Taliban Fire Warning Shots On Afghan Female Protesters

 December 29, 2021  

 VOA

By Ayaz Gul

Witnesses say Taliban security forces in Afghanistan fired warning shots Tuesday to disperse a group of female activists in Kabul protesting restrictions placed on women in the country.

The women marched through the streets of the Afghan capital toward the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which enforces Islamic law as interpreted by the Taliban. Protesters held banners reading, “We are tired of discrimination” along with, “We are the voice of hungry people.”

Other banners read, “We women wake up and hate discrimination,” and “Why have you closed schools?” Protesters demanded work, food and education.

The protest comes two days after the ministry issued travel curbs on women across Afghanistan, further curtailing their rights. The new rules limit a woman’s ability to travel farther than 72 kilometers unless accompanied by a close male relative. They also require taxi drivers to offer rides only to women wearing an Islamic hijab or a headscarf and to refrain from playing music in their vehicles.

The government has allowed schoolboys to return to classes but girls across many Afghan provinces are still waiting for permission to do so and most women have been prevented from returning to work.

Last month, the Taliban’s ministry ordered Afghan channels to stop showing dramas and soap operas featuring actresses, and female news anchors to wear hijabs while on the air.

The ultraconservative group regained power in August and named an all-male interim Cabinet to govern the conflict-torn country in line with the group’s strict interpretation of Islam, despite pledging not to bring back the harsh polices of their previous regime from 1996 to 2001.

When the Taliban were last in power, girls were not allowed to attend school and women were barred from work as well as education. The then-Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, or the morals police, had been accused of serious human rights abuses, leading to Afghanistan’s isolation from the world.

The United States and the global community at large have not recognized the new Taliban government. They are refusing to open direct political engagement with the Islamist group until it ensures respect for human rights, especially those of women, runs the country inclusively and cuts ties with transnational terrorists.

The lack of government legitimacy has hampered the flow of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, where years of war, drought and poverty have left nearly 23 million people with acute food shortages and in need of urgent relief.

Afghan women protest against new limitations imposed by Taliban

NEWS AGENCIES| Updated on: 29 December 2021


Several dozen Afghan women on Tuesday protested against the new directives of the Taliban putting limitations on their movement.

In recent days the Islamic Emirate Ministry of Virtue and Vice issued a new directive on women's travel, saying the women who are travelling long distances by road should be accompanied by a male relative, and they should wear a hijab, to cover their head and face.

The directive also banned playing music in the vehicles, reported Tolo News.

"Our forces told drivers and people to not play and listen to music, music is not allowed in the Islamic religion," said Mawlawi Mohammad Sadeq Akef, a spokesman of the Ministry of Virtue and Vice.

Women protestors said that the Islamic Emirate is keeping women away from society by imposing limitations and called for their rights to education, employment and social freedom to be honoured, reported Tolo News.

They used the slogans "we are the voice of hungry people" and "we are awake, we hate discrimination."

"How can we find a relative to go outside in urgent moments? They said 'we are not responsible for your food,' so pay our salaries and we can eat, we are not the women of two decades ago, we will not be silent," said Wida, a protestor, reported Tolo News.

The Islamic Emirate should not remove women from society, they said. "We gathered to raise voices against restrictions imposed on women; our schools are closed, they took away working opportunities, now they ordered us not to go out of our homes alone, they are talking about the rights described by Islam. Does Islam order that a nation should be hungry, does Islam say to forbid girls from education?" said Shayesta, a protestor.

The protestors called on the international community to not ignore Afghan women, reported Tolo News.

"We are half of the society, we are human, we have the right to education and to work, I ask the international community to not recognize this government," said Zahra, a protestor.

The protest of Afghan women did not last a long time and the Islamic Emirate's forces fired into the air to disperse the protesters.

Meanwhile, the Taliban officials said that women can have rights based on Islamic regulations.

"The Islamic Emirate supreme leader, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada, issued a decree on women which covers all (aspects of) women's lives," said Bilal Karimi, Deputy spokesman of Islamic Emirate.

(ANI)

Also Read: Taliban torturing former Afghan govt employee goes viral, sparks sharp reaction
First published: 29 December 2021, 11:05 IST

Corporate Media Ignore US Sanctions Driving Starvation Threat in Afghanistan

With no mention of what was causing the crisis, or what kind of help was actually needed, Pannell's report had the effect of painting the US as a benevolent actor that just wasn't doing quite enough to address a largely inevitable situation.

