SASKATCHEWAN
Grasslands park home to unique fossil find
Category: Local News 

Published: Wednesday, 01 December 2021 

Written by Tara Garcia

Photo courtesy of Dr. Emily Bamforth

An exciting fossil find recently took place in southwest Saskatchewan.

Dr. Emily Bamforth, Curatorial Assistant with the Royal Saskatchewan Museum provides details on the specimen found in Grasslands National Park.

"What we found was a big marine reptile called a mosasaur. A mosasaur is a little bit like a swimming komodo dragon, the closest living relative is snakes and lizards."

Dr. Bamforth adds that this particular mosasaur found in Grasslands National Park is called a prognathodon and was large with an estimated body length of 11 meters.

Often called the t-rex of the sea, a few have been found in Alberta however, this is the largest and first prognathodon ever found in Saskatchewan.

The Royal Saskatchewan Museum has a partnership with Grasslands National Park and they do a lot of work primarily out of the east block of the park and occasionally in the west block which Dr. Bamforth says has older rocks, roughly 10 million years older than those in the east. The west block is mainly where marine animals are found.

Dr. Bamforth says that the site they were working on was actually discovered by the land over before the park acquired it. The owner found the fossils on the surface and contacted the Royal Saskatchewan Museum back in 2012. What they found was the tip of an animal's snout which had huge teeth, roughly 4cm in diameter. At the time they could only surface collect as they did not have a permit to excavate. All they could collect was the tip of the upper and lower jaw and some vertebrae on the surface.

Almost 10 years passed, until last year when Dr. Bamforth applied for a collection permit from the National Park to do a site check. Within 20 minutes of being at the site, they uncovered the better part of the snout, the upper jaw, and other parts of the skull.

Dr. Bamforth provides details on the importance of this find.

"A lot of what we find here is endemic to Saskatchewan. That is, it's found in Saskatchewan but nowhere else. And so we think there was something unique about where the sea was in Saskatchewan that was supporting this unique group of animals. So every new species that we find is contributing to our understanding of that."

In addition, Dr. Bamforth adds that they believe there is more of the specimen out in the field. They actually came upon it at the end of their field season and only had two days to collect what they could. The team buried well the material left in the ground and have plans to go back next summer to the site and continue to excavate.

Once they have all of the specimen collected it will likely go on display at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum

Michigan drops federal case against Enbridge pipeline to clear way for state court case


Tue., November 30, 2021
By Nia Williams

CALGARY, Alberta, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Michigan's governor on Tuesday said she will dismiss her lawsuit against Enbridge Inc's Line 5 oil pipeline in federal court, clearing the way for the Midwestern state's attorney general to pursue a separate case in state court.

The move is a welcome development for Enbridge in one part of the long-running battle over Line 5, but Governor Gretchen Whitmer made it clear she will continue to fight against the 68-year-old oil pipeline.

Line 5 delivers 540,000 barrels per day of crude and refined products from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario, via Michigan. An underwater section of the line runs along the lakebed of the Straits of Mackinac connecting lakes Huron and Michigan and environmentalists are concerned the aging line could rupture and leak into the Great Lakes.

Whitmer ordered Enbridge to shut down the pipeline by May this year, which the Canadian company ignored. The governor also filed a lawsuit against Enbridge to enforce the order, but suffered a setback earlier this month when a judge ruled the case would be heard in federal court.

In a statement, Whitmer said dismissing the federal case clears the way for a separate lawsuit filed by Attorney General Dana Nessel to go forward in state court. That attorney general's lawsuit was originally filed in June 2019, but was paused while the governor's lawsuit, filed in 2020, proceeded.

"I believe the people of Michigan, and our state courts, should have the final say on whether this oil company should continue pumping 23 million gallons of crude oil through the Straits of Mackinac every day," Whitmer said.

Dropping the federal case should speed up the attorney general's state court case, said environmental group FLOW, which described Michigan's move as a "strategic step."

"The state's legal fight and the citizen-led movement to protect the Great Lakes, jobs, and a way of life continue full speed ahead," said FLOW Executive Director Liz Kirkwood.

Calgary-based Enbridge said it is pleased by Michigan's decision to drop the federal lawsuit.

