Sunday, September 26, 2021

Nfld. & Labrador

In the frigid depths of the Labrador Sea, these scientists are studying coral in novel ways

Local researchers on CCGS Amundsen spent 28-day mission in northern waters



Jane Adey · CBC News · Posted: Sep 26, 2021 
Maxime Geoffroy is a research scientist at the Marine Institute in St. John's. He's the chief scientist aboard a research vessel that explored the depths of the Labrador Sea this summer. (Maxime Geoffroy/Twitter

Two heads are better than one at solving a problem, as the old saying goes.

Well, imagine the strides in ocean science when 36 researchers come together on a month-long deep-sea mission.

That's exactly what happened this past summer on board the Canadian research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen, as part of its annual science program.

The trip eyed the deep-water corals of the northern Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay, seeking to reveal answers to mysteries about how ecosystems far, far below the surface actually operate.

This is a type of coral called a sea pen, taken from an area called the Hatton Sill at a depth of 698 m. Sea pens live on soft areas of the ocean floor, anchoring themselves in the sediment with what's called a peduncle. 
(Submitted by Barbara Neves)

Maxime Geoffroy, a fish specialist with the Marine Institute in St. John's and chief scientist for the mission, describes the 28-day journey as a holistic approach to science. He says having such a wide variety of scientists on board one vessel — from geologists to people analyzing water nutrients — can bring researchers a new understanding of the complexity of the ocean.

"If I'm looking at fish and I don't really look at the habitat where they could spawn near the bottom, then I lose a whole perspective of their lifecycle," he said.

"But if I can sit at lunch with a specialist of the bottom habitat, and have a discussion about why these fish are there ... then it brings a whole new perspective about what we could expect in the future, in terms of reaction to the environment."
Deep water corals

Barbara Neves, a research scientist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in St. John's, studies corals.

While trees on land act as a habitat for birds, insects and mammals, on the sea floor, corals have the same important function, she explains.

"So you might see shrimp or fish or little bivalves or little worms that live in association with them, because they want them to as a place to rest or to feed or to hide," said Neves.

Research scientist Barbara Neves on board the CCGS Amundsen.
 (Submitted by DFO)

Researchers hope to be able to confirm basic ecological questions about whether or not deep-sea corals feed on the same kind of food as corals closer to shore.

Neves says this expedition was also critical for widening their knowledge base about the distribution and variety of corals, as well as answering questions about the depth limits of corals and how quickly the tree-like animals grow.

"We've seen sites that we had never visited before, and we saw a lot of very amazing biodiversity on the sea floor. And we did some experiments that we had never conducted before," she said.


A remotely operated vehicle allowed coral researchers to see, up close, deep-sea corals living on the sea floor. (Submitted by DFO)

One experiment involved what Neves calls a staining chamber.

The arm of a remotely operated vehicle places a round chamber over the top of a coral, covering the animal. A deflated balloon, filled with dye, sits inside the chamber.

An external handle triggers a needle to puncture the balloon and then the dye is released, staining the coral.

"We left it there for a few hours. Then, we recovered the chamber later and we plan on going back to that site in about two years to recover that coral, and then examine the skeleton that now will have a stain mark," said Neves.

Watch scientists in action aboard the CCGS Amundsen:



Watch deep-sea experiments in the Labrador Sea
A team of scientists are studying coral in new ways in the frigid waters off Labrador. 4:10


According to Memorial University researcher Evan Edinger, deep sea corals are oceanographic recorders. Edinger studies corals and other organisms that make their skeletons from calcium carbonate.

"We bring back these coral skeletons, we can look at both how fast they're growing and how long the corals live, but also what the corals can record in terms of oceanographic change," said Edinger.

Trees on land have growth rings, and those rings can help reconstruct change in climate over time. Edinger says corals have growth rings, too.

He says their experiments will hopefully give further clarity on how often deep-sea coral growth rings are formed.

"To figure out whether the growth lines are formed annually, which is what we think, or if there are some annual growth rate for more than one ring per year, that actually matters quite a lot," said Edinger.

"We want to be able to understand what the growth rings mean and exactly how old these species are, so that we can understand just how vulnerable are the ecosystems that they're built around."
Ocean acidification

As the climate changes, the ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide. This means the ocean environment becomes more acidic.

The more acidic the water becomes, the more difficult it is for corals to form their skeletons.

"Think of osteoporosis, but apply it to coral skeletons that are under conditions of ocean acidification," Edinger said.

Memorial University researcher Evan Edinger studies corals.
 (Submitted by Barbara Neves)

"They can make a skeleton, but their skeleton isn't going to last very long in terms of actually building a habitat. So how does that change affect the organisms that build habitat for other organisms? Well, we don't know. We're trying to figure that out."

Because of the collaborative nature of this deep-sea voyage, coral scientists have a better chance of answering those kinds of questions.

While some scientists focused on corals, there were other scientists collecting water samples to measure the dissolved calcium carbonate that corals depend on for growth.

While the at-sea time for scientists aboard the CCGS Amundsen was lengthy, the work of poring over the collected material will be even lengthier.

Geoffroy says the data analysis could take one to two years before it's complete.





Researchers watch the mission from inside a control room. (Submitted by Barbara Neves)

An remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, places a staining chamber on top of a deep-sea coral. (Amundsen Science)
Deep storage: UVic leads plan to pump carbon into rock under sea floor off Island

Darron Kloster / Times Colonist
SEPTEMBER 26, 2021 

Kate Moran, president of Ocean Networks Canada and lead on the Solid Carbon Project, says many of the systems that will be used in the demonstration already exist, such as the drilling technology, pipelines and injection wells and carbon-capture technology. “The potential is enormous,” she says.
ADRIAN LAM, TIMES COLONIST

Scientists warn that human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are driving the Earth toward a point of no return when it comes to the dire consequences of climate change.

But what if you could pump those gases into rock deep below the ocean floor?

The University of Victoria and its Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions and Ocean Networks Canada divisions are preparing a demonstration project off the coast of Vancouver Island to do just that. The demo, which could be ready for the Cascadia Basin by 2024, could eventually lead to sequestering gigatonnes of emissions around the globe that are driving climate change.

