Climate change likely to increase spread of mosquito-borne diseases
By HealthDay News

Climate change could put billions more people at risk for deadly mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue, researchers said. They see the danger zone expanding within the United States, Europe and Asia.

If temperatures rise by about 3.7 degrees Celsius by the year 2100 compared to pre-industrial levels, 4.7 billion more people globally may be at risk for the diseases compared to the years 1970 to 1999, according to a new modeling study.

That means that 8.4 billion people worldwide could be at risk for malaria and dengue by the end of the century, particularly those in lowland and urban areas, the findings indicated. The results appear this week in The Lancet Planetary Health journal.

The study predicts a northward shift of the malaria-epidemic belt in North America, central northern Europe and northern Asia, and a northward shift of the dengue-epidemic belt over central northern Europe and the northern United States.

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Malaria and dengue are the most significant mosquito-borne global health threats. They're being found in more areas, emerging in previously unaffected places and reemerging in locations where they had subsided for decades, the European researchers said.

Malaria is shifting toward higher altitudes, and urbanization is associated with increasing dengue risk.

"Our results highlight why we must act to reduce emissions to limit climate change," said study co-author Felipe Colón-González, an assistant professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

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"This work strongly suggests that reducing greenhouse gas emissions could prevent millions of people from contracting malaria and dengue. The results show low-emission scenarios significantly reduce length of transmission, as well as the number of people at risk," Colón-González said in a school news release. "Action to limit global temperature increases well below 2 degrees C must continue."

He added that policymakers and public health officials should get ready for all scenarios, including those where emissions remain at high levels.

"This is particularly important in areas that are currently disease-free and where the health systems are likely to be unprepared for major outbreaks," Colón-González said

 .
RELATED  New malaria vaccine offers 77% protection against deadly parasite, researchers say

Increased surveillance in potential hotspot areas will be important, especially in places without previous experience of dengue or malaria, said study co-author Rachel Lowe, an associate professor at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.More information

The World Health Organization has more on malaria, dengue and other vector-borne diseases.


Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Being a Journalist Is Ticket to Arrest, Myanmar Editor Says
By Tommy Walker
July 08, 2021 06:19 PM

FILE - DVB’s editorial director Aye Chan Naing delivers a speech during a seminar at Inya Lake hotel in Yangon, Myanmar, Sept.24, 2012.


BANGKOK - For about 20 years, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) broadcast uncensored news into Myanmar from exile. When a civilian government came to power in 2011, the independent outlet was finally able to open a newsroom in Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar.

But that significant step for media freedom took a backward step in February when the military seized power and immediately turned its sights on the country’s press.

This photo released by the San Sai District Administrative Office in Thailand, shows a room where journalists working for Democratic Voice of Burma were arrested, May 9, 2021

The internet was cut, dozens of journalists were jailed, and more than 10 media outlets, including the DVB, had their licenses revoked.

“We are totally illegal in the country. The military revoked our license, not only revoking our license, but also mak(ing) it illegal to produce any kind of media product (including) on Facebook, YouTube, and social media,” DVB’s editorial director Aye Chan Naing told VOA from an undisclosed location.

“In fact, right after the coup, one hour after the coup, they pulled the plug for our channel,” he said.

More than five months have passed since Myanmar’s military coup sparked the country’s third major uprising in three decades. With hundreds of pro-democracy protesters killed and thousands more detained, the country is in crisis.

Amid its crackdown on opposition, the junta — officially the State Administrative Council — focused its efforts on targeting Myanmar’s independent media.

Since February 1, at least 89 journalists have been arrested, 36 of whom are still detained, according to the Detained Journalist Information Facebook group and Reporting ASEAN, an organization documenting the crackdown and unreported stories from Asia.

A dozen journalists were freed last week as part of a wider release of about 2,300 people. The Associated Press cited Major General Zaw Min Tun, deputy information minister, as saying those released had taken part in protests but not violence.

Myanmar’s Ministry of Information also released a statement claiming the State Administrative Council was in control because of a state of emergency.  
Myanmar's military junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun speaks during the information ministry's press conference in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 23, 2021.

