Floating wind turbines could open up vast ocean tracts for renewable power

Technology could help power a clean energy transition if it can overcome hurdles of cost, design and opposition from fishing

The world’s first floating wind farm 15 miles offshore of Aberdeenshire, in Scotland. The 30 megawatt installation can power approximately 20,000 households

 Photograph: Xinhua/Alamy

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Paola Rosa-Aquino
Sun 29 Aug 2021 

In the stormy waters of the North Sea, 15 miles off the coast of Aberdeenshire, in Scotland, five floating offshore wind turbines stretch 574 feet (175 metres) above the water. The world’s first floating windfarm, a 30 megawatt facility run by the Norwegian company Equinor, has only been in operation since 2017 but has already broken UK records for energy output.

While most offshore wind turbines are anchored to the ocean floor on fixed foundations, limiting them to depths of about 165ft, floating turbines are tethered to the seabed by mooring lines. These enormous structures are assembled on land and pulled out to sea by boats.




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The ability to install turbines in deeper waters, where winds tend to be stronger, opens up huge amounts of the ocean to generate renewable wind power: close to 80% of potential offshore wind power is found in deeper waters. In addition, positioning floating turbines much further off the coast helps avoid conflicts with those who object to their impact on coastal views.

Floating offshore wind is still in its early stages: only about 80 megawatts of a total of about 32 gigawatts (0.25%) of installed offshore wind capacity is floating. But some experts say the relatively new technology could become an important part of the renewables mix, if it can overcome hurdles including cost, design and opposition from the fishing industry.

The US has traditionally lagged behind Europe when it comes to offshore wind power, but that may be changing. Joe Biden has pledged to build more than 30GW of offshore wind by 2030. The Department of Energy says it has invested more than $100m in researching and developing floating offshore wind technology in an attempt to establish itself as a leader in the sector.

While the reliable winds and relatively shallow waters of the US east coast have made it the favored target for offshore wind projects, such as the recently approved large-scale Vineyard Wind off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, on the west coast the waters are mostly too deep for fixed-platform turbines. It’s here that advocates hope floating wind will take off.

In May, the Biden administration and California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, announced a plan to bring floating offshore wind to California. They have identified two sites: a nearly 400-square mile area north-west of Morro Bay, which could host 380 floating wind turbines, and another further north off Humboldt Bay. Together these projects could bring up to 4.6GW of clean energy to the grid, enough to power 1.6m homes.

“[The announcement] was a real breakthrough,” said Adam Stern, executive director of the trade association Offshore Wind California. “At a time when the effects of climate change are evident in California every day, in the form of wildfires and drought conditions,” he said, “offshore wind can provide clean, reliable electricity for millions of California residents.”

The International Energy Agency estimates that for the world to stay on the pathway to carbon neutrality by 2050 it needs to add 390GW of wind power (80GW of which would be offshore) every year between 2030 and 2050.

It’s a big jump from current numbers, especially for the offshore wind industry, which installed just over 6GW of new capacity in 2020. But wind power has been growing as costs fall and countries look to move away from fossil fuels to meet climate goals.

How much floating wind will factor in is unclear. Countries including Norway, Portugal, South Korea and Japan are installing or planning floating wind projects, with more than 26GW of capacity estimated to be in the pipeline, according to one estimate.
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“Without a doubt wind is a big part of the solution for going to zero,” said Michael Webber, an energy expert and engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin. But he believes floating wind is likely to take time to scale up, predicting that onshore wind and fixed-bottom offshore wind would dominate for the next decade.

Big hurdles certainly remain. Cost is a significant one. Floating offshore wind generation costs are about double those of fixed offshore wind, although these are expected to fall as technology advances and supply chains improve. Estimates by the research body the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) suggest floating turbine projects could achieve cost parity with their fixed-bottom counterparts around 2030.

One wrinkle is the number of designs to anchor the floating turbines, which some experts believe will make it harder to drive down costs.

Three of the main floating wind turbine designs include the spar-buoy (left), the semisubmersible (center) and the tension leg platforms (right).

 Photograph: Joshua Bauer/NREL

There are three main designs. The spar-buoy – the design of the Hywind floating turbines in Scotland – has a long, weighted cylinder tube which extends down from the turbine and below the ocean’s surface to balance it. Semi-submersible platforms, which are the most common for installed and planned projects, are modular and made up of floating cylindrical structures secured by mooring lines. The tension-leg structure has a smaller platform anchored to the seabed with taut mooring lines.
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“I’ve lost count of how many concepts are actually out there,” said Po Wen Cheng, head of wind energy at the University of Stuttgart in Germany. “Ford didn’t make the car affordable for the big masses by making 30 different types of car – they just made a Model T. If we really want to lower the cost, we cannot tolerate so many different concepts,” he said.

Parts of the fishing industry have also expressed concerns that offshore wind could interfere with their equipment, obstruct fishing areas and negatively affect their livelihoods.

Semi-submersibale floating wind turbines off the coast of Viana do Castelo, Portugal. Photograph: Hugo Amaral/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock

The first floating windfarm in the US may end up in Maine, where the University of Maine, RWE Renewables and the Mitsubishi subsidiary Diamond Offshore Wind are developing a small demonstration project that would generate 12MW of energy.

It has faced enormous opposition from lobster fishers who say the turbines interfere with their business. They reached a compromise in July: this pilot project will go ahead but the state legislature approved a ban on new industrial wind projects in state waters until March 2031.

Fishermen have rung alarm bells about California’s projects, too. “Far too many questions remain unanswered regarding potential impacts to marine life,” said Mike Conroy, the executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations in a May statement about plans for floating wind in the state.

Walt Musial, NREL’s lead of offshore wind research, said even a large-scale deployment of offshore wind along the east or west coast would take up only a tiny portion of the ocean and turbines would be carefully sited. But he stressed the continued need for good communication “to ensure optimal coexistence and to help the fishing community adapt and continue to access the space within the turbines for fishing”.

The California government foresees offering commercial leases for Morro Bay and Humboldt Bay next year. Stern is hopeful that floating offshore wind would create thousands of well-paying clean energy jobs in the state, as well as accelerating the retirement of natural gas plants, reducing pollution in communities that disproportionately bear the burden of environmental impacts.

“There are a lot of challenges to get floating wind turbines running in US waters,” said Po Wen Cheng, “but there’s no doubt about the potential.”

USA

Experts warn of dangers from breach of voter system software
By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY

August 28, 2021

FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2021, file photo a worker passes a Dominion Voting ballot scanner while setting up a polling location at an elementary school in Gwinnett County, Ga., outside of Atlanta. Republican efforts to question the results of the 2020 election have led to two significant breaches of voting software that have alarmed election security experts who say they have increased the risk to elections in jurisdictions that use the equipment. (AP Photo/Ben Gray, File)


ATLANTA (AP) — Republican efforts questioning the outcome of the 2020 presidential race have led to voting system breaches that election security experts say pose a heightened risk to future elections.

Copies of the Dominion Voting Systems software used to manage elections — from designing ballots to configuring voting machines and tallying results — were distributed at an event this month in South Dakota organized by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, an ally of former President Donald Trump who has made unsubstantiated claims about last year’s election.

“It’s a game-changer in that the environment we have talked about existing now is a reality,” said Matt Masterson, a former top election security official in the Trump administration. “We told election officials, essentially, that you should assume this information is already out there. Now we know it is, and we don’t know what they are going to do with it.”

