Singapore researchers control Venus flytraps using smartphones

"If the plant can talk back to us, maybe growing all these plants may be even easier"

By Lee Ying Shan 

© Reuters/JOSEPH CAMPBELL A Venus flytrap is seen rigged with two electrodes during an experiment in a lab at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Researchers in Singapore have found a way of controlling a Venus flytrap using electric signals from a smartphone, an innovation they hope will have a range of uses from robotics to employing the plants as environmental sensors.

Luo Yifei, a researcher at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU), showed in a demonstration how a signal from a smartphone app sent to tiny electrodes attached to the plant could make its trap close as it does when catching a fly.

"Plants are like humans, they generate electric signals, like the ECG (electrocardiogram) from our hearts," said Luo, who works at NTU's School of Materials Science and Engineering.

"We developed a non-invasive technology to detect these electric signals from the surface of plants without damaging them," Luo said.

The scientists have also detached the trap portion of the Venus flytrap and attached it to a robotic arm so it can, when given a signal, grip something thin and light like a piece of wire.

In this way, the plant could be used as a "soft robot", the scientists say, to pick up fragile things that might be damaged by industrial grippers, as well as being more environmentally friendly.

Communication between humans and plants is not necessarily entirely one-way.

The NTU research team hopes their technology can be used to detect signals from plants about abnormalities or potential diseases before full-blown symptoms appear.

"We are exploring using plants as living sensors to monitor environmental pollution like gas, toxic gas, or water pollution," said Luo, who stressed there was a long way to go before such plant technology could be used commercially.

But for Darren Ng, an enthusiast of the carnivorous plants and founder of SG VenusFlytrap, a group that sells the plants and offers care tips, the research is welcome.

"If the plant can talk back to us, maybe growing all these plants may be even easier," he says.

(Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Karishma Singh and Stephen Coates)

RIP

Pervis Staples, member of famed Staple Singers, dead at 85

CHICAGO (AP) — Pervis Staples, whose tenor voice complimented his father’s and sisters’ in the legendary gospel group The Staple Singers, has died, a spokesman announced Wednesday. He was 85.

 Provided by The Canadian Press

Pervis Staples died May 6 at his home in Dolton, Illinois, according to Adam Ayers, a spokesman for Staples' sister, Mavis Staples. The cause of death wasn’t given.

Pervis Staples sang gospel songs with his father, the guitar-playing Roebuck "Pops” Staples, and sisters Mavis, Yvonne and Cleotha in Chicago churches before gaining a national following when they began recording songs such as “So Soon,” “If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again,” “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” and “Uncloudy Day” for Vee Jay records in the 1950s.

The group gained fame in the 1960s by singing music that urged change on a variety of social and religious issues. The Staple Singers gained a huge audience with their first No. 1 hit, “I’ll Take You There” in 1972 and followed with top 40 hits “Respect Yourself,” “Heavy Makes You Happy,” and “If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me).”

However, Pervis’ last album with The Staple Singers was their first for Stax Records, "Soul Folks in Action” in 1968. The album featured new songs such as “The Ghetto” and their interpretations of tunes like Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” and The Band’s “The Weight.” He went on to manage the girl group The Emotions and operated a popular nightclub, Perv’s House.

Pervis Staples was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his family in 1999. The group also received a lifetime achievement award from the Grammys in 2005.

Mavis Staples, the lone survivor of the group, said in a statement that her brother’s childhood was filled with wonderful experiences.

“He liked to think of this period of his life as setting the stage for all that he wanted to do in life,” she said. "Some of Pervis’ best friends as a youngster included Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls, and Jerry Butler. Pervis and the guys would stand under the lamp posts in the summertime singing doo-wop songs.”

Despite the success of Rawls and Cooke, Roebuck Staples routinely rejected offers to the group to record rhythm and blues, saying it was in conflict with his faith. However, it was with the nudging of Pervis Staples that the group compromised by performing message music in the 1960s, performing at music festivals around the country.

