Darwin in a lab: Coral evolution tweaked for global warming

By CALEB JONES

PHOTO ESSAY 1 of 25

Fish swim near a head of coral in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021. Scientists are trying to speed up coral's evolutionary clock to build reefs that can better withstand the impacts of global warming. For the past five years, researchers in Hawaii and Australia have been conducting experiments to prove their Darwinian theories work. They say they do, and now they're getting ready to plant selectively bred and other lab-evolved corals back into the ocean to see if they can survive in Nature. If successful, the scientists say the more heat tolerant corals could help save vital reefs that are dying from climate change. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)


COCONUT ISLAND, Hawaii (AP) — On a moonless summer night in Hawaii, krill, fish and crabs swirl through a beam of light as two researchers peer into the water above a vibrant reef.

Minutes later, like clockwork, they see eggs and sperm from spawning coral drifting past their boat. They scoop up the fishy-smelling blobs and put them in test tubes.

In this Darwinian experiment, the scientists are trying to speed up coral’s evolutionary clock to breed “super corals” that can better withstand the impacts of global warming.

For the past five years, the researchers have been conducting experiments to prove their theories would work. Now, they’re getting ready to plant laboratory-raised corals in the ocean to see how they survive in Nature.

“Assisted evolution started out as this kind of crazy idea that you could actually help something change and allow that to survive better because it is changing,” said Kira Hughes, a University of Hawaii researcher and the project’s manager.


SPEEDING UP NATURE

Researchers tested three methods of making corals more resilient:

— Selective breeding that carries on desirable traits from parents.

— Acclimation that conditions corals to tolerate heat by exposing them to increasing temperatures.

— And modifying the algae that give corals essential nutrients.

Hughes said the methods all have proven successful in the lab.

And while some other scientists worried this is meddling with Nature, Hughes said the rapidly warming planet leaves no other options. “We have to intervene in order to make a change for coral reefs to survive into the future,” she said.




When ocean temperatures rise, coral releases its symbiotic algae that supply nutrients and impart its vibrant colors. The coral turns white — a process called bleaching — and can quickly become sick and die.

For more than a decade, scientists have been observing corals that have survived bleaching, even when others have died on the same reef.

So, researchers are focusing on those hardy survivors, hoping to enhance their heat tolerance. And they found selective breeding held the most promise for Hawaii’s reefs.

“Corals are threatened worldwide by a lot of stressors, but increasing temperatures are probably the most severe,” said Crawford Drury, chief scientist at Hawaii’s Coral Resilience Lab. “And so that’s what our focus is on, working with parents that are really thermally tolerant.”

A NOVEL IDEA

In 2015, Ruth Gates, who launched the resilience lab, and Madeleine van Oppen of the Australian Institute of Marine Science published a paper on assisted evolution during one of the world’s worst bleaching events.

The scientists proposed bringing corals into a lab to help them evolve into more heat-tolerant animals. And the idea attracted Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who funded the first phase of research and whose foundation still supports the program.

“We’ve given (coral) experiences that we think are going to raise their ability to survive,” Gates told The Associated Press in a 2015 interview.

Gates, who died of brain cancer in 2018, also said she wanted people to know how “intimately reef health is intertwined with human health.”

Coral reefs, often called the rainforests of the sea, provide food for humans and marine animals, shoreline protection for coastal communities, jobs for tourist economies and even medicine to treat illnesses such as cancer, arthritis and Alzheimers disease.

A recent report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other research organizations concluded bleaching events are the biggest threat to the world’s coral reefs. Scientists found that between 2009 and 2018, the world lost about 14% of its coral.

Assisted evolution was not widely accepted when first proposed.

Van Oppen said there were concerns about losing genetic diversity and critics who said the scientists were “playing gods” by tampering with the reef.

“Well, you know, (humans) have already intervened with the reef for very long periods of time,” van Oppen said. “All we’re trying to do is to repair the damage.”

Rather than editing genes or creating anything unnatural, researchers are just nudging what could already happen in the ocean, she said. “We are really focusing first on as local a scale as possible to try and maintain and enhance what is already there.”

MILLIONS OF YEARS IN THE MAKING

Still, there are lingering questions.

“We have discovered lots of reasons why corals don’t bleach,” said Steve Palumbi, a marine biologist and professor at Stanford University. “Just because you find a coral that isn’t bleaching in the field or in the lab doesn’t mean it’s permanently heat tolerant.”

Corals have been on Earth for about 250 million years and their genetic code is not fully understood.

“This is not the first time any coral on the entire planet has ever been exposed to heat,” Palumbi said. “So the fact that all corals are not heat resistant tells you ... that there’s some disadvantage to it. And if there weren’t a disadvantage, they’d all be heat resistant.”

