SCHADENFREUDE

Influential Koch network rocked by an alleged affair scandal, donor departures and a discrimination lawsuit

Brian Schwartz, CNBC,  Dec 3,2021


The influential, libertarian-leaning Koch network has been rocked by an alleged affair scandal, departures of key donors and a workplace discrimination lawsuit.

Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips announced his resignation this week. He is said to have had an extramarital affair with a Virginia-based Republican official.

CNBC also has learned that Arlington, Virginia-based Americans for Prosperity recently quietly settled a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination and retaliation in the group's North Carolina branch.

© Provided by CNBC In this February 26, 2007 file photograph, Charles Koch, head of Koch Industries, talks passionately about his new book on Market Based Management.

The libertarian political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, which is backed by billionaire industrialist Charles Koch, has been rocked by an alleged extramarital affair involving a departing leader, as well as an exodus of key donors while the organization undergoes major changes.

CNBC also has learned that Arlington, Virginia-based Americans for Prosperity, which has more than 3 million volunteers spread across 35 states, recently quietly settled a lawsuit alleging gender discrimination and retaliation in the group's North Carolina branch.

In response to this story, the group's spokesman Bill Riggs told CNBC that they found an "amicable resolution" in the lawsuit and defended the organization's workplace environment as "respectful, rewarding, and inclusive."

This week, Tim Phillips announced he was resigning as president of Americans for Prosperity after 15 years at the helm, citing what he called "challenging personal matters."

Phillips is said to have had what's described as an extramarital affair with a Virginia-based Republican official, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. These people declined to be named in order to speak freely about a private matter.

Claims of the affair came after Americans for Prosperity announced it had conducted an internal investigation into Phillips.

The group would not confirm or deny to CNBC what it had uncovered during the probe of Phillips. Instead, it provided the same statements that it to the Washington Examiner, which first reported Phillips was quitting.

Phillips said in a statement provided by the group: "This morning, I announced my resignation as president of Americans for Prosperity in order to focus on some challenging personal matters that require my full attention. It is difficult to leave this organization, but doing so now is in everyone's best interest."

Phillips did not return repeated requests for comment from CNBC.

"While the underlying issues were personal in nature, it was a matter of integrity that violated our principles," said a person within AFP who is familiar with the matter.

"AFP's internal investigation did not uncover any financial malfeasance. This was a personal issue and did not, to our knowledge, impact anyone else internally at AFP," the person said.

This person chose to speak on the condition of anonymity in order to openly discuss broad themes of what Phillips allegedly did.

Donors and board members leave

With Phillips gone, there remain only two board members listed on the 501(c)(4) nonprofit group's website, including Mark Holden, who is listed as chairman. The group's CEO, Emily Seidel, is also a member of the board. AFP's 2020 990 tax disclosure lists at least six board members prior to the resignations.

In an internal announcement late last year, which has gone previously unreported, the organization said that two board members resigned from AFP's board. Frayda Levy, one of the board members who resigned, had been listed as the board's chair on previous tax disclosure forms. Jim Miller, who has ties to the Koch-backed Citizens for a Sound Economy, also resigned from the AFP board.

The announcement said that Levy would continue as a donor partner and active participant in AFP's New Jersey branch. Those leaving the board were moving on to have an active role on a formal advisory committee.

Several major donors have stepped away from the group as it has adjusted its political messaging during the administration of former President Donald Trump.

AFP has been backed by Koch and Republican-leaning donors for more than 15 years.

Its 990 tax filing for 2020 shows the group raised just over $58 million that year and had net assets of about $3 million by the end of it. AFP, like other similar nonprofits, does not publicly disclose the names of its donors. It finished 2020 with more than $64 million in revenue compared with about $54 million it received in 2019.

The Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, another Koch-backed group, disclosed in its 2020 990 form that it donated $40 million to Americans for Prosperity.

The group's spokesman told CNBC that AFP is gearing up for the upcoming 2022 elections.

"AFP has grown into a world-class organization with hundreds of staff across 35 state chapters with more donors and more resources than we've ever had before. In 2020, AFP and AFP Action engaged in – and won – more races than ever before, and we fully expect to exceed those numbers in 2022," Riggs said in an emailed statement.

During former President Barack Obama's administration, the group ran ads targeting the Affordable Care Act, his signature health care law that became known as Obamacare.

The group also saw major victories under Trump, including reformations to the tax code and the appointment of three Supreme Court Justices whom AFP openly supported.

But AFP also clashed with Trump when it came to trade issues such as the implementation of tariffs that the then-president imposed.

And since the start of Trump's administration in 2017, AFP has publicly said it is open to working with Democrats as well as Republicans.

However, during the 2020 election, the group's related but separate super PAC largely backed GOP contenders at the federal level, according to data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. This year, it supported Glenn Youngkin in his victory over Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the Virginia gubernatorial race.

Some donors who have previously supported Koch-backed entities have signaled that they are not interested in supporting AFP or Koch-linked groups in the future.

Wealthy businesspeople such as Randy Kendrick, Diane Hendricks, David Humphreys, Bob Luddy and Chris Rufer have suggested to allies that they have no immediate plans to contribute to a Koch-backed group, according to a person briefed on the matter.

Kendrick could not be reached for comment.

The other donors did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Workplace discrimination lawsuit

AFP's controversies aren't limited to the departure of Phillips and some donors.

Last year, former AFP official Anna Beavon Gravely sued the group in North Carolina state court for gender discrimination, retaliation and wrongful discharge.

A spokesman for AFP said that the two parties settled the lawsuit amicably.

"We reached an amicable resolution in each matter. AFP is committed to a respectful, rewarding, and inclusive work environment," Riggs said.

Gravely claimed that she did not get a promotion to North Carolina state director in 2018 despite her clear qualifications for the job, which was given to a man with less experience, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by CNBC.

Gravely was eventually fired by the same man who got the job she was gunning for, the suit says.