Pervis Staples was born November 18, 1935 in Drew, Mississippi. He and his family moved to Chicago for economic opportunities. That is where Roebuck Staples started teaching his children gospel songs to entertain them and occupy their time.

Pervis Staples was preceded in death by his parents, Roebuck and Oceola; and three sisters, Cynthia, Cleotha, and Yvonne. He is survived by his six children, seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held Monday in Chicago.

___

This story has been corrected to show that Staples died in Dolton, Illinois.

Herbert G. Mccann, The Associated Press

  

Archaeologists in Kenya discover oldest known human burial site in Africa

Issued on: 13/05/2021 -



In Kenya, researchers have discovered the grave of a child from 78,000 years ago, making it the earliest known human burial site in Africa. The discovery is helping archaeologists understand emotional life in the early days of Homo Sapiens. The child, whose gender remains unknown, has been named “Toto”.

ALBERTA

Anti-Black racism is not a 'consensual schoolyard fight'

Teresa Anne Fowler, Assistant Professor, Education, Concordia University of Edmonton, Elizabeth Coker Farrell, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Management, Concordia University of Edmonton, 

Cecilia Bukutu, Associate Professor, Public Health, Concordia University of Edmonton 

 

12/5/2021

Last month a 14-year-old Black student at an Edmonton school was the victim of an attack. In a video, several boys physically attack the student and call him the N-word. The incident left the boy in hospital with a concussion. The assault on the student was clearly a racist act, something community members and his family underscored.

© (Shutterstock) The contradictory responses to the recent attack of a Black teenager in an Edmonton school demonstrate the urgent need for more equitable practices in schools.

The Edmonton Public School District called the incident a “hate-filled attack” and have recommended expelling the perpetrators.

However, the Edmonton police called it a “consensual school yard fight.” Around 200 hundred people rallied outside the police headquarters in Edmonton, calling on the police to retract their statement and apologize.

The discrepancies between responses are not surprising. Police in Edmonton and across Canada have repeatedly misunderstood and stigmatized racialized communities.

A recent report on the death of Colten Boushie and the treatment of his mother called on police to address “out-of-date beliefs” which “take root in organizations and systems, influencing the way things are done.”

Read more: Watchdog report into RCMP investigation of Colten Boushie’s death confirms police racism

Racism and oppression are not only entrenched in policing, but also other institutions like our school systems.

Lack of diversity

Current hiring practices within school systems do not reflect Black, Indigenous or People of Colour communities.

Data on the demographics of educators in the United States is reflected in our Alberta classrooms, meaning the majority of educators in Alberta are white females.

Canada has limited data on racialized individuals.

Where communities have documented experiences of Black students, such as in the Toronto District School Board, these students have described the negative effects of anti-Black racism they encounter at school. Racialized data from the United States also tells us that compared to their peers, Black children are more likely to be treated differently within the education system.

When incidents occur, Black students are less likely to be given the benefit of the doubt or to be believed. They are more likely to be strictly punished for minor transgressions, mislabelled as troublesome, or believed to have learning difficulties.

Read more: How to curb anti-Black racism in Canadian schools

Implementing greater employment equity in our school systems is a necessary step toward addressing the lack of representation. Women, members of visible minorities, people with disabilities and Indigenous Peoples combined make up over 60 per cent of Canada’s labour force and yet are minimally represented in the school system’s administration or classrooms despite a movement towards decolonizing our educational systems.© (Shutterstock) Getting more racialized teachers in schools creates a more diverse school community where BIPOC students feel represented and heard.

The lack of diversity among educators is not reflective of the students in our schools. When Black and racialized people are employed in the school system, it creates a more diverse school community. Black people will have greater confidence in a system they feel represents them and stand a chance to benefit from these equitable practices.

Despite a focus on reconciliation and educators learning about colonial history, there remains a lingering racism in schools.

