Lucy in the sky: Spacecraft will visit record 8 asteroids

By MARCIA DUNN

1 of 7

This image provided by the Southwest Research Institute depicts the Lucy spacecraft approaching an asteroid. It will be first space mission to explore a diverse population of small bodies known as the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. 

(SwRI via AP)


CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Attention asteroid aficionados: NASA is set to launch a series of spacecraft to visit and even bash some of the solar system’s most enticing space rocks.

The robotic trailblazer named Lucy is up first, blasting off this weekend on a 12-year cruise to swarms of asteroids out near Jupiter — unexplored time capsules from the dawn of the solar system. And yes, there will be diamonds in the sky with Lucy, on one of its science instruments, as well as lyrics from other Beatles’ songs.

NASA is targeting the predawn hours of Saturday for liftoff.

Barely a month later, an impactor spacecraft named Dart will give chase to a double-asteroid closer to home. The mission will end with Dart ramming the main asteroid’s moonlet to change its orbit, a test that could one day save Earth from an incoming rock.

Next summer, a spacecraft will launch to a rare metal world — an nickel and iron asteroid that might be the exposed core of a once-upon-a-time planet. A pair of smaller companion craft — the size of suitcases — will peel away to another set of double asteroids.

And in 2023, a space capsule will parachute into the Utah desert with NASA’s first samples of an asteroid, collected last year by the excavating robot Osiris-Rex. The samples are from Bennu, a rubble and boulder-strewn rock that could endanger Earth a couple centuries from now.

“Each one of those asteroids we’re visiting tells our story ... the story of us, the story of the solar system,” said NASA’s chief of science missions, Thomas Zurbuchen.

There’s nothing better for understanding how our solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago, said Lucy’s principal scientist, Hal Levison of Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “They’re the fossils of planet formation.”

China and Russia are teaming up for an asteroid mission later this decade. The United Arab Emirates is also planning an asteroid stop in the coming years.

Advances in tech and design are behind this flurry of asteroid missions, as well as the growing interest in asteroids and the danger they pose to Earth. All it takes is looking at the moon and the impact craters created by asteroids and meteorites to realize the threat, Zurbuchen said.

The asteroid-smacking Dart spacecraft — set to launch Nov. 24 — promises to be a dramatic exercise in planetary defense. If all goes well, the high-speed smashup will occur next fall just 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) away, within full view of ground telescopes.

The much longer $981 million Lucy mission — the first to Jupiter’s so-called Trojan entourage — is targeting an unprecedented eight asteroids.

Lucy aims to sweep past seven of the countless Trojan asteroids that precede and trail Jupiter in the giant gas planet’s path around the sun. Thousands of these dark reddish or gray rocks have been detected, with many thousands more likely lurking in the two clusters. Trapped in place by the gravitational forces of Jupiter and the sun, the Trojans are believed to be the cosmic leftovers from when the outer planets were forming.

“That’s what makes the Trojans special. If these ideas of ours are right, they formed throughout the outer solar system and are now at one location where we can go and study them,” Levison said.

Before encountering the Trojans, Lucy will zip past a smaller, more ordinary object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists consider this 2025 flyby a dress rehearsal.

Three flybys of Earth will be needed as gravity slingshots in order for Lucy to reach both of Jupiter’s Trojan swarms by the time the mission is set to end in 2033.

The spacecraft will be so far from the sun — as much as 530 million miles (850 million kilometers) distant — that massive solar panels are needed to provide enough power. Each of Lucy’s twin circular wings stretches 24 feet (7 meters) across, dwarfing the spacecraft tucked in the middle like the body of a moth.

Lucy intends to pass within 600 miles (965 kilometers) of each targeted asteroid.

“Every one of those flybys needs to be near-perfection,” Zurbuchen said.

The seven Trojans range in size from a 40-mile (64-kilometer) asteroid and its half-mile (1-kilometer) moonlet to a hefty specimen exceeding 62 miles (100 kilometers). That’s the beauty of studying these rocks named after heroes of Greek mythology’s Trojan War and, more recently, modern Olympic athletes. Any differences among them will have occurred during their formation, Levison said, offering clues about their origins.

Unlike so many NASA missions, including the upcoming Dart, short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, Lucy is not an acronym. The spacecraft is named after the fossilized remains of an early human ancestor discovered in Ethiopia in 1974; the 3.2 million-year-old female got her name from the 1967 Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

“The Lucy fossil really transformed our understanding of human evolution, and that’s what we want to do is transform our understanding of solar system evolution by looking at all these different objects,” said Southwest Research Institute’s Cathy Olkin, the deputy principal scientist who proposed the spacecraft’s name.

