Growing pressure on feds to end ‘homophobic’ ban on blood donation

Saba Aziz GLOBAL NEWS

© Photo by Florent Bardos/ABACAPRESS.COM A bag filled with blood is seen as people come to donate blood at the Paris Opera where the French Blood Establishment, Etablissement Francais du Sang, (EFS) has set up a center for the day. Paris…

Christopher Karas said he felt "powerless" and "worthless" when he first found out he could not donate blood at a clinic in Brampton, Ont. back in 2016 because of restrictions on men who have sex with other men.

That experience prompted Karas, who is gay, to file a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) that same year. Fast forward to 2021, a federal court judge is expected to hear the case next week.

Read more: U.S. relaxes rules for gay blood donors amid coronavirus — will Canada go further?

“Our blood system should not only be safe, but should also be an equitable system which is accessible to all of us,” Karas, 25, told Global News.

Canada’s blood donation eligibility continues to remain a contentious issue, with critics and opposition members pressing the government to deliver on its long-standing promise of reversing the rule.

Under the current policy, a man who has had sex with a man must wait three months after his last sexual encounter before donating blood due to the supposed risk of spreading HIV.

Video: Blood donation recommendations amid COVID-19 vaccinations

As part of a 2015 campaign promise, the Liberal party has vowed to end the ban on blood donations from gay men, which it considers discriminatory. At the same time, Ottawa is attempting to block Karas’ legal challenge in federal court.

Condemning the rule last week, New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh said it “makes absolutely no sense and has no basis in science.”

“Why does the prime minister continue to campaign to remove the blood ban yet right now is defending the blood ban in court?” Singh asked during question period in the House of Commons on May 13.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland responded, saying, “Our government absolutely shares those concerns, at the same time we respect the independence of Canadian institutions, especially when it comes to medical and scientific issues.”


 VIDEO "Singh questions Trudeau’s support to end limits on blood donations from gay men"

In 2019, Health Canada approved Canadian Blood Services’ (CBS) request to reduce the blood donation waiting period for men who have sex with men from one year to three months. Non-profit CBS operates as Canada’s blood authority and is independent from the Canadian government, but it is ultimately up to the feds to authorize changes in donation practices.

The deferral period has been shortened three times over the past eight years. Prior to 2013, there was a lifetime ban.

Read more: Trudeau promises ‘change’ to blood donation rules as government fights gay activist in court

But advocates say the focus should not be on identity or the timeline but on people’s behaviour -- regardless of their background or sexual orientation.

“It’s unreasonable to say stop having sex for three months to donate blood,” said OmiSoore Dryden, associate professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at Dalhousie University.

“They don't say that for heterosexual people who have many partners. They actually don’t ask heterosexual people how many partners they've had in the last three months and whether or not they used any kind of safer sex practices,” said Dryden, who is Black and identifies as a lesbian.

In a recent letter dated May 11 to Health Minister Patty Hajdu, Dryden said CBS should be held accountable for asking “racially stigmatizing questions” relating to Africa that were in effect for almost 20 years before being removed from the donor questionnaire in 2018.

Video: First-time blood donation experience

“Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec should ask all donors the same questions, and those questions should be based on specific high-risk sexual behaviours, not who you love or what your gender identity is,” said Unifor, a Canadian private-sector union which has been campaigning for an end to the blood ban since 2018, in a statement on its website.

Canadian Blood Services tests all donated blood for diseases, including HIV, before the blood is used in a transfusion.

According to the most recent data from Health Canada, gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men represented 49.5 per cent of all new HIV infections in 2018, despite representing approximately three-to-four per cent of the Canadian adult male population.

Read more: Conservative MP pushes health minister to end limits on blood donations from gay men

For any changes to the donor eligibility criteria to be approved by Health Canada, CBS says it has to provide evidence that the changes are safe.

“Canadian Blood Services is proactively engaged in the evidence-based evolution of this donor deferral policy,” the agency told Global News in an emailed statement.

“We know it’s important. Canadian Blood Services’ end goal is to implement behaviour-based screening for all donors rather than a waiting period for men who have sex with men,” CBS said.