Simply talking about racism doesn’t make it go away. As anti-colonial scholar Kathryn McKittrick reminds us, “description is not liberation.” Movement towards racial equality cannot succeed through tokenistic practices like land acknowledgements by the same institutions where Black and Brown students are exposed to racism every day.

Instead of recognizing and addressing the serious issues in education, the government of Alberta has introduced a draft K-6 curriculum that white washes Canadian history. A white colonial history is being taught in the classroom while racialized children experience its outcome in the school yard. This is despite a long history of Black people in Alberta.
Impacts on mental health

Anti-Black racism within the education system negatively impacts the physical and mental well-being of Black children.

Anti-Black racism can lead to chronic stress which is associated with changes in hormones that cause inflammation in the body, a marker of chronic disease. Chronic and prolonged traumatic experiences can change children’s brain development. Children may suffer from issues with self-confidence, social isolation and disrupted sleep and eating patterns

.

(Shutterstock) Racism can cause students to suffer low self-confidence, leave them feeling isolated and negatively impact their mental health.

The Canadian Public Health Association, in collaboration with seven provincial and territorial public health associations, has declared racism a public health issue. The association provided recommendations for agencies and organizations involved in education, research and the provision of health and social services to address systemic racism in Canada.

Some suggestions include: a system-wide review of regulations, policies, processes and practices to identify and remove any racist systems and approaches; providing mandatory anti-racism and anti-oppression training for all staff and volunteers; collect race and ethnicity data in an appropriate and sensitive manner; and monitor their organizations for stereotyping, discrimination and racist actions and take corrective actions.

When an education system and teachers do not understand the cultural context of the racialized children in their care, the supports they design and implement to help those children will miss the mark.

With this latest incident, the public schooling and policing systems have yet another opportunity to respond appropriately to racialized violence. The Black community is waiting.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

GOOD ZOO

New genetic data bodes well for California's comeback condors

Issued on: 13/05/2021 

One of the two California Condors (Gymnoyips Californianus) donated by the San Diego Zoo in California to the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City OMAR TORRES AFP

Washington (AFP)

Despite numbering only a few hundred individuals, Californian condors have retained a surprisingly high degree of genetic diversity, a new study said Thursday.

The authors of the paper, published in the journal Current Biology, said the findings bode well for future restoration plans of the critically endangered species.

Californian condors, the largest land bird in North America, went briefly extinct in the wild, with only 22 individuals living in captivity by 1982.

Today, there are some 300 condors in the wild and another 200 are in captivity.

"We estimated that prior to 10,000 years ago, there were tens of thousands of condors," said lead author Jacqueline Robinson of the University of California, San Francisco.

"The relatively high level of diversity in condors today is a legacy of their high historical population sizes."

Known for their enormous wingspans of up to three meters (9.8 feet), the scavengers can weigh a hefty 12 kilograms (26 pounds) and live up to 60 years.

Robinson said the genome results accord with what is known from the fossil record -- that the ancestors of California condors once ranged across the contiguous United States.

"Over time, the condor's range shrank until they only persisted along the Pacific coast, where they were able to incorporate the carcasses of large marine mammals into their diet," she said.

Condor numbers declined dramatically in the 20th century because of lead poisoning, poaching, and loss of habitat.

The researchers set out to learn more about their long term history by studying their genomes, and comparing that to two close relatives, the Andean condor and the turkey vulture.

They found evidence that all three had long term historic population declines, predating the 20th century -- but attributed the high variation of the California condor genome today to the bird's historical abundance.

Co-author Cynthia Steiner of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance said the team plans to extend their research to learn more about the impacts of inbreeding in the population and how it may have affected genetic diseases, such as abnormal skeletal growth and fourteen-tail feather syndrome (two more than normal).