One of its science instruments actually has a disc of lab-grown diamond totaling 6.7 carats.

And there’s another connection to the Fab Four, a plaque attached to the spacecraft includes lines from songs they wrote, along with quotes from other luminaries. From a John Lennon single: We all shine on . . . like the moon and the stars and the sun.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Q&A: La Nina’s back and it’s not good for parts of dry West

By SETH BORENSTEIN

In this Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021 file photo, County of Santa Barbara Fire Department firefighters extinguish a roadside fire next to train tracks off of the U.S. 101 highway in Goleta, Calif. On Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that a La Nina has formed, which can be bad news for parts of the parched West. It also could mean a more active Atlantic hurricane season. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)

For the second straight year, the world heads into a new La Nina weather event. This would tend to dry out parts of an already parched and fiery American West and boost an already busy Atlantic hurricane season.

Just five months after the end of a La Nina that started in September 2020, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a new cooling of the Pacific is underway.

La Nina’s natural cooling of parts of the Pacific is the flip side of a warmer El Nino pattern and sets in motion changes to the world’s weather for months and sometimes years. But the changes vary from place to place and aren’t certainties, just tendencies.

La Ninas tend to cause more agricultural and drought damage to the United States than El Ninos and neutral conditions, according to a 1999 study. That study found La Ninas in general cause $2.2 billion to $6.5 billion in damage to the U.S. agriculture.

HOW STRONG AND HOW LONG WILL IT LAST?

There’s a 57% chance this will be a moderate La Nina and only 15% that it will be strong, said Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. He said it is unlikely to be as strong as last year’s because the second year of back-to-back La Ninas usually doesn’t quite measure up to the first.

This La Nina is expected to stretch through spring, Halpert said.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE WEST?

For the entire southern one-third of the country and especially the Southwest, a La Nina often means drier and warmer weather. The West has been experiencing a two decade-plus megadrought that’s worsened the last couple of years.

But for the Northwest — Washington, Oregon, maybe parts of Idaho and Montana — La Nina means a good chance rain and drought relief, Halpert said.

“Good for them, probably not so good for central, southern California,” Halpert said.

The Ohio Valley and Northern Plains could be wetter and cooler. La Nina winters also tend to shift snow storms more northerly in winter while places like the mid-Atlantic often don’t get blockbuster snowstorms.

WHAT ABOUT ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON?

During last year’s La Nina, the Atlantic set a record with 30 named storms. This year, without La Nina, the season has still been busier than normal with 20 named storms and only one name left unused on the primary storm name list: Wanda.

The last couple weeks have been quiet but “I expect it to pick up again,” Halpert said. “Just because it’s quiet now, it doesn’t mean we won’t still see more storms as we get later into October and even into November.”

La Ninas tend to make Atlantic seasons more active because one key ingredient in formation of storms is winds near the top of them. An El Nino triggers more crosswinds that decapitate storms, while a La Nina has fewer crosswinds, allowing storms to develop and grow.

WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE WORLD?

Much of both southeast Asia and northern Australia are wetter in La Nina — and that’s already apparent in Indonesia, Halpert said. Central Africa and southeast China tend to be drier.

Expect it to be cooler in western Canada, southern Alaska, Japan, the Korean peninsula, western Africa and southeastern Brazil.

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Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter: @borenbears.

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The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Texas abortion law shutting down court avenue for teens

By ASTRID GALVAN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST

Veronika Granado, a student at UTSA, poses for a photo on campus, Monday, Oct. 4, 2021, in San Antonio. Granado had an abortion when she was 17 and living in the Rio Grande Valley and because she was underage, she had to get a judge to sign off on her abortion. With the new 6-week ban in Texas and efforts to replicate elsewhere, teens are looking at almost no possibility of getting an abortion in time. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)


PHOENIX (AP) — Veronika Granado anxiously stood before the judge knowing that if she said something wrong, things could end badly for her.

But the 17-year-old hadn’t committed a crime. She had not filed a lawsuit. Granado was in a Texas court that day to ask permission to get an abortion.

She was among thousands of teens burdened with additional hurdles to legal abortion care, especially if they are of color or live in states where abortion access is already severely limited. Thirty-eight states require some form of parental consent or notice for anyone under 18 to get an abortion. Of those, nearly all including Texas, offer an alternative: pleading with a judge for permission to bypass that consent.

