Poll suggests Calgary and Edmonton differ on equalization referendum

Regardless of whether a majority answers yes or no on the equalization referendum, Alberta doesn’t have the power to change the federal program on its own

Author of the article:Madeline Smith
Publishing date:Oct 14, 2021

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Calgary and Edmonton have notably different takes on the upcoming equalization referendum, according to a new poll.

In a Leger survey conducted from Oct. 8 to 11, eligible voters in both cities were asked for their answer on the questions the provincial government has added to municipal ballots. The equalization question asks whether a specific section of the Constitution Act — Canada’s “commitment to the principle of making equalization payments” — should be removed.

Half of Calgary respondents answered yes, while just one-third of those polled in Edmonton agreed. And while 34 per cent of Calgarians polled said no, 41 per cent gave that answer in Edmonton.

Edmontonians were also more likely to give a “don’t know” response, at slightly more than a quarter of respondents, while just 16 per cent of those from Calgary weren’t sure.

The poll collected answers from 502 people in Calgary and 503 in Edmonton through an online panel.

Leger executive vice-president Ian Large said there’s some speculation involved in accounting for the differences between the cities, but it might be partly due to economic views from each.

“It’s a feature of, I think, the sense that Calgary has historically seen themselves as the economic driver of the province,” he said.

“The perception is, ‘We’re the ones that are writing the cheques.’ . . . Calgary may feel a little more hard done by.”

Municipal elections will be held across the province on Monday. There is also an additional provincial referendum question about whether Albertans support moving to year-round Daylight Time, and in Calgary there’s a municipal question asking whether voters support restoring water fluoridation.

Regardless of whether a majority answers yes or no on the equalization referendum, Alberta doesn’t have the power to change the federal program on its own.

Premier Jason Kenney said as recently as Wednesday during a Facebook Live Q&A that the vote is about getting “leverage” with the federal government on equalization reform.

Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt added partisanship may also be at play in the choice voters make.

“While there are conservatives in Calgary who despise Jason Kenney, they may hold their nose and vote yes on equalization changes because it fits with their ideological makeup,” he said. “Edmonton’s a very different city.”

Large added that the poll only shows results from Alberta’s two biggest cities, but the equalization referendum will be a part of municipal ballots across the province. Rural areas, as well as smaller cities such as Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Red Deer, will be a factor in the final outcome.

Because the poll was conducted through a non-random internet survey, a margin of error can’t be determined. But by comparison, the probability sample of the size collected in both Edmonton and Calgary would have a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Deciphering the Philosophers' Stone: How we cracked a 400-year-old alchemical cipher

by Richard Bean, Megan Piorko, Sarah Lang, The Conversation

An encryption table for the Bellaso / Della Porta cipher, invented in Italy in 1553.

 Only ten rows are shown, as wx / yz were not in the key.

What secret alchemical knowledge could be so important it required sophisticated encryption.

The setting was Amsterdam, 2019. A conference organized by the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry had just concluded at the Embassy of the Free Mind, in a lecture hall opened by historical-fiction author Dan Brown.

At the conference, Science History Institute Postdoctoral Researcher Megan Piorko presented a curious manuscript belonging to English alchemists John Dee (1527–1608) and his son Arthur Dee (1579–1651). In the pre-modern world, alchemy was a means to understand nature through ancient secret knowledge and chemical experiment.

Within Dee's alchemical manuscript was a cipher table, followed by encrypted ciphertext under the heading "Hermeticae Philosophiae medulla"—or Marrow of the Hermetic Philosophy. The table would end up being a valuable tool in decrypting the cipher, but could only be interpreted correctly once the hidden "key" was found.

It was during post-conference drinks in a dimly lit bar that Megan decided to investigate the mysterious alchemical cipher—with the help of her colleague, University of Graz Postdoctoral Researcher Sarah Lang.

A recipe for the elixir of life

Megan and Sarah shared their initial analysis on a history of chemistry blog and presented the historical discovery to cryptology experts from around the world at the 2021 HistoCrypt conference.

Based on the rest of the notebook's contents, they believed the ciphertext contained a recipe for the fabled Philosophers' Stone—an elixir that supposedly prolongs the owner's life and grants the ability to produce gold from base metals.

The mysterious cipher received much interest, and Sarah and Megan were soon inundated with emails from would-be code-breakers. That's when Richard Bean entered the picture. Less than a week after the HistoCrypt proceedings went live, Richard contacted Lang and Piorko with exciting news: he'd cracked the code.

Megan and Sarah's initial hypothesis was confirmed; the encrypted ciphertext was indeed an alchemical recipe for the Philosophers' Stone. Together, the trio began to translate and analyze the 177-word passage.

The alchemist behind the cipher

But who wrote this alchemical cipher in the first place, and why encrypt it?

Alchemical knowledge was shrouded in secrecy, as practitioners believed it could only be understood by true adepts.

Encrypting the most valuable trade secret, the Philosophers' Stone, would have provided an added layer of protection against alchemical fraud and the unenlightened. Alchemists spent their lives searching for this vital substance, with many believing they had the key to successfully unlocking the secret recipe.

Arthur Dee was an English alchemist and spent most of his career as royal physician to Tsar Michael I of Russia. He continued to add to the alchemical manuscript after his father's death—and the cipher appears to be in Arthur's handwriting.

We don't know the exact date John Dee, Arthur's father, started writing in this manuscript, or when Arthur added the cipher table and encrypted text he titled "The Marrow of Hermetic Philosophy."

However, we do know Arthur wrote another manuscript in 1634 titled "Arca Arcanorum"—or "Secret of Secrets"—in which he celebrates his alchemical success with the Philosophers' Stone, claiming he discovered the true recipe.

He decorated "Arca Arcanorum" with an emblem copied from a medieval alchemical scroll, illustrating the allegorical process of alchemical transmutation necessary for the Philosophers' Stone.

