FREE PALESTINE! BOYCOTT ISRAEL!

Outrage over Israel’s building of a Jerusalem park over Palestinian cemetery


Issued on: 27/10/2021 - 

Israeli border police detain a Palestinian man during a protest against Israel’s building of a Jerusalem park which they say encroaches on a centuries-old Muslim graveyard near Old City wall, in Jerusalem October 26, 2021. The municipality says graves will not be disturbed. © Ammar Awad, REUTERS

Sobbing and trying to cling to her son’s gravestone, Palestinian Jerusalemite Ola Nababteh was dragged away from Al-Yusufiyah cemetery by Israeli police as a digger truck levelled land for a new park behind her

Palestinians say the project encroaches on a centuries-old Muslim graveyard beneath the eastern wall of Jerusalem's Old City. Israel captured East Jerusalem including the Old City in a 1967 war and later annexed it in a move not recognised internationally.

The Israeli municipality says authorised burial sites in the cemetery will not be harmed. But the unearthing of human bones when construction for the park began this month stirred panic among families like Nababteh's with loved ones interred at Al-Yusufiyah.

"Over my dead body - my son will not be removed from here," Nababteh told Reuters on Tuesday, a day after Israeli police removed her from the graveyard.

Arieh King, a Jerusalem deputy mayor, said there was never any intent to move the grave and that police had evacuated Nababteh because she was too close to construction.

The remains found this month were not in an authorised gravesite and "had been buried illicitly in the ground many years ago," he told Reuters, adding that the park would provide Palestinians with easier access to the Old City.

Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, said the park, due to open in mid-2022, is an assault on the cemetery.

"The graves of human beings cannot be violated no matter the gender, nationality or religion,” he said.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem for the capital of a state they seek in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which abuts the city, and the Gaza Strip. Israel regards Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital.

(REUTERS)

TOOK LONG ENOUGH

In Biden shift, US denounces Israel on settlements

Issued on: 26/10/2021 -


Washington (AFP)

The United States on Tuesday forcefully criticized Israel for the first time in years on its settlements, with President Joe Biden's administration saying it "strongly" opposed new construction on the West Bank.

The reaction comes after four years under Donald Trump in which the United States offered a green light to Israel's activity on occupied Palestinian land, with his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, touring a settlement at the end of his tenure.

The State Department under Biden had repeatedly warned against settlement construction and on Tuesday sharply criticized Israel after it moved ahead.

"We are deeply concerned about the Israeli government's plan to advance thousands of settlement units" on Wednesday as well as tenders published Sunday for more than 1,300 homes, State Department spokesman Ned Price said.


"We strongly oppose the expansion of settlements, which is completely inconsistent with efforts to lower tensions and to ensure calm, and it damages the prospects for a two-state solution," he told reporters.

"We also view plans for the retroactive legalization of illegal outposts as unacceptable."

Price stopped short of saying the decision would jeopardize relations with Israel. But he said that the administration would "raise this issue directly with senior Israeli officials in our private sessions."

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is a right-winger close to the settlement movement, although he leads a coalition with centrists who seek to preserve stable relations with the United States.

Housing Minister Zeev Elkin is part of the right-wing New Hope party and said the settlements were "essential to the Zionist vision" of strengthening Jewish presence in the West Bank.

Gap in US

Palestinian prime minister Mohammed Shtayyeh had urged Washington to "confront" Israel on the settlements, which he described as "aggression."

About 475,000 Israeli Jews live in settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law, on land Palestinians claim as part of their future state.

The Trump administration, which was backed by evangelical Christians who see biblical reasons for supporting a Jewish homeland, revised longstanding State Department guidance and said it did not consider settlements illegal.

It was a sharp shift from the previous Democratic administration of Barack Obama who faced open criticism from Israel's veteran right-wing prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, particularly over US diplomacy with Iran.

In one of its last acts, the Obama administration declined to exercise the routine US veto at the UN Security Council and allowed a resolution against Israeli settlements to pass through.

While Biden has long ties with the Jewish state, many in his Democratic Party have increasingly opposed Israeli policies, especially under Netanyahu.

In June, dozens of Democratic lawmakers wrote an open letter to Biden urging him to "consistently and proactively" issue "firm public condemnations" of actions that could jeopardize the peace process.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, a centrist who engineered the coalition to oust Netanyahu, accused the previous government of putting Israel at risk through a partisan alliance with Trump and has pledged to work through disagreements quietly.

Lapid last month proposed a development plan for the impoverished Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Islamist militants Hamas who fought a war with Israel in May, but conceded that the idea was not supported across the government.

© 2021 AFP

Gas giants: Can we stop cows from emitting so much methane?

Myriam LEMETAYER
Tue, 26 October 2021

Gas giants: Can we stop cows from emitting so much methane? (AFP/Lou BENOIST)

That cow may look peaceful and harmless, munching on some grass in a verdant pasture.

But don't be fooled -- it is emitting methane, a particularly potent greenhouse gas contributing to runaway global climate change.

Agriculture is responsible for 12 percent of global man-made greenhouse gas emissions, much of it due to methane, the second most warming gas after carbon dioxide.


Methane is around 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas over a 100-year period, but it stays in the atmosphere for only 12 years compared to centuries.

So drastically reducing methane emissions could have a major impact in mitigating the damage expected from global warming in the coming decades.

Agriculture and livestock farming generate around 40 percent of the methane related to human activities, the rest produced by the fossil fuel industry.

Much of that methane is produced by the digestive process in cows, which then burp the emissions out into the world.

Around 95 percent of the methane produced by cows come from their mouths or nostrils.

So how can we reduce the danger being belched out by cows across the world every day?