The complaint takes aim at Phillip Joffrion, who was once a regional director at AFP. The group's public 990 form from 2016 lists Joffrion and says he was paid just over $125,000 that year. He is not listed on subsequent forms.

Joffrion, the suit says, was the authorized hiring manager for jobs that included the group's North Carolina state director post, the job that Gravely hoped to secure permanently after filling it in an acting capacity.

Gravely "was made aware of the existence of prior complaints sounding in gender discrimination and/or sexual harassment," the suit says.

The complaint highlighted a 2017 dinner during which Joffrion allegedly ridiculed Gravely for having a "rigid" personality and critiqued her for being too "process-focused."

Joffrion later told Gravely that one of the reasons she did not get the job was because of a concern related to her humility, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also refers to a separate class-action lawsuit filed against the organization for workplace discrimination.

It is unclear where that purported other suit was filed. The now-former AFP official who is said to be part of that complaint is based in Arkansas.

Shortly after Gravely's lawsuit was filed, AFP moved to have the complaint transferred to North Carolina federal court.

After the case was transferred there, AFP said in a court filing that the group "specifically denies that [Gravely] was subjected to any discriminatory or retaliatory conduct."

Court filings show that Gravely dismissed her lawsuit, with the consent of AFP, dismissed her lawsuit "with prejudice" in late September.

Such dismissals, which bar a plaintiff from refiling the same kind of suit against a defendant, are routinely done in cases where the parties have reached an out-of-court settlement of claims.

Gravely declined to comment to CNBC. Her attorney did not return a request for comment.

Even if games go on, MLB lockout could alienate Gen Z

NEW YORK (AP) — Max Scherzer stars in the last video posted to Major League Baseball’s TikTok account before the league locked out the players Thursday morning.

The clip, viewed over 400,000 times, shows the final out from Scherzer's first no-hitter in 2015 with Washington, followed by teammates dousing the three-time Cy Young Award winner with chocolate syrup. Hip-hop duo Rae Sremmurd's “Swang” plays in the background.

“Max Scherzer is ... officially a New York Met!!!” the caption reads, celebrating Scherzer's $130 million deal to pitch in Queens.

It could be the last post featuring a big league player sent to the account’s 4.8 million followers for months, a curveball with real consequences for a sport already concerned about courting young fans.

Even if baseball's first work stoppage in 26 years doesn't result in missed games, the league and its players are at risk of alienating their next wave of fans. Gen Z — loosely defined as those born between 1995 and 2010 — has never experienced a baseball lockout or strike. Fan sentiment in previous stoppages was driven primarily by interruptions to the schedule, but for a generation that devours bite-sized entertainment faster than its predecessors, there’s potential for lasting damage even if the 2022 regular season starts on time.

For Gen Z, it’s all about the content. Suddenly, on social media, MLB doesn't have any featuring stars like Shohei Ohtani or Fernando Tatis Jr.

“This content machine that is kind of going on all cylinders ... that all probably either stops completely or is not anywhere near as active as it was,” said Mark Beal, an expert on Gen Z and an assistant professor in the Rutgers University School of Communication.

For Gen Z, he says, it's “out of sight, out of mind.”

Raised in an age of ever-present and seemingly boundless options for entertainment, Gen Z has alarmed the sports industry as a whole and baseball in particular with its waning interest. In a survey by Morning Consult published in September of 2020, just 53% of Gen Z respondents claimed to be at least casual sports fans, behind 69% of Millennials, 66% from Gen X and 61% of Boomers.

Only 32% of Gen Z respondents said they were at least a casual fan of MLB — trailing the NFL (49%), the NBA (47%) and esports (35%), among others.

The league has been proactively wooing the demographic since restructuring its marketing department in 2018 — the “Let The Kids Play” campaign came months later. The situation isn't all dire, either. Youth participation in baseball and softball has risen in the past decade, compared to drops for football and soccer.

But this year in particular, MLB made significant gains reaching young fans in the most likely place to find them — TikTok. The league upped its engagement there this summer with a contest to hire help running the official MLB account, and its inaugural 11-member Creator Class was unveiled in September.

The league's follower count has grown 65.5% to 4.8 million since the contest was announced. Beal, who made the keynote address at last year's Major League Baseball Speaker Series, called it a “best-in-sports" engagement tactic for the year.

Now, though, it's unclear what the league can send to those many followers.

To avoid running afoul of federal labor laws during the lockout, MLB has scrubbed images and video highlights of current players from its website. Its old social media posts remain — Mookie Betts making a diving catch, a mic'd up Juan Soto asking Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for an invite to his next house party — but the league won't be posting new content featuring players until the lockout ends.

“There’s great momentum there that is building, building, building, and building fandom, too,” Beal said. "If that all of a sudden slows down significantly or comes to almost a halt, then I think the Gen Z eyeballs kind of start tuning into, ‘Well what else is out there?’”

Once they wander off — and the algorithms on TikTok, Instagram and other platforms notice — it may not be so simple to get them back.

“I don’t think it’s as easy as flicking an on/off switch," Beal said. ”I think it’s going to take some time to kind of get the audience to shift their content preferences from what they’ve been tuned into since Dec. 1.”

Of course, just because Mike Trout won't appear on the Angels' accounts doesn't mean he won't be on social — the three-time MVP has 1.9 million Instagram followers, most of any big leaguer.

Players can still create their own content, of course, and it only took them a few hours to generate a viral moment after being locked out Thursday. In response to MLB.com replacing player headshots with gray silhouettes, many changed their profile photos on Twitter and elsewhere to the same generic image.

While baseball was shut down at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, players like Blake Snell and Trevor May livestreamed esports as a way of engaging with fans. If the lockout drags on, that may happen again. Notably, the MLB The Show video game has a licensing deal for player name, image and likeness rights that exists outside the CBA, so its spring release won't be affected, the league said.

There's also an unprecedented chance for players to address the discourse surrounding the stoppage.

“Every individual player, whether they chose to or not, does have platforms and channels that didn’t exist for players who played in the ’80s or ’90s, where they can communicate directly with fans,” Beal said.