The software copies came from voting equipment in Mesa County, Colorado, and Antrim County, Michigan, where Trump allies had sue unsuccessfully challenging the results from last fall.

The Dominion software is used in some 30 states, including counties in California, Georgia and Michigan.

Election security pioneer Harri Hursti was at the South Dakota event and said he and other researchers in attendance were provided three separate copies of election management systems that run on the Dominion software. The data indicated they were from Antrim and Mesa counties. While it’s not clear how the copies came to be released at the event, they were posted online and made available for public download.

The release gives hackers a “practice environment” to probe for vulnerabilities they could exploit and a road map to avoid defenses, Hursti said. All the hackers would need is physical access to the systems because they are not supposed to be connected to the internet.

“The door is now wide open,” Hursti said. “The only question is, how do you sneak in the door?”

A Dominion representative declined comment, citing an investigation.

U.S. election technology is dominated by just three vendors comprising 90% of the market, meaning election officials cannot easily swap out their existing technology. Release of the software copies essentially provides a blueprint for those trying to interfere with how elections are run. They could sabotage the system, alter the ballot design or even try to change results, said election technology expert Kevin Skoglund.

“This disclosure increases both the likelihood that something happens and the impact of what would happen if it does,” he said.


The effort by Republicans to examine voting equipment began soon after the November presidential election as Trump challenged the results and blamed his loss on widespread fraud, even though there has been no evidence of it.

Judges appointed by both Democrats and Republicans, election officials of both parties and Trump’s own attorney general have dismissed the claims. A coalition of federal and state election officials called the 2020 election the “most secure” in U.S. history, and post-election audits across the country found no significant anomalies.

In Antrim County, a judge had allowed a forensic exam of voting equipment after a brief mix-up of election results led to a suit alleging fraud. It was dismissed in May. Hursti said the date on the software release matches the date of the forensic exam.

Calls seeking information from Antrim County’s clerk and the local prosecutor’s office were not immediately returned; a call to the judge’s office was referred to the county clerk. The Michigan secretary of state’s office declined comment.

In Colorado, federal, state and local authorities are investigating whether Mesa County elections staff might have provided unauthorized individuals access to their systems. The county elections clerk, Tina Peters, appeared onstage with Lindell in South Dakota and told the crowd her office was being targeted by Democrats in the state.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said she alerted federal election security officials of the breach and was told it was not viewed as a “significant heightening of the election risk landscape at this point.” This past week, Mesa County commissioners voted to replace voting equipment that Griswold had ordered could no longer be used.

Geoff Hale, who leads the election security effort at the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said his agency has always operated on the assumption that system vulnerabilities are known by malicious actors. Election officials are focused instead on ways they can reduce risk, such as using ballots with a paper record that can be verified by the voter and rigorous post-election audits, Hale said.

He said having Dominion’s software exposed publicly doesn’t change the agency’s guidance.

Security researcher Jack Cable said he assumes U.S. adversaries already had access to the software. He said he is more concerned the release would fan distrust among the growing number of people not inclined to believe in the security of U.S elections.

“It is a concern that people, in the pursuit of trying to show the system is insecure, are actually making it more insecure,” said Cable, who recently joined a cybersecurity firm run by former CISA Director Christopher Krebs and former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos.

Concerns over access to voting machines and software first surfaced this year in Arizona, where the Republican-controlled state Senate hired Cyber Ninjas, a firm with no previous election experience, to audit the Maricopa County election. The firm’s chief executive also had tweeted support of conspiracy theories surrounding last year’s election.

After the county’s Dominion voting systems were turned over to the firm, Arizona’s top election official said they could not be used again. The GOP-controlled Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted in July to replace them.

Dominion has filed suits contesting various unfounded claims about its systems. In May, it called giving Cyber Ninjas access to its code “reckless,” given the firm’s bias, and said it would cause “irreparable damage” to election security.

Election technology and security expert Ryan Macias, in Arizona earlier this year to observe that review, was alarmed by a lack of cybersecurity protocols. There was no information about who was given access, whether those people had passed background checks or were asked to sign nondisclosure agreements.

Cyber Ninjas did not respond to an email with questions about the review and their security protocols.

Macias was not surprised to hear that copies of Antrim County’s election management system had surfaced online given the questionable motives of the various groups conducting the reviews and the central role that voting systems have played in conspiracy theories.

“This is what I anticipated would happen, and I anticipate it will happen yet again coming out of Arizona,” Macias said. “These actors have no liability and no rules of engagement.”

WATER AS A WEAPON OF WAR

'Desert': drying Euphrates threatens disaster in Syria

Issued on: 30/08/2021 -

Aid groups and engineers are warning of a looming humanitarian disaster in northeast Syria, where waning river flow is compounding woes after a decade of war

 Delil SOULEIMAN AFP

Rumayleh (Syria) (AFP)

Syria's longest river used to flow by his olive grove, but today Khaled al-Khamees says it has receded into the distance, parching his trees and leaving his family with hardly a drop to drink.

"It's as if we were in the desert," said the 50-year-old farmer, standing on what last year was the Euphrates riverbed.

"We're thinking of leaving because there's no water left to drink or irrigate the trees."

Aid groups and engineers are warning of a looming humanitarian disaster in northeast Syria, where waning river flow is compounding woes after a decade of war.

They say plummeting water levels at hydroelectric dams since January are threatening water and power cutoffs for up to five million Syrians, in the middle of a coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis.

As drought grips the Mediterranean region, many in the Kurdish-held area are accusing neighbour and archfoe Turkey of weaponising water by tightening the tap upstream, though a Turkish source denied this.

Outside the village of Rumayleh where Khamees lives, black irrigation hoses lay in dusty coils after the river receded so far it became too expensive to operate the water pumps.

People walk through what was the Euphrates riverbed near the Syrian village of Rumayleh

 Delil SOULEIMAN AFP

Instead, much closer to the water's edge, Khamees and neighbours were busy planting corn and beans in soil just last year submerged under the current.

The father of 12 said he had not seen the river so far away from the village in decades.

"The women have to walk seven kilometres (four miles) just to get a bucket of water for their children to drink," he said.

- 'Alarming' -

Reputed to have once flown through the biblical Garden of Eden, the Euphrates runs for almost 2,800 kilometres (1,700 miles) across Turkey, Syria and Iraq.

In times of rain, it gushes into northern Syria through the Turkish border, and flows diagonally across the war-torn country towards Iraq.

This combination of handout images made available by the European Space Agency shows two satellite false colour images captured on May 5, 2020 (top) and May 7, 2021 of decreasing water levels in Syria's Tishrin reservoir - EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY/AFP

Along its way, it irrigates swathes of land in Syria's breadbasket, and runs through three hydroelectric dams that provide power and drinking water to millions.

But over the past eight months the river has contracted to a sliver, sucking precious water out of reservoirs and increasing the risk of dam turbines grinding to a halt.

At the Tishrin Dam, the first into which the river falls inside Syria, director Hammoud al-Hadiyyeen described an "alarming" drop in water levels not seen since the dam's completion in 1999.

"It's a humanitarian catastrophe," he said.

Since January, the water level has plummeted by five metres, and now hovers just dozens of centimetres above "dead level" when turbines are supposed to completely stop producing electricity.