Technology is now being refined to outfit a floating drilling platform with turbines that would gather carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and push it through a pipe to holes bored into the basalt formation. There, scientists say, CO2 would react with minerals and crystallize into rock over time, with hundreds of metres of sediment acting as a sealant.

Since about 90% of the ocean crust is basaltic rock — a porous formation from cooling volcanic lava — researchers say locking up carbon this way could put a ­“serious dent” in the billions of tonnes of emissions caused by humans each year. It’s currently estimated that human activity adds about 51 gigatons (51 billion tons) of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere each year.

“The potential is enormous,” says Kate Moran, president of Ocean Networks Canada and lead on the Solid Carbon Project. She said many of the systems that will be used in the demonstration already exist, such as the drilling technology, pipelines and injection wells and carbon-capture technology — not to mention human resources in the oil and gas industry.

“Several of those companies see it as a transfer of their business and workers into green businesses,” said Moran, adding a Japanese company has already offered a ship for the demonstration.

It’s estimated a demonstration project would cost between $30 million and $60 million, with private companies stepping up and governments likely to follow, said Moran.

The Cascadia Basin, an area more than 100 kilometres off the coast of the Island on the Juan de Fuca Plate, is one of the most studied ocean floors in the world, said Moran.

The centre of the basin is about 2,600 metres deep and a sub-sea platform by Ocean Networks Canada shows a crust of volcanic rocks under a 200-metre-thick blanket of sediment.

She said decades of government surveys for seismic studies have left existing bore holes that can be used in the demonstration.

Science used in Iceland

The science of turning CO2 into rock is already being used in Iceland, but on a much smaller scale. CO2 is injected in a dissolved state and it mineralizes rapidly, within two years, at shallow depths.

Geo-chemical simulations conducted by scientists at the University of Calgary, a research partner with UVic’s Pacific Institute of Climate Change, have demonstrated that “gigaton-scale” carbon dioxide storage is possible when plumes of captured CO2 are directly injected into deep ocean basalt. There, the CO2 reacts with minerals, and over time, forms a solid carbonate rock.

The results have been published in the Environmental Science & Technology journal.

University of Calgary associate professor Ben Tutolo said the Iceland method of rapid mineralization using dissolved CO2 is water-intensive, costly and difficult to scale up.

“The reaction doesn’t have to be completed in days or even months, as long as the CO2 doesn’t escape before the process is complete, even if it takes centuries,” Tutolo said.

He noted that aquifers beneath the ocean floor are typically topped with more than 300 metres of “very impermeable” sediment, and tests using tracers have shown the water in these aquifers has lasted for thousands of years and is not interfering with the sea water.

“Even if it did, two and a half kilometres of sea pressure [depth] give its lots of chances to dissolve.”

Tutolo said human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are driving the Earth toward “tipping points at which dire consequences of climate change will be inevitable.”

He said scaling up the technology could help make a “significant dent” in atmospheric concentrations of CO2 through utilizing the vast quantity of global sub-seafloor basalts, with the capacity to store up to 250,000 gigatons.

Emissions reductions still needed


Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions executive director Sybil Seitzinger said the findings could be “game-changing” in climate action.

But technologies like this won’t replace the need for urgent emission reductions if we are to limit average global temperature increase to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels, said Seitzinger.

Earlier this year, the United Nations warned climate change is happening so rapidly that soon there will be “no place to run, no place to hide” on the planet.

And Moran said the spectre of climate change is hitting close to home, especially as people experience flooding , heat domes and wildfires. “That will only accelerate,” she said.

There is also ongoing work on the social, regulatory and investor acceptance of the plan.

The next steps for the Solid Carbon Project will include further investigation of the mineralization processes, efficient well injection strategies and ocean system architectures — all leading up to a planned pilot-scale injection into the Cascadia Basin by the middle of the decade.

dkloster@timescolonist.com
'Reduce community transmission': Alberta's former top doctor calls for more action on COVID-19


Adam Lachacz
CTVNewsEdmonton.ca 
Digital Producer
Updated Sept. 26, 2021 

EDMONTON -

Alberta's former chief medical officer of health and a critical care physician penned a letter Sunday urging action from the province to slow community spread of COVID-19.

As hospitalizations continue to climb and the Canadian Armed Forces prepares to assist with patient transfers out of the province, Dr. James Talbot and Dr. Noel Gibney say the province needs to take action this week “to prevent more disease, deaths, and suffering.”

“Albertan’s hospital system, especially ICUs, are under more killing stress than at any time in the province’s history,” the pair of doctors said in a letter to the province’s new health minister.

“We are within days of being forced to implement a triage protocol which will force health care workers to make life and death decision on who will get scarce resources, like ventilators,” they wrote.

The doctors recommend mandating vaccine passports for entry into non-essential businesses and making vaccines mandatory for all provincial employees and agencies, like Alberta Blue Cross and the Workers Compensation Board.

COVID-19 in Alberta: 11 deaths, as ICU patient count hits record high on Friday

A Flourish chart

In their letter, the doctors also said that while those measures increase vaccine uptake, “urgent actions” are necessary to “rapidly deal with the urgent crisis in Alberta” of rampant community spread of COVID-19.

To slow case growth, the doctors recommended the provincial government:
transfer ICU patients to ICUs in other provinces immediately;

restore contact tracing of patients who test positive for COVID-19;

mandate masking inside schools, including when students are seated at their desks

implement a series of “fire break” closures and restrictions for a minimum four weeks

 that shutter all night clubs, casinos, bars, indoor dining, and indoor exercise facilities; and create capacity limits for places or worship, stores, and malls.

A Flourish chart

The letter was addressed to Health Minister Jason Copping who took over the portfolio this week from Tyler Shandro.

“Even if you were to implement the measures that we recommend today, it will take at least four weeks for them to have an effect on ICU beds,” the letter said. “Time is of the essence. Albertans deserve better.”

CTV News Edmonton reached out to Copping for comment.


DOCTORS ASK PROVINCE TO SAVE THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

In an interview with CTV News, Talbot attributed the situation Alberta is experiencing to the open for summer plan.