Earlier this year the Canadian government waded into the dispute by intervening in the court case in support of Enbridge, and last month invoked a 1977 pipeline treaty with the United States to trigger negotiations between Ottawa and Washington over the pipeline's fate.

Government officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Andrea Ricci)

Chevy Bolt EVs Are Still Combusting Like This One At Chevy Dealer
Andrei Nedelea 11 hrs ago

No, this one had not had its battery replaced as part of the recall yet, obviously.

Another day, another Chevy Bolt EV fire, this time right outside a Chevrolet dealership in Clarksville, Maryland. Apparently, the vehicle actually belonged to an employee and the vehicle, predictably, had not had its battery pack replaced as part of the massive recall issued by General Motors for the Bolt EV and Bolt EUV models.

© InsideEVs Bolt EV fire

GM has narrowed down the cause of all these electric vehicle fires to either a torn anode tab or a folded separator within one of the 288 lithium-ion cells that make up the pack. Now, at the start of November, it finally started to replace the battery packs in affected models, after previously only giving owners recommendations (like how much to charge or to not park it inside overnight) or software updates.

#MaryLed pic.twitter.com/6vQQzqX5rQ— Zack (@BLKMDL3) November 30, 2021

And while this is sure to be a hassle for owners to have to take their vehicles in, at least the replacement pack will give their Bolt extra range, up from 238 to 259 miles. This is thanks to an increase in overall capacity from 60 kWh to 65 kWh, so while owners may not be pleased their vehicle has been recalled, at least they get a free range bonus and a brand new battery pack.

Owners are now eagerly awaiting to be informed when it is their turn to have their Bolt’s battery replaced. However, until the last possibly defective battery is replaced, we will still see Bolts catching fire because there are around 110,000 affected vehicles, so it will take GM months to go through them all.

12 Nuclear Plants? 113 Dams? That’s How Much Canada Is Short Of Its Green Energy Needs, Report Says

On Dec 2, 2021


OTTAWA—Highlighting the need for a massive expansion of clean electricity over the next 28 years, a new report urges the federal government to quickly set up new rules to push fossil fuels out of Canada’s power grids and funnel more money to energy sources that don’t cause climate change.

According to the report published Wednesday by the think tank Clean Energy Canada, the country needs to roughly double the amount of clean electricity it produces to fulfil the government’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to “net zero” before 2050.

That means adding electricity from clean sources equivalent to almost 12 times the output of Ontario’s Bruce nuclear power plant, or 113 times the output of the Site C dam on the Peace River in northeast British Columbia.

The report does not put a price tag on the cost, but says it will require “significant” spending from governments and electricity providers, as well as swift action from Ottawa on the promised “clean electricity standard.”

The governing Liberals made the standard a key pledge on climate change in this year’s federal election, vowing to pass regulations to make Canada’s electricity grids run entirely on non-emitting sources of power by 2035.

Mark Zacharias, a special adviser with Clean Energy Canada, said it is “critical” for Ottawa to set these regulations before the end of 2023. That would send a clear signal to utilities and provincial governments about what is required on the path to achieving 100-per-cent non-emitting electricity, he said.

It would also make clear that the era of powering grids by burning fossil fuels is coming to a close.

“There’s no use establishing or standing up new fossil fuel electricity generation, because you’re not going to be able to use it in 15 years, so that’s quite critical right now,” Zacharias said by phone this week.

In a recent interview with the Star, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said the government would launch consultations on the new electricity rules “in the coming months” and work to implement them “as fast as we can.”

The Clean Energy Canada report also bills the switch spurred by this promised regulation as a “generational opportunity” for jobs and climate action. Getting to 100 per cent non-emitting electricity will require building out clean power to fuel the country’s energy needs in the coming decades, which will in turn create jobs in wind, solar, geothermal and other renewable industries, the report says.

Clean Energy Canada predicts more than 200,000 jobs can be created in the clean energy sector by 2030.

The report points to other potential economic advantages of cleaning Canada’s electricity grids.

The European Union is already mulling tariffs on products associated with higher greenhouse gases, so if Canada’s heavy industry can use cleaner electricity to make goods like steel and cement, they could get prioritized over dirtier alternatives from other countries, the report says.