Country in conflict

February’s military takeover marked the end of a brief decade of civilian government.

Formerly known as Burma, Myanmar had gained independence from Britain, but from 1962 until 2011 it was under military control.

In 1988, the 8888 Uprising against military rule was met with violence. An estimated 3,000 people were killed and others were “disappeared,” rights groups including Amnesty International say.

DVB was founded four years later, in 1992, initially transmitting radio programs throughout the country while based in Oslo, Norway, and Chiang Mai, Thailand.

By 2005, DVB was broadcasting satellite television, and after the country’s democratic reforms in 2011, the media outlet in 2012 moved to Yangon.

Under the governance of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, DVB in 2018 began broadcasting on digital terrestrial television.

That is, until this year’s coup.

It’s now too risky for DVB journalists to operate from company offices because of the military crackdown, Aye Chan Naing said.

“We are now pretty much decentralized, different groups, different locations, but we coordinate online with each other. That is the future of how we are going to continue to work. We do not have headquarters or office … the most important (thing) we need is a secure place to operate,” he said.

The broadcaster is working with a couple of hundred citizen journalists, some of whom are on the run, he said.

“We do still have lots of contacts in the country, and we rely pretty much on citizen journalists, freelancers, stringers. We decentralized for security purposes, a lot of people work individually, not as a group, so they can pretty much keep low profile pretty much across the whole of the country,” he said.

Aye Chan Naing said his reporters have learned to be discreet, using multiple cellphones and carrying no press identification.

“We are still getting lots of information every day. If you look at the uprising in February, March during the crackdown, with the mobile phone and internet, it’s almost like the whole county became a journalist,” Aye Chan Naing said.

“Our main job is verifying the story,” he added. “That’s the thing, we do have our own sources, so we can double-check or triple-check.”

The risk of arrest is ever present for DVB’s team. Three of the broadcaster’s journalists have been convicted and sentenced to between two and three years in prison under Section 505(a) of Myanmar’s penal code. Three others are in pre-trial detention in Yangon’s Insein prison.

Section 505(a) penalizes incitement and has regularly been cited in the arrests of protesters and journalists since the coup.

Nathan Maung was arrested from his offices at Kamayut Media in March, weeks after Myanmar's military seized power in a coup. (Photo courtesy of Nathan Maung)

But for the thousands detained under the law, jail isn’t the only concern. Journalists who were recently released, including American Nathan Maung, described to VOA being beaten and tortured.

Others said they were held in overcrowded cells with no access to family or outside information.

Aye Chan Naing said at least two of his journalists were beaten during questioning.

“The danger is once they get arrested, during the interrogation,” Aye Chan Naing said. After they have been charged, “it’s a lot less trouble. But of course, the prison conditions are really bad,” he added.

Myanmar’s military council press spokesperson did not respond to VOA’s message requesting comment.

In a statement to VOA earlier this month, a spokesperson did not directly respond to questions about allegations of torture and beatings but said that authorities carry out questioning of suspects "in accordance with the rule and regulations."

Because of the risks, some journalists have fled. But that too can bring legal problems.

Thai authorities detained three senior DVB reporters in May for illegal entry into the country. Last month, the reporters were granted refuge overseas; Aye Chan Naing did not disclose where they are living.

Journalists Who Fled Myanmar Find Third-Country Refuge
Three staff members of the Democratic Voice of Burma and two other Myanmar nationals were arrested May 9 in northern Thailand; the country that took them in has not been disclosed

As the media crackdown continues, Aye Chan Naing admitted he’s had to reduce the number of employees working for DVB.

“Being an independent journalist is already a ticket to get arrested,” he said. “(They’re) already taking a pretty high risk and could easily get arrested.”

Aye Chan Naing said he believes the military is being “fooled by their own propaganda” and added that press freedom is taking huge blows.

“I think they want to be more like North Korea. They want to make sure (the people) don’t know what’s going on and (for) people to trust what they say,” he said, adding that DVB “will continue to operate and report” despite the difficulties.