This picture taken on November 22, 2021 shows women waiting for staff members from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to check their children for signs of malnutrition, at a camp for internally displaced people on the outskirts of Herat. The UN's children's agency UNICEF estimates that some 3.2 million Afghan children under the age of five will suffer from malnutrition this winter. (Photo: by Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

JULIE HOLLAR

December 27, 2021

 by Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR)


As the United States withdrew militarily from Afghanistan in August, US TV news interest in the plight of the country's citizens spiked, often focusing on "the horror awaiting women and girls" (CNN Situation Room, 8/16/21) to argue against withdrawal (FAIR.org, 8/23/21).

Four months later, as those same citizens have been plunged into a humanitarian crisis due in no small part to US sanctions, where is the outrage?

UN News (10/25/21) quoted the head of the World Food Programme: "Afghanistan is now among the world's worst humanitarian crises—if not the worst—and food security has all but collapsed."

Experts warned of an impending humanitarian crisis in the wake of the US withdrawal (IRC, 8/20/21). In recent months, the messages have become more urgent. A UN report (10/25/21) warned that "combined shocks of drought, conflict, Covid-19 and an economic crisis in Afghanistan have left more than half the population facing a record level of acute hunger." One million children are so malnourished they are at risk of dying in the coming months (IRC, 12/3/21).

Decades of conflict, invasion and occupation left Afghanistan with a highly precarious economy. In 2019, well before withdrawal, a record 50% of Afghans reported finding it "very difficult" to get by on their household income (Gallup, 9/23/21). While drought and the Covid-19 pandemic have contributed to the current humanitarian crisis, it is largely driven by the imploding economy. The entire banking system is collapsing, with government employees going unpaid, and citizens unable to access their money or receive funds from relatives abroad.

As many have pointed out, the Taliban shoulder some blame, having banned women from most paid jobs outside of teaching and healthcare, costing the economy up to 5% of its GDP (UNDP, 12/1/21). But a much bigger driver of the crisis has been the US-led sanctions on the Taliban. The US occupation left Afghanistan dependent on aid for 40% of its GDP and 80% of its budget. After withdrawal, the US froze some $9 billion of the country's central bank reserves, and US and UN sanctions cut off the central bank from the international banking system and drastically limited the aid flowing into the country (UNDP, 12/2/21).

Despite pleas from around the globe, even, most recently, from former US military commanders in Afghanistan and dozens of members of Congress (Washington Post, 12/20/21), the Biden administration has made only slight tweaks to its policies, which are ostensibly meant to punish and provide leverage over the Taliban, but, like other supposedly targeted sanctions, have the effect of putting millions of civilian lives in peril.
Vanishing interest

Since November 1, well into the worsening crisis, FAIR identified only 37 TV news segments from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and MSNBC that mentioned "humanitarian" in the same sentence as Afghanistan. That's 37 segments in seven weeks.

For perspective, as the US withdrew in August, journalists from those shows mentioned "women's rights" in the same sentence as Afghanistan more often—42 times—in just seven days. Today, as those women and girls face starvation, the deeply concerned TV reporters are virtually nowhere to be seen.

Even when reports did mention the crisis, they rarely highlighted the US role. Of the 37 mentions, FAIR was able to find only four that named sanctions as a factor.

MSNBC twice (11/23/21, 12/16/21) brought on spokespeople from the International Rescue Committee to discuss the crisis, and CBS did so once (12/12/21); all three of these guests named the role sanctions play in Afghanistan's economic collapse.

"One Million Children at Risk of Dying of Starvation" was the secondary point of ABC's report (12/15/21); the main focus of the story was "Taliban Authority Being Challenged by ISIS Terrorists."

ABC World News Tonight's Ian Pannell (12/15/21), in a report from Afghanistan, made the only other mention of sanctions, in a vague and brief reference that named no names: "A mix of sanctions and drought has brought the country to the brink of catastrophe." After showing an emaciated two-year-old and telling the child's mother, "You must feel very hopeless, very helpless," Pannell wrapped up his report by noting:


$280 million in emergency aid has been OKed by the United States and others, but it's likely not enough. It won't reach hungry mouths until the end of the year. And the situation right now in Afghanistan seems as bad as I can remember it in 20 years of reporting here.