Who, me?: New tactics are being investigated to try to curb the methane emissions of cows

- Cows with masks -

US agricultural giant Cargill, partnering with British start-up ZELP (Zero Emissions Livestock Project), has developed a form of mask that covers cows' nostrils.

The device filters the methane, transforming it into carbon dioxide, which per molecule has a much less potent effect on global warming.

Ghislain Boucher, head of the ruminant team at Cargill's animal nutrition subsidiary Provimi, said the first results were "interesting".

"Methane emissions have been reduced by half," he told AFP.

However the device still needs to be tested in real-world conditions before it can be marketed late next year -- or even in 2023.

In the short term, Cargill is starting to market in northern Europe a calcium nitrate food additive, saying that 200 grammes daily would reduce cow methane emissions by 10 percent.

The additional cost is estimated to be "between 10 and 15 cents per cow per day," Boucher said at a breeding gathering in central France.

- Seaweed to the rescue? -

Adding red seaweed to cow feed has far more potential, according to a US study published earlier this year, which indicated it could reduce methane emissions by more than 80 percent.

If the results can be repeated, red seaweed would need to grown in vast quantities, preferably near farming areas, the researchers at University of California Davis said.

However a question looms over the issue: how will farmers react to paying more for such measures which do not add to their bottom line, unless they are reimbursed via some kind of carbon credit?

It is also uncertain how consumers will respond. For example, will Americans who prefer corn-fed beef be as partial to the seaweed-fed variety?

And perhaps the easiest way to reduce cow methane emissions is for the world to eat less beef and diary.

A report by the United Nations Environment Programme in May pointed out that technological measures have a "limited potential to address" methane emissions from the agriculture sector.

"Three behavioural changes, reducing food waste and loss, improving livestock management, and the adoption of healthy diets (vegetarian or with a lower meat and dairy content) could reduce methane emissions by 65-80 million tonnes a year over the next few decades," it said.

myl/ico/dl/rl

Orkney's seaweed-eating sheep offer hopes of greener farming

Issued on: 27/10/2021 -

The ultra-remote island of North Ronaldsay may boast only around 60 people -- but it is home to what scientists say could be a breakthrough in cutting planet-warming methane emissions -- seaweed for its distinctive sheep Adrian DENNIS AFP


North Ronaldsay (Orkney) (Royaume-Uni) (AFP)

On a tiny island in Scotland's far-flung Orkneys, thousands of sheep spend the winter munching on seaweed, a unique diet that scientists say offers hope for reducing planet-warming methane emissions.

Around 60 people share North Ronaldsay -- an island just over 3 miles (5 kilometres) long, ringed by rocky beaches and turquoise waters off the north coast of mainland Britain -- with the distinctive native sheep.

Boasting brown, beige or black wool, the animals are hemmed into its foreshore owing to a large system of stone walls -- called a sheep dyke -- built in the early 19th century to keep them away from fields and roads.

The island's crofters -- people who live and work on so-called croft agricultural land -- wanted to use every available space to grow crops and as pasture for cows.

The unintended result: in summer the sheep can nibble on grass, but by winter eating the plentiful seaweed is their only means of survival.

While some other mammals -- including Shetland ponies native to the neighbouring island chain, and red deer -- are known to snack on seaweed, scientists say that the North Ronaldsay sheep are unique worldwide for spending months eating only the marine plants.

Methane reduction

With the world facing a deepening climate emergency, they are increasingly seen by some as a case study that could lead to a breakthrough in methods for raising livestock, which is a major source of greenhouse gases.

Farm animals belch and fart methane gas which, though trivial sounding, is about 30 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.

Given the vast scale of the global meat industry, the issue has become a major focus for climate scientists -- just as world leaders prepare to gather in the Scottish city Glasgow from Sunday for the crucial COP26 summit.

The seaweed diet of the Orkney sheep has an effect on their complex digestive system and appears to reduce the amount of methane produced.

"There's different components in the seaweed that actually interfere with the process (of) how methane is made," said Gordon McDougall, a researcher at The James Hutton Institute in Dundee in eastern Scotland who has been examining the sheep's diet for two decades.

Researchers at The University of California, Davis, published results in March showing that a "bit of seaweed in cattle feed could reduce methane emissions from beef cattle as much as 82 percent".

David Beattie, another James Hutton Institute scientist, stressed there is huge interest in such innovation.

"There's a really big movement within the industry to try and cut out the carbon footprint that the industry as a whole has," he told AFP.

"I see seaweed playing a part in that."

Scale

This would not necessarily mean cows and sheep switching to a diet entirely comprised of seaweed like the North Ronaldsay sheep, but it could supplement their usual feed.

Seaweed is not available in large enough quantities to feed so many animals, McDougall noted, and taking away too much from the sea could also damage the environment and ecosystems.

But the marine plants -- good sources of minerals, vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids -- could partly replace soy, which is heavily used in animal feed but transported for thousands of miles and linked to deforestation.

Researchers still need to determine the types and quantities of seaweed which could be best suited to adding to feed.

"And then, can you scale that up to a level where you'd actually have an effect on the overall UK farming?" said McDougall.

The plump North Ronaldsay sheep, who chow down strands of seaweed as if they were spaghetti, are set to keep providing a useful case study.

© 2021 AFP

Kiwi boffins aim to clear the air on livestock emissions

Tucked away in rural New Zealand, a multi-million dollar research facility is working to slash the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere by farm animals -- saving the world one belch at a time (AFP/Marty MELVILLE)

Neil SANDS
Tue, October 26, 2021

Tucked away in rural New Zealand, a multi-million dollar research facility is working to slash the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere by farm animals -- saving the world one belch at a time.