Haitian Officials: 17 Members of Hit Squad Detained in Killing of President
By VOA News
July 09, 2021 

People protest against the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse near the police station of Petion Ville in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 8, 2021.


More than a dozen people have been detained in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, officials said late Thursday.

Haitian authorities described a heavily armed hit squad of 28 "mercenaries,” made up of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans, involved in the killing of Moise, 53, at his private residence in a wealthy suburb of the capital, Port-au-Prince, before dawn on Wednesday.

Haiti National Police Director Leon Charles said Thursday that 17 men had been detained, the two American citizens and 15 Colombians.

Charles said that three suspects had been killed and eight were still at large. Earlier, police had said four suspects had been killed. Neither Charles nor police officials explained the discrepancy.

"The pursuit of the mercenaries continues," Charles said. "Their fate is fixed: They will fall in the fighting or will be arrested."

Early Friday, Taiwan released a statement saying that 11 suspects were caught on the grounds of the embassy in Port-au-Prince after attempting to flee police.

"The police launched an operation around 4:00 p.m. (Thursday) and managed to arrest 11 suspects," the Taiwanese Embassy statement said.

Mathias Pierre, Haiti's minister of elections, Thursday identified the two Haitian Americans as James Solages, 35, and Joseph Vincent, 55.

The U.S. State Department has not confirmed the reports that two U.S. citizens are in detention.

Late Thursday, Colombia’s government confirmed that at least six of the suspects, including two of those killed, appeared to be retired members of the Colombian army. It did not identify the suspects.

Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph placed the country under a "state of siege" — in effect, martial law.

"This death will not go unpunished," Joseph told the impoverished nation of 11 million people in an address Wednesday.

Brian Concannon, a human rights lawyer, a former United Nations human rights officer, and the founder of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, told VOA that the state of siege allows police to do "anything necessary" in pursuit of the killers.

"Although almost everybody wants the police to pursue the killers effectively, there's great concern that this can be abused to round up political opponents," he said.

"There really is nothing — no structures to stop the government from arresting its political opponents under this decre

Officials did not provide much further detail about the detained suspects, those killed in the gun battle or what led police to them. They said only that the attack was carried out by "a highly trained and heavily armed group," with the assailants speaking Spanish or English.

The motivation for the assassination remains unclear. Haiti has long endured poverty and political turmoil, however.

Carl Henry Destin, a Haitian judge, told Le Nouvelliste newspaper that the attackers had posed as agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, but both U.S. and Haitian officials said the gunmen had no links to the agency.

Destin told the newspaper the attackers tied up a maid and another household staff worker as they headed to the president's bedroom, where they shot Moise at least 12 times.

"The offices and the president's bedroom were ransacked," Destin said. "We found him lying on his back, blue pants, white shirt stained with blood, mouth open, left eye blown out."

Moise's wife, Martine Moise, was injured in the attack and airlifted more than 1,100 kilometers to a trauma center in Miami, Florida, in the United States. Joseph, the prime minister, said she was "out of danger" and in stable condition.

While Joseph claimed leadership of Haiti, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, his tenure may be short-lived.

Haiti's constitution says Moise should be replaced by the president of the country's Supreme Court, but the chief justice died recently from COVID-19. In addition, a day before his assassination, Moise had named Ariel Henry, a Haitian politician and neurosurgeon, to replace Joseph as prime minister.

In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Henry claimed he was the prime minister, but he acknowledged it was an unusual situation.

The United Nations Security Council called an emergency meeting for Thursday afternoon to discuss Haiti's crisis. In a statement, its members called for "all parties to remain calm, exercise restraint" and avoid "any act that could contribute to further instability."

U.S. President Joe Biden said he was "shocked and saddened" by the assassination.

"We condemn this heinous act," Biden said in a statement. "I am sending my sincere wishes for first lady Moise's recovery."