A spokesperson for Hajdu said the health ministry continues to encourage CBS and Héma-Québec, Quebec’s blood operator, to move toward a behaviour-based model.

"We eagerly await a request from Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec to eliminate the ban, so that this discriminatory policy can come to an end," Aisling MacKnight told Global News in an emailed statement.

VIDEO "Maritimers donate blood in honour of Canadian veterans"

Most recently, in mid-May, CBS made a submission to Health Canada for a pilot project to establish alternative screening and collection processes that would enable men who have sex with men to donate source plasma. Health Canada aims to review the submission within 90 days.

According to Unifor, the current policy ignores scientific innovation in HIV and hepatitis C testing since the 1980s, that anyone can engage in high-risk sexual behaviours and that people exposed through heterosexual sex are most likely to be unaware of their HIV infection.

Read more: Canadian Blood Services honours top volunteer in Atlantic Canada

Some worldwide examples point in favour of eliminating the ban.

Italy dropped its ban in 2001, moving instead to a person-by-person risk assessment, and has not seen a significant increase in transfusion-related HIV transmission since the shift.

Portugal followed suit in 2010, as did Mexico in 2012. Instead of a ban, they’ve adopted risk-based deferrals with questions targeting high-risk sexual exposure.

Canada's eligibility criteria is “too broad,” said Nathan Lachowsky, associate professor at the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria. It needs to focus on the specific risk practices that lead to someone acquiring HIV, he said.

“The current policy excludes all men for any kind of sex from donating blood and what we do know from decades of research is that that is too broad,” he told Global News.

Video: Ontario man fights restrictions on gay, bisexual men donating blood

More than 90 per cent of men who have sex with men would donate blood if they were eligible, according to a 2019 poll by Community-Based Research Centre (CBRC).

In partnership with Héma-Québec, and with funding from Health Canada, CBS is supporting 19 research projects investigating various aspects of blood and plasma donors’ eligibility criteria and screening process.

Lachowsky believes there is enough data to be able to implement a change in policy now.

“This is a voluntary blood system, and so we need people to feel excited and invited to donate blood.”

-- With files from Global News' Sean Previl

Counterpoint: Canadians deserve to know what it’s like on the ground in Gaza
Special to National Post 

As an aid worker and a Palestinian, my job over the last ten years has been implementing programs on behalf of Islamic Relief in Gaza — from delivering basic aid such as water and medical supplies to providing education and psycho-social support programs for children.

© Provided by National Post A Palestinian child stands amidst the rubble of buildings, destroyed by Israeli strikes, in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip on May 21, 2021.

We receive strong support for the work we do from donors in Canada, and I think Canadians should know how it feels to be living in Gaza at the moment. As civilians, media offices and religious sites are attacked with impunity by a state Canada’s prime minister has called an ally, I believe that Canadians deserve to learn more.

Palestinians have been living under occupation for decades; our people’s homes have been destroyed in Gaza and land taken from us in the West Bank . Our children have been killed with little outrage or attention from the international community — including Canada. The political negotiations that have taken place have failed to address these grave violations of Palestinians’ basic, internationally agreed-upon human rights.

The last few days have been absolutely terrifying. The recent attacks by Israeli forces aren’t new, but this time they are the most intense and violent I’ve ever seen. We are living in fear, knowing any moment now our homes could be blown up with us inside. Mostly, there are no sirens, no warnings — we just hear the planes fly overhead and the bombs drop. Even if we wanted to flee we have nowhere safe to go.

The sound of screaming is everywhere. Houses are shaking from the bombardment. People are afraid and living in darkness because we have no power. Most people here do not have shelters or anywhere to go when the strikes start. Like many other children, my son has spent the last few nights experiencing panic attacks and unable to sleep because of the bombs.

My son is not alone — a whole generation has been psychologically affected by the years of blockade and bombing, knowing nothing but life under a brutal siege.

Before the attacks, Gaza was already on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. Due to the 14-year blockade imposed by regional governments that they claim is necessary to cripple Palestinian ruling party Hamas, the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza is severely restricted. Eighty per cent of people here rely on international aid.