Cattle and sheep are kept in perspex pens for two days per session as scientists carefully analyse every burp and fart that emerges from them at the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre.

"I never thought I'd make my living measuring the gas that comes out of animals' breath," the facility's director Harry Clark told AFP.

The UN says agricultural livestock accounts for 14.5 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions generated by human activity and the centre -- regarded as a world leader in livestock emissions research -- is hopeful it can play a key role in tackling the problem.

How authorities ended up funding the project to the tune of NZ$10 million (US$7.0 million) a year is a story of economic necessity and changing attitudes to climate change.

But it begins in the gut of ruminant livestock, which use microbes to partially digest their food by fermenting it in a compartment of their stomach before regurgitating it to be chewed as cud.

The process results in copious amounts of methane -- a gas that has more than 80 times the 'global warming potential' of carbon dioxide, across 20 years according to the UN Economic Commission.

There are estimated to be 1.5 billion cows on the planet, with each one capable of producing 500 litres (132 gallons) of the gas each day.

In addition, livestock urine produces nitrous oxide, another powerful climate pollutant.

- 'Tantalising' methane vaccine' -

New Zealand's farm-reliant economy means its proportion of agricultural emissions is much higher, accounting for around half of its greenhouse gases.

At Clark's centre in Palmerston North, the major focus is on livestock methane, which accounts for almost 36 percent of the country's total.

"New Zealand has a specific problem and it's imperative we give farmers the tools and technologies to reduce their emissions," Clark said.

The facility, which is vetted by an ethics committee, is exploring research that includes selective breeding programmes to develop bloodlines of animals that naturally produce less gas.

Sheep have been bred that produce 10 percent less methane than average and Clark said researchers were trying to produce similar results with cattle.

Other projects include putting emission-inhibiting additives in livestock feed and even developing a harness or mask with filters that capture methane before it leaves the animal's mouth.

But Clark said perhaps the most exciting prospect being developed in Palmerston North is a vaccine that reduces methane by targeting the microbes in the gut that produce the gas.

"It's tantalisingly close, in the sense that it works in the laboratory but it doesn't work in the animal yet," he said, adding such a vaccine could be easily administered to flocks and herds worldwide, with an immediate impact on global emissions.

It is a growing area of research globally: In the US, researchers are experimenting with probiotics for cattle, while in India, scientists are adding supplements to feed -- with the aim of reducing the amount of methane produced.

But critics warn this approach offers only short term benefits and "band-aid" solutions to major problems.

"Reducing methane output while breeding still more methane-producing animals ignores animal suffering, deforestation, and the increased risk of diseases -- including zoonotic viruses -- all associated with animal agriculture," said Aleesha Naxakis, spokesperson for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

- Global shift -

New Zealand’s government has committed to reducing livestock methane 10 percent by 2030 and 24-47 percent by 2050, compared with 2017 levels.

But some have questioned why the lucrative agricultural sector is treated differently to the rest of the economy, which has been set a target of zero net emissions by 2050.

Monitoring website Climate Action Tracker rates New Zealand’s climate policies as "highly insufficient", citing the methane carve out as one of the main reasons.

"As we look toward COP26, unless governments take immediate steps to transition our global food system away from animals and towards plants, we’re setting fire to the only home we have," warned Naxakis.

Clark conceded 'getting rid of livestock, and eating more plant-based foods' would reduce agricultural emissions and make both people and the planet healthier, but said the situation was more complex.

He said pursuing such a major shift, rather than working to lower livestock emissions, would have significant economic and social consequences on the sector worldwide.

Clark added that the government's funding of research into livestock emissions was only partly to do with New Zealand's reliance on the sector.

"Sure there's an element of self interest, but there's a bit of altruism there as well," he said.

"If we can find solutions that are applicable elsewhere, that help tackle emissions in China, the US, or wherever, then New Zealand could make a major contribution, as a small nation, to the global effort to reduce emissions."

ns/hr/lto

Indigenous lead protest against Ecuador economic policies

Vincent Ricci 

Quito, Ecuador – As night turned to dawn in the early morning hours of October 26, Indigenous communities had already woken to begin the most recent “paro nacional”, or a national shutdown in English, by bringing main transit arteries to a halt in the countryside and launching a day of protest in Ecuador.

© Provided by Al Jazeera Ecuadorian security forces patrol a street near a roadblock in Ecuador's center-Andean province Cotopaxi on October 26 [Juan Diego Montenegro/Al Jazeera].

The demonstrators’ plan: to peacefully enter the heavily fortified presidential palace. Metal fences and riot police blocked the streets leading to the palace.


Indigenous and other social collectives have been demanding conservative President Guillermo Lasso reverse the recent spike in fuel costs announced last week.

“A few days ago, the president labelled me a destabiliser,” said the president of the Confederation Indigenous Nationalities, or CONAIE, Leonidas Iza addressing reporters.

“Ecuadorians do not have time for this: We’re all concerned about the economic issues.”

By noon, a government spokesperson said police had detained 18 people at roadblocks.

Under pressure from CONAIE and Indigenous legislators, Lasso announced last week he was freezing the monthly increases of fuel prices, but fixed new prices slightly higher than those that were expected to go in effect in October with petrol a fixed $2.55 a gallon ($0.67 a litre) and diesel $1.90 a gallon ($0.50 a litre).

© Provided by Al Jazeera Security forces stand guard as Indigenous people block the Pan-American Highway in Panzaleo, Cotopaxi Province, Ecuador, on October 26, 2021 [Rodrigo Buendia/ AFP]

“We have listened to you, the people, and also to political and social sectors to reach an agreement which brings us stability, in which the economy and grow and create jobs,” Lasso said in a national message to the country Friday.
AdChoices

CONAIE rejected the president’s announcement and said protests would go forward as planned.