State Department correspondent Cindy Saine contributed to this report, which includes some information from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

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Thu, 07/08/2021 -

00:03:17
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US Pledges to Help Haiti in Assassination Investigation
Experts say US should resist any temptation to intervene militarily in Haiti after assassination of that country’s president and should support civil society there instead
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The UN’s top diplomat in Haiti said police have suspects surrounded in two buildings

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Leonardo da Vinci drawing sells at auction for $12.22M



"Head of Bear" is one of a number of drawings Leonardo da Vinci completed using the silverpoint technique. File Photo courtesy of Christie's

July 8 (UPI) -- A rare drawing by Italian Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci sold at auction Thursday for $12.22 million in London, Christie's said.

The small drawing, Head of a Bear, sold as part of the auction house's "The Exceptional Sale" of artworks from antiquity through modernity. Overall, the auction realized $26.94 million.

The drawing, which is 2 3/4 inches by 2 3/4 inches, was completed using a technique called silverpoint. This process involves using a silver stylus to draw on specially prepared paper.

Leonardo used the technique for several drawings, including others of animals, having learned it from his teacher, Andrea del Verrocchio.

"In these early and innovative drawings, Leonardo infused a new level of realism into a longstanding tradition of animal imagery illustrating bestiaries and model books produced in Europe from the Middle Ages through the Early Renaissance," Christie's said in an essay about the artwork.

Christie's said Head of a Bear is one of a "very small" number of Leonardo artworks still held in private hands.

The drawing was completed sometime in the late 15th century and its ownership can be traced back to British artist Sir Thomas Lawrence, who passed it on to his art dealer upon his death in 1830. The dealer, Samuel Woodburn, sold it through Christie's in 1860, and it was later acquired by Capt. Norman Robert Colville, who died in 1974.

Christie's declined to identify the most recent owner of the drawing or Thursday's buyer.

Barrage of city-sized asteroids peppered Earth between 2.5B, 3.5B years ago
By
Brooks Hays


This crater in Arizona was produced by the impact of a 165-foot-wide meteor, the type of impact that new research suggests regularly happened between 2.5 and 3.5 billion years ago. Photo by Dale Nations/AZGS

July 8 (UPI) -- Early Earth was bombarded by massive asteroids more frequently than scientists previously thought.

According to new research, scheduled for presentation Friday at the Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference, Earth was struck by a city-sized asteroid an average of once very 15 million years between 3.5 and 2.5 billion years ago -- a rate 10 times higher than earlier estimates

Though the asteroids ranged in size, most would have been comparable to the Chicxulub impact that wiped out the dinosaurs some 66 million years ago.

Just a few billion years ago, the inner solar system was a violent place.

The scars of this tumultuous period can be see on the surfaces of the moon, Mars and other rocky planets, but over time, plate tectonics and intense weathering, driven by Earth's dynamic, moisture-rich atmosphere, have helped mask the signatures of ancient collisions.

Authors of the latest study suggest an accurate reconstruction of the history of asteroid impacts on early Earth is essential for understanding the planet's near-surface chemistry, as well as early Earth's ability to host life.

Fortunately, locating crater contours isn't the only way to identify prehistoric asteroid impacts.

RELATED European Space Agency adds another new Venus mission


Glass "spherules" formed from molten vapors expelled by massive asteroid collisions can be preserved in ancient rocks, revealing the presence of an impact a few hundred million years later.

By analyzing the distribution of spherules within ancient rock formations, researchers can gauge the size of a particular impact.

"We have developed a new impact flux model and compared with a statistical analysis of ancient spherule layer data," study author Simone Marchi said in a press release.

RELATED Melting ice sheets triggered 60 feet of sea level rise 14,600 years ago


"With this approach, we found that current models of Earth's early bombardment severely underestimate the number of known impacts, as recorded by spherule layers," said Marchi, a geoscientist at the Southwest Research Institute.

"The true impact flux could have been up to a factor of 10 times higher than previously thought in the period between 3.5 and 2.5 billion years ago," Marchi said. "This means that in that early period, we were probably being hit by a Chicxulub-sized impact on average every 15 million years."

Because there is so much uncertainty about the history of major cosmic collisions on Earth, many scientists ignore the phenomenon entirely.