But Palumbi thinks the assisted evolution work has a valuable place in coral management plans because “reefs all over the world are in desperate, desperate, desperate trouble.”

The project has gained broad support and spurred research around the world. Scientists in the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Germany and elsewhere are doing their own coral resilience work. The U.S. government also backs the effort.

Assisted evolution “is really impressive and very consistent with a study that we conducted with the National Academies of Sciences,” said Jennifer Koss, the director of NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program.

“We asked them to gather all the most recent cutting-edge science that was really centered on innovative interventions in coral reef management,” Koss said. “And certainly, this assisted gene flow fits right in.”

MAJOR HURDLES

There are still serious challenges.

Scalability is one. Getting lab-bred corals out into the ocean and having them survive will be hard, especially since reintroduction has to happen on a local level to avoid bringing detrimental biological material from one region to another.

James Guest, a coral ecologist in the United Kingdom, leads a project to show selectively bred corals not only survive longer in warmer water, but can also be successfully reintroduced on a large scale.

“It’s great if we can do all this stuff in the lab, but we have to show that we can get very large numbers of them out onto the reef in a cost-effective way,” Guest said.

Scientists are testing delivery methods, such as using ships to pump young corals into the ocean and deploying small underwater robots to plant coral.

No one is proposing assisted evolution alone will save the world’s reefs. The idea is part of a suite of measures – with proposals ranging from creating shades for coral to pumping cooler deep-ocean water onto reefs that get too warm.

The advantage of planting stronger corals is that after a generation or two, they should spread their traits naturally, without much human intervention.

Over the next several years, the Hawaii scientists will place selectively bred coral back into Kaneohe Bay and observe their behavior. Van Oppen and her colleagues have already put some corals with modified symbiotic algae back on the Great Barrier Reef.

With the world’s oceans continuing to warm, scientists say they are up against the clock to save reefs.

“All the work we are going to do here,” said Hawaii’s Drury, “is not going to make a difference if we don’t wind up addressing climate change on a global, systematic scale.

“So really, what we’re trying to do is buy time.”

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Follow Caleb Jones on Twitter: @CalebAP

CLIMATE CHANGE COSTS
Flood insurance costs rise in areas once deemed lower risk

By SUMAN NAISHADHAM and MICHAEL PHILLIS

 Buildings and homes are flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020, near Lake Charles, La. In the past year, the southwestern Louisiana city of Lake Charles weathered two hurricanes, intense rainfall that sent water gushing down streets and a deep freeze that burst pipes. Under a revamped federal flood insurance program rolled out in the fall of 2021, millions of homeowners are set for rate hikes that officials say more accurately reflect a property’s risk. 

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)


WASHINGTON (AP) — In the past year, the southwestern Louisiana city of Lake Charles weathered two hurricanes, intense rainfall that sent water gushing down streets and a deep freeze that burst pipes.

Yet Tommy Eastman may eventually drop coverage on his four-bedroom home — which has so far escaped damage — because the cost of his flood insurance is going up.

“Once it starts getting over $1,000, I’m gonna start thinking, ‘Well, what am I doing?’” said Eastman, a real estate agent whose annual policy is scheduled to climb from $600 to $2,500 over the next several years.

Under a revamped federal flood insurance program rolled out this fall, millions of homeowners are set for rate hikes that officials say more accurately reflect a property’s risk. That includes the vast majority of the 1.7 million homeowners with relatively cheap policies in areas federal officials previously deemed low or moderate risk — and where coverage is voluntary.

The overhaul is intended in part to make it more expensive to develop in risky areas. But some worry the price hikes will only make it harder to convince homeowners to voluntarily buy or keep flood coverage, particularly in middle- and working-class areas.

“We have no high-rise condominiums, we have no sandy white beaches. It is a working coast in our state,” said Jim Donelon, Louisiana’s insurance commissioner.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says its new insurance program factors in the characteristics of individual properties, such as how close they are to water, how expensive they are to rebuild and whether they faces multiple types of flood risk. In many parts of the country, such risks are growing as climate change increases the strength of hurricanes and the intensity of rainstorms.

The program — Risk Rating 2.0 — will mean higher prices for about three-quarters of the 4.9 million federal flood insurance policies, and decreases for the rest. Voluntary policyholders in single-family homes will be hit particularly hard, with an estimated 90% set for hikes, according to FEMA. The agency said it plans to collect 50% more in premiums under the new program over time.

“We’ve learned that the old way of looking at risk had lots of gaps, which understated a property’s flood risk and communicated a false sense of security,” said David Maurstad, a senior executive of the National Flood Insurance Program.

