Mexico City prosecutor to press homicide, other criminal charges for metro collapse

Issued on: 15/10/2021

Aerial view showing the site in which a section of an elevated track collapsed, bringing a train crashing down on May 3, 2021, taken on May 10, 2021 a week after the accident, in Mexico City

 Alfredo ESTRELLA AFP

Mexico City (AFP)

Mexico City's attorney general said Thursday she will press charges of homicide, personal injury and property damage against people and companies linked to the collapse of a section of a metro line in the capital that left 26 dead in May.

"This attorney general's office has the elements to press charges against a series of companies and persons who were in charge of ensuring that the causes of the collapse did not arise," said prosecutor Ernestina Godoy in her final report on the accident that also left about 80 people injured.

The charges will be formalized shortly in hearings before local judicial authorities, which will then notify and summon those charged, Godoy said.

She pointed out, however, that her office has encouraged cases against companies to be channeled through "reparation agreements" with the victims' families under the understanding that the process "can offer better options to accelerate comprehensive reparation" for the injured parties.

Godoy pointed out that some companies that participated in the construction of Line 12 of the Mexico City metro have "from the outset" shown interest in mitigating and making reparations for the impact of the collapse.

In June, Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, owner of the company that built most of the damaged stretch, promised to pay for its reconstruction, according to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

The prosecutor also indicated that some of the companies involved in the accident have expressed interest in providing resources for a fund that guarantees reparations for the families of the deceased and injured.

The collapse of an elevated section of Line 12, which occurred on the night of May 3, was due to the buckling of support beams and inadequate bolts that "caused part of the elevated section to lose its composite structure," according to the final technical report of the Norwegian firm DNV, hired by the city hall.

The prosecution's criminal investigation included its own technical expertise, independent of that carried out by DNV, Godoy said.

© 2021 AFP

Anguish and anger after Taiwan building blaze kills 46


Issued on: 15/10/2021
 

The blaze is the latest tragedy to highlight concerns over lax safety standards in Taiwan 

Kaohsiung (Taiwan) (AFP)

Taiwanese residents voiced anguish and outrage on Friday after 46 people perished in an inferno that tore through a dilapidated housing block as investigators searched for what sparked the island's deadliest fire in decades.

The blaze is the latest tragedy to highlight concerns over lax safety standards in Taiwan and has exposed the poor living conditions of many elderly in a society that is rapidly ageing.

The fire broke out in the early hours of Thursday morning in a 13-storey, mixed-use building in the southern city of Kaohsiung, raging through multiple floors before firefighters finally got it under control.

The run-down housing block was in poor condition and many of those killed were low-income elderly people, some of whom had disabilities and dementia. Officials said 41 people were hospitalised.

On Friday morning Lee Mao-shen, 61, was watching pigeons land on the railings of an apartment where a friend had died the night before.

Lee, who has lived in a building opposite for 40 years, said his friend Cheng Yong-kang raised pigeons from his seventh- floor balcony and was among those who never made it out.

"We met every day to chat, we chatted the evening he died," he told AFP.

Lee described the neighbourhood where the fire broke out as "mostly working-class folks and old people".

The gutted complex where his friend died used to be a vibrant spot but, much like the rest of the district, it had fallen on hard times.

"There was a shopping mall, a cinema in there," he recalled. But in recent years the commercial floors were empty and abandoned.

- Exposed wiring -

Fire officials said one of the reasons the blaze burned so fiercely was that the bottom five commercial floors were filled with debris and discarded items that generated huge amounts of smoke, which then engulfed the residential apartments above.

The fire broke out in the early hours of Thursday morning Handout Kaohsiung Fire Department/AFP

Lin Chieh-ying, a retired ballet teacher who also lives opposite, said the building had become dilapidated 20 years ago when a fire broke out in a now-shuttered department store.

No one was killed in that blaze but much of the building fell into disrepair.

"Now there are always people drinking at night and being rowdy," she said. "They should have torn down that building 20 years ago."

The fire started on the ground floor, and multiple residents reported hearing loud bangs before seeing flames and smoke.

Local media published recent images from inside the building that showed exposed wiring, rusted water pipes and stairwells obstructed by detritus.