But the latest restrictions in Texas that essentially ban abortion past the six-week pregnancy mark have made such requests almost impossible; the process to go before a judge includes a required sonogram and setting a hearing can take weeks. By then, women are often past the six-week mark. And as other states capitalize on the success of the Texas law and set their own restrictions, those few avenues are getting shut off.

Supporters of parental-consent laws say parents should have a say in the medical procedure. But teens seeking abortions often face abuse or threats of homelessness if they tell their parents or guardians they are pregnant, said Rosann Mariappuram, executive director of Jane’s Due Process, the nation’s first organization dedicated to helping youths navigate the process of going through a judge, and one of only a few nationwide. They work with about 350 women a year in Texas. Roughly 10% are in foster care and 80% percent are youths of color.

Most are past six weeks when they first come in. Young girls who have only had their period for a few years are not likely to track it. Athletes tend to have irregular periods. And sometimes when girls go on birth control, they experience spotting, which they may confuse for a period. All of these factors often lead to minors — and adults, too — to miss early signs of pregnancy.

Kenzie Reynolds was 17 and a high-school junior when she found out she was pregnant. Her relationship was toxic and deeply controlling, and she couldn’t tell her family about being pregnant or wanting to get an abortion because they are devout Christians and opposed to the procedure, she said. She’d tried before to tell her mother she wanted to be on birth control, but her mom consistently avoided the conversation.

She found Jane’s Due Process, but it would be four weeks before she could even see a judge to make her case.

“The worst part of the entire thing was how terrible I felt and how isolated I felt,” she said.

A month later, she stood before the judge and told him about her toxic relationship, her desperation and terror.

But the judge denied the request.

“He walked by me like I wasn’t even there,” she said. “I felt like he didn’t see me as a person.”

While she could have appealed, she was 10 weeks along at that point, too late to take an abortion pill, and the appeal was still uncertain. Instead, she connected with the group Lilith Fund for a flight to New Mexico where she got the procedure, and flew back the same day.

“At the end of all it, I realized I was considered too young to have an abortion, but old enough to raise a child,” said Reynolds, who shared her story through WeTestify, a group dedicated to representing people who have had abortions. Now 21, Reynolds was eventually able to break free of her relationship, something she might not have been able to do if they shared a child, and go to college.

Already, calls to the group have plummeted, while requests for the birth control services they provide have tripled, said Mariappuram.

Each state has its own rules governing how teenagers can bypass consent through a judge. Fifteen require judges to use standard of “clear and convincing evidence” to determine whether a teen is mature and that the abortion is in their best interest, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which advocates for reproductive rights. Some states require judges to make a decision within 48 hours, while others get several days.

Judges have full discretion to make a decision and they can ask pretty much anything they want, she said. Sometimes they ask invasive questions like the number of sexual partners, Mariappuram said.

“We argue that every time you send someone to court for this, it’s traumatic because you’re basically making them think they broke the law,” she said.

A few states are reconsidering their policies. Massachusetts lowered its age for required parental consent last year to 16. In Illinois, lawmakers who support abortion rights are pushing to repeal a parental notification law in order to ensure people have access to safe abortion services.

On the other hand, Cathi Herrod, president of Center for Arizona Policy, which advocates for abortion restrictions, said abortion is a life-changing medical procedure that parents should have a say in. While she opposes the option to bypass consent, she says courts have repeatedly upheld it.

“Parents should not be denied the ability to oversee that decision by their daughter,” Herrod said. “A young girl deserves the guidance of their parents in making this decision.”

Making the decision to end the unplanned pregnancy wasn’t the difficult part for Granado, whose own mother had birthed her at 17. She knew how trying being a teen mom would be. She yearned to be the first in her family to graduate from college.

But she feared her mom would kick her out if she found out about her pregnancy and decision to get an abortion. She stumbled upon Jane’s Due Process while researching her options, met with an attorney, got the required sonogram and a court date.

Granado was the first of four people to arrive at a small room in a courthouse in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. She stood directly in front of the judge, an older Hispanic man, who wanted to know why her parents couldn’t be involved, why she couldn’t raise this child and what her future plans were.

“Basically my life was in the hands of this judge,” Granado said.

He told her his religion frowned upon abortion, but he had to be impartial as a judge.

He granted the request. A week and a half later, she ended the pregnancy.