“When the government in July got rid of all the precautions, at the same time they guaranteed that this fourth wave was going to happen and that it would be so strong and that it would put intense pressure on the health care system,” he said.

“And then in August, when their own projections showed that, that’s exactly what was going to happen. They choose not to inform the public and as a consequence, there was a lost opportunity for individuals and businesses to make better choices.”

Talbot said the rise of deaths and hospitalizations in the province is a concerning trend that needs to stop and is entirely preventable.

“The longer the minister delays in taking action, the more people are going to join that total,” he added.

“The 20 per cent (who are unvaccinated) are clogging up our hospitals now and they’re depriving the rest of Albertans the opportunity to have a functioning health care system that’s there for them when they need it.”

The letter intended to show the sense of urgency that is needed to address the increasing amount of pressure hospitals are facing, Talbot said.

“We know the (measures we recommended) have worked in the past,” he said. “So we’re asking the minister to recognize that there’s a crisis and that there’s a need, an urgent need for action on the part of the government.

“We want to see the minister act with a degree of urgency that’s required to help save that system.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson



'We're in massive trouble': Prominent Alberta doctors call for 'fire break' lockdown, mandatory vaccines for employees

Alberta's ICUs are facing immense pressure as the number of patients needing care continues to rise during the fourth wave of COVID-19
Author of the article:Jason Herring
Publishing date:Sep 26, 2021 • 54 minutes ago • 3 minute read • 60 Comments
Calgary ICU staff working on patients in a crowded ICU. 
PHOTO BY SUPPLIED BY AHS

Two prominent Alberta doctors are calling for a provincewide “fire break” lockdown and mandatory vaccinations for all employees in a letter to the province’s new health minister.

These measures and more are needed to address the “crushing COVID-19 burden being borne by Alberta and Alberta Health Services,” wrote Dr. Noel Gibney and Dr. James Talbot in the letter to Health Minister Jason Copping on Sunday. Gibney is a critical-care specialist and professor emeritus at the University of Alberta, while Talbot served as Alberta’s chief medical officer of health from 2012 to 2015.

“Alberta’s hospital system, especially ICUs are under more killing stress than at any time in the province’s history,” the letter states.

“All Albertans have and do depend on our acute-care hospitals. We are within days of being forced to implement a triage protocol which will force health-care workers to make life and death decisions on who will get scarce resources, like ventilators.”

Alberta’s ICUs are facing immense pressure as the number of patients needing care continues to rise during the fourth wave of COVID-19.

As of Sunday morning, AHS said there were 302 patients in Alberta’s 368 available ICU beds, the majority of whom have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. On Friday, the last day data was available, Alberta had 1,061 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, including 243 in ICUs.

Including the 195 surge beds Alberta has brought online to deal with the strain, Alberta’s ICU capacity sits at 82 per cent. But the ICUs are operating at 175 per cent of their baseline capacity.

Last week, Dr. Verna Yiu, AHS president and CEO, said part of the reason why Alberta ICUs have been able to keep pace with new admissions is because of the number of deaths that are occurring daily. Over the past seven days, Alberta has reported an average of 14 daily deaths from COVID-19.

The letter from Talbot and Gibney calls for Copping to implement seven measures, including immediately beginning transfers of Alberta ICU patients out-of-province, making vaccine passports mandatory to access all non-essential services and making vaccines mandatory for all employees of essential and non-essential businesses.

It also calls on the province to restore contact tracing of patients who test positive for COVID-19 and to mandate masking indoors in schools, including in classrooms.

As for the so-called fire break, the doctors are asking for the four-week closure of nightclubs, casinos, bars and indoor dining at restaurants, the closure of gyms and indoor sports, and strictly limiting capacity at stores, malls and places of worship.

Talbot said in an interview with Postmedia the measures are now necessary because of intense pressure on Alberta’s hospital system across all five health zones. That pressure is inhibiting immunized Albertans from getting care, including the cancellation of all non-urgent surgeries, he said.

“No matter how you want to score this one, we’re in massive trouble,” Talbot said.

Dr. James Talbot, co-chair of the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association strategic COVID committee. 
Postmedia, file

“With every day that (Copping) doesn’t take action, we’re looking at another 15 Albertans dead, more pressure on the ICU system and potentially making triage decisions of life and death which are not appealable by the families of the people who are told they are going to be denied service because there isn’t an ICU bed for them.”

As of Friday, 82.3 per cent of eligible Albertans are partially immunized against COVID-19, and 73.4 per cent are fully immunized. Those numbers have seen a boost in the last week after Alberta announced its vaccine passport system, dubbed the “restrictions exemption program.” Among Albertans of all ages, 70 per cent have at least one shot and 62.4 per cent have two.

Talbot argued the one-in-five eligible Albertans who haven’t gotten vaccinated are “clogging up” the hospitals for those who need elective surgeries or critical-care treatment.

He said the letter is directed to Copping with hopes the new health minister can chart a new course on Alberta’s COVID-19 response.

“There are two major jobs a health minister has,” Talbot said. “The first is to protect the health of Albertans and the second is to keep the acute-care health system functioning. And both of those are in peril.

“I don’t know how much more information the minister will require to recognize now is the time to take urgent action.”

Copping’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

— With files from the Edmonton Journal

Doctors defend AHS head Dr. Yiu after MLA questions fourth-wave handling

'This is completely extraordinary. I don't think any health authority should be expected to handle this significant of an increase in ICU capacity. This is not something that should be a requirement for any health authority, but they are rising to the challenge'

Author of the article: Jason Herring
Publishing date: Sep 26, 2021 • 

Dr. Verna Yiu, president and CEO of Alberta Health Services. 
PHOTO BY DAVID BLOOM/POSTMEDIA


#ThankYiu

That’s the message Alberta doctors shared on Twitter this weekend as they applauded the work of Alberta Health Services president and CEO Dr. Verna Yiu during a fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that has put considerable pressure on the province’s intensive care units.

The trending hashtag came in response to Facebook posts on Saturday from UCP MLA Shane Getson, who said Albertans should be “getting more bang for our buck” from AHS when dealing with the current wave.