The United States is also pushing for a non-emitting grid by 2035. Since the majority of U.S. electricity is still from emitting sources like coal and natural gas, the report says that opens the door for Canada to sell more clean electricity south of the border.

On top of that, cleaning the grid could take care of emissions that account for eight per cent of Canada’s annual total — a sizable chunk of the goal of reducing them by at least 40 per cent by 2030 — and make it easier to reduce emissions from the transportation, home heating and heavy industry, the report says.

To fuel the switch, the report calls on Ottawa to prioritize federal funding for projects that accelerate the adoption of clean power rather than “perpetuate fossil fuel use and development.” The federal government should also include promised tax credits for renewable energy and power storage in its 2022 budget, and direct agencies like the Canada Infrastructure Bank to funnel money to a “national clean electricity system.”

“Canada has a tremendous economic opportunity, not just a climate opportunity, to leverage our ability to create clean electricity,” Zacharias said. “We need to seize it.”

Eighty-three per cent of Canada’s electricity grid is already powered by non-emitting sources. Sixty per cent is from hydro projects like dams, while 17 per cent is from nuclear power and six per cent comes from wind, the report notes, citing 2020 data from Statistics Canada.

The government is already requiring provinces to phase out coal-fired power — which accounts for eight per cent of Canada’s electricity supply — by 2030, leaving natural gas as the prime source of emitting power.

But that national average papers over significant regional differences. Quebec, British Columbia and Ontario, for instance, are already powered almost entirely by non-emitting electricity, while the majority of electricity supplies in Alberta and Saskatchewan come from coal and natural gas.

For Zacharias, this makes collaboration between governments vital to the success of the switch, including through construction of power lines to share clean electricity across provincial borders.

“The clean electricity standard will really incentivize these discussions and basically light a fire under everyone to start talking,” he said.

Credit: Source link

United States is world's biggest plastic polluter, report finds

At the current rate, the amount of plastics discharged into the ocean could reach up to 53 million tonnes per year by 2030, roughly half of the total weight of fish caught from the ocean annually, a US report said. (File photo: AFP/Nicolas TUCAT)

02 Dec 2021 

WASHINGTON: The United States is by far the biggest contributor to global plastic waste in the world, according to a new report submitted to the federal government on Wednesday (Dec 1) that called for a national strategy to tackle the growing crisis.

Overall, the US contributed around 42 million tonnes in plastic waste in 2016 - more than twice as much as China and more than the countries of the European Union combined, according to the analysis.

On average, every American generates 130kg of plastic waste per year, with Britain next on the list at 99kg per person per year, followed by South Korea at 88kg per year.

Entitled Reckoning with the US Role in Global Ocean Plastic Waste, the report was mandated by Congress as part of the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act, which became law in December 2020.

"The success of the 20th century miracle invention of plastics has also produced a global scale deluge of plastic waste seemingly everywhere we look," wrote Margaret Spring, chief science officer of Monterey Bay Aquarium, who chaired the committee of experts that compiled the report.

She added global plastic waste was an "environmental and social crisis" that impacted inland and coastal communities, polluted rivers, lakes and beaches, placed economic burdens on communities, endangered wildlife and contaminated waters that humans depend on for food.

Global plastic production rose from 20 million tonnes in 1966 to 381 million tonnes in 2015, a 20-fold increase over half a century, the report said

Initially, attention to ocean waste focused solely on ship and marine-based sources, but it is now known that almost any plastic on land has the potential to reach the oceans via rivers and streams, the report added.

Related:

The eco-entrepreneurs waging war on plastic pollution in oceans

Research has shown nearly a thousand species of marine life are susceptible to plastic entanglement or to ingesting microplastics, which then make their way through the food web back to humans.

The report said an estimated 8 million tonnes of plastic waste enters the world annually, "the equivalent of dumping a garbage truck of plastic waste into the ocean every minute".

At the current rate, the amount of plastics discharged into the ocean could reach up to 53 million tonnes per year by 2030, roughly half of the total weight of fish caught from the ocean annually, it said.

Part of the reason is that while the generation of plastic waste in municipal solid waste has exploded, particularly since 1980, the scale of recycling has not kept up, resulting in more and more plastic finding its way into landfills.

The report offered a number of steps to address the crisis - first among them, reducing virgin plastic production, for example by establishing a national cap.

