan Arabic dialect -- she illustrated the harrowing testimony of a 22-year-old woman who for years was raped by her brother, to the indifference of her parents.

Unlike in the broader #MeToo movement, the Moroccan women who have agreed to share their stories for the campaign have preferred to remain anonymous.

Series producer Youssef Ziraoui says rape victims in Morocco not only have to deal with a sense of "shame" and the risk of being cast out by their families, but can face charges for sex before marriage under Moroccan law if they go to the police.

The participants in the Casablanca workshop are looking for creative comebacks to some of the toxic reactions the campaign has elicited.

"Choose a negative comment and respond to it," Fasiki says, as the group gets to work on tablets or with paper and pencil.

Fasiki, who calls herself an "artivist" (an artist and activist), says art is "a major instrument of change".

"Images have power, particularly on social media."

- 'Revolution, resistance' -

Students and professionals have joined forces with Fasiki in response to a web series titled #TaAnaMeToo that depicts several Moroccan women's real-life ordeals
Fadel SENNA, AFP

The illustrator, her dark hair cropped in a short bob, says she became a feminist at age 14, when she began to feel that often "being a woman is a sin" in the North African country.

"There is a culture where men correct women, keep an eye on them -- it's a patriarchal system," she says. "Men treat us as if we weren't humans who are responsible for our choices."

She is pushing through her illustrations for "changes to laws written by men, for men, to control women's bodies", she adds.

The self-taught Fasiki says her artistic training involved reading comics as a child, drawing in her bedroom as an adolescent, and "meeting authors at comics festivals" when she was old enough to travel.

Fasiki became known on social media for her nude self-portraits and for illustrations showing "the female body as it is, without taboos".

Her book "Hshouma" (modesty) -- a term she says covers "the culture of shame" around women's bodies in Morocco -- took her to a wider audience, in a country where sex education is also taboo.

"Some feminists think that drawing the naked female form doesn't serve the cause," she says.

"I think it's a revolution -- a form of resistance in the face of a patriarchy-based history."

- Stifling talent -

Fasiki says she was unable to find a local publisher for "Hshouma", and the book's first edition was instead published in Paris in 2019.

Florent Massot, her French publisher, told AFP the book had had "good sales" in Morocco.

"Zainab is very courageous," he said. "She is always very positive even though she gets insulted a lot on social media."

Fasiki is preparing for an exhibition at a contemporary art museum in Tetouan, and will also be teaching at a fine arts school in the northern Moroccan city.

She says she is looking forward to countering "artists who preach against artistic nudity", and wants to "develop the female presence in art".

First and foremost, that requires helping girls "escape the control of their family", says Fasiki, adding that she was influenced by French feminist writer Simone de Beauvoir and her seminal work "The Second Sex".

"When I started to publish (my work) on social media, my family told me, 'either you stop or we don't consider you a member of the family anymore'," she says.

But she was undeterred.

"This type of control over children, who are doing nothing wrong apart from living their passion, has destroyed thousands of talents," she says.




Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/moroccan-illustrator-using-comics-for-metoo-campaign/article/587727#ixzz6qg3y61gt

ARYAN NATION
India's forgotten African tribe seeks sporting glory

BY ABHAYA SRIVASTAVA (AFP) 

Rohit Majgul has weathered racism and rejection in India as part of a marginalised community tracing its roots back to Africa -- but he still dreams of bringing sporting glory to his country.

The 16-year-old is part of a group of teens practising martial arts in an overgrown and sun-baked field near the remote hamlet where his family ekes out a precarious living on manual labour.


Growing up around open drains and swarms of flies in Jambur village, he and other members of the local Siddi community were abused for their distinctive dark features and curly hair.

Majgul, a school dropout, sees his judo training as the only way to escape a life riddled with gruelling poverty and discrimination.

"No-one believes me when I say I am Indian," he told AFP. "They think I am African, they call me by different abusive names, they tease me."

"I have also been thrown off the bus because of my colour, but I quietly endure everything because I want to do well in sports and carve my own identity."

Two years ago, Majgul won silver in judo at the Asia-Pacific Youth Games.

His determination to represent India on the international stage was boosted by a government push to identify athletes in the Siddi community, which is believed to have descended from the Bantu peoples of sub-Saharan Africa.

Some are believed to have been brought over during the Islamic conquest of the subcontinent as early as the eighth century.

Many others were likely brought by the Portuguese to India between three and five centuries ago, researchers say.

- 'No-one cares about us' -

When British colonial authorities abolished slavery in the 19th century, Siddis fled to the jungles in fear of their safety.

Gradually they settled on the western coast, working as farmhands and labourers while adopting local culture and languages.

India is now home to around 250,000 Siddis, according to researchers, with most living in Gujarat and Karnataka -- two coastal states both facing the eastern tip of Africa from across the Arabian Sea.

But they are still viewed as outsiders.

Those living in Gujarat are Muslim, making them targets for further discrimination in Hindu-majority India.

"No-one cares about us. There are no facilities in our village -- no piped water, no proper toilets, nothing," said Majgul.