© 2021 AFP

BAD ZOO

Video of zebras being mistreated during journey to Iranian zoo sparks outrage

Issued on: 13/05/2021 

Left: The director of the Safadasht zoo beats zebras with a stick/ Right: A frightened zebra falls into a gutter after breaking their leg. © Observers

Text by: Alijani Ershad

People in Iran have been shocked and horrified by a video that emerged on social media on May 4, 2021 showing zebras being mistreated during their transfer from a zoo in Bulgaria to one in Tehran, Iran. One of the animals was beaten while another died. According to an animal rights activist, this video highlights the unscrupulous practices of Iranian zoos and the failure of Iranian officials to ensure animal welfare.

The video was filmed on April 24, 2021 in the customs area in Bazargan, located on the border between Iran and Turkey, but it was only posted online 11 days later.

The footage shows several men trying to transfer the zebras from the container they had been travelling in to a container belonging to the Iranian Department of the Environment, a government organisation, so that they could then be transported to a zoo in Tehran.

The footage shows one of the zebras, a female, falling into a gutter and breaking a hoof while the men around her beat her to force her back into a container.

zabra iran © Observers
Video of zebras being mistreated during journey to Iranian zoo sparks outrage (france24.com)
This video shows a zebra being mistreated. It was circulating widely on Telegram on May 4, 2021.

These animals were bound for Safadasht Zoo, which had acquired two female zebras and a male zebra. The idea was to breed them, thus increasing the number of zebras in the country. But the project collapsed when the only male zebra died a day after he arrived at the zoo. He had spent the seven previous days at Bazargan customs.

When the video showing the female zebra being mistreated appeared online, it sparked immediate outrage. Lots of people criticised the men who they said were not qualified to handle this transfer as well as the Safadasht Zoo itself. Others complained that Iranian authorities in general have little empathy for animals.

“They brought three zebras to Iran, they beat two and they killed the last one. That makes them laugh, are they human?” this Twitter user commented.


“An African zebra died after a week here. I’ve managed to survive [en Iran, NDLR] 28 years here".

Blame game between the zoo and Iranian customs officials

Neither officials at Safadasht Zoo nor Iranian customs officials have taken responsibility for the death of one zebra and the mistreatment of another.

After the video appeared online, the official zoo Instagram account started posting insults aimed at the people who had been critical of the footage. Shortly thereafter, they backtracked, claiming that their account had been pirated. Users however, took screengrabs of the original messages.

"A bunch of stupid people are tearing themselves apart because they paid for these animals. I bought them for you, worthless people. All your lives are worth less than what I paid for those animals", reads this message posted in Persan on the Safadasht Zoo Instagram account. © .

On May 5, Alireza Sharafi, the director of the zoo, gave an interview to Iranian state television, claiming that "homeless people” and “agitators” were to blame for beating the zebras. The Iranian police regularly use the word “agitator” to refer to the political opposition. He added that the long wait at Iranian customs had killed the male zebra. He also claimed that the zebra was dead before it arrived at the zoo.

Unfortunately for the zoo director, another video appeared online on May 7 showing him mistreating the zebras.

Alireza Sharifi, the director of Safadasht Zoo, is shown here beating a zebra. Sharifi wears a black shirt. This video was published on Telegram on May 7.

The Safadasht Zoo hasn’t published a single response since the new video emerged.

For their part, Iranian customs officials claimed that zoo staff hadn’t made an official request for the zebra’s transfer and hadn’t filled out the proper paperwork. The zoo denied this.

The Iranian customs’ Department of the Environment announced that they were launching an investigation into the video and the zebra’s cause of death.

“All the zoos in Iran should be closed”
Alireza Shahrdari is an animal rights activist based in Tehran:

“There are special protocols to follow when you are transporting animals. Clearly, in this case, those protocols were not respected. If the proper procedure had been followed, these animals wouldn’t have been abandoned for such a long time at customs and you wouldn’t have seen the behaviour on display in the video.