Garbage, including plastic waste, is seen at the beach of the Costa del Este neighbourhood in Panama City, on Jun 8, 2020. (File photo: AFP/Luis ACOSTA)

REDUCE SINGLE-USE PLASTICS

Other suggested actions include using materials that degrade more quickly and are more easily recycled, the reduction of certain single-use plastics, and improved waste management, such as techniques to remove microplastics from wastewater.

Improving waste capture technology would stop plastics in waterways, while stemming plastic disposal directly into the ocean itself also remains a priority.

Data collection is also a critical priority, the report added, calling for the US to establish tracking and monitoring systems to identify waste sources and hotspots.

The authors called for the country to develop its national strategy no later than the end of 2022.

"This is the most comprehensive and damning report on plastic pollution ever published," said Judith Enk, president of the Beyond Plastics non-profit.

"It is a code red for plastics in the ocean and documents how litter clean-ups are not going to save the ocean," she continued, adding it was urgent that policy makers and business leaders read the report and take action.

"The finger-pointing stops now. We can no longer ignore the United States' role in the plastic pollution crisis, one of the biggest environmental threats facing our oceans and our planet today," added Christy Leavitt, Oceana's plastics campaign director.

'Flee' sketches human face of Afghan refugee crisis


The Taliban's seizure of power again in Afghanistan in summer 2021 has been "Flee" feel more "sadly relevant," its director says (AFP/Hector RETAMAL)

Andrew MARSZAL
Wed, December 1, 2021

"Flee," an award-winning film about a gay Afghan refugee undertaking the perilous journey to Europe, puts a real-life human face on the country's decades-long crisis while simultaneously keeping its subject anonymous -- through animation.

Jonas Poher Rasmussen's hybrid documentary, which won the Sundance festival's jury prize and is Denmark's official candidate for next year's Oscars, stems from his teenage friendship with "Amin."

"I had the curiosity about his past ever since I met him when we were 15 years old, and he arrived to my Danish hometown," said Rasmussen, now 40.

While Amin was initially not interested in telling his story for film -- fearing risking his asylum status and being seen as a victim -- the idea to animate their interviews came to Rasmussen, a radio documentary-maker, in 2013.

"This way he can share his story, and still meet people on a clean slate -- people wouldn't know his innermost secrets, know his traumas."

The telling of those traumas are abundant in "Flee," from the disappearance of Amin's father in a 1980s Kabul under communism, to his family's desperate decision to abandon the Afghan capital as the Taliban encircled the city in 1996.

Archive newsreel footage used within the film evokes obvious parallels with the Taliban's seizure of power again in Afghanistan this summer.

"It became sadly relevant all of a sudden," said Rasmussen, who said Amin has watched in despair as "a new generation (of) Afghans (gets) pushed out (of the) country, and they're gonna be in the same limbo he was -- probably even worse."

But the film focuses more on another familiar news story -- the thousands of refugees risking their lives to reach Europe from conflict zones.

In one harrowing sequence depicted in eerie, minimalist sketches, Amin's sisters are trapped in an airtight shipping container, trying to reach Scandinavia aboard a Baltic Sea cargo ship.

Later, Amin attempts the same crossing on a crowded, leaking vessel, but is intercepted by the Estonian coastguard.

Animating the event "felt somewhat more honest" than hiring actors to play police officers arresting the migrants, said Rasmussen.

"In a more surreal way, it's good to dive into his emotion... more show his fear, because that is really what took over there."

- 'A human being' -

Rasmussen was also inspired by "Waltz with Bashir," the Israeli Oscar-nominated film which animates interviews with veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

Watching that earlier film, Rasmussen found it was easier to "take in the stories" without seeing real "human faces suffering" -- a sight that audiences are sadly too exposed to by constant news footage.

"The fact that you have this animation medium in between made me not block it out as I would probably normally do," he said.

Animation also lends itself to another, unexpected aspect of the film -- humor.

Amin's recollection of listening to 1980s pop music on his pink Walkman as a young boy in Kabul prompts a joyful childhood sequence styled on the famous pencil-sketch animation sequence of A-ha's "Take on Me" music video.

Jean Claude van Damme and Bollywood movie stars -- Amin's secret boyhood crushes -- are shown winking at him from posters and screens.

