SCHADENFREUDE

Nearly all COVID deaths in US are now among unvaccinated


Nearly all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. now are in people who weren’t vaccinated, a staggering demonstration of how effective the shots have been and an indication that deaths per day — now down to under 300 — could be practically zero if everyone eligible got the vaccine.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

An Associated Press analysis of available government data from May shows that “breakthrough” infections in fully vaccinated people accounted for fewer than 1,200 of more than 853,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations. That’s about 0.1%.

And only about 150 of the more than 18,000 COVID-19 deaths in May were in fully vaccinated people. That translates to about 0.8%, or five deaths per day on average.

The AP analyzed figures provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC itself has not estimated what percentage of hospitalizations and deaths are in fully vaccinated people, citing limitations in the data.

Among them: Only about 45 states report breakthrough infections, and some are more aggressive than others in looking for such cases. So the data probably understates such infections, CDC officials said.

Still, the overall trend that emerges from the data echoes what many health care authorities are seeing around the country and what top experts are saying.

Earlier this month, Andy Slavitt, a former adviser to the Biden administration on COVID-19, suggested that 98% to 99% of the Americans dying of the coronavirus are unvaccinated.

And CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said on Tuesday that the vaccine is so effective that "nearly every death, especially among adults, due to COVID-19, is, at this point, entirely preventable.” She called such deaths “particularly tragic.”

Deaths in the U.S. have plummeted from a peak of more than 3,400 day on average in mid-January, one month into the vaccination drive.

About 63% of all vaccine-eligible Americans — those 12 and older — have received at least one dose, and 53% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. While vaccine remains scarce in much of the world, the U.S. supply is so abundant and demand has slumped so dramatically that shots sit unused.

Ross Bagne, a 68-year-old small-business owner in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was eligible for the vaccine in early February but didn't get it. He died June 4, infected and unvaccinated, after spending more than three weeks in the hospital, his lungs filling with fluid. He was unable to swallow because of a stroke.

“He never went out, so he didn’t think he would catch it,” said his grieving sister, Karen McKnight. She wondered: “Why take the risk of not getting vaccinated?”

The preventable deaths will continue, experts predict, with unvaccinated pockets of the nation experiencing outbreaks in the fall and winter. Ali Mokdad, a professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle, said modeling suggests the nation will hit 1,000 deaths per day again next year.

In Arkansas, which has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the nation, with only about 33% of the population fully protected, cases, hospitalizations and deaths are rising.

“It is sad to see someone go to the hospital or die when it can be prevented," Gov. Asa Hutchinson tweeted as he urged people to get their shots.

In Seattle's King County, the public health department found only three deaths during a recent 60-day period in people who were fully vaccinated. The rest, some 95% of 62 deaths, had had no vaccine or just one shot.

“Those are all somebody’s parents, grandparents, siblings and friends,” said Dr. Mark Del Beccaro, who helps lead a vaccination outreach program in King County. “It’s still a lot of deaths, and they’re preventable deaths.”

In the St. Louis area, more than 90% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 have not been vaccinated, said Dr. Alex Garza, a hospital administrator who directs a metropolitan-area task force on the outbreak.

“The majority of them express some regret for not being vaccinated,” Garza said. “That’s a pretty common refrain that we’re hearing from patients with COVID.”

The stories of unvaccinated people dying may convince some people they should get the shots, but young adults — the group least likely to be vaccinated — may be motivated more by a desire to protect their loved ones, said David Michaels, an epidemiologist at George Washington University's school of public health in the nation's capital.

Others need paid time off to get the shots and deal with any side effects, Michaels said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration this month began requiring health care employers, including hospitals and nursing homes, to provide such time off. But Michaels, who headed OSHA under President Barack Obama, said the agency should have gone further and applied the rule to meat and poultry plants and other food operations as well as other places with workers at risk.

Bagne, who lived alone, ran a business helping people incorporate their companies in Wyoming for the tax advantages. He was winding down the business, planning to retire, when he got sick, emailing his sister in April about an illness that had left him dizzy and disoriented.

“Whatever it was. That bug took a LOT out of me,” he wrote.

As his health deteriorated, a neighbor finally persuaded him to go to the hospital.

“Why was the messaging in his state so unclear that he didn’t understand the importance of the vaccine? He was a very bright guy," his sister said. “I wish he’d gotten the vaccine, and I’m sad he didn’t understand how it could prevent him from getting COVID."

