World heading into ‘very, very dark period’, WHO warns as India breaks COVID death record


James Morris
·Senior news reporter, Yahoo News UK
Wed., May 5, 2021

Health workers in a converted coronavirus care centre in New Delhi, India. The WHO has warned the world is about to enter a 'very, very dark period' of the pandemic. (Prakash Singh/AFP via Getty Images)

The majority of the world is heading into a “very, very dark period” of the coronavirus crisis, a World Health Organization (WHO) leader has said.

Nearly 18 months into the global pandemic, infections across the world are now “accelerating faster than ever”, Dr David Nabarro warned.

It comes as India suffered the deadliest seven-day period of the pandemic so far, with a daily average of 3,571 deaths in the week up to Tuesday. The previous highest was seen in the US on 14 January, with a seven-day average of 3,432 deaths.

A chart demonstrating how India has just suffered the most deadly seven-day period in the pandemic so far. (Our World in Data)

Dr Nabarro, the WHO’s COVID-19 special envoy, told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme that the pandemic is at a “fearsome” stage.

He said: “There are a few countries that are able to demonstrate that they’ve got much lower levels of disease and they’re actually feeling that they’re recovering.

“The majority of the world is heading into a very, very dark period.

A chart demonstrating the acceleration of COVID-19 cases in 2021. (Our World in Data)

“The reason why it’s particularly dark is that now we don’t have the full data, because more and more the pandemic is spreading in places where testing is not available, so the numbers that we have we know are a major underestimate.

“It’s bigger than ever, it’s fiercer than ever and it’s causing more distress than ever – this is a bad phase.”

He added that the “evolving” virus was going to be “building up and surging in many different parts of the world”.

Watch: Coronavirus cases detected among Indian delegation ahead of G7 talks















While the UK is well past the worst of its crisis, with tens of millions of people vaccinated and its governments planning to reopen society in the summer, other countries have suffered explosions in infections.

India is one. On Tuesday alone, more than 380,000 new cases were recorded, though the actual number will be far higher due to testing limitations.

There were also 3,780 deaths. Again, the actual number is likely to be much higher amid reports many deaths have not been registered by the authorities.

The reopening of society, as well as religious gatherings and election rallies, have been blamed for the massive spike in cases.

In Europe, Cyprus saw a massive spike in cases last month. On April 24, the seven-day average surpassed 1,000 infections per million people, though that has since dropped to 603 per million, which is the fifth highest in the world.

Meanwhile, Dr Nabarro urged world leaders to look at vaccine distribution as a “world issue”.

Read more:

Government denies reports over-50s will get COVID booster jab from September

Pub forced to shut lashes out at 'keyboard warriors' and COVID rule-breakers

He said: "From my perspective, what you do with a scarce preventive action like a vaccine is that you give it to the people who need it the most, you give it to the people who are most at risk and you have to look at the issue as a world issue.”

The UK government, given the success of its rollout so far in protecting the most vulnerable people, has been asked if it will provide extra vaccines to India amid its crisis.

So far, this has been ruled out – with Boris Johnson’s spokesman saying last week there are no surplus doses – though life-saving equipment including 1,200 ventilators has been sent.

Fox News host talks back to sixth grader who criticises Trump: ‘I find that hard to believe’

“How young does Brian Kilmeade have to go to find a debate opponent on his level? My guess is four and a half.”

Louise Hall
Wed., May 5, 2021

In the segment on Wednesday, Mr Kilmeade asked three young schoolchildren what they missed the most about being in the classroom(Fox News)

Fox News host Brian Kilmeade has been caught arguing with a sixth-grader live on air after the child backed President Joe Biden’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic over former President Donald Trump.

In the segment on Wednesday, Mr Kilmeade asked three young schoolchildren what they missed the most about being in the classroom while discussing their virtual learning amid the pandemic.

“I miss most, obviously seeing my friends and all the after-school activities that I’ve done and I think that we’re very close to getting back to school,” elementary student Mason Seder said.

The young student then voiced his support for Mr Biden’s handling of the crisis saying the “way that our new president is handling things is a very good way”.