The Taipei Times quoted Kaohsiung Public Works Bureau director-general Su Chih-hsun as saying multiple fire safety issues were identified during inspections in 2019, 2020 and earlier this year.

But efforts to fix the issues were hampered by a dysfunctional building management committee, Su said.

As an island frequently battered by earthquakes and typhoons, Taiwan has strict building codes and a generally good safety record.

But there is often a gap between what the rules state and how safety standards are applied, especially in older buildings.

Kaohsiung's mayor said a task force would be set up to study the city's management of the building and other ageing structures.

Taiwan is one of the so-called "Asian Tigers" that saw its economy leapfrog last century with rapid industrialisation. But inequality is entrenched and many elderly people especially have been left behind.

Like Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore, Taiwan is rapidly ageing.

Last year the island recorded more deaths than births -- a watershed moment that signals its population officially contracted for the first time.

© 2021 AFP

Officials seek cause of Taiwan building fire that killed 46

By HUIZHONG WU

A woman stops to look at the burnt building in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan on Friday, Oct. 15, 2021. Dozens were killed and dozens more injured after a fire broke out early Thursday in a decades-old mixed commercial and residential building in the Taiwanese port city of Kaohsiung, officials said. 

(AP Photo/Huizhong Wu)

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese officials set up an independent commission Friday to investigate the conditions at a run-down building in the port city of Kaohsiung where a fire killed 46, while authorities scoured the blackened ruins for the cause of the blaze.

Prosecutor Hong Ruei-fen told reporters at the scene she would seek to determine the cause of Thursday’s fire as soon as possible, before donning a hard hat and walking into the cordoned-off building in the morning.

Outside, a Taoist priest in traditional robes chanted a prayer for those who died, many of whom were elderly or infirm residents unable to get out of the 13-story building after the fire broke out on the ground floor.

The city’s administration said the building had been required to follow fire codes and submit to inspections, but that inspectors had not been able to access the premises recently because the doors were always locked and they were unable to coordinate visits with the property owners.

Mayor Chen Chi-mai announced that he had ordered his deputy to set up an independent team to investigate whether negligence contributed to the tragic fire, in which another 41 people were injured.



Of the 46 dead, Chen said there were 21 who had still not been identified. He said experts hoped to use fingerprint analysis to determine who the other 19 dead were, but for two others they would have to rely on other methods.

The building had commercial facilities on lower floors, a closed movie theatre, restaurants and a karaoke bar — most out of business — and some 120 housing units above.

The fire broke out in the lower area at about 3 a.m. Thursday, and witnesses reported hearing a loud sound like an explosion. It took firefighters until after 7 a.m. to fully extinguish the blaze.

Local media say police were questioning a female resident of the building who allegedly discarded a burning incense coil in a trash can inside the apartment where she had also stored small gas canisters. A man who carelessly discarded a cigarette outside the building and the possibility of a fire in the electrical system were also being investigated, the reports said.

According to neighborhood residents, the building was home to many poor, older and disabled people, and many appear to have been trapped in their apartments.

Lee Mao-sheng, 61, who lives across the street, said his friend Tseng Yong-kang was wheelchair-bound and died in the fire.

In the past, the two would play mahjong together but Lee said he hadn’t seen his friend in a while because door in the building’s elevator frequently didn’t open and residents didn’t have the money to maintain it.

“The people who lived inside, many of them were not in good health. Many of them had a disability,” Lee said. Cheap rent was the main reason people lived there under less than ideal conditions, he said.

On Friday morning, a wire mesh fence and supporting scaffolding cordoned off the building and the street in front was open again to traffic. The building did not seem in immediate danger of collapse, though its lower floors were blackened and smoke marked the exteriors of the upper apartments.

Tsai Hsiu-Chin, 70, who had lived in the building for 15 years, said she escaped with just the clothing on her back after hearing someone screaming “fire” at 3 a.m.

“I didn’t bring anything. I just cared about saving my life,” she said, sitting opposite the charred building on Thursday night, trying to process her experience over a beer with a friend.

The building’s age and piles of debris blocking access to many areas complicated search and rescue efforts, officials said, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.