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Carla K. Johnson And Mike Stobbe, The Associated Press

A giant 'mega-comet' is diving through our solar system

Scott Sutherland 

Astronomers discovered a never-before-seen comet plunging into the solar system from afar. From the looks of it, it's a giant!


On June 19, 2021, astronomers announced they had spotted a new object, far out from the Sun and far below the plane of the solar system. Shortly after that, new observations revealed that it had developed a gassy coma surrounding it. It was a new comet, originating from the Oort cloud, over 3 trillion kilometres out in space! That's over 700 times farther away than Neptune!

© Provided by The Weather NetworkThe position and orbital path of comet C/2014 UN271, as of June 24, 2021. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

If that wasn't enough to make this discovery remarkable, estimates put its size at around 200 km across. If correct, that would make it the largest comet ever seen.

The newly-named comet is now called C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein). While it's a somewhat cumbersome moniker, this designation tells astronomers plenty about it — what it is, when it was discovered, and who first spotted it.

© Provided by The Weather NetworkThis artist conception drawing depicts a Trans-Neptunian Object, orbiting far from the Sun. Credits: Artwork - NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI). Science - NASA, ESA, and C. Fuentes (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)

The comet's name starts with 2014 instead of 2021 because it isn't exactly new to us. Astronomers Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein recently spotted it in the data collected by the Dark Energy Survey. However, the survey actually captured the first image of the comet back on October 20, 2014.

"Some people asked why it was only announced now," Bernardinelli said on Twitter shortly after the announcement. "Finding [Trans-Neptunian Objects] with [the Dark Energy Survey] is a massive computational problem (my Ph.D. was solving this problem). The search itself took 15~20 million CPU-hours, and the catalogue production from our 80,000 exposures probably took more than that!"

Embedded content: https://twitter.com/TM_Eubanks/status/1408095993464250370/

Bernardinelli called this a Trans-Neptunian Object or TNO. These are objects orbiting the Sun that spend most or all of their time beyond Neptune's orbit. Some other famous examples are 'binary planet' Pluto and Charon, and dwarf planets Sedna, Makemake, and Eris.

Unlike all of those other TNOs, though, 2014 UN271's orbit brings it much closer to the Sun. While it won't come anywhere close to Earth, when it reaches its nearest point to the Sun — sometime in early 2031 — it will be around 10.5 billion km away. That puts it beyond the orbit of Saturn.

© Provided by The Weather NetworkThe projected position of 2014 UN271, on March 24, 2031. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Also, unlike the other major objects in the solar system, which orbit more or less along with everything else in the ecliptic plane, 2014 UN271's orbit is almost perpendicular to the ecliptic. This is because the 'grasp' of the Sun's gravity on objects in the distant Oort cloud is weak and tenuous. There's simply not enough force to pull them down into the ecliptic plane as it did with nearly everything else closer to it over the past 4.5 billion years.

It's a sure bet that, between now and the late 2030s, there will be many telescopes pointed at 2014 UN271. Not only is this likely the largest comet astronomers have ever seen, but it will no doubt contain a treasure trove of information about the Oort cloud. It may even hold answers to questions about the birth of our solar system.

© Provided by The Weather NetworkThese two views of the orbit of 2014 UN271 are shown edge-on and from the side, revealing the high 'eccentricity' of its path around the Sun. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Scott Sutherland

There are already calls from the space community to plan (or reroute) a spacecraft mission to intercept this icy wanderer as it makes its close pass through the solar system. It could be one of our best opportunities to study an object from the Oort cloud up close.

As NASA engineer Tim Reyes said on Twitter, "While its closest point to the Sun is a little farther than Saturn, we could send a small flyby probe. Otherwise, the Oort Cloud region is a 100+ year journey."

ONTARIO

Species unique to Manitoulin newly named to 'at risk' list


Three local species have been added to Ontario’s species at risk list by COSSARO, the independent Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario, that considers which plants and animals should be assessed as at risk in Ontario. A total of 15 species were added in the 2019-2020 report, which was released last month.

 Two lake whitefish sub-species from Como Lake (near Chapleau) were marked as extinct and the red-headed woodpecker was elevated from special concern to endangered. Two additional species were down listed from threatened.

Species at risk in Ontario are classified in one of four categories. A species is assessed as extirpated when it is locally extinct in one area but still lives somewhere else in the world. A species is endangered when it lives in the wild in Ontario but faces imminent extinction or extirpation. A threatened species is found living in the wild and while not endangered, is likely to become endangered if steps are not taken to address threats. Finally, a species is classified as special concern when it is not endangered or threatened but may become so due to a combination of biological traits and identified threats.