Fans during previous stoppages generally lacked sympathy for millionaire athletes engaged in labor strife, but Gen Z might have more compassion. Social justice movements like Black Lives Matter have shaped their worldview, and they demand that brands provide good takes along with good products.

“Gen Z is the purpose generation," Beal said. “They support companies, brands, organizations, celebrities who demonstrate a higher purpose.”

That purpose extends to labor rights, too. Per Gallup polling, 77% of adults age 18-34 are pro-union. Specific to sports, Gen Z athletes have earned unprecedented protections and opportunities in college, including an NCAA rule change allowing them to capitalize financially on their name, image and likeness.

That doesn't guarantee Gen Z will side with labor in a showdown between millionaire athletes and billionaire owners.

“I don’t know if there’s an opportunity with a lockout to demonstrate purpose,” Beal said. “Gen Z is the purpose generation, and what they might ask is, ‘Well, ultimately, is there a higher purpose to all of this other than just trying to make some more money?’”

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Follow Jake Seiner: https://twitter.com/Jake_Seiner

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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Jake Seiner, The Associated Press

Total solar eclipse plunges Antarctica into darkness


Total solar eclipse on December 4 (AFP/Valentin RAKOVSKY)


Fri, December 3, 2021,

A total solar eclipse plunged Antarctica from summer into darkness early Saturday in a rare astronomical spectacle witnessed by a handful of scientists and thrill-seekers -- and countless penguins.

"The visibility was excellent," said Raul Cordero of the University of Santiago de Chile (USACH), who was on site to witness "totality" at 0746 GMT, with the "ring of fire" phase lasting just over 40 seconds.

Solar eclipses occur when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, casting its shadow on Earth. For the eclipse to be total, the Sun, Moon and Earth must be directly aligned.

Totality was visible only in Antarctica, experienced by a small number of scientists, experts and adventure tourists -- who paid some $40,000 for the privilege.

Streamed live by NASA from the Union Glacier camp in Antarctica, the eclipse began at 0700 GMT as the Moon began to move in front of the Sun, coming to an end at 0806 GMT.

The Union Glacier camp is situated about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) north of the South Pole.

According to NASA, a partial eclipse was also visible across parts of the southern hemisphere, including parts of Saint Helena, Namibia, Lesotho, South Africa, Chile, New Zealand and Australia.

The last total solar eclipse in Antarctica occurred on November 23, 2003 and the next one will not be until 2039.

An annular solar eclipse -- in which the Moon obscures all but an outer ring of the Sun -- is set to sweep across North America in October 2023, followed by a total eclipse in April 2024.

apg/ec/bbk

Incoming Honduran president wants UN help to battle corruption


Xiomara Castro, seen on November 28, 2021 reacting in Tegucigalpa to news she was headed toward becoming Honduras's first female president, has promised to fight widespread corruption and poverty (AFP/Luis ACOSTA)

Moises AVILA, Noe LEIVA
Sat, December 4, 2021, 10:33 AM·4 min read

Xiomara Castro, who will make history as Honduras' first female president when she takes office on January 27, plans to ask the UN for help in fighting the corruption plaguing the Central American nation, and will urge Congress to repeal so-called "impunity" laws.

The 62-year-old Castro, who heads the leftist LIBRE party, told AFP in an interview she will work to rescind laws that "have covered up all the corruption" of recent years -- a clear allusion to the government of her predecessor, Juan Orlando Hernandez.

"Honduras needs the heart of a woman," she said, "of a woman who feels the people's needs."

Castro, the wife of ousted president Manuel Zelaya (2006-2009), answered AFP's questions via a WhatsApp audio link.

Here is what she had to say on a variety of other topics:

- Migration and poverty -

Some 60 percent of the country's 10 million inhabitants live in poverty, and thousands, since 2018, have headed north in hopes of finding work in the United States.

"Our commitment is to guarantee that in Honduras, in their country, people have the conditions for a dignified life: free, universal education for all children and young people, and free universal healthcare," she said, without elaborating.

- The fight against corruption -

In 2016, after President Hernandez acknowledged his election campaign was partly funded with public moneys, the Organization of American States (OAS) sent an anti-corruption mission to Honduras, but it left in 2020 after a disagreement over renewing its mandate.

Castro wants to reactivate a high-level mission, this time headed by the United Nations, and says she has approached UN officials about doing so.

And she said her government would send "an initiative to Congress to repeal the laws that have sustained the dictatorship" -- by which she means the Hernandez government. The state anti-corruption council refers to those regulations as the "laws of impunity."

Castro specifically mentioned the so-called "law of secrets," which classifies information on state purchases and "through which they have covered up all the corruption." She also opposes a penal code reform that reduced penalties for money laundering.

- Relations with the US -

Washington, which has had a military base in Honduras since the 1980s, had called for peaceful and transparent elections, and closely followed the process.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has indicated willingness to work with Castro, while she has described the bilateral relationship as "cordial."

"One of the main issues is migration," said Castro. "The defense of human rights, the safety of migrants, and above all of children and their families, is fundamental."

- Fighting drug trafficking -

Drug trafficking has reached into the highest levels of the country -- the current president's brother, "Tony" Hernandez, is serving a life sentence in the United States for drug trafficking.

"We will fight narco-trafficking head-on," Castro said. "We are going to guarantee the security of our borders, both in the air and at sea, so that neither narco-trafficking nor arms trafficking can take place in our country."

- Disputed economic zones -

In 2013, the rightist National Party government promoted the creation of Special Economic Development Zones (ZEDE), largely autonomous territories within Honduras that are meant to promote investment.

Some groups in civil society, however, consider these zones unconstitutional -- as "states within the state" where people evading extradition can take refuge. The UN has asked Honduras to "review" the practice.

"Immediately upon assuming the presidency, we are going to send the National Congress an initiative for the repeal of the ZEDE law," Castro said.