The violence must end, but we must understand this escalation is a symptom of the injustice of the occupation and the blockade that blights the lives of the people of Gaza on a daily basis. We want the world to address the root causes, not just the symptoms.

Gaza has yet to recover from the humanitarian disasters caused by repeated Israeli offensives over the past decade. Israel’s last major offensive in 2014 resulted in the deaths of over 2000 Palestinians — the majority civilians — including more than 500 children.

In 2012, the United Nations warned the international community that Gaza might not be habitable by 2020 if the blockade is not lifted. With every Israeli military operation, the Gaza Strip becomes more and more uninhabitable.

Israel claims it is targeting Hamas, but in the most recent attacks, over 200 Palestinians have been killed so far, of which 64 have been children. More than 1600 are already injured. Gaza hospitals, already struggling with the spread of COVID, are finding it hard to cope. As I write this, more than 50 schools have been damaged , and on Tuesday, our only Covid testing lab was bombed and damaged.

You may think that civilians are not the targets, but residential buildings are being targeted, along with buildings hosting international media outlets like the Associated Press and Al Jazeera. Sometimes civilians are warned to evacuate and escape, but other times bombs are dropped at night as people sleep.

Even if a building is warned to vacate, it is impossible to find a safe haven from an impending attack. Anyone who has been to the Gaza Strip would know that the city is dense, and there is nowhere to run to escape the bombs. The sheer density of Gaza means that any Israeli attack will result in the indiscriminate and disproportionate killing of civilians and devastation of neighbouring apartments and businesses.

Since the onslaught of Israel’s attacks, Islamic Relief Canada has launched an emergency appeal to provide humanitarian relief for Palestinians on the ground. As many Palestinians seek shelter in UN schools or with relatives, my team in Gaza will be procuring and distributing bedding and other urgent essential items to help displaced individuals.

A ceasefire alone will not be enough to prevent violence escalating again in future. The world must now seize this moment to kickstart a process that truly addresses the root causes of the crisis. I urge Canada and the rest of the international community to take a stand against the injustices taking place in Gaza, once and for all.

National Post

Muneeb Abu-Ghazaleh is the country director for Islamic Relief Gaza.

VIDEO & NEWS ARTICLE

Report: Canada's methane emissions higher 

than estimated

Duration: 01:57 

Researchers in Nova Scotia say Canada's climate strategy may be based on false science, and that methane emissions are actually much higher than what's estimated. Ross Lord explains the miscalculation, and what it means for this country.

Canada not getting an accurate account of methane emissions

By Natasha Bulowski | News, Energy | May 17th 2021

#1572 of 1578 articles from the Special Report:

Race Against Climate Change

A researcher records methane emission measurements at an oil and gas site in Saskatchewan in 2015. Photo by FluxLab

Methane emissions from upstream oil and gas production are significantly underestimated in Canada, according to a recently published study, confirming what researchers have been saying for years.

“We're finding that (methane) emissions are at least 1.5 times higher than what's currently being reported in official inventory reports,” said Katlyn MacKay, lead author of the study.

Published in Nature, the study measured methane emissions at 6,650 sites across six major oil and gas producing regions in Canada to determine an inventory estimate for Canada’s upstream oil and gas sector.

The emissions associated with upstream oil and gas production include all infrastructure tied to searching for crude oil and natural gas fields, drilling exploratory wells, and operator wells to extract the oil and gas.

Over six years, researchers conducted surveys of air composition at oil and gas sites and measured gas concentrations using laser spectrometers to gather the data required to make their estimates.

“(The findings) means we need to act more urgently,” said Dale Marshall of Environmental Defence.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that traps over 70 times more heat over a 20-year period than an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide, and a recent UN report highlighted the importance of curbing methane emissions to slow the rate of global warming.

Researchers drove to 6,650 oil and gas sites to measure methane emissions in six major oil and gas producing regions based in Alberta, B.C., and Saskatchewan. Photo provided by FluxLab

Many studies have arrived at the same conclusion, but this latest piece of evidence is even stronger, he said.