Now more than five months on the job, Lasso faces a migration crisis of Ecuadorians leaving for the US-Mexico border and a bloody gang war in the prison system.

With just days before the COP climate summit converges in Glasgow, environmentalists have lambasted the president for committing to double Ecuador’s oil production during his term, setting up likely confrontation between remote Indigenous communities in the Amazon and state security forces.

© Provided by Al Jazeera An Indigenous woman looks over the scene at a roadblock in Ecuador’s center-Andean province Cotopaxi on October 26, 2021 [Juan Diego Montenegro/Al Jazeera]

Lasso did not appear in front of the legislative committee’s investigation on the Pandora Papers last week and has denied wrongdoing after being named in last month’s report. The national prosecutor’s office also launched a probe in Lasso’s offshore holdings.

With the intention to combat crime and drug-related violence, Lasso declared a 60-day state of emergency last Monday. The decree allowed for rapid deployment of the police and armed forces to conduct routine checkpoints in hotspots.

But organisations denounced the move as a tactic to quell Tuesday’s planned demonstrations and shutdown

.

© Provided by Al Jazeera An apparent standoff between demonstrators and police in Panzaleo, Cotopaxi Province, Ecuador, on October 26, 2021, during a protest against the economic policies of the government [Rodrigo Buendia/ AFP]

Speaking to reporters in Quito on October 18, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken supported Lasso’s security declaration but said “these measures need to be taken pursuant to the Constitution.”

“[The measures] need to be very focused in what they’re seeking to achieve and finite in duration and … follow and proceed in a way that upholds democratic principles,” said Blinken during a three-day visit to Ecuador and its neighbour to the north, Colombia.

Tensions between Lasso and CONAIE have escalated for months and on October 4, a meeting at the presidential palace between the two sides resulted in a deadlock with no viable solution for bringing down fuel prices and oil exploration in Ecuador’s rainforest.

In October 2019, there was a 10-day nationwide shutdown after then-President Lenin Moreno implemented an austerity package that would have cut decades-old fuel subsidies.

Forced to backtrack by overwhelming social discontent, Moreno signed an executive decree allowing for gradual monthly increases to fuel beginning in May 2020.

Lasso inherited the problem of fuel price rises, which has continued to shape Ecuador’s political, economic and social landscape.

Women protest the world's 'silence' over crisis in Afghanistan

Issued on: 26/10/2021 - 

Women protest the inaction of the international community in Kabul on Tuesday 

James EDGAR AFP

Kabul (AFP)

Women activists in Kabul held up signs that read "why is the world watching us die in silence?" on Tuesday, protesting the international community's inaction on the crisis in Afghanistan.

Around a dozen women risked the wrath of the Taliban, who have banned demonstrations and shut them down using violence since taking power in August, holding banners affirming their "right to education" and "right to work", before the Islamists stopped the press from approaching the march.

"We are asking the UN secretary-general to support our rights, to education, to work. We are deprived of everything today," Wahida Amiri, one of the organisers for the Spontaneous Movement of Women Activists in Afghanistan, told AFP.

Their demonstration, addressing the "political, social and economic situation" in Afghanistan was initially planned to take place near the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

But it was moved at the last minute to the entrance of the former "Green Zone", where the buildings of several Western embassies are located, although most of their missions left the country as the Taliban took control.

Taliban gunmen at the entrance to the ultra-secure area initially asked the demonstrators and the press to move away.

An AFP reporter then saw a reinforcement of a dozen Taliban guards -- most of them armed -- push back journalists and confiscate the mobile phone of one local reporter who was filming the protest.

"We have nothing against the Taliban, we just want to demonstrate peacefully," Amiri said.

Symbolic demonstrations by women have become a regular occurrence in Kabul in recent weeks as the Taliban have still not allowed them to return to work or permitted most girls to go to school.

Last Thursday about 20 women were allowed to march for more than 90 minutes, but several foreign and local journalists covering the rally were beaten by Taliban fighters.

© 2021 AFP

Anger over men-only foreign delegations to meet Taliban

Since seizing power in August, the Taliban have excluded women from their new caretaker government and put restrictions on work and education, drawing condemnation from the outside world 

(AFP/BULENT KILIC)More

Nina LARSON
Tue, October 26, 2021

Global powers and aid groups that have loudly demanded an inclusive Afghanistan under the Taliban are now facing criticism for sending all-male delegations to Kabul to meet the hardline Islamists.

Since seizing power in August, the Taliban have excluded women from their new caretaker government and put restrictions on work and education, drawing condemnation from the outside world.

But female representation has been little better among some governments and aid groups in their meetings in the capital with Afghanistan's new rulers, who are seeking international recognition.


"Senior women in your teams should be leading your interactions with the Taliban... Don't exclude women," said Shaharzad Akbar, the exiled head of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

In a tweet addressing "governments and aid agencies", she called on them to "NOT NORMALISE Taliban's erasure of women".

- 'Sausage party' -

Heather Barr from Human Rights Watch created a list, under the hashtag "sausageparty", of pictures posted by the Taliban of their meetings with delegations in Kabul.

"Foreign countries and especially aid organisations should be leading by example," Barr told AFP.

"No one should let the Taliban think that this kind of men-only world that they are creating... is normal."

The Taliban have posted dozens of photos on social media of closed-door meetings with groups of foreign representatives, showing not a single woman.

Among the many meetings highlighted was one earlier this month between British envoy Simon Gass and the Taliban's interim deputy prime ministers Abdul Ghani Baradar and Abdul Salam Hanafi, seated on a sofa in a lavish room.