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Lindsay Whitehurst reported from Salt Lake City. Galván covers issues impacting Latinos in the U.S. for the AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/astridgalvan

U.S. rejoins U.N. Human Rights Council, reversing Trump-era withdrawal

Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the United States will promote respect for women’s rights and minority groups, including LGBTQ persons and persons with disabilities with its new position on a U.N. human rights panel. 

Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 14 (UPI) -- The United States has rejoined the United Nations Human Rights Council after former President Donald Trump withdrew from the controversial panel three years ago.

United Nations Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced the United States had been elected to the Geneva, Switzerland-based council for its 2022-2024 term. She said the election fulfills a campaign pledge of President Joe Biden. The term starts Jan. 1, 2022.

"We will use every tool at our disposal, from introducing resolutions and amendments to wielding our vote when needed," she said. "Our goals are clear: stand with human rights defenders and speak out against violations and abuses of human rights."

The Human Rights Council is made up of 47 states that it describes as being "responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe." The council has been criticized for including countries with poor human rights records and for pointing a finger at Israel while ignoring accusations of abuse elsewhere.

The Trump administration withdrew from the council in 2018, with then U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley calling it a "protector of human rights abusers, and a cesspool of political bias."

Thomas-Greenfield said the United States will focus its work on the council to what she called "situations of dire need" in Afghanistan, Burma, China, Ethiopia, Syria, and Yemen. The United States will also use its position to promote respect for women's rights, minority groups, including LGBTQ persons and persons with disabilities, she said.

Additionally, she said the United States will oppose what she called the council's "disproportionate attention on Israel," a close U.S. ally that has drawn criticism for actions in the ongoing conflict with Palestine.

The United States will also press against the election of countries with "egregious human rights records," she said.

But Thursday saw the election of Cameroon, Eritrea and the United Arab Emirates -- all countries accused of serious human rights abuses.

Human Rights Watch issued a statement earlier in the week criticizing the election process that it said guaranteed human rights abusers seats on the council.

"The absence of competition in this year's Human Rights Council vote makes a mockery of the word 'election,'" Louis Charbonneau, U.N. director at Human Rights Watch, said in the statement. "Electing serious rights abusers like Cameroon, Eritrea, and the UAE sends a terrible signal that U.N. member states aren't serious about the council's fundamental mission to protect human rights."

Sea lion colony in Mexico defies declining numbers

Issued on: 15/10/2021 - 

A stranded, malnourished sea lion pup is seen at White Point Park near the port of San Pedro in Los Angeles on April 5, 2013

 KEVORK DJANSEZIAN GETTY IMAGES/AFP/File

Mexico City (AFP)

The population of California sea lions is down dramatically due to climate change, but in one natural refuge area off the coast of northwest Mexico, they are doing well and delighting tourists who dare to swim with them.

The number of this species of sea lion in Los Islotes, located in the Gulf of California -- a finger-shaped body of turquoise water between the Baja California peninsula and the Mexican mainland -- has grown from 500 to 700 in 10 years, said Hiram Rosales Nanduca, a researcher from the Autonomous University of Southern Baja California.

It is one of 13 colonies of this kind of sea lion identified in the gulf, which is also known as the Sea of Cortez.

"The only colony that not only has remained stable but has increased slightly is that of Los Islotes," Rosales told AFP.

Otherwise, the population of Zalophus californianus -- their scientific name -- in the Gulf of California has dropped by 65 percent from 1991 to 2019. It went from 45,000 to 15,000 animals because of an increase in the temperature of the water, said the Ensenada Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education, which is located in Baja California.

The trick at Los Islotes is to restrict human activities such as fishing and tourism. There, the sea lions have a sanctuary where they can rest and reproduce, said Rosales.

Indeed, tour operators suspend visits during the mating season so as not to disturb the animals.

Outside that season, human visitors can set out on a tour boat and even swim with these grayish-brown sea lions that sport long moustaches and swim equally well on their backs and tummies.

"It is a little scary, but I got used to it and it was really cool," said Esmeralda Fonseca, a US tourist who swam with the sea lions along with a group of girlfriends in their 20s.

Adult California sea lions tend to be territorial and keep their distance from people, but young ones like to get close to humans.

Tourists can also see rock formations, sea birds and -- with a bit of luck -- dolphins, orcas and whales, depending on the season.

Ojeda said the population of California sea lions has grown, "and I think this is good, but it can improve. We need to be more responsible in taking care of them."

Los Islotes is part of a Gulf of California protected area that has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2005.