He offered his opinion that “we would have not have gotten to this if it was still the last president”, in reference to the Trump administration.

“Really?” Mr Kilmeade said frankly in response. “That’s hard to believe because the last president was saying ‘I want every kid back in school.’”

Commentators on social media were quick to notice the segment, with some criticising the host for giving such a harsh response to the pupil.

“Brian Kilmeade gets mad at a 6th grader for saying Biden is doing a good job. Incredible,” Vox journalist Aaron RuPaur said.

“Asking a child’s opinion and then immediately rebutting is not what we want to teach children,” another commenter said.

Journalist Dan Rather observed: “Wow. The Trump reflex is very strong – like when a doctor taps your knee with a rubber hammer and you can’t help but kick.”

Another joked: “How young does Brian Kilmeade have to go to find a debate opponent on his level? My guess is four and a half.”

Dr. Fauci Answers Tucker Carlson's Lame Vaccine Question And It's The Shot We've Waited For


Ron Dicker
·General Assignment Reporter, HuffPost
Wed., May 5, 2021

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday answered one of Tucker Carlson’s skewed questions about the COVID-19 vaccine, briefly inoculating viewers against the Fox News host’s anti-vaccine fearmongering. (Watch the clip below.)

As part of his right-wing channel’s apparent campaign to sow doubt about vaccine safety and effectiveness, Carlson has been raising what he presents as deal-breaking questions that actually have verifiable answers. Which, of course, he fails to acknowledge.

But on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” the nation’s top infectious disease expert entertained one of Carlson’s leading queries.

After people on the street asked Fauci questions, Kimmel noted one more guy had one. He cut to a clip of Carlson asking why college students should get the vaccine because “young people are not at risk of dying from COVID” and many have been infected already.

“No one has explained that,” Carlson said.

Kimmel let Fauci take it away.

“One, you want to protect yourself,” the White House task force doc replied. “But also you don’t want to be part of the propagation of the outbreak. Because if you get infected, even though you’re young and healthy ... you could pass it on to someone else who could have a severe outcome. And when you get infected, you are propagating the outbreak. You’re not being a dead stop. You’re allowing the virus to continue from you to someone else.”

Got that, Tucker?

Watch the whole segment or fast-forward to 12:25 for the Carlson part

THE DAUGHTERS OF BILITIS
Home of San Francisco's 1st same-sex spouses now a landmark

Wed., May 5, 2021


San Francisco-Same-Sex Marriage FILE - In this March 3, 2008, file photo, Phyllis Lyon, left, and Del Martin are photographed at home in San Francisco. The hilltop cottage of the couple that became the first same-sex partners to legally marry in San Francisco has become a city landmark. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday, May 4, 2021, to give the 651 Duncan St. home of the lesbian activists landmark status. The home in the Noe Valley neighborhood is expected to become the first lesbian landmark in the western United States, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, file)


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The hilltop cottage belonging to a lesbian couple who were the first same-sex partners to legally marry in San Francisco has become a city landmark.

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to give the 651 Duncan St. home of the late lesbian activists Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin landmark status. The home in the Noe Valley neighborhood is expected to become the first lesbian landmark in the U.S. West, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

“They provided a place for lesbians who were really, really, really in the closet to hang out and dance, have holiday potlucks so they wouldn’t have to go home and hang out with their homophobic relatives,” said Shayne Watson, an architectural historian who specializes in LGBTQ heritage conservation and was active in the movement to get the home landmarked.

Martin and Lyon bought the simple one-bedroom house, terraced up the hillside, as a co
uple in 1955, the same year they co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis, a political and social organization for lesbians.

The group started as a social support organization but quickly transformed into activism and politics.

“The Daughters of Bilitis didn’t have an office space, so 651 was really ground zero for the lesbian rights movement at the time. It was a place where people could be safe and reveal their sexuality," said Terry Beswick, executive director of the GLBT Historical Society.

Lyon was a journalist who met her lifelong love, Martin, while working at a magazine in Seattle. The couple moved to San Francisco in 1953. Besides the political organization, they published a national monthly for lesbians and a book called Lesbian/Woman in 1972.