An official told AFP it was a coincidence that the special envoy and head of mission were both men.

Pakistan, which has advised the Taliban on how to win international backing, also posted pictures and video of an all-male group accompanying the foreign minister and intelligence chief to Kabul.

Fawzia Koofi, one of the negotiators in failed peace talks between the then Afghan government and the Taliban last year in Doha, voiced her anger.

"As world leaders, when they talk about women's rights, they also need to act. They need to show that they believe in it, that it is not just a political statement," she told AFP.

- Complacency 'not acceptable' -

Even more concerning, Barr said, were the numerous pictures of meetings between the Taliban and humanitarian organisations that seemed to follow the same pattern.

When contacted by AFP, the organisations on her list highlighted their dedication to women's rights and said they strived to include women in meetings with the Taliban.

But several acknowledged holding at least one meeting with the hardline Islamists that included no women.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, the UN children's agency, and Doctors Without Borders explained that on the photographed occasion, they had only sent small delegations of top leaders, who happened to be men.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies meanwhile said a last-minute scheduling change had meant a woman staff member due to take part had been unable to attend, turning one meeting into an all-male event.

The lack of women in such high-level positions shows that while Afghanistan might be an extreme example, it is not the only place where women are being denied an equal seat at the table.

"Raising those concerns about women's rights in a room full of all men just seems very strange," Barr added.

The United Nations has since announced its first-ever all-woman mission to Afghanistan, to discuss girls' education with the Taliban.

While never including women in their teams, the group's leaders have met with a number of women, including during the Doha negotiations with the then Afghan government.

Koofi, who has survived two assassination attempts, had first hesitated to join the talks with the militants, who jailed her husband and threatened to stone her for wearing nail polish during their 1990s rule.

But sitting face to face with them had made her feel "powerful".

"For me, it was important that I make myself visible and my message clear to them," she told AFP in 2019.

Now those with the power to ensure women have a seat at the table are often failing to do so, she said.

"Everyone is playing politics."

bur-nl/ecl/leg/qan

Trudeau taps climate activist for key role in major cabinet reshuffle


Issued on: 26/10/2021 

Steven Guilbeault (R), Canada's outgoing heritage minister, was tapped to head the environment ministry in Justin Trudeau's reshuffled cabinet Lars Hagberg AFP

Ottawa (AFP)

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday named prominent former climate activist Steven Guilbeault as environment minister in a major post-election cabinet shuffle ahead of a key global climate conference.

At a ceremony in Ottawa, Guilbeault was all smiles as he was sworn in alongside 37 other faces, including Anita Anand who was picked to lead a military plagued by sexual misconduct allegations, and Melanie Joly who was promoted to foreign minister.

His promotion comes just days before global leaders are set to gather in Glasgow for the COP26 summit on climate change.

His activism dates back to his early childhood, according to his government biography, when he climbed a tree behind his home to prevent real estate developers from chopping it down.

Decades later, he scaled Toronto's CN Tower in a stunt to press for ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, founded Equiterre -- one of Canada's top environmental organizations -- and worked in senior roles at several other groups including Greenpeace.

"Steven Guilbeault knows the issues, key players and understands the importance of environmental issues," Greenpeace's Patrick Bonin told AFP, praising Trudeau's pick for environment minister.

He said the new minister's pragmatism and strong knowledge of environmental issues will serve Canada well.

Guilbeault was first elected to parliament in 2019, serving as heritage minister in Trudeau's second administration.

He replaces Jonathan Wilkinson, who moves to the natural resources portfolio after recently working with his German counterpart on a target for rich countries to contribute $100 billion a year to help poorer ones fight climate change.

At the COP26 meeting, Guilbeault is expected to tout Canadian measures to cut CO2 emissions including in its oil sector, which is the fourth largest in the world.
Gender parity in cabinet

Trudeau was returned to power in September at the helm, once again, of a minority liberal government, with party standings in the House of Commons almost exactly the same as prior to the snap election.

It was not the outcome he'd hoped for, with strong support for his Liberals for their solid pandemic response suddenly dissipating midway through the campaign as voter fatigue with his administration -- first elected in a landslide in 2015 -- set in.

But in his first post-election news conference earlier this month, Trudeau claimed his minority Liberal government had been given a mandate "to move even stronger, even faster on the big things that Canadians really want."

He listed priorities such as accelerating the fight against climate change, further boosting Canada's Covid vaccination rates -- already among the highest in the world -- bolstering the economic recovery, and continuing reconciliation with indigenous tribes.

The reshuffled cabinet consists of 38 ministers in total, with an equal number of women and men. Chrystia Freeland, it was previously announced, keeps her dual roles as deputy prime minister and finance minister.

Several former ministers were dropped including former astronaut Marc Garneau, and others were shuffled to new posts in a bid to breathe new life into the beleaguered Liberal party.

Joly, who was co-campaign chair of the Liberals' re-election campaign and held minor posts in past Trudeau administrations, becomes Canada's fifth foreign minister in six years.

Although Trudeau declared "Canada is back" in 2015 and marked a few early successes including the airlift of Syrian refugees, and the ratification of Europe, North America and Pacific trade deals, his foreign policy has been arguably timid in a world facing a growing number of crises.

Anand, who'd previously been in charge of the nation's vaccine procurement, meanwhile, faces a difficult task changing the culture of the military.

The Canadian Armed Forces, Trudeau recently said, "still don't get it" following several allegations of sexual misconduct in the military's top ranks this year.

He was reacting to the appointment, to lead a review of sexual misconduct cases, of a general who wrote a positive character reference to a judge for a soldier found guilty of sexually assaulting another.