The decades-old apartment building is one of many in the Yancheng district, an older part of Kaohsiung, a city of some 2.8 million people in southwestern Taiwan.

Fire extinguishers had been installed last month, but only three per floor because the residents could not afford to pay more, the United Daily News, a major newspaper, reported.

A 1995 fire at a nightclub in Taichung, Taiwan’s third-largest city, killed 64 people in the country’s deadliest such disaster in recent times.

_____

Taijing Wu contributed to this story.

Paris mayor Hidalgo wins Socialists' presidential nomination

Issued on: 14/10/2021 

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo won more than 72 percent of votes from Socialist members to become the party's presidential candidate

 THOMAS COEX AFP

Paris (AFP)

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has been nominated as the presidential candidate of France's Socialist party, partial party vote results showed Thursday, despite her languishing in the race to unseat incumbent Emmanuel Macron.

The 62-year-old politician, who announced her plans to run for president a month ago, aims to revive the fortunes of the beleaguered Socialists in April's election with a campaign stressing environmental and social issues.

She won more than 72 percent of votes cast by party members on Thursday night, with more than 90 percent of total ballots counted, the Socialists' first secretary Olivier Faure said.

She beat a single other candidate, former agriculture minister Stephane Le Foll.

Hidalgo's campaign performance so far has widely been seen as lacklustre.

Polls show only four-seven percent of voters would vote for the daughter of Spanish immigrants if the election were held today.

Hidalgo is one of a handful of women bidding to become France's first female president in a crowded field of challengers to Macron.

The centrist president has yet to confirm he is seeking a second five-year term but is widely expected to do so.

Polls currently show his closest rival being either far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen or ultranationalist TV pundit Eric Zemmour, who is toying with the idea of running for the Elysee Palace.

They also show the left continuing to haemorrhage support, four years after unpopular Socialist president Francois Hollande stepped down after a single term.

Many members of the Greens party, which is also on the left, hope that Hidalgo will renounce her presidential bid and back their candidate Yannick Jadot to avoid splitting the left-wing vote.

But Hidalgo, who locked horns with motorists in Paris over her bid to banish cars from parts of the capital, has insisted she will remain in the race "to the end".

She points to her experience as the capital's mayor since 2014, leading the response to terror attacks, a huge fire at Notre-Dame cathedral and other major events, to support her claim that she is the left's best shot at the top job.

Her team has promised that she will ramp up her campaign now that she has been formally nominated.

"Anne Hidalgo is very determined and will prove that she is in the race," her campaign manager Johanna Rolland said.

© 2021 AFP

WHAT IS AN INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR

Harvard's endowment soars to $53.2 bn

Issued on: 15/10/2021 
New York (AFP)

Harvard University's endowment shot up 27 percent in a year, according to its annual financial report published Thursday, making it more than ever the world's richest university.

Such endowments, very common in US higher education, are funded largely by private donations. Most of these are subject to restrictions on what the money can be used for, such as specific projects or areas of study.

Only 5 to 5.5 percent of the endowment at Harvard is used to fund the actual running of the university. That was $2 billion dollars in the 2020-21 school year.

THEY CAN AFFORD TO GO TUITION FREE!

Already the largest in the world, Harvard's endowment rose by 27 percent to $53.2 billion as of the end of June, the end of the fiscal year.

That amount of money is equivalent to the reserves of the central banks of South Africa or the Netherlands.

Cashing in on buoyant markets, Harvard earned 33.6 percent on its investments in the year ending in June.

In the 2020-21 school year, Harvard also received $465 million in donations to the endowment.

In a ranking established by US News and World Report magazine, last year Harvard was well ahead of second-placed Yale in terms of endowment size -- with $41.9 billion compared with $31.1 billion.

© 2021 AFP

Hard choices loom for finance chiefs and their climate pledges



Issued on: 15/10/2021 - 

An activist dressed as a "debt collector" holds a cutout of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a demonstration in front of IMF headquarters to ask rich nations to help poor countries tackle climate change in Washington on October 13, 2021

 Pedro UGARTE AFP/File

Washington (AFP)

In speeches and communiques from top finance officials at the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank this week, one word was ubiquitous: climate.