People need to have specialised training in order to know how to manage animals. These men clearly hadn’t been properly trained. They surrounded the animals, frightened them and then beat them.

But the problem goes much deeper than that. Safadasht Zoo doesn’t meet even the most basic standards. They don’t have qualified staff. They don’t have enough space to house the animals … and, despite all this, the Department of the Environment gave them a license, not just to run the zoo, but also to import animals. This department is also supposed to oversee the transportation of these animals, which it didn’t do, at least not properly.”

“The solution would be to ban zoos from buying new animals, especially breeding animals”

“These zoos have the money to buy animals and, so the Department of the Environment turns a blind eye. It’s all the more shocking because this zoo has killed other animals in the past few years: a giraffe in April 2019 and a tiger in January 2020.

But, in all honesty, there’s not a single zoo in Iran that respects basic standards. The situation is bad enough in Tehran and the surrounding areas but it’s literally horrible in the zoos outside of the capital.

However, shutting these zoos down isn’t really an option. If the government shuts them down, then the animals would need to be transferred to a suitable space, which doesn’t exist right now. So I believe the solution would be to ban zoos from buying new animals, especially breeding animals, and let the animals who are already living in the zoos finish their lives out. If zoos can’t get new animals, that will mean they’ll slowly shut their doors.

Quebec seeks to change Canadian Constitution, make sweeping changes to language laws with new bill

Kate McKenna 
POSTMEDIA

© Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press Quebec Premier François Legault, left, and Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for the French language, have spoken of the need to bolster laws to protect the French language.

The Quebec government has tabled a bill that seeks to change the Canadian Constitution to include a specific clause reiterating the Quebec nation's French-language rights.

That's one part of a sweeping new bill that, if passed, would become the most stringent law to bolster the status of the French language in Quebec since Bill 101 passed in 1977.

The latest bill, called Bill 96, includes the following proposed measures:

Adding clauses to the Canadian Constitution, saying Quebec is a nation and that its official and common language is French.

Applying Bill 101 to businesses with 25-49 employees and federal workplaces.
Forcing all commercial signage that includes non-French-language trademarks to include a "predominant" amount of French on all sign.

Capping the number of students in English CEGEPs at 17.5 per cent of the student population.
Giving access to French language training for those who aren't obligated by law to go to school in French.

Removing a municipality's bilingual status if census data shows that English is the first language for less than 50 per cent of its population, unless the municipality decides to maintain its status by passing a resolution to keep it.

Creating a French Language Ministry and the position of French-language commissioner, as well as bolstering the role of the French-language watchdog, the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF).

 
Provincially appointed judges will not be required to be bilingual.

Requiring that all provincial communication with immigrants is in French, starting six months after they arrive in Quebec.

Simon Jolin-Barrette, the province's minister responsible for the French language, tabled the bill this morning.

Both he and Premier François Legault have expressed concern about the decline of the French language in Quebec.

"For centuries, we've known that defending the French language is essential to the survival and development of our nation," Legault said during a news conference after the bill was tabled.
Invoking the notwithstanding clause

BEATS ALBERTA TO IT

The new bill pre-emptively invokes the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to protect it from legal challenges.

The notwithstanding clause, officially called Section 33, allows provincial or federal authorities to override certain sections of the charter for a period of five years.

"The notwithstanding clause is a legitimate tool that balances between individual rights and collective rights," Legault said.

"We have the right and we have a duty to use the notwithstanding clause when the basis of our existence as a francophone people on the American continent is at stake."

This is the second time Legault's government has used the notwithstanding clause. The CAQ government used it to shield its law barring some civil servants from wearing religious symbols, known as Bill 21, from legal challenges.

Decline of French in Quebec

The proposed legislation comes after a number of studies from Quebec's French-language watchdog, the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF), that found the French language is in decline in the province.

A 2018 study projected that the percentage of Quebecers who speak French at home will drop from 82 per cent in 2011 to about 75 per cent in 2036.