But the authors of the latest research suggest these impacts were likely big enough to significantly alter the course of Earth's geochemical and atmospheric evolution, and thus, shouldn't be disregarded.

The latest research suggests frequent asteroid impacts would likely have had a strong influence on Earth's oxygen levels, the researchers said.

"We find that oxygen levels would have drastically fluctuated in the period of intense impacts," Marchi said. "Given the importance of oxygen to the Earth's development, and indeed to the development of life, its possible connection with collisions is intriguing and deserved further investigation. This is the next stage of our work."

Billionaire Blastoff: Rich riding own rockets into space


This combination of 2019 and 2016 file photos shows Jeff Bezos with a model of Blue Origin's Blue Moon lunar lander in Washington, left, and Richard Branson with Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo space tourism rocket in Mojave, Calif. The two billionaires are putting everything on the line in July 2021 to ride their own rockets into space. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Mark J. Terrill)


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Two billionaires are putting everything on the line this month to ride their own rockets into space.

It’s intended to be a flashy confidence boost for customers seeking their own short joyrides.

The lucrative, high-stakes chase for space tourists will unfold on the fringes of space — 55 miles to 66 miles (88 kilometers to 106 kilometers) up, pitting Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson against the world’s richest man, Blue Origin’s Jeff Bezos.

Branson is due to take off Sunday from New Mexico, launching with two pilots and three other employees aboard a rocket plane carried aloft by a double-fuselage aircraft.

Bezos departs nine days later from West Texas, blasting off in a fully automated capsule with three guests: his brother, an 82-year-old female aviation pioneer who’s waited six decades for a shot at space and the winner of a $28 million charity auction.

Branson’s flight will be longer, but Bezos’ will be higher.

Branson’s craft has more windows, but Bezos’ windows are bigger.

Branson’s piloted plane has already flown to space three times. Bezos’ has five times as many test flights, though none with people on board.

Either way, they’re shooting for sky-high bragging rights as the first person to fly his own rocket to space and experience three to four minutes of weightlessness.

Branson, who turns 71 in another week, considers it “very important” to try it out before allowing space tourists on board. He insists he’s not apprehensive; this is the thrill-seeking adventurer who’s kite-surfed across the English Channel and attempted to circle the world in a hot air balloon.

“As a child, I wanted to go to space. When that did not look likely for my generation, I registered the name Virgin Galactic with the notion of creating a company that could make it happen,” Branson wrote in a blog this week. Seventeen years after founding Virgin Galactic, he’s on the cusp of experiencing space for himself.

“It’s amazing where an idea can lead you, no matter how far-fetched it may seem at first.”

Bezos, 57, who stepped down Monday as Amazon’s CEO, announced in early June that he’d be on his New Shepard rocket’s first passenger flight, choosing the 52nd anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s moon landing.

He too had childhood dreams of traveling to space, Bezos said via Instagram. “On July 20th, I will take that journey with my brother. The greatest adventure, with my best friend.”

Branson was supposed to fly later this year on the second of three more test flights planned by Virgin Galactic before flying ticket holders next year. But late last week, he leapfrogged ahead.

He insists he’s not trying to beat Bezos and that it’s not a race. Yet his announcement came just hours after Bezos revealed he’d be joined in space by Wally Funk, one of the last surviving members of the so-called Mercury 13. The 13 female pilots never made it to space despite passing the same tests in the early 1960s as NASA’s original, all-male Mercury 7 astronauts.

Bezos hasn’t commented publicly on Branson’s upcoming flight.

But some at Blue Origin already are nitpicking the fact that their capsule surpasses the designated Karman line of space 62 miles (100 kilometers) up, while Virgin Galactic’s peak altitude is 55 miles (88 kilometers). International aeronautic and astronautic federations in Europe recognize the Karman line as the official boundary between the upper atmosphere and space, while NASA, the Air Force, the Federal Aviation Administration and some astrophysicists accept a minimum altitude of 50 miles (80 kilometers).