VODUN SYNCRETIC ANIMISM

Fire, tobacco and spirits: Venezuelans fight Covid with ritual

Issued on: 15/10/2021 

Worshippers dance around a bonfire to honor the Maria Lionza goddess on the 'magical' Sorte mountain in northwestern Venezuela 

CRISTIAN HERNANDEZ AFP

Montaña de Sorte (Venezuela) (AFP)

With a single kick, Victor Medina collapses a burning pyre, then crosses the smouldering embers in his bare feet.

He walks purposefully with a distant gaze, while embodying an indigenous spirit during a ritual on Mount Sorte in northwestern Venezuela dedicated to ending the Covid-19 pandemic.

Medina grabs a burning branch and slaps it against his head, which is adorned with a feathered headdress.

He takes another smouldering branch and bites it without flinching.

As he strides around the ceremonial enclosure, Medina is followed by Jeancarlos Liscano, who spits mouthfuls of liquor at him.

"Come on!" Liscano shouts during the "dance by candlelight" on the slopes of the mountain in Yaracuy state, where, according to tradition, a goddess called Maria Lionza appeared.

"We do it to honor the queen ... in particular so that she delivers us from this pandemic," 40-year-old teacher Liscano told AFP before himself striding over the fire.

Every October 12, known in Venezuela as the Day of Indigenous Resistance, thousands of believers descend on this wild epicenter of Venezuelan spiritism and santeria to worship the image of the goddess, who is represented atop a tapir.

Coronavirus restrictions meant only around 20 local residents were allowed to take part in 2020.

Authorities allowed the masses to return this year, although the crippling economic crisis that has left the country with the world's largest proven oil reserves facing fuel shortages meant the numbers were significantly down on previous years.

Ritual participants walk on fire as part of the traditional 'candlelight dance' to worship the Maria Lionza goddess CRISTIAN HERNANDEZ AFP

Two of Medina's ritual dance companions died of Covid.

"Today we're paying our respects to them," said the 33-year-old baker.

Smoking tobacco, he prepares to invoke the Cacique Tiuna, a native chief that lived 500 years ago.

- No fear -

Before beginning the ceremony that demonstrates the power of spirits on Earth, hundreds of people observe a minute's silence to honor the 4,600 Venezuelans who have died from Covid, according to official figures that experts consider under-estimated.

A man lights a candle on an altar to the Maria Lionza goddess on the Sorte mountain in Venezuela 

CRISTIAN HERNANDEZ AFP

Then the drums begin.

"Come on! Come on! I'm not afraid of him!" chant the spectators as they move to the beat in front of four bonfires.

Covered in black soot, Medina says "my body is a bit tired" but he feels "excellent" after completing the ritual for the seventh time.

Some 5,000 worshippers camp on the mountain's slopes where they have erected altars several meters tall.

The figure of Maria Lionza is everywhere, surrounded by candles, flowers and fruit.

She is often accompanied -- in a sort of trinity -- by images of the indigenous cacique Guaicaipuro and Pedro Camejo, known as "Negro Primero", a soldier who fought for independence from the Spanish.

All sorts of historic figures are venerated. There is even a "court" of liberators, doctors, Vikings and even criminals.

Tilo Pereira, a 50-year-old merchant, spits blood while invoking the Viking "Mr Robdison".

Tilo Pereira (center) invokes the viking spirit in a ritual that involves piercing his cheek with a large needle 

CRISTIAN HERNANDEZ AFP

A fellow worshipper pours water on his head while Pereira, his bare chest covered in blood, tries to pierce the inside of his cheek with a large needle.

Pereira is "material", a medium between the spirits and humans.

The rituals are meant to heal. In a trance, participants cut themselves with blades and walk on glass shards.

"The spirit helps you," said Pereira, who sports a tattoo of a Viking.

"I've danced on broken glass, eaten glass, razor blades... it's normal."

- 'Magical' mountain -

Krashnahia Gonzalez, 57, says the mountain is magical and credits it with curing him of Covid.

"I prepared my little tea, my things, I took my clothes and went up there and took a bath in cold water... naked, I got rid of these negative energies with blue soap," he said.

Jose Bernal, a 61-year-old laborer from Valencia, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) away, came to the mountain to recover from Covid.

His lungs were affected by the illness and he says he gets tired from the slightest effort.

Jose Bernal came to the Sorte mountain to recover from Covid-19

 CRISTIAN HERNANDEZ AFP

Seated with his eyes closed, a spiritist blows tobacco smoke over his body while pouring fruit juice over his head.

Afterwards, both head down to the river where Bernal plunges three times into the water before washing with soap.