Gov. Gavin Newsom was a newly elected mayor of San Francisco in 2004 when he decided to challenge California’s marriage laws by issuing licenses to same-sex couples. His advisers and gay rights advocates had the perfect couple in mind to be the public face of the movement.

Lyon and Martin, who had been together more than 50 years by then, were secretly swept into the clerk’s office. They exchanged vows before a tiny group of city staffers and friends.

Martin died in 2008, and Lyon in 2020, and the house was left to Martin’s daughter, Kendra. The property was sold in September 2020.

After the sale, a loose organization called the Friends of Lyon-Martin House was formed to guard against demolition, with the GLBT Historical Society as a financial sponsor.

The new owner, Meredith Jones McKeown, supports landmarking and protecting the cottage, the Chronicle reported.

Within six months, the group will put forth a proposal, with a sidewalk plaque as “a bare minimum,” Beswick said. Beswick and Watson both want to preserve the interior as a student residency, public research facility and center for LGBTQ activism and history.

“No one wants to see a tour bus in front of the house,” said Watson, “but Phyllis and Del affected so many lives, including my own, and I feel strongly that the house where they did it should stay in the community

Democratic congressman tells Marjorie Taylor Greene to 'shut your seditious, QAnon loving mouth' after she called his party 'the enemy within'

Eliza Relman
Tue., May 4, 2021

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks with a colleague on the House floor on January 3. Erin Scott-Pool/Getty


Reps. Ruben Gallego and Marjorie Taylor Greene got into a heated Twitter exchange this week.


Gallego said Greene was an "insurrectionist" after she called Democrats "the enemy within."


In response, Greene called Gallego a "coward" and questioned his masculinity.


Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego and GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene got into a heated Twitter exchange this week, exposing the deep anger still roiling the ranks of Congress after the Capitol riot on January 6.

After Greene, the freshman Republican from Georgia who's embraced a host of far-right conspiracy theories, called her Democratic colleagues "the enemy within" in a tweet on Sunday, Gallego said Greene was aligned with the Capitol rioters.

"I was trying to figure what type of pen to stab your friends with if they overran us on the floor of the House of Representatives while trying to conduct a democratic transition of power," Gallego said. "So please shut your seditious, Qanon loving mouth when it comes to who loves America."

Gallego, a Marine combat veteran from Arizona, helped colleagues with their gas masks as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in January. He also provided shelter in his office to several journalists after they were denied entry into a safe room.


-Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) May 2, 2021


-Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) May 2, 2021

On Tuesday, Greene accused Gallego of seeking attention, called him a "coward," and questioned his masculinity.

"While you were hiding with your little pen, brave Republican MEN were helping police hold the door, so that ALL of us could get out safely. Coward," she wrote.

Gallego said that while there were "many heroes" in the Capitol on January 6, Greene was one of the "many insurrectionist trying to destroy Democracy."

Gallego ended the exchange by saying he didn't have time for a Twitter feud because he was too busy with legislative work, which he said Greene "wouldn't know about" because she was stripped of her committee assignments a month after being sworn in.

"I would tweet back and forth with you but I have 2 committee assignments and a bill of mine is being marked," he tweeted. "That we means it's passing out of committee. (But you wouldn't know about that)."

Boycott threatened over Shell's sponsorship of Science Museum carbon capture exhibition

SHELL LOVES CARBON CAPTURE

USES IT TO FRACK OLD WELLS

Wed., May 5, 2021



Climate activists say they'll call for people to boycott a new exhibition at London's Science Museum if the oil company Shell isn't dropped as a major sponsor.

The UK Student Climate Network has already sent an open letter to the museum in protest but says it's had no response.

It's two weeks until the exhibition on carbon capture technology is due to open.

A contributor who has now partly withdrawn her involvement says she was disappointed and embarrassed to learn about the sponsorship after already agreeing to take part.

Dr Emma Sayer, reader in Ecosystem Ecology at the University of Lancaster, contributed to a display on capturing carbon in woodlands.