Seven species were added to the endangered list. These are shagreen, toothed globe snail, false foxglove sun moth, black ash, white rimmed single lichen, downy yellow false foxglove and Gillman’s goldenrod. Two other distinct lake whitefish sub-species (Opeongo Lake small bodied and Opeongo Lake large bodied) were added to the threatened list as were the Carolina mantleslug, hudonia godwit, smooth yellow false foxglove, fern leaved yellow false foxglove and hairy valeria. The red-tailed leafhopper was assessed as special concern. Spoon leaved moss was down listed from endangered to threatened and goldenseal was down listed from endangered to special concern.

Many of the species assessed are located in the Carolinian forest region of southern or southwestern Ontario but several have a unique connection with Manitoulin Island. Gillman’s goldenrod, for example, is endemic to the Great Lakes. The yellow flowered perennial is only found in open Great Lakes sand dunes with sparse vegetation and patches of bare sand, mostly on the shores of Lake Michigan and northern Lake Huron in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Ontario. The plant only currently occurs in Ontario on Great Duck Island.

According to the COSSARO report, there once was a sub-population of Gillman’s goldenrod at Dean’s Bay on Manitoulin Island but it was extirpated before 2000.

Gillman’s goldenrod was also added to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) list in September 2020. COSEWIC is the federal panel that assesses species at risk of extinction. It was first created in 1977 and reports to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada. COSEWIC is currently an independent advisory body designated under Canada’s Species at Risk Act (SARA). Gillman’s goldenrod is listed as endangered under COSEWIC. “This perennial plant species is a Great Lakes endemic now found in Canada only on one island off the south shore of Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron. The species is threatened by habitat disturbance caused by invasive plants.”

The red-tailed leafhopper is another species whose Ontario population occurs entirely on Manitoulin Island and adjacent islands. Because it feeds exclusively on prairie dropseed and cannot fly, the red-tailed leafhopper has limited habitat options. COSEWOC (2019) recognized two designated units (DU) for this species, one of which is the Manitoulin population, called the Great Lakes Plains DU. According to COSSARO, the Great Lakes Plains DU is “a relic population from a previous expansion of prairie habitat during the Hypisithermal period (5,000 to 8,000 years ago) and is currently known from 19 locations on Manitoulin and other Lake Huron islands. It is threatened by habitat loss from a variety of causes.”

The red-tailed leafhopper has been assessed by COSSARO as being of special concern, “based on the potential of decline of the small range caused by various threats, and Ontario’s conservation responsibility for the Great Lakes Plain population.” The status is consistent with COSEWIC (2019).

Black ash was assessed as endangered in Ontario based on projected declines in total numbers over the next 100 years or two generations. Not only is 53 percent of the Ontario range currently considered susceptible to the emerald ash borer, but 78 to nearly 100 percent of the Ontario range could be affected during that time period due to climate change. The COSSARO reports indicates a predicted mortality of black ash exceeding 90 percent in areas affected by the emerald ash borer.

Black ash is a medium-sized hardwood tree endemic to all of Ontario except the far north. It occurs in swamps, bogs and other wetland areas and has long been used by Indigenous peoples for basket making. The bark of the black ash was used to make baskets for berries.

The species is still relatively common throughout Ontario but there have been significant population declines in areas affected by the emerald ash borer. The species was assessed by COSEWIC (2018) as threatened; however, it is considered threatened in Ontario because of Ontario’s “significant conservation responsibility and the specie’s declining status in the broader biologically relevant range.”

Ontario’s conservation responsibility is deemed to be significant based on the fact that the species is globally at risk (IUCN 2017) and more than 25 percent of the global range is located in Ontario.

The red-headed woodpecker is native to eastern North America. In Ontario, it is mainly found south of the Canadian Shield, with the exception of a small population in the northwestern Ontario area of Rainy River. This woodpecker nests in cavities in standing dead trees and is mainly found in open deciduous forests across its range. A red-headed woodpecker population previously found on Manitoulin Island disappeared following pesticide use in the mid-twentieth century.

COSSARO submits a report to the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks in January of each year. The report includes the classification of each species assessed. The committee may submit a report classifying a species at any time in addition to the annual reporting requirement. Committee decisions are posted on COSSARO’s website following presentation to the ministry.

The ministry must amend the Species at Risk in Ontario (SARO) list regulation within 12 months of receipt of the report. Once the regulation has been changed the species is protected based on its classification.