- Her husband, the 'best advisor' -

After his election atop the rightist Liberal Party, Castro's husband Manuel Zelaya and his government took a clear leftward turn, aligning with Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua before being ousted by a civil-military alliance in 2009. Initially exiled, Zelaya returned to the country in 2011.

During Castro's campaign she promised she would lead a government of "democratic socialism" and would draw on the experience of her husband -- her "best advisor" -- in the fight against poverty.

As the first woman to govern Honduras, Castro said, "I am committed to ensuring that women's rights are respected."

- 'Readjusting' the debt -

With total debt of nearly $17 billion -- including $11 billion in foreign debt -- "one of the first actions we will take will be to readjust that debt," the new president said.

"We are not going to impose new taxes," she said, though analysts say debt and the fiscal deficit could pose major challenges to the new government.

mav/nl/lda/bbk/ec

French climber pockets Mont Blanc gems after 2013 find


Three climbers walk at an altitude of 3400 metres on September 11, 2013 near the Dent du Géant (Giant's tooth), in the Mont Blanc massif in France and Italy (AFP/Jean-Pierre Clatot)


Sat, December 4, 2021

A treasure trove of emeralds, rubies and sapphires buried for decades on a glacier off France's Mont Blanc has finally been shared between the climber who discovered them and local authorities, eight years after they were found.

The mountaineer stumbled across the precious stones in 2013. They had remained hidden in a metal box that was on board an Indian plane that crashed in the desolate landscape some 50 years earlier.

"The stones have been shared this week" in two equal lots valued at around 150,000 euros ($169,000) each, Chamonix mayor Eric Fournier told AFP.

He said he was "very happy" that events had been brought to a conclusion, in particular for the climber who he praised for his "integrity" in turning his find in to police as required by law.

Two Air India planes crashed into Mont Blanc in 1950 and in 1966.

Over the years, climbers have routinely found debris, baggage and human remains from the aircraft.

In September 2012, India took possession of a bag of diplomatic mail from the Kangchenjunga, a Boeing 707 flying from Mumbai which crashed on the southwest face of Mont Blanc on January 24, 1966.

The crash killed 117 people including the pioneer of India's nuclear programme, Homi Jehangir Bhabha.

Authorities believe the precious stones are likely to have come from that flight which had been en route from Mumbai to New York.

ahe/dlm/har/ah

In democracy’s birthplace, pope warns of populist threats

By NICOLE WINFIELD and DEREK GATOPOULOS

1 of 20

Pope Francis delivers his speech during a meeting with authorities, at the Presidential Palace, in Athens, Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021. Pope Francis arrived to Greece Saturday for the second leg of his trip to the region with meetings in Athens aimed at bolstering recently-mended ties between the Vatican and Orthodox churches. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis, Pool)

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Pope Francis warned Saturday that the “easy answers” of populism and authoritarianism are threatening democracy in Europe and called for fresh dedication to promoting the common good rather than narrow, nationalist interests.

Arriving in Greece, the birthplace of democracy, Francis used a speech to Greek political and cultural leaders to warn Europe at large about the threats facing the continent. He said only robust multilateralism can address the pressing issues of the day, from protecting the environment to fighting the pandemic and poverty.

“Politics needs this, in order to put common needs ahead of private interests,” Francis said. “Yet we cannot avoid noting with concern how today, and not only in Europe, we are witnessing a retreat from democracy.”

Francis, who lived through Argentina’s populist Peronist era as well as its military dictatorship, has frequently warned about the threat of authoritarianism and populism and the danger it poses to the European Union and democracy itself.

He didn’t name any specific countries or leaders during his speech. The EU, however, is locked in a feud with members Poland and Hungary over rule-of-law issues, with Warsaw insisting that Polish law takes precedence over EU policies and regulations.

Coincidentally, on the same day Francis warned about the populist threat to Europe, right-wing populist leaders met in Warsaw and declared they will work more closely together to defend their sovereignty at the European Parliament.

Outside the bloc, populist leaders in Brazil and the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump pressed nationalist policies on the environment that contrasted sharply with Francis’ call to care for “our common home.”

Opening the second leg of his five-day trip to Cyprus and Greece, Francis recalled that it was in Greece, according to Aristotle, that man became conscious of being a “political animal” and a member of a community of fellow citizens.

“Here, democracy was born,” Francis told Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou. “That cradle, thousands of years later, was to become a house, a great house of democratic peoples. I am speaking of the European Union and the dream of peace and fraternity that it represents for so many peoples.”

That dream is at risk amid the economic upheaval and other disruptions of the pandemic that can breed nationalist sentiments and make authoritarianism seem “compelling and populism’s easy answers appear attractive,” Francis said.

“The remedy is not to be found in an obsessive quest for popularity, in a thirst for visibility, in a flurry of unrealistic promises ... but in good politics,” he said.

Francis praised the “necessary vaccination campaign” promoted by governments to tame the coronavirus. He referenced another Greek doctor-philosopher — Hippocrates — in response to vaccine skeptics and virus deniers, who count many religious conservatives among them. Francis cited the Hippocratic oath to not only do what is best for the sick, but to “abstain from whatever is harmful and offensive to others,” especially the elderly.

Greece’s president echoed the sentiment. “The virus spreads and mutates, helped by the irrational denial of reality and inequalities in our societies,” Sakellaropoulou said.

Greece is grappling with its highest level of coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic, with deaths approaching record levels. A quarter of the country’s adults remain unvaccinated, and Parliament recently approved a vaccine mandate for people over age 60.

Francis’ trip has been clouded by the Dec. 2 death of the Vatican’s ambassador to the European Union, Archbishop Aldo Giordano, among several prelates who tested positive for COVID-19 after celebrating Francis’ final Mass in Slovakia in September. The Vatican’s EU embassy insisted that Giordano caught the virus days earlier during a European bishops’ meeting in Hungary.

Francis’ visit to Cyprus and Greece also has focused on the plight of migrants as Europe hardens its border control policies. On Sunday he is returning to the Aegean Sea island of Lesbos, which he visited five years ago to meet with migrants at a detention camp.