“We're finding that (methane) emissions are at least 1.5 times higher than what's currently being reported in official inventory reports,” says @katlyn_mackay, lead author of a new study on methane emissions in the oil and gas sector.

“What makes it important is that it's the most comprehensive assessment of different oil and gas sites in Canada,” said Marshall.

For Canada to do its part by reducing emissions, thorough studies like this are invaluable, said Doug Worthy, a climate scientist at Environment Canada who was not involved in the study.

“In order to reduce our emissions, we have to be able to monitor the emissions,” said Worthy.

Because the study establishes such a strong baseline of measurements, Worthy said researchers will be able to go back in five-plus years and repeat the experiment to see whether emissions reductions are being achieved.

He also said the research can help us find sites emitting large amounts of methane and deal with these “super emitters.”

The majority of total emissions originate from a small fraction of sites, according to the study, but the national inventory doesn’t take this into account. Taking action at a small number of high-emitting sites would make significant reductions, Worthy and MacKay said.

Because of methane’s potency, it’s important to make sure the national inventory estimates are accurate, said Tom Green of the David Suzuki Foundation.

He said tackling methane emissions in the oil and gas sector is some o climate mitigation work we can do.f the cheapest

“Canada has committed to reduce its emissions, and if we don't really know what we're emitting, how can you track whether the regulations are succeeding at reducing them?” said Green.

Because methane is removed from the atmosphere quicker than carbon dioxide, if we started reducing methane today, we would see the benefits in the near future, said MacKay.

“Given the urgency of the climate crisis … reducing methane is not only the best bang for our buck, but it's our best chance at seeing the results that we need to see within the next decade,” she said.

MacKay’s study also proved that stringent regulations can successfully reduce emissions

.

The study found certain regions, like Lloydminster, had higher methane emissions because certain processes associated with extracting heavy oil require more frequent venting of gas. Photo provided by FluxLab

In Peace River, Alberta, odour complaints prompted special regulations that eliminated the venting of gas in 2017, and from 2016 to 2018, emissions in that region decreased nearly threefold.

Even though the regulations were put in place to protect human health, not to target methane, they worked.

In 2016, Canada committed to reducing methane emissions by 40 to 45 per cent below 2012 levels by 2025, but modelling from the federal government shows federal methane regulations will only achieve a 29 per cent reduction.

The federal government also approved equivalency agreements from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and B.C. in 2020 — none of which would achieve 40 to 45 per cent reductions.

Regulations need to be prescriptive and mandate companies to look for leaks and repair or replace faulty equipment, as opposed to just requiring companies to report emissions and explain the steps taken to reduce them, said Marshall.

He said Environmental Defence continues to urge the federal government to strengthen its regulations and insist the provinces do as well.

“The federal government needs to update the inventory so that it better reflects the science,” said Marshall.

At the end of 2021, Environmental Defence expects the government to produce a report detailing emission reduction progress and then decide whether they will need to change tack.

Natasha Bulowski / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada's National Observer

Updates and corrections | May 17, 2021, 

This story has been corrected to state Peace River is in Alberta.

Community involvement key to safe, reclaimable coal mines: industry scientists

Coal mines can be environmentally safe and can become useful, enjoyable landscapes when the seam runs out, say scientists working with industry. 

BULLSHIT THESE ARE NOT LANDFILLS COVERED UP AND MADE INTO GOLF COURSES

© Provided by The Canadian Press

But they admit that there are risks and costs, and urge communities and miners to work together from the start to understand and minimize them.

"There's a lot of mitigative measures you can take when you're designing a mine," said Guy Gilron, a biologist and toxicologist who has worked on many mine projects, including some proposed for Alberta's Rocky Mountains.

Gord McKenna, a Calgary-based geotechnical engineer, said mines can become attractive and useful landscapes — as long as people don't expect them to look the same as they did before.

"We can make landscapes that are pretty good," he said. "It's not always put back to the same land uses. (But) if we don't over-promise, I think mines can meet what they set out to do."

The United Conservative government is looking to increase surface coal mining on the foothills and summits of the Rocky Mountains. Plans from several companies covering tens of thousands of hectares have caused widespread concern over potential contamination and destruction of much-loved landscapes.