With no mention of what was causing the crisis, or what kind of help was actually needed, Pannell's report had the effect of painting the US as a benevolent actor that just wasn't doing quite enough to address a largely inevitable situation. The segment and its top-of-the-show preview were the only two mentions FAIR's study found of Afghanistan's humanitarian crisis on ABC during the study period.

More often, the crisis was covered with a brief soundbite that emphasized women's rights over the broader humanitarian crisis, as on CNN Newsroom (11/28/21):


A group of female Afghan students graduated from a private university in Kandahar on Saturday. They were forced to wear veils, due to a rule imposed by the Taliban. Before the Taliban takeover, an estimated 100,000 girls were attending universities. The graduates fear finding jobs might be difficult, because of both the Taliban rule and the country's worsening humanitarian crisis.

Finding jobs is also difficult when a powerful enemy has frozen the funds of your nation's central bank—but that's not the kind of problem US corporate media is likely to dwell on.
© 2021 Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR)

JULIE HOLLAR  is FAIR’s senior analyst and managing editor. Julie has a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Brits will have to pay for entry to the EU from 2022: Bloc to demand cash and pre-approval as post-Brexit trips to Europe are no longer for free

BY:MICHIEL WILLEMS


Brits will have to start paying €7 per person and pre-register their details in order to enter the European Union from next year.

Reports had surfaced in various European media in recent weeks that access to all Schengen EU countries would come at a cost from 2022, and when approached by City A.M. this morning, a spokesperson for the European Commission in Brussels confirmed all British travellers will have to pay a €7 visa fee.

The so-called European Travel and Information and Authorisation Scheme (ETIAS) enables citizens of 61 non-EU countries to visit the EU Schengen area with travel pre-authorisation, rather than a full visa.

The European Commission confirmed that, from late 2022, the UK will be part of ETIAS, meaning that Brits will have to pre-register their details before any trip, as well as pay the €7 levy.

Once the pre-authorisation has been approved, British passport holders will be allowed to stay in Europe up to 90 days.

The European Commission confirmed the payment and pre-registration will apply for any trips to all Schengen area states, plus the non-Schengen micro-states of Andorra and Monaco.

This means the ETIAS requirements will be in place for any trip to Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, San Marino, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Greece, Czech Republic, Malta, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland Vatican City.

UK Foreign Secretary takes over Brexit talks with EU as chief negotiator Frost resigns


20 December 2021


British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has appointed foreign minister Liz Tuss to lead talks with Europe after the resignation of the Brexit minister David Frost sent shockwaves through the already troubled London administration.

In a statement released by Downing Street on Sunday, "Foreign Secretary Truss will take on the EU negotiating brief -- including the knotty issue of Northern Ireland's relationship with Brussels -- with immediate effect."

The reshuffle came a day after David Frost, a trusted ally of the prime minister and former Brexit negotiator, brought forward his resignation in a letter to the prime minister late Saturday.


Frost's move came after The Mail on Sunday newspaper reported that he had handed in his resignation a week ago, but had agreed to wait until January before leaving his post.

In his resignation letter, Frost told Johnson he had "concerns about the current direction of travel" regarding coronavirus regulations and tax rises.

Johnson is already reeling from a rebellion by 100 of his MPs in a parliamentary vote over coronavirus restrictions and the stunning loss of a 23,000-majority seat in a recent by-election.

That was partly blamed on a slew of reports that his staff and aides had held parties last Christmas despite virus restrictions in place at the time.
Running out of time

The by-election loss for Johnson's Conservatives intensified speculation of a leadership challenge.

Frost recently came second in a poll of most popular ministers held by ConservativeHome, an influential blog read by the grassroot Tories who could end up deciding Johnson's replacement.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid told Sky News on Sunday that Frost was "an outstanding public servant", adding: "I do understand his reasons, he's a principled man, you know, principled people do resign from the government."

The deputy leader of the main opposition Labour party Angela Rayner said the resignation demonstrated "a government in total chaos".

Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen warned Johnson was "running out of time and out of friends to deliver on the promises and discipline of a true Conservative government.

In his resignation letter Frost told Johnson: "I hope we will move as fast as possible to where we need to get to: a lightly regulated, low-tax, entrepreneurial economy.