In spite of identifying more flood risk across the country, the new system doesn’t change who is required to buy coverage. In areas FEMA deems highest risk — known as the 100-year flood zone — flood insurance is required on government-backed mortgages and many banks also require it for mortgages in high-risk areas. FEMA has said the flood maps aren’t meant to predict where flooding may occur, but say where coverage is required and help communities make building decisions.

In recent years, homeowners living in places where coverage isn’t required have faced losses in the billions of dollars. Between 2017 and 2019, nearly 40% of the flood claims FEMA received were for properties that fell outside zones where insurance is required, an agency representative told Congress last year.

Many properties outside the flood zones face risk “that has always been there but has never been identified,” said Matthew Eby, executive director of First Street Foundation, a research firm that produces detailed maps of flooding risks.

First Street estimates that 14.6 million properties across the U.S. are at substantial risk of flooding, far more than the number of flood policies federal government insures. A Government Accountability Office report this year recommended that the federal government update the rules on who is required to get coverage to protect more high-risk homes from flood disasters. A separate GAO report found FEMA’s flood maps do not reflect the latest climate science or key flood hazards such as heavy rainfall.

FEMA said it has not studied how the rate changes will affect voluntary take-up of flood insurance, and the agency has not publicly disclosed details on how high premiums will climb beyond the first year. A Congressional Research Service report said Risk Rating 2.0 will more accurately signal a home’s flood risk, but that the higher prices “may mean that insurance for some properties is considered unaffordable.”

Raising rates and having more people opt for coverage also matters for the financial health of FEMA’s flood insurance program, which is $20.5 billion in debt. Since its launch in 1968, many insurance experts say the program has deeply subsidized flood insurance by not charging rates that properly reflected a home’s risk. The federal government underwrites most flood insurance policies in the U.S.

For new policy holders, FEMA’s new rates took effect in October. For existing policy holders, new rates start taking effect in April. Since rate hikes are capped at 18% a year, it will take years for some to reach their new rates. Policyholders can call their insurers to get details on how their rates will change. Unlike before when broad groups of policies saw increases, Risk Rating 2.0 will adjust prices individually.

Higher rates will make flood risks clearer, and ideally encourage more homeowners to get insurance in areas where coverage is voluntary, said Joel Scata, a lawyer at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group. He said that Congress should act to address affordability for lower-income families.

Aric Pohorelsky, a Lake Charles resident, envisions another scenario. He pays $517 a year for flood insurance on a 3,700 square-foot home, but said the same policy would cost $5,000 for a new homeowner.

“If people leave in vast numbers ... I don’t think it’s going to be because of Risk Rating 2.0,” he said. “I think it’ll be just because of the stress of dealing with major hurricanes.”

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Phillis reported from St. Louis.

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The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/environment

MRI may spot concussion-linked CTE in living patients

By Ernie Mundell & Robert Preidt, HealthDay News

New research suggests concussion-linked CTE could be spotted in living patient's brains using MRI scans. File Photo by Staff Sgt. Jonathon Fowler/U.S. Air Force

Right now, the devastating concussion-linked brain condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, can only be diagnosed after death via autopsy.

But new research could help change that, allowing doctors to someday spot the illness earlier.

According to the new study, MRI may be able to detect CTE while people are still alive.

"While this finding is not yet ready for the clinic, it shows we are making rapid progress, and we encourage patients and families to continue to participate in research so we can find answers even faster," said study senior author Dr. Jesse Mez.

RELATED Study: More years playing football means more brain lesions on MRI

He directs Boston University's Alzheimer's Disease Center Clinical Core.

CTE has been linked with repetitive head impacts, and has been found in the brain autopsies of recently active and retired football players as well as other contact sport athletes.

It's also been found in members of the military and victims of physical abuse.

RELATED Repeated head impacts, brain injury increase risk for depression

Star NFL linebacker Junior Seau, who died by suicide in 2012, was later found to have suffered from CTE, as did the late football legend Frank Gifford.

Currently, it's only possible to diagnose CTE after death, but MRI may provide a way to identify the progressive brain disease sooner, the Boston research team said.

The investigators analyzed the medical records and MRIs of 86 deceased male brain donors. They included 55 men who'd been diagnosed with CTE after death and 31 men with healthy brains.

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The MRIs the men had had during their lifetimes were conducted an average of four years before their deaths.

Compared to those with healthy brains, the MRIs showed that the men diagnosed with CTE after death had shrinkage in key regions of the brain associated with CTE, as well as other abnormalities.

"Specifically, those with CTE had shrinkage in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, the regions most impacted by CTE," Mez said in a university news release.

According to study lead author Michael Alosco, "MRI is commonly used to diagnose progressive brain diseases that are similar to CTE such as Alzheimer's disease."

"Findings from this study show us what we can expect to see on MRI in CTE. This is very exciting because it brings us that much closer to detecting CTE in living people," Alosco said.