"This is the spiritual hospital," says Jeckson Mendez, a spiritist who denies he is practising "bad magic."

Brunel, a Catholic, says he feels "like I've been given more energy" and hopes for Maria Lionza to "perform a miracle for my recovery."

© 2021 AFP

Death threats, trolling common for scientists who speak about COVID-19

By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay News

Researchers say that, since the start of the pandemic, they have received death threats and been trolled after sharing data and information about preventing the spread of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic -- including protests against mitigation methods such as masks and social distancing. 

File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

Doctors who discuss COVID-19 in the media frequently face abuse and harassment, including threats of death or violence, a new report reveals.

More than two-thirds of experts surveyed have experienced trolling or personal attacks after speaking about COVID-19 in media interviews, a worldwide survey of more than 300 scientists found.

Further, a quarter said such harassment is a frequent price they pay for trying to educate the public about COVID-19, reporting that such attacks "always" or "usually" follow a media appearance.

Dr. Amesh Adalja is an infectious disease expert and senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore.

He often speaks to media, and said the survey captures the unfortunate fact that "personal attacks are a reality of being a subject matter expert during this pandemic.

"On a daily basis, I get threats and insulting messages on all forms of social media as well as via email," Adalja said.

"Because this pandemic is largely viewed through whatever tribe a person happens to belong to, if you upset the tribe usually you will be attacked. It really speaks to the denigration of scientific learning and a lack of respect for reason in today's society," Adalja said.
Spurred by high-profile examples of harassment against top doctors in the United States and Europe, the Nature journal sent a survey out to hundreds of scientists who regularly appear in the media to ask about their experiences. The journal received 321 responses.

More than 9 of 10 experts said they'd had good experiences with journalists in discussing COVID-19.

But once their words hit print or their interviews aired, trouble often followed:
15% said they'd received death threats
22% received threats of physical or sexual violence
59% had their credibility attacked.

As a result of all this, nearly a third said their reputations had been damaged by the reaction to their media appearances, and 42% reported emotional or psychological distress from the abuse.

Nasty comments and ugly threats directed against doctors and scientists aren't new to the COVID-19 pandemic, experts said.

"During the Ebola issue in 2014, I was called 'Obama's Muslim' even though I didn't vote for Obama and am an atheist," Adalja said. "I also recall during Ebola being told I should be hanging from a lamp post.

"I've been sworn at countless times, called 'dirt-skinned,' and told to go back to where I am from," Adalja continued. "I was born in Philadelphia."

Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton in England, agreed in comments provided to Nature. The report on the survey was published Thursday in the journal.

"For those of us who have been pulling apart anti-vaccine misinformation from pre-pandemic times, the presence of these attempts at intimidation is very wearying, but not surprising," Head said.

But Head added that, in his view, "the intensity of such harassment has gone up significantly across the pandemic, including becoming more organized and frightening than simply mindless comments on social media."

The survey found that male and female scientists experience similar levels of abuse. It appears their expertise makes them a target, rather than their gender.

"The online abuse occurs most intensively after media engagements, and especially after those that address restrictions to social mixing, the wearing of face masks, or vaccination," Susan Michie, director of the UCL Center for Behavior Change at the University College London, told Nature.

More than 2 of 5 experts who received abuse following a media appearance waved it off, and didn't bother to tell their employer about it.

Of those who did report the harassment, nearly 80% said that they received support from their employer.

For example, one scientist who received a death threat said her university gave her a parking space closer to her office, and the IT department blocked some e-mailers who regularly sent her abusive comments.

"I suspect that these negative experiences reflect a wider malaise in public discourse in society, fueled by social media and growing social and political tribalism," Simon Clarke, an associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading in England, told Nature.

"This is a problem for the whole of society, but this survey highlights that scientists are far from being immune to its effects," Clarke continued. "As in other areas of public life, there is a real risk to society if worries about threats of violence prevents people from engaging fully in debate and discussion about science.

"When discussions about scientific fact are only held behind closed doors, for fear of personal repercussions to the scientists, then we are taking a dangerous backward step. This will lead to greater distrust in scientists and frankly, lead to worse science," Clarke concluded.More information

The Harvard Kennedy School has more about COVID-19 misinformation.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

AMERICA SHIPS REFUGEES HERE FROM ITS BORDER

Violence threatens Colombian peace accords, UN warns

Issued on: 15/10/2021 -

OCCUPATION OF  BOGOTA

Military policemen patrol the streets in Bogota on September 16, 2021. Soldiers have been patrolling the streets of the Colombian capital in a "temporary" effort of authorities to control a wave of violent robberies that affects the city of eight million inhabitants. 