© 2021 AFP

UH OH

Ancient permafrost bacteria can be resistant to modern antibiotics

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FEDERAL RESEARCH CENTRE «FUNDAMENTALS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY» OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE

 

IMAGE: PICTURE FROM EXPEDITIONS view more 

CREDIT: COURTESY OF NIKOLAI RAVIN

The resistance of pathogenic micro-organisms to antibiotics is our responsibility — starting from negligent farmers seeking how to save their crops and animals from the disease at all costs, to all those who are taking antibiotics without a doctor’s advice. As a result of such massive antibiotic “bombardment”, the most powerful bacteria and fungi survive, then transmitting antibiotic resistance genes to their descendants. It is difficult to keep up with this evolution: it may take years from the stage of synthesizing a new drug to putting it on the market.

“It is an interesting question — how can the resistance of micro-organisms to antibiotics be related to another contemporary problem — global warming? The answer is rather simple: the melting of the ice can release ancient micro-organisms that are causing diseases. Perhaps even much more deadly and contagious. Of course, one can hope that they will be sensitive to modern antibiotics, but our research says that it may not be so”, — says Andrey Rakitin, one of the authors of the scientific paper, PhD, Senior Researcher of Laboratory of Molecular Cloning Systems, Research Center of Biotechnology RAS.

It turned out that the bacteria Acinetobacter lwoffii, isolated from thousands or millions of years old permafrost, were resistant to antibiotics. This was discovered when the genomes of five strains extracted from the permafrost of Kolyma lowlands in Yakutia were sequenced. This research was made by biologists from both The Institute of Molecular Genetics of National Research Centre ‘Kurchatov Institute’ and the Research Center of Biotechnology. Acinetobacter lwoffii are widespread in a wide variety of habitats and are usually non-pathogenic, but their close relatives, other species of the genus Acinetobacter, can cause dangerous infectious diseases in humans and animals.

The full-genome study of strains isolated from permafrost was carried out by The Research Center of Biotechnology as part of the project made by the world-class research center ‘Agrotechnologies of the Future’. Analysis of genome sequences and their comparison with modern clinical isolates of Acinetobacter lwoffii revealed very limited differences. Ancient strains also possessed genes encoding resistance to widely used antibiotics such as streptomycin, spectinomycin, chloramphenicol, and tetracycline. However, they were resistant to heavy metals and arsenic.

“The bacteria we studied were isolated from permafrost aged between 15,000 and 1.8 million years, but they had a lot in common with modern strains. Our colleagues received similar results and the situation is frightening. Global warming can only be slowed down, but it can never be stopped, and it can release new infections. A study of these potential pathogens now buried in permafrost could save our lives and health in the future”, — says Nikolai Ravin, a doctor of science in biology, Head of the Laboratory of Molecular Cloning at Research Center of Biotechnology RAS.

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JOURNAL

Biology

DOI

10.3390/biology10090871 

ARTICLE TITLE

Genome Analysis of Acinetobacter lwoffii Strains Isolated from Permafrost Soils Aged from 15 Thousand to 1.8 Million Years Revealed Their Close Relationships with Present-Day Environmental and Clinical Isolates

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

4-Sep-2021

Crossing between marching rhythm and swing: German popular music during the Nazi regime

New research project undertaken by the departments of Musicology and History of Mainz University examines the media, networks, key figures, and content of light music in the Third Reich

Grant and Award Announcement

JOHANNES GUTENBERG UNIVERSITAET MAINZ

Radio and sound film helped music to spread widely during the Weimar Republic, and the enthusiasm for the new media and for new sounds continued unabated even after the Nazi seizure of power. Although the Nazis did not pursue a well-defined musical policy as such, popular music played an important role as a means of communication during their reign. Under Joseph Goebbels, who oversaw all cultural activities, the industry enjoyed more freedom than other artistic media.

"However, the overall situation was quite complicated," emphasized Professor Peter Niedermüller of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). The musicologist is heading up the research project entitled "Deutsche Unterhaltungsmusik im 20. Jahrhundert" ("German popular music in the 20th century"). In cooperation with the JGU Department of History, the project will investigate the music scene during the Nazi period, i.e., from the end of the Weimar Republic to 1945. The new research group is highly interdisciplinary, and in particular benefits from close links between the fields of musicology and contemporary history at JGU. The project is being funded by the GEMA Foundation and the Franz Grothe Foundation.

Exploring the actions of individuals in the face of political repression

On the one hand, the research project will look at the question of political influence and repression by Nazi leaders. On the other hand, Niedermüller also regards the actions of the individual against this political background as an important theme. The research team will trace the lives of musicians in the Nazi state, such as Franz Grothe, composer and conductor of the German Dance and Entertainment Orchestra. "The situation became more and more difficult for foreign and Jewish musicians from 1933 onwards. German artists, however, tried to maintain the musical direction which had made them successful during the Weimar Republic, a direction which had often borrowed from jazz and swing," said Niedermüller. "There are considerable variations between the biographies and so we have to look at the concrete actions of individual persons."

Popular music was meant to suggest normal everyday life

Another topic of investigation deals with the embedding of popular music in cinema and the function it exercised there. Musical analyses take a closer look at the role of marching rhythms in contrast to elements taken from swing and jazz. "Hollywood was the exemplar for Goebbels," said Niedermüller. "We see revue and operetta music merging with jazz elements and folk music in German popular music of the time." Evidently, the need for a strong entertainment culture was considered important, not only because society demanded it, but also as a way of suggesting a sense of normal everyday life.