In Athens, Francis is also met with Archbishop Ieronymos, the head of Greece’s Orthodox Church.

In 2001, Pope John Paul II became the first Catholic leader to visit Greece in more than 1,200 years and he used the occasion to beg forgiveness for the sins “by action or omission” of Catholics against Orthodox over the centuries. Francis’ visit 20 years later sought to further mend Catholic-Orthodox ties, still wounded by the Great Schism that divided Christianity.

Ieronymos told Francis on Saturday that he shared the pope’s vision to forge strong ties to face global challenges like the migration crisis and climate change.

“If the world community, the leaders of powerful states, and international organizations do not take bold decisions, the ever-threatening presence of vulnerable refugee women and children will continue to grow globally,” Ieronymos warned.

An elderly Orthodox priest heckled Francis as he arrived at Ieronymos’ residence, shouting: “Pope you are a heretic!” before police hustled him away.

Francis has accelerated inter-faith initiatives, as the two churches attempt to shift from centuries of competition and mistrust toward collaboration. Orthodox churches are also seeking alliances amid a deepening dispute over the independence of the Ukrainian church, which was historically governed by the Russian Orthodox Church.

“I think the presence of the pope in Greece and Cyprus signals a return to the normal relationship that we should have ... so that we can move toward what is most important of all: the unity of the Christian world,” Ioannis Panagiotopoulos, an associate professor of divinity and church history at Athens University, told The Associated Press.

The pope’s visit ends Monday.

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Theodora Tongas in Athens contributed. ___ Follow Winfield at https://twitter.com/nwinfield and Gatopoulos at https://twitter.com/dgatopoulos

Francis hits out at EU migration divisions at start of Greek visit





Pope Francis arrives in Athens for the first papal visit to the Greek capital since 2001

 (AFP/ARIS MESSINIS)

Clement Melki, Alexandros Kottis and John Hadoulis
Sat, December 4, 2021

Pope Francis on Saturday blamed the EU's nationalist divisions for a lack of coordination on migration as he began a landmark trip to Greece, aiming to improve complicated relations with the country's Orthodox Church.

Francis said that Europe was "torn by nationalist egoism" on migration during a meeting with EU vice-president Margaritis Schinas, Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, among other officials.

The European community "continues to temporise" and "appears at times blocked and uncoordinated" instead of being an "engine of solidarity" on migration, the pope said.

The 84-year-old's visit to the Greek capital is the first by a pope since John Paul II in 2001, which in turn was the first papal visit to Athens since the 1054 Schism between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

Meeting with the head of the Orthodox Church of Greece, Archbishop Ieronymos II, Francis stressed the "common roots" of the two churches and followed John Paul in asking for forgiveness "for the mistakes committed by many Catholics."

"We must continue this dialogue in truth and love," Ieronymos had said earlier.

Speaking to members of Greece's small Catholic community, which represent just 1.2 percent of the majority-Orthodox population, Francis urged them not to lose faith.

"Being a minority... does not mean being insignificant," he said.

- Return to Lesbos -

Francis has long championed refugees, and on Sunday will return to the island of Lesbos, which he last visited in 2016 during the early years of the migration crisis.

Flying in after a two-day trip to Cyprus, the pope landed shortly after 0900 GMT in the Greek capital, where security was heightened over expected protests by Orthodox hardliners among whom anti-papal sentiment remains strong.

Up to 2,000 police are deployed in Athens to monitor possible disruptions by Orthodox hardliners, who blame the Catholics for the Schism and the 1204 sacking of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade.

Reciprocal excommunications exchanged between the two churches after the Schism were only lifted in 1965.

Authorities have banned protests in the Athens centre.

Outside the archbishopric offices where Francis was meeting Ieronymos, police escorted away an elderly Greek priest who was calling the pope a "heretic".

Relations with the Church of Greece are much better than they were ahead of John Paul's visit, Pierre Salembier, head of the Jesuit Catholic community in Greece, told AFP.

But he said there were still some "known anti-Catholic fanatics" within the Church's governing body.

The bishop of Piraeus called the pope's visit "immoral", according to the union of Orthodox journalists.

Francis flies back to Rome on Monday.

- 'Open arms' -

During his visit to Cyprus, Francis condemned "slavery" and "torture" in migrant camps, drawing parallels with World War II.

The Cyprus government said Friday that 50 migrants, including two Cameroonians stuck for months in the divided island's buffer zone, will be relocated to Italy thanks to Francis.

On Sunday the pope will again visit Greece's Lesbos, a flashpoint of the 2015 refugee crisis and thereafter, "as a pilgrim to the wellsprings of humanity" to call for the integration of refugees.

The island's sprawling Moria migrant camp, which the pontiff visited in 2016, burnt down last year and has been replaced by the temporary facility of Mavrovouni.

With EU funds, Greece is building a series of "closed" facilities on Greek islands with barbed wire fencing, surveillance cameras, X-ray scanners and magnetic gates that are closed at night.

NGOs and aid groups have raised concerns about the new camps, arguing that people's movements should not be restricted.

Thirty-six groups active in Greece this week wrote to Francis raising the plight of people in the camps and requesting his help to halt illegal pushbacks of migrants allegedly by Greek border officers.

Greece vehemently denies the claims, insisting its coastguard saves lives at sea.

Addressing Francis on Saturday, President Sakellaropoulou insisted Athens "is making every possible effort to prevent the illegal traffic of people and their political exploitation".

The pontiff is expected to visit the camp and will meet two "randomly chosen" families, an official said.

"We await him with open arms," said Berthe, a Cameroonian asylum seeker at the camp.

She said she hoped the pope "will pray for us to help us overcome the insecurities we have lived, through faith".

On Wednesday, nearly 30 asylum-seekers landed near the camp. On Friday, two migrants died when a speedboat overturned near the Greek island of Kos.

cmk-ak-jph/har

Migrants on Lesbos hope pope will 'take their voice to world'




The island became a symbol of the migrant crisis when thousands of migrants landed on the popular holiday island in 2015 (AFP/Louisa GOULIAMAKI)

Marina RAFENBERG
Sat, December 4, 2021, 

Ahead of the pope's landmark visit to Greece, around 20 asylum-seekers from Mavrovouni camp were permitted to attend mass at Lesbos' sole Catholic church, socially distancing inside to worship together.