"We also need to learn to live with Covid and I know that is your instinct too," he added, in apparent reference to the new measures introduced by the government last week.

"I hope we can get back on track soon and not be tempted by the kind of coercive measures we have seen elsewhere," he added.

The series of crises engulfing Johnson have seen him garner increasingly negative coverage in Britain's right-wing press, normally favourable to his leadership and his party.

56-year-old Frost was appointed as Johnson's so-called EU "sherpa" shortly after the British leader took office in July 2019

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY
Man reveals fugitive secret in ‘deathbed confession’

BY JOHN SEEWER AND JENNIFER MCDERMOTT

29 December 2021,

In this photo provided by Bob Van Wert, Tom Randele, whose real name according to authorities is Ted Conrad, tends to golf clubs, in September 2012, in Ayer, Mass. Conrad, a former Ohio bank teller-turned-thief, lived for decades under a different name in suburban Boston. Conrad died in May 2021. (Bob Van Wert via AP)

(AP) - For more than 50 years, a man in the US kept a secret that not even his family knew until just before his death – he was a fugitive wanted over a bank robbery.

Just before Thomas Randele died, his wife of nearly 40 years asked his golfing friends and his co-workers from the dealerships where he sold cars to come to their home.

They gathered to say goodbye to a man they called one of the nicest people they had ever known – a devoted family man who gushed about his daughter, a golfer who never bent the rules, a friend to so many that a line stretched outside the funeral home a week later.

By the time of their final visit last May at Randele’s house in suburban Boston, the cancer in his lungs had taken away his voice.

So they all left without knowing that their friend who they had spent countless hours swapping stories with never told them his biggest secret of all.

For the past 50 years, he was a fugitive wanted over one of the largest bank robberies in Cleveland’s history, living in Boston under a new name he created six months after the heist in the summer of 1969.

Photos, a driver's license, the original warrant and other items from a 1969 robbery involving Ted Conrad are shown on Dec. 16, 2021 at the Carl B. Stokes U.S. Courthouse in Cleveland. After more than 50 years, Elliott announced that they had closed the case on one the city's biggest bank robberies. Conrad pulled off the 1969 robbery and had been living in Boston under a new name until his death last May, Elliott said. The U.S. Marshals Service is now piecing together how he managed to create new life while evading authorities. His stunned friends in Boston say he was a devoted family man and one of the nicest and most honorable people they'd ever known. (AP Photo/Ken Blaze)

Not even his wife or daughter knew until he told them in what authorities described as a deathbed confession.

How he was able to leave behind one family and create a new life – while evading a father and son from the US Marshals Service who never gave up their hunt – is just now being pieced together.

Ted Conrad quickly worked out that security was fairly loose at the Society National Bank in Cleveland after he started as a teller in January 1969.

He told his friends it would be easy to rob the place, said Russell Metcalf, his best friend from high school.

A day after his 20th birthday that July, Conrad walked out with 215,000 dollars from the vault, a haul worth 1.6 million dollars (£1.2 million) today.

By the time the missing money was noticed, Conrad was flying across the country.

U.S. Marshal Peter J. Elliott poses for a photo on Dec. 16, 2021 at the Carl B. Stokes U.S. Courthouse in Cleveland with items related to a 1969 bank robbery. After more than 50 years, Elliott announced that they had closed the case on one the city's biggest bank robberies. Ted Conrad pulled off the 1969 robbery and had been living in Boston under a new name until his death last May, Elliott said. The U.S. Marshals Service is now piecing together how he managed to create new life while evading authorities. His stunned friends in Boston say he was a devoted family man and one of the nicest and most honorable people they'd ever known. (AP Photo/Ken Blaze)More

In a letter sent to his girlfriend, he mistakenly thought he could return when the statute of limitations expired.

But once he was indicted, that was no longer true.

Conrad apparently cut off contact with his family.

Some eventually presumed he was dead, said Matt Boettger, whose mother was Conrad’s older sister.

His mother, he said, was relieved to find out her brother had lived a happy life.

“She thought she would go to her grave and never know,” he said.

The bank heist in 1969 did not capture the attention of the nation, or even of Cleveland.

Everyone else was focused on Apollo 11’s historic flight to the moon.