Leaders of the institutions and government ministers pledged action to meet the global climate goals of keeping warning below 1.5 degrees Celsius and reaching net zero emissions by 2050, with an eye towards next month's COP26 climate change summit.

"I'm afraid it is time to roll up our sleeves and detail our plan of actions," Britain's Prince Charles said at a World Bank event Thursday.

"With action on climate change, biodiversity loss and a just transition more urgent than ever, I can only encourage us all to get to work and solve this problem."

But behind the rhetoric lies the harsh reality of the extent of the work left to do to meet the goals, and the rancor around the issue.

Washington leaned on multilateral lenders worldwide to step up financing of climate friendly projects, even as activists launched a salvo at the World Bank president.

Meanwhile, the world's largest asset manager warned that expensive investments are necessary to prevent catastrophe.

"Rich countries must put more taxpayer money to work in driving the net-zero transition abroad," BlackRock chief Larry Fink wrote in The New York Times on Wednesday.

Reaching the net-zero emissions goal will require $1 trillion a year in investments aimed at poor countries, which Fink estimates would need $100 billion in yearly subsidies to be viable.

"While the figure seems daunting, especially as the world is recovering from the Covid pandemic, a failure to invest now will lead to greater costs later," he said.

- 'Personnel is policy' -

The meetings held semi-virtually in Washington came amid growing alarm over what unchecked climate change will do to the planet.

The World Bank last month in a disturbing report warned that reduced agricultural output, water scarcity, rising sea levels and other adverse effects of climate change could cause up to 216 million people to leave their homes and migrate within their own countries by 2050.

An IMF study estimated that direct and indirect subsidies of fossil fuels added up to $5.9 trillion or about 6.8 percent of global GDP in 2020, and helped undercut climate goals by keeping gas cheap.

While officials at the two Washington-based multilateral lenders insisted they are razor focused on climate change, not all were convinced.

On Thursday, 77 advocacy groups asked for World Bank President David Malpass to step aside.

Malpass has emphasized the World's Bank's climate investment and said it provides half of all multilateral lending towards such projects -- a huge change from years past when the development lender financed controversial projects, criticized for their environmental impact.

But the groups said that since the 2015 Paris climate accord, the institution has steered $12 billion towards fossil fuel.

"Personnel is policy: The World Bank needs leadership that will support countries with real green and inclusive development pathways," said Luisa Galvao of Friends of the Earth US, which signed the petition.

- Leaning on international banks -

The actions of the United States during the meetings were closely watched, since Washington hold the most voting power at the organizations, but the world's largest economy also is a major carbon emitter.

President Joe Biden however has promised a government-wide offensive to tackle climate change.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen this week convened leaders of several multilateral lenders -- including the World Bank and developments banks in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa -- and pressed them to dedicate more capital towards projects intended to mitigate climate change.

She also announced that her department would study how climate change is affecting communities and households in the United States, which this year alone has seen deadly winter storms strike Texas and the Midwest, wildfires roast California and successive hurricanes pummel the East Coast.

But while the White House now has a greater emphasis on addressing what Yellen called an "existential threat," agreement among the greater US political class on what to do about it remains elusive.

Biden has proposed two spending bills in Congress that could direct historic sums of money towards improving the country's climate resiliency and cutting emissions, but they are mired in the rancorous and divided US Congress.

© 2021 AFP

US Marijuana legalization used to right wrongs from drug war


Alphonso "Tucky" Blunt Jr. opened Blunts And Moore in 2018 after getting Oakland, Calif.'s first equity permit. He had been arrested for selling cannabis in 2005. Photo courtesy of Alphonso Blunt Jr.

PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Nearly a decade after the first states approved recreational cannabis, righting wrongs from the drug war --including making the business accessible to minorities -- is driving implementation across the country.

The wave of recent legalizations in the Midwest and on the East Coast have made social equity a key component of their new regulatory frameworks. Western states that legalized the drug earlier are also following suit.

These efforts seek to reinvest in minority communities damaged by the drug war. They include expunging marijuana-related offenses and setting aside grants and licenses to give these communities a foothold in a crowded industry that's seen a "green rush" in the 18 states that have legalized the drug.