Christian Tango, a 31-year-old Congolese worshipper said Saturday he "hopes the pope will take (refugees') voices to the world," as he entered Our Lady of the Assumption, built in 1843 by French Franciscans.

Like his fellow asylum-seekers on Lesbos, Tango is permitted to leave the camp just once a week but this week will exceptionally be allowed out twice, in order to meet Pope Francis on Sunday.

"The pope knows the reality of refugees very well, much better than European politicians and leaders," said the refugee, who lost his wife and eight-year-old daughter during his perilous journey to Greece.

Greek authorities have deployed 850 police officers to the island, strictly controlled access even to journalists and replaced 93 tents with shipping containers equipped with mains electricity.

The island became a symbol of the migrant crisis when thousands of migrants landed on the popular holiday island in 2015.

"Tomorrow is the best day of my life, I never thought that one day I would have the opportunity to see the Pope with my own eyes," said Berthe N'Goyo, a Cameroonian who arrived three months ago and is one of 10 migrants who will sing for the pontiff.

- 'Gathered in your love' -

"We are gathered in your love," she sang.

"Faith allows me to move forward, and to overcome all the trials of my life, the exile, the voyage during which my boat overturned in the middle of the sea, the uncertainty of the future," she said.

The pope has made the plight of migrants in Europe a central theme of his visit to Greece.

"I hope that the Pope will carry our voice to the whole world and in particular to the European countries that must welcome refugees with more humanity," said Christian.

His two daughters, aged six and seven, rehearsed alongside other children a song in Lingala.

"Don't be afraid of us, my friend, because we are refugees," they sang.

Enice Kiaku, who has already spent two years on Lesbos, hopes that the Pope will be able to take her off the island.

"The conditions are very difficult in the camp, I am alone with two children," said the Congolese woman, who said she had "lost hope" her situation would improve.

During his previous visit in April 2016, Francis took twelve Syrian refugees back to the Vatican.

Far fewer migrants are now reaching Lesbos than in recent years and are accommodated in a hastily built site after the infamous Moria migrant camp, Europe's largest, was burnt down in September 2020.

mr/chv/gw/har

Penobscots don’t want ancestors’ scalping to be whitewashed
By DAVID SHARP
AP


Dawn Neptune Adams holds a copy of the Phips Proclamation of 1755, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021, in Bangor, Maine. Adams recently co-directed a film that focuses on the proclamation, one of the dozens of government-issued bounty proclamations that directed colonial settlers to hunt, scalp and kill Indigenous people for money. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)


PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Most Americans know about atrocities endured by Native Americans after the arrival of European settlers: wars, disease, stolen land. But they aren’t always taught the extent of the indiscriminate killings.

Members of the Penobscot Nation in Maine have produced an educational film addressing how European settlers scalped — killed — Indigenous people during the British colonial era, spurred for decades by cash bounties and with the government’s blessing.

“It was genocide,” said Dawn Neptune Adams, one of the three Penobscot Nation members featured in the film, called “Bounty.”

She said the point of the effort isn’t to make any Americans feel defensive or blamed. The filmmakers say they simply want to ensure this history isn’t whitewashed by promoting a fuller understanding of the nation’s past.

At the heart of the project is a chilling declaration by Spencer Phips, lieutenant governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

Issued in November 1755, it gave “His Majesty’s Subjects” license to kill Penobscots for “this entire month.” The reward was about $12,000 in today’s dollars for the scalp of a man, and half that for a woman’s scalp. The amount was slightly less for a child. Settlers who killed Indigenous people were sometimes rewarded with land, in addition to money, expanding settlers’ reach while displacing tribes from their ancestral lands.

The declaration is familiar to many Penobscots because a copy of the document was displayed at the tribal offices at Indian Island, Maine.

“If every American knew the whole history of this country, even the dark and uncomfortable parts, it would help us to get along better and to understand each other better,” said Maulian Dana, who co-directed the film with Neptune Adams.

Both Europeans and Native Americans engaged in scalping, but English colonists greatly expanded the practice when the government sanctioned the effort with bounties, the filmmakers said.

The first known colonial scalping order is from 1675. That’s just a few short decades after the first Thanksgiving in 1621, when Pilgrims gathered with Wampanoag people for a harvest celebration, said Chris Newell, who is Passamaquoddy and wrote “If You Lived During the Plimoth Thanksgiving.”

All told, there were more than 70 bounty proclamations encouraging white colonists to kill tribal members in what’s now New England, and another 50 government-sanctioned proclamations elsewhere across the country, the filmmakers’ research found. State and colonial governments paid out at least 375 bounties for Indigenous people across New England between 1675 to 1760, they said.

Emerson Baker, a Salem State University professor who specializes in New England history, called the tribal education effort “a powerful course correction.”

“Most people realize that Native Americans were here first and that the colonists did their best to remove them from the land. They just have no idea of the extremes that it took,” Baker said. “Pretty much any Native American man, woman or child was considered fair game at times, and sometimes by the government.”


Dawn Neptune Adams stands on the banks of the Penobscot River, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021, on Indian Island, Maine. When Adams was a child she was one of the many Penobscot and Passamaquoddy people who were removed from their homes by the state of Maine and placed with white foster families. She recently co-directed a film that focuses on the Phips Proclamation of 1755, one of the dozens of government-issued bounty proclamations that directed colonial settlers to hunt, scalp and kill Indigenous people for money. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)


Collaborating with the Massachusetts-based Upstander Project, the filmmakers released “Bounty” in November during National Native American Heritage Month.

Neptune Adams and Dana, along with Tim Shay and their families, were filmed at the Old State House in Boston. It’s the same location where Lt. Gov. Phips’ scalping order was signed.