But for John Elliott, a deputy US marshal, it was personal because he and Conrad came from the same side of town.

In this photo provided by Bob Van Wert, Tom Randele, whose real name according to authorities is Ted Conrad, stands for a photograph at an entrance to the 2018 U.S. Open Golf Tournament at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, in Southampton, N.Y. According to authorities, Conrad, a former Ohio bank teller-turned-thief, lived for decades under a different name in suburban Boston. Conrad died in May 2021. (Photo/Bob Van Wert via AP)

The problem was Conrad had a head start and was disciplined enough not to make missteps.

Mr Elliott travelled across the US looking for Conrad and even after retiring would check on the case, said his son Pete Elliott, now the top US marshal in Cleveland, who inherited the hunt for Conrad nearly 20 years ago.

His father died in March 2020 before investigators pieced together details from Randele’s obituary and signatures from his past.

Then in November, Randele’s family confirmed that just before he died, he told them what he had done, Mr Elliott said.

Why Conrad committed the robbery has been analysed endlessly.

“It wasn’t about the money. He always wanted to impress people,” said Mr Metcalf.

Investigators believe he was inspired by the 1968 film The Thomas Crown Affair, about a bank executive who got away with 2.6 million dollars and turned the heist into a game.

After the real-life robbery in Cleveland, Conrad wound up in the Boston area, where much of the movie was filmed.

Thomas Randele came into existence in January 1970 when Conrad applied for a social security number in Boston, Mr Elliott said.

Photos, a driver's license, a death notice and other items from a 1969 robbery involving Ted Conrad are shown on Dec. 16, 2021 at the Carl B. Stokes U.S. Courthouse in Cleveland. After more than 50 years, Elliott announced that they had closed the case on one the city's biggest bank robberies. Conrad pulled off the 1969 robbery and had been living in Boston under a new name until his death last May, Elliott said. The U.S. Marshals Service is now piecing together how he managed to create new life while evading authorities. His stunned friends in Boston say he was a devoted family man and one of the nicest and most honorable people they'd ever known. (AP Photo/Ken Blaze)

During the 1970s, Randele worked at a country club outside Boston and became its manager.

He also met his future wife not long after arriving in Boston.

They were married in 1982.

Around then, he began working in the car business, selling Land Rovers and Volvos until he retired after nearly 40 years.

What is not clear yet is what happened to the money.

The Marshals Service is looking into whether he lost it early through bad investments.

While Randele and his wife Kathy lived most of their years in a pleasant Boston suburb, they filed for bankruptcy protection in 2014.

She told Cleveland.com in November that her husband was a great man.

She has declined interview requests.

U.S. Marshal Peter J. Elliott holds the birth certificate and a copy of the driver's license of Ted Conrad on Dec. 16, 2021 at the Carl B. Stokes U.S. Courthouse in Cleveland. After more than 50 years, Elliott announced that they had closed the case on one the city's biggest bank robberies. Conrad pulled off the 1969 robbery and had been living in Boston under a new name until his death last May, Elliott said. The U.S. Marshals Service is now piecing together how he managed to create new life while evading authorities. His stunned friends in Boston say he was a devoted family man and one of the nicest and most honorable people they'd ever known. (AP Photo/Ken Blaze)

No-one would have guessed that Randele, who was 71 when he died, was someone trying to hide from authorities.

Among the many people he became friends with over the years was an FBI agent in Boston, Mr Elliott said.

“He was just a gentle soul, you know, very polite, very well spoken,” said Jerry Healy, who first met Randele at a Woburn, Massachusetts, dealership where they talked daily for years.

Matt Kaplan, who managed two dealerships where Randele worked and golfed with him for many years, called him a gentleman.

“The only way it makes sense is that at that age he was just a kid, and it was a challenge kind of thing,” Mr Kaplan said.

“If he would have told us way back when, I don’t think we would have believed him because he wasn’t that kind of guy,” he said.

“The man was different than the kid.”

In the early days after Randele’s identity was revealed, his friends could not believe it.

But now looking back, some things make sense. How he always had a beard. His reluctance to talk about where he grew up or his extended family.

“You know all the years I knew Tommy, I never heard him mention a sister or a mother or a brother or a father,” Mr Healy said.

“You could never pry anything from him,” said Brad Anthony, another close friend.