She said: "My contribution to the exhibition is about soil carbon storage. I was really excited. The Science Museum is a great place and it was fantastic to be involved.

"But this sponsorship issue has created a big conundrum for me because on the one hand, I want to support the exhibition, and the key messages of the exhibition, but then on the other hand, I don't want to be associated with sponsorship by big oil companies."

Dr Sayer added: "We need to be reducing our fossil fuel use and we need to be doing it urgently. And that's really why it creates such an issue for me.

"I'm very aware of the need to mitigate the impacts of climate change and I think we should be transitioning away from fossil fuels as fast as possible and that creates a conflict with that kind of sponsorship."

Dr Sayer has now withdrawn consent to use video footage for a film in the exhibition but because she still supports the message of the exhibition is leaving her display there.

Anya Nanning Ramamurthy of the UK Student Climate Network says if Shell is not dropped they will be calling for a boycott of the exhibition which begins on 19 May.

She said: "Surely the Museum can put on an exhibition like this without Shell's money. Fossil fuel companies shouldn't be sponsoring exhibitions around solutions to climate change."

Roger Highfield, Science Director of the Science Museum Group, defended the sponsorship involvement of Shell.

He said: "We keep complete editorial control of our exhibitions, no matter the sponsor. When you look at the thinking behind this exhibition, our number one objective was to engage the public, get them talking about whether carbon capture has a role to play.

It's a really important conversation because the future of the planet is at stake."

A Shell spokesperson said: "Shell and the Science Museum have a longstanding relationship, based on a shared interest in promoting engagement in science - which will be a key enabler in addressing the challenge to provide more and cleaner energy solutions.

"At Shell our target is to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, in step with society. As Shell works with our customers to identify the best paths to decarbonisation, we seek to avoid, reduce and only then mitigate any remaining emissions.

"Developing carbon capture and storage and using natural sinks are two of a range of ways of decarbonising energy."

The Exhibition has been put together during lockdown and when the Science Museum re-opens it's thought to be the UK's first on carbon capture technology.

The centre-piece is a life-size mechanical tree which was designed in America and sent to London from Arizona State University.

It works in the same way as a natural tree to capture carbon using man-made processes.

It is the first full-scale prototype of this kind of technology. The Museum says in a year a cluster of 12 mechanical trees can absorb the amount of carbon dioxide produced by 44 average UK homes.

Sky News 

AOC uses 👹‘ogre’👹 emojis 👹 to troll Cruz over Trump meeting: ‘Nothing l like reminiscing about attempted coups’

Graig Graziosi
Wed., May 5, 2021, 

Senator Ted Cruz and former President Donald Trump dine at Mar-a-Lago (Twitter)

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has clearly still not forgiven Senator Ted Cruz for backing Donald Trump's attempts to fraudulently overturn the 2020 election and the Capitol riot that resulted from those efforts.

On Wednesday, Ms Ocasio-Cortez lashed out at Mr Cruz after he posted a photo of himself dining with Mr Trump.

"Had a great dinner tonight with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago," Mr Cruz tweeted. "He's in great spirits! We spent the evening talking about working together to re-take the House & Senate in 2022."

Ms Ocasio-Cortez used the opportunity to remind the public of the insurrection at the Capitol and the attempt by Republican lawmakers to dispute the results of the 2020 election.

"Nothing like reminiscing about attempted coups over a bouquet of flowers," Ms Ocasio-Cortez wrote, retweeting the image.

She included a pair of emojis of Japanese demons, called “Oni”,👹 alongside the image of the two politicians.

Other social media users responded to the photo by recalling the time Mr Trump insinuated Mr Cruz's wife was ugly and suggested that his father was involved in the JFK assassination.

Jeff Jacoby, a right-leaning columnist at the Boston Globe, tweeted out a video of Mr Cruz from the 2016 Republican primaries in which the Senator calls Mr Trump a “pathological liar”, a “narcissist”, and a “serial philanderer”.

“You young kids won't believe it, but there was a time when Ted Cruz wasn't a Trump bootlicker,” Mr Jacoby wrote.