Gilron said modern mines are designed to reduce the release of contaminants such as selenium, which is toxic in excess and is released as it oxidizes from waste rock. Gilron said less is released if that rock is covered.

"If you cover that waste rock with water or with backfill — the engineers use a special paste to cement it back in place — you reduce the amount of selenium that goes into water."

Bacteria in the water then reduce the selenium to a form that plants and animals can't absorb, Gilron said.

He points to at least six examples of where so-called end-pit lakes have been used successfully to bring selenium well below dangerous levels. Sphinx Lake, near Hinton, Alta., is an example of an artificial lake used to treat selenium, he said.

Golder Associates, an international environmental consultancy, published a 2020 report on selenium reduction technology in 30 locations across North America.

"Various industry sectors are investing in selenium treatment technology and making progress in performance," it said. "Some technologies have multiple successful full-scale installations."

The report includes caveats.

"Selenium treatment technologies have not reached full maturity and should still be regarded as developmental," it says.

It also suggests that Canadian coal mines that contain high levels of selenium are "challenging" to mitigate.

Gilron said it can be done.

"You don't see it as much of an issue in new mines where they've had a chance to engineer and treat waste rock in a way to avoid the selenium getting into water bodies."

McKenna said that part of the problem in reclamation is that mining companies are pressured during the regulatory process to promise more than they can actually deliver.

"Right now, the mines promise the world — and the regulators require them to promise the world — to get their first permit. They promise what is possible rather than what is deliverable."

It's crucial to make a distinction between restoration and reclamation, he said.

"You can never put all the dirt back in the hole again.

"We ought not to be promising restoration. We ought to be promising pretty good reclamation."

People also need to understand that a reclaimed coal mine will have to be monitored for many decades to ensure it's stable and behaving as desired.

"To think we're going to build these landscapes (that) cover many square kilometres, we're going to get that perfect the first time and after 10, 20 years we can walk away, kind of makes no sense. We're going to manage these lands for a long, long time."

McKenna said the key to building a mine that can be satisfactorily reclaimed is consultation with communities and other users right from the start.

"They're part of the decision-making, which is tough for mines to give up. We've got to stop building these landscapes for the local people and start building them with the local people."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2021.

— Follow at @row 1960 on Twitter

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

MOHAWK FEDERATION COVERS ONT. QUE & NY

Indigenous land defenders demonstrate against real estate development in Kanesatake, Que.

Duration: 02:17 

A demonstration was held on Saturday on the Mohawk territory of Kanesatake, Que., where residents are calling on authorities to stop a real estate development they say is on their ancestral land. Global's Dan Spector reports

 Global News

Ford to make EV batteries in U.S. with South Korea innovation firm

Ford CEO Jim Farley compared the battery venture to the building of engines and powertrain components in the early 1900s and said it will safeguard against future shortages. File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI | License Photo

May 20 (UPI) -- Ford announced on Thursday that it will partner with South Korean battery maker SK Innovation to manufacture electric vehicle batteries in the United States.

The joint venture will be called BlueOvalSK and production is expected to begin in a few years.


"It's a key part of our plan to vertically integrate key capabilities that will differentiate Ford far into the future," said Ford President and CEO Jim Farley said in a statement.

"We will not cede our future to anyone else."
RELATED Ford unveils electric F-150 as Biden tours electric plant



Farley compared the production of battery cells to the building of engines and powertrain components in the early 1900s, adding that it will safeguard against future shortages.

During the unveiling of Ford's new electric F-150 Lightning pickup on Wednesday, Farley said the company has to "in-source" now as the industry changes. President Joe Biden got a look at the pickup a day early during a visit to Ford's plant in Dearborn, Mich. -- and even took it for a spin.

Biden's administration is pushing to get more electric vehicles on American roads. The electric F-150 is expected to go on sale in mid-2022.
RELATED First fully electric Lamborghini coming by 2030, automaker says

Biden has proposed spending $174 billion to support electric vehicle manufacturing as part of his American Jobs Plan.

"Look, the future of the auto industry is electric," Biden said during his trip to Dearborn. "There's no turning back. The only question is whether we'll lead the race or fall behind."