Across northeast Syria, already power generation has fallen by 70 percent since last year, the head of the energy authority Welat Darwish says.

Two out of three of all potable water stations along the river are pumping less water or have stopped working, humanitarian groups say.

- 'Water weapon'? -

Almost 90 percent of the Euphrates flow comes from Turkey, the United Nations says.

To ensure Syria's fair share, Turkey in 1987 agreed to allow an annual average of 500 cubic metres per second of water across its border.

But that has dropped to as low as 200 in recent months, engineers claim.

Water levels at Syria's Tabqa dam AFP

Inside Syria, the Euphrates flows mostly along territory controlled by semi-autonomous Kurdish authorities, whose US-backed fighters have over the years wrested its dams and towns from the Islamic State group.

Turkey however regards those Kurdish fighters as linked to its outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and has grabbed land from them during Syria's war.

Syria's Kurds have accused Ankara of holding back more water than necessary in its dams, and Damascus in June urged Turkey to increase the flow immediately.

But a Turkish diplomatic source told AFP Turkey had "never reduced the amount of water it releases from its trans-boundary rivers for political or other purposes".

"Our region is facing one of the worst drought periods due to climate change," and rainfall in southern Turkey was "the lowest in the last 30 years", this source said.

Analyst Nicholas Heras said Turkey did hold leverage over Syria and Iraq with the huge Ataturk Dam just 80 kilometres from the Syrian border, but it was debatable whether Ankara wanted to use it.

That would mean "international complications for Ankara, both with the United States and Russia", a key Damascus ally across the table in Syria peace talks.

Aid groups and engineers say plummeting water levels at hydroelectric dams since January are threatening water and power cutoffs for up to five million Syrians 

Delil SOULEIMAN AFP

"The easier, and more frequently utilised, water weapon that Ankara uses is the Alouk plant" that it seized from the Kurds in 2019, Heras said.

Fresh water supply from the station on another river has been disrupted at least 24 times since 2019, affecting 460,000 people, the United Nations says.

- 'Drought is coming' -

But Syria analyst Fabrice Balanche said the drought did serve Ankara's long-term goal of "asphyxiating northeast Syria economically".

"In periods of drought, Turkey helps itself and leaves the rest for the Kurds, in defiance and in full knowledge of the consequences," he said.

Wim Zwijnenburg, of the PAX peace organisation, said Turkey was struggling to provide enough water for "megalomanic" agricultural projects set up in the 1990s, a challenge now complicated by climate change.

The Tabqa dam is Syria's largest. Dry spells are to become longer and more severe around the Mediterranean, the United Nations has warned, with Syria most at risk, according to the 2019 Global Crisis Risk Index 

Delil SOULEIMAN AFP

"The big picture is drought is coming," he said.

"We already see a rapid decline in healthy vegetation growth on satellite analysis" in both Syria and Turkey.

A UN climate change report this month found human influence had almost definitely increased the frequency of simultaneous heatwaves and droughts worldwide.

These dry spells are to become longer and more severe around the Mediterranean, the United Nations has warned, with Syria most at risk, according to the 2019 Global Crisis Risk Index.

Downstream from the Tishrin Dam, the Euphrates pools in the depths of Lake Assad.

But today Syria's largest fresh water reservoir too has withdrawn inwards.

On its banks, men with tar-stained hands worked to repair generators exhausted from pumping water across much further distances than in previous years.

Agricultural worker Hussein Saleh, 56, was desperate.

"We can no longer afford the hoses or the generators," said the father of 12.

"The olive trees are thirsty and the animals are hungry."

A man holding a water bottle stands near a pump drawing water from the shallows of the Lake Assad reservoir, along the Euphrates river by the town of Rumayleh in eastern Syria Delil SOULEIMAN AFP

At home, in the village of Twihiniyyeh, power cuts had increased from nine to 19 hours a day, he said.

At the country's largest dam of Tabqa to the south, veteran engineer Khaled Shaheen was worried.

"We're trying to diminish how much water we send through," he said.

But "if it continues like this, we could stop electricity production for all except... bakeries, flour mills and hospitals."

- 'Short on food' -

Meanwhile, among five million people depending on the Euphrates for drinking water, more and more families are ingesting liquid that is unsafe.

Those cut off from the network instead pay for deliveries from private water trucks.

But these tankers most often draw water directly from the river -- where wastewater concentration is high due to low flow -- and these supplies are not filtered.

Among five million people depending on the Euphrates for drinking water, more and more families are ingesting liquid that is unsafe Delil SOULEIMAN AFP

Waterborne disease outbreaks are on the rise, and contaminated ice has caused diarrhoea in displacement camps, according to the NES Forum, an NGO coordination body for the region.

Marwa Daoudy, a Syrian scholar of environmental security, said the decreasing flow of the Euphrates was "very alarming".

"These levels threaten whole rural communities in the Euphrates Basin whose livelihood depends on agriculture and irrigation," she said.

Aid groups say drought conditions have already destroyed large swathes of rain-fed crops in Syria, a country where 60 percent of people already struggle to put food on the table.

In some communities, animals have started to die, the NES Forum has said.

The United Nations says barley production could drop by 1.2 million tonnes this year, making animal feed more scarce.

Balanche said Syria was likely facing a years-long drought not seen since one from 2005 to 2010, before the civil war.

"The northeast, but also all of Syria, will be short on food, and will need to import massive quantities of cereals."

Downstream in Iraq, seven million more people risked losing access to water from the river, the Norwegian Refugee Council's Karl Schembri said.

"Climate doesn't look at borders," he said.

© 2021 AFP

Fear, acceptance mix in cradle of Tunisian revolution


Issued on: 30/08/2021 

A woman walks past the sculpture of Mohamed Bouazizi's cart in the square named after him in central Sidi Bouzid

ANIS MILI AFP

Sidi Bouzid (Tunisia) (AFP)

Many people in Sidi Bouzid, the cradle of Tunisia's 2011 revolution that launched the Arab Spring, see President Kais Saied's power grab as a necessary evil.

But there are also fears that last month's dismissal of parliament, sacking of the prime minister and Saied's assumption of sweeping powers may bring Tunisia one step closer to another dictatorship.

It was in this large town of central Tunisia on December 17, 2010 that Mohamed Bouazizi, a fruit and vegetable salesman angered by police harassment, set himself ablaze.

His suicide sparked an unprecedented uprising that left some 300 people dead and toppled long-time dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

But more than a decade later, hopes for a better future have given way to anger and disappointment over the North African country's politicians' failure to improve living standards.

The chants of "Dignity!" and "Work!" that filled the air during the revolution have again sounded at recent demonstrations.

Ahmed Ouni is 36, unemployed and not at all happy with his lot.

"These last 11 years have been worse than 23 years under Ben Ali! Parliament and the government smothered us in poverty, so good riddance to them!" he said.

Mohamed Bouazizi Square in Sidi Bouzid in central Tunisia 

ANIS MILI AFP

"Because the Tunisians chose Saied, he has their endorsement to lead the country and do what has to be done. We have confidence in him," Ouni told AFP.

- 'Go for it' -

Sidi Bouzid's infrastructure has improved and more businesses have opened, but some people still feel marginalised and look to Saied to make their lives better.

"Go for it," said Ouni. "The people are with you."

Saied, a retired professor and specialist in constitutional law, was elected president in 2019.

On July 25, the president invoked the constitution as he granted himself full powers, having suspended parliament for an initial 30 days.