Despite his harsh words for Mr Trump and the former president's repeated and humiliating attacks on him during the 2016 primaries, Mr Cruz went on to become one his most loyal supporters.

Mr Cruz was one of the leaders of the Senate Republicans’ attempt to stall the electoral vote count on 6 January to confirm that Joe Biden had won the 2020 election. The Capitol insurrection occurred during that count.

He and other Republican lawmakers opposed the count, alleging massive voter fraud had taken place and resulted in Mr Trump's loss.

There has never been any evidence of widespread voter fraud uncovered in the months since the election.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez has repeatedly called for Mr Cruz to resign for what she views as his role in inciting the riot that left five dead, including a Capitol police officer.

"Sen. Cruz, you must accept responsibility for how your craven, self-serving actions contributed to the deaths of four people yesterday. And how you fundraised off this riot. Both you and Senator Hawley must resign. If you do not, the Senate should move for your expulsion," Ms Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in January.

 

Unseen warriors of COVID: Delhi crisis spurs citizen-lead initiatives as volunteers open 'oxygen langars' at Gurudwaras

, 

Meer Faisal

Wed., May 5, 2021

Editor's note: As the second wave of coronavirus infections ravages parts of India, the unseen work of millions of front-line workers and citizens is providing relief to distressed families. This is part one of a series profiling the stories of how those efforts are making a powerful and positive impact

The second wave of Covid-19 has hit the National Capital hard and the overburdened healthcare infrastructure is coming apart at the seams. But at a time when the city is faced with an acute shortage of oxygen and hospital beds, many citizens are rising to the occasion in this hour of need.

One such example is the Gurudwara Damdama Sahib, at New Delhi's Nizamuddin, where the organisation has started an 'Oxygen Langar'. It is an initiative taken up by the members of the Hum Chakar Gobind Ke, sought by desperate caregivers of covid positive patients. It is a makeshift centre where many people could be seen with the patients in tow.

The founder of the committee, Hum Chakar Gobind Ke is Ajit Singh (52), who started the initiative towards the end of April.

Many were seen outside the Gurudwara waiting for oxygen.

Abin, whose father Sehankunji CS's (63), was in need of oxygen said, "We went to seven different hospitals, but didn't manage to get neither beds nor oxygen. We tried to get oxygen for 11 hours but couldn't get any. At last, we came here to the Gurudwara and were able to get oxygen within an hour. My father's oxygen level increased from 76 to 83, thanks to them."

Sandeep, another resident from Delhi, scrambled to find oxygen for his father Shiv Dayal (62) who tested positive on 26 April. Finally, he made his way to the Gurudwara.

He was seen requesting the volunteers at Gurudwara to save his father; his father's oxygen level climbed from 66 to 75 after getting the help he needed. As revealed by Sandeep, he went to three to four hospitals for help. He narrated his plight of witnessing people dying right outside the hospital with no one around to help them.

While every day thousands of people are rushing to the Gurudwara, the volunteers at these religious places have only a limited amount of resources to help people in need of oxygen.

Ajit Singh, the man heading the relief team said, "We are sourcing oxygen from other states of India like Punjab, Himachal and helping out hundreds of people." He urged the Central government to come up with initiatives to help out the citizens as they are unable to help all the people seeking help.

A similar initiative of 'oxygen langar' is also functional at a Gurudwara in Indirapuram, Uttar Pradesh, led by the NGO Khalsa Help International. They have managed to help several critical patients.

Ex-sub Inspector Rajender Singh also thanked the organisers of the initiative which saved his father's life. He also urged the government and the private hospitals to come up with such facilities so that critical patients can be helped.

The founder of the NGO, Gurpreet Singh Rami spoke to Firstpost about the initiative, "We have started this Langar to help people who have nowhere else to go. People are charging way more owing to the growing demand for oxygen and the government is not taking the necessary steps to help the citizens." He also requested people to help the Gurudwara in saving thousands of lives and donate cylinders and other resources whatever be the amount or quantity.

The initiative is being run completely by Gurdwara volunteers and with no access to doctors or healthcare workers; the volunteers are the ones constantly checking SPO2 levels and handing out oxygen cylinders to the patients.