The MLA for Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland suggested in posts Alberta had the capacity to increase ICU beds by more than 1,000, a number referenced by Premier Jason Kenney early in the pandemic.

Getson’s Facebook page appeared to have been taken offline Sunday afternoon.


Shane Getson's posts on Facebook now appear unavailable. He made a series of posts criticizing Alberta Health Services for not being able to expand to 1,000 ICU beds to meet demand in the fourth wave. pic.twitter.com/Ddiinvuzov— Catherine Griwkowsky (@CGriwkowsky) September 26, 2021

Edmonton emergency physician Dr. Shazma Mithani was one doctor who took to social media to support Yiu. She argued Getson’s posts could signal members of government trying to shift blame for Alberta’s ongoing COVID-19 crisis to AHS.

“This is because of the poor policy decisions of government,” Mithani said. “AHS is not the one to blame here. Dr. Verna Yiu is not the one to blame here. They are bending over backwards and moving heaven and earth to make ICU beds.

“The only reason they have to do this is because of the poor leadership and the poor policy and decision-making by our provincial leaders, our elected officials.”


AHS said Sunday morning Alberta has created 195 surge beds for ICU patients, bringing its total number of ICU beds to 368. There were 302 patients in the ICUs, the majority of whom had COVID-19. Alberta’s ICUs are operating at 175 per cent of their baseline capacity, but at 82 per cent of the surge capacity.

Mithani said the limiting factor in creating more ICU spaces is staffing them, with many health-care workers redeployed to work in critical care, reducing the number of beds that can be created compared to previous waves.

“This is completely extraordinary,” she said. “I don’t think any health authority should be expected to handle this significant of an increase in ICU capacity. This is not something that should be a requirement for any health authority, but they are rising to the challenge.”



The online support for Yiu extended beyond health-care workers and even to the doctor’s former patients.

Twitter user @BrokenDaffodil tweeted that Yiu had “saved my kidney and my life.”

“If you’ve ever met Dr. Yiu, then you know she makes the scariest moments seem livable and translates fear into hope,” the user tweeted.

— With files from Ashley Joannou


GO AHEAD PUNISH ME
Kenney tells radio host that lockdown would punish people already vaccinated


Rob Drinkwater
Publishing date: Sep 26, 2021
Premier Jason Kenney during a news conference regarding the surging COVID cases in the province in Calgary on Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021. 
PHOTO BY AL CHAREST / POSTMEDIA

EDMONTON — Premier Jason Kenney rejected calls for a “hard lockdown” during an appearance on a radio program Sunday, the same day that his province’s former top doctor signed a letter calling for immediate “fire break” measures to deal with surging cases of COVID-19.

Kenney told radio host Roy Green that a lockdown would make “no sense for the 80 per cent of the population that is vaccinated,” and who he said are much less likely to transmit the disease and are far less likely to be hospitalized.

Further, he said the roughly 20 per cent who aren’t vaccinated and are behind the surge in cases are less likely to follow public health measures.

Alberta’s former chief medical officer of health, Dr. James Talbot, and critical care specialist Dr. Noel Gibney, signed an open letter Sunday to the province’s new health minister, Jason Copping, calling on the minister to take action to “prevent more disease, deaths, and suffering.”

They called for measures that include the transfer of ICU patients to other provinces now in order to relieve pressure on hospitals and delay the need for triage protocols.

They also called for a set of “fire break” closures and restrictions for a minimum of four weeks for bars, gyms, casinos, indoor dining and sports facilities.

“We are within days of being forced to implement a triage protocol which will force health care workers to make life and death decisions on who will get scarce resources, like ventilators. Those that do not are likely to die,” said the letter from the doctors, which began with congratulations for Copping on his appointment to the health portfolio last week.

“Albertan’s hospital system, especially ICUs are under more killing stress than at any time in the province’s history.”

Alberta has more than 20,000 active COVID-19 cases and is seeing well over 1,000 new cases each day.

On Friday, the Canadian Armed Forces prepared to bring in air transport and staff to deal with the COVID-19 crisis overwhelming Alberta’s hospitals.

Kenney told Green that Ontario was in a similar predicament with COVID-19 in the spring, despite having much more intensive restrictions in place. He also noted that Alberta took in patients from Manitoba earlier this year, despite what he called a hard lockdown there.

He also continued to defend his government’s elimination of restrictions on July 1, which many have blamed for the surge.

“I don’t think we were wrong to drop public health restrictions in the summer, on July 1. We saw the numbers continue to go down for five to six weeks after that,” Kenney told Green.

“How could I have possibly justified what the Opposition and others wanted, which was continued damaging restrictions when there was no evidence to support that?”

Talbot and Gibney also called for mandatory vaccine passports for entry to non-essential businesses, as well as mandatory vaccination of government employees and other arm’s length bodies.

This month, Alberta implemented a “restrictions exemption program” which allows businesses to operate with almost no COVID-19 rules as long as they ask for proof of vaccination. Those choosing not to request immunization records must abide by stricter public health rules.

But Kenney’s United Conservative government has been criticized for downloading the decision, causing confusion and forcing compliant businesses to face the wrath of anti-vaccination customers.

“Your government’s own policies are responsible for collaborating with COVID in creating this killing surge,” the doctors’ letter stated.

“Continued inaction is not moral or ethical.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2021.


POLITICAL PRISONER
Israel releases Palestinian MP Khalida Jarrar from prison

Issued on: 26/09/2021 
Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar visits her daughter's grave in the occupied West Bank after her release from an Israeli jail where she spent two years in detention 
Abbas MOMANI AFP

Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP)

Israeli authorities on Sunday released from jail Palestinian lawmaker Khalida Jarrar after two years in detention.

Jarrar, 58, was sentenced to two years in March 2021 for belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which Israel and the United States label a "terrorist" organisation.

But the Israeli military did not find evidence Jarrar had taken part in violent acts.

She had been detained without charge since 2019 when she was arrested along with several other Palestinian figures following an attack that killed an Israeli teenager. Israel blamed the attack on the PFLP.


Jarrar was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council, or parliament, as part of the PFLP.

On Sunday the group congratulated Jarrar on her release, describing her as a "comrade in arms" known for her "patience and tenacity".