Blue Origin’s flights last 10 minutes by the time the capsule parachutes onto the desert floor. Virgin Galactic’s last around 14 to 17 minutes from the time the space plane drops from the mothership and fires its rocket motor for a steep climb until it glides to a runway landing.

SpaceX’s Elon Musk doesn’t do quick up-and-down hops to the edge of space. His capsules go all the way to orbit, and he’s shooting for Mars.

“There is a big difference between reaching space and reaching orbit,” Musk said last week on Twitter.

Musk already has carried 10 astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA, and his company’s first private spaceflight is coming up in September for another billionaire who’s purchased a three-day, globe-circling ride.

Regardless of how high they fly, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin already are referring to their prospective clients as “astronauts.” More than 600 have reserved seats with Virgin Galactic at $250,000. Blue Origin expects to announce prices and open ticket sales once Bezos flies.

Phil McAlister, NASA’s commercial spaceflight director, considers it a space renaissance, especially as the space station gets set to welcome a string of paying visitors, beginning with a Russian actress and movie producer in October, a pair of Japanese in December and a SpaceX-delivered crew of businessmen in January.

“The way I see it is the more, the better, right?” McAlister said. “More, better.”

This is precisely the future NASA wanted once the shuttles retired and private companies took over space station ferry flights. Atlantis blasted off on the last shuttle flight 10 years ago Thursday.

NASA’s final shuttle commander, Chris Ferguson, who now works for Boeing on its Starliner crew capsule, is impressed that Branson and Bezos are launching ahead of customers.

“That’s one surefire way to show confidence in your product is to get on it,” Ferguson said at Thursday’s 10th anniversary shuttle celebrations. “I’m sure that this was not a decision made lightly. I wish them both well. I think it’s great.

___

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.

Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin Face Off In Space Tourism Market


By Lucie AUBOURG
07/09/21 

The era of space tourism is set to soar, with highly symbolic flights by rivals Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin scheduled just days apart.

Virgin Galactic -- founded by flamboyant British billionaire Richard Branson -- is planning for a July 11 space flight. Blue Origin -- started by Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame -- is set to blast off on July 20.

The two companies will serve the nascent market for suborbital flights lasting just a few minutes, long enough for passengers to experience weightlessness and view the contour of the planet.

But that's where their similarity ends.

Branson, who heads the Virgin Group conglomerate that includes everything from entertainment to financial services to telecoms, founded Virgin Galactic in 2004. The 70-year-old's previous daredevil exploits include crossing the Pacific in a hot-air balloon and navigating the English Channel in an amphibious vehicle.

The view inside the Virgin Galactic spaceship, which can accommodate up to six passengers who float in space for a few minutes in zero gravity Photo: Virgin Galactic / Handout

Bezos is 57 years old and the world's richest man. A science fiction fan, he founded Blue Origin in 2000 and recently stepped down as Amazon CEO to focus on space projects and other endeavors.

The spacecraft developed by the two companies could not be more different.

Virgin Galactic's spacecraft is not a classic rocket. It's attached to the belly of a large carrier airplane that takes off from a runway.

The view inside the Blue Origin capsule, which has six seats and six large windows Photo: BLUE ORIGIN / Handout


After an hour it reaches an altitude high enough to release the smaller spacecraft, the VSS Unity, that in turn fires its engines and reaches suborbital space -- where passengers float weightlessly for a few minutes -- then glides back to earth.

The spacecraft can accommodate two pilots and up to six passengers. The cabin has 12 large windows and 16 cameras.

Blue Origin in contrast is more of a classic rocket experience, with a vertical blast-off that accelerates to more than Mach 3, or three times the force of Earth's gravity.

Once it reaches the proper altitude, a capsule separates from the booster and then spends four minutes at an altitude exceeding 60 miles (100 kilometers), during which time those on board experience weightlessness and can observe the curvature of Earth.

The booster lands autonomously on a pad two miles from the launch site, and the capsule floats back to the surface with three large parachutes that slow it down to about a mile per hour when it lands.

The capsule has six seats and six large windows.

