U.N. Report: Record number of people were displaced in 2020


A Yemeni woman leads a donkey transporting her daughter and food aid provided by Mona Relief Yemen in Bani Matar, Yemen on Thursday in the middle of an ongoing civil war. A new United Nations report Friday that a record number of people around the world were displaced in 2020, mostly because of violence. Photo by Yahya Arhab/EPA-EFE

June 18 (UPI) -- The United Nations said Friday that a record number of people around the world were forcibly displaced by the end of last year because of ongoing conflicts and new violence.

The report, released by UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, said 82.4 million people were displaced. The record number is a significant jump from 2012 when 41 million were displaced and 79.5 million in 2019.

"Many also fled from climate-related emergencies such as floods and droughts, with no guarantee of a quick return," the report said. "As displacement grew, so did the number of people of concern to UNHCR, with almost 92 million refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced, stateless, recent returnees and host communities."

The report said 110 countries made asylum possible by the end of 2020 even though COVID-related border restrictions were in place.

RELATED U.N. discloses thousands of files related to North Korea human rights abuses

"As the COVID-19 crisis unfolded, governments acted rapidly to contain the spread of the virus," the report said. "Within a few short months, 100 countries had closed their borders, putting displaced populations under increasing stress and at growing risk. And yet, in a sign of solidarity and respect for human rights, some border restrictions were eased for people fleeing conflict and persecution."

The U.N. report said many people of concern to UNHCR were in areas with struggling health systems, limited COVID-19 testing and treatment and no provision for isolation or quarantine.

"UNHCR moved rapidly to build or rehabilitate hospital facilities and to bolster the health response while urging governments to bring displaced people into their COVID-19 response," the report said. "Although much of global transport was at a standstill, UNHCR sent protective equipment, rapid test kits and other critical supplies worth $186.1 million."

The report said the coronavirus added to the distress of people who were forced to flee their homes, complicating how governments and social service agencies dealt with them.

B.C. to begin DRIPA-based negotiations with Tahltan First Nation on two northwest mining projects

The province of B.C is set to negotiate its first consent-based decision making agreement based on Section 7 of the Declaration of the Rights Of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) with Tahltan First Nation.

The province is holding talks with the Tahltan Central Government (TCG) – the political arm of the Tahltan First Nation – mining companies and stakeholders to reach an agreement related to environmental assessment approvals for two mining projects in Tahltan Territory.

These include the expansion of the Red Chris copper and gold mine located 80 kilometres south of Dease Lake and operated by Australian company Newcrest Red Chris Mining Ltd., and the Eskay Creek Mine operated by Skeena Resources Ltd.

The Tahltan Nation is also an investor in Skeena Resources and has developed a strong relationship with Newcrest Red Chris Mining Ltd. Both projects represent up to $3.3 billion in potential investment.

The Red Chris JV (Newcrest Red Chris Mining Ltd.) and Eskay Creek Revitalization Project (Skeena Resources) mining projects in the core Territory of the Tahltan Nation represent up to $3.3 billion in potential investment.

The provincial government’s move to table negotiations with TCG and mining stakeholders came a week after both governments signed a Shared Prosperity Agreement to achieve long-term land-use predictability on June 10. As part of this agreement, the province committed $20 million to TCG to support economic growth and reconciliation.

READ MORE: Tahltan Nation, B.C. government sign agreement for shared decision-making

Welcoming the agreement, TCG president Chad Norman Day said that it provides “an opportunity to meaningfully advance reconciliation grounded in the principles of respect and recognition of Tahltan rights and title.”

“The ongoing evolution and growth of the Tahltan Nation shows outside governments, industry and the world how working alongside the Tahltan Nation as true partners can help secure certainty, economic benefits and pride for everyone involved,” said Day.

Spread across 95,933 square kilometres of northwestern British Columbia Tahltan territory covers 11 per cent of the province and includes 70 per cent of B.C.’s resource rich ‘golden triangle’.