In “Bounty,” the three participants describe having nightmares of Penobscots being chased through the woods, and discuss the dehumanization and massacre of their people.

“When you learn about a people’s humanity, that affects how you treat my kids, how you vote on public policy, how you may view my people,” Dana said.

Accompanying the short video is a 200-page study guide aimed at teachers. Several school districts, including Portland Public Schools in Maine’s largest city, are purchasing licenses for the video and plan to use the study guides to assist instruction.

In Portland, the scalp bounties will be included as one element in a curriculum that will bring the school district into compliance with a 2001 law requiring students to be taught Wabanaki Studies focusing on Native Americans in Maine, said Fiona Hopper, social studies teacher leader and Wabanaki studies coordinator.

“Students and teachers will see in ‘Bounty’ the ongoing endurance and resistance of Penobscot Nation citizens,” Hopper said.

___

Follow David Sharp on Twitter at https://twitter.com/David_Sharp_AP

Clam fossils help scientists find errors in evolutionary tree calculations

by Louise Lerner, University of Chicago

By examining fossilized clams, scientists found that a commonly used protocol hides the 

true extent of how species live and die through major extinctions. Both clams above 

belong to groups that would previously be assumed to originate before the last great 

extinction, but the improved methodology suggests actually originated in a burst of 

diversification in the aftermath of the extinction. Credit: Rüdiger Bieler, Field Museum, Chicago

There are extinctions, and then there's the "Great Dying." That was the Permian-Triassic extinction around 250 million years ago, which wiped out nearly all life on Earth.

Scientists have been modeling the results of this and many other extinctions to understand how life on Earth responds to challenges, but a new study finds that a common methodology may obscure the true picture of which species and lineages are destroyed during mass extinctions—and which survive and evolve.

Published Dec. 1 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the study evaluated hundreds of species of fossil clams to piece together a comprehensive evolutionary tree over hundreds of millions of years. University of Chicago scientists—along with colleagues at the Smithsonian Institution, the UK's Natural History Museum and the Field Museum—found that one basic assumption made in most models can significantly distort the evolutionary picture, causing the scale of evolutionary recovery from a massive extinction to be off by as much as 400%.

This particular assumption is that when a new species is created, it splits the lineage into two new species—rendering the original species extinct. For example, a clam known as Species A might split into Species B and C, and species A is considered extinct.

But it's possible that sometimes a new lineage "buds" off an existing lineage. In this scenario, clam Species B might be born even as Species A continues to exist.

This subtle distinction appears to have a big impact, however: "Depending on what assumptions you bake into the model, you can wind up with two totally different pictures," said David Jablonski, the William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Service Professor of Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago and a senior author on the paper.

"There are many really important questions locked up in these evolutionary trees," said Nick Crouch, a UChicago postdoctoral researcher and corresponding author of the study. "They underpin almost every evolutionary study out there right now. To say anything meaningful about evolution, we need to accurately know when lineages originate and when they go extinct."

Cultivating evolutionary trees

For many years, scientists could only turn to fossils to piece together the history of evolution over time. Fossils are extraordinarily useful, but there are many kinds of creatures that don't fossilize easily. "I study clams so I have tons of fossils, but my colleagues studying, say, jellyfish or fruit flies, aren't so lucky," said Jablonski.

But then came a marvelous boon for scientists: the ability to analyze DNA.

As DNA is passed down, it changes slightly over time, acquiring new mutations and retaining bits of older generations. By studying the DNA of a modern-day organism, scientists can make all sorts of estimates about its evolution—including what its evolutionary tree might look like, even if we don't have any fossils.

However, there are a lot of assumptions built into that type of analysis, including the question if new species "bud" or "fork" off the original branch. Scientists debate how much these assumptions affect results, but Crouch, Jablonski and their collaborators wanted to run an experiment to see exactly how this might reverberate over time—by creating a very thorough evolutionary tree of a big group that does have a good fossil record, and comparing the results between different assumptions of how lineages originate.

An illustration of the issue that arises when using the “forking” assumption, which tends to

 assume species originated earlier in time. It especially becomes a problem when a mass

 extinction occurs in the uncertain area—which can distort the true picture of how species 

respond to extinctions. Credit: Crouch et al.

Jablonski studies bivalves, a type of aquatic mollusk that includes scallops, oysters and mussels. These organisms all have hard shells that fossilize readily, so there is an extensive fossil record from all over the world, extending over the past half-billion years.

Jablonski and Crouch worked with Field Museum curator Rüdiger Bieler, former UChicago doctoral student Stewart Edie, Ph.D."18, and former UChicago postdoc Katie Collins to develop a comprehensive picture for all bivalves, covering the 97 major families and 525 million years. "It did involve a certain level of extreme obsessiveness," Jablonski admitted.

This process gave them a solid understanding of what the bivalve family tree likely looked like in reality. Then Crouch ran the numbers using the "forking" assumption common to so many DNA studies, and then ran them again with the "budding" approach.

They found a huge difference. "You might not expect a simple decision to have that big of an effect," Jablonski said. "But it turns out if you force that assumption on your data, you really lose some of the big picture."

Assuming that lineages always fork when they diversify tended to push the origins of new lineages further back in time than the fossil record indicated. For example, if you see Clam A and later clams B and C, the forking assumption says that clams B and C must have both originated at the first time you see clam B appear in the fossil record, because new lineages always arrive in pairs. But in reality, clam C may not have evolved until much later—so forking tends to start new lineages earlier.

This is particularly bad if it spans a period of mass extinction, because the splitting approach hides the true effects of that extinction and the rebound that follows.

"From fossils, we see a dramatic evolutionary burst after a mass extinction like the one at the end of the Mesozoic Era, when the dinosaurs went down and the descendants, the birds, took off, along with mammals like us," said Jablonski. "But the splitting approach tends to make that diversification seem to happen earlier and more slowly than it really did, so it distorts the picture around mass extinctions and their aftermath."