Individuals may submit written information on a species being obsessed. The list of plants and animals that will be considered at COSSARO’s next meeting is available on its website (cossaroagency.ca) under Upcoming Species Assessments. The public is welcome to observe the species assessment discussions at COSSARO meetings and meetings do include an open session for presentations by interested stakeholders or members of the public on the species to be assessed.

Lori Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Manitoulin Expositor

#ENDFURFARMING
Holt Renfrew to stop selling animal fur and exotic skins by the end of the year

 Provided by The Canadian Press

TORONTO — Holt Renfrew says it will stop selling all animal fur and exotic skins by the end of the year.

The luxury retailer made the announcement as part of a series of sustainability promises.

Holts said it plans to stop selling cosmetic products that contain plastic glitter and made a commitment that its denim will come  from certified sustainable sources by the end of 2025

It also said materials across its business such as cotton, leather, down and feathers and plastic packaging will come from certified sustainable sources by the end of 2025.

The sustainability commitments also included targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions from its operations.

The announcement by Holts came the same day that luxury parka maker Canada Goose said it would using fur by the end of next year.

 This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2021.

The Canadian Press

#STOPHUNTINGPREDATORS

Rare gray wolf pack makes its home in northern California
Maanvi Singh 

A new gray wolf pack has established itself in northern California, retaking a part of the vast territory that the species used to inhabit.

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Associated Press

The fledgling Beckwourth pack has set down roots in Plumas county, near the California-Nevada border, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) reported Wednesday. Its three members include LAS12F, a 2-year-old female wolf born in California, and two others. Wildlife officials are tracking and analyzing the feces of wolves in the region in an effort to identify the lineage of these wolves.

“Tracks of two wolves had been observed in the same general area in February,” CDFW said in a statement. “Field efforts are ongoing, and it is not yet known whether the pack is reproductive.”

Related: Family of bobcats found in ‘unusual’ California tree den

The Beckwourth pack is only the third to establish itself in California in the last century. These wolves join two other groups of gray wolves in California, heartening biologists and environmental activists who have decried the rollback of state and federal protections for wolves across the US west – undercutting their recovery after they were nearly hunted to extinction.

Earlier this year, two other young wolves forged an arduous, urine- and scat-scented trail into California. One young male, OR-93, made the longest tracked journey of any wolf over the last century – leaving his home range in Oregon, cutting through the spine of Sierra Nevada, over northern California lava beds all the way down to California’s central valley, and then west to the coast. “He’s the captain magnificent of wolf travelers,” said Amaroq Weiss, a biologist at the environmental not-for-profit Center for Biological Diversity.

© Photograph: Associated Press A young male gray wolf known as OR-93 made his trek into California from Oregon earlier this year.

“This may be the most concentrated numbers of wolves we’ve seen in California,” said Weiss. “It’s just incredible – the wolves have basically thumbed their nose at the feds by showing up here, and by continuing to show up here.”

In January, the Trump administration removed endangered species protections from grey wolves and in May, Idaho enacted a law allowing hunters to kill 90% of the state’s wolf population. Montana’s governor, who was cited for breaking state hunting regulations when he trapped and shot a wolf, signed a bill that reimburses wolf hunters for their expenses. And in South Dakota, wolves who wander into state lines have been classified as predatory animals that can be hunted and trapped.

© Provided by The Guardian Two pups follow a female gray wolf through Lassen national forest in 2017. Wolves remain on the endangered species list in California. Photograph: AP

In California, wolves remain listed as endangered under the state’s Endangered Species Act, and it is illegal to hunt to kill wolves. But their killing in nearby states – fueled by fears that growing wolf populations would attack livestock – has hindered the species’ efforts to breed and expand back into their historically vast territory across North America.

Researchers have found that killing gray wolves doesn’t protect cattle and can even backfire: killing one wolf who poses a threat to cattle can increase the odds that wolves will kill more cattle the next year. Biologists suspect that could be because wolf packs compensate for a death by reproducing more, birthing more pups that may feed on sheep and cows.

Moreover, a growing body of research has found that wolves – who generally fear and avoid humans – tend to stay away from people and farms, especially in areas with an abundance of wild prey. Aerial surveys have also found that the long-held belief that growing wolf populations would drive down populations of deer and elk isn’t reflected in reality, though the presence of wolves does tend to drive skittish prey deeper into the woods.

Wildlife biologists still don’t know what, exactly, compels some wolves to break away from their packs and undertake epic journeys across the country to find new territory. What they do know is that wolves follow the paw steps of these trailblazers: sniffing out the scent-markings of other wolves to find new mates and establish new packs.