After leaving jail Jarrar visited the tomb of her daughter Suha who died in July, an AFP correspondent said.

At the time, Israeli prison authorities refused to allow Jarrar to attend the funeral.

Jarrar has been arrested and jailed many times and often held without charge in what Israelis call administrative detention.

Israeli administrative detention orders allow suspects to be held without charge for renewable six-month periods.

Israel says the procedure is intended to allow authorities to hold suspects while continuing to gather evidence, with the aim of preventing crimes in the meantime.

But the system has been criticised by Palestinians, human rights groups and members of the international community, who say Israel abuses it.

© 2021 AFP



Gere belongs in cinema, not as migrant witness: ex-Italian minister




Issued on: 26/09/2021 - 
Richard Gere went aboard the Open Arms in August 2019 to support the migrants, a visit mocked by Salvini at the time 
 HO PROACTIVA OPEN ARMS/AFP

Rome (AFP)

Plans for actor Richard Gere to testify against former Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini for abuse of migrants threaten to turn the case into a show trial, the far-right leader said on Sunday.

Gere -- a Hollywood star known as a campaigner on Tibet and other rights issues -- will testify against him in the so-called Open Arms case, according to remarks Salvini made at a political meeting that were reported by the Ansa news agency.

"If someone wants to turn the trial into a show and wants to see Richard Gere, let him go to the cinema, not to a court," the head of the populist and nationalist League party said according to Ansa.

"I know him as an actor, but I don't understand what kind of lessons he wants to give me," he added, promising to ask for an autograph for his mother.

Salvini is accused of kidnapping and abuse of power in August 2019 by preventing more than 100 migrants from disembarking from a rescue ship -- even as conditions on board deteriorated.

Gere had boarded the Open Arms ship to support the migrants, a visit mocked by Salvini at the time.

Migrants were only allowed off the Open Arms vessel after six days, following an order by the prosecutor's office.

Salvini has said he was protecting the country with his so-called "closed ports" policy, which aimed to stop people attempting the dangerous Mediterranean crossing to Italy.

Italy's Senate voted last year to strip Salvini of his parliamentary immunity, paving the way for the trial.

A related case in which Salvini was accused of blocking other migrants at sea on an Italian coastguard boat was thrown out by a court in Catania earlier this year.

Salvini's League takes a hard line on migrants, arguing that Italy bears an unfair burden as the first point of entry for migrants from northern Africa.

When he blocked the ships, Salvini was part of a coalition government and held the positions of interior minister and deputy prime minister.

He has argued that his migrant policy was not his alone, but agreed by the government, including by the former prime minister, Giuseppe Conte.

The trial opened on 15 September in Palermo but was immediately adjourned to 23 October.

Twenty-three civil parties, including nine migrants who were on board, are represented in the trial.

Salvini joined the League's coalition government with the anti-system 5 Star Movement (M5S) in 2018, but in August 2019 he provoked a government crisis hoping to reshuffle the deck in an early parliamentary vote.

The manoeuvre backfired and the M5S formed a new government with the centre-left Democratic Party, which was replaced in early 2021 by a broad coalition government including the League and led by Mario Draghi.

© 2021 AFP
Swiss vote 'yes' to same-sex marriage

Swiss same-sex couples have won the right to marry after voters overwhelmingly backed its legalization in a referendum. 

CAREFUL OF WHAT YOU WISH FOR
The vote was brought about by conservative politicians opposed to LGBTQ+ marriages.



Since 2007, same-sex couples have only been able to enter into a civil partnership

Switzerland has voted by a wide margin in favor of allowing same-sex couples to get married and adopt children, in a referendum held on Sunday.

The Alpine nation has now become the latest Western European country to recognize LGBTQ+ marriages.

Official results show 64.1% voted "yes" to legalizing same-sex marriages, while 36% voted "no," according to initial results from the gfs.bern polling agency.

However, supporters have said it could take months before such marriages could take place, mainly because of the country's administrative and legislative procedures.
Swiss parliament backs 'marriage for all'

Ahead of the vote, the government and lawmakers had urged voters to back "marriage for all" and eliminate the current "unequal treatment" of LGBTQ+ couples.

Swiss lawmakers had voted in December to legalize same-sex marriage.

But conservative politicians opposed to the law managed to secure the required 50,000 signatures to put the issue to a referendum.

Members of some Christian congregations and the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) — Switzerland's largest political party — were some of the strongest opponents of marriage equality.

Switzerland decriminalized homosexuality in 1942, but local and regional police forces were known to have maintained "gay registers" until the 1990s.

Since 2007, same-sex couples have only been able to enter into a civil partnership.

While about 700 such partnerships are registered each year, this does not grant the couples the same rights as marriage does, such as citizenship and joint adoption of children.

In December, lawmakers had voted to allow lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people to marry, instead of just acquiring civil unions.

They also backed amendments to the Swiss Civil Code, replacing words such as "bride" and "groom" with either "two people" or "the engaged."

The result of the referendum, if confirmed, would allow the marriage bill to become law.

Same-sex couples will be able to jointly adopt children, and foreign spouses could become eligible to apply for citizenship through a simplified procedure.

adi/rs (AFP, AP)

Switzerland same-sex marriage: 
Two-thirds of voters back yes

BBC



Activists say people in Switzerland are now ready for same-sex marriage

Almost two-thirds of Swiss voters have backed same-sex marriage in a referendum.

Some 64% supported the measure, making it one of the last countries in western Europe to legalise same-sex marriage.

Campaigners have hailed the vote as a historic moment for LGBT rights in the country.

In the build up to the vote, church groups and conservative political parties opposed the idea, saying it would undermine the traditional family.

Switzerland has allowed same-sex couples to register partnerships since 2007, but some rights are restricted.

The measure will make it possible for same-sex couples to adopt unrelated children and for married lesbian couples to have children through sperm donation.

It makes Switzerland the 30th country in the world to adopt same-sex marriage.

"It is a historic day for Switzerland, a historic day when it comes to equality for same-sex couples, and it is also an important day for the whole LGBT community," Jan Muller, of the "yes" campaign committee, told AFP news agency.

Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said the first same-sex marriages would take place in July next year.

"Whoever loves each other and wants to get married will be able to do so, regardless of whether it is two men, two women, or a man and a woman," she said.

But Monika Rueegger, a politician with the right-wing Swiss People's Party and an opponent of the measure, said children and fathers were the losers.

"This was not about love and feelings," she told Reuters. "It was about children's welfare."

Over the last 20 years, most countries in western Europe have recognised same-sex marriage. However, in Switzerland many big decisions go to a nationwide ballot, and this can slow down major changes to social legislation.

The new law, which had the backing of the Swiss government and all major political parties except the People's Party, was passed by parliament in December.

However, it was then challenged by opponents, who gathered enough signatures to force a referendum.
Germany: Berlin locals vote to expropriate real estate giants

Berliners cast their referendum votes on whether to nationalize thousands of housing units owned by real estate giants. 

After counting 27% of the votes, results found that over half voted yes while just 39% voted no.



The referendum vote came after Germany's constitutional court overturned an attempt by left-leaning parties to impose a rent cap in the German capital
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Voters in the German capital, Berlin, alongside casting ballots for the makeup of the new German parliament and for their local legislature, also took part in a referendum on whether to force large real estate companies to sell off most of their housing units.

With Berliners casting more votes in a day than the city ever had, there was chaos and delays at several polling stations. About 34,000 helpers were working at more than 2,250 polling stations across the city.

Therefore, final results on the nonbinding referendum are not expected until Monday.

After counting 27% of the ballots, a clear margin was already emerging: 56.9% had voted in favor and only 39% against the proposal.

"This is just an extrapolation, we won't get the final results until tomorrow! But even this number shows that Berliners have had enough of speculation and mad rents," the movement to expropriate Berlin housing corporations said on Twitter.

The measure required a simple majority to pass as well as a "yes" vote from at least a quarter of all eligible voters, but, even if it does pass, that would only force the incoming Berlin city-state government to debate the proposal.


The results came after Berliners had a busy day at the polls as they had also been asked to vote in the nationwide Bundestag elections, the regional state-level elections and the district council elections. The city also decided to hold a marathon on the same day, adding to chaos at Berlin polling stations, which possibly added to delays in ballot-counting.

There were 115 different ballots to include all the various votes taking place, according to the regional broadcaster RBB24.

What would an expropriation mean?


The vote was the result of a grassroots campaign to "Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen and Co." A successful vote would open the way for the Berlin Senate to devise a law that would allow for expropriation of real estate companies with more than 3,000 housing units. Companies would be reimbursed for the properties at a rate "well below market value," according to the campaign.

The vote came after German's constitutional court overturned a rent cap introduced in the capital city by the ruling left-leaning coalition. Housing and rental prices have been a major issue for Berlin residents because of high prices.


Campaigners believe that the legislation would be constitutionally compatible with Germany's Basic Law under the never-before-used Article 15, which states: "Land, natural resources and means of production may, for the purpose of nationalization, be transferred to public ownership or other forms of public enterprise by a law that determines the nature and extent of compensation."

"It isn't binding, but the next state legislature will have to debate it. As housing crisis puts pressure on renters, expect pressure to stay on pols to do something about it," tweeted DW reporter William Glucroft.

Berlin's housing crisis

The Deutsche Wohnen real estate giant owns about 113,000 housing units in Germany's capital. It was the main target of the referendum campaign. But several other companies, such as Vonovia, which is trying to buy out Deutsche Wohnen, and the Pears Group would also be affected by the expropriation legislation.

The referendum was also accompanied by debate about whether the proposed plan conforms to the German constitution, and any future legislation could face legal challenge.

The capital city, with its population of about 3.6 million people, is suffering from a housing crisis. The outgoing coalition of Greens, center-left SPD and the more radical Left party tried to bring in a temporary freeze on rent prices, but this was overturned by Germany's top court in April, when judges declared that such powers could only be enacted at the federal level, not by an individual German state.
'Pureblood': Anti-vax TikTokers push new meme to promote COVID vaccine misinformation

Meaghan Ellis, AlterNet
September 25, 2021


A new trend circulating on TikTok is further contributing to the anti-vaccination extremism and the rapid spread of misinformation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Crooks and Liars, the hashtag #PureBlood shows that supporters of the far-right are not only "unable to distinguish between J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter wizarding world and their own, but simultaneously appear either oblivious to the fact that either they're identifying with the story's fascists, or perhaps wink-and-nudgingly embracing their eugenics."

Vice reporter Tess Owens initially reported on the disturbing trend. According to Owens, self-proclaimed "purebloods" are individuals who are not vaccinated for COVID. In one TikTok video on the topic, the onscreen caption read, "We will No longer be referred To as Unvaxxed… We simply go by…." Then the phrase "Pureblood" appeared on the screen in red letters.

One TikTok influencer named Lyndsey Marie helped popularize the trend when she made a declaration in support of it. In a video, she said, "From now on, I refuse to be referred to as 'unvaccinated. I want everyone to now call me Pureblood." The video, which received more than 250,000 views before Marie changed the viewing setting to private, has spawned a number of other similar videos from other TikTokers.

According to Daily Kos writer Aysha Qamar the latest pureblood trend underscores a growing problem on TikTok, as it has become a driving force for the spread of more Covid misinformation.

"A newly released Homeland Security briefing found that insurrectionists used TikTok to spread information about the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and interfere with the National Guard during the riot and information about how to access the White House via tunnels and sabotage railroad tracks. According to the briefing document, domestic extremists have been using TikTok since October of 2019 to "recruit adherents, promote violence, and disseminate tactical guidance for use in various terrorist or criminal activities.

"According to another report published in August 2021 by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (IDS), at least 491 accounts were found that shared a combined number of 1,030 videos that promoted hatred, extremism, and terrorism. … At the time of writing the report, the Institute found that 81.5% of the extremist videos they identified on the platform were still live."

Social media networks are continuing their fight against misinformation, but content is plentiful.
Arctic Sailing Race Planned In Canada To Highlight Climate Change

Due to kick off in 2023, the North Pole Race will see ships sailing from Quebec to Vancouver along the Northwest Passage, a sea route through the Arctic Ocean along North America's northern course.