The BlueOvalSK venture is subject to regulatory approval.

RELATED In first EV report, IEA says electric vehicles will reach 145M by end of 2020s

"Ford is one of the most active players in vehicle electrification today," said SK Innovation CEO and President Kim Jun in Thursday's announcement.

SK Innovation, headquartered in Seoul, has manufactured mid- to large-size electric vehicle batteries since 1991. It also operates a battery plant in Georgia.

Korea's top shipper, HMM, reports record profits amid COVID-19

By Kang Hye-young & Kim Tae-gyu, UPI News Korea

A container vessel of South Korea’s top shipper HMM is displayed. Global shippers have booked record profits during the first quarter of this year thanks to surging cargo demand amid the pandemic. Photo courtesy of HMM


SEOUL, May 19 (UPI) -- Soaring shipping demands amid the COVID-19 pandemic have helped South Korea's top shipper, HMM, rack up record profits during the first three months of 2021.

HMM, formerly known as Hyundai Merchant Marine, announced Friday that its first-quarter operating profit amounted to $905 million -- exceeding its full-year 2020 profit of $871 million.

It is the highest quarterly performance HMM has achieved since its establishment in 1976. The company, which is owned by state-run Korea Development Bank, also booked first-quarter sales of $2.1 billion, up 85 percent from a year before.

During the January-March period, HMM's container-handling volumes rose 6.7 percent year on year thanks to strong shipping demand.

HMM has proactively tried to clear a backlog of exports out of South Korea, which is home to big exporters such as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor. The container line said it had added 24 extra-loader vessels to deal with increased shipping demand.

HMM competitors also chalked up solid performances this year as shipping demands across the world have stirred a global surge in freight rates.

Maersk's net profit surged to $2.7 billion, up from $197 million in 2020. Its shipping volume rose 5.7 percent.

The Danish firm is the world's leading container ship operator.

"Thanks to increased cargo demand, global shippers logged huge profits in the first quarter. Their bottom lines are expected to stay strong throughout this year," Korea Investment & Securities analyst Choi Go-woon told UPI News Korea.

"In particular, the Suez Canal fiasco will boost profitability of shippers in the second quarter," he said.

RELATED LG strives to build general-purpose AI

The Suez Canal was blocked during late March and early April when a huge container ship was we

The Suez Canal was blocked during late March and early April when a huge container ship was wedged, disrupting the global supply chain and raising freight rates.

In contrast, KTB Investment & Securities' Lee Han-joon said it remains to be seen whether the bullish run of global shippers will continue.

"The cargo fares jumped in an unprecedented way because of the rising demand. But there are some signs that the supply shortage is easing," Lee said.

HMM lost 1.95 percent in the South Korean stock exchange on Monday.dged, disrupting the global supply chain and raising freight rates.

In contrast, KTB Investment & Securities' Lee Han-joon said it remains to be seen whether the bullish run of global shippers will continue.

"The cargo fares jumped in an unprecedented way because of the rising demand. But there are some signs that the supply shortage is easing," Lee said.

HMM lost 1.95 percent in the South Korean stock exchange on Monday.

EMOTIONAL PLAGUE=FASCISM

Study: Online support for extremist groups Boogaloo, IS evolved in similar ways


A mathematical equation can help explain how extremist movements evolve on the Internet, and researchers say it could help to limit how groups as diverse as the Boogaloos and IS grow. Photo by Neil Johnson/George Washington University

May 19 (UPI) -- New analysis suggests online support for extremists groups, including the Boogaloos and the Islamic State, or IS, emerges and evolves in similar ways.

For the study, published Wednesday in the journal Scientific Reports, scientists looked at the mathematical patterns that defined early support for the Boogaloos, a far right group implicated in the storming of the U.S. Capitol in January.

Scientists found online support for the Boogaloos looked like a lot like the emergence of IS.

"This study helps provide a better understanding of the emergence of extremist movements in the U.S. and worldwide," lead author Neil Johnson, professor of physics at George Washington University, said in a news release.