Richard found the key and used it, along with the cipher table, to decrypt the cipher. Author provided

Cracking the code

What clues led to decrypting the mysterious Marrow of the Hermetic Philosophy passage?

Adjacent to the encrypted text is a table resembling one used in a traditional style of cipher called a Bellaso/Della Porta cipher—invented in 1553 by Italian cryptologist Giovan Battista Bellaso, and written about in 1563 by Giambattista della Porta. This was the first clue.

The Latin title indicated the text itself was also in Latin. This was corroborated by the lack of letters V and J in the cipher table, as V and J are interchangeable with U and I, respectively, in printed Latin text.

This was good news, as Richard had access to Latin statistical models from previous decryption projects. Armed with this information, he set off in search of patterns that would lead him to the cipher "key"—a word or phrase that could be used in conjunction with the cipher table to decipher the text.

Richard soon realized the key was included at the end of the text, which is unusual. It was surprisingly long too, made up of 45 letters—arduous even for today's computer-password standards. The trio would later realize the key was also written elsewhere in the manuscript, hidden in plain sight.

In keeping with the typical encryption practices of the period, Arthur Dee had written the key on the back of the cipher table. It read: "sic alter iason aurea felici portabis uellera colcho," meaning "like a new Jason, you will carry the Golden Fleece away from the lucky Colchian."

An ancient myth

This key is adapted from the last verses of an alchemical poem by Giovanni Aurelio Augurello titled Chrysopoeia (circa 1505), with "chrysopoeia" also being the ancient Greek word for the art of gold-making.

The poem is about the ancient Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts, which was reinterpreted during the early modern period as an allegory for alchemy. In the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, the Argonauts sail to the land of Colchis (in modern-day Georgia) to retrieve the "Golden Fleece." In an alchemical context, the fleece is a symbol for the Philosophers' Stone.

The actual text of the Marrow of the Hermetic Philosophy mentions taking an alchemical "egg"—not further described—from an athanor, which is a type of furnace used for gentle heating over a long period of time.

Afterwards, instructions are given for how long to wait until the different alchemical phases ensue (the blackening, whitening and the red phase). It says the end product—either a silver tincture or the gold-making elixir—will depend on when the process is stopped.

If the directions are followed correctly, the code-cracking reader is promised: "… then you will have a truly gold-making elixir by whose benevolence all the misery of poverty is put to flight and those who suffer from any illness will be restored to health."

Contrary to what was believed for a long time, alchemical recipes do contain chemical processes which can be reproduced in modern laboratories. It's only towards the end (during the production of the Philosophers' Stone) that the recipe becomes too vague to reproduce—at least not without further interpretation.

However, they do sometimes produce a blood-red glass (which is what the stone was said to look like).

Journey to the center of the archive

What can we learn from historical ciphers? Cryptology experts have just scratched the surface of early-modern encryption practices. Much secret alchemical knowledge remains uncovered from a time when making gold and extending the natural limit of life was believed possible through alchemy.

The decryption of this 400-year-old cipher suggests we have much ground to dig through yet. Who knows what other alchemical ciphers are waiting to be discovered in the depths of the archive?

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Explore further

Declassified Cold War code-breaking manual has lessons for solving 'impossible' puzzles

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Provided by The Conversation 

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

 NFLD

$1.8-Million in Inspections, Repairs to Thermal Generating Station Underway After Incident in Holyrood

Oct 13, 2021 | 6:13 AM

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro is investigating as it makes repairs to one of its thermal generating stations in Holyrood, to the tune of nearly $2-million, following an incident during Hurricane Larry last month.

According to Hydro, unit 3 was being started up in advance of the hurricane. During that process on the morning of September 11, they experienced a boiler waterfall tube failure.

The say the unit tripped off, which it should during a malfunction, resulting in steam being released into the powerhouse. No one was in the immediate area at the time, but it is being treated as a “serious incident” and testing is ongoing.

The total cost of the inspection and repairs to the site is currently estimated at $1.8-million. For context, Hydro says total operations and maintenance costs for the plant in 2020, excluding fuel, were $23-million.

They say there are regulated processes in place through the PUB to manage unexpected equipment outages and associated costs.

The unit is expected to come back online in November.

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“Unit 3 at our Holyrood Thermal Generating Station was being started up in advance of Hurricane Larry. During the start up process, on the morning of September 11, we did experience a boiler waterfall tube failure. The unit tripped off, as it should during a malfunction, and there was a release of steam into the powerhouse. There were no people in the immediate area at the time of the incident, however we still treat this as a serious incident and have initiated testing and investigation into the cause. Repairs are being completed and the unit is expected to be returned to service in November.

The total cost of inspections and repair is currently estimated at approximately $1.8 Million. (Note, for context, the operations and maintenance costs for the Holyrood Plant in 2020 (not including fuel) were approximately $23 million).

For all our assets across the system – our fleet of generation, transmission and distribution (including the Holyrood Generating Station), we have regulated processes through the Public Utilities Board in place to manage unexpected equipment outages and the associated costs.”

Line 5 opponents urging White House to reject Canada's 'audacious' treaty gambit

This photo taken in October 2016 shows an aboveground section of Enbridge's Line 5 at the Mackinaw City, Mich., pump station. 

(AP Photo/John Flesher)

James McCarten
The Canadian Press
Published Oct. 12, 2021

WASHINGTON -

Environmental activists in the United States are seizing on Canada's decision to invoke a 44-year-old treaty with the United States as an "audacious," misguided and misleading gambit aimed at short-circuiting Michigan's effort to shut down the Line 5 cross-border pipeline.

Oil & Water Don't Mix, a coalition of Michigan environmental and Indigenous groups that includes the Sierra Club and the Michigan Climate Action Network, said Tuesday it has a 33,000-signature petition that it plans to circulate among U.S. lawmakers this week.