“Wolves transcend whatever concept of beauty and wildness you might ever read in a book,” Weiss said. “When you see them in the wild – their grace, their power and their agility, both when they are chasing prey, and when they’re playing with each other – is just, holy smokes.”

“And that’s why we have to fight to protect them – for the sake of the whole public,” she said.

Serbian Roma girl band sings for women's empowerment

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Their songs are about “women chained” in abuse witnessed by generations, or teenage brides being forced into marriage by their fathers. And they tell women to seek love, fight back and stand up for their right to be equal with men.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

A female Roma band in Serbia is using music to preach women's empowerment within their community, challenging some deeply rooted traditions and centuries-old male domination.

Formed in 2014, “Pretty Loud” symbolically seeks to give a louder voice to Roma girls, encourage education and steer them away from the widespread custom of early marriage. The band has gained popularity and international attention, performing last year at the Women of the World Festival in London.

“We want to stop the early marriages ... we want the girls themselves, and not their parents, to decide whether they want to marry or not,” said Silvia Sinani, one of the band members. “We want every woman to have the right to be heard, to have her dreams and to be able to fulfil them, to be equal,”

Sinani, 24, said the idea for an all-female band was born at education and artistic workshops run for Roma, or Gypsies, by a private foundation, Gypsy Roma Urban Balkan Beats. The girls initially danced in GRUBB's boys' band and then decided they wanted one of their own, she said.

“They (GRUBB) named us ‘Pretty Loud’ because they knew that women in Roma tradition are not really loud," she said.

The band's music, a combination of rap and traditional Roma folk beat, mainly targets a younger generation of girls who are yet to make their life choices — the band itself includes 14-year-old twin sisters. The songs tackle women's position in their community, and seek to boost their self-awareness.

The quest is essential in a community where early marriages are widespread — a UNICEF study published last year showed that over one-third of girls in Roma settlements in Serbia aged 15-19 are already married. Of them, 16% were married before they were 15.

Alarmed, Serbian authorities, too, have formed a state commission to try to reverse the trend.

“I am an example of early marriage,” said band member Zlata Ristic, 27, who gave birth to a baby boy at 16. “Nobody forced me into it but I have realized I should not have done it."

Now a single mother, Ristic said she wants other women in similar situations to know that their lives are not over once they have children, and that they can still pursue their dreams.

“My biggest reward is when 14-year-old girls write to me and say they want to become one of us, that they now attend school thanks to us, that they have improved their grades,” she said.

Among the most underprivileged ethnic communities in Serbia and Europe, the Roma largely live in segregated settlements on society's fringes, facing poverty, joblessness and prejudice.

Activists have warned that the COVID-19 pandemic has further fueled the social isolation of marginalized groups and increased their poverty. Disruptions of regular schooling due to the virus lockdowns have made it even harder for Roma children to stay in the system.

At the GRUBB center in Belgrade's Zemun district, several children could be seen working with young instructors in an improvised classroom. The girls from "Pretty Loud" teach at music and dance workshops run by GRUBB, which was established in Serbia in 2006.

Diana Ferhatovic, 18, first came to the center four years ago, initially seeking help with school lessons before joining the music program and finding her way into “Pretty Loud.” Their performance in London last March — just as the COVID-19 pandemic was starting — was unforgettable, she said.

“I had a kind of positive jitters, we all did at first, the whole group,” Ferhatovic said. “Then we blew them off their feet.”

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“One Good Thing” is a series that highlights individuals whose actions provide glimmers of joy in hard times — stories of people who find a way to make a difference, no matter how small. Read the collection of stories at https://apnews.com/hub/one-good-thing

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This story was first published on June 22, 2021. It was updated on June 24, 2021, to correct the name of the festival the band appeared in. It was Women of the World, not Women of the Year.

Jovana Gec, The Associated Press

ASSASSINATION
Critic of Palestinian Authority dies after violent arrest


JERUSALEM (AP) — An outspoken critic of the Palestinian Authority who was a candidate in parliamentary elections called off earlier this year died after Palestinian security forces arrested him and beat him with batons on Thursday, his family said.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Nizar Banat was a harsh critic of the PA, which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and had called on Western nations to cut off aid to it because of its authoritarianism and human rights violations. Earlier this week, another prominent activist was detained by the PA and held overnight after criticizing it on Facebook.