Proponents say these efforts are needed to help minority entrepreneurs overcome barriers to licenses, capital and technical assistance that keep them out of legal cannabis markets. Tahir Johnson, director of social equity and inclusion for the Marijuana Policy Project, likened the range of programs to little laboratories that are finding out what's working.

"None of them are perfect, but they are getting better and better," he said.

The programs should create opportunities for those formerly involved in what he calls the "legacy market," Johnson said. These people developed marijuana growing techniques and sold the drug when it was illegal, laying the groundwork for the legal market that one estimate valued at $12.4 billion as of 2019.

But they're locked out of it because of criminal records and lack of startup funds, he said. They're also disproportionately Black and brown. A 2020 ACLU report found that Black people are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for marijuana as White people on marijuana charges despite their roughly equal use of the drug.

Racist legacy

There's no authoritative source for how much of the industry is owned by minorities. But a Marijuana Business Daily survey found that 19% of respondents who at least partially own a cannabis business are minorities. BuzzFeed News estimated that 1% of dispensaries are Black-owned.

Johnson and other advocates say cannabis social equity programs are needed to confront the drug war's racist legacy.

In 2017, the city council of Oakland, Calif. adopted the country's first cannabis equity program. It set aside half of all permits to "equity applicants," residents who made less than 80% of the city's median income, lived in an area impacted by the drug war or had been convicted of a cannabis-related crime.

Alphonso "Tucky" Blunt Jr. opened Blunts And Moore in 2018 after getting the city's first equity permit. Blunt said the store employs eight workers and sells $5,000 to $7,000 worth of cannabis daily. But Blunt can recall a time when it seemed out of reach.

Blunt said cannabis was present at games of dominoes, Thanksgiving and other occasions while he was growing up in the 1980s and '90s. He first knew he wanted to open a weed store while taking his grandmother to run errands in 1999. After picking up medicine in a building off Telegraph Avenue downtown, she came back with a white bag. Inside was medical marijuana.

He spent the following years working in dispensaries in the Bay Area, growing cannabis and selling it on the street. But opening his own dispensary was out of reach.

"Back then I was told that Black people wouldn't own dispensaries, and I didn't really question why," he said.

City of Oakland data shows that Black and Latino people accounted for up to 90% of cannabis arrests, despite each making up about a quarter of the city's population respectively. White people accounted for 4% of arrests. In 2005, Blunt was arrested for selling cannabis.

After realizing he qualified, Blunt applied for an equity license. But there was a limited number of licenses and the city used a lottery to determine who got one. He recalled watching a city official remove numbered bingo balls from a chamber to determine which applicants wouldn't get a license.

At the end, Blunt's numbered ball remained. His dream came true. He screamed. He cried. He praised God.

"It's up there with having my kids," he said. "It's not better than that, but it's up there."

Aiming for equity

When Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill legalizing cannabis in 2019, he called it "the most equity-centric" of its kind nationally. The new law created a "social equity applicant" program and set aside grants to help businesses get started. But the process for awarding licenses produced no minority-owned businesses.

Massachusetts also included a social equity component in its legalization law. But 73% of active owners, employees, executives and volunteers of cannabis establishments are White, MassLive reported.

Jeannette Ward Horton, executive director of the NuLeaf Project, said Illinois demonstrated that equity programs need to look closely at the ownership of companies to see who is benefitting. A more central problem, she said, is access to capital.

Minorities have less personal wealth than White people, according to the ​​Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finance. This lack of startup capital puts minority entrepreneurs at a disadvantage, particularly when trying to enter the capital-intensive cannabis industry, she said. Bank loans are largely out of reach because cannabis remains federally prohibited.

"It's about capital," she said. "The more money you have, the more successful your business tends to be."

The NuLeaf Project was selected in 2018 to run the city of Portland's Cannabis Business Development Equity Program. Funded with a tax on cannabis sales, the NuLeaf Project has awarded 25 grants and loans to minority entrepreneurs entering the cannabis industry, Ward Horton said.