Alosco is associate professor of neurology at the Boston University School of Medicine and co-director of the Alzheimer's Disease Center Clinical Core.

Speaking in the news release, Alosco said that "there is more to do as we still need to understand whether the patterns we saw on MRI are specific to CTE, that is, do they differentiate CTE from Alzheimer's disease and other causes of dementia."

Dr. Andrew Rogove directs stroke care at Northwell Health's South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore, N.Y.

He wasn't involved in the new research, but called it "a very interesting beginning into the possibility of diagnosing CTE among the alive patient."

Rogove said that would be a boon to patients, and "may eventually lead to identification and development of biomarkers that can make earlier diagnosis possible."

The study was published online Tuesday in the journal Alzheimer's Research & Therapy.

More information

The Concussion Legacy Foundation has more on CTE.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Boston court overturns wrongful murder conviction

Dec. 8 (UPI) -- A Boston man who spent almost three decades in prison is free after a judge overturned his first-degree murder conviction.

James Lucien, 48, was serving a no-parole life sentence for the murder of Ryan Edwards 27 years ago. But Suffolk Superior Court Judge Robert Ullmann ruled Tuesday that he never got a fair trial.

Lucien's attorney, Dennis Toomey, argued that police made fundamental mistakes that compromised the homicide investigation. Mistakes made by Boston Police Detective John Brazil, who was the lead investigator in the case, and others led to the wrongful conviction of Lucien, Toomey said.

"The person to blame is the lead detective in this case, Detective Brazil. If he had been honest and had done his job correctly, we would not be here," Ullmann said, according to Boston 25 News.

The judge granted Lucien a new trial, and the district attorney dropped all charges.

Lucien was seen embracing his family in court, but Edwards' family expressed anger that the case remained unsolved.

Edwards was killed during a drug deal in 1995. The murder was pinned on Lucien by Brazil, who was part of a team that was later charged with corruption.

Storm Barra crashes into Ireland, Britain with deadly force

By Renee Duff, AccuWeather, Accuweather.com

The second named windstorm in less than two weeks reached bomb cyclone status prior to striking portions of Ireland and Britain with a fury Tuesday into Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of residents were left without power as hurricane-force winds churned up massive waves, while pelting rain and snow led to difficult travel and disruptions to daily life.

The storm, dubbed Storm Barra, turned deadly on Tuesday afternoon after the body of an 80-year-old woman was recovered in a flooded river in Blandford, England, according to The Independent.

In Wales, strong winds left a school severely damaged after part of the roof was blown off. Fortunately, no one was injured as the building was largely empty at the time, The Independent reported. Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks restored power to more than 8,000 customers by Wednesday morning, with 1,000 customers still awaiting power restoration.

The new power cuts came just days after homes left without electricity by deadly Storm Arwen in late November were finally reconnected to the grid.

Ireland endured some of the most intense weather unleashed by Storm Barra, where the country's national weather service, Met Éireann, issued a rare red warning for a few counties. A red warning is implemented for "very dangerous weather conditions from intense meteorological phenomena."

And to say Storm Barra was intense may be an understatement. The powerful storm achieved the status of "bomb cyclone" as it rapidly intensified while barreling toward Ireland. A storm is classified as a bomb cyclone when the barometric pressure within the storm falls at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. The lower the barometric pressure, the more intense the storm.

In the case of Storm Barra, the pressure dropped from around 1,006 millibars on Monday morning to 956 millibars 24 hours later, according to surface weather analysis by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ocean Prediction Center. This was more than double the pressure drop needed to be classified as a bomb cyclone. The rapid strengthening of Storm Barra manifested itself on the ground in the form of angry seas, high winds and intense precipitation.

Flights throughout the region were affected, and those traveling on the ground had to dodge flooded roadways, downed trees and power lines and even snowy conditions in the highest terrain.

The Christmas Market in Belfast was closed on Tuesday due to the severe weather conditions, and schools were closed in 12 counties across Ireland, according to BBC.

Sherkin Island in Cork County reported a wind gust of 84 mph, with gusts in excess of 70 mph clocked in Galway, Kerry and Donegal counties. Power outages stood at approximately 59,000 customers across the Republic of Ireland on Wednesday morning, the BBC reported.

Massive waves created a violent-looking scene along Ireland's picturesque rocky coastline. Farther offshore, crews performing essential maintenance on the Fastnet Lighthouse captured stunning video of the angry ocean.

Over solid ground, Storm Barra's strong winds caused trees to come tumbling down and even tossed around an unsecured trampoline like a toy. The national police service of the Republic of Ireland posted a picture on Twitter of a trampoline twisted around power lines, with the agency urging the public to properly secure any items left outside during the storm.