Virgin Galactic plans to start regular commercial operations in early 2022, and is aiming to carry out 400 flights per year from Spaceport America, its base in New Mexico.

Some 600 tickets have already been sold, including to Hollywood celebrities, for prices ranging between $200,000 and $250,000. Tickets are expected to be even more expensive when they go on sale to the public.

Blue Origin has yet to announce ticket prices or a date for the start of commercial operations. But a seat for the July 20 flight was sold an auction -- and the mysterious winner paid $28 million.

JODER EL CLIMA***SEZ AMLO

Mexican president wants to compete with private gas firms


Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during a ceremony marking the third anniversary of his presidential election at the National Palace in Mexico City, Thursday, July 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)


MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president said Thursday he wants to create a government company to distribute cooking gas following a surge in LP gas prices.

Critics called it yet another nationalistic, big-government step by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the energy sector. But the problem is hitting Mexicans in the pocketbook. Cooking gas is used by 70% of Mexican households and home deliveries have increased in price by as much as 50% in some areas over the last year.

The country’s annual inflation rate is running at a worrisome almost 6%, and cooking gas prices have fueled that problem. The president says private gas distribution companies have inflated their profit margins — sometimes to as much as 50% — and he wants to start a state-run delivery company charging lower prices.

Opposition legislators say Mexico doesn’t need, or have the money, to acquire tanker trucks and distribution hubs. And many doubt the government — whose Pemex oil company suffered a pipeline gas leak that ignited a huge, subaquatic fireball in the Gulf of Mexico in June — is up to the task.

But one of the president’s key promises has been that basic fuel prices won’t increase above the rate of inflation, and the largely privatized market for cooking gas cylinders has made that unobtainable.

“They are leaving me looking like a demagogue, like a liar, (because) I made a promise that prices were not going to increase,” López Obrador said Thursday.

Mexico doesn’t produce enough gas from domestic oil fields, and refuses to approve fracking to obtain more. The country imports about 70% of the LP gas it uses.

But prices on the international market fluctuated wildly this winter and spring after winter storms hit Texas. That’s what gas companies point to as one factor in the price increases.

The federal antimonopoly commission says it is looking into whether a small number of firms exercise control over pricing in some markets, which rely heavily on small-tank delivery routes.

The Mexican Gas Distributors Association says that private firms also have to compete against criminals who steal as much as $1.5 billion in gas every year from government pipelines, by drilling thousands of illegal taps each year.

López Obrador wants to regulate the price of gas, and launch a state gas company called “Wellbeing Gas” to compete with private distributors.

López Obrador has also launched a nationalistic campaign to end gasoline imports and stop or reduce exports of crude oil, by boosting domestic refining capacity.

His pet projects include building oil refineries in Mexico, and he has also tried to rein in foreign companies that built wind and solar farms to produce electricity in Mexico. He has also put on hold long-anticipated bidding on oil exploration contracts.

López Obrador pushed through a law earlier this year that will allow the government to seize private gasoline stations in case of “imminent danger to national security, energy security or the economy” and give them to the state-owed oil company to run.

Judges in Mexico have granted injunctions against some of the president’s measures.

***FUCK THE CLIMATE

California nixing algae that crowds out food for sea animals


1 of 10
Marine scientist Robert Mooney shows off Caulerpa, an evasive alga, that is being removed from China Coast in Corona del Mar, Calif. on Wednesday, July 7, 2021. (Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register via AP)

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) — For the first time, scientists say they have seen a species of bright green algae growing in the waters off California — and they are hoping it’s the last.

The invasive algae can overtake the environment and displace critical food sources for ocean animals on the Southern California coast. A team on Wednesday started removing the patch of fast-growing algae known as caulerpa prolifera from the harbor in Newport Beach, suctioning it through a tube and filtering the ocean water back out.

The process will take four or five days to complete and much longer until scientists can determine the algae is gone for good. So far, it’s been confined to a roughly 1,000-square-foot (90-square-meter) area not far from a small but popular beach. But tiny fibers can easily break off and take hold elsewhere.