The crackdown on dissent comes as the internationally-backed PA faces a growing backlash from Palestinians who view it as corrupt and increasingly autocratic, a manifestation of a three-decade peace process that is nowhere close to delivering Palestinian independence. Hundreds took to the streets in protest after word spread of Banat's death.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who was elected to a four-year term in 2005, has little to show after more than a decade of close security coordination with Israel. The 85-year-old leader has been powerless to stop the expansion of Jewish settlements, home demolitions, evictions in Jerusalem and deadly Israeli military raids, and was largely ignored during the recent unrest in Jerusalem and the 11-day Gaza war.

Western nations nevertheless view the PA as a key partner for rebuilding Gaza, which is ruled by the militant Hamas group, and eventually reviving the moribund peace process.

Mohammed Banat, a cousin who witnessed the arrest, said a group of men, some wearing masks, burst into the house where Nizar was staying and sprayed everyone with pepper spray.

“They beat Nizar with batons on his head and body,” he told The Associated Press. "They did not identify themselves and we did not recognize them. They arrested Nizar and disappeared.”

In a brief statement, the Hebron governorate said Nizar's “health deteriorated” when Palestinian forces went to arrest him early Thursday. It said he was taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

The United States, the European Union and the United Nations called for an investigation, and Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh announced the formation of an investigative committee.

Dr. Samir Abu Zaarour, a forensic pathologist for the Independent Commission for Human Rights who attended the autopsy, said the death was “unnatural” and ruled out a heart attack or stroke. He said final results will only be available after further testing. Pictures of the body released by the family appear to show bruising on his head and legs.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in the West Bank city of Ramallah and tried to march to the PA's headquarters, chanting “The people want the downfall of the regime" and "Abbas, you are not one of us, take your dogs and leave.”


Palestinian security forces fired tear gas at the marchers and beat people with wooden batons.

Tahani Mustafa, an analyst at the Crisis Group, an international think thank, said there's been “increasing repression" since the PA was sidelined and widely derided during the Gaza war. “At this point the PA can’t really afford any level of criticism," she said.

She added that the international community, which has trained and equipped Palestinian security forces, “needs to take some responsibility” and push for accountability and change.

In early May, gunmen fired bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at Nizar Banat's home near the West Bank city of Hebron, where his wife was inside with their children. He blamed the attack on Abbas' Fatah party, which dominates the security forces.

“The Europeans need to know that they are indirectly funding this organization,” he told The Associated Press in May in an interview at a house where he was hiding out. "They fire their guns into the air at Fatah celebrations, they fire their guns in the air when Fatah leaders fight each other and they fire their guns at people who oppose Fatah.”

The EU delegation to the Palestinians tweeted that it was “shocked and saddened" by Banat's death and called for a “full, independent, and transparent investigation." The U.N.'s Mideast envoy, Tor Wennesland, said the “perpetrators must be brought to justice.”

The U.S. State Department echoed those calls. In a statement, it expressed “serious concerns about Palestinian Authority restrictions on the exercise of freedom of expression by Palestinians and harassment of civil society activists and organizations.”

Earlier this week, Palestinian security forces detained a prominent activist and held him overnight after he took to Facebook to criticize the PA's arrest of another individual. Issa Amro is an outspoken critic of both Israel and the PA, and has been detained by both in the past.

“I feel that my life is in danger like Nizar Banat. I don't feel there is anyone who can protect me from attacks by outlaws affiliated with some security authorities," Amro said. “Unfortunately, there's a state of security chaos since the cancellation of the elections.”

A recent poll showed plummeting support for Abbas, who cancelled the first elections in 15 years in April when it looked like his fractured Fatah party would suffer another humiliating defeat to Hamas, which seized Gaza from Abbas' forces in 2007.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Abbas when he visited the region after the Gaza war last month, and the Biden administration is working to bolster the PA after relations fell to an all-time low under President Donald Trump.

The European Union has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in direct aid to the PA over the years. Earlier this week, it signed an agreement to provide $425 million in loans to the PA and Palestinian banks.

Mustafa, of the Crisis Group, said such initiatives will be “incredibly ineffective” unless the U.S. presses for political renewal that allows the Palestinians to choose their own leaders.

“Any pursuit toward the peace process will not be accepted by the majority of Palestinians if it’s being done on behalf of a small cluster of people that they do not see as being representative or acting in their own interest, which is what we are seeing now," she said.

Joseph Krauss, The Associated Press

Colombian guerrilla leader steps down due to illness
AFP 

The leader of the last active guerrilla group in Colombia, Nicolas Rodriguez Bautista, has announced his retirement due to ill health, eliciting an angry response from Bogota.