Along with Newcrest and Skeena Resources other stakeholders such as Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine, Mining Association of British Columbia, Association for Mineral Exploration and Business Council of British Columbia will also be part of the consultation.

The discussions are scheduled to take place under the framework of Section 7 of the DRIPA Act– which B.C. adopted in 2019– which sets out provisions for negotiating consent-based decision making agreements for the the purposes of reconciliation.

“If we are successful, the agreement would bring greater clarity in decision-making and forge a partnership with the Tahltan Nation on two projects. It would also support Tahltan self-government and promote significant economic development in the region,” said Murray Rankin, B.C.’s Indigenous Relations & Reconciliation Minister.

Binny Paul, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Terrace Standard

Scientists unravel shocking new 'chocolate' frog in New Guinea
Nathan Howes 

The Weather Network

Embedded content: https://players.brightcove.net/1942203455001/B1CSR9sVf_default/index.html?videoId=6256695700001

A new surprising discovery of a chocolate-coloured frog in the Southern Hemisphere is shedding light on the prehistoric links between Australia and New Guinea.

Because of its colouring, the chocolate moniker was picked -- and stuck -- for the new Litoria mira species since tree frogs are generally known for their green skin, according to the study's lead author Dr. Paul Oliver, of the Centre for Planetary Health and Food Security and Queensland Museum.

SEE ALSO: B.C.'s most endangered amphibians get new lease on life

“The closest known relative of Litoria mira is the Australian green tree frog. The two species look similar except one is usually green, while the new species usually has a lovely chocolate colouring,” said Oliver, in a Griffith University news release.

© Provided by The Weather NetworkChocolate frog (Litoria mira) was a strange finding for researchers. (Steve Richards/South Australian Museum)

The new Litoria frog species was named Mira, which means surprised or strange in Latin, Oliver said, since it was a shocking discovery to stumble upon an "overlooked relative" of Australia’s well-known and common green tree living in the lowland rainforests of New Guinea.

ANCIENT CONNECTION BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND NEW GUINEA

The news release stated that Australia and New Guinea were connected by land for much of the late Tertiary geologic period (2.6 million years ago) and share many of the same living elements. New Guinea is now dominated by rainforest, while northern Australia is controlled by savannah.

“Resolving the biotic interchange between these two regions is critical to understanding how the rainforest and savannah habitat types have the expanded and contracted over time of both,” Oliver said.

According to Oliver, the research estimates a connection between the two frog species can go as far back as the Pliocene Epoch (5.3 to 2.6 million years ago) across the lowland tropical habitats of northern Australia and New Guinea.

© Provided by The Weather Network

Chocolate frog. (Steve Richards/South Australian Museum)

“These results emphasize that the extent and connectivity of lowland rainforest, and savannah environments across northern Australia and southern New Guinea, and the profound shifts the region has undergone since the late Pliocene," said Oliver.

Steve Richards, who co-authored the paper and is from the South Australian Museum, said researchers believe the species is likely widespread in New Guinea.

“Because the frog lives in very hot, swampy areas with lots of crocodiles, all these things discourage exploration,” said Richards, in the release.

Full details of the findings can be found in a new paper published in the Australian Journal of Zoology.

Thumbnail courtesy of Steve Richards/South Australian Museum

A CANADIAN TRADITION

Lumberjack rescues crows from felled tree, teaches them to log roll

June 18 (UPI) -- A Nova Scotia lumberjack who rescued three young crows from a felled tree said the birds are now thriving -- and he's taught them how to log roll.

Darren Hudson of Barrington said he was on a job in early June when he felled a tree and discovered he had disturbed the nest of three young crows.

"When it came crashing to the ground these guys were sitting there looking up at me and I was like 'Oh my gosh, I can't believe this,'" Hudson told SaltWire.

He put the crows in a box and left them in a nearby open field, but there was no sign of the birds' parents.

"I kept them in a box wide open in the field I was working on that day, but the parents weren't around. And so I took them home that night," Hudson told Global News.