Agence France-Presse Updated: September 26, 2021
A sailing race will be launched in thawing Canadian Arctic.


Montreal, Canada:

A French sports group on Saturday announced plans to launch a sailing race in the thawing Canadian Arctic to raise awareness of global warning.

Due to kick off in 2023, the North Pole Race will see ships sailing from Quebec to Vancouver along the Northwest Passage, a sea route through the Arctic Ocean along North America's northern course.

Crews will sail on special aluminum boats designed for polar waters, according to Herve Favre, president of the French group OC Sport.

These ships will have to be "fast enough to make the crossing in two months, because the window is not large," between the summer period free of ice and the return of winter precipitation, Favre said, according to a story published in the Montreal daily La Presse.

"The North Pole Race will make the world population aware of sustainable development and the importance of acting now to save our environment," Quebec City Mayor Regis Labeaume said last week, when the race was first reported.

Quebec City's municipal government said in a statement that the North Pole Race will bring together teams from 10 countries, including Canada, China, Russia, France and Denmark. Each team will consist of a scientist, an experienced skipper and citizens of the country it is representing.

This race "could not have existed without global warming, because the melting ice in the Northwest Passage makes it possible to travel along this strategic nautical route," a statement from Quebec City said.

Passing through the Canadian archipelago, a vast network of isolated and inhospitable islands located beyond the Arctic Circle, the Northwest Passage saves ships approximately 7,000 kilometers (4,300 miles) of distance between Europe and Asia. But the lack of infrastructure, the remoteness of emergency services and the limited cartography of the Arctic Ocean make navigation in these waters very perilous.

Favre, whose group also organizes the Route du Rhum transatlantic solo yacht race, said the North Pole Race was more likely to attract adventurers rather than professional racers.

The world's nuclear fleet is aging — how do you recycle a nuclear power plant?

Thermal power plant with large chimney

An look inside thermal power plant 

Anna Vaczi

From Italy’s point of view — a country that stopped the production of nuclear energy in its territory after the 1987 referendum — nuclear decommissioning is an old story struggling to come to an end. The truth, however, is that from a global point of view, this story has only just begun.

The world's nuclear fleet is aging. According to data from mid-2020, 440 reactors operate worldwide, spread across 30 countries, with the United States (95 reactors), France (57) and China (47) topping the list. About 270 are more than 30 years old. When you consider that, with the exception of the latest generation of power plants, nuclear plants originally were designed for a service life lasting around 30 years, you will understand the magnitude of the matter at hand.

Experts from IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, provide us with some more precise data: "Over 190 power reactors in 20 countries are in a state of shutdown. Of those, 17 reactors have been fully decommissioned, while more are approaching the final stages of decommissioning. Up to 100 more power reactors may be shut down for decommissioning by the end of next decade."

In other words, regardless whether we want to continue along the path of nuclear power, it’s certain we must deal with the legacies of the first season of atomic energy. Legacies that, in reality, are made up of radioactive waste in only a small percentage (5 percent) and the non-dangerous large part instead could be recovered for other uses. Thus opening the door, even in the field of nuclear decommissioning, to circular economy.

According to data from mid-2020, 440 reactors operate worldwide, spread across 30 countries, with the U.S. (95 reactors), France (57) and China (47) topping the list.

Harbingers of circular economy in Italian nuclear decommissioning

"Component recycling and reuse practices are actually not new in the nuclear field. They have been applied since the 1990s, before people started talking about circular economy," said Flaviano Bruno, head of the Radioactive Waste division at Sogin, the public company responsible for dismantling decommissioned nuclear plants in Italy for more than 20 years.

After the 1987 referendum, Italy was among the first countries in the world to be confronted with nuclear decommissioning.

The four former power plants in Trino, Caorso, Latina and Garigliano, the fuel production plant in Bosco Marengo and the former research and reprocessing plants in Saluggia, Casaccia and Rotondella immediately were placed in safe store, or passive protective custody, following the internationally recognized practice of "deferred decommissioning." Only in 1999 did the so-called "accelerated decommissioning" begin when Sogin got involved. The term "accelerated" sounds a little ironic if one thinks about the long history of Italian nuclear decommissioning, with its bureaucratic obstacles, changes in leadership, NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) syndrome and failure from politicians to accept responsibility.

The delays, however, should be compared to the very long time frames of radioactive waste management, where a disposal site for low radioactive waste (such as the National Repository discussed in recent weeks) should be designed for a duration of hundreds of years, while a geological repository must be suitable to keep the waste for millennia.

Radioactive waste aside, since the beginning of the process there nevertheless has been an effort to recover reusable materials according to practices that, already in 2001, a document drafted by IAEA began to identify and standardize. In the wake of the growing attention to the circular economy, in 2019 the Sogin itself, on the strength of its accumulated experience, organized a workshop on circular practices for decommissioning in collaboration with IAEA. It constituted an opportunity for meeting and discussion among experts from all over Europe and Japan, but also kind of the official entry of the circular economy into the world of nuclear power.

(Almost) nothing is thrown away from a nuclear power plant

What, in practice, can be recovered from the dismantling of a nuclear power plant?

The first thing to know "is that only 5 percent of the material decommissioned from a plant is radioactive. Of the remainder, about 90 percent can be recovered or recycled, while another 5 percent is disposed of as conventional waste," Bruno explained.

Much of the decommissioned material is concrete and metal, separated through a process of iron removal from concrete. Smaller amounts of other materials, especially plastics, are more difficult to handle. "The main reason is that there isn’t only one type of plastic and each has a different line of management. Not to mention that, since the plants are quite old, in some cases the used plastics no longer have a reference chain," Bruno said. "In addition to this, the minimum quantities present do not allow us to achieve economies of scale and the process therefore becomes inefficient. However, we are working on improving the recycling percentage further."