About 25 beds have been set up onsite where patients can rest and stabilise their oxygen levels. For those who are not able to enter the premises due to the crowd, volunteers help to carry oxygen cylinders to their cars.

Rami added, "It is unfortunate that people are using the pandemic and people's distress to add cash in their pockets."

Meanwhile, people who came to the Gurdwara were angry at the government for the crumbling of the healthcare system.

Surendra Singh Bhatia (48) a volunteer at the Gurudwara Damdama Sahib criticised the government, "The claims made by our CM, about the availability of the beds and oxygen in hospitals is nothing but a white lie, the healthcare system of the country has failed its citizens."

People are grieving, feeling helpless watching their loved ones die. Death, mass cremations, panic and grief has brought India to its knees.

Despite the panic and grief, it's commendable to see the people coming up with ways to help the distressed families in whatever ways possible with minimal resources at their disposal.

It displays the unmatched ability the citizens of India are capable of and their willingness to help out each other, despite having cultural differences.

Also See: Coronavirus Updates: Joe Biden expresses solidarity with India, says determined to support fight against COVID

Delhi records highest single-day toll till date with 380 fatalities; positivity rate at over 35%

'Complete massacre of data': Experts flag undercounting of India's COVID-19 deaths in second wave

Read more on India by Firstpost.

WINNIPEG
Railside development delves deep into geothermal energy


Wed., May 5, 2021

The landscape of The Forks is set to change dramatically in the coming years, as parking lots between the CityTV building and Shaw Park are converted from pavement slabs into an expansive, mixed-use neighbourhood.

On Wednesday, work began on the most essential of services: heating and cooling.

Crews started drilling boreholes into the earth’s surface; laying the groundwork for a district geothermal energy system at the Railside at The Forks development.

The ultra-efficient heating and cooling structure uses pipes beneath the ground to pull both from the natural hot and cold sink.

It is, therefore, a completely renewable source of energy.

“We try and be as green as we possibly can. We looked for ways to do that, and a district geothermal system is the best option for all of the housing and commercial space that will be here,” said Clare MacKay, vice-president of strategic initiatives at The Forks.

The geothermal system, once complete, will service 1,200 new residential units and approximately 100,000 square feet of new commercial space. Partnerships to service other buildings on The Forks grounds, as well as the VIA Rail Union Station building, are also on the table.

“We have successfully done this in the past. About 10 years ago, we did a retrofit of The Forks Market… And that’s a closed-loop system that goes underneath the Assiniboine River, and that heats and cools the entire Forks Market. What’s cool about it is that nobody really notices,” MacKay said.

MacKay said technical estimates show if the development had used natural gas as a heating fuel instead, emissions from the site would have totalled approximately 12,200 tonnes of greenhouse gas each year — or approximately the same emissions as adding 2,600 cars to the road in that time frame.

In Winnipeg, burning natural gas for heat is one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. In the province, it accounts for about 18 per cent of all emissions.

There have been no efforts by the government of Manitoba to move away from natural gas as a heat source, and Manitoba Hydro has made clear natural gas remains the key part of its strategy for providing heat for the foreseeable future.

In March, Couns. Brian Mayes and Jason Schreyer pushed a motion through the water, waste and environment committee to have the administration study if and how the City of Winnipeg could bring a halt to the expansion of natural gas development.

New builds, like the one at The Forks, show alternative heating technology is being pursued by developers even without the push of the city and province — though, at a slower rate than climate targets would demand.

“There’s been a lot of interest in geothermal. It seems to be growing, but not anywhere nearly as much as it probably should be,” said Ed Lohrenz, a veteran of the industry and owner of Winnipeg-based Geoptimize Inc., a ground-source heat consultancy company.

Most of Lohrenz’s work has been in cities such as Toronto and New York, where he says the uptake is driven by the desirability of the technology from residential buyers, as well as roadblocks put up to discourage the continued expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure.

Universities, condos, malls — the possibilities for using the technology are endless, Lohrenz said. He believes the biggest impediment to geothermal development is the lack of familiarity amongst mechanical engineers.