India's Siddi community traces its roots to a centuries-old African migration but they are still viewed as outsiders
SAM PANTHAKY, AFP

Near his home, children with tangled, unwashed hair ran barefoot across narrow alleys lined with shanties.

Hope came in the form of a scheme launched in 1987 by a government eager to boost the country's dismal Summer Olympics tally, with Indian athletes taking just nine gold medals in the last century.

"We were exploring whether the Siddis had a genetic advantage," athletics coach R. Sundar Raju, who was part of the project, told AFP.

"Normally an Indian athlete takes some years before making it to the national level, but the Siddis were doing so in barely three years."

But authorities ditched the project seven years later, after realising the impoverished Siddi were more interested in a linked programme that encouraged Indians to pursue sporting careers by giving them highly sought-after government jobs.

"They came from such poor families that the moment they secured jobs under a sports quota they grabbed the opportunity and left the training midway," Raju said.

- 'I used to curse my fate' -

In the years since, some Siddis in Gujarat instead eked out a living by staging dance performances for tourists or trained as forest guides for Gir National Park, a sanctuary for endangered lions.

The state government revived the programme in 2015, focusing mainly on judo and athletics.

Shahnaz Lobi (R) jumped at the chance to pursue a sporting career after watching her labourer father struggle to feed his family
SAM PANTHAKY, AFP

Promising Siddi youngsters now train at a sports academy in the state.

A non-profit group in Karnataka is also mentoring 50 aspiring athletes from the community.

"We felt that this particular group has high potential but has been highly neglected," said Nitish Chiniwar, founder of the Bridges of Sports Foundation.

Shahnaz Lobi, an aspiring shot-putter from Jambur, jumped at the chance to pursue a sporting career after watching her labourer father struggle to feed his family.

"I used to curse my fate. But one day I got to know about the sports trials and I took part in them," she said.

Lobi told AFP that she dreamt of competing in the 2024 Olympics.

"I was selected and sent to the state sports academy. I have no friends there but it doesn't bother me. I just want to win an Olympic medal and let the world know I am Indian."



Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/india-s-forgotten-african-tribe-seeks-sporting-glory/article/587728#ixzz6qg2T3hNf

Wounded Myanmar refugees tell of air strike horror

By Thanaporn Promyamyai and Dene-Hern Chen (AFP) 

Civilians wounded in Myanmar air strikes on rebel positions spoke of their terrifying ordeal after trekking through jungle to seek medical treatment across the border in Thailand.

Military jets hit targets in eastern Kayin state over the weekend, as Myanmar reeled from the deadliest day so far in the junta's crackdown on anti-coup protests.

The strikes targeted territory held by the Karen National Union (KNU), one of the nation's largest ethnic armed groups, which had earlier seized a military base.

They marked the Myanmar military's first use of air strikes against the KNU in 20 years and sent around 7,000 Karen villagers fleeing for safety, according to the armed group.

Naw Eh Tah, one of a handful who managed to cross the Salween River -- which marks the border with Thailand -- on Tuesday to seek medical treatment, described the moment the bombs hit.

"We didn't hear the plane -- if we did, we would have run," the 18-year-old told AFP at the small Sop Moei district hospital in Thailand's northern Mae Hong Son province.

"By the time I realised what was happening, the explosion hit the roof of my house.

"When I got hit, I couldn't walk -- I had to climb to hide."

- 'Bombs dropped so quickly' -

Her legs lacerated by shrapnel, Naw Eh Tah trekked for a day through dense tropical jungle to the river.

Karen groups say as many as 3,000 people fled across the river into Thailand after the air strikes before being sent back to Myanmar
Lillian SUWANRUMPHA, AFP

"We crossed because I can't stay -- the Myanmar army is all trying to get us," she said.

"I have never seen it (air strikes) before. I am so afraid."

The youngest to cross on Tuesday, a 15-year-old, was also the most seriously hurt, with a broken rib and collapsed lung.

Saw Lab Bray, 48, suffered shrapnel wounds all over his body when he was hit in KNU stronghold Day Puh Noh.

"I tried to run away but the bombs dropped so quickly," he told AFP from a hospital wheelchair, describing how he saw six people wounded and a man die.

"I fell on my side and was coughing blood. I'm afraid because I cannot run, I cannot move."



Doctor Chakri Komsakorm said the refugees looked like "they have been through war" with many shrapnel wounds becoming infected due to a lack of medicine.

He added that "many appear to have been starving for many days".

Chakri also said he had heard there were people with more serious wounds still trapped on the Myanmar side of the river, unable to cross because of the severity of their injuries.

Karen groups say as many as 3,000 people fled across the river into Thailand after the air strikes before being sent back to Myanmar, though Thai officials insist they were not forced back.

The Thai foreign ministry said late Tuesday about 2,300 have returned to Myanmar and about 550 remain in Thailand.

- 'Guns and sticks' -

Mae Hong Son Governor Sithichai Jindaluang told a news conference that refugees who had not been badly affected by the bombings agreed to go back when asked.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha said they had not been "scared off with guns or sticks" and insisted the kingdom would not turn people away if the situation worsened.