The second study, also completed in 2018, examined language spoken in workplaces.

It found that a quarter of Montreal employees surveyed said they use French and English equally at work, and only 18.7 per cent said they speak French exclusively at work.

Quebec's opposition parties have voiced their support for stronger language reforms.

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, the House leader for Québec solidaire, said the reforms are about protecting and promoting the French language — not picking on anglophone communities.

"The debate around French is not necessarily a divisive debate," Nadeau-Dubois said.

"It can be a unifying debate for Quebec society. I know that a lot of young anglophones in my generation totally agree with the spirit of Bill 101."

Bill 101 a 'watershed' moment

The original law, adopted in 1977 by René Léveque's Parti Québécois government, was a bid to bolster and protect the French language in Quebec.

Bill 101, or the Charter of the French Language, makes French the sole official language of the Quebec government, courts and workplaces.

It includes restrictions on the use of English on outdoor commercial signage and put restrictions on who could study in English in Quebec.

Lorraine O'Donnell, a Quebec historian who runs the Quebec English-Speaking Communities Research Network, said the original Bill 101 has had a lasting impact.

"Bill 101 is seen as a watershed moment in Quebec history," she said. "It has marked the consciousness and the perspective of English-speaking Quebec."

HUMANITARIAN SERVICE 

China has used COVID-19 pandemic to improve its public image: Report

Devika Desai 

The COVID-19 pandemic has struck down the global economies, devastated healthcare systems around the world and destroyed the lives of millions. Surprisingly, it has also helped bolster China’s public image, a new report has found, in a turn of events that authors say could reflect Beijing’s increasing media superiority over national information systems.

© Provided by National Post This picture taken during a government organised media tour shows people visiting the Xibaipo Memorial Hall, southwest of the former site of Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in Pingshan county, some 70 kms from Shijiazhuang, in Hebei province on May 12, 2021, ahead of the 100th year of the party's founding in July.

The report , published by the International Federation of Journalists on Wednesday, found that international reporting of the country throughout the last year has become positive, with some countries even turning to China as a source of information on the coronavirus.

“Beijing’s tactics have been quite successful,” Louisa Lim, the lead author, and a former BBC and NPR China correspondent, told the Guardian .

She and two other authors, Julia Bergin and Johan Lindberg, gathered data from 54 journalist unions in 50 countries and territories across three continents between December 2020 and January 2021. Regions such as Asia-Pacific, Africa, Europe, Latin America, North American and MENA — Middle East and North Africa — participated in the review.

Journalists from Serbia, Italy and Tunisia also consented to roundtable discussions to “build a more detailed picture of the contours of Chinese outreach.”

The data, according to the report, stated that 56 per cent of all countries showed an increasingly positive coverage of China since the start of the pandemic.

Furthermore, 76 per cent of countries reported that China had an established presence in their media reports, up from 64 per cent the previous year.

Countries were also asked to rate how coverage of China had changed since the pandemic on a scale of 1 to 10, which 1 being very negative and 10 being very positive. On average, countries reported an overall rating of 5.38, the report stated, with Europe noticing the most positive change to China’s coverage at a rating of 6.3 and North America noting the opposite with a low rating of 3.5.

“Overall there has been a shift over the last decade from defensive and reactive tactics to a far more assertive and proactive strategy, using content-sharing agreements, journalistic tours to China and memoranda of understanding with international journalism outlets or unions,” Lim said.

The findings, authors write, indicate a more active involvement by Beijing in the global media architecture, such as “training programs and sponsored trips for global journalists, content sharing agreements feeding state-sponsored messages into the global news ecosystems, memoranda of understanding with global journalism unions and increasing ownership of publishing platforms.”

Beijing, they wrote, would “seed positive narratives about China in national media” during the pandemic and used “novel tactics such as disinformation.”