The lumberjack said he tried again the next day, but there was no sign of the mother and father crow, so he took it on himself to finish raising the birds to adulthood.

"We're just good buddies. We've really bonded, maybe spiritually," he said.

One of the crows has a foot injury and is currently living with some friends who have experience with animal rehabilitation, but the other two have become Hudson's near-constant companions.

Hudson, who has been chronicling his life with the crows on YouTube, said he has now taught the birds how to log roll.

"Of course, they have good balance, but these guys really took to it. It was no problem for them to jump on the log and they stayed right there, and I rolled that log back and forth and they really enjoyed it," he said.

Hudson said they showed real skill at the sport.

"They're not as fast as a dog but they can stay right up there and if they start to get too far back on the log, they flap their wings and it brings them right on top again so they might have got their tail feathers wet, but I couldn't dunk them," Hudson said.

ALL FATHER DAY

ALL FATHER--ODIN--WOTAN

 

 

HAPPY SOLSTICE 

SOL INVICTUS

NASA, USPS team up to create stunning sun stamps

The stamps showcase a decade of sun-watching from space

The U.S. Postal Service has issued a new set of stamps celebrating 10 years of sun-watching from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). 

On June 18, the stamps were presented during a ceremony at the Greenbelt Main Post Office in Maryland, according to a Friday NASA release.

"It’s such a pleasure to see these gorgeous stamps," Dr. Nicky Fox, Division Director for NASA’s Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., said in the announcement. "I look at each of these pictures from the Solar Dynamics Observatory and am reminded of how they help us learn more about the sun and the way its constantly changing atmosphere can affect Earth and the planets. I’m pleased that this imagery will be shared by the Postal Service with the whole country."

The sun, the heart of the solar system, may be almost 93 million miles from the Earth, but in SDO photos it appears in stunning detail.

The mission was first launched in February of 2010, providing researchers with a better understanding of how solar activity is created and impacts space weather in addition to obtaining critical measurements of the star's interior, atmosphere, magnetic field and energy output.

The dark area capping the northern polar region of the Sun is a coronal hole, a magnetically open area on the Sun from which high-speed solar wind escapes into space. Such high-speed solar wind streams can spark magnificent auroral displays on Earth when they collide with our planet’s magnetic field. These images were captured May 17-19, 2016, and the image on the stamp is from May 17. The images show the Sun in 211 Angstrom light, a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. This type of light is invisible to our eyes and is absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere, so it can only be seen by instruments in space. (NASA/SDO)

Using two imaging instruments – the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager – the SDO began collecting data a few months after its launch, providing ultra high-definition imagery of the sun in 13 different wavelengths of light.

After more than a decade of observation, SDO has provided scientists with hundreds of millions of pictures.

This view highlights the many active regions dotting the Sun’s surface. Active regions are areas of intense and complex magnetic fields on the Sun – linked to sunspots – that are prone to erupting with solar flares or explosions of material called coronal mass ejections. This image was captured on Oct. 8, 2014, in extreme ultraviolet wavelength 171 Angstroms. (NASA/SDO)

The 10 SDO images on the stamps display a range of solar activity witnessed by the spacecraft. 

For example, a coronal hole – a magnetically open area from which high-speed solar wind is released into space – caps the northern polar region on the sun.

These images show a burst of material from the Sun, called a coronal mass ejection. These eruptions of magnetized solar material can create space weather effects on Earth when they collide with our planet’s magnetosphere, or magnetic environment – including aurora, satellite disruptions, and, when extreme, even power outages. These images are a blend of extreme ultraviolet wavelengths 171 and 304 Angstroms, captured on Aug. 31, 2012. (NASA/SDO)

An active sun is shown on another stamp, highlighting areas of intense and complex magnetic fields on the sun that are prone to erupting with solar flares or explosions.

A plasma blast is shown with a coronal mass ejection – an eruption of magnetized solar material that can create space weather effects on Earth.