Awards are usually between $10,000 and $25,000 but have been as big as $200,000, she said. The money can be used for marketing, moving to a less expensive property or covering costly administrative fees, she said. NuLeaf doesn't use collateral or credit scores to evaluate applications because they end up being a barrier for disadvantaged entrepreneurs.

Ward Horton and Johnson said they're watching New Jersey and New York as they roll out their programs. Johnson said New Jersey isn't putting a cap on businesses, which he said gives smaller businesses a better shot against multinational companies. It also includes regulations to protect smaller players from predatory contracts.

New York's program sets aside 40% of the expected $360 million annual cannabis tax revenue for a broad range of social spending. Half of the state's licenses will go to equity applicants.

Johnson said these programs will be successful when victims of the drug war can freely participate in the industry and can rise to executive and ownership positions.

Blunt said there should be more education for equity applicants suddenly thrust into an expensive and hyper-competitive industry. But even that, he said, isn't enough.

"I'm not going to say that it makes up for anything because there are so many lives that have been lost to jail time," he said. Instead, people like himself, who have been to jail for cannabis, should be in the room where laws are written.

NOT JUST RENTERS
US Foreclosures soar after COVID-19 forbearance programs expire

The report said the most new foreclosures during the third quarter were seen in Florida (5,400), Illinois (3,600), Texas (3,000), Ohio (2,600), New Jersey (2,100) and New York (2,000).

 File Photo by Alexis C. Glenn/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Foreclosures in the United States are up dramatically nationwide now that emergency measures to help people stay in their homes have begun to expire, an industry report said Thursday.

According to mortgage data firm ATTOM, new foreclosures, or starts, rose by 32% from July to October compared to the April-July period -- and were up 67% compared to the same period in 2020.

While the increases are dramatic, the report says they are particularly pronounced because new foreclosures have been exceptionally low since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic due to emergency aid programs that staved off foreclosures for millions of homeowners.

Those programs have begun to expire and the market is seeing an uptick in starts as a result, the report said.

RELATED Supreme Court blocks part of New York State's eviction ban

Typically, new foreclosures in the United States average around 40,000 per month. When the aid programs were in effect, that figure was under 5,000.

Thursday's report showed 19,600 foreclosures in September, which was an increase of 24% from August and 102% from September 2020.

RealtyTrac executive vice president Rick Sharga said starts are still "far below" historical levels.

RELATED Barricades removed in Oregon neighborhood protest against family's eviction

"September foreclosure actions were almost 70% lower than they were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in September of 2019, and [third quarter] foreclosure activity was 60% lower than the same quarter that year," he said.

"Even with similar increases in foreclosures over the next few months, we'll end the year significantly below what we'd see in a normal housing market."

The report said the most new foreclosures from July to October were seen in Florida (5,400), Illinois (3,600), Texas (3,000), Ohio (2,600), New Jersey (2,100) and New York (2,000).

Advocacy groups pan Biden administration for 'cruel policies' on Haitian migrants


Migrants cross the Rio Grande river from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, on September 20. A coalition of advocacy groups is calling for the Biden administration to reverse a policy that's expedited the expulsion of migrants from Haiti. 

File Photo by Allison Dinner/EPA-EFE

Oct. 14 (UPI) -- An alliance of civil rights and humanitarian organizations is increasing pressure on President Joe Biden to reverse asylum policies that they say are endangering the lives and safety of Haitian migrants.

On Thursday, the Welcome With Dignity Campaign took out a full-page ad in the New York Times directly addressing Biden. The ad called on Biden to reverse a Trump-era policy that ramped up the expulsion of Haitian migrants fleeing their country's economic and political crisis.

"Your cruel policies have human consequences," reads the ad.

Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security increased deportation flights for Haitian migrants in response to a surge at the border in Texas. The department made the move under Title 42, a pandemic health order issued last year. Under the order, the department expelled migrants as a public health precaution without giving them the opportunity to ask for asylum.

RELATED 'We suffered a lot to get here': Haitian migrant's harrowing journey to U.S. border

Last month, the Biden administration, which promised a softer approach on immigration, was harshly criticized in response to widely circulated images and video of agents on horseback charging and herding migrants attempting to cross the Rio Grande.