"You're also allowed to laugh with him, you're allowed to laugh at him," said Rasmussen.

"I'm really hoping that this will crack open the experience of the refugee story.

"That it's not just about someone who needs something, but it's about a human being who was in a position in life at some point where he couldn't control what happened."

"Flee" is released in US theaters Friday.

amz/caw

Tunisia women mix beats and break taboos



Olfa Arfaoui (R), set up the DJ Academy for Girls in 2018. She says that in three years, the academy has trained about 100 young women (AFP/Fethi Belaid)More

Francoise Kadri
Wed, December 1, 2021, 7:33 PM·3 min read

Fouchika Junior adjusts her headphones, flicks a slider and seamlessly drops the next tune: one of Tunisia's rare female DJs, she is helping other women break into a male-dominated world.

"DJing isn't very common among women," she said.

"I'm trying to give them an opportunity so they understand that a woman can be a DJ in Tunisia -- or anywhere."

The 29-year-old, whose real name is Yasmina Gaida, works in cinema by day.

But since taking a three-day DJing course five years ago, she has mastered the decks and now plays various styles of house music in clubs across Tunis.

At the French Institute in central Tunis recently, she was giving Nada Benmadi, 25, her first lesson in mixology.

"I want to bring music lovers together to dance and spread positive energy," said Benmadi, an aspiring sound engineer who wants to one day open her own production studio.

But "being a female DJ in Tunisia, that makes most families afraid," she said.

"You get home late at night, and it's mostly a male thing."

- 'Toxic' environment -

Fouchika, whose DJ name means "hyper" in Tunisian Arabic, said club owners were sometimes wary of hiring a female DJ for a night.

"When it's a man, they say 'OK, send me your profile on SoundCloud', and they can go and mix," she said, referring to the streaming platform where DJs and musicians can share their work.

"But when it's a girl, they ask, 'have you ever mixed before?'"

"They see it as a technical thing and so not really made for girls," said the DJ, wearing a loose blue shirt and her hair in an Afro.

Fouchika said her parents -- a make-up artist and a hotel entertainer -- didn't stand in the way of her passion, but some of her students face more resistance.

"Sometimes I have to go and meet their families to tell them, 'everything's OK, we're not doing anything bad, just music'," she said.

While Benmadi said family members had encouraged her to do what she loves, many women in Tunisia face obstacles to pursuing their interests.

"DJing isn't seen as 'safe' for Tunisian women," said Olfa Arfaoui, who set up the DJ Academy for Girls in 2018.

"It's seen as a difficult trade dominated by men, and which happens in an environment that can be toxic or even violent for women."

Fouchika, whose DJ name means 'hyper' in Tunisian Arabic, said club owners were sometimes wary of hiring a female DJ for a night (AFP/Fethi Belaid)

- 'Social change' -

But now, she added, "women have started entering the clubbing space, which is getting used to their presence".

In three years her academy, which she said was the first in the Arab world, has trained about 100 young women.

And in a country with 40 percent youth unemployment, and where only 28 percent of women work, the hobby allows some "to use their passion for music to earn money", Arfaoui added.

The academy also offers courses on sound engineering and design as well as music production.

Arfaoui said it all helped boost students' self-confidence.

"Music helps them speak more freely and puts them at ease," she said, adding that it can also be "a tool for social change, and to create more diversity and equality."

Former student Roua Bida, 33, said she wanted to fight against men who "think we're going to take away their space".

Along with Fouchika and others, they are setting up a collective of female DJs.

"If we each battle on our own, we'll always have the same problems, but if we're united... people will give us a chance," she said.

fka/par/lg

Canada diplomats say Ottawa mishandled 'Havana Syndrome' crisis

PARANOID PSYCHOSOMATIC SYNDROME

CIA CONTAGION

AFP



After completing stints in Cuba, nearly 20 Canadian diplomats complained of violent headaches, visual troubles and nausea -- and they claim their government has failed them and others who are still falling ill with the mysterious "Havana Syndrome".

Officially, the Canadian authorities only recognize 14 cases of the unexplained affliction, with the last recorded in December 2018.

But the stricken diplomats, who are suing the government in Ottawa for taking too long to evacuate them and provide them with treatment, say the number is closer to 30 -- and rising.