The petition urges U.S. President Joe Biden to support the state of Michigan and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in their legal effort to shut down Line 5, a 68-year-old pipeline that crosses beneath the Great Lakes to deliver crude oil and natural gas liquids from Canada to the U.S. Midwest.


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The state has revoked the 1953 easement that allows Calgary-based owner Enbridge Inc. to operate Line 5, citing the risk of a catastrophic spill in the Straits of Mackinac, an ecologically sensitive waterway that links Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

The resulting dispute has lawyers for both sides arguing in court about whether a district court in Michigan has the jurisdiction to decide the fate of the pipeline and Enbridge's efforts to upgrade and fortify the twin lines that run along the lakebed under the straits.

Last week, the federal government filed court documents confirming that it wants formal negotiations with the U.S. under the terms of a 1977 treaty specifically drafted to deal with cross-border pipelines, and asking Judge Janet Neff to hold the case in abeyance.

"We're calling on the president to stand with Gov. Whitmer in rejecting Enbridge's delay tactics," said Sean McBrearty, the co-ordinator for Oil & Water Don't Mix.

McBrearty called the treaty tactic a "direct attack on our sovereignty" that intentionally misinterprets the treaty itself "to make the audacious claim that we must leave a major risk pumping oil indefinitely through the heart of the Great Lakes."

He pointed to the oil spill last week off the coast of California, which was likely the result of an underwater anchor strike -- precisely the sort of peril that Whitmer and her supporters fear could befall the Great Lakes shoreline if Line 5 continues to operate.

"This fight is not really about Enbridge's fuel," he said. "This fight is about Michigan's water."

Andy Buchsbaum, the legal adviser for the National Wildlife Federation, said when it comes to pipeline safety and environmental concerns, Michigan is well within its rights to demand the line be shut down.

"The government of Canada is misrepresenting the terms of the 1977 treaty, which explicitly authorizes Michigan to take exactly the kind of action it did when it issued the order shutting down the pipeline," Buchsbaum said.

The shutdown order "is actually authorized by the same treaty that Canada claims invalidates the shutdown order."

Michigan's attorney general showed similar contempt for Canada's move, disputing the notion that treaty talks are relevant to the legal matters at hand and that the hearings should be paused to allow those talks to proceed.

"Canada is wrong on both counts," Dana Nessel wrote in a response filed in court last week.

"Neither the 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty itself nor Canada's recent invocation of the dispute resolution process ... are relevant to the sole legal issue now before this court: whether it has jurisdiction over the state's complaint removed by Enbridge."

Canada's letter, she continues, "is devoid of any legal authority or persuasive argument for its assertion that this court should decline to rule" on the matter.

"Staying this case based on some speculative outcome of international treaty negotiations would deprive the state of its ability to protect these core sovereign interests while indefinitely enshrining the status quo that Enbridge desires."

Proponents of Line 5 say its 540,000 barrels of crude oil and natural gas liquids per day are a vital energy source for markets across the Midwest, including Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as Canadian refineries that provide jet fuel to some of Canada's busiest airports.

Enbridge has insisted from the outset that it has no plans to voluntarily shut down the pipeline.

A court-sanctioned voluntary mediation process, which began in April, has failed to yield any agreement and appears to have fallen apart, although the official status of those talks remains unclear.

Court documents show the state has no "desire to continue with the mediation process," while Enbridge has said publicly that it wants the talks to continue.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2021.

Canada’s attempt to prevent Line 5 shutdown attacks U.S. sovereignty, opponents say
By James McCarten The Canadian Press

Posted October 12, 2021 

WATCH: Crude quarrel: Canada invokes treaty to negotiate fate of Line 5 pipeline with U.S – Oct 5, 2021

Environmental activists in the United States are seizing on Canada’s decision to invoke a 44-year-old treaty with the United States as an “audacious,” misguided and misleading gambit aimed at short-circuiting Michigan’s effort to shut down the Line 5 cross-border pipeline.

Oil & Water Don’t Mix, a coalition of Michigan environmental and Indigenous groups that includes the Sierra Club and the Michigan Climate Action Network, said Tuesday it has a 33,000-signature petition that it plans to circulate among U.S. lawmakers this week.

READ MORE: Canada invokes 1977 pipeline treaty with U.S. to prevent Line 5 shutdown

The petition urges U.S. President Joe Biden to support the state of Michigan and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in their legal effort to shut down Line 5, a 68-year-old pipeline that crosses beneath the Great Lakes to deliver crude oil and natural gas liquids from Canada to the U.S. Midwest.

The state has revoked the 1953 easement that allows Calgary-based owner Enbridge Inc. to operate Line 5, citing the risk of a catastrophic spill in the Straits of Mackinac, an ecologically sensitive waterway that links Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

The resulting dispute has lawyers for both sides arguing in court about whether a district court in Michigan has the jurisdiction to decide the fate of the pipeline and Enbridge’s efforts to upgrade and fortify the twin lines that run along the lakebed under the straits.

Canada faces closure of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline – May 12, 2021


Last week, the federal government filed court documents confirming that it wants formal negotiations with the U.S. under the terms of a 1977 treaty specifically drafted to deal with cross-border pipelines, and asking Judge Janet Neff to hold the case in abeyance.

“We’re calling on the president to stand with Gov. Whitmer in rejecting Enbridge’s delay tactics,” said Sean McBrearty, the co-ordinator for Oil & Water Don’t Mix.

READ MORE: Line 5 pipeline: How did we get here and what it means for Canada

McBrearty called the treaty tactic a “direct attack on our sovereignty” that intentionally misinterprets the treaty itself “to make the audacious claim that we must leave a major risk pumping oil indefinitely through the heart of the Great Lakes.”