RELATED Researchers offer nuanced method of studying climate-society interactions

"By identifying hidden common patterns in what seem to be completely unrelated movements, topped with a rigorous mathematical description of how they develop, our findings could help social media platforms disrupt the growth of such extremist groups," Johnson said.

The Boogaloos are an extremist libertarian group that describes itself as a "militia." The anti-government group claims to be preparing for a civil war. Factions of the movement also subscribe to white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideology.

By contrast, members of IS, which has been categorized as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government, advocate for a radicalized form of Islamic theocracy. The group is responsible for dozens of violent terrorist attacks across the globe.

RELATED For more equitable cities, researchers say to keep social networks intact

Despite their differences in ideology and origins, the evolution of online support for the two groups followed the same shockwave mathematical equation.

Because online extremism can manifest itself in real world violence, some policy makers suggest more must be done to curb the growth of extremist groups on social media platforms.

Traditionally, social media companies have tried to limit the growth of extremist groups through aggressive content moderation and the promotion of users providing counter messaging, but the authors of the latest study suggest these methods have significant limitations.

RELATED Technology, social media help law enforcement track down Capitol rioters

The good news, researchers say, is that because the growth of online extremism follows uniform patterns, a one-size-fits-most approach -- if well-designed -- could be used to thwart all sorts of extremist groups.

"One key aspect we identified is how these extremist groups assemble and combine into communities, a quality we call their 'collective chemistry'," said study co-author Yonatan Lupu, an associate professor of political science at George Washington.

"Despite the sociological and ideological differences in these groups, they share a similar collective chemistry in terms of how communities grow. This knowledge is key to identifying how to slow them down or even prevent them from forming in the first place," Lupu said.

upi.com/7097155

 

Lego unveils 'Everyone is Awesome' 

set to celebrate Pride Month 

Lego Vice President of Design Matt Ashton shows the LGBTQ-themed set. Photo courtesy Lego

May 20 (UPI) -- Toymaker Lego announced Thursday that it will start selling its first LGBTQ-themed set next month, in recognition of Pride Month.

The 11-figure set, called "Everyone is Awesome," was inspired by the rainbow flag and Lego bodies that include different hairstyles and shapes.

The set will go on sale June 1.

"I wanted to create a model that symbolizes inclusivity and celebrates everyone, no matter how they identify or who they love," Lego Vice President of Design Matthew Ashton said in a statement. "Everyone is unique, and with a little more love, acceptance and understanding in the world, we can all feel more free to be our true Awesome selves.

"This model shows that we care and that we truly believe 'Everyone is awesome.'"

We're super excited to reveal our new set - LEGO Everyone is Awesome! Because we celebrate every LEGO builder ❤️ #LEGO #EveryoneIsAwesome pic.twitter.com/J7KSz3zWik— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) May 20, 2021

The figures are part of a 346-piece model and will be made available on Lego's website and Lego-branded stores.

"I am fortunate to be a part of a proud, supportive and passionate community of colleagues and fans," Ashton added. "We share a love for creativity and self-expression through Lego bricks and this set is a way to show my gratitude."

Ashton has developed multiple sets over his 20 years at the company and was executive producer of The Lego Movie in 2014.

Cyclist dive-bombed by hawk on California road



May 21 (UPI) -- A California cyclist captured video of his close encounter with a hawk that dive-bombed at his head while he was riding.

Kevin Mahan, chief photographer for KSEE-TV/KGPE-TV, said he was riding near Temperance Avenue and Highway 180 in Clovis when he noticed some birds overhead.

"As I'm going, I notice there's a few birds in the air, and I don't think much of it, I just put my head down and keep pedaling," Mahan told the station. "All of a sudden, I hear a 'tic tic.'"

Mahan's helmet camera captured the hawk coming within inches of him, appearing to try to grab the camera from the top of his head.

"I didn't realize how big and sharp those were until I did the screengrab," Mahan said. "I was like, 'Holy cow, that could have been a lot worse than it was.'"

Mahan described the incident as a "hawkward encounter" in a YouTube post.

Mahan said members of local cycling groups on social media told him they had encountered the same bird in the same area. He said one friend reported being dive-bombed by the hawk four times.