The Biden administration has expelled 7,500 Haitian migrants "back to danger" since Sept. 19, according to the Welcome With Dignity Campaign. Haiti faces humanitarian challenges from a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck the country in August and is still grappling with the political turmoil from the assassination of its president.

The Welcome With Dignity Campaign said in the ad there have been 6,356 kidnappings, sexual assaults and other violent attacks against people seeking refugee at the border.

RELATED DHS secretary: Up to 12,000 Haitian migrants released into U.S.

The ad was accompanied by protests in Washington, D.C., as well as at least 11 other cities.

Late last month, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said agents would no longer use horses to deal with migrants at the border and the incident would be investigated. He also said roughly 15,000 migrants had been removed from a makeshift camp in Del Rio, Texas. Up to 12,000 Haitian migrants have been released into the United States, he said in a separate interview with Fox News.

Why some young Albertans are leaving the province

Tue., October 12, 2021

While Jason Kenney's government has often touted jobs as part of its mandate, critics say a focus on fossil fuel development, potentially at the expense of other sectors, has not impressed young people in Alberta. More than 15,000 Albertans have left the province in the past five quarters, according to Statistics Canada. (CBC - image credit)More

COVID-19 helped one family in Airdrie, Alta., decide it was time to return to Prince Edward Island after a decade of experiencing the Alberta Advantage.

"It's not necessarily a great environment here," Alicia Dowell told CBC's Calgary Eyeopener, referring to the culture and politics of the province. "I managed to find a job back at home that was more stable. We took the chance and are going to go for it."

Fresh research and surveys, along with cold, hard statistics, point to a trend of more people leaving the province than coming in. Since April 1 of last year — or the past five consecutive quarters — more than 15,000 people have left Alberta for good, according to Statistics Canada.

Out-migration of Albertans to other provinces has left Alberta with a net loss of more than 5,000 this past quarter alone.

Dowell, a librarian, is part of that trend. She has worked in public libraries and most recently in a public school in Airdrie, a growing community just north of Calgary.

"I had my hours cut to where it wasn't sustainable. I wasn't making any money [after] paying for child care," she said.

Jason Kenney's government has slashed millions of dollars from budgets across the education spectrum, which has led school boards to give pink slips to tens of thousands of workers.

Anis Heydari/CBC

'Me first' is putting family at risk

Rewind 10 years to when Dowell arrived in Alberta.

"It was a bit of a culture shock. It doesn't feel as community-based, it's more individualistic. You know, 'me first,'" she explained. "That was fine and workable, until we are in a pandemic and everyone else's 'me first' is putting me and my family potentially in danger."

Thousands of Albertans have taken to the streets to protest mask and vaccine requirements and protocols, with critics and medical experts pushing back, arguing it places others at increased risk of infection.

So just days ago, Dowell and her young family packed up the car and headed east. And she's not alone.

Noah Arney moved from Calgary to Kamloops, B.C., in June.

"The direction in Alberta isn't a good one," Arney said.

"I work in post-secondary [education]. The changes in the last two years have been quite damaging."

The province cut 5.4 per cent out of post-secondary budgets in the 2021 budget, leaving schools to replace $135 million in funding.

"About 20 per cent of my post-secondary friends have either left the province or the sector," Arney said. "I was thinking, I could stay here and try to support the students, with fewer and fewer [resources] every year, or I could go somewhere else where they aren't making such substantial cuts and laying so many people off."

Submitted by David Finch

Studying the movement of younger Canadians from one province to another has kept one Mount Royal University professor and about 50 students busy with an innovative research project over the past year.

David Finch, a marketing professor at Mount Royal in Calgary, cautions that we are not dealing with current, clear-cut data.

"The data are quite poor. It's dated and we are always playing catch-up. We call it managing through a rearview mirror, which is horrible," Finch said. "What we are seeing from the data now is validating the existing anecdotal evidence."

And what is that anecdotal evidence?

"Young people are leaving the province for a variety of reasons — some tied to employment, some tied to economics or education," Finch said.

27% of young Calgarians say they'll leave within 5 years

ATB Financial weighed in with a report published late last month titled Alberta Losing Residents to B.C.