Paul Miller, a Toronto lawyer representing 18 Canadian diplomats claiming more than 28 million Canadian dollars (about $22 million USD) in damages and interest, told AFP he continues to receive calls from alleged victims.

"We have some very recent cases, from 2021," he said.

A source close to the case told AFP there were two reports just this year of diplomats forced to end their tours of duty in Havana earlier than scheduled after experiencing symptoms.

Cases of the puzzling affliction dubbed "Havana Syndrome" in the media first emerged in Cuba in 2016.

Diplomats from the United States and Canada -- some of whom claimed they heard very high-pitched sounds -- started complaining of migraines, vertigo and nausea.

In some, brain lesions were diagnosed.

Later, cases were also reported among diplomats working in Australia, Austria, China, Colombia, Germany, Russia and even Washington.

- 'Weird vibrations' -

A former Canadian diplomat, who lived in Cuba for four years, recounted waking up one morning in 2017 suffering from vertigo and "bad nose bleeds."

"I hadn't had a nose bleed since I was a child," the woman told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The symptoms worsened, she said: "I realized I was not able to carry on working at that time so that's when I left."

Another said she started "feeling weird vibrations in my ears around the same time every night" just weeks after arriving in Havana in 2017, and noticed a deterioration of her formerly perfect eyesight.

"I've never had glasses, never had any visual problems whatsoever and since Cuba I now have to wear green-tinted glasses as much as possible, and even then my eyes are blurry at times," she said.

- 'Collective hysteria' -

Several hypotheses have been put forward to explain the symptoms -- from electronic weapons possibly wielded by a US rival such as Russia, to collective hysteria induced by stress or the effects of insecticides.

There has been no definitive conclusion, and Cuban authorities deny the existence of a syndrome.

In September, a 16-member expert panel convened by the communist government in Havana issued a report saying the claims were not "scientifically acceptable."

It said "neither the Cuban police, nor the FBI, nor the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have discovered evidence of 'attacks' on diplomats in Havana despite intense investigations."

In Washington, the case is far from closed.

Last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged to "get to the bottom" of the matter and appointed two veteran envoys to coordinate a response and ensure anyone reporting symptoms received the appropriate medical care.

- No help -

Afflicted Canadian diplomats say their complaints have not been treated with the same level of urgency.

"I think our biggest complaint is that we weren't offered any kind of help," said one.

Another, who said she was instructed not to speak about her health concerns to anyone, not even medical personnel, said: "I think Canada was very reluctant to say: 'Yes, our diplomats... are affected'. I think they prioritized the relationship with Cuba over their own people."

While Cuba's relations with the United States are notoriously tense, apart from a brief period of detente between 2014 and 2016, those with Canada are warm.

Ottawa has never broken off ties since the revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1959, and is historically the main source of tourists to the island.

Miller agreed the treatment of American and Canadian presumed victims was "very different."

"Here (in Ottawa), the government said: 'We're going to do everything to take care of our diplomats.' They haven't."

In a written response to AFP: the Canadian foreign ministry said it "takes the health, safety and security of Canadians very seriously" and "continues to monitor the health and safety of its diplomatic staff stationed in Havana."

In January 2019, Canada announced it had reduced its staffing at the embassy to about half as a result of the unexplained symptoms, but has since started upping numbers and expects to soon return to full staffing.

ka-tib/mlr/sst

#METOO DOWN UNDER
Australian minister suspended over accusations of abusing staffer


Former government staffer Rachelle Miller accused Education and Youth Minister Alan Tudge of emotional and physical abuse during their relationship in 2017 (AFP/TORSTEN BLACKWOOD)

Wed, December 1, 2021

An Australian cabinet minister has been removed from his post while allegations he was abusive toward a former staffer during their relationship are investigated, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Thursday.

It comes just days after a high-profile inquiry found that sexual harassment and bullying are rife in Australia's parliament, with both lawmakers and staff affected by the institution's "sexist" culture.

Former government staffer Rachelle Miller on Thursday accused Education and Youth Minister Alan Tudge of emotional and physical abuse during their relationship in 2017 -- allegations he has denied.