On August 23, he announced that these measures would continue indefinitely.

"This is necessary surgery to stop the bleeding," said Abdelhalim Hamdi, a 47-year-old construction worker with a degree in history who has also organised protests in Sidi Bouzid.

"The politicians in power have stolen our dreams and ambitions," he said, adding that he backed abolishing the constitution because it was "drafted to serve narrow interests".

Graffiti artist Kaisser Grojja, also known as 'Wolf Gang', works on a mural in Sidi Bouzid in central Tunisia

 ANIS MILI AFP

Many believe that suspending or repealing the constitution -- hailed internationally on its adoption in 2014 -- is inevitable.

"It's a necessary evil to save the country, even if it will probably lead to an authoritarian regime," said Sami Abdeli, 38.

He was speaking in central Sidi Bouzid, close to the sculpture of Mohamed Bouazizi's vegetable cart on which is marked the word "Freedom".

Residents of the town are normally quick to engage in conversation about politics, but many appeared reticent to comment on Saied's actions.

"We can see that self-censorship is back," said Mounira Bouazizi, blogger and coordinator at the Sidi Bouzid office of the International Observatory for Media and Human Rights.

- Anti-corruption purge -

"People no longer want to express themselves freely and say what they really think."

She said that on social networks Saied's supporters "use violent speech and do not accept any criticism of the president".

Yossra Abdouni, a 25-year-old engineering student, voiced caution.

"The idea that one person has all the executive power scares me," she said. Saied "is vague about his intentions -- he hasn't presented any programme".

"Even if the economic and social situation has become worse and the political class is fragmented, at least we had freedom and democracy," she added.

Red peppers drying along the side of the road to the town of Sidi Bouzid in central Tunisia ANIS MILI AFP

President Saied's move last month was condemned by Ennahdha, the Islamist party that is the largest in parliament, as a coup.

Since then, parliamentarians, magistrates and businessmen have been targeted with travel bans and house arrest in an anti-corruption purge that has raised fears of a decline in freedoms.

"Saied is moving towards an individualist and dictatorial regime. He hears only his own voice," said Rabeh Zaafouri, who heads the Tunisian Human Rights League office in Sidi Bouzid.

Zaafouri said Tunisians would "never allow a return" to the conditions of before the 2011 revolution.

© 2021 AFP

LEGALIZE COCA LIKE BOLIVIA DID
Colombia's illicit coca economy helps communities thrive

Issued on: 30/08/2021 - 

Workers toil in a coca field in the mountains of Patia in Colombia's Cauca department Raul ARBOLEDA AFP

Patía (Colombia) (AFP)

In the mountains and jungles of southwestern Colombia, peasants, migrants and women carrying babies toil doggedly in the coca fields despite the dangers posed by guerrillas and drug traffickers -- and despite the government's anti-drug campaign.

These plantations are known as "San Coca" -- Saint Coca -- due to the locals' devotion to growing the plant, which provides the active ingredient in cocaine, and their understanding of all it provides to them in the face of the risks.

Colombia is still the world's largest producer of the addictive stimulant, even though successive governments in Bogota have worked to combat the trade.

"Coca (plantations) were born as a response to institutional abandonment... and have allowed everyone in these areas to achieve a minimum of dignity," said Azael Cabrera, the leader of Agropatia, an organization representing 12 rural communities and townships.

"Forget about the state -- it doesn't exist here."

For community leader Reinaldo Bolanos, "we don't see ourselves as belonging to this State, as for the State, either we don't exist or we are a burden."

For decades, the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were effectively in charge in Cauca until the historic 2016 peace agreement between the government and the leftist rebels.

In theory, the fighters left the area under disarmament plans, and the peasants expected the state to step into the void, but they never did.

So three years later, dissident guerrillas that opted out of the peace deal moved back in -- with new weapons but the same ideology

With no state presence or support, the peasants were left vulnerable and turned to planting coca after suffering losses with other crops including yuca, corn, coffee and sugar cane.

The "coca economy" in Cauca helps to sustain local communities but locals say the Colombian government does not distinguish between the farmers and the drug traffickers Raul ARBOLEDA AFP

And so the "coca economy" was born: a network of activities around the cultivation and processing of coca leaves which are then used to make cocaine, with rebels serving as the middlemen between the farmers and the traffickers.

The work puts food on the tables of locals, but there is a problem -- the government does not distinguish between the coca growers and the drug traffickers.

- Respect for those with guns -

Despite a half-century battle by authorities against the drug trade, the white powder continues to flow freely into the United States and Europe.

Colombian coca leaf collector Edison Tovar works in the mountains of Patia 

Raul ARBOLEDA AFP

During that period, 10 Colombian governments failed to put a dent in the illegal trade, despite millions of dollars in anti-narcotics support from Washington.

In Cauca, the guerrillas reign once again -- they are part of the dissident Carlos Patino Front, and billboards and posters bear the face of Patino, a rebel killed in 2013.

Military interventions in the area are "less intense" than in other zones, Defense Minister Diego Molano admits, because of the danger posed to security forces.

"But that doesn't mean we're going to let these groups continue with this criminal dynamic," Molano added.

Nevertheless, the trade -- which is lucrative because coca can be harvested four times a year, as opposed to just two for coffee -- has grown considerably.

In 2010, there were 5,900 hectares (14,580 acres) of coca plantations in Cauca, according to the United Nations.

A decade later, that number had nearly tripled to 16,544 hectares.

"The army never came here after the Havana deal. Once again, this area is screwed by illegal armed groups," said Bolanos.

The influence of the guerrillas is still apparent in Cauca - on murals, billboards and posters

 Raul ARBOLEDA AFP

"We've learned to respect whoever has weapons."

Cabrera chimes in: "The peasants have no authority over the rebels -- we can't tell them to leave, we have no choice but to let them come. But that doesn't make us guerrillas or drug traffickers."

- Family business -

Entire families, old women, single mothers with their children, impoverished former city residents and even Venezuelan migrants who walked for months to reach Cauca can be found picking coca leaves in the plantations.

Colombian coca leaf collector Karen Palacios, 20, gets ready with her daughter for her work shift at a coca field -- she has been doing this work since she was a teenager 

Raul ARBOLEDA AFP

"Students who don't have classes or are on holidays also come to the fields to pick and so contribute to their studies and to putting food on the table at home," said community leader Abel Solarte.

While still a minor, Karen Palacios moved from the capital Bogota to Cauca with her partner, a native of the region.

Now 20, she learned to pick leaves before the couple broke up, leaving her as the single mother of two-year-old Dana.

"I used to take her to the plantations and would set up a tent or a hammock so she could sleep while I worked," said Palacios.

At one point, she was able to put Dana in day care, but then the coronavirus pandemic swept through Colombia, and the center closed, meaning Palacios again must bring her daughter into the fields.

And since the family shoe business succumbed to the ravages of the pandemic, Palacios's father, stepmother and brother all joined her in Cauca as coca leaf pickers.

Women work repairing roads in the coca-growing area

 Raul ARBOLEDA AFP

Numerous single mothers like Palacios work in the fields.

"Many of us don't have a husband and we have our children, and if we go picking, we can get them food and clothing," said Dora Meneses, spokeswoman for a group of 60 pickers.

- The boom -

According to United Nations estimates, between 2016 and 2018, more than 200,000 families -- amounting to just over a million people, or two percent of Colombia's population -- were working on coca plantations.