He pointed to the oil spill last week off the coast of California, which was likely the result of an underwater anchor strike _ precisely the sort of peril that Whitmer and her supporters fear could befall the Great Lakes shoreline if Line 5 continues to operate.

“This fight is not really about Enbridge’s fuel,” he said. “This fight is about Michigan’s water.”

What does completion of Line 3 pipeline project mean for Alberta? – Oct 1, 2021




Andy Buchsbaum, the legal adviser for the National Wildlife Federation, said when it comes to pipeline safety and environmental concerns, Michigan is well within its rights to demand the line be shut down.

“The government of Canada is misrepresenting the terms of the 1977 treaty, which explicitly authorizes Michigan to take exactly the kind of action it did when it issued the order shutting down the pipeline,” Buchsbaum said.

The shutdown order “is actually authorized by the same treaty that Canada claims invalidates the shutdown order.”

READ MORE: Calgary-based Enbridge still willing to talk on Line 5, despite Michigan’s frustration

Michigan’s attorney general showed similar contempt for Canada’s move, disputing the notion that treaty talks are relevant to the legal matters at hand and that the hearings should be paused to allow those talks to proceed.

“Canada is wrong on both counts,” Dana Nessel wrote in a response filed in court last week.

“Neither the 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty itself nor Canada’s recent invocation of the dispute resolution process … are relevant to the sole legal issue now before this court: whether it has jurisdiction over the state’s complaint removed by Enbridge.”

Canada’s letter, she continues, “is devoid of any legal authority or persuasive argument for its assertion that this court should decline to rule” on the matter.

“Staying this case based on some speculative outcome of international treaty negotiations would deprive the state of its ability to protect these core sovereign interests while indefinitely enshrining the status quo that Enbridge desires.”


Line 5 closure could mean Ontario fuel shortages: experts – May 12, 2021

Proponents of Line 5 say its 540,000 barrels of crude oil and natural gas liquids per day are a vital energy source for markets across the Midwest, including Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as Canadian refineries that provide jet fuel to some of Canada’s busiest airports.

Enbridge has insisted from the outset that it has no plans to voluntarily shut down the pipeline.

A court-sanctioned voluntary mediation process, which began in April, has failed to yield any agreement and appears to have fallen apart, although the official status of those talks remains unclear.

Court documents show the state has no “desire to continue with the mediation process,” while Enbridge has said publicly that it wants the talks to continue.

Beirut port blast: Gunfire erupts at protest against judge leading probe

At least six people have been killed and 32 others injured by gunfire in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

The shooting began during a protest by the Shia Muslim groups Hezbollah and Amal against the judge investigating last year's blast at the city's port.

They said Christian snipers fired at the crowd to drag Lebanon into strife.

Huge tension surrounds the probe into the port explosion. Hezbollah and its allies claim the judge is biased, but the victims' families support his work.

No-one has yet been held accountable for the August 2020 disaster, in which 219 people were killed and swathes of the city were devastated.

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The inferno and the mystery ship

What began as a protest outside the Palace of Justice - the main court building - by hundreds of people arguing the investigation had become politicised and demanding the removal of Judge Tarek Bitar escalated remarkably quickly, reports the BBC's Anna Foster in Beirut.

Heavy gunfire erupted in the streets as the crowd passed through a roundabout in the central Tayouneh-Badaro area.

Residents fled as Shia and Christian militia fighters exchanged fire in the streets

Local residents had to flee their homes and schoolchildren ducked for cover under their desks as men armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers - believed to have been members of Shia and Christian militias - exchanged fire in the streets.

The clashes continued for several hours before calm was restored.

Hospital and military sources said some of those killed were shot in the head. They included a woman who was hit by a stray bullet while inside her home.

Hezbollah and Amal accused a staunch opponent, the Christian Lebanese Forces party, of being behind the attack on the protesters.

 

Lebanese army soldiers and ambulances rushed to the scene after the gunfire erupted

The two Shia organisations said demonstrators were "subject to an armed attack by groups from the Lebanese Forces party that deployed in neighbouring streets and on rooftops, and engaged in direct sniping activity and intentional killing".

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea condemned the violence and appealed for calm.

"The main cause of these developments lies in the presence of uncontrolled and widespread weapons that threaten the citizens at any time and in any place," he tweeted.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on everyone to "calm down and not be drawn into sedition for any reason whatsoever".

The army said it had deployed troops to search for the assailants, and warned that they would "shoot at any gunman on the roads".

Hezbollah and Amal supporters had gathered earlier to demand the removal of Judge Tarek Bitar

Earlier on Thursday, a court dismissed a legal complaint brought by two former government ministers and Amal MPs - Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zaiter - whom Judge Bitar has sought to question on suspicion of negligence in connection with the port explosion.

The two men, who deny any wrongdoing, accused the judge of bias.

Families of the victims had condemned the complaint, which caused the probe to be suspended for the second time in three weeks.

They have accused the country's political leadership of trying to shield itself from scrutiny.

"Keep your hands off the judiciary," they warned the cabinet on Wednesday after ministers allied to Hezbollah demanded that Judge Bitar be replaced.

The port blast happened after a fire detonated 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a combustible chemical widely used as agricultural fertiliser, that had been stored unsafely in a port warehouse for almost six years.

Senior officials were aware of the material's existence and the danger it posed but failed to secure, remove or destroy it.

Watch: People run for cover as gunfire sounds in Beirut

CHINESE AUTHORITIES ARE TESTING THOUSANDS OF BLOOD SAMPLES FROM WUHAN

THE BLOOD "ABSOLUTELY WILL CONTAIN VITAL CLUES."