For example, the forking method suggests that seven major lineages emerged after the extinction the extinction at the end of the Mesozoic. But the fossil record says it was 28. "That's a four-fold difference," Jablonski said.

This is troubling, because mass extinctions are an important element in how biologists understand evolution, Crouch said: "Mass extinctions are incredibly influential in shaping biodiversity. You get lineages that are completely wiped out, and entirely new ones that emerge in response. They are a major factor in evolution."

However, by using an evolutionary model that allows for budding instead of splitting, the scientists got a picture that much more closely matched the fossil record.

The scientists hope the results will help researchers improve all DNA-based tree studies, but especially those with less robust fossil records. This includes many types of life, from mosses to squids to birds.

The work, which was funded by NASA and NSF, was only made possible by collaboration, the scientists said. "This group brings researchers together across a huge range of fields. That led to a really powerful set of analyses," Jablonski said, citing in particular UChicago's Committee on Evolutionary Biology. "We couldn't have done it without this teamwork."Scientists predict extinction risk for hard-to-track species

More information: Nicholas M. A. Crouch et al, Calibrating phylogenies assuming bifurcation or budding alters inferred macroevolutionary dynamics in a densely sampled phylogeny of bivalve families, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.2178

Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B 

Provided by University of Chicago 

Australians get drunk more often than any other nation's citizens, survey says

Survey respondents in Australia reported being drunk an average of 26.7 times a year, more than any other country. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 3 (UPI) -- When it comes to having too much to drink, no country does it more often than Australia, according to this year's Global Drug Survey.

The survey, which has been done since 2012, gathered data from 32,000 drinkers in 22 countries.

Researchers define being drunk as having consumed so much alcohol that one's balance or speech are affected, they're unable to focus clearly and their behaviors are altered.

The Global Drug Survey found that the average drinker is intoxicated 14.6 times per year, or a little more than once a month.

Respondents in Australia reported being drunk an average of 26.7 times a year, more than any other country. Finland and Denmark tied for second, with an average of 23.8 times, and the United States was fourth with an average of 23.1 times. Britain was fifth.

The nation that gets drunk the least, according to the survey, is Mexico (8.9 times a year), followed by New Zealand (10.3) and Romania and Germany (10.6 each).

When it comes to frequency of consuming alcohol, France topped the list with a mean of 132 occasions per year -- followed by New Zealand, the Netherlands and Hungary. The United States was No. 11.

Humanoid robots are waking up — and they look eerily real

ByThe Headline Update

 DEC 4, 2021  Eerily, humanoid, Real, robots, waking

Engineered Arts, a robotics agency positioned in the UK, launched a video exhibiting a humanoid robotic that appears exceptionally lifelike — and instantly the science fiction film I, Robot is trending. 

The corporate named their robotic Ameca, however Ameca’s hyper-realistic expressions and motions look eerily like Sonny, the fictional android (performed by actor Alan Tudyk) who co-starred with Will Smith within the movie. It might be a coincidence, or it’s yet one more instance of science fiction inspiring real life tech.

Within the Engineered Arts video, the grey-faced humanoid robotic wakes up, makes a shocked expression, after which examines its personal fingers as if it can also’t consider how actual it appears to be like.  The corporate calls Ameca “the world’s most refined human-shaped robotic” — which can be self-promoting, however maybe not underserved, primarily based on that video.

No matter how human it appears to be like, how does it evaluate when it comes to intelligence, and what does that imply for our future with robots?

The true-world avatar: Already subsequent gen robots are doing wonderful issues. They’ll chisel marble, test-drive cars, clean houses, administer vaccines, and even put in contact lenses (sure — we regularly write about cool robots).

This isn’t the primary time robotics firms have tried to deliver humanoid robots to the general public, both. Hanson Robotics began mass-producing Sophia the Robotic earlier this yr, a social robotic mentioned to assist individuals deal with isolation.

But when the pandemic confirmed us something, it’s how built-in our digital lives are with our real-world lives. With Ameca, Engineered Arts hopes to take {that a} step additional. 

In accordance with Engineered Arts’ website, the humanoid robotic will function a “platform for growth into future robotics applied sciences.” Ameca may also be managed through Engineered Arts’ cloud software program, Tritium. Its function is to assist us analysis human-robot interplay, and its surprisingly real facial cues make that a lot easier. 

However finally, the robotic is meant to behave as an avatar in the true world.

Think about a typical work-from-home day. As a substitute of chatting with colleagues on the #water-cooler Slack channel or having a shopper assembly through Zoom, you could possibly meet in particular person… with an Ameca-like robotic stand-in.

Ameca’s components are modular and work independently from one another. So, the humanoid robotic, now available for buy or hire, may be deployed as a disembodied head or arm, if wanted, reports the New York Publish. 

“The modular structure permits for future upgrades, each bodily and software program, to reinforce Ameca’s skills, all with out having to fork out for a whole new robotic,” Engineered Arts said. 

Robotics in the true world: Seeing a robotic with a humanlike face despatched many individuals’s ideas immediately into sci-fi drama (the androids in I, Robotic weren’t precisely pleasant). 

However robots aren’t designed to take over the world. Most robots take over dangerous jobs, like fighting fires, and tedious, repetitive duties requiring excessive precision, like sorting recycling. In some cases, like performing surgery, precision can imply life or loss of life, making robots the extra dependable possibility. 

Some industries are additionally at present experiencing a labor scarcity, and the robotic workforce is stepping up. Labor shortages are contributing to elevated automation. McDonald’s is testing an AI as a drive-thru attendant. And Flippy ROAR, the robotic cook dinner, is flipping burgers and making fries. 

However robots gained’t simply change individuals: people and robots working collectively may help companies change into extra environment friendly, and analysis with Ameca may enhance that collaboration. 

H. James Wilson, managing director of data expertise and enterprise analysis at Accenture, mentioned BMW’s use of collaborative robots helps the corporate meet the rising demand for individualized automobiles. 

“These human and machine groups, these robotic and meeting employee groups, are about 85% extra productive,” he said, studies Fortune. 

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