Experts believe some families planted additional coca crops in order to get cash payouts for destroying them under a 2016 peace deal between the government and FARC rebels Raul ARBOLEDA AFP

Part of the boom was fueled by one of the peace conditions that included cash payouts for those who agreed to destroy their coca crops.

Experts believe the peasants took this as an incentive to plant more, to earn more from their destruction.

Almost 100,000 families agreed to destroy their crops in return for the compensation and an end to legal proceedings against them, according to official figures.

But in the Patia townships, the business continues to thrive.

Yeison Enriquez fled Venezuela with his wife and three children as their country spiralled into economic meltdown.

He went from viewing coca as an illegal crop to defending the "source of work" that his brother also migrated to Colombia to do.

"We can't count on this opportunity in the city. In the countryside, there is always work and if they eradicate the coca. I think I will have to migrate once again," said Enriquez.

In 2017, plantations across Colombia reached a record level of 171,000 hectares.

In 2020, the country managed to reduce the size of its coca plantations to 143,000 hectares but without reducing the amount of cocaine produced -- 1,228 tons -- which the UN says was due to a better crop yield.

Since the arrival of right-wing President Ivan Duque in 2018, Colombia has increased its eradication of coca crops and the confiscation of drugs -- 549 tons in the last 18 months alone.

And controversially, it is preparing to restart aerial glyphosate spraying to eradicate coca crops, which had been suspended since 2015 due to its harmful effects on human health and the environment.

Colombians protest against the use of aerial glyphosate spraying to eradicate coca crops, as the chemical has been shown to have detrimental effects on human health and the environment

 Raul ARBOLEDA AFP

It is also a major threat to the peasants' livelihoods.

"We don't want to sink into misery. We're organizing resistance -- to march, to protest, to strike," said Solarte.

- Staving off poverty -

Antonio Tamayo, 40, a plantation leader, moved to Cauca from Antioquia, 700 kilometers (435 miles) away, after the coca crops there were destroyed.

A man holds a chunk of coca paste at a makeshift lab in Colombia's Cauca department -- the peasants help make the base ingredient for cocaine, but they say intermediaries take it to drug traffickers, and they are not to blame for where it ends up 

Raul ARBOLEDA AFP

In the same farm where the leaves are grown, they are shredded and then processed with lime, cement, gasoline and ammonium sulphate to produce the paste that forms the base ingredient for cocaine.

Every week, he says, "intermediaries" for the traffickers collect the hard, whitish paste to take it to clandestine neighboring laboratories where "chemists" transform it into pure cocaine.

The peasants keep out of the most lucrative part of the business -- the making and selling of cocaine -- but complain that the government lumps them into the same category as the cartels.

"We're classified as drug traffickers ... but others are making the money," said Cabrera.

What the coca pickers earn is just enough to stave off poverty. A seasoned worker can earn up to $37 a day -- more than four and a half times the minimum wage.

- Prosperity on the horizon -

The "San Coca" lands are crisscrossed by dirt roads that can turn into quagmires when heavy rains fall.

The dirt roads in the "San Coca" lands can become impassable when heavy rains fall 

Raul ARBOLEDA AFP

Despite this, the traffic is incessant. The trucks authorized by guerrillas pass one after another loaded with fuel, ice cream, bread, clothes and more.

The local "coca economy" has created a community of consumers that pay handsomely for things they used to produce on their own land.

And in urban areas, the coca bonanza has fueled a construction boom, Bolanos says. Roads are being improved and schools are getting more supplies.

"The big difference with coca is that it provides us with the ability to feed ourselves and also allows us to cover what the government doesn't," said Bolanos.

But in this mountainous region, everyone fears the return of aerial crop spraying -- they recall communities left in ruins, people displaced, homes abandoned, and the death of much of the plant life.

Airplanes first sprayed the herbicide in 1984 before returning in the 1990s and then again in 2008.

"Aerial spraying is practically murder for these towns," said Bolanos.

EXPLAINER: How wildfire camps keep crews ready for battle

By KEITH RIDLER

August 28, 2021


FILE - In this Aug. 25, 2015, file photo, Mac Mega, center, rests with fellow firefighters from Oregon-based Grayback Forestery, at a camp for firefighters battling the Okanogan Complex Fire in Okanogan, Wash. Empty cow pastures on one day can be bustling with hundreds of firefighters the next as fire camps with colorful tent cities spring up. Truckloads of supplies and equipment are needed to keep wildland firefighters effective at fighting flames for weeks on end. The size of each camp is determined by the size and complexity of the wildfire. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Empty cow pastures on one day can be bustling with hundreds of firefighters the next as fire camps with colorful tent cities spring up.

More than 20,000 wildland firefighters are battling some 100 large wildfires in the U.S. West, and truckloads of supplies and equipment are needed to keep them effective at fighting flames for weeks on end.

“We’ll set up a small village,” said Evans Kuo, a “Type 1” incident commander assigned to the nation’s biggest and most dangerous wildfires. His incident command team has 44 members. “The main idea of the camp is to not only house the incident command team, but also house the base camp that has food, water, sleeping and showers.”

___

HOW LARGE ARE FIRE CAMPS?

The size of each camp is determined by the size and complexity of the wildfire, with the largest blazes drawing more than 1,000 firefighters and support staff that are directed by Type 1 incident command teams.

U.S. Interior Department agencies, primarily the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Forest Service supply firefighters, as do state agencies and tribes.

There also are Type 2 command teams on smaller and less complex blazes that draw from about 200 to 500 firefighters. Type 3 incidents may or may not have a fire camp.

More than 95% of all wildfires are put out quickly or within days by local firefighters, and are classified as Type 4 or 5. They typically don’t have fire camps.

Food caterers, semi-trailers with shower stalls and portable bathrooms are brought into large fire camps to make sure firefighters get enough food and a chance to wash off the dirt, ash and sweat.

“That’s a huge morale boost out on the line,” said Bubba Pugh, who has been fighting wildfires with the Idaho Department of Lands for about a decade. “Having the fire camp helps us get the job done.”

___

WHO’S IN CHARGE OF A FIRE CAMP?

An incident commander with decades of firefighting experience runs the show, plotting short-term and long-term strategy that’s recalibrated daily. Fire camp responsibilities are separated into divisions that include planning, logistics, communications, medical and even security.

Large fires will also have an air operations branch to coordinate fire retardant drops by jets or other aircraft, as well as water drops by helicopters. Some camps will also have a person in charge of night operations, when firefighters can make good progress.

Public information officers help inform area residents through social media and news outlets. They also work with law enforcement officials on evacuations and road closures.

While fire camps are hierarchical, the system includes an outlet for firefighters to anonymously report safety concerns to an employee relations person at a camp or online.

Camps also include someone tracking the overall cost of fighting the fire, which can run into the millions of dollars. The federal government spent $2.3 billion fighting wildfires last year, a number that’s expected to grow significantly this year.

___

WHERE ARE FIRE CAMPS LOCATED?

Kuo said schools make good fire camps because they have electricity and internet access, something that has become increasingly important in fighting fires. Information can be distributed to firefighters on smartphones using code scanners.

Firefighters bring their own tents, and can set up on athletic fields or, if in more remote areas, anywhere from meadows to cow pastures.