Still, he said it is almost impossible to believe.

“It just seems so out of character for the Tom I knew,” he said.

Fish brought back from extinction with help from zoo

ELEANOR BARLOW, PA

29 December 2021, 6:01 am


A fish which became extinct in Mexico has been reintroduced to the wild with the help of conservationists from a UK zoo.

The tequila fish, which grows no longer than 70 millimetres, disappeared completely from the wild in 2003 following the introduction of invasive, exotic fish species and water pollution.

But more than 1,500 of the fish have now been returned to the Teuchitlan River, in the state of Jalisco in south-west Mexico, thanks to conservationists from Chester Zoo and the Michoacana University of Mexico.

Professor Omar Dominguez, from the university, said: “The tequila splitfin has, for many years, been used by scientists to study the evolution, biogeography and live bearing reproduction techniques of fishes and is a very important species.

“We could not stand back and allow it to disappear.

“Successfully reinstating this fish in the wild also offers a wider positive impact. Not only has the fish itself been saved, but the environment it lives in has been restored.

“The springs are now healthy and the community that lives around them can now enjoy this beautiful place again, along with all of the benefits that a healthy freshwater habitat brings.

“Meanwhile, local people, particularly schoolchildren, are fully embracing an ongoing education programme, which is changing the way that many act towards the freshwater environment that surrounds them – something that’s absolutely vital if we’re to ensure long-term change.”

The project started in 1998 when the university received five pairs of the fish from Chester Zoo and founded a new colony in a laboratory.

Experts maintained and expanded the fish population for the next 15 years, until 40 pairs were released into artificial ponds at the university.

After four years there were an estimated 10,000 fish in the semi-natural environment and the colony became the source for reintroduction into the wild.

Dr Gerardo Garcia, Chester Zoo’s curator of lower vertebrates and invertebrates, said: “It is a real privilege to have helped save this charismatic little fish and it just goes to show that with the skill and expertise of conservationists, and with local communities fully invested in a reintroduction project, species can make a comeback from environments where they were once lost.

“This is also a great example of how good zoos can play a pivotal role in species conservation.

Conservationists from Michoacana University of Mexico return the tequila fish to the wild (Chester Zoo/PA)

“Not only has Chester Zoo been involved technically and financially, the breeders, which became the founding population for the reintroduction of the tequila splitfin, originated at Chester Zoo.

“Without the zoo population keeping the species alive for many years, this fish would have been lost forever.

“It’s humbling to think that a small population, being cared for by aquarists in Chester, has now led to their revival in the wild.”

Experts say the wild population of fish is now thriving and the project has been cited as an International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) case study for successful global reintroductions.

It is hoped to lead to future reintroductions of other highly endangered fish species.

Dr Garcia added: “With nature declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history – and the rate of extinction accelerating – this is a rare success story.

“We now have a blueprint for what works in terms of recovering these delicate fish species in Mexico and already we’re on to the next one – a new rescue mission for the golden skiffia is already well under way.”

UK

Pension funds ‘must help create a world people want to retire in’

AUGUST GRAHAM, PA CITY REPORTER

29 December 2021




Pension funds are starting to think they have a duty to look after their members in old age, not just give them a big pot of money, the head of pension investments at one of the UK’s biggest funds has said.

Scottish Widows’ Maria Nazarova-Doyle said there is little point giving someone a massive payout when they turn 65 if they need to spend it on mitigating the effects of climate change.

Traditionally, pension funds simply focused on getting the highest returns for the lowest levels of risk, she told the PA news agency.

But today “more and more pension schemes are starting to understand that pensions don’t exist in isolation”, she said.

“If you have a large pension pot, but you have to spend it on hazmat suits and flood-proofing your property in retirement – then what’s the point of a large pension pot?”

The world needs to be a “place people want to retire in,” she said.

The UK has set a target of slashing its emissions to net zero by the middle of the century and pension funds will have to step up to be part of the effort.

Earlier this year, the All Party Parliamentary Group on local authority pension funds said pension funds should engage companies on how to transition to net zero in a fair way.

“Funds should ensure that collaborative engagements on climate change include a just transition as a central theme for discussion,” the paper read.

Experts believe that by unlocking the UK’s pension funds and putting them towards the net zero transition, it can rapidly encourage companies to change their practices.