The air strikes came as the junta struggles to quell nationwide protests demanding a restoration of the elected government and the release of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ousted in the February 1 coup.

The generals' ruthless crackdown has left more than 500 people dead, according to a local monitoring group, triggering international outrage.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/wounded-myanmar-refugees-tell-of-air-strike-horror/article/587734#ixzz6qg0H61sW

Japan suspends new aid to Myanmar over coup BY AFP      Japan has halted new aid to Myanmar in response to the coup, according to the country's foreign minister, but is stopping short of sanctions imposed by some nations on military and police commanders. Japan is a top aid donor to Myanmar, and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said the suspension of assistance would send a "clear" message. "For Myanmar, Japan is the largest provider of economic assistance," he told parliament on Tuesday. "What stance is Japan taking in terms of economic assistance? There is no new aid. We are taking this clear position." The United States, Britain and the European Union have announced a range of sanctions targeting top police and military commanders linked to the coup, as well as military-owned companies. But Japan, which has strong economic ties with Myanmar and long-standing relations with its military, has opted not to take more directly punitive measures. "Which policy is truly effective for Myanmar? I think the answer is clear," Motegi said. "It's not that sanctions are courageous and non-sanctions are not," he told a legislative committee. The suspension reportedly affects only new aid, not existing projects, local media said. More than 500 civilians have been killed in the Myanmar military's crackdown on protesters, and world powers have ramped up their condemnation of the campaign against the anti-coup movement. Japan has criticised the coup in Myanmar and called for the restoration of democracy, but it has faced calls to stake out a stronger position on the crisis. Tokyo has traditionally maintained cordial ties with Myanmar while also supporting the cause of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who briefly lived in Kyoto as a young researcher. Thousands of Japanese nationals and several hundred Japanese companies are believed to be in Myanmar, and Japan is reportedly the fifth-largest foreign investor in the country

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/japan-suspends-new-aid-to-myanmar-over-coup/article/587744#ixzz6qfrQ1OOS

Hong Kong domestic worker fired after cancer diagnosis dies
BY AFP

A Filipina who was sacked as a domestic worker in Hong Kong after being diagnosed with cancer -- a case that exposed the vulnerability of low-paid foreign workers -- has passed away, a friend confirmed Wednesday.

Baby Jane Allas, 40, was told she had stage three cervical cancer two years ago and was promptly fired by her employer, who cited the illness as the reason for termination.

The single mother of five instantly lost the right to healthcare and had to regularly apply for visa extensions as she navigated Hong Kong's legal and immigration systems while battling cancer.

Supporters crowd-funded treatment for Baby Jane Allas, who was sacked as a domestic worker in Hong Kong following her cancer diagnosis
ANTHONY WALLACE, AFP

Supporters crowd-funded her treatment and Allas had successfully overcome her cancer.

But she died on Saturday from complications related to a kidney infection.

"Baby Jane passed away suddenly last weekend at her home in the Philippines," Jessica Cutrera, an American national in Hong Kong who led the crowdfunding campaign and took Allas in, told AFP.

"We are all devastated by this, especially given her successful battle with cancer. She lived with us for nearly a year during her fight and treatment and we are heartbroken by the news," she added.

Allas was awarded HK$30,000 (US$ 3,860) damages from her former employer -- who hailed from a wealthy Hong Kong family of Pakistani origin -- for sickness allowance, medical fees and wages in lieu of notice.

She returned to the Philippines last year but had hoped to return to Hong Kong for work.

Hong Kong's Equal Opportunities Commission also took up her plight earlier this year, launching a separate discrimination case against her former employer.

Baby Jane Allas (L), a Filipina domestic worker, instantly lost the right to healthcare in Hong Kong when she was sacked two years ago following her cancer diagnosis
ANTHONY WALLACE, AFP

Cutrera, who also employs Allas' sister, said the family hoped to continue pursuing the discrimination case "on behalf of her estate".

"Her sister flew back today to be with the family and we are now focusing on figuring out what is needed for the surviving children," she said.

"We had funds left over that we were saving for future care needs, and have been able to use those to pay for her funeral and cover the family for the next few months."

Nearly 370,000 domestic helpers work in Hong Kong.

Most are poor women from the Philippines and Indonesia working for low wages, often living in grim conditions and sending much of their wages back home to support their families.

City authorities say the system is fair and that abuses are rare.

But rights campaigners say domestic helpers are routinely exploited, with laws providing them little protection.

Baby Jane Allas had to regularly apply for visa extensions in Hong Kong after losing her job as a domestic helper while battling cancer
Anthony WALLACE, AFP

Experts say steep agency fees, a requirement for maids to live with their employers, a minimum monthly wage of just HK$4,630 (US$595) and rules that require fired domestic workers to quickly depart the city leave maids acutely vulnerable to abusive or unscrupulous employers.

The US State Department placed Hong Kong on par with Cambodia, Pakistan and Nigeria in its annual human trafficking rankings, partly because of the lack of protections offered to domestic helpers.




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