“Sometimes we don’t get the most luxurious fields to sleep in,” Pugh said. “But find a nice, flat piece of ground, and just expect to be there for the duration.”

Communication in remote locations is mainly done through handheld radios. Communications teams put repeaters — devices that receive radio signals and retransmit them — on ridgetops so commanders can communicate with firefighters in the field.

The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise has the largest store of handheld radios outside the U.S. Department of Defense. Center spokeswoman Jessica Gardetto said most of the center’s radios, about 23,000, are at large wildfires. All radios are not in use at the same time as they need to be charged.

Remote command posts are often operated from yurts, or office trailers, with different divisions having their own workspace.

Large fires also often have satellite camps to save time because it can take hours to drive from a command post to other areas of the fire.

___

HOW AND WHEN IS FOOD SERVED?

Firefighters get three calorie-heavy meals a day and snacks to keep them fueled for the physically intensive work.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, firefighters gathered in chow halls in the morning and evening, enjoying the camaraderie of the job while away from the fire line. Now, firefighters disperse to eat their meals, sometimes going back to their tents or finding a tree to sit under. Lunch is typically a bag lunch eaten in the field.

At satellite camps, pre-cooked food is flown to them.

___

WHAT’S THE PLAN?

Type 1 and Type 2 incident command teams each day produce an incident action plan that spells out goals and responsibilities, typically looking four days ahead. Each day the plan is recalibrated based on a variety of factors, chief among them weather. The plan is typically 12 to 20 pages long, and is made available as a PDF so it can be viewed on smartphones or other devices.

Kuo gets up at 5 a.m. to prepare for the 6 a.m. morning briefing, which is followed by other briefings and planning sessions during the day that lasts to 10 p.m.

“Somewhere in there you try to grab some food,” he said.

Most firefighters have been on the job for months, and will likely be needed for more than another month as some fires are expected to burn well into September.

“There is some burnout factor,” Kuo said, summing up the current atmosphere among firefighters. “But this is what we signed up for, so you dig deep and get through it.”

7-time Emmy winner Ed Asner dies age 91

AS HEAD OF ACTORS UNION, ED WALKED MANY A PICKET LINE AND SPOKE OUT AGAINST US IMPERIALISM

Issued on: 29/08/2021
Actor Ed Asner, pictured in May 2015, has died of natural causes at age 91 Jason Kempin GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
Washington (AFP)

US television actor Ed Asner, winner of a record seven Emmy awards, has died at age 91, his family said Sunday.

"We are sorry to say that our beloved patriarch passed away this morning, peacefully. Words cannot express the sadness we feel," his family wrote on the actor's Twitter account.

"With a kiss on your head -- Goodnight dad. We love you."

His publicist said Asner died of natural causes.

Asner originally made a name for himself playing newsroom boss Lou Grant on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," the iconic sitcom that ran from 1970 to 1977, and then later on a spinoff show centered on his character.

He won three of his seven Emmys for playing the character, and is one of only two actors to win a comedy and drama Emmy for the same role on different shows.

Asner won himself a new generation of fans with his portrayal of another tough guy with a heart of gold: widower Carl Fredericksen in the 2009 animated movie "Up," which was nominated for the Oscar for best picture.

In the film, Asner voices a hardened old man who ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies it to South America, seeking to fulfill his late wife's wish for adventure.

Edward Asner was born on November 15, 1929 in Kansas City, Missouri. The youngest of five children, he worked on his high school newspaper -- foreshadowing his stint playing an editor on the small screen -- and played football.

As an adult, he worked on an auto-assembly line, though he said in a 1973 interview he had dreams of seeing South America -- again foretelling a future character -- or Alaska. He then served in the army before finally making his way into acting.

He appeared in a series of off-Broadway plays, television shows and movies before getting his big break with "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

A liberal activist, he participated in protests in support of labor unions and against the death penalty. He also served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild.

In May, Asner's friend and "Mary Tyler Moore" co-star Gavin MacLeod passed away. Asner shared his grief on Twitter.

"My heart is broken. Gavin was my brother, my partner in crime (and food) and my comic conspirator," he wrote.

"I will see you in a bit Gavin. Tell the gang I will see them in a bit. Betty! It’s just you and me now," he added, referring to legendary actress Betty White, who is currently the only living alum of the show.

© 2021 AFP

Actor Ed Asner, TV’s blustery Lou Grant, dies at 91

By MARCELA ISAZA
AP

FILE - In this March 7, 2010, file photo, actor Ed Asner arrives during the 82nd Academy Awards in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. Asner, the blustery but lovable Lou Grant in two successful television series, has died. He was 91. Asner's representative confirmed the death in an email Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021, to The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ed Asner, the burly and prolific character actor who became a star in middle age as the gruff but lovable newsman Lou Grant, first in the hit comedy “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and later in the drama “Lou Grant,” died Sunday. He was 91.

Asner’s representative confirmed the actor’s death in an email to The Associated Press. Asner’s official Twitter account included a note from his children: “We are sorry to say that our beloved patriarch passed away this morning peacefully. Words cannot express the sadness we feel. With a kiss on your head- Goodnight dad. We love you.”

Built like the football lineman he once was, the balding Asner was a journeyman actor in films and TV when he was hired in 1970 to play Lou Grant on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” For seven seasons he was the rumpled boss to Moore’s ebullient Mary Richards (He called her “Mary,” she called him “Mr. Grant”) at the fictional Minneapolis TV newsroom where both worked. Later, he would play the role for five years on “Lou Grant.”

Asner’s character had caught on from the first episode of “Mary Tyler Moore,” when he told Mary in their initial meeting, “You’ve got spunk. ... I hate spunk!” The inspired cast included Ted Knight as Ted Baxter, the dimwitted news anchor; Gavin MacLeod as Murray Slaughter, the sarcastic news writer; and Betty White as the manipulative, sex-obsessed home show hostess Sue Ann Nivens. Valerie Harper and Cloris Leachman, playing Mary’s neighbors, both saw their characters spun off into their own shows.

Asner is the third “Mary Tyler Moore” alum to die in recent months. Leachman died in January and MacLeod died in May.

The 99-year-old White is the lone surviving main cast member from “Mary Tyler Moore.”

“Mary Tyler Moore” was still a hit when the star decided to pursue other interests, and so it was brought to an end in the seventh season with a hilarious finale in which all of the principals were fired except for the bumbling Baxter.

Asner went immediately into “Lou Grant,” his character moving from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to become city editor of the Tribune, a crusading newspaper under the firm hand of Publisher Margaret Pynchon, memorably played by Nancy Marchand.

Asner won three best supporting actor Emmys on “Mary Tyler Moore” and two best actor awards on “Lou Grant.” He also won Emmys for his roles in the miniseries “Rich Man, Poor Man” (1975-1976) and “Roots” (1976-1977).

He had more than 300 acting credits and remained active throughout his 70s and 80s in a variety of film and TV roles. In 2003, he played Santa Claus in Will Ferrell’s hit film “Elf.” He was John Goodman’s father in the short-lived 2004 CBS comedy “Center of the Universe” and the voice of the elderly hero in the hit 2009 Pixar release, “Up.” More recently, he was in such TV series as “Forgive Me” and “Dead to Me.”

Nonetheless, Asner told The Associated Press in 2009 that interesting roles were hard to come by.

“I never get enough work,” he said. “It’s the history of my career. There just isn’t anything to turn down, let me put it that way.”