And that wasn't the only trampoline that tried to make it airborne. In the southwestern Irish town of Bantry, two sisters had a tug-of-war match with Storm Barra's winds as they attempted to keep their trampoline from being yanked over a fence.

Clean-up and power restoration efforts may be briefly disrupted by another bout of wet and windy weather Thursday into Friday, but forecasters do not expect another significant storm.

Despite back-to-back blows from named windstorms, AccuWeather meteorologists predict Ireland and the United Kingdom will have fewer windstorm impacts than their southern counterparts throughout this winter.

Dozens of earthquakes rattle off coast of Oregon

About 60 earthquakes off Oregon's coast weren't close enough to land to cause damage. Image courtesy of USGS

Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Dozens of earthquakes rattled off the coast of Oregon over the past 24 hours -- some reaching 5.8-magnitude -- but none caused major damage or tsunamis.

About 60 temblors shook in the Blanco Transform Fault Zone about 200 miles off the shore, U.S. Geological Survey data indicates. The quakes were centered roughly due west of Newport, beginning Tuesday morning and occurring into Wednesday, The Oregonian reported.

At least eight of the earthquakes were 5.5-magnitude or higher, the strength that would typically cause damage if closer to land.

Scientists, though, said the earthquakes weren't the harbinger of a predicted cataclysmic quake predicted to happen between the Juan de Fuca and North American plates -- a boundary called the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Officials estimate there's a 37% chance of a 7.1-magnitude quake happening at that boundary in the next 50 years.

Eric J. Fielding, a geophysicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told NPR that this week's earthquakes aren't related to that prediction.

"The Blanco Fracture Zone is not connected directly to the subduction zone so it won't affect the big fault under land (Cascadia mega thrust)," he said.

Seismologist Lucy Jones said such earthquakes are "very common" in the Blanco zone and are never followed by quakes on land.

PANDORA'S CURSE; HOPE

Visa lottery winners lose once-in-a-lifetime chance to come to U.S.
By Christina van Waasbergen, Medill News Service

Mohammed Alarefi, a native of war-torn Yemen, shown with his child, has faced barricades coming to the United States despite him and his wife winning the U.S. Diversity Visa Lottery three times. 

Photo courtesy of Mohammed Alarefi

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- When Mohammed Alarefi, a native of war-torn Yemen, won the U.S. visa lottery in May 2018, it was the realization of his childhood dream: a chance to move to America.

"I registered every year until the miracle happened and I was chosen for a diversity visa for fiscal 2019," Alarefi said.

The Diversity Visa Lottery program allows people randomly selected from countries with low levels of immigration to the United States to obtain visas.

Every year, up to 55,000 diversity visas are available, and those selected may bring spouses and unmarried children under age 21, who are called derivatives.

But the timing of Alarefi's miracle couldn't have been worse.

Winners and their derivatives must complete the visa application process within the fiscal year for which they were selected. Fiscal years run from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.

Those who do not obtain their diversity visas before the end of the fiscal year will lose their spots. With a less than 1% chance of being selected in the visa lottery, not obtaining the visa in time means they most likely will have lost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

In January 2017, President Donald Trump had signed an executive order prohibiting travel to the United States from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Yemen. That was just the start of an assortment of barriers that prevented those who won diversity visas from coming to the United States.

National security cited

The justification for Trump's ban was national security, but critics assailed the rule as being targeted toward Muslims. Though the courts initially blocked it, and the list of banned countries changed several times, the Supreme Court eventually allowed the ban to go into effect.

And although it only was an entry ban, the State Department refused to issue diversity visas to lottery winners from countries subject to the ban. With that in place, Alarefi and his family were unable to obtain visas before the fiscal year ended.

"Here my dream was shattered for the first time," Alarefi said.

But he refused to give up, applying for the visa lottery again the next year. Despite the odds, he won again in the fiscal 2020 diversity lottery. And again, he and his family weren't able to obtain visas.

"They destroyed us and destroyed our dreams without the slightest responsibility," Alarefi said.

Solmaz Vosog, a 2019 visa lottery winner from Iran, said she feels her family has been discriminated against.

When they found out that they couldn't get visas because of the travel ban, "my surprised son asked, 'Is there still religious and racial discrimination in America?'" Vosog said. "The Constitution says all human beings are equal."

Biden ends ban

On his first day in office, President Joe Biden issued a presidential proclamation ending Trump's travel ban, calling it "a stain on our national conscience."

However, Biden's administration later announced that diversity visa winners whose status had expired during the ban would have to re-enter the lottery, citing federal law limiting their eligibility to one fiscal year.

Incredibly, Alarefi's wife won the visa lottery in the Diversity Visa Program for fiscal 2021.

"My wife and my child and I celebrated for days and nights," he said.