© HO Handout picture released on July 28, 2011 by the Ministry of Defense with Nicolas Rodriguez Bautista a.k.a. "Gabino" second from right. AFP PHOTO/Ministerio de Defensa Nacional/HO

Bautista, alias "Gabino," has been in command of the National Liberation Army (ELN) since 1998, having joined the rebels at age 14.

Now 71, Bautista announced his retirement from an undisclosed destination in Cuba in a statement dated May 1 but distributed by the ELN on Thursday.

He said he has been in Cuba since May 2018 under a humanitarian agreement between the two countries, and is receiving medical care there for an undisclosed ailment.

Reacting to the announcement, Colombia's High Commissioner for Peace Juan Camilo Restrepo, said it was not news of Bautista's resignation the world was awaiting, but "the ELN's renouncement of its criminal actions" which include recruiting minors, kidnappings, and planting anti-personnel mines.

In another statement, dated June 14 but also released Thursday, the ELN said Bautista would be replaced by Antonio Garcia.

Colombian President Ivan Duque ended negotiations in 2019 with the ELN, the only rebel force still active after a 2016 peace accord disarmed the last guerrillas of the FARC to end decades of civil war.

He called off talks after a car bomb attack claimed by the ELN killed 22 police cadets.

Duque wants Cuba to hand over ELN members who are on its soil.

Colombia is in the midst of its worst outbreak of violence since the 2016 peace deal that ended Latin America's most powerful insurgency, having claimed more than nine million victims between the dead, missing and displaced.

Armed groups, including dissident FARC members who turned their backs on the peace pact, continue fighting for territory and resources, including drug fields and smuggling routes.

lp/rd/mlr/dw

Colombia union leader vows bigger antigovernment protests if demands not met
By Luis Jaime Acosta 

© Reuters/STRINGER Demonstrations demanding government action continue, in Cali

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's antigovernment protests could grow in the second half of the year if neither the government nor Congress meet the economic and social demands driving them, a union leader said on Thursday.

Protests against the government of President Ivan Duque exploded at the end of April in opposition to a now-withdrawn tax reform. While largely peaceful, they have been marked by occasional violence and clashes between police and protesters.

Though the proposed tax bill was withdrawn, prompting the resignation of the then-finance minister, protesters' demands have expanded to include a basic income, opportunities for youth, and an end to police violence.

"(There will be) a great national strike in the second semester," Francisco Maltes, president of the Central Union of Workers (CUT), told Reuters in an interview. "It'll be of greater proportions because citizens have understood that it's through unity and peaceful mobilization that we can achieve changes in this country,"

Earlier this month Maltes and other protest leaders, who make up the national strike committee, suspended marches while they work on laws to present to Congress in the legislative period due to start on July 20.

"If neither the president nor Congress solve the needs of Colombians, of course the next national strike will be bigger, more powerful, and last longer than the strike that began on April 28," Maltes said.

While almost all road blockades that formed part of protests across Colombia have been lifted, demonstrations involving hundreds of protesters continue in the capital Bogota and other cities.

So far the attorney general's office has linked 24 deaths to the protests, with a further 11 under investigation. However, rights groups accuse security forces of killing dozens more protesters.

Protest leaders are open to restarting talks with the government if it signs a pre-agreement establishing guarantees for protests and withdraws a decree permitting militarization of cities, Maltes said.

The union leader rejected accusations protests have driven inflation and unemployment, as well as suggestions that marches are behind an increase in coronavirus infections and deaths, instead blaming the government for poor management of social and economic policies, as well as for a slow start to vaccinations.

Protests are not intended to topple the government, Maltes said, but rather to push for a solution to economic and social crises afflicting the majority of Colombians.

"We're talking about policy changes, not overthrowing the president," he said.

(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta in Bogota; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Bezos' 2021 Space Odyssey a risk too far for insurers

By Noor Zainab Hussain and Carolyn Cohn

© Reuters/CLODAGH KILCOYNE FILE PHOTO: Founder, Chairman, CEO and President of Amazon Jeff Bezos unveils his space company Blue Origin's space exploration lunar lander rocket called Blue Moon during an unveiling event in Washington

(Reuters) - Launching one of the richest individuals on earth into orbit has proved a leap too far for insurers, who are not ready to price the risk of losing Jeff Bezos or his fellow space travelers.

Amazon CEO Bezos, a lifelong space enthusiast, has been vying with Elon Musk and Richard Branson to become the first billionaire to fly beyond the earth's atmosphere.

And while insurers are well known for offering cover for even the most outlandish of risks, at a price, potential accidents in space are not yet among them.