In coming weeks, Chinese authorities say they plan to run tests on thousands and thousands of blood samples from Wuhan, the original epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are up to 200,000 blood samples stored at the Wuhan Blood Center dating back to 2019, potentially giving officials access to a sort of real-time historical archive that could help reveal how the first coronavirus outbreaks began and spread, officials at China’s National Health Commission told CNN. The samples, which were previously identified as potentially being crucial evidence by the World Health Organization’s probe into China, have not yet been tested or examined.

Why the wait? Chinese authorities say that they were waiting for the end of a two-year grace period during which the blood samples could have become evidence in any lawsuits related to their donors or the donations themselves, according to CNN. Now that we’re almost at the two-year anniversary of the first COVID-19 cases, officials have started to prepare for the tests so that they can start as soon as possible.

“This provides the closest in the world we’ve seen of real-time samples to help us understand the timing of the outbreak event,” Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow for global health Yanzhong Huang told CNN.

If researchers are lucky, the blood samples will show when antibodies against the coronavirus first started to appear, which would serve as a proxy for when and where the pandemic began. But the biggest question, unfortunately, is whether Chinese authorities will handle the research with their usual level of secrecy — or if transparent reports will make it to the outside world.

The blood “absolutely will contain vital clues,” Columbia University epidemiologist Maureen Miller told CNN, but that won’t make a difference if no one else gets to access them.

“No one will believe any results that China reports unless there are qualified observers at the very least,” she added.

Covid: New WHO group may be last chance to find virus origins

Published19 hours ago

Questions around the origins of Covid-19 centre on Wuhan, where the virus first emerged

The World Health Organization (WHO) says a new taskforce may be the last chance to find the origins of Covid-19.

It has nominated 26 experts to join the body, the Scientific Advisory Group on the Origins of Novel Pathogens (Sago).

More than a year-and-a-half since the virus was detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the question of how it first emerged remains unclear.

The team will consider if the virus jumped from animals to humans in Wuhan markets or leaked in a lab accident.

China has strongly refuted the second theory.

In February, a WHO team tasked with investigating Covid's origins flew to China and concluded that the virus had probably come from bats but that more work was needed.

The team called the lab leak theory "extremely unlikely".

Media caption,Covid-19 and Wuhan: Why don't we know more?

But the WHO's director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, later said the investigation had been hampered by a lack of data and transparency from China.

The proposed members of the Sago group include six experts who visited China as part of the previous team.

Aside from coronavirus, Sago will also look into the origins of other high-risk pathogens.

"Understanding where new pathogens come from is essential for preventing future outbreaks," said Dr Tedros said.

In a joint editorial in the journal Science, Dr Tedros and other WHO officials said "a lab accident cannot be ruled out".

EXPLAINER: Why the lab-leak theory is being taken seriously

Michael Ryan, the WHO's emergencies director, said Sago's work may be the "last chance to understand the origins of this virus".

The announcement of the new group comes as CNN reported that China was preparing to test tens of thousands of blood bank samples taken in the early months of the pandemic.

But Chen Xu, China's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, said Sago's work should not be "politicised".

"It is time to send teams to other places," he said.



WHO caught up in geopolitical fight

Tulip Mazumdar, Global Health Correspondent

Almost two years since the start of the pandemic, we still don't know how or when the deadly Sars-Cov-2 virus emerged. Investigating new viruses is always extremely complex, but scientists have been able to find the source of the two previous coronavirus outbreaks - both of which have emerged from animals.

It's been nine months since the last WHO-convened mission returned from Wuhan, saying a similar animal spillover was the most likely source of the pandemic. But questions continue to be raised about a potential accident at a Wuhan lab which studies coronaviruses and keeps thousands of bat samples. China has strenuously denied this.

The WHO says China still hasn't shared crucial data from the earliest days of the pandemic. The UN agency - which has been caught in the firing line between China and the US's bigger geopolitical fight on this issue - has been hardening its language on investigations into a lab leak theory.

The science is becoming increasingly politicised, with China so far refusing to allow international scientists back into the country.

It's hoped this new Sago body with experts from 26 different countries will be able to break this impasse, and finally get some much needed answers so the world can better prepare for future outbreaks.


Search for Covid's origins stalled, scientists say

Published25 August


US report on coronavirus origins 'inconclusive'

Published25 August


Scientists weigh up evidence over Covid's origins

Published10 July


Why the lab-leak theory is being taken seriously

Published27 May

North Korea's Kim Jong-un faces 'paradise on Earth' lawsuit

The plaintiffs demand 100m yen in compensation but accept it might not be paid


North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un should pay damages for a 1959-84 scheme that saw more than 90,000 people move there from Japan, a Tokyo court is hearing.


The repatriation campaign was later condemned by some as "state kidnapping".


Five people who took part and later escaped the North have demanded 100m yen ($880,000; £640,000) each.


They do not expect Mr Kim either to appear or to pay up, but hope a ruling may help in future negotiations.


Thousands of Koreans moved to Japan - many against their will - during its colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. The vast majority of people involved in the resettlement scheme were ethnic Koreans being sold a vision of the "Fatherland" as "paradise" - and some Japanese spouses went with them.


Both North Korea and Japan supported the campaign.

The North was desperate to rebuild after being ravaged by World War Two and the Korean War.

Japan regarded the Koreans as outsiders and was happy to help with their relocation.

The combination of discrimination in Japan and North Korean propaganda promising an idyllic life of free healthcare, education and jobs in the homeland was a huge temptation.

For many the reality was forced manual labour in farms, mines or factories, violation of human rights, and an inability to leave.

The court case has a symbolic feel - the five plaintiffs accept that.

The North needed labour after devastation in the Korean War

The four ethnic Koreans, and the Japanese wife of a Korean who joined the programme, all later defected back to Japan.

The plaintiffs' lawyer, Kenji Fukuda, has said: "We don't expect North Korea to accept a decision nor pay the damages."

But if they win "we hope that the Japanese government would be able to negotiate with North Korea".

The countries have no formal diplomatic relations.