But although the travel ban ended in January, Alarefi's family still weren't able to obtain visas. More and more barriers blocked immigrants who had won lotteries.

A series of bans, policies and delays related to COVID-19 caused many 2020 and 2021 winners to lose their chance to come to the United States.

That is because on April 20, 2020, Trump issued Presidential Proclamation 10014, which suspended the entry of most immigrants, including visa lottery winners and their derivatives, into the United States to protect the country's economic recovery from the pandemic.

The State Department interpreted this as a freeze on not only immigrant entry, but also on issuing immigrant visas.

COVID-19 causes ban

Also, between January 2020 and April 2021, Trump and then Biden issued presidential proclamations that suspended entry of non-Americans from numerous countries to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

In March 2020, the State Department began to interpret these regional entry bans as a prohibition of the issuance of visas to individuals subject to the bans.

Biden ended the regional bans Oct. 25.

Other COVID-19 policies impacted visa processing.

In March 2020, then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo directed all diplomatic and consular posts "to immediately suspend all routine nonimmigrant and immigrant visa services" due to the pandemic.

Consular posts were restricted to providing "mission-critical and emergency visa services," which did not include processing diversity visas.

After consular posts were allowed to resume services, the State Department in November 2020 implemented a tiered prioritization system that placed diversity visas in the bottom tier.

This scheme remained in place even after Biden reversed Proclamation 10014, and the State Department didn't end it until November.

Tiered prioritization greatly limited the number of diversity visas issued. By the end of fiscal 2021, the State Department had issued only around 15,000 of the almost 55,000 visas allocated for the year.

Worse than before

Many visa lottery winners who couldn't get visas say they were left worse off than before, as many had given up educational and job opportunities or even sold their homes in anticipation of moving to the United States.

A State Department official said the tiered prioritization scheme was implemented because the department had a reduced capacity for processing visa applications due to the pandemic and chose to prioritize family reunification.

Curtis Morrison, a lawyer who represents visa lottery winners who are suing the government because they couldn't get visas due to COVID-19 policies, criticized the Biden administration for carrying on some of Trump's policies and for fighting in court to keep from having to issue expired diversity visas.

"They want to keep out these diversity visa immigrants," Morrison said. "Why that is, I have no idea, because Biden ran on a platform that said he was going to increase the number of diversity visa allotments, but he's fighting the ones that were allotted. It doesn't make sense."

An official from the State Department said it's the department's policy to try to issue as many of the some 55,000 diversity visas available each fiscal year as possible, but "there is currently no legal authority or mechanism to allow the State Department on its own initiative to provide [diversity visa] applicants from prior years with an avenue to seek reconsideration of their diversity visa eligibility."

Still some hope

Hope exists for some visa lottery winners, thanks to a series of court cases in which judges ordered the State Department to either issue some diversity visas or to reserve a certain amount pending the outcome of litigation.

But for the vast majority of winners, their only hope is language in the current version of the Build Back Better bill.

It would make diversity visas for 2017 through 2021 available to winners and derivatives who were denied visas or admission due to Trump's travel ban or who were unable to get visa interviews or enter the country due to COVID-19 or to bans, policies and processing delays related to the pandemic.

However, Morrison said he worries that the language won't make it into the final version of the bill, since diversity visa winners don't have as much support as other categories of immigrants, such as universities wanting to bring in international students or Big Tech wanting to bring people in on employment visas.

"I don't want any of my clients to have false hope," Morrison said. "I would hate for them to stay in limbo, wondering whether or not they're going to get relief from Congress when I know that our Congress just isn't known for that."

However, Alarefi is not giving up hope.

"Our dream is simple -- just immigrating to America," he said.

STATE CAPITALIST BARBARISM

Reports: Myanmar troops burn alive 11 in retaliation attack

By GRANT PECK

In this image from video taken Dec. 7, 2021, bloodstain is seen on the ground near charred corpses in Done Taw village in the Sagaing region of Myanmar. Outrage spread on social media in Myanmar on Wednesday over images and accounts of the alleged killing and burning of 11 villagers captured by government troops in the country's northwest. (AP Photo)

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar government troops raided a small northwestern village, rounding up civilians, binding their hands and then burning them alive in apparent retaliation for an attack on a military convoy, according to witnesses and other reports.

A video of the aftermath of Tuesday’s attack showed the charred bodies of 11 victims, some believed to be teenagers, lying in a circle amid what appeared to be the remains of a hut in Done Taw village in Sagaing region.

Outrage spread as the graphic images were shared on social media over what appeared to be the latest of increasingly brutal military attacks in an attempt to put down stiffening anti-government resistance following the army takeover in February.

Human Rights Watch called Thursday for the international community to ensure that commanders who gave the order are added to targeted sanctions lists, and more broadly, efforts are stepped up to cut off any source of funding to the military.