Raul ARBOLEDA AFP


United Nations (United States) (AFP)

The deteriorating security situation in Colombia represents a "considerable challenge" to the country's 2016 peace accords, the United Nations said Thursday at a Security Council meeting.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed a peace deal with the government in 2016 to end more than a half century of armed conflict.

But in light of the "formidable threats" facing certain regions, the Colombian government and institutions "should make better use of the mechanisms created by the agreement itself," said Carlos Ruiz Massieu, the head of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia.

Among the mechanisms is the protection of former combatants who have laid down their arms, he said, noting that at least 296 of them have been killed by gangs and criminal organizations.

Though most of the FARC laid down their arms -- some 7,000 women and men -- there were active dissidents who have continued the violence in various regions.

Under no unified command, some 2,500 combatants did not accept the 2016 peace deal. They continue to operate illegally, getting funds from drug trafficking, illicit mining and extortion, according to Colombian intelligence.

Massieu noted that Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities are "disproportionately affected by all kinds of violence."

The violence also targets human rights defenders, he said, calling for a federal budgetary effort to fund the implementation of the peace agreements. Between 2017 and 2020, only 65 percent of the budget for compliance with the agreements has been spent, according to the UN.

Authorities must spare no effort to increase access to land and housing for former guerrillas, Massieu said, adding that land plays an "essential role" in consolidating the peace process.

Colombia's vice president and minister of foreign affairs, Marta Lucia Ramirez, said the government had spent $118 million, which has benefited the thousands of former guerillas who surrendered their weapons. Of that money, she said, $2 million was spent on the purchase of land.

In 60 years, the conflict in Colombia has claimed more than nine million victims, including dead, disappeared and displaced persons.

#FEMICIDE
Husband of murdered Kenyan running star Tirop due in court

Issued on: 15/10/2021

The 25-year-old double world championships medallist and Olympian has been hailed as a rising star cut short in her prime

 MUSTAFA ABUMUNES AFP/File

Nairobi (AFP)

The husband of Kenyan record-breaking runner Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in a killing that has shocked her home country and the world of athletics, was due in court Friday after a dramatic late-night arrest.

Emmanuel Rotich was detained in the coastal city of Mombasa on Thursday over the death of the 25-year-old double world championships medallist and Olympian.

A senior police official in Mombasa told AFP that Rotich would appear in court and prosecutors were likely to ask for more time "to firm up a case against him" during hearing
.
"Given how tense the ground is in Iten, it is unlikely we will have him charged there," the official said referring to the western town where the couple lived.

Police cornered Rotich in Mombasa, using his mobile number to track him down after he used his old SIM card in his new phone after spending days offline, one of the investigating officers told AFP.

Tributes have poured in for Tirop since her body was found with stab wounds in the bedroom of their home in Iten, a high-altitude training hub for many top-class athletes.

Athletics Kenya said it was postponing events for two weeks in honour of Tirop and another runner who was found dead at the weekend of an apparent suicide.

Athletics Kenya president Jackson Tuwei said Tirop's death was a "huge blow" to athletics, describing her as "one of the fastest rising stars" and voicing hope for speedy justice.

Tirop was killed just a month after she smashed the women's 10,000 metres world record at an event in Germany.

She had previously won world championship medals, finished fourth in the 5,000 metres at the Tokyo Olympics this year and became the second-youngest gold medallist in the women's cross country championships in 2015.

- Family breadwinner -

Her family told reporters she was their breadwinner, paying for children's school fees and clothes.

President Uhuru Kenyatta paid tribute to Tirop, who would have turned 26 later this month, saying she had "brought our country so much glory through her exploits on the global athletics stage".

Her killing came days after another long-distance athlete Hosea Mwok Macharinyang, a member of Kenya's record-breaking world cross country team, died of what athletics officials said was suicide.

Macharinyang, 35, had competed for Kenya in both cross country and 5,000 metre and 10,000 metre races. He won three consecutive titles in the World Cross Country Championships from 2006 to 2008.

Kenya is the most successful nation in the cross country championships, having won 49 team and 27 individual titles.

© 2021 AFP

'End of shame': How Serbia rewards its war criminals

Issued on: 15/10/2021 -

Men in Belgrade campaign for the early release of Zvezdan "The Snake" Jovanovic -- a fellow paramilitary who killed reformist PM Zoran Djindjic in 2003

 GORAN SRDANOV AFP


Belgrade (AFP)

In the heart of Belgrade, a convicted war criminal known as "Captain Dragan" pushes for the pardon of the man who assassinated a Serbian prime minister.