Miller, who first publicly disclosed the consensual affair last year, told reporters in Canberra it was also an "emotionally and on one occasion physically abusive relationship" that was "defined by significant power imbalance".

She described Tudge allegedly kicking her until she fell out of bed onto the floor after she answered a work call at about 4:00 am, saying he was "furious" at losing sleep following a night of drinking together.

"I felt someone kicking me on the side of my hip and leg, as I tried to sit up in bed. It was the minister," she said.

Just hours after Miller's statement to journalists, Morrison told parliament that Tudge had agreed to stand aside while the allegations are probed through an "independent and fair process".

"Given the seriousness of the claims made by Ms Miller, it's important these matters be resolved fairly and expeditiously," the prime minister said.

"This is the appropriate action for me to take under the ministerial standards. I note that Minister Tudge has welcomed this process."

Tudge earlier denied the allegations, saying in a statement to local media that he "completely and utterly" rejected Miller's version of events.

The working culture at Australia's parliament has been under increased scrutiny since parliamentary staffer Brittany Higgins alleged she was raped inside a minister's office in 2019 after a night out with conservative Liberal Party colleagues.

Her allegations -- which are now before the court -- fuelled nationwide demonstrations and demands for reform.

A subsequent government-backed report released Tuesday said just over half of the people currently working at parliament had experienced bullying, sexual harassment or actual or attempted sexual assault.

The report made 28 recommendations in response, including a formal statement of acknowledgement by political leaders, targets to increase gender diversity and "a proactive focus on safety and wellbeing".

hr/djw/jah

Global warming not responsible for Madagascar famine: study

Paris, France | December 2, 2021, Thursday|  By: AFP 

(AFP) - Global warming played only a minimal role in the famine that has hit Madagascar, according to a new study published Thursday which contradicts a UN description of the crisis as a "climate change famine".

The southern Indian Ocean island off Africa has been hit by its worst drought in four decades.

The UN's World Food Programme said last month that more than 1.3 million people there were considered to be in a food security crisis or emergency as a result.

In June the WFP said Madagascar is the "first country in the world that is experiencing famine-like conditions as a result of the climate crisis".

Last month Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina said: "My countrymen are paying the price for a climate crisis that they did not create."

But the findings of the new study, published on Thursday by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) network of scientists, do not back up the theory that Madagascar's famine was induced by climate change.

According to the study by the WWA, which has pioneered ways to speedily link extreme weather events to climate change, the rainy seasons of both 2019/20 and 2020/21 saw just 60 percent of normal rainfall across southern Madagascar.

"This lack of rain over the 24 months from July 2019 to June 2021 was estimated as a 1-in-135 year dry event, an event only surpassed in severity by the devastating drought of 1990-92," the study said.

"Based on observations and climate modelling, the occurrence of poor rains as observed from July 2019 to June 2021 in Southern Madagascar has not significantly increased due to human-caused climate change."

- 'Not surprising' -

Those findings correspond with the results of a report released in August by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which indicated that global warming is not expected to affect levels of drought in Madagascar until it reaches two degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial era. At present the increase is around 1.1 C.

"Our results are not surprising, they are very much in line with previous studies," Friederike Otto of Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute told AFP.

"I was more surprised by the UN branding this as clearly as climate change induced," she added, saying "extreme events are always a combination of things".

"It's really important not to automatically assume that every bad thing that is happening is because of climate change, it's not true."

Climatologist Robert Vautard, head of France's Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute and another of the study's authors, agrees.

In the Madagascar case "if there is any influence by climate change it is minimal," even too small to be detectable, he told AFP.

According to the WWA report, "poverty, poor infrastructure and dependence on rain-fed agriculture, combined with natural climate variability, are the main factors behind the Madagascar food crisis, with climate change playing no more than a small part."

However no one is questioning the seriousness of the situation.

"They have been hit by a major drought two years in a row, with people forced to leave their land. It's a dramatic situation," said Vautard.

"And since we are relatively confident that droughts will increase in Madagascar at least from +2C onwards, we must still be concerned and try to limit climate change," he continued.

Maarten van Aalst, director of the International Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, said that the events in Madagascar show that "in many cases we are not even prepared for today's climate".

"Addressing the vulnerability in the region and improving the living conditions of the population remains critical."

© Agence France-Presse