There is some evidence this is already happening. Following shareholder pressure, not least from pension funds, oil giants Shell and BP have set out plans to get to net zero by 2050 in the last couple of years.

The power can also lie with the individual. By choosing where to invest their pensions, savers can have a major impact.

One study by Swedish bank Nordea found that moving pension savings into sustainable funds can be much more effective than normal carbon-cutting measures.

Switching your pension is 27 times more effective than shortening your showers by two minutes, taking one less international flight per year, ditching your car and taking the train and only eating one piece of meat a week.

Ms Nazarova-Doyle said there are two ways that the funds can work towards slashing emissions: “On the one hand it’s about finance flows: Where do you invest the money, what do you actually support and what do you not support.

“But also it’s about stewardship. So, once you have those investments you have voting rights, and you can engage with companies, you can use your shareholder power to engender real change.”

UK
Go-Ahead exploits ‘Great Resignation’ to hire 1,000 apprentices in 2021

AUGUST GRAHAM, PA CITY REPORTER

29 December 2021



One of the UK’s largest transport companies, Go-Ahead Group, has said that more than 600 apprentices joined up to become bus drivers in London over the last year.

The sign-up is part of a UK-wide recruitment drive which saw 1,030 apprentices join the bus and rail company which jointly runs Govia Thameslink, among other routes.

“I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved this year at Go-Ahead – we’ve adapted to the pandemic and are stronger than ever,” said the company’s head of apprenticeships, Susanna Dillon.

“We’re committed to recruiting apprentices and bringing in people with fresh ideas and viewpoints to shake up the transport sector.”

Go-Ahead said that amid a spike in people switching careers during the pandemic, a former legal secretary and a former teaching assistant, both over 55 years old, have joined as apprentices.

“In a time dubbed the Great Resignation, the group hopes that other career switchers will consider a career in bus and rail for 2022,” it said.

The business said that it had hired overwhelmingly from ethnic minorities for Go-Ahead London, which operates more red buses in the capital than any other firm.

It said that 82% of its apprentices fell under the catch-all term Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME), while 18% were women.

It said: “For its commitment to diversity, Go-Ahead was highly commended for Recruitment Excellence at the Government-accredited National Apprenticeship Awards earlier this month.

“The group also won the regional London awards for Macro Employer of the Year and Recruitment Excellence.”

The apprenticeships take between one and three years, and comes with training equivalent to maths and English GCSEs.

Kenney asks Albertans to reconsider New Year's plans and to not 'look for loopholes'

    

   LEAVE THAT TO UCP


Tue., December 28, 2021


CALGARY — Alberta Premier Jason Kenney asked people to reconsider their New Year's plans and not "look for loopholes" as the province recorded more than 8,000 COVID-19 cases over a five-day period.

Kenney asked people to keep gatherings small and not congregate with more than nine other adults, and get vaccinated.

Chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, says the province's new COVID-19 cases ranged between 2,500 on Christmas Day and 750 on Boxing Day.

She says province recorded 8,250 cases between Dec. 23 and 28, but adds that the numbers are preliminary and the number of completed tests varied considerably from day-to-day.

She says hospitalizations remain "relatively stable" but notes it's still too soon to know if Omicron will stress the health system.

Hinshaw says the number of new deaths wouldn't be available until Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 28, 2021.

The Canadian Press

How Real Is the Planetary Defense Coordination Office From ‘Don’t Look Up'?

SOURCE: NETFLIX | NSF.GOV

BY MUSTAFA GATOLLARI
DEC. 28 2021

There's been a lot of discussion around "anti-science" rhetoric and beliefs in recent years, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and all of the socio-political discussions around the virus. Adam McKay's newest Netflix film, Don't Look Up, feels like one big allegorical diatribe against science "naysayers" who would rather eschew factual evidence and data in lieu of personal beliefs/agendas. But since it does so with a heavy dose of comedy, fans are wondering how much of the content in the film is real, like the Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

Is NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office real?

Abso-freaking-lutely. The patch that is highlighted in the popular Netflix film belongs to an actual agency, and in case you were wondering if it it's legit, yes — the film even provides a meta moment to inform the audience that it totally exists.