Mr Kim is named as he is the current leader of the North.

The lawsuit claims the North deceived plaintiffs by "false advertising to relocate to North Korea", where "the enjoyment of human rights was generally impossible".

One of the plaintiffs, ethnic Korean Eiko Kawasaki, 79, told the Associated Press none would have gone if they had known what awaited. She fled the North in 2003, leaving behind her adult children.

Another struggler for compensation is Lee Tae-kyung, who sailed to the North aged eight in 1960.

He told the New York Times: "We were told we were going to a 'paradise on Earth'. Instead, we were taken to a hell and denied a most basic human right: the freedom to leave."

Mr Lee fled North Korea after 46 years.

Waste electronics will weigh more than the Great Wall of China

By Victoria Gill
Science correspondent, BBC News
Published1 day ago

Less than 20% of electronic waste globally is recycled, experts say

The "mountain" of waste electronic and electrical equipment discarded in 2021 will weigh more than 57 million tonnes, researchers have estimated.

That is heavier than the Great Wall of China - the planet's heaviest artificial object.

The assessment is by an international expert group dedicated to tackling the global problem of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

They point out that the value of those discarded materials is vast.

According to a 2019 report by the World Economic Forum, the world's electronic waste has a material value of $62.5 billion (£46 billion) - more than the GDP of most countries.

Millions of old gadgets 'stockpiled in drawers'

Mining for precious metals without a pick-axe in sight

"A tonne of discarded mobile phones is richer in gold than a tonne of gold ore," said Dr Ruediger Kuehr, director of the UN's Sustainable Cycles (SCYCLE) programme.

The waste includes items such as mobile phones, fridges, kettles, televisions and electric toys or sports equipment.

Stockpiling gadgets

Globally, the amount of so called e-waste generation is growing by two million tonnes every year. It is estimated that less than 20% is collected and recycled.

Pascal Leroy, who is director general of the expert group the WEEE Forum, says by making products with shorter lifespans and limited repair options, manufacturers have a major role to play in the increase of waste.

"Fast mobile phone development, for example, has led to a market dependency on rapid replacement of older devices," he told BBC News.

Consumers can also be reluctant to recycle their personal electronic equipment. In the UK, a 2019 study by the Royal Society of Chemistry found that as many as 40 million unused gadgets are languishing in our homes. That puts pressure on the supply of many valuable and rare elements.

Elements in smartphones that could run out in the next century:

Gallium: Used in medical thermometers, LEDs, solar panels, telescopes and has possible anti-cancer properties
Arsenic: Used in fireworks, as a wood preserver
Silver: Used in mirrors, reactive lenses that darken in sunlight, antibacterial clothing and gloves for use with touch-screens
Indium: Used in transistors, microchips, fire-sprinkler systems, as a coating for ball-bearings in Formula One cars and solar panels
Yttrium: Used in white LED lights, camera lenses and can be used to treat some cancers
Tantalum: Used in surgical implants, electrodes for neon lights, turbine blades, rocket nozzles and nose caps for supersonic aircraft, hearing aids and pacemakers

"Consumers want to do the right thing but need to be adequately informed and a convenient infrastructure should be easily available to them so that disposing of e-waste correctly becomes the social norm," added Pascal Leroy. He also pointed out that recycling electronics, rather than throwing them away, also reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

"Every tonne of WEEE recycled avoids around two tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions," he said. "So this is more important than ever as our governments go into COP26 to discuss global action to reduce carbon emissions."

In the UK, the organisation Material Focus has a postcode locator for people to find their nearest e-waste recycling point for items such as toasters and old cables.

The Inuit knowledge vanishing with the ice


By Chris Baraniuk

BBC

11th October 2021

The Inuit are famous for their ability to survive extreme conditions, having inhabited the Arctic for millennia. But as the ice recedes, this hard-earned knowledge is being lost.

About 1,600 people live in the village of Pond Inlet, or Mittimatalik as it is known in the Inuit language Inuktitut. It is a community huddled between mountains, on a northern shore of Baffin Island, Canada – a place further north than the northernmost tip of mainland Norway. In winter, temperatures drop to an average of -35C (-31F), though they have been known to dip below -50C (-58F).

It's not the sort of place some people would immediately associate with "global warming". And yet, climate change is reshaping this part of the world dramatically – and impacting the people who live there.

"Everything we do involves the ocean and sea ice, which is highly affected by climate change," says Natasha Simonee, a member of the Inuit community in Pond Inlet.

Diminishing ice, warmer winters and changes to weather patterns are not just background noise for people like Simonee. These things have the potential to alter her whole way of life. She explains how elders in her community have grown reluctant to share traditional methods for predicting the weather, since the climate has changed so much. "They question whether it's accurate," she explains. "That kind of stuff is not necessarily practised and passed on anymore."

The Arctic, Earth's northern polar region, is warming about twice as fast as the rest of the world – and is home to four million people who are experiencing a particularly rapid and disruptive form of climate change. Among these Arctic residents are many indigenous groups, including Inuit, Saami and Chukchi people, to name a few.

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There are many explanations for the accelerated rate of change in the Arctic, such as how the loss of white, reflective ice causes increasing amounts of thermal energy to be absorbed in this part of the world.

Simonee explains how thinning sea ice and slushy rivers make travelling across land using traditional methods more dangerous for people in her community. The skills involved for safe navigation, tracking and hunting are still passed on – but opportunities to do these things are increasingly threatened. Ancient traditions and unique forms of knowledge-sharing are at risk.

This includes time-honoured practices that few outside the Arctic have heard of. Alex Whiting – who is not Inuit but has lived in the Arctic for around 30 years – lives in the town of Kotzebue, or Qikiqtaġruk, in Alaska. Whiting explains that the traditional practice of burying fish in the ground and leaving it there to ferment, which extends the life of the foodstuff, is harder to do now than it once was. The technique relies on reliably cold temperatures throughout the winter.