Case studies also reflected a gap between what journalists thought of Chinese information tactics and what was being observed on the ground. Journalists, the report found, often assumed China’s influence on their domestic media is limited and criticized their methods as ‘clumsy and irrelevant’.

They were ‘confident that their own media literacy or political systems would protect the media ecosystem from Chinese encroachment,” the report stated. “But when viewed globally, the results looked very different,” it added.

Last year, Beijing also expelled and froze visa applications for several foreign journalists, which the report said, led to a “vacuum in China coverage, as some countries are left without resident journalists inside China.” As a result, journalists have increasingly relied on state-run Chinese outlets for coverage, leading to more “positive coverage overall.”

“In this way, the information landscape is slowly being massaged in a direction more positive towards Beijing,” authors wrote.

Since the start of the pandemic, China embarked on a “massive program of Covid diplomacy” in which it distributed aid to countries around the world — some journalists have opined that their actions are underlined by a image-focused agenda.

Journalists in Tunisia for example stated that China had constructed a hospital in the province of Sfax so as to “be seen as saviours.”

How much aid a country received from China during the pandemic has had a marked effect on the news coverage of China within that country. Out of all the countries that received aid, 63 per cent stated that China’s fast action against COVID-19 has helped other countries, as has its medical diplomacy.

In the meantime, only 25 per cent of countries who didn’t receive aid felt the same way, with 60 per cent saying that China’s coverup of the initial outbreak is to blame for the pandemic.

Fifty-seven per cent of countries that received the Chinese vaccine noted attempts by China to influence media narratives around the local politics in their own countries, compared to 34 per cent of non-recipient countries.

Recipient countries also stated that they noticed a slightly higher presence of Chinese state-run media on social media.

Maria Repnikova, who directs the Center for Global Information Studies at Georgia State University told the Guardian that she was not surprised by the findings, but added that it’s difficult to distinguish how much the positive coverage is due to the country’s information strategy or their performance during the pandemic, compared to the U.S..

“[Also], the report presents the Chinese state as somewhat monolithic and deliberate. In reality, much of Chinese communication work is decentralised, the quality of reporting and communication varies a lot even across Chinese media agencies, and there is a degree of improvisation that characterises all these efforts,” Repnikova said.

Hua Chunying, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson commented on their media strategy on Tuesday, the Guardian reported, reiterating Beijing’s argument that its voice needs to be heard even if perspectives differ from that of the West.

“The world is diverse and colourful. In the area of media, there should not just be the CNN and the BBC; every country should have their own voice,” she said, adding that China had an obligation to “tell the facts and truths of issues such as COVID-19 … this is the real responsible attitude of a responsible country.”

Tesla may be much worse off in China than anyone thought

By Chris Isidore and Laura He, CNN Business 

Tesla's Chinese sales last month were much weaker than they originally appeared.

© Costfoto/Barcroft Media/Getty Images SHANGHAI, CHINA - 

MAY 7, 2021 - A new energy electric car is seen at Tesla's flagship

 store in Shanghai, China, May 7, 2021. 

Tesla, the maker of new energy electric cars, is reported to have sold out of its production capacity in the second quarter.. (Photo credit should read Costfoto/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

Although Tesla does not report monthly sales or regional revenue, the China Passenger Car Association earlier this week estimated Tesla's Chinese sales were down 27% from March to just under 26,000 cars — much worse than the overall 10% decline in China's electric vehicle sales overall.

But that's not the full story: The trade group later clarified that its April figure includes sales of vehicles built in China but exported to other markets. More than half of the Teslas initially reported as Chinese sales — 14,174 — were exported.

That's potentially a serious problem for Tesla, which opened its second auto assembly plant in Shanghai in late 2019 specifically to serve the crucial Chinese market. China is the world's largest market for overall car sales, and electric vehicles make up a much bigger share of auto sales than in any other major market — about 4.5% in 2020, more than twice the EV share of the US car market last year.