He smiles for the cameras, and nobody in the busy street seems surprised by the campaign.

Three decades after the Balkans was plunged into conflict, those sentenced for committing atrocities -- a few dozen in total -- are slowly being freed from prison after serving sentences in foreign jails.

Upon their return to Serbia, they are accepted and even admired by top state officials and bask in the limelight of pro-government media.

Several high-profile war criminals have resumed political careers while others have led army parades or written books of revisionist history distributed through state-run publishers.

Rights activists say Serbia never undertook the kind of self-examination Germany did after World War II.

Grey-haired "Captain Dragan", whose real name is Dragan Vasiljkovic, is a former paramilitary commander who served 13.5 years for torture and murder of civilians and prisoners of war during the war in Croatia.

His campaign to grant early release for Zvezdan "The Snake" Jovanovic -- a fellow paramilitary who killed reformist PM Zoran Djindjic in 2003 -- has been heavily promoted by pro-government media.

The US embassy in Belgrade condemned the petition.

"It is difficult to understand why a convicted war criminal has public space to promote the release of a convict for the assassination of Serbia's first democratically elected prime minister," a US embassy spokesperson told Voice of America.

- Hero's welcome -

Historian Dubravka Stojanovic says the campaign is the final stage of a battle against the ideas Djindjic represented.

Djindjic spearheaded the uprising that ousted the Slobodan Milosevic regime and sought to bring war criminals to justice but was murdered by former paramilitaries in league with the criminal underworld.

By 2012, former Milosevic loyalists had found a way back into power.

President Aleksandar Vucic, currently Serbia's most powerful man, gained infamy as Milosevic's information minister.

He has since reinvented himself as a centre-right leader committed to delivering EU membership for his country.

The US embassy in Belgrade condemned the petition to release "The Snake", calling it "difficult to understand" 

GORAN SRDANOV AFP

However, rights activists claim Vucic and his allies have also been busy revising history.

"This government made avoiding responsibility for what happened a national interest," Jovana Kolaric, from Belgrade-based NGO Humanitarian Law Center, told AFP.

The first war criminal to get formal recognition from the state was Vladimir Lazarevic, a former army commander responsible for violent expulsions of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo.

After a decade in prison, a government delegation organised a hero's welcome for him in 2015.

He was invited to give lectures at Serbia's military academy and the defence ministry published his book along with the work of Nebojsa Pavkovic -- another convicted war criminal.

- 'A free man' -

Aleksandar Vulin, one of the president's closest associates, proclaimed the "end of shame" and the dawn of "a silent pride" at an army event in 2017 when he was serving as defence minister.

"Nobody will ever again be ashamed of these men," he said of two convicted war criminals in the audience.

"Because the army they commanded and the people they defended weren't ashamed."

One of the war criminals in the audience, Nikola Sainovic, was Milosevic's right-hand man.

He was propelled back to politics shortly after his release in 2015, and given a top job in the Socialist party, the junior partner in the governing coalition.

His path from conviction to release to political rehabilitation is becoming a well-trodden one.

Former Yugoslav army officer Veselin Sljivancanin -- convicted over a 1991 massacre of some 260 people in Croatia -- was admitted into the top body of Serbia's ruling party and often appears at their events.

"He is a free man who served his sentence. What would you like to do -- arrest him? kill him?" Vucic said when Sljivancanin first appeared.

According to Sljivancanin, Vucic was the sole reason for his involvement in politics, and a man he would "give his life for".

"Us, the fighters, always had his support. Ever since he took power, we don't have to walk with our heads down," Sljivancanin told local media.

- 'The ugly truth' -

According to human rights lawyer Milan Antonijevic, the state is "logistically, financially and morally behind the actions of convicted war criminals".

Antonijevic argues that officials' support for those who committed atrocities is a calculated way to appease right-wing voters.

But historian Stojanovic believes this disguises an "ugly truth" -- that many Serbians supported the politics that led to massacres and mass expulsions of the 1990s.

Despite Serbia formally recognising international tribunals, polls show most Serbians do not trust these courts to be impartial.

"Everyone wants to hide their own shame. The revision of history serves both those in power and society," Stojanovic told AFP.

"The government, because it is neck-deep in the wars they once supported, and society, because it doesn't want to face responsibility for mass support that Milosevic's war programme had."

© 2021 AFP