As certain Arctic traditions are lost, the words that were used to describe them are disappearing too (Credit: Alamy)

"Those kind of skills are already becoming really tough to pass on to younger generations," says Whiting.

He also notes how important it is to be able to transmit knowledge about the safe crossing of ice patches. Experienced locals know how to detect cracks in the ice based on its colour or texture, or via careful taps with an ice pick. But societal changes and shorter hunting seasons mean only a few expert seal hunters venture out into such conditions these days.

"There's still a kid or two that is apprentice in that kind of stuff," says Whiting. "It hasn't completely died out."

But the threat that it could disappear still hovers. Climate change is far from the only factor threatening the continuance of these activities, though it is becoming more harmful over time.

"I don't think we've fully grasped it, it's like a whole way of life that's being taken away," says Jackie Dawson, professor and holder of the Canada research chair in environment, society and policy at the University of Ottawa. The effects of climate change are so destabilising, they can have major emotional and mental health impacts on Arctic peoples, she adds.

Dawson has studied the implications of rising ship traffic in the Canadian Arctic. Because of dwindling sea ice in recent years, it has become easier for ships to traverse the relatively narrow passages and channels scattered around the region.

In a study published last year on the presence of vessels and how they may be affecting Inuit communities, Dawson and colleagues noted how local people felt that there was a risk to their seasonal hunting activities. For example, ship noise can drive away some animals, such as seals, which are hunted by Inuit at certain times of the year. For many Inuit people, hunting is a key part of how they sustain themselves in this remote part of the world.

Encouragingly, the team's research has brought them into contact with Simonee and other locals, and prompted greater dialogue between Inuit people and the shipping companies that are taking advantage of warming Arctic waters. Inuit community members have made requests to these firms including asking them to steer clear of certain areas in order to protect local animal populations. To Dawson's delight, the shipping companies have been receptive to such suggestions.

"It's been wonderful. We were so surprised," she adds. "These companies are also asking for real-time information on hunts, for example, so they can avoid them."

As climate change accelerates, Arctic populations are grappling with earlier springs, slushy ice and the arrival of new species, among other things (Credit: Alamy)

But is it possible to actually quantify the extent to which culturally significant activities are changing due to climate change? Among those who have tackled this question is Donna Hauser, research assistant professor at the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Hauser and colleagues have worked with people living in Inuit communities, including Whiting and a team of elder advisers in Kotzebue, to better understand how the hunting season has changed alongside the climate.

The results of their research, published in August, show that spring time hunts of bearded seals in Kotzebue ended around three weeks earlier in 2019 than they did in 2003. Meanwhile, historical sea ice records reveal that the conditions there in late spring today are comparable to those observed at the height of summer in the mid-20th Century.

The effect on hunters is nuanced, though, says Hauser. The hunting season is shorter and so too are hunting trips because less time is required to navigate the ice. On the other hand, hunters spend more time on open water in boats than they once did, and must spend more money on fuel to get around.

"What we've seen so far is that hunters are able to compensate," says Hauser. "I think the concern is what we don’t know about the future."

It could also be argued that significantly changed activities are already suggestive of loss. Klemetti Näkkäläjärvi, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oulu, has studied various ways in which the culture of his people, the Saami, is threatened by climate change. Saami people live across an area called Sápmi, which stretches from northern Norway to parts of northwest Russia.

While it is possible to adapt reindeer herding as a livelihood or source of income to overcome the challenges posed by climate change, herding as a cultural form – a practice unchanged for a very long time – is vulnerable, he argues.

"The greening process makes it difficult to navigate, travel, identify, search for and herd reindeer," explains Näkkäläjärvi.

Increasingly warm waters affect the kind of fish that are available for fishing, too. Näkkäläjärvi says that some old Saami words are falling out of use because the conditions or events to which they refer don't occur any more.

"No longer can a herder always trust his or her knowledge, the knowledge that has accumulated during centuries and that has safeguarded the success of Saami reindeer culture in harsh conditions to modern times," he adds.

The Nenets people, who herd reindeer in the Russian Arctic, have also experienced such difficulties. They are used to migrating for hundreds of miles with their animals to find pastures to graze but climate change, and the associated rise of oil and gas infrastructure in this part of the world, has made this incredible journey much more difficult.

Some skills might not be passed down to younger generations of Inuit, because climate change has made certain traditional activities more dangerous (Credit: Alamy)


As a 2019 report by human rights organisation Minority Rights Group International noted: "Some Nenets have already responded to these changes by leaving their nomadic communities and assimilating in urban communities, though many reportedly struggle with high levels of alcoholism, unemployment and mental health issues as a result."

To some extent, all cultures are perpetually in a state of evolution and change. It would be wrong to suggest that they can or should remain static. Perhaps that is why, on closer inspection, people's opinions about what climate change means for their culture can be quite varied.

Shirley Tagalik moved north to the Canadian Arctic in the 1970s and, in her words, married into the community in the town of Arviat on the western shore of Hudson Bay. With a population exceeding 2,000 people, Arviat is one of the largest Inuit communities.

Tagalik insists that, while there are concerns over the pace of climate change today, Inuit people have responded to many different climatic variations in the past.

"Inuit culture is all about continually seeking solutions," she says. "And so in the face of climate change, the requirement that we train youth to continually seek solutions becomes paramount."

Some animals have become harder to hunt, she acknowledges, though she points out that, on the other hand, the growing season for certain plants has got longer. Vegetables are not a like-for-like replacement for seal meat but there is an opportunity to adapt and make more of one over the other, she suggests.

Tagalik stresses that it is in the very act of thinking about and responding to climate change that Inuit culture can express itself – and demonstrate its resilience.