According to Sogin's estimates, the decommissioning of Italy's nuclear power plants and facilities will allow the recovery of over 1 million tons of material. Said recovery already has begun. Bruno explained: "In Caorso, where in 2014 the dismantling of the Off Gas building (Editor's note: This is where gaseous waste was treated before being released into the atmosphere) produced about 7,000 tons of concrete, which were then transformed into raw material used second and reused to fill in the excavations produced by the dismantling of the underground systems adjacent to the structure." Overall, from the decommissioning of the entire Caorso plant, the company expects to recover 300,000 tons of materials out of 320,000, consisting of 93 percent of the total.

Only 5% of the material decommissioned from a plant is radioactive. Of the remainder, about 90% can be recovered or recycled, while another 5% is disposed of as conventional waste.

Another recent example is the management of rock wool used for the insulation of the Latina plant. "A part of the rock wool was released, while the contaminated portion was treated with a super press to reduce its volume," Bruno said. "We started from 190 square meters of material: of these, 120 square meters were released for recycling and the remaining 70 were compacted, turning into just over around 10 square meters of material to be disposed of."

Reducing the volume of radioactive waste to a minimum is in fact a cardinal principle of nuclear decommissioning: given and considered the problems related to their safe disposal and the difficulty in finding a site to store them (in Europe, at the moment, only Finland and Sweden are building a permanent geological repository), it is essential that they occupy as little space as possible.

Radioactivity and safety

Coming back to the topic on recyclable materials, the first doubt that arises when talking about the circular economy applied to the nuclear field is, of course, safety. In reality, this is only a layman's doubt, because it is fairly obvious to insiders that the "released" material must be subjected to scrupulous checks to verify its levels of radioactivity. The procedure actually begins well before starting the dismantling process.

Bruno explained: "Preliminary analyses and chemical-physical and radiological characterizations are carried out in order to understand exactly how to manage all material flows. In fact, it’s necessary to adopt punctual segregation methods to separate radioactive waste from ‘conventional’ materials. As soon as we disassemble a component, if we know that it can be released for recycling, it will be managed separately to avoid cross-contamination. The segregation of material already takes place at the logistic level through separate storage areas, similarly to what is being done now with COVID waste in hospitals. The basic concept is the same: to separate the flows to be able to manage the material in a manner that will be consistent with what will be its end."

Release, reuse, recycle

Once the material has been safely released, for what and in what areas can it be reused and recycled? The destination depends on the standards and laws in place in each country. "In Italy, for example, unconditional release or free release is enforced," Bruno points out. "It means that what comes out of the radiological control system and is therefore releasable can be reused without conditions of use.” In fact, the decommissioning company's responsibility extends even beyond the moment of release. "For metals, according to the law, Sogin is responsible up to the moment of remelting in the smelter. The smelter, which is obliged to dilute by 10 times the metal we provide, must then send us back a certificate attesting to the correct procedure." Only then will the recycled metal actually be free to re-enter the production cycle.

Despite the existence of European and international standards on the management of these materials, the national law always overpowers them, so you can find substantial differences in management even among neighboring countries. For example, in France no release of material from the decommissioning of power plants is allowed. For a country that derives more than 70 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, the decision to lock up all the materials produced by decommissioning initially seemed strategic in order to keep public opinion at ease. "In reality, this is receiving the opposite reaction," said Bruno. "Most of the materials are not dangerous, while prohibiting their reuse fuels the idea that they are and therefore causes major concerns to the population."

In Germany, on the contrary, there are wider standards of reuse than in Italy. In fact, the unconditional release of "clean" materials is allowed, meanwhile a conditional release with various levels, and in specific industrial areas, for those slightly contaminated (which in Italy would not be released) is in place. "Generally, these are slightly contaminated metals that are still reused in the nuclear field," Bruno pointed out.

If nuclear decommissioning is a field full of difficulties in itself already, the road to making it more circular has its own peculiar obstacles.

It’s more difficult to make a comparison with extra-European countries, which do not refer to EU directives that tend to standardize many approaches. "For example, in the United States there is a difference in some management aspects, mainly due to the geographical configuration of the country: Many of their plants are in desert areas or, in any case, far from inhabited centers and therefore their approach can be more ‘relaxed’. For us Europeans, who have a highly anthropized situation, the management of materials is more delicate because it must always take into account the impact on the local territorial system."

Obstacles and best practices: the future of circular decommissioning

If nuclear decommissioning is a field full of difficulties in itself already, the road to making it more circular has its own peculiar obstacles.

When it comes to Italy, these are often gaps in the national waste management system, as Bruno explained: "Our problem is mainly about the distribution of the collection centers, which is not widespread. It is therefore often difficult to find a nearby collection center where we can bring the material we release and this involves economic costs that must be taken into account. A more widespread and structured system at national level would allow us to be more effective."

More broadly, standing in the way of a circular economy in the field is the same factor that will make this decade the era of nuclear decommissioning: the age of the plants. "Older facilities were designed and operated with little consideration of this issue, and their sustainable decommissioning poses specific challenges," explained the IAEA experts surveyed by Renewable Matter. "On the other hand, new nuclear facilities are now being planned from the start with decommissioning, waste management and circular economy in mind, which presents the opportunity for using innovative solutions. For example, reactor building components can be constructed in a modular fashion for easier dismantlement or construction materials can be used which are easier to decontaminate."

Surely exchanging best practices with other industry fields considered further along in the circular economy will also help with improvements. "The oil and gas industry, conventional demolition industry and others offer valuable experience in terms of technology availability, cost evaluation, risk assessment and other aspects of decommissioning," IAEA commented. "Remote handling and robotic technologies and digitalization used for complex project management are some of the newly available technologies which the nuclear industry and other sectors can use and apply. New digital techniques enable, for example, 3D physical and radiological surveys which support building information management for decommissioning purposes."

Of course, the internal comparison within the same field is also fundamental, so much so that, after the first international workshop organized with Sogin in 2019, IAEA will propose another one in 2021 in a webinar version.

In short, interest in a circular economy, even in the nuclear field, is high. Especially because, beyond the important recovery of resources, maximizing recycling means minimizing waste and thus reducing, at least in volume, the extent of the nuclear waste problem, while waiting for some of the futuristic projects underway to reuse used nuclear fuel rods to see the light of day. But that's another chapter in this story.

May 13, 2021

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Renewable Matter