In one scene, Leonardo DiCaprio's character, Randall Mindy says, "I'm on hold. She is calling Dr. Oglethorpe, who is that?" Jennifer Lawrence's character, Kate Dibiasky says, "Dr. Oglethorpe, head of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office." Which prompts the response from Leo: "Is that a real place?"


SOURCE: NETFLIX

Then, on-screen text pops up to inform the audience that yes, the Planetary Defense Coordination Office is a real division of NASA, and that the patch in the movie is actually the one utilized by the agency.

Geeky reported that an actually astronomer and climate change scientist Amy Mainzer worked as a consultant for the film.

In an interview with collectSPACE, Amy said, "Obviously this is a sci-fi movie, right? We are getting into sci-fi territory very quickly, because obviously we don’t know of a gigantic comet that is about to hit Earth. That is not real. So fortunately, that’s the big news, right?"


SOURCE: TWITTER | @CINEPHILEJEN


She continued, "But the Planetary Defense Coordination Office is very real, and it didn’t really exist until relatively recently." This particular office didn't come into existence until January of 2016.

NASA created the division to work with its international allies in order to create Earth defense strategies, and it also serves to manage NASA's Near-Earth Object Observation initiative, which was founded in 1998.

"You’d think it would be a no-brainer to have a full program to search for asteroids and comets, but even that has been a long time coming. People have been working on it for a long time, but I would say with very modest resources, considering what it takes to go out there and solve this particular problem. So we are finally getting to the point where we are conducting a much more comprehensive study of these objects," Amy said.



SOURCE: TWITTER | @LEODICAPRIO

The events of 'Don't Look Up' are loosely based on a true story.

Mainzer's team actually discovered the massive NEOWISE comet in 1997. It's the basis of that staggering find that helped inform Don't Look Up.

"I did a lot of work on the design of an orbit and I actually modeled some aspects of the comet in the movie after Comet NEOWISE to be realistic. I tried to choose something that would fit the needs of the movie, but also not stray too far from reality," she said.

Mainzer said that she was very happy to work on the film and it's pro-empirical evidence stance: "We need to make science-based decisions. It’s important because, if we don’t, we’re not going to end up with the best possible outcomes for a host of different problems, be it the threat of asteroids and comets or climate change or extreme weather. Or the pandemic. We have scientific decisions to make and it couldn’t be more important than doing it now."


SOURCE: TWITTER | @AMYMAINZER


Don't Look Up is currently streaming on Netflix. 

NASA Shares Best Space Station Science Pictures from 2021


Matthew Hart
Tue, December 28, 2021

The International Space Station (ISS) has been hopping with science experiments this year. Thanks to companies like SpaceX and Northrop Grumman, NASA’s been able to send everything from problem-solving slime molds to tardigrades and squid to the space station for study. Now, in a new compilation, NASA offers up images from some of the most memorable scientific endeavors aboard the ISS from 2021. And they’re getting us hyped for 2022.

NASA’s Johnson Space Center recently posted the above compilation to its YouTube channel. “It has been a busy year of research aboard the International Space Station,” the agency notes in the video’s description. The space center notes that astronauts have performed 13 spacewalks, installed new solar panels, and upgraded the station’s power supply. As well as performed literally hundreds of scientific experiments.

NASA Johnson

The images in the compilation show just a handful of the most exciting science experiments conducted aboard the ISS this year. Toward the beginning of the compilation is a close-up look at how astronauts have been culturing living heart cells, for example. We also get a glimpse of NASA astronaut Victor Glover conducting experiments for Rodent Research-10; an investigation into how spaceflight in microgravity affects the cellular and molecular mechanisms of normal bone tissue regeneration in space.

NASA Johnson

All of the experiments in the compilation are exciting, but the ones centering around the upcoming Artemis missions to the Moon really help to loose the imagination. Astronauts are working to see how well they can harvest plants such as chiles and lettuce, for example. Which is cool because the only time we’d actually order a salad would be on the Moon. The astronauts even managed to pull off the first-ever “plant transplant” in space.

DLR_next

For anybody who needs to catch up on other ISS news before the year closes out, there’s been a ton. From surreal spacewalks to the “Space Olympics,” astronauts aboard the ISS have been showing us what life away from Earth feels like. Now, all we can say is we want to go into space more than ever. Although waiting for some kind of space-pizza delivery service first may be in order. (We promise to do very serious science experiments with the cheese.)

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