Tesla's sales to Chinese buyers plunged by more than 60% between March and April, according to independent Chinese EV analyst Zhu Yulong. Newly insured Tesla vehicles fell to just under 12,000 vehicles in April from about 34,500 in March, Yulong reported. Those numbers correspond closely to the CPCA's non-export number in April, and total number in March.

Why Tesla sales are plummeting in China

Yulong believes that the drop in sales is due to bad publicity that Tesla has suffered in the Chinese market since the start of April.

Customers protested the company at China's largest auto show in Shanghai last month, complaining about problems with their cars. The company also has five Chinese regulatory agencies investigating the quality of its Shanghai-made Model 3 cars. Chinese media also reported that China's military had banned Tesla vehicles from entering its complexes, expressing concerns that onboard cameras could be used for spying — a charge Tesla CEO Elon Musk has denied.

"Tesla has suffered really strong negative coverage recently. It has damaged its sales," Yulong wrote in a recent analysis.

Tesla critics in the United States were quick to point out that the weaker sales numbers represent a sign of trouble for the automaker's bottom line.

"Keep in mind that the negative state-affiliated media campaign inside China around Tesla's car quality didn't begin until late April," noted Gordon Johnson of GLJ Research, one of the harshest critics of Tesla. "So the impact (whatever that may be) likely won't be seen until May/June 2021 sales figures are out."


Tumbling shares

Tesla shares have been falling this week on worries about its Chinese sales, and on a report from Reuters earlier that Tesla has decided not to buy land next to its Shanghai plant for possible future expansion.

Shares fell 2% on Tuesday when the initial figures from CPCA suggested a 27% drop in Chinese sales, and were down another 4% Wednesday, although they were slightly higher in pre-market trading Thursday.

A spectacular 743% share price gain in 2020 made Tesla to one of the most valuable US companies of any kind and by far the world's most valuable automaker, worth as much as the six largest automakers combined.

But after continuing that run in the first few weeks of 2021, shares topped out in late January after the company reported slightly disappointing fourth quarter earnings. Tesla shares have lost a third of their value through Wednesday's close from their record high close in late January, sending the stock into bear market territory.

Outcry over Brazil bill relaxing environmental rules

Issued on: 13/05/2021 -

This 2020 file photo shows a deforested area in Brazil, where lawmakers were being accused of further threatening the country's disappearing rainforests Florian PLAUCHEUR AFP/File

Rio de Janeiro (AFP)

Environmentalists accused Brazilian lawmakers Thursday of further threatening the country's disappearing rainforests after the lower house passed a bill relaxing environmental regulations for the agriculture and energy sectors.

The bill, which exempts 13 categories of projects from environmental permit requirements, passed late Wednesday in a 300-122 vote, and now goes to the Senate.

It eliminates environmental permitting for "small-scale" farms and projects such as installing low-tension electricity lines and water-treatment facilities.

It also creates a new type of permit that will be granted for roads and power lines in return for a written promise to follow all environmental norms.

"This is an affront to Brazilian society," Luiza Lima, public policy advisor for environmental group Greenpeace, said in a statement.

"This bill will create legal gray areas and increase the destruction of our forests and the existing threats to indigenous peoples and protected lands."

The legislation is one of two controversial bills currently working their way through Brazil's Congress.

The other, in the Senate, would extend an amnesty for farms, mines and logging projects illegally set up on protected lands and grant their owners legal title.

That bill led dozens of European food retailers last week to threaten a boycott of Brazilian agricultural products, saying the measure would fuel the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, a vital resource in the fight against climate change.

President Jair Bolsonaro has presided over a surge in deforestation in Brazil since taking office in 2019.

In the 12 months to August 2020, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased 9.5 percent, destroying an area bigger than Jamaica, according to government data.

Bolsonaro is pushing to open protected lands to agriculture and industry.

Experts and activists accuse him of gutting Brazil's environmental protection programs.

© 2021 AFP