"About 77,000 people came to Alberta from other provinces and territories between April 2020 and June 2021, while almost 93,000 left, for a net loss of 16,000 residents," wrote deputy ATB chief economist Rob Roach.

"The second quarter of 2021 saw a net outflow of 5,447, the largest loss since 2016."

What's behind the big change in a province known for the Alberta Advantage? A City of Calgary survey last year might offer some insights.

The 2020 Calgary Attitudes and Outlook Survey found that among those in the 18-24 age bracket, 27 per cent said they would likely move away from the province's largest city in about five years.

"In Alberta, there is a perception that there are a lack of diverse career pathways, leading people to look at other parts of Canada or beyond for opportunities in education or employment that may be closer aligned to their career objectives and social values," Finch said. "That's a significant factor."

In the 18-29 demographic that Finch studied, there's also a much greater distrust or discomfort about fossil fuel development, as it relates to the environment and climate change.

"This age group has a very strong, committed perspective to issues associated with the environment, climate and renewable energy. They very much believe that fossil fuels, in a study I saw, are their parents' fuel," he said.

Young people don't share 'Alberta' values

Meanwhile, P.E.I.-bound librarian Dowell says it's about social values, and a lot more.

It's about "being able to move where child care is much cheaper and I don't have to worry about being laid off at the whim of a government," she said. "We know of four other families that have gone recently and others that are expanding their job searches."

Calgary boasts the third-most expensive child care of major Canadian cities, a 2019 report concluded, while Charlottetown is one of the least expensive.

Newly minted Kamloops resident Arney is on the same page, and says remote work during the pandemic has also opened some doors.

"If Calgary isn't seen as a place to be, a place that has a bright future, people are going to choose other places in the country. I don't have to stay here," Arney said.

"If Alberta is cutting salaries and services, if people have the option of leaving, they might."

Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

Finch says his unique background has helped him understand the challenge Alberta is now facing.

"I am a marketing professor. I look at this as a purchasing decision," he said.

"When people start evaluating options, they want a place that aligns to their values, where they feel they belong. We are starting to see some incongruence with younger people not feeling that the broader values of the province or their city are aligned with their long-term social values and goals.

"That's important, because that's an intangible that will contribute to intent. Social values frame not only their life, but their career prospects and decisions."

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.

In Brazil, worst drought in decades felt at gigantic dam

Thu., October 14, 2021,


HERNANDARIAS, Paraguay (AP) — The gigantic Itaipu hydroelectric dam straddling the Brazil-Paraguay border on the vast Parana River, is feeling the heat of Brazil’s worst drought in nine decades.

Sometimes described as one of the world's seven modern wonders, Itaipu's banks, usually lush and green, have turned rocky and bare.

According to Itaipu’s website, 2020 was one of the driest years in the plant’s history, with power output at its lowest level since 1994, a decade after it was inaugurated and when it had less capacity than now.

Production this year will be even lower, by about 15%, said Hugo Zarate, the plant's superintendent.

“We do not expect the crisis of lack of water to be solved before 2022. We will start the year in a rather complicated situation,” Zarate told The Associated Press.

That's devastating for a country where hydroelectric generation accounts for about two-thirds of total installed capacity, and experts are warning of possible electricity shortages in coming months.

President Jair Bolsonaro last month said hydroelectric dam reservoirs were “at the limit of the limit,” and called for Brazilians to turn off a lamp, take cold showers and stop using elevators when possible.

Lawmakers have even discussed bringing back daylight saving time.

Crops have withered while energy costs and food prices are soaring. Zarate noted that the lack of rain “impacts navigation, it impacts fishing, and it impacts tourism."

The Parana River which feeds the Itaipu plant is one of the main commercial waterways in South America, going through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. It has reached its lowest level in nearly 80 years. Ships on the river have had to reduce their tonnage to keep navigating.

Reduced water levels are part of natural cycles. But experts have warned human activity is affecting global weather patterns, leading to more frequent extreme events such as severe droughts and floods.

A recent study showed that Brazil, the country with the most freshwater resources on the planet, has lost 15% of its surface water since 1991.