It's well-documented that climate change is leading to losses of many different kinds, in communities across the globe. But however you measure that loss, it's clear that indigenous peoples in the Arctic are experiencing more of it than most.

"Climate change is so real up here," says Simonee. "It's my life."

European Union to seek ban on oil and gas exploration in the Arctic

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Arctic has warmed 3 times as fast as the planet during the

 last 50 years

Thomson Reuters · Posted: Oct 13, 2021

A picture taken in 2016 shows an icebreaker, right, at the port of Sabetta in the Kara Sea shore line on the Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic circle. On Wednesday, the European Union said it plans to seek ban on oil and gas exploration in the Arctic (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images)

The European Union (EU) will seek a ban on tapping new oil, coal and gas deposits in the Arctic to protect a region severely affected by climate change, according to a proposal for the bloc's new Arctic strategy published on Wednesday.

The European Commission proposal reflects the EU's efforts to boost its role on the global stage, although it has limited influence in the Arctic. It is not a member of the Arctic Council, which is the regional co-ordinating body, though three of its states — Denmark, Finland and Sweden — are.

"The EU is committed to ensuring that oil, coal and gas stay in the ground, including in Arctic regions," the EU executive's proposal said, while acknowledging that the bloc itself still imports oil and gas extracted in the region.

"To this end, the commission shall work with partners towards a multilateral legal obligation not to allow any further hydrocarbon reserve development in the Arctic or contiguous regions, nor to purchase such hydrocarbons if they were to be produced."

Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country is one of the world's largest oil and gas exporters and excavates fossil 
fuels in the Arctic, said Moscow would eventually benefit from such a ban because of rising prices.
 
"If such decisions lead to a certain price volatility, [Russia's economy] wouldn't suffer that much. That's because we will reduce production, but will get the prices we wanted," Putin told an energy conference in Moscow.

Vulnerable to climate change

The Arctic is one of the regions most affected by climate change. It has warmed three times as fast as the planet during the last 50 years. This has caused the ice covering land and sea to melt, sea levels to rise and permafrost to thaw.

The EU also aims under its new strategy to strengthen research into the effects of thawing permafrost that may put oil fields at risk and threaten to release greenhouse gases as well as dangerous germs locked in the frozen ground.

"Over 70 per cent of Arctic infrastructure and 45 per cent of oil extraction fields are built on permafrost," said the document, which must still be approved by the EU's 27 member states.

• Russia declares state of emergency in Siberia after 18,000 tonnes of diesel fuel spilled

• As permafrost thaws under intense heat, Russia's Siberia burns — again

Potential mitigation measures could include the development of methods for local cooling and stabilizing, and the introduction of tougher building standards, the commission said.

It also suggested the creation of a monitoring and early warning system to detect germs such as anthrax being released from the thawing ground.

The Arctic Council comprises Canada, Iceland, Norway, Russia and the United States as well as the three EU states, along with six Indigenous organizations. It acts as a forum for co-operation. The EU has applied for observer status.

To boost its regional presence, the EU plans to open an office in Greenland's capital Nuuk as the United States did last year.

EU aims for greater Arctic role and calls for

 oil, coal and gas to stay in the ground


Bloc says it needs to play greater part in region, citing

 global heating and possible tensions over resources

A polar bear in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Joe Biden has suspended oil drilling licences in the area. 

Photograph: Ron Niebrugge/Alamy


Jennifer Rankin in Brussels

THE GUARDIAN

Wed 13 Oct 2021 

The European Union has called for oil, coal and gas in the Arctic to stay in the ground, as it announced aspirations to play a greater role in the world’s northernmost region.

The EU, which has three member states with Arctic territory, said there was a “geopolitical necessity” for it to be involved in the region, as global heating opens up competition for resources and the prospect of new shipping lanes.

In a policy paper published on Wednesday, the European Commission promised to aim for “a multilateral legal obligation not to allow any further hydrocarbon reserve development in the Arctic or contiguous regions”, which would include a pact not to buy any fossil fuels that are developed.

Earlier this year the US president, Joe Biden, suspended oil drilling licences in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, undoing a decision made by his predecessor Donald Trump. The Canadian government also issued a five-year moratorium on drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic Ocean in 2016.

But the other large Arctic state, Russia, is highly unlikely to join any moratorium any time soon. For Russia, the Arctic’s natural resources are worth 10% of its economic output, and the Kremlin is considering new shipping lanes. Last year, Rosneft started drilling two wells in the Kara Sea in the Russian Arctic after an earlier project was suspended because of problems linked to western sanctions.

A boat navigates a large iceberg in eastern Greenland. 

Photograph: Felipe Dana/AP

The EU is a net importer of Arctic oil and gas and estimates it is responsible for 36% of the Arctic’s black carbon deposits, which accelerate global heating by darkening icebergs and land that would otherwise reflect back the sun’s rays.

The EU commissioner for the environment, Virginijus Sinkevičius, said: “The Arctic region is warming three times faster than the rest of the planet. The melting of ice and thawing of permafrost in the Arctic further accelerate climate change and have huge knock-on effects.” Sinkevičius promised a strong link between the EU’s Arctic engagement and climate policy.

The document was drawn up by Sinkevičius and the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell. It also reflects an anxiety not to allow other powers, such as Russia and China, to dominate the region. “Intensified interest in Arctic resources and transport routes could transform the region into an arena of local and geopolitical competition and possible tensions, possibly threatening the EU’s interests,” the paper states.

Five of the Arctic Council’s eight members are either EU member states (Sweden, Finland, Denmark) or closely associated with the EU (Norway and Iceland). Denmark’s Arctic territory, Greenland, chose to leave the European Economic Community in 1985, although it remains a self-governing part of Denmark. The EU now wants to establish an office in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital.

Canada, Russia and the US are the other three members of the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental body intended to promote cooperation in the region.