“Our contacts are saying these were just boys and young people who were villagers who were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time,” a spokeswoman for the group, Manny Maung, said.

She added that similar incidents have been occurring regularly, but that this one happened to be caught on camera.

“This incident is quite brazen, and it happened in an area that was meant to be found, and seen, to scare people,” she said.

The images could not be independently verified, but an account given to The Associated Press by a person who said he was present when they were taken generally matched descriptions of the incident carried by independent Myanmar media.

The government has denied that it had any troops in the area.

The military ouster of the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi was initially met with nonviolent street protests, but after police and soldiers responded with lethal force, violence escalated as opponents of military rule took up arms in self-defense.

The killings in Done Taw were decried by Myanmar’s underground National Unity Government, which has established itself as the country’s alternative administration in place of the military-installed government.

The organization’s spokesperson, Dr. Sasa, said a military convoy had been hit by a roadside bomb and troops retaliated first by shelling Done Taw, then assaulting the village, rounding up anyone they could capture.

He said victims ranged in age from 14 to 40.

“Sickening scenes reminiscent of the Islamic State terrorist group bore witness to the the military’s escalation of their acts of terror,” he said in a statement.

“The sheer brutality, savagery, and cruelty of these acts shows a new depth of depravity, and proves that despite the pretense of the relative détente seen over the last few months, the junta never had any intention of deescalating their campaign of violence,” said Sasa, who uses one name.

The witness who spoke to the AP said about 50 troops marched into Done Taw village at about 11 a.m. Tuesday, seizing anyone who did not manage to flee.

“They arrested 11 innocent villagers,” said the witness, who described himself as a farmer and an activist and asked to remain anonymous for his own safety,

He added that the captured men were not members of the locally organized People’s Defense Force, which sometimes engages the army in combat. He said the captives had their hands tied behind them and were set on fire.

He did not give a reason for the soldiers’ assault.

Other witnesses cited in Myanmar media said the victims were members of a defense force, though the witness who spoke to the AP described them as members of a less formally organized village protection group.

In recent months, fighting has been raging in Sagaing and other northwestern areas, where the army has unleashed greater force against the resistance than in urban centers.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric expressed deep concern at the reports of the “horrific killing of 11 people” and strongly condemned such violence, saying “credible reports indicate that five children were among those people killed.”

Dujarric reminded Myanmar’s military authorities of their obligations under international law to ensure the safety and protection of civilians and called for those responsible “for this heinous act” to be held accountable.

He reiterated the U.N.’s condemnation of violence by Myanmar’s security forces and stressed that this demands a unified international response. As of Wednesday, he said security forces have killed more than 1,300 unarmed individuals, including more than 75 children, through their use of lethal force or while in their custody since the military takeover on Feb. 1.

The allegations follow Monday’s conviction of Suu Kyi on charges of incitement and violating coronavirus restrictions and sentencing to four years in prison, which was quickly cut in half. The court’s action was widely criticized as a further effort by military rulers to roll back the democratic gains of recent years.

In New York, the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday expressed “deep concern” at the sentencing of Suu Kyi, ousted President Win Myint and others and reiterated previous calls for the release of all those arbitrarily detained.

“The members of the Security Council once again stressed their continued support for the democratic transition in Myanmar, and underlined the need to uphold democratic institutions and processes, refrain from violence, pursue constructive dialogue and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar, fully respect human rights and fundamental freedoms and uphold the rule of law,” a council statement said.

MAKE IT GLOBAL

Australian lawmakers call for inquiry into Murdoch media


Australian lawmakers Thursday backed calls for a full judicial inquiry into media ownership, at the end of their own year-long investigation sparked by a record-breaking petition demanding a probe into Rupert Murdoch's dominance of the sector.

© PETER PARKS An Australian Senate committee has backed calls for a full judicial inquiry into media ownership

The Senate committee recommended the establishment of an independent and more "comprehensive investigation" that could subpoena witnesses and look at overhauling media watchdogs.

"Australia has one of the most concentrated media markets in the world", the lawmakers found, with a regulatory regime that is "not fit-for-purpose".

"Large media organisations have become so powerful and unchecked that they have developed corporate cultures that consider themselves beyond the existing accountability framework," their report said.

It is unlikely that the incumbent conservative government, which usually enjoys strong support from the Murdoch press, would act on the Senate recommendations.

However, they could have a greater chance of success if the centre-left opposition Labor party takes control at upcoming elections due by May next year.

The Senate investigation was prompted by a petition by former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd -- a frequent target of newspapers controlled by Murdoch's News Corp -- that attracted half a million supporters.

The Australian arm of the New York-headquartered company is the country's largest media organisation, owning papers in nearly every major city as well as cable television networks and magazines.