“We’re at a point here where we’ve got a shot to get rid of it,” said Robert Mooney, a biologist with Marine Taxonomic Services overseeing a large pump that a team of three divers uses to remove the algae. “We don’t have the luxury of waiting to see what happens.”

The discovery of the species late last year and confirmation this spring spurred federal, state and local officials to act. They are eager to prevent it from spreading, noting the algae has invaded other habitats like the Suez Canal. It was crucial to act quickly, they said, because swimmers and boaters moving through the water could contribute to the algae spreading.

California faced a similar problem two years ago when a related invasive algae was detected off the coast of Huntington Beach and Carlsbad. It cost $7 million to eradicate and prompted the state to ban the sale of caulerpa taxifolia and other algae.

That species — known as “killer algae” — has caused widespread problems in the Mediterranean Sea. It isn’t edible by many fish and invertebrates and can displace plants that are, Mooney said.

“It looks like somebody took a roll of AstroTurf and laid it out across the sea floor,” said Christopher Potter of California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The invasive algae recently identified in Newport Beach is related but isn’t prohibited in California. It is used in some saltwater aquariums, and scientists think it likely wound up in the harbor when someone washed out a fish tank, possibly into a storm drain.

“It’s more than likely the source is an aquarium release,” said Keith Merkel of Merkel & Associates, biological consultant on the project. “It can spread from very small fragments if you replace water in your aquarium, cleaning gravels and using buckets to dip water out and in.”

For now, the source hasn’t been confirmed, and the push is on to remove the algae as quickly as possible from Newport’s China Cove. While native to Florida and other tropical locations, it can overtake natural habitats in California, experts said.

So far, divers haven’t detected the algae elsewhere in the harbor. But it will require surveys over time to be sure, and repeat removals if more is detected, Merkel said.

“There’s a good chance that it has spread, we just don’t know where — which is the biggest fear that we have,” Merkel said.

Beyond Meat adding substitute chicken tenders at 400 U.S. restaurants


Beyond Meat announced the chicken substitute, a mixture of fava beans and peas, will be available in 400 restaurants nationwide. Photo courtesy of Beyond Meat

July 8 (UPI) -- Beyond Meat announced on Thursday that it's launching substitute chicken tenders at restaurants nationwide.

The company, which produces alternative beef products, said the breaded chicken substitute will be available in more than 400 restaurants.

"The demand for our beef products really started to pick up to the point where we really had to allocate all of our production capacity to it," Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown said, according to CNBC.

The company said it's shifting focus to chicken after spending years working on its Beyond Burger products. It's been testing the chicken substitute -- a mixture of fava beans and peas -- with partners like Yum Brands, which operates KFC.

"We're innovating the poultry market with the new Beyond Chicken Tenders -- the result of our tireless pursuit for excellence and growth at Beyond Meat," the company's chief innovation officer, Dariush Ajami, said in a statement.

The company, which reports annual sales of about $400 million, first tried a plant-based "chicken" product a decade ago.

SMALLER THAN A MEGALODON

Rhode Island researchers tag second 'GREAT' white shark in season

July 7, 2021

WAKEFIELD, R.I. (AP) — Researchers have tagged their second great white shark on the Rhode Island coast in two weeks.

The Atlantic Shark Institute said in a statement that the female juvenile shark is about 5 1/2 feet long. It was tagged and released on Saturday.

The tag will allow researchers to trace the shark whenever it passes within 500 to 800 yards of an acoustic receiver. The tag should record the time that the shark swam by and it should for last 10 years, the Providence Journal reported.

Jon Dodd, executive director of the Atlantic Shark Institute, said so far this year, this was the third shark they tagged. Fewer than 300 sharks have been tagged with this technology in the Northwest Atlantic, he said.

The tag will allow the institute to collect insightful information about complexities of white sharks, he said.

“That’s what makes this work so exciting and so important,” Dodd said. “These juvenile white sharks aren’t easy to find, tag and release so every one of them is really important if we are to understand how size, age and sex plays a role in what they do and where they go.”

The Institute is studying sharks in partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, the newspaper said.