Coronal loops, sunspots and solar flares are also featured in hues of red, orange and blue.

HERE COMES THE SUN

 

  

  

SUMMER SOLSTICE

 

Canada

Families of victims of police violence call for action at rally outside Trudeau's office
Natalia Goodwin 

Natalia Goodwin/CBC A rally held Saturday in Ottawa featured the families of 10 people who either died or were injured during encounters with police.

A group of Black and Indigenous families brought their case for defunding Canadian police forces to the steps of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office across the street from Parliament Hill on Saturday.

The Ottawa rally included the families of 10 people who either died or were injured during encounters with police: Anthony Aust, Eishia Hudson, Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Jermaine Carby, Jamal Francique, Chantel Moore, Andrew Loku, Abdirahman Abdi, Rodney Levi and Chantelle Krupka.

Each family shared their own stories, and some called on the federal government to make changes to defund, disarm and dismantle police forces across the country. Some who spoke said they want to see money that usually funds police groups go to the families affected by the violence.

The event was held one day after a video surfaced of Montreal police kneeling on a 14-year-old's neck. It also coincided with Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States that was just made a federal holiday.

"We're seeing police killings happening on the regular, where now it's just something that we see on the news and we just sort of move on with our lives," said Syrus Marcus Ware, one of the rally's organizers and a core team member with Black Lives Matter Toronto.

"It is outrageous that we've come to accept this level of brutality from a force that we pay for — billions and billions of dollars that could be reinvested into our communities."

Ware said it was important for families to tell personal stories about their loved ones instead of relying on reports from media or police, which Ware criticized as flawed.
Victim's mother wants action, not an apology

Nhora Aust spoke about her son, Anthony Aust, who died after he fell from a 12th-floor bedroom window in Ottawa during a no-knock raid at his home. Ontario's police watchdog was investigating his death.

Nhora Aust said she doesn't want an apology, but rather action from the federal government.

"They not only took my son's life. They took my life, they took his father's life, his siblings' [lives]," she said.

"I am asking you to stop doing this, because as we speak … every day there are children going through this, there are families going through this."

© Natalia Goodwin/CBC Syrus Marcus Ware, one of the organizers of Saturday's rally, said it's important the public hears stories from the victims' families.

'The system is built against us'

William Hudson told those in attendance about his 16-year-old daughter Eishia Hudson, who died after being shot by police in Winnipeg in April 2020.

"She had her whole life ahead of her," Hudson said. "She was a good kid, didn't have a criminal record."

The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, one of Manitoba's police oversight agencies, looked into the case — but the officer who shot her was cleared of any wrongdoing. 

© Sylvain LePage/CBC Members of Eishia Hudson's family lean on each other at Saturday's rally.

"Why is it that former police, ex-cops, [are] working in these investigations units?" Hudson asked the crowd.

"The system is built against us, and it's why we're here today, standing together."

In an interview with CBC's The House, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said the federal government recognizes that systemic racism exists in Canada's criminal justice system and that they're committed to change th

 FROM MY EMAIL BOX

Last week, PressProgress broke a major news story that lit up social media and was shared by news outlets, MPs across the aisles, LGBTQ2 leaders and allies. Two of Erin O’Toole’s Conservative MPs are behind a video criticizing anti-conversion therapy legislation that features a youth evangelist who claims counselling helped him overcome his interest in gay “pornography” and “going to gay bars.” “Conversion therapy” is a discredited practice that falsely claims to be able to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. Such practices have been rejected by every mainstream medical and mental health organization for decades. Conversion therapy hurts, some even describe it as torture and can lead the person to depression, anxiety, drug use, and suicide. That’s why readers were shocked to learn Conservative MPs Garnett Genuis and Tamara Jansen produced a video that appears on a website called “Fix The Definition” promoting a petition calling to soften the anti-conversion therapy Bill C-6. Within hours, it became one of the most talked-about stories story on Twitter in Canada