Rudd, who was prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and briefly in 2013, has long been critical of what he has called the media organisation's "vicious" campaigning for the political right.

He welcomed the Senate report Thursday, calling it an "important decision" for the future of media ownership and regulation in Australia.

The committee also called for Australia's public broadcasters, ABC and SBS, to receive better funding, along with independent newswire Australian Associated Press, which nearly collapsed when investors including News Corp withdrew support in 2020.

hr/arb/reb

AFP

Starbucks faces union test as worker votes are counted

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

Richard Bensinger, left, who is advising unionization efforts, along with baristas Casey Moore, right, Brian Murray, second from left, and Jaz Brisack, second from right, discuss their efforts to unionize three Buffalo-area stores, inside the movements headquarters on Oct. 28, 2021 in Buffalo, N.Y. The National Labor Relations Board is scheduled to count ballots Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021, from union elections held at three separate Starbucks stores in the Buffalo area. Around 111 Starbucks workers from the three stores were eligible to vote by mail starting last month.

(AP Photo/Carolyn Thompson, File)

A growing effort to unionize Starbucks stores — despite company resistance — is facing its first major test.

The National Labor Relations Board is scheduled to count ballots Thursday from union elections held at three separate Starbucks stores in the Buffalo, New York, area. Around 111 Starbucks workers from the three stores were eligible to vote by mail starting last month.

If the majority of workers at any of those locations votes to unionize, they could become the first union-represented U.S. Starbucks stores in the company’s 50-year history.

“Yes” votes could also accelerate unionization efforts at other U.S. Starbucks stores. Already, three more stores in Buffalo and a store in Mesa, Arizona, have filed petitions with the labor board for their own union elections. Those cases are pending.

Union backers at the first three Buffalo stores filed petitions with the labor board in August seeking representation by Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. Those workers say Starbucks’ stores had chronic problems like understaffing and faulty equipment even before the pandemic. They want more input on pay and store operations.

“We have no accountability right now. We have no say,” said Casey Moore, a union organizer who has been working at a Buffalo-area Starbucks for around six months. “With a union we will actually be able to sit down at the table and say, `This is what we want.’”

Starbucks insists its 8,000 company-owned U.S. stores function best when it works directly with its employees, which it calls “partners.” Many employees in the Buffalo area work at more than one store depending on demand, Starbucks says, and it wants to have the flexibility to move them between stores.

Starbucks asked the labor board to hold one vote with all 20 of its Buffalo-area stores, but the board rejected that request, saying store-by-store votes were appropriate under labor law.

In a letter to Starbucks’ U.S. employees this week, Starbucks President and CEO Kevin Johnson reiterated the company’s wish to include all Buffalo-area stores in the union vote.

“While we recognize this creates some level of uncertainty, we respect the process that is underway, and independent of the outcome in these elections, we will continue to stay true to our mission and values,” Johnson wrote.

Johnson also reminded employees of the company’s generous benefits, including paid parental and sick leave and free college tuition through Arizona State University. Late last month, the company also announced pay increases, saying all its U.S. workers will earn at least $15 — and up to $23 — per hour by next summer.

But backers of the union say Starbucks can do more.

“If Starbucks can find the money to pay their CEO nearly $15 million in compensation, I think maybe they can afford to pay their workers a decent wage with decent benefits,” said U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, in a recent Twitter post. Sanders held a virtual town hall with Buffalo Starbucks workers earlier this week.

Johnson earned $14.7 million in salary and stock awards in the company’s 2020 fiscal year.

Starbucks or the union can contest individual votes in the election, which could delay the certification process by the labor board. But if the votes do get certified, Starbucks is legally obligated to begin the process of collective bargaining with Workers United and any of the three stores that vote to unionize, said Cathy Creighton, the director of Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations Buffalo Co-Lab.

In some cases, companies have closed a location rather than deal with a union. But that’s difficult for a retailer like Starbucks, since it would be illegal to close one store and then open another nearby, Creighton said.

Starbucks has shown a willingness to bargain outside the U.S. In Victoria, Canada, workers at a Starbucks store voted to unionize in August 2020. It took Starbucks and the United Steelworkers union nearly a year to reach a collective bargaining agreement, which was ratified by workers in July.

The union votes come at a time of heightened labor unrest in the U.S. Striking cereal workers at Kellogg Co. rejected a new contract offer earlier this week. Thousands of workers were on strike at Deere & Co. earlier this fall. And the U.S. labor board recently approved a redo of a union vote at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama after finding the company pressured workers to vote against the union.

Labor shortages are giving workers a rare upper hand in wage negotiations. And Dan Graff, director of the Higgins Labor Program at the University of Notre Dame, said the pandemic gave many workers the time and space to rethink what they want from their jobs.