“I’d say most people are probably in that same boat, old people, and it’s a shame,” he said.

As Screen Actors Guild president, the liberal Asner was caught up in a political controversy in 1982 when he spoke out against U.S. involvement with repressive governments in Latin America. “Lou Grant” was canceled during the furor that followed and he did not run for a third SAG term in 1985.

“There have been few actors of Ed Asner’s prominence who risked their status to fight for social causes the way Ed did,” said actor Gabrielle Carteris, who is SAG-AFTRA’s president. She noted that his advocacy “did not stop with performers. He fought for victims of poverty, violence, war, and legal and social injustice, both in the United States and around the globe.”

Asner discussed his politicization in a 2002 interview, noting he had begun his career during the McCarthy era and for years had been afraid to speak out for fear of being blacklisted.

Then he saw a nun’s film depicting the cruelties inflicted by El Salvador’s government on that country’s citizens.

“I stepped out to complain about our country’s constant arming and fortifying of the military in El Salvador, who were oppressing their people,” he said.

Former SAG President Charlton Heston and others accused him of making un-American statements and of misusing his position as head of their actors union.

“We even had bomb threats at the time. I had armed guards,” Asner recalled.

The actor blamed the controversy for ending the five-year run of “Lou Grant,” although CBS insisted declining ratings were the reason the show was canceled.

Although the show had its light moments, its scripts touched on a variety of darker social issues that most series wouldn’t touch at the time, including alcoholism and homelessness. Asner remained politically active for the rest of his life and in 2017 published the book “The Grouchy Historian: An Old-Time Lefty Defends Our Constitution Against Right-Wing Hypocrites and Nutjobs.”

Asner, born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1929, almost became a newsman in real life. He studied journalism at the University of Chicago until a professor told him there was little money to be made in the profession.

He quickly switched to drama, debuting as the martyred Thomas Becket in a campus production of T.S. Eliot’s “Murder in the Cathedral.”

He eventually dropped out of school, going to work as a taxi driver and other jobs before being drafted in 1951. He served with the Army Signal Corps in France.

Returning to Chicago after military service, he appeared at the Playwrights Theatre Club and Second City, the famed satire troupe that launched the careers of dozens of top comedians.

Later, in New York, he joined the long-running “The Threepenny Opera” and appeared opposite Jack Lemmon in “Face of a Hero.”

Arriving in Hollywood in 1961 for an episode of television’s “Naked City,” Asner decided to stay and appeared in numerous movies and TV shows, including the film “El Dorado,” opposite John Wayne; and the Elvis Presley vehicles “Kid Galahad” and “Change of Habit.” He was a regular in the 1960s political drama series “Slattery’s People.”

He was married twice, to Nancy Lou Sykes and Cindy Gilmore, and had four children, Matthew, Liza, Kate and Charles.

___

This story has been corrected to reflect that Gavin MacLeod died in May, not March.

___

Late Associated Press writer Bob Thomas contributed biographical information to this report.

Lee 'Scratch' Perry, reggae and dub wizard, dies at 85

Issued on: 29/08/2021 -

Lee "Scratch" Perry's layering techniques were the stuff of legend; he used stones, water, kitchen utensils to create surreal, often haunting, sonic density

 Attila KISBENEDEK AFP/File

New York (AFP)

Lee "Scratch" Perry, the wildly influential Jamaican singer and producer who pushed the boundaries of reggae and shepherded dub, has died. He was 85 years old.

"My deep condolences to the family, friends, and fans of legendary record producer and singer, Rainford Hugh Perry OD, affectionately known as 'Lee Scratch' Perry," tweeted Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

The Jamaica Observer reported the visionary died Sunday morning at a hospital in Lucea. No cause of death has been given.

A producer for a wide array of artists including Bob Marley, Perry's mastery traversed time and genre, his impact evident from hip hop to post-punk, from The Beastie Boys to The Clash.

Born March 20, 1936 in the rural Jamaican town of Kendal, Rainford Hugh "Lee" Perry left school at age 15, moving to Kingston in the 1960s.

"My father worked on the road, my mother in the fields. We were very poor. I went to school… I learned nothing at all. Everything I have learned has come from nature," Perry told the British music outlet NME in 1984.

"When I left school there was nothing to do except field work. Hard, hard labor. I didn't fancy that. So I started playing dominoes. Through dominoes I practiced my mind and learned to read the minds of others."

"This has proved eternally useful to me."

He began selling records for Clement Coxsone Dodd's sound system in the late 1950s, while also cultivating his own recording career.

Perry broke ranks with Dodds over personal and financial conflicts, moving to Joe Gibbs's Amalgamated Records before also falling out with Gibbs.

In 1968, he formed his own label, "Upsetter Records." His first major single, "People Funny Boy" -- a jibe at Gibbs -- was praised for its innovative use of a crying baby recording, an early use of a sample.

He gained fame both in Jamaica and abroad, especially in Britain, drawing acclaim for his inventive production, studio wizardry and eccentric persona.

In 1973, Perry built a backyard studio in Kingston, naming it the "Black Ark," which would birth countless reggae and dub classics.

Adept at layering rhythm and repetition, Perry became a sampling grandmaster whose work created new courses for music's future.

The producer for a number of landmark dub records -- along with Marley, he worked with Max Romeo, Junior Murvin and The Congos -- Perry was key in taking Jamaican music to the international stage, crafting sounds that would endure for decades.

- 'Salvador Dali of music' -

Perry's layering techniques were the stuff of legend; he used stones, water and kitchen utensils to create surreal, often haunting, sonic density.

A producer for a wide array of artists including Bob Marley, Lee Perry's mastery traversed time and genre, his impact evident from hip hop to post-punk, from The Beastie Boys to The Clash

 Attila KISBENEDEK AFP/File

Legend has it he created drum effects by burying a mic at the base of a palm tree, and wove the sound of marijuana smoke blown into a mic into his works.

"You could never put your finger on Lee Perry -- he's the Salvador Dali of music," Keith Richards told Rolling Stone in 2010.

"He's a mystery. The world is his instrument. You just have to listen. More than a producer, he knows how to inspire the artist's soul," Richards told the magazine.

"He has a gift of not only hearing sounds that come from nowhere else, but also translating those sounds to the musicians. Scratch is a shaman."

The highly sought-after producer -- the likes of Paul McCartney recorded with him -- continued to mix and release his own music with his band the Upsetters, but began suffering mentally in the 1970s. The Black Ark fell into disrepair.

The studio ultimately burned down; Perry holds he set it ablaze himself in the early 1980s.

Perry began traveling and living abroad, ultimately settling in Switzerland for a time with his family, and remained prolific until his death.

"Pure Innovation. Pure Imagination. This Man Was Plug Ins long before you studio cats today can simply press one button and instantly created sound chaos," wrote Roots drummer Questlove.

"What a character! Totally ageless! Extremely creative, with a memory as sharp as a tape machine! A brain as accurate as a computer!" wrote the British artist Mad Professor, Perry's longtime collaborator, on social media Sunday.

Praising Perry's "pioneering spirit and work," the Beastie Boys also tweeted an homage: "We are truly grateful to have been inspired by and collaborated with this true legend."