While straight electric heat sources might seemingly make sense in Manitoba — thanks to an abundance of hydroelectric power — the sheer amount of energy needed to move from natural gas to electric systems isn’t feasible, according to estimates from Lohrenz and Manitoba Hydro.

“Expanding the electric heat infrastructure would be not good for Manitoba Hydro, and it would not be good for the province,” Lohrenz said.

And so the boreholes are not only a sign of the Railside at The Forks development moving forward after many long years of consultation, but it is also a sign of the move away from natural gas by developers who are considering the decades-long impacts of new buildings.

Other developments in the city that have used similar technology include the Seasons of Tuxedo development on Sterling Lyon Parkway, ALT Hotel on Portage Avenue, Hydro headquarters, alongside countless businesses and homes.

“We’re working on heating and cooling right now. And with the buildings themselves, we’ll be looking at making sure that they’re as green as they possibly can be in terms of what the materials are, and what goes into the design of them,” MacKay said.

The 12 acres of land is being developed slowly in various phases with different companies. The final touches are expected to be put on the last parcel of land up for development 20 years from now.

Sarah Lawrynuik, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press

Local Journalism Initiative

TWENTY YEARS LATER NO CHANGE
Amid US Pullout, Taliban Issue Threat to Afghan Journalists

News18
Wed., May 5, 2021


The Taliban on Wednesday issued a threat to Afghan journalists they accuse of siding with Afghanistan’s intelligence agency in Kabul, a warning that came amid a U.S. troop pullout and rising fears of more violence in the war-wrecked country.

In a statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said those Afghan journalists who give one-sided news in support of Afghanistans intelligence” service and warned them to stop or face the consequences.

The U.S. and Britain responded, with their embassies in Kabul quickly condemning the Taliban threat just two days after World Press Freedom Day.

We strongly support Afghanistans independent media, tweeted Ross Wilson, the U.S. charg daffaires in Kabul. We condemn in the strongest possible terms the on-going violence and threats against the media, and the Talibans attempts to silence journalists.”

Afghanistan is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist. Since 2006, as many as 76 journalists have been killed in Afghanistan, according to the U.N. Education and Cultural Organization.

Last year alone at least 15 were killed, and earlier this year, three women employed by media outlets were killed in eastern Afghanistan. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for some of the killings, including that of the three women. The majority of the targeted journalists have been women.

The government blames a resurgent Taliban who now control or hold sway over half the country for many of the targeted killings. The insurgents, meanwhile claim the Afghan intelligence service is carrying out these attacks so as to blame the Taliban.

Earlier this week, Amnesty International decried the spiraling violence against journalists in Afghanistan and the impunity of the culprits carrying out the attacks.

Nearly all the killings, invariably carried out by unidentified gunmen, have gone uninvestigated, Amnesty said. Dozens of others have been injured, while journalists routinely receive threats, intimidation and harassment because of their work. Faced with this dire situation and with multiple journalist hit lists in open circulation, many journalists are fleeing the country.

Also Wednesday, an Afghan open media advocacy group expressed concerns about statements reportedly made by the head of the intelligence agency, known as the National Directorate of Security or NDS, criticizing some outlets he accused of carrying insurgent propaganda.

The comments by the intel chief, Ahmad Zia Seraj, were tweeted by Arif Rahmani, a lawmaker from the central Ghazni province who attended a private meeting of lawmakers with the NDS chief.

Rahmani told The Associated Press that at the meeting, Seraj was asked by lawmakers about alleged pro-Taliban coverage by some media outlets. The NDS chief said in response that there would be severe legal consequences for outlets carrying terrorist propaganda,” according to Rahmani.

He did not name the outlets, Rahmani said. There was no immediate comment from the intelligence agency.

Last week, the remaining 2,500 to 3,500 American troops officially began leaving Afghanistan. They are expected to be out by Sept. 11 at the latest a deadline set by President Joe Biden.

The U.S. has openly also warned of battlefield gains for the Taliban and officials in Washington say Afghan government forces face an uncertain future against the insurgents as the withdrawal accelerates in the coming weeks