 

Related links:
https://unterhaltungsmusik.uni-mainz.de/das-forschungsprojekt/ – Research project "Deutsche Unterhaltungsmusik im 20. Jahrhundert" ("German popular music in the 20th century") [in German]

Fires in cargo ship off B.C. coast may take days to put out: coast guard

VICTORIA — It may be several days before fires can be put out inside containers on a cargo ship anchored off Victoria, Canada's coast guard says.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Meanwhile, about 40 containers that fell off the ship have been tracked to the northern tip of Vancouver Island about 440 kilometres away.

Paul Barrett, the planning section chief for the coast guard's unified command, said there are at least five fires burning inside containers that are believed to be storing tires on the MV Zim Kingston.

"The firefighting crews are deploying individual tactics to fight these fires," he said. "It's currently estimated that two to three days are required to make the vessel ready for further salvage actions."

Danaos Shipping Co., the ship's owner, said in a statement Tuesday it is co-operating with Canadian officials and has contracted a firefighting company to help fight the fires.

The company said the trouble began when two containers on the ship caught fire, while another 40 fell into the water as it approached Vancouver, before it anchored for repairs in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The containers have been tracked moving northward along the west coast of Vancouver Island and the coast guard said some have been spotted off Cape Scott on the northern tip of the island.

Juan Jose Alava, the principal investigator with the University of British Columbia's Ocean Pollution Research Unit, said Canadian officials need to be more proactive in tracking those missing containers.

"We should be more ready to find these containers," he said in an interview from Ecuador.

Alava said it is important for officials to determine what exactly is in the containers to inform Indigenous and other communities in northern Vancouver Island that rely on fishing in areas that could be impacted by toxic materials in the containers.

Gillian Oliver, the coast guard's advanced planning unit leader, said tracking buoys have been deployed in an effort to better trace the whereabouts of the missing containers.

She said some of the containers are expected to come ashore and asked any residents who may find one to report it to authorities.

Oliver did not provide details on what is in the containers, besides saying there were potentially toxic materials inside.

"We are still waiting for (the owners) to compile a list of the containers that went overboard and what is inside," she said.

The containers are believed to be low in the water, and officials says large ships may hit them with a passing blow and not realize.

J.J. Brickett, the coast guard's federal incident commander, said the vessel is able to operate but crews are taking a measured approach in ensuring the fires have been put out before it is moved.

Danaos Shipping's statement said it has permission from the Canadian Coast Guard to allow technical experts and two marine firefighters on board the ship.

Barrett said there are 20 people aboard comprising a mix of crew and firefighters.

The coast guard says it is monitoring air quality along Victoria's waterfront and has not recorded any unusual or dangerous changes caused by the fire.

Beckett said he wouldn't speculate on the situation leading up to the containers falling off the ship, but added that the weather conditions were considered normal for a boat to be operating in.

- By Nick Wells in Vancouver.

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

The Canadian Press

New defence minister vows to fight sex misconduct, warns battle 'going to take time'

PURGE, PUT WOMEN OFFICERS IN CHARGE,FLATTEN DND

© Provided by The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Anita Anand vowed to throw everything she has into eliminating sexual misconduct in the military as the former procurement minister who successfully obtained COVID-19 vaccines for Canada became only the second woman to hold office as the country's defence minister.

Yet Anand also warned that the fight will take time, even as the Liberal government faced fresh calls from opposition parties and others to finally establish more external and independent oversight of the Canadian Armed Forces to address its many problems.

“It is important to remember that there is no one magic solution for this issue. There is no one switch that we can turn on to change everything overnight,” Anand said in her first public remarks following an elaborate swearing-in ceremony for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new cabinet.

“This is going to take time. And while that may frustrate some, I want to assure everyone that I will put in the necessary work for as long as it takes to get this done. As I have said, I am thorough, I am determined, I am dogged, and I am results-oriented. And I will be dedicating all of my energies towards this task in this position.”

Anand’s appointment ended weeks of speculation around who would take over from Harjit Sajjan, whose fate appeared all but sealed after overseeing a crisis of confidence in Canada’s military leadership over the past eight months sparked by allegations against several senior officers.

Trudeau spoke glowingly of his new defence minister, specifically noting Anand’s role leading Ottawa’s efforts to purchase vaccines and other supplies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic while touting her previous experience as an expert on corporate governance as directly relevant to her new role.

“One of the things people will be learning about Anita Anand in the coming months is that she is a world-class expert in governance, with decades of professional experience that she will bring to bear to make sure the Canadian Armed Forces … are worthy of the extraordinary women and men who choose to serve.”

Anand is only the second woman to serve as Canada's defence minister. Kim Campbell held the position for six months in 1993 before becoming prime minister.

Yet while Anand acknowledged her gender may have played a factor in her appointment, she said there are other qualities that she brings to the table.

Indeed, while Anand’s appointment was largely welcomed by opposition parties, experts and a victims’ group, many of which had been scathing in their criticism of Sajjan, it was also greeted with warnings that the arrival of a new defence minister — even a woman — isn’t enough to fix the military’s problems.

“I'm not one of those people that think just putting a woman into this position will magically make it solve the problems,” said Megan MacKenzie, an expert on military sexual misconduct at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.

“She's stepping into that role at a time when we've had a prolonged crisis. And so I really hope she's supported so that she can do her job and is not expected to sort of fix the systemic problem without proper tools.”

MacKenzie also underscored the need for more independent oversight over the military, particularly when it comes to sexual misconduct, as was first recommended by retired Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps in 2015.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh echoed that message during a news conference, saying that while having a woman as defence minister was remarkable, “they've had six years to bring in an independent process. And so that hasn't changed. And that to me is a big problem.”