SEE

Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry: a life in pictures | Music | The Guardian

THEY ALL LOOK ALIKE; BASKETBALL PLAYERS
Video shows police use stun gun on NBA’s Jaxson Hayes

By STEFANIE DAZIO

August 27, 2021

This Thursday, July 29, 2021, booking photo released by the Los Angeles Police Department shows New Orleans Pelicans center Jaxson Hayes. Hayes was arrested Thursday, July 29, in Los Angeles after a struggle with officers who were responding to a report of a domestic dispute and had to use a Taser and other force before they could handcuff him, authorities said. (Los Angeles Police Department via AP)


LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles police officer briefly pressed a knee to the neck of NBA player Jaxson Hayes as the New Orleans Pelicans center gasped “I can’t breathe” seconds before another officer used a Taser on him during a struggle, according to body camera video released Friday.

The officers went to Hayes’ home in the Woodland Hills neighborhood on July 28 around 3 a.m. after his girlfriend’s cousin called 911. The cousin said Hayes’ girlfriend was sending her text messages saying he had become loud and violent and she was scared.

Hayes, who was not armed, became argumentative after officers said he couldn’t go back into his home. He ignored requests from his girlfriend and his cousin to stop talking and struggling with the police as they tried to subdue him. The 21-year-old ultimately was booked into jail on accusations of resisting arrest after he was evaluated at a hospital for minor injuries.

“Jaxson Hayes is a nice young man, and he is back home in Ohio working out and getting ready for the upcoming season,” his attorney, Mark Baute, said in a statement Friday.

The LAPD’s Force Investigation Division is looking into the case “due to the possibility of force being applied to Hayes’ neck during the use of force,” police previously said in a statement. Los Angeles police have presented the case to prosecutors, who haven’t decided whether to file charges.

A police officer’s elbow was injured when Hayes shoved him into a wall. Authorities previously said Hayes’ girlfriend has declined to cooperate in the investigation.

Hayes, 6-foot-11 and 220 pounds (over 2 meters and nearly 100 kilograms), was drafted eighth overall out of Texas in 2019. He is the son of former NFL tight end Jonathan Hayes, who played for Kansas City and Pittsburgh. The younger Hayes played one season for the Longhorns before turning pro. In his first two NBA seasons, he averaged 7.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 16.5 minutes.

Since George Floyd’s death in 2020 there is heightened sensitivity not just when it comes to police violence against Black people, but to police using any kind of force that restricts a person’s breathing. While Hayes’ encounter with police bears some similarities to Floyd’s murder by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, the differences are notable.

Hayes was on his back when a Los Angeles police officer’s knee was pressed to his neck for a few seconds. Floyd was pinned face-down under Chauvin’s knee for up to 9 1/2 minutes.

As Hayes gasped “I can’t breathe” several times, another officer tells his partner “get your knee up.” That officer immediately complies and Hayes is able to lift his head.

In Floyd’s case, three other officers were charged with aiding and abetting Chauvin with murder and manslaughter because they did not intervene.

The nearly 15-minute, edited video of Hayes’ arrest includes the 911 call and footage from multiple officers’ body cameras. The incident at Hayes’ home began calmly with him answering questions in his driveway with his cousin standing nearby.

“What’s going on between you and your girl?” one officer asks.

“We were just having a little argument,” Hayes responds. “She was throwing some stuff at me.”

The officers say they need to speak to his girlfriend. They tell him and his cousin to wait outside. Hayes questions why he can’t go into his home and asks if they have a warrant to go inside.

The officers respond that they don’t need one, which may or may not be true under California law. Among the mitigating factors are whether the officers believe a victim is seriously hurt.

Two officers blocked Hayes as he approaches the front door, while his cousin tells him to calm down. One officer pushes Hayes and his cousin holds him back.

The police separate the men and grab Hayes’ arms. The situation then rapidly escalates.

Hayes’ cousin begins yelling “Jaxson, stop!” as he scuffles with the officers, shoving one into a wall near the front door. One officer pulls out a Taser as others tackle Hayes.

“Stop resisting or I’m gonna tase you!” he yells several times as Hayes struggles on the ground. The officer alternates pressing a hand and knee to Hayes’ neck. Hayes’ girlfriend comes out of the home and screams “Stop! Stop! What are you doing?”

“Stop resisting or I’m gonna tase you!” the officer yells as Hayes gasps “I can’t breathe.”

As two officers hold Hayes’ arms, the officer fires the Taser, pressing it close to his chest for several seconds amid cries for them to stop from his girlfriend and cousin.

Hayes screams and flips over. The officer fires the Taser a second time, pressing it close to Hayes’ buttocks and the back of his legs, yelling “stop resisting!”

“I’m stopping, bro!” Hayes shouts.

The officer threatens to use the Taser on him again as Hayes insists that he’s not resisting.

The officers are ultimately able to handcuff him and force him to sit in a chair. Blood is visible on his arm and shirt.

LAPD officers are trained to aim a stun gun at a person’s back and navel if the Taser’s probes are being used from a distance of 7 to 15 feet (over 2 meters to nearly 5 meters), according to the agency’s policy. The Taser should be deployed on the person’s forearm or the outside of their thigh or calf if the officer is using the device’s direct stun feature.

Targeting a person’s chest with a Taser is controversial and the device’s maker has previously said to avoid that area.

Sports stars press Australia on climate change

Issued on: 30/08/2021 - 

Australian sports stars, including Michael Hooper, have demanded the country's leaders adopt more ambitious carbon targets MICHAEL BRADLEY AFP


Sydney (AFP)

Hundreds of Aussie sporting heroes -- from rugby captain Michael Hooper, to pace bowler Pat Cummins and world champion surfer Mick Fanning -- teamed up Monday to demand the government do more to tackle climate change.

In an online petition dubbed "The Cool Down" a raft of Australian sports stars demanded the country's conservative leaders step up their game and adopt more ambitious carbon targets.

"Like so many Australians, we've experienced the impacts of climate change first hand," the group of around three hundred athletes said.

"But at the moment, if climate action was the Olympics, Australia isn't winning gold, we're not making the finals, in fact, we don't even qualify."

Sports-mad Australia has been at the sharp end of climate change in recent years, with intense droughts, bushfires, floods and Great Barrier Reef coral bleaching all made worse by atmospheric warming.

But the country's conservative ruling coalition has slow-peddled efforts to address the problem, instead vowing to build new coal mines and refusing allies' demands to set a deadline for net-zero carbon emissions.

After a landmark UN climate report last month warned catastrophic global warming is occurring far more quickly than previously forecast, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he would not follow other advanced economies in adopting a net-zero target.

Australia is one of the world's largest fossil fuel exporters, sending vast quantities of gas and coal overseas which piles cash into the coffers of a mining sector with close ties to the government and Labor opposition.

Morrison -- who once proudly brought a lump of coal onto the floor of parliament -- has sought to deflect focus onto developing countries and the need for new technology, which he said was key to solving the crisis.

Signatory and recently retired rugby superstar David Pocock rejected criticism that the stars should "stick to sport" and stay out of politics.

"Yep, we've heard that one before," he tweeted. "As athletes we care about our families, communities and the next generation of Aussie kids coming through. We can't stand by. It's time to step up our climate ambition and action."

Other signatories included Davis Cup-winning tennis star Mark Philippoussis, swim veteran Cate Campbell, golfer Karrie Webb and Wallabies stalwarts Nick 'Honey Badger' Cummins, Matt Giteau, James O'Connor, Samu Kerevi, Christian Leali'ifano, and Drew Mitchell.

© 2021 AFP