"Space tourism involves significant risk, but is not an issue life insurers specifically ask about as yet because it is so rare for anyone to travel into space," Insurance Information Institute (III) spokesperson Michael Barry said.

There is a nearly $500 million market to insure satellites, rockets and unmanned space flight, but no legal requirement for an operator such as Blue Origin, which Bezos founded, to insure passengers for injury or death or for space tourists to have life cover, brokers and insurers said.

"We're not aware of a case where anybody is insured against passenger liability," Neil Stevens, senior vice president, aviation and space at Marsh, the world's biggest insurance broker, told Reuters.

Assuming they lift-off as planned next month, Bezos and the other wannabe astronauts on Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft will not only spend several minutes 62 miles (100 km) above the earth in a truck-sized capsule, they also have to get back.

The only group that has regularly flown humans sub-orbitally since the 1960s is Branson's Virgin Galactic. All have been tests, with one failure in 2014 resulting in a death. Blue Origin has flown 15 unmanned sub-orbital flights with no failures, Seradata SpaceTrak data showed on June 10.

Bezos, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters on their insurance plans and flight records.

'DIFFERENT RISK PROFILES'

Being uninsured in space is nothing new.

NASA and the U.S., in general, do not buy liability cover, with government launches basically insured by taxpayers, Richard Parker of Assure Space, a unit of insurer AmTrust Financial that provides space insurance, said.

NASA astronauts are eligible for government life insurance programs, a NASA spokesperson said in an emailed response.

Charles Wetton, underwriting manager for space policies at insurer Global Aerospace, said astronauts on government-funded missions are carefully selected for their knowledge, skills and fitness and train for several years before blast off.

"They and their families understand the risks of the work they do, Wetton said.

But commercial space cadets may only get a few days of training for a sub-orbital flight or a few months for a ride to the International Space Station (ISS), Wetton said, adding: "These represent two very different risk profiles that insurers will take into account".

Blue Origin on its website says the spaceflight passenger will receive training the day before the launch, including mission and vehicle overviews, safety briefings, mission simulation and instruction on in-flight activities.

Virgin Galactic said participants will get three days of training and preparation before the launch.

Insurers expect iron clad waivers and contracts from commercial space travel firms, stating they will bear no burden if a passenger dies during a flight.

NASA has called for responses from the industry for its plans for a liability framework for privately-funded astronaut missions to the ISS. NASA's plans include requiring private astronauts to buy life insurance.

It is still early days, but cover for space tourists may be the next step, said Tim Rush, senior vice president, U.S. space, at insurance broker Gallagher, adding that the life insurance market currently provides individual cover of $2-5 million for private astronauts.

The only mandatory insurance in place for commercial space operators is third-party liability, mainly to cover property damage on earth or to a flying aircraft, said Akiko Hama, client executive, space and aerospace underwriting at Global Aerospace.

Blue Origin plans for its six-seater spacecraft to take off on July 20 and fly for four minutes beyond the boundary between the earth's atmosphere and outer space, where passengers will experience total weightlessness.

Safety record of orbital human space flights https://graphics.reuters.com/SPACE-EXPLORATION/INSURANCE/xklpyawokpg/chart.png

MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION

A key question for how the sector develops is whether risks related to tourism fall under space or aviation insurance lines, insurers and brokers told Reuters.

The U.N. Outer Space Treaty and the Liability Convention of 1972 governs all activities in space and very few countries have a legal framework for commercial human spaceflight, they said.

The first-ever aviation insurance policy was written by Lloyd's of London in 1911. A few years later the market insured Charles Lindbergh and his single-engine plane for $18,000 on its non-stop flight from the United States to Europe.

Space trips are different, said Marsh's Stevens, because the passengers are returning to the same place as they left, making it technically a domestic trip to which international aviation insurance cannot be applied, meaning there will also be no limitation to liability.

"The aviation, aircraft insurance market, and the like, are less keen to take on risks that involve spacecraft," he said, adding that whether space tourism trips fall under aviation or space insurance is a "million dollar question".

While air travel is governed by rules that establish airline liability in the case of death of passengers, Stevens said he was unaware of plans for similar rules for space tourism.

However, Wetton said Global Aerospace had started to receive enquiries from companies for sub-orbital missions.

"In 10 years' time, maybe the two lines, aviation and spaceflight will look very similar," said Assure Space's Parker.

"Some legislative somewhere will say, look, we're now having average Joes flying on these launch vehicles and need to protect them," Parker added.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru and Carolyn Cohn in London; Graphic by Manojna Maddipatla; Editing Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Alexander Smith)