Trudeau and Anand declined to commit to any new external oversight of the military, and instead pointed to an ongoing review of the problem being led by retired Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour.

Anand arrives at a critical time for the Canadian military, which has been battered by months of troubling allegations that some of the military’s most senior officers engaged in inappropriate sexual behaviour — with new allegations seemingly emerging every few weeks.

Trudeau this month blasted the top brass after it was revealed that a general who wrote a character reference for a soldier convicted of sexual assault was reassigned to a job overseeing some of the military’s work on sexual misconduct. Trudeau said they "simply don't get it."

Opposition critics, defence experts and victims’ support groups have pinned much of the blame for the ongoing scandal on the Liberal government and, in particular, Sajjan, who will now serve as the minister of both international development and economic development in B.C.

When Sajjan first took over the role in early November 2015, the former Vancouver police officer was widely seen as a positive choice, given his previous service as a lieutenant-colonel in the army reserves, which included stints in Afghanistan.

Yet Sajjan struggled to effectively communicate when it came to military matters, and was seen as being too deferential to those senior commanders such as then-chief of the defence staff Jonathan Vance, under whom he had served in Afghanistan.

Those concerns exploded into the public discourse in February after Global News reported several allegations of sexual misconduct involving Vance. It was later revealed that one was first flagged to Sajjan by the military ombudsman in March 2018.

Despite what amounted to a clear demotion for his longtime defence minister, Trudeau defended Sajjan as “someone who has been there to fight for the women and men who serve in our Armed Forces, and to push back against the culture that excludes, that marginalizes people.”

Sajjan for his part defended his record, which included introducing a new defence policy in 2017 that promised billions in new money for the military over 20 years.

As for changing the military’s culture, “we wish that we could have it overnight,” he said. “It doesn't happen overnight. But this but the steady work that needs to continue in the focus on it, our government has been absolutely committed to it.”

One of the key questions facing Anand is the degree to which she will be able to exert control over the Canadian military, which has a reputation for pushing back against attempts to rein it in.

While Anand’s role in procuring personal protective equipment, ventilators and vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic has been praised, her work on corporate governance was noted by It’s Not Just 700, a support group for victims.

Sexual misconduct is far from the only issue facing the Armed Forces at this juncture, and the new defence minister will need to get quickly up to speed on a variety of topics, including the many missions underway around the world and the ongoing effort to buy new military equipment.

Anand has an advantage over many of her ministerial colleagues taking over new portfolios, in that her previous job included significant oversight of various military procurement projects. That includes the planned purchase of new fighter jets and warships.

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

Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press

Emotional bullying, sexual harassment and physical assault of women is widespread in the military

Attacks are most likely on younger personnel, those with officer status and those in combat roles

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BMJ

Women serving in the UK military face a considerable risk of emotional bullying, sexual harassment and physical assault, which can have a serious and long-lasting impact on their mental health and wellbeing, finds research published online in the journal BMJ Military Health. 

There are currently around 16,500 women serving in the UK military and they make up approximately 11% of personnel. Although women have been able to serve in the UK military for many years, it was not until 2018 that all roles were opened up to them, including deployment to front-line combat.

It is recognised that military women may face additional adversities during deployment on top of the risk of exposure to combat-related trauma, which may impact on their well-being, so the authors set out to investigate the prevalence of military adversity in terms of sexual harassment, sexual assault, emotional bullying and physical assault within a sample of UK women veterans.

They surveyed 750 women veterans who had been in touch with a UK charity which supports women veterans, and the responses showed that a high proportion of these women had experienced military adversity: 22.5% said they had experienced sexual harassment, 5.1% sexual assault, 22.7% emotional bullying and 3.3% physical assault. 

These experiences were more likely to be reported by women who were younger, had held the rank of officer, or reported having had a combat or combat support role during their military service.

All types of adversity were significantly associated with probable post-traumatic stress disorder, and different types of adversity had specific impacts on women’s mental health and wellbeing. 

Sexual harassment was significantly associated with physical somatisation (where the mental distress causes physical symptoms such as pain or fatigue), sexual assault was significantly associated with alcohol difficulties, and emotional bullying was significantly associated with common mental health difficulties such as anxiety and depression, low social support and loneliness.

This was an observational study, so no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect, and the researchers also highlight several limitations. 

The study was based around self-reported events so could underestimate or overestimate the real prevalence of what was experienced, and it was not able to assess the impact of cumulative episodes or continuous military adversity on mental health and well-being. The survey had a response rate of 44.6%, meaning the results may not be fully representative, and the majority of the women who participated were aged above 60, so the findings may not be generalisable to younger army personnel.

Nevertheless, the authors conclude that their study provides evidence of a high prevalence of military adversity among UK women veterans and highlights important relationships with sociodemographic factors and mental health difficulties that require further investigation.

There is an urgent need to provide more support to military women, they say. “Many women do not report adverse service experiences due to fear of the consequences of doing so and may continue to suffer from increased mental health distress during and after military service. It is essential to consider whether current reporting procedures may not provide sufficient confidentiality to encourage women to report adverse experiences and more appropriate disclosing procedures should be considered.

“Furthermore, it is essential to consider whether existing support is adequate to support the mental health needs of women who experienced military adversity.”

As certain characteristics of the military, such as gender discrepancies, the nature of military training and the ranked order structure, may put female personnel at greater risk of victimisation, it is worth considering whether organisational and leadership changes can be made to better protect military women, they add.

[Ends]

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JOURNAL

BMJ Military Health

DOI

10.1136/bmjmilitary-2021-001948 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Adversity during military service: the impact of military sexual trauma, emotional bullying and physical assault on the mental health and well-being